Dance Party

The realities of parenthood are so often askew from what you could ever imagine before becoming a parent--good and bad. This morning, I realized (in the moment!) that Ridley and I were living one of those imagined scenarios together. Probably because I have so many fond memories of dancing around in the living room with my mom as a kid, I have always imagined being a mom and dancing around the living room with my hypothetical daughter. Dancing is just a fun shared experience, isn't it?

This morning, as Madonna played in our living room, I held Ridley and we both bopped up and down, smiled and laughed. I'm not sure exactly why this morning in particular felt so special. Ridley and I listen to music and dance together almost on a daily basis. Maybe it's because she's really starting to enjoy the music, enjoy dancing and "sings" along. Maybe it's because we were listening to Madonna (my childhood dancing music!). But it's nice to share something with Ridley and make memories together.

Trunk or Treat!

For Ridley's second Halloween, we went to the nearby church's annual "Trunk or Treat" event. They park cars in a semi-circle and decorate their trunks. The kids then trick or treat by each trunk. It was a lot of fun! And some of the trunks were really decked out! There was a Wizard of Oz theme, an airplane theme, and even a Mario Bros. theme. Ridley really liked the Wizard of Oz trunk b/c there were two dogs: one dressed as Dorothy and one (who looked like Toto) dressed as Scarecrow!

The event had bouncies, music and plenty of kids running around in great costumes. Once Ridley grabbed a hold of her goodie bucket, she didn't let go! Here she is enjoying herself.

Play with Pumpkins

The fall chill really hit us this morning! I had to turn on the heat inside the house and Ridley got to wear her "Happy Halloween" long sleeve shirt (she got this for her birthday from the Skinner Family!). We had plans to go to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon. But before lunch, Ridley was ready to get outside and feel the chill.

The whole family was playing in the living room when Ridley got up, walked over to me and grabbed my hand. She walked me over to Phil and with her other hand grabbed his hand. She then led us both to the back door and pointed outside! It was adorable. We went outside and played in the backyard as Kacy and Sadie continued their attempts to catch another squirrel (yes ANOTHER squirrel--they're working on number 4).

When we got to the pumpkin patch this afternoon, Ridley had a ball. She picked out a few mini pumpkins, played with the big blow up scarecrow and rode around in the wagon.

Happy Halloween!

Teaching the Teacher

While playing with all our new toys from the birthday party (thanks everyone!) Ridley showed me that she's paying attention to me. We were singing "patty cake" and Ridley grabbed my hands and showed me how to patty cake (as I had done for her a few times)! Since I laughed so much about this, it's become her new favorite activity. She'll smile and laugh and grab my hands making me do another round of "patty cake."
One of her new books about Curious George visiting the zoo is filled with "touch me" textures (a a patch of a penguin's wing that is actual fur, a section of a rhino that is actual leather, etc). While reading it, we landed on the page with the giraffe. Ridley was missing the soft fur of the giraffe, so I took her hand and showed her. From then on, (and we have read this book a zillion times just yesterday) every time we get the the giraffe page, Ridley takes my hand and shows me the soft texture of the giraffe.
Amazing. This kid is amazing, right?

Sugar and Spice

Ridley's first birthday was great! We held it at Hugh McRae Park here in Wilmington and the weather was great (a little windy, but otherwise perfect). Aunt Tammi came over to the house early to help entertain and watch Ridley while Phil and I set up for the party. I had spent a lot of time prior to Saturday prepping for the day and Phil took care of packing everything up and taking it over to the picnic shelter. Unfortunately, the banner that I had made was all tangled when Phil went to hang it up. Poor man spent over an hour trying to detangle it! He ended up having to cut it up and retape it! But it turned out great. Just a little snag.
Then Grandma Pam and Aunt Taylor came to help set up and by 3:27pm (Ridley's EXACT birthday and time the party started) everything was set up and looked great.


Ridley arrived shortly after with Aunt Tammi in her cute color coordinated outfit. She had such a good time running around with all her friends and getting dirty. And wow, did she get dirty! It was a great time and a great celebration of Ridley.




For prosperity's sake, I'll repeat my facebook status on Ridley's birthday: "Happy Birthday, Ridley! Flip my whole life upside down why don'tcha?! Pinch-your-cheeks love ya!! Celebrating you and your 1 year old awesomeness and our feat of getting through the first year. ::love::"
And of course the post-party status: "Birthday party, year one: check. Clean-up?...tomorrow. Feet propped up on the couch after getting lil' one to bed: check! Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate and those of you who sent your love!"

Almost a Year and Walking Better Every Day

(Video taken a few days ago).

Today Phil and I brought Ridley along with us to a friend's wedding. I was originally going to get a babysitter, but after not being able to find one, we decided to bring her with us instead of not attending. I was nervous about it, but she did really well. The wedding was outside in their backyard overlooking the sound. Ridley loved seeing all the people, listening to the music and being able to show off her walking skills. I think she gained speed after tonight! She saw a dog at one point and really went running after it while yelling, "D'oh! D'oh!" [Translation: "Dog! Dog!"]

I hope she has that much fun at her birthday party. It's only 2 weeks away!

A New Way to Apply Diaper Cream

One day a couple of weeks ago, I walked into Ridley's nursery to find Phil applying some diaper cream during a diaper change. His method had me in stitches on the floor. He squeezed the tube directly onto her little butt and then squeezed her butt checks together repeatedly to spread the cream around.

I dropped to the floor laughing. Ridley didn't know what was going on and Phil insisted it wasn't that funny. He claimed he didn't want to touch her because the diaper rash was so bad he didn't want to hurt her. That may well be true, but it didn't make it any less funny to me (her diaper rash has since gone away).