Compilations

Work has been intense recently. Also, it seems that I'm spending a lot more of my free time having fun with Riley. So, if the last month two months are any evidence, the blogging might slow down a bit. And I might also write more posts like this one, compilations of our adventures and notes about Riley's development, smashed up into one giant blog post. Here we go!

When Grandma visited in November, we made a very fun trek to Chinatown. Rilz was thrilled to ride the cable car and has yet to stop talking about watching the workers manually turn it around at the end of the line. He liked all the sights in Chinatown...except one.

Riley has several books that talk about lions, including one that describes the stone lions at the entrance to San Francisco's Chinatown. All day, we talked about how we were going on a hunt to find the stone lions, and he was quite excited. Until he saw them. It appears he conflated the maned beasts with the lion in one of his favorite books, "Pierre." That lion eats the title character. When we found the stone lions, Riley freaked out. He begged his dad to move away from the lions. In the picture below, he was saying, "Daddy, I'm scared. I'm so, so scared!" nearly every day since then, whenever the subject of lions comes up, Riley hides and says "the lion gonna eat me!"

Rilz showed far less fear over getting his first surgery. To address persistent fluid in his ears and minor speech issues, he had tubes inserted in his ears. The picture to the left features Riley and pops in hospital gear, taking a moment to center themselves before heading into the surgery room. Riley took it like a G and was fully recovered a few hours after the surgery.

With regards to his speech, he's made tremendous strides in the two weeks since the surgery. It's not clear if it would have happened without the operation, but the kid is suddenly talking in longer, complicated sentences and speaking more clearly (although not perfectly). We are having awesome conversations, now, including several very sweet phone chats when I was away for work for the last week. Hearing your kid say, "I love you, Mommy" is just about the greatest sound ever, no?

A few final quickies:

~The boy is growing like a weed. He's moving toward 3T clothes and size 9 shoes. He's so heavy I can hardly pick him up anymore. Seriously, I think I threw out my back today carrying him for a few blocks.  He's quite big for his age.
~He has become a Maurice Sendak aficionado. He loves his books in this order: In the Night Kitchen, Pierre, Chicken Soup with Rice and Where the Wild Things Are. For me, Sendak provides a very entertaining reprieve from endless books about trains, of which Riley never tires.
~The boy appears to share my passion for the greatest band of all time, The Cure. I experienced pure bliss tonight as Riley and I danced to an old favorite "A Forest" while eating fancy sushi at the bar of our neighborhood sushi joint (Sir Riley's dinner request).  Riley really got into it, drumming the table and swaying to the song. A kid after my own heart!