Being 14 months

Being 14 months is a lot of fun. At least Riley acts as if it is. She spends her days running around laughing at everything and anything. She's been pretending a lot. Sitting up all her stuffed animals and giving them fake food. She likes to hug them, patting their backs as she does it. Leif and I think its time to get her baby doll. Riley is a good mix of girly but not too girly. If that makes sense... She loves necklaces, purses, dolls and doing her hair. But she also likes to wrestle, and anytime she gets hurt, she jumps right back up and keeps on playing. Rarely does running into a wall or hitting her head stop her from whatever she was doing. I think she's going to enjoy having a little brother.

Its interesting how we can tell her to do something and she'll obey us. You ask her to sit on her bottom for snacktime and she'll do it. You can tell her to grab her ball and she'll run over to it and bring it to you. Currently Riley is working on her fake cry. She uses this when we're around other people, or when I tell her no, she'll walk over to daddy and pretend to be upset. I do appreciate that when I tell her "no" or I take something away she is no longer throwing huge tantrums... Sure she'll cry a bit but she gets over it pretty fast. Pretty good kid I have.

Riley has picked up a few words lately. I love when I say something and she attempts to mimic me. Whenever we go to Leif's work she gets excited and says "daddy daddy daddy". Before we even turn into the parking lot she knows and starts smiling the biggest smile. Its probably my favorite part of the day. Yesterday, instead of waiting in the car for Leif, I let Riley run around a bit. As soon as she saw Leif, she squealed and ran towards him. Seriously, nothing is better than that.

The last time I updated on Riley I talked about how she was having separation anxiety. Well now she's not really having separation anxiety. And she has gotten past her fear of strangers. The only time she's upset about being apart is at night. Not every night, but a few nights during the week. We're trying really hard not to give in and let her sleep with us, so on the nights she can't sleep we sit and rock her, then put her in her crib and rub her back a bit. In the beginning it wasn't working that well, but each time it gets a bit easier. Last night I sat with her for about 10 minutes and then laid her in her crib. She cried at first but then snuggled her bear and turned over. I think sometimes she just wants to be close to Leif and I. I love that.

Also, it is now February, which means that Beck will be joining the family pretty soon!