Figuring stuff out

I'll start with a slightly old bit of video, for your viewing pleasure. This is from Christmas morning, and I finally had a chance to edit it! Here's more from that day.



OK, here are some new things that have been happening. Riley just figured out yesterday how to buckle those backpack clips. All on her own. Now she does it over and over again. She's been working on it for about 3 days, and today she nailed it. And, of course, she clipped a little piece of skin in it. I think that happens to me every time I clip one. But she practices every time she sees one of those things. Fortunately, I don't think she can unbuckle them yet.

When we're out and she sees a stroller, she yells and points, "baby!". If she gets to visit a baby up close, she always give a hug and a kiss.

When she bites me, I always react "Ow! That's not nice, and it hurts mommy!". She immediately gives me a hug and a kiss on the lips. She's been doing this a lot lately, like she's playing mommy, and trying to help me to feel better. Now, she frequently points to different parts of her body and says "ow!". It seems she likes it when I kiss her to make her feel better if she gets hurt or falls or something (even if she's faking, just to get a hug and kiss).

Now, it seems I don't have to put her in her high chair anymore. I turned around from making her oatmeal the other day, and there she was... up in the high chair, turning around to sit down. Scary... this photo shows her just after her accomplishment, but doesn't really do the climb justice. Guess I need to set up a Riley cam to catch these things on video!



Yesterday, we went to the mall. We used our gift certificates that daddy gave us for Christmas to get new Vans. And, of course, we had to stop by the Disney store. With all the stuff in that store, all she wanted to do was tug this little Tinkerbell suitcase around. I've been wanting to get her her own little suitcase for a while, so I thought this was a good time. And, it matches her favorite sparkly disco shoes. Here she is, wearing her new Vans, hugging her new suitcase:



And here are my shoes. They're the featured shoe on Vans girls website, which sucks, cause now everyone will have them. But Russell was impressed that I chose such a cool shoe (I've been quite a bit out of the fashion sense since I got pregnant):



Today, we went swimming for the first time in like, probably 3 months. I told Russell, I think someone has been kidnapping Riley and taking her swimming all along... she was more of a fish than ever. And more fearless than ever... I always stand her up on the edge of the pool, and she steps off into my arms. Sometimes i put her under, and she loves it. Today, I put her on the edge, and she ran about 5 feet down the pool and ran right off the edge into the water. Rubbed her ankle on the edge a little and went about a foot under, but came up laughing her head off. She's so freakin' independent, now I'm really scared! Nobody was there to take photos today, so here's an old swimming photo:



She always likes to play with pots and utensils while I'm cooking in the kitchen (another instance where she tries to be like mommy). Tonite, I gave her my strainer, and here's what she did with it.



And how about this?! The latest from Hello Kitty. Or, in this case, "Good-bye Kitty". What's next?