In My Daughter's Eyes

I have the need to sit down and write this blog today because of so many changes that have been happening in my little girl recently. I don't know what happened to my 8lb. 10oz. baby - she is now this "grown" 17 month old who is learning non-stop. She is literally a sponge.

She has an interest in almost everything - especially animals. She can tell you every animal (including the lemur and tapir) by picture and loves Go, Diego, Go because of his animal rescuing. She is a social butterfly at daycare and will name every child in her class (and kiss them all goodbye - GERMS). Ask her who her boyfriend is and suddenly she doesn't remember names - don't worry Everitt and Riley your secret is safe with me :) !!!!

Here are some of Riley's other interests - in no particular order:

Riley loves to color - she calls crayons, pens, markers and any other drawing utensil "colors"

Riley is such a great helper with cleaning the house - she needs her own dust rag and will clean the tables and floors with it, as well as her toys and the couch.

Riley loves her baby dolls and takes good care of them.

She loves to sing and dance. She will dance to anything - I mean it, anything! She sings the ABCs - with help. I think it's adorable that the letter 'k' is pronounced "cake" and the letter 'q' is pronounced "cute." She is a fan of Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and believe me EIEIO has not left the rotation. The only difference is she comes up with the animals (duck, cow and chicken are the most popular for her to call out).

In 3 short weeks she will officially be moved to the TODDLER room at daycare. I love that she gets to return to her old friends who have already moved, but I know that she (and probably me a little bit more) will miss her awesome teachers Miss Brittney and Miss Carol. They were the sippy cup crusaders for me months ago when Riley refused to give up her bottle and they were the Nap Time Warriors and helped get Riley on a nice long nap schedule. They will truly be missed!!!

What I love most about Riley is that she knows how much we love her. Every morning when I drop her off at daycare and when we put her in bed at night and she is told that she is loved, she responds with an "I love you too" and a big 'ol smooch...now if that isn't enough to melt a mother's heart, I don't know what is.

I love looking at the world through the eyes of Riley. Each and every day with her amazes me more and more. I cannot believe that I had a hand in raising this smart, funny and cutie pie of a child. I look forward to watching more of what she is capable of learning.

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes
- Martina McBride