Riley

Well, my baby has turned five years old. Wow...it is hard to believe Riley is already five and we are doing the preparation for school. I remember when we found out we were going to have another baby. My oldest had just turned 13 months old. Yes, I had a one year old and we were going to have another baby. It was just a little overwhelming. I remember wishing it would be a boy. We hadn't really cared with the first one and we didn't find out before hand if it was going to be a girl or a boy. But with the second baby and them being so close together, we told them that if they were 100% percent certain of the gender during the ultrasound then to go ahead and tell us. And they were 100% and it was another boy. I think I literally breathed a sigh of relief. Having two boys would certainly make it a little easier since we already have boys clothes and toys. And we kind of know what to expect with a boy, right?
Wrong....these two boys are night and day different. Jonah came out a very smiley baby however Riley, well, I think he saved his smiles for the first two years of his life for just a very few special people. He would go to various family members or friends and sit in their lap and watch others with a very somber face. He wasn't a baby who just laughed and smiled alot. About the two year mark though he must have decided that he had soaked in enough of the world and his personality begin to burst out. He is one of the smilingest (that's a word in blog land, right?), loveable, funny kids you will ever meet. He is friendly and never meets a stranger. If no one is around to talk to, well he will just talk to himself. I've watched him many times in his bedroom or on the porch, pretending to "work" on something and carry on complete conversations with himself. I do believe that his imagination is endless.
Riley loves to help. He loves to help daddy when he is mowing the grass; he loves to help mom cook in the kitchen, wash dishes (this would equal putting them in/out of the dishwasher), even clean up the house. He enjoys helping because that means there is someone to keep company and of course conversation. And as you know from my second blog post, the conversations can be quite interesting.
Riley is a home body too. One of his favorite things to do is to make brownies or cookies and then watch a movie in mom & dad's room. He loves water. He would spend hours in the bathtub if he could. And Splash Country in Pigeon Forge TN is his favorite place on earth. Even better than Disney World.
Riley loves to make me people laugh. And if he knows that something is "funny" then he will keep doing it or saying it as long as you continue to laugh. He love to tell a joke. Two of his favorite - one that Pastor Mike Campbell taught him about Pete & Repeat sittin' on a fence and the other one from the Madagascar 2 movie about good news and bad news. This enjoyment of making people laugh will probably lead him to being the class clown in school and getting in trouble. He will probably have hundreds of friends though. He's not normally one to get in trouble. However there are many times that he fails to listen to the instructions or warnings because he's making someone else laugh or talking. Lord help us!
Another neat thing is that Riley loves to be held. Still. My oldest son, Jonah, rarely wanted to be held at five years old. Even now, he doesn't spend much time sitting in your lap. He likes to sit beside you and is great at giving hugs. But Riley loves nothing better than to crawl in your arms, lay his head on your shoulder and be held. He thinks nothing of laying his head over on your lap in the restaurant booth and going right to sleep knowing that you're going to carry him to the car too. And when he looks up at you and asks to be held it makes you want to hold him. He has the most precious little face.
Wow....what a gift to be Riley's mom and enjoy him every single