Don't be fooled by the title, Riley is a perfect 3 year old and she is wise beyond her, few, years. But being at home all the time with Andi & I can get a little boring for a toddler, and she doesn't get much interaction with other kids her age or especially an authority figure other than family members.
In August, my mom asked if she could take Riley to a class that was available for kids around Riley's age while my brother went to tutoring. She said that it was a developmental class where they would learn things like numbers, letters, shapes, and even beginning writing. Riley knew most of these things, so I thought it would be worth a shot and my only concern was if she would behave. I didn't know how she would do in a setting where she would have to follow instructions from a stranger (it is a drop off class so she wouldn't have my mom or I there) and not try and get into things, so I was kind of worried for her 1st day. My mom took her while I stayed home with Andi & Amelia- I was little disappointed that I wasn't able to take her to her 1st day of "school" but she was really excited and I knew she would enjoy herself, so that made me feel better. She came back home with all of her papers and proud smile showing me what she learned in "school" that day. I was so proud of her for doing such a great job and staying alone, and following instructions from the teacher!
Since then, she's been improving so much! She's only had 1 day where she didn't listen to the teacher that well, but she's been a really good "student". She now goes 3 days a week (M-W) for an hour and a half, and looks forward to Donut Day on her last day. Now that I don't watch Mila anymore, I can take her 2 of the days and my mom takes her the other. She has definitely improved in tracing her letters, and matching pictures that are the same/opposite. She also has been singing the days of the week at home while she plays with her toys, which is awesome because I've tried to teach her that before and she didn't quite catch on.
Her teacher always has positive feedback for us when we pick her up, and says that Riley is very studious and always gets her work done. She also likes to play with the toys in the classroom before and after their class.
We're so proud of you, Riley! You're such a big girl!!!!
Back in
April, Ruben joined his co-worker’s baseball team. Honestly, I’m surprised he
didn’t join some kind of weekend sport sooner! They have games every Sunday and
occasionally the team will practice or go to the batting cages together. Ruben
joined at the end of a season so he only played in 3 games before their Summer
season started. Since the new season, they’ve played 4 games and have won 2.
Ruben has been doing really well and is now batting 1st! All of
their games are in Carson at various parks and are usually at 8am, 11am or 2pm.
If he has an 8am game, Riley, Andi and I usually stay home because I don’t like
having to wake up two sleeping (and cranky) babies! We did it once, and it did
not work out very well.
Keeping a
toddler and a baby occupied for 2 ½ hours/9 innings is a job, in and of itself.
It’s taken trial and error, but I’ve worked out a good system- I usually pack a
lunch bag full of snacks for Riley to have while we’re there and she will sit
in her stroller and watch Ruben play/eat her snacks/play with whatever toys we
bring. If the playground is close to the baseball field, I will take her over
and let her play for a while and then we’ll go back and wait for the game to
end. 90% of the time, Andi will sit in her car seat and play with her toys and
I will also sit her on my lap and she’ll hang out with us until she gets tired.
I will also carry her in our Ergo if I feel that’ll be easier. This past time I
actually tried something new and put Andi in the stroller to play with her toys
and let Riley sit next to me on the bleachers. It worked for Andi, but Riley
was all over the place which made it hard for me to watch both of them. Lucky
for me, our friend Azalea (Ruben's co-worker's girlfriend) is there every
Sunday so she always helps me out with my two little rascals. Thank you,
Azalea!!
It’s been
fun to watch Ruben do something he enjoys and support him/cheer him on during
his games. I also love how it has become a “family routine” every week, and
Riley always looks forward to going to the park to “watch Daddy play baseball”.
It’s cute to watch her try and talk to Ruben while he’s playing and she’ll even
yell from the stands “Go Daddy!” or “Come on, JR!” Hahaha!
It’s been 2
months since we’ve moved into our first family home, and so far so good! I
think. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t miss living with more people, or that
we like having more responsibilities, or that we liked cleaning every inch of
this apartment… because, come on, who likes to clean!? But it has been an
adventure for all of us, and it’s allowed us to work better as a team. And
we’re also learning how to budget our money better and spend our time together
more wisely. Being able to sit in your own living room, on your couch and watch
TV with the most special people in your life every single night is an amazing
feeling.
It’s been
getting warmer lately so we’ve been getting good use out of all of the fans in
our apartment. We got lucky though because we don’t get any direct sunlight
until the sun is setting, so most of the heat that we get is just from the
temperature throughout the day. Our room is usually the coolest place the whole
day which is nice for the kids when they’re taking their naps.
We’ve met
most of our neighbors (briefly) and even gained 2 new ones since we’ve moved
in. There’s only one other neighbor that has grandkids at her place every day,
otherwise, Riley & Andi are the only kids in this complex. I hope they
aren’t too loud :/ Using the laundry room is kind of difficult (and a little
annoying) when you have to share it with so many people. It also isn’t great
for big loads, so I find myself doing our laundry at Ruben’s parents’ house
most of the time. They’re only down the street, anyway!
I think my
favorite part of having our own place, so far, is being able to entertain our
friends when we want. We’ve had several people over for dinner, UFC fights, and
Sunday family dinner. We also get random visitors from time to time J
Though we’ve
been here for 2 months, we’re still adjusting to life on our own.
