It's Fall Y'all!

Fall means football season in our house! Riley is really getting into the Gators. He loves it when we all have on our gator gear. For some reason he just doesn't get that excited about Mommy's Seminoles. Huh....go figure!

Riley has really started talking in the past couple of weeks. He is repeating everything we say, which is a bit scary, since what comes out of my mouth isn't always rated G! I have learned to substitute some words, and gosh is one of them. He walks around saying GOSH! He sounds like a yankee when he says it. It's so cute!

He does test my patience these days too. Who ever made  up, "the terrible two's" was absolutely 100% correct! Mr. Independence, at least he likes to think so. All of the foods he used to eat with no problem, nope, not anymore. I think his favorite word is NO! Oh, and mommy says don't run away, okay see ya! I just don't know how people do it with more than one kid. I am seriously re-thinking having another one.

We went to the pumpkin patch with our playgroup today. He was non-stop, running through all of the pumpkins. I could barely keep up. There was one pile of dirt off to the side, away from the pumpkins, and yes, he found it and down he went, face first. Typical! But what else do you expect from an almost two year old!?

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! We'll post pictures from our first year of trick-or-treating. Wish us luck!

Our Little Fish

We are so proud of Riley for completing ISR. He is our little fish that loves the water. It took him 5 weeks before he stopped crying during the lesson, but by the sixth week, he loved it!

Before you can earn your blue ribbon and graduate, you must swim with summer and winter clothes on. That was very difficult to do. He really worked hard on the winter clothes day. A regular diaper alone weighs almost 5 pounds when it's full of water. But, he did it, and we are so proud of him.

On our last day of lessons, I got into the pool with him. We got some great underwater pictures and videos. I love the fact that we will always remember this special time, especially now, since we have it on video.

Thanks again to Mrs. Patty for teaching our little fish how to swim. And, way to go Riley!!!

Ice Cream Cone Time!

Riley loves to play outside in our back yard. So, out came the sprinkler, his turtle pool, and the bubble machine. He was in heaven. We ran, played, and had so much fun!

Tom and I have been wanting to give him his first ice cream cone for some time and thought that this would be the perfect time. Well, he took a few licks, and gave it back. He didn't like it! Can you believe it??? What kid doesn't like ice cream? And in a cone, no less?! I guess he's just not a sweets kid. Could be worse!

Beach Time!

The last month has been mostly about swimming lessons. I am happy to say that we are almost done. Riley has done great and loves to swim. Almost too much sometimes! We spent a lot of time at Grama & Grampa's house swimming and playing with his new water/sand activity table.

 We spent a week at St. George Island on vacation with Pappy, Nana, Aunt Liz, Uncle Robbie, Great Aunt Sue, Uncle Tom and Aunt Gail. It was a wonderful and fun time. Riley really loves the beach. He tried to swim in the ocean just like the swimming pool. Ouch! Salt water is not good for the eyes. But Riley didn't care. Our house was right on the beach and it had a pool, which was awesome! Riley was in heaven.

At the beginning of the week, he started to babble more than he ever had before. And sure enough, he is starting to talk. When we would start laughing at something, Riley would just bust out laughing too. Tom and I can't believe how much he has grown up over the past 2 weeks. He is way more verbal. Last night, at dinner, we were listening to the radio, and Tom and I were humming to the beat of the song, and Riley starting humming too. It was sooo cool! Then a few minutes later, Tom burped (he's gonna kill me for this), and Riley "burped" too! We almost died laughing. He's never done that before. Too funny!!!

Playing on the bed with Daddy @ the beach

Smilin' for Uncle Robbie @ Boss Oyster

Happy 20 Months!

Aunt Liz & Mommy @ SGI

Can't wait to see what's in store for us over the next few months. He'll be two in less than 4 months.....WOW!

Hamming it up for the camera

He loves playing with his cars

Such a cutie!

Water Safety Time

Tom and I decided to register Riley for ISR, Infant Swimming Resource, a program designed for drowning prevention. We figured that he is around a pool at least once a week, if not more, and it would be good for him to know how to save himself if need be. Lessons started last Monday. We go everyday, M-F, for a 10 minute session, for 4-6 weeks.

What were we thinking?!! This is one of the hardest things we've had to do. Tom and I know it's best for him, but try explaining that to Riley. He does not like it. He cries from the moment we hand him over to the instructor, until the lesson is over. It's very hard on him, (and us)! I will say that he does give her a high five while he's in the pool with her, so he must not hate it that much, right??

We've questioned ourselves over and over... Did we make the right decision? Well, we took him to swim at my Mom's house yesterday and he did awesome! We let him get in the pool on his terms. It took a few minutes, but he wanted to get in. He splashed on the steps and was having fun. Later on, Tom was holding him in the shallow end and asked, "Do you want to swim to Momma?" Before Tom could even blink he dove out of his arms and started swimming over to me. WOW! We couldn't believe it. He wasn't scared at all. He swam over to the steps a few times and really seemed to enjoy the water. We were SO proud and amazed at the same time, and this was only after 1 week. Way to go Riley!

Thanks to you Mrs. Patty (our ISR instructor), for helping our BIG boy learn to swim!!!!