Vacation!!!!

We just got back from a wonderful vacation in Southern California. It was so nice to get out of the extreme heat and enjoy some serious outdoor time.

We started our vacation in Orange County seeing some of Adam's family. It's always fun to see family, and this was extra special because we got to spend some quality time with our cousins Dave, Meredith, Sophia, Isaac, and new baby Max. Rylie loved getting to play with her cousins!

Rylie planting a wet one on Isaac.

Visiting with Great Grandma & Great Zadie. We also got to spend time with Saba and Safta on Saturday.

Rylie and Safta examining the fish in the Koi pond.

The koi pond had stepping stones to cross over from the main area to the center. Rylie loved jumping from stone to stone. Rylie loves sitting on curbs. I guess maybe because they are the perfect size for her. Rylie and Saba singing and clapping. One of my favorite things about Rylie (I have about a million of them) is that she finds humor in the littlest things. She cracks herself up constantly. I love that! Who knows what she is laughing about here!

Have I mentioned that Rylie loves dogs?

Enjoying the splash fountain and the carousel at Fashion Island. I don't know why, but I love this picture.

After a few days in the OC, we headed down to San Diego. We spent Sunday on the beach in Coronado. While not planned, Auntie Bethany, Uncle Jay, and cousins Jordyn and Micah were in San Diego too!

Rylie and Micah playing catch.

Rylie loved the beach and the ocean. She walked straight to the water, and went right in.She especially enjoyed eating sand :-)

We spent one day at Sea World which was absolutely fabulous. Our morning at Sea World started with Breakfast with Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang. We thought Rylie would enjoy this, given her recent obsession with Elmo, and basically anything Sesame. Rylie was so excited when we saw this sign as we approached the character breakfast.

Unfortunately, her excitement did not last! Surprisingly, Rylie was terrified of the characters. While it made for a long breakfast, it was reassuring to know that our little Rylie does have some fears (or at least one for now!) Rylie spent most of the breakfast chasing birds and running away from characters. We also went to the Sesame Street play area for a while. Rylie went on her first ride- Elmo's Flying Fish. Our first time on it was filled with a combination of blank stares and tears.

But as the ride ended, Rylie started giggling, clapping, and screaming "More!" We went back later in the day, and she loved the ride. She wouldn't even let me hold onto her. She kept pushing my arm off of her saying "No!"

Now for the real reason you go to Sea World...

Our little Rylie is definitely an animal lover. She really liked Shamu, and absolutely LOVED the dolphins. Before the Shamu show, we went down to check her out in her viewing tank. Rylie loved the Shamu show and surprisingly sat still the entire time.

We also saw the Dolphin Show, which Rylie loved, and the Pets Rule Show, filled with special tricks by dogs, cats, birds, and even a pig. At the end of the Pets Rule Show, we got to go to the stage to meet some of the stars. No pictures of those shows because we sat in the "Soak Zone." It was pretty hot by that point in the day, so the water felt really refreshing.

We also fed the sea lions!

The next day, we headed off to the Wild Animal Park.

Rylie and Daddy by the entrance to the Wild Animal Park. (The pictures from the blog might be misleading... Adam actually spends a great deal of time with Rylie. He just doesn't part with the camera much!)

We went on a really interesting tram ride called "Tour of Africa." The best part of this park is that the animals are roaming freely through a very large area designed much like their natural habitat (as much as you can make California feel like Africa!) Rylie loved the animals and said "Hi!" "Bye Bye" and blew kisses to EVERY animal we saw. It was pretty funny, though somewhat embarrassing because I don't think anyone could hear the tour guide over Rylie. Unless you include climbing in and out of the stroller or pushing it, Rylie really has no interest in the stroller. For that reason, the Ergo came in very handy!While the monkey used to be Rylie's favorite animal to imitate, now it is the duck. She walks around saying "Kack Kack" while flapping her arms.
And of course, the carousel. Rylie loves them. Thankfully Daddy can tolerate them better than Mommy- once around and I'm done! Daddy obliged to Rylie's "More!!!"

And now here we are back in Phoenix.

One last thing, special congratulations to the Ruopoli and Serra families!

Love to everyone...

A Very Special Playdate!

Some of you may remember that early on during our trip to Kazakhstan, we had to make a very difficult decision to part ways with our dog, Lucy. There were many reasons for our decision, but the primary ones were that the arrangements we had made for Lucy while we were gone were not working out, and Rylie's doctor believed she had significant allergies, possibly to animals, among other things. We wondered how they would really know this, given the fact that aside from the fish tank in the hallway, there are no animals in the Baby House. But given everything going on, we were so happy that our friend, Adam, who was watching Lucy was able to find her a home. And truly, a PERFECT home. Lucy is in a wonderful home, with a Mommy, Daddy, and 2 brothers. They all spoil her rotten. She is the mascot for one of the boy's little league teams, and she even has her own jersey! She goes to all of the soccer and baseball games. She runs freely through a beautiful backyard. And she gets a ton of attention. While I loved Lucy, I honestly could not be happier for her. It made me so happy to see how happy and loved she is.

Here are a few pictures of our playdate. I got a few really cute pictures of Lucy with her brothers, but until I get permission from Lucy's Mommy, I won't post pics of her brothers.

Rylie assessing Lucy from a distance.

Lucy giving Rylie kisses. Rylie was not so interested.

And then, just because I couldn't resist. Now that Rylie feeds herself with utensils, dinner has become very messy! Seriously, have you ever seen anything cuter?

Usually two utensils are used. The one in the left hand is the one that actually goes in the mouth, while the one in the right hand is primarily for back up.

Love to everyone...

Some Funny Stories...

As this blog in part will one day serve as a form of a journal/ baby book for Rylie, I have been meaning to write down a few stories. This is one of those entries that is more for the baby book than for anything else.

"BE-KA-POO!"

Rylie loves peekaboo/ hide and seek. She absolutely loves it. She covers her eyes and giggles uncontrollably. She jumps up from her hiding spot and giggles. She also now screams "Bee-Kah-Poo!" It is so funny. I know it would not be cute if she was 16 and said it like that, but I don't think she'll be playing peekaboo at 16. A big part of me hopes she never stops saying it this way.

Excess Food....

Rylie does not like to have food on her tray that she does not intend on eating. I often give her something new to taste and put 3 or 4 pieces down on her tray. If she tastes it and decides she doesn't like it, she will hand me the remaining pieces one by one (including the half chewed piece as well) and say "done" repeatedly while handing me each piece. This is in contrast to when she is finished with her meal. She will also say done, but if you do not remove her tray within 1.2 milliseconds, she will begin throwing her food on the floor- again, one piece at a time. We routinely tell her, while pointing to the floor, "No, no, no. Food stays on the table."

So the good news is Rylie has learned, the bad news is Rylie now throws her food on the floor and then proceeds to shake her finger back and forth at the food on the floor saying "no, no, no." It is really just so hard not to laugh.

Sensing the Parent/ Teacher Conference

Rylie is now 15 months old. Everyday at least one thing happens that makes me realize she is not an infant anymore and she is completely a toddler. So last week when I went to pick her up from camp, Rylie was sitting at the table eating snack with the other children. Her teacher starts telling me about something that happened at camp that day involving Rylie and another child. It really wasn't the end of the world, but suffice it to say, both got put in timeout. Rylie, who is usually very patient as I gather her stuff and chat with her teachers in the afternoon, was holding my keys, squirmed to get down, began waving bye bye and blowing kisses to her teachers, and pulled me by my finger to drag me towards the door for us to leave. Rylie has never done this before. We were laughing that at such a young age, Rylie could sense when Mommy and the teacher are talking about her.

Tuesday Afternoons at Barnes & Noble

It has become somewhat of a weekly tradition now that Rylie and I spend our Tuesday afternoons at the Barnes & Noble by our house. From 3-5 a woman from the Golden Retriever Rescue Association comes with her dog Rocky, a certified therapy dog, and hangs out in the children's section. Children can read to Rocky, play with him, pet him, or basically anything else. Rocky is so good and unbelievably patient with children.

We have been a few times over the past few months, but as of about a month ago, we have started to make this a weekly Mommy and Rylie tradition. We either bring our afternoon snack with us, or splurge and split a chocolate chip cookie.

To say that Rylie loves dogs is a bit of an understatement. She goes nuts every time she sees a dog. We have to remind her that we have to ask before we pet dogs. She doesn't say the word "dog," instead she just barks every time we see one. Actually she does that with most animals. I think the only one she says by name and sound is duck. Otherwise animals are referred to by sounds only: "baaa," "mooo," "ruff ruff," "neigh," "roar," and the newest one "sssss," for a snake.

Last week, Rocky was at Barnes & Nobles with Jake, another certified therapy dog who is in the process of getting the special certification for working with children. According to the two women there, Rocky was mentoring Jake. While Rocky is more of an "old man," Jake is very much a puppy. Rylie really enjoys playing with Rocky each week, but I could tell she really loved Jake's energy. Rylie loves identifying noses, both her own and everyone else's, and Jake's was no different. She loved that when she touched Jake's nose, his tongue came out and licked her! I told her to tickle his tummy. She tickled Jake's tummy and he loved it. Rylie then proceeded to lift her dress up and put her tummy in front of Jake's paws, presumably waiting for him to tickle her back. It was pretty funny. She loves getting kisses from the dogs and kisses them back.

Dada!

Dada was one of Rylie's first understandable words. She started saying it constantly in January. For a while, she used it pretty indiscriminately for Adam, and anything else that she couldn't identify. Over the past 4 months or so, it has pretty consistently just been for Adam. So when we were watching the NBA finals last month, every time Kobe Bryant would show up on the screen, Rylie would run up to the TV, point to Kobe, and scream "Dada! Dada!" This would happen multiple times during various games, but only when Kobe was on the screen.

I kept telling her that while we cannot be 100% certain, we're fairly confident that she is not biologically related to Kobe :-)

Other stuff...

Stranger anxiety has started to set in. Rylie is not clingy by any stretch of the imagination, but she has become more apprehensive about new situations than we have ever seen before. Not a good thing or a bad thing, just a new thing.

She is also starting to throw temper tantrums every now and then. Our free-spirited little princess is starting to show her independence in mind and body. This is very enjoyable for everyone. Thus far, only once have I had to carry her out of a store sideways with her screaming and every other person in the store staring at me. Good times.

Rylie has become obsessed with Elmo lately. We think Elmo has de-throned cheese, which was Rylie's previous obsession.

And since we got some comments inquiring about Rylie's height in the last posting, yes, Rylie is very tall. At her 15 month check up she measured 32 inches, which is in the 90th percentile.

And now some pictures....

Last weekend, we went to check out one of the pools at Nana and Pa's new place. They aren't out here yet, but we figured we'd scope out the place for them. The kids' pool is amazing. It is basically like a water park. Aside from the slides, there is a large portion of the pool that is only 18 inches deep. Rylie loved being able to wander freely through the pool. There is even a little splash fountain in part of it.
This girl LOVES the water!First time playing with Play Doh

Love to everyone...

We are continuing to enjoy our summer- and we're even getting a few cloudy days here and there. After 8 years on the Great Lakes, I never would have thought I would ever get so excited about white skies!

Adam just got back from just under two weeks in Israel. Rylie and I had fun, though I will say that I have the upmost respect for single parents- it is not an easy job! It was definitely interesting to see Rylie's response, even at such a young age, to her Daddy leaving for a bit. She became very clingy to me, which is far from her usual personality. This even included us becoming temporary roommates, slumber parties and all!

I think Rylie was a little mad at Adam when he came home, though the fact that he brought her an Elmo t-shirt definitely helped him work his way back!
Rylie was very tired and cranky at this point in the evening, but I wanted to get a picture of her new Shalom Elmo shirt!

I also got to celebrate my first birthday as a Mommy-

the big 3-0! I love this picture of Jordyn and Rylie. And Micah and Auntie Bethany.Rylie loves spending time with her two cousins. It is such a special treat that the three of them are growing up so closely and know each other so well. Rylie and Micah are in the same camp group and will be in the same class in the Fall.

One more picture from dinner- this one of Rylie and Avi. Jordyn took this picture. I thought it was pretty impressive for a three year old, so I didn't crop it or anything.

While I was in the middle of dusting Rylie's room, I had put many of her display pieces on the floor. Rylie came into the room and set up a little Shabbat table on her ottoman all by herself. We were cracking up watching her, though she had her back to us for most of it, so she didn't know we were watching. She babbled something that was not understandable and then picked up her Kiddish cup and began drinking.

She then picked up her Tzedakah (charity) box and looked at Adam and said "More." As a professional fundraiser for the Jewish community, Adam could not have been happier. It was pretty funny.

Until next time, love to everyone...

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

Little Miss Independent on Independence Day

Getting ready to go to "Aunt" Deborah and "Uncle" Jack's annual 4th of July BBQ.

Rylie played hard, swam a lot, and ate like a champ at the BBQ. She was so tired when we got home. I couldn't resist this picture. For those of you who are concerned, I did move her legs back into her crib. Rylie has taken a serious liking to playing with the football.

This is her Heisman Pose.

Rylie is very into "helping." No matter what it is. She especially loves to help moves clothes from the hamper to the washer, the washer to the dryer, and the dryer to the appropriate drawers/ closets. Here she is trying on Daddy's chef hat, preparing to help in the kitchen.

Rylie loves to read to herself, especially when she gets to sit in the glider all by herself. Morning hair!I just think this is too cute. Rylie goes to camp in her bathing suit each day, with a change of clothes packed in her bag. This is her ballerina bathing suit courtesy of Gigi. While I don't think tutus and ballet slippers are in our future, I think this picture is adorable!

Lastly, sending lots of love & good wishes to Jeremy and May Lynn on this special day. And a very Happy Anniversary to Nana and Pa celebrating their 37th anniversary!

Love to everyone...