Toddler Bed

My heart broke just a little today as my baby took another step toward becoming a little girl. Until today we hadn't even lowered the mattress. Since Ryleigh's been pulling up and climbing more and more we decided it was time.

Big Steps

I'm thinking about working on a post about our Florida vacation. Thinking about it. Maybe someday I will have time to actually write it. In the meantime, this happened today:

What a big girl! Ironically, on April 18, 2011 - two years ago tomorrow - we first learned of Ryleigh's spina bifida. Oh, if only I knew then what I know now...

Another Snowy Day

Yesterday we had yet another snow storm. Ryleigh got up early and we spent most of the morning watching the snow and the birds outside. We saw lots of birds eating all the grass seed daddy put out last weekend. Ryleigh found it hilarious to say, "no no birds!" And there were more run-ins with birds. A fat robin landed on the fence outside while Ryleigh was eating lunch. It flew away. Then we had this conversation about 437 times:

Clearly she is very concerned about our feathered friends. Bird-watching is serious business.

We ran all our errands on Saturday so we could spend the day indoors if we had to. Good thing we did. It was nice not to have to go out. And at least the snow was pretty, I guess.

the view from our front porch

our backyard

oh yeah, and there was some basketball on tv
definitely her father's daughter

18 Months Ago

Ryleigh Katherine Rowe was born...

August 26, 2011

February 26, 2013

Have I mentioned that toddlers are nearly impossible to photograph?

Her 18 month birthday was actually a couple weeks ago and was marked by a blizzard that pretty much shut down Columbia. Hurray for snow days! I have been working on a post with our snow day pictures for at least two weeks. No joke.
Anyway, because of the snow, Ryleigh's 18 month check-up was postponed until this past Tuesday. She's doing great! She weighs 29.8 pounds and is 32 inches tall. She says a TON of words and her pronunciation is getting better and better. Current top favorite books include Llama Llama Red Pajama (aka "Mama Mama Mama") and Goodnight Moon (aka "Moon"). She is definitely testing her limits (and ours) with her toddler attitude. But it's all part of learning, right? Just keep repeating... "it's all part of learning." Breathe in. Breathe out. "It's all part of learning." Take a sip of wine. Breathe in. Breathe out... ;-)

Weekend Fun

Why oh why must weekends always go by so quickly...

friday night
a tired girl doesn't need much more than her blankie and mickey mouse clubhouse while sitting on mommy's lap

saturday morning
she often insists on wearing her hat around the house...even during breakfast

Saturday afternoon, Ryleigh and I went to a birthday party for our friend Bailey. She turned five and her party was at Flipz Gymnastics. Ryleigh wasn't too sure about the situation at first, but it didn't take too long before she was having a great time watching the bigger kids bounce and run all around. She REALLY wanted to bounce on the big trampoline, but I was a little worried about her getting bounced and bumped by the big kids. We played with a ball, did some bouncing on a smaller trampoline and some climbing on the mats...

This is pretty awesome sauce y'all. As you can see her feet get in kind of 'cringe worthy' positions when she is doing this. She has some braces to help keep them straight, but to this point they are just cumbersome and inhibit her crawling and movement more than they seem to help. We are looking into other options. I'd say she's doing pretty well on her own. She is just so motivated to go go go!

saturday evening
family relaxation time

sunday afternoon
like i said, goof ball loves wearing her hat

And one more little video to make you smile. This is post-nap, so she sounds a little congested.

Ryleigh loves watching this video of herself. She cracks up every time.
Oh weekend, until we meet again...We'll miss you.

Happy Valentine's Day

...a little late.

blurry toddler on the go

yep, this is the best we could do

beautiful valentine flowers from the hubby :-)

Welcome to Toddlerhood

Having a toddler is fun and entertaining, frustrating and exhausting. Ryleigh is so amazing. I love watching her little mind work things out. And I swear she is learning new words everyday. There is a bus stop near daycare, earlier this week we were getting out of the car, she pointed to the group waiting for the bus and said, "people." Seriously? People? Where the heck did she learn that? Hilarious.

Even more amazing though are the cognitive connections she has been starting to make. For example, I have a pair of red gloves, they are kind of fuzzy and I guess you could say they look like Elmo's hands. But I didn't really expect my 16 month old (this was a more than a month ago) to point them out and say, "Elmo," totally out of context of the little red monster. She has hardly ever even seen Sesame Street for crying out loud! They do have a poster hanging in her classroom.

Ryleigh is becoming quite opinionated these days. "No" has become a favorite word. She is picky about what books we read. If you start reading one she doesn't want she'll push it away. Sandra Boynton books seem to be her favorites.

She has made the transition to the Red Room at daycare. It was a little bit rough at first. I know she misses her teacher and friends in the infant room. But after a couple weeks she is getting used to her new surroundings. She has been happy to wave bye-bye to mommy every morning. 

Sorry, this post is a little bit all over the place. But it wouldn't be complete without any pics of the cutest kid in America. 

getting the hang of using a spoon

And a few random photos for the sake of cuteness: