... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : Riley aka "Squishy"

So – have you missed me? This is definitely the longest I have gone without an update and I will admit that there is no way I can catch up on the last 14 months. I have seen so much growth and change in them I feel certain I will not cover it all, but as Riley says “I did my best.” It feels like a whole new world these last few months and we have been working hard to get their lives back to normal and have some fun in the process.

There are so many words I can use to describe Riley: kind-heated, care free, serious, brave, feisty, charming, gentle, adorable, helpful, thankful, energetic, joyous, stubborn, sensitive, and the list goes on and on. She still likes to cuddle in the mornings, but now I fee like she is as long as me on the couch. She jumps at the opportunity to help me with anything around the house. She loves to share her things and wants everyone to be happy. Tonight, at the pool, she let multiple little girls try on her mermaid tail – her current most prized possession and the ONLY thing she wanted for her birthday. She laughs and smiles all the time – showing off the two teeth she lost just this week. Her exclamation of frustration is “ah chicken biscuits” and I have literally no idea where it came from but it is here to stay. She is brave and wants to ride all the roller coasters. She pushes herself to try new things and go outside of her comfort zone – until it becomes too much. She has a line that her anxiety has drawn in the sand that her mind will not let her cross, but (thankfully) she is much braver than I. She gets nervous in crowds and I feel certain that Covid has played a part in this. When she gets too overwhelmed, she holds my hand tight and will massage her little hand up and down my arm for comfort. Thankfully, it usually passes quickly when I am able to change her environment.

She made so much progress this year with her reading! She initially would get easily frustrated with herself and would refuse to continue, but with time and practice she loves to read and will even pick up books on her own. You can often find her reading a book on the front porch. Earlier this year we did notice that she was holding the books close to her face at times when she was reading and we scheduled an eye exam. She was pretty excited to pick out her pink glasses after finding out her eye muscles were weak causing her eyes to have difficulty focusing. With the help of the glasses, she may grow out of the need when her muscles are strengthened. Overall, we have been very lucky with both of them health wise. Riley’s only emergency doctor visits have been to the dentist and I think she has lost a total of 7 teeth – 2 of those being in the last week.

Riley loves playing sports. She started with softball during this past spring season and she really enjoyed herself. She earned a bit of a reputation due to her leaping throw as the catcher. She has a little hop to her step every time she threw the ball and the crowd loved it. She has asked to play softball again in the fall so we will see if she has made progress in her skills – we definitely need to work on her hitting. She also played soccer this spring, so we were extra busy for a few weeks when the sports overlapped. She still enjoys her dance classes and she puts her whole heart into it, but she doesn’t seem to enjoy it as much as she likes that activity of sports. She was in an amazing Girl Scout Troop this year and earned herself about a million patches. She sold a ton of cookies and went out of her comfort zone and even sold cookies at a stand set up outside the grocery store a few times.

When she is at home, her favorite thing to do is to draw and design. She likes to draw “fashion” and outfits and mermaids. She puts together crafts and necklaces – both from kits and using her own imagination. She plays with her Barbies and dolls and has a great imagination when it comes to her play. She rotates her affection when it comes to her stuffed animals and will have a favorite of the day. She likes to paint her fingernails and put on pretend make – up. She likes to play family board games and make up her own games for us to play. She and Landon create scavenger hunts for us to find objects around the house. She does like to play video games – Animal Crossing and MineCraft seem to be the current favorites. We got them an OSMO for Christmas and some new games for their birthday and she likes to play those games as well. If playing outside, she loves to ride her bike and Pat has taken her on a few “mountain bike” rides in the past months. She likes to draw outside with the sidewalk chalk and the neighbors have made comments on her art when out on their walks – she really is a pretty good artist. She likes to sit outside on the back porch – especially when it is raining. She might get that one from me, I like the sound of a light rain and find it relaxing. She does not mind playing alone and will go up to her room and play with her toys by herself.

There is still very little that she won’t eat. She loves to eat steak and she will eat everything once. Her favorites include cheese stuffed crust pizza, chicken nuggets, carrots and hummus, grapes, and flavor blasted goldfish. She would snack all day long if we let her honestly. She loves dessert, but doesn’t really like chocolate – she would rather have a rainbow sherbet or a sno-cone. Her drink treat of choice is Sprite and she gets super excited when we allow it at a restaurant. She mostly likes to drink water or juice, but did develop a taste for Gatorade during her sports. My main goal is to limit the sugar and I am not always successful – ha ha.

All in all, this past year has been a little hard for her due to her increased anxiety, but at the same time I have seen so much growth. She has grown into her personality and it is so much fun having a conversation. She has a memory like a trap and will recall things we talked about weeks ago. She does repeat her questions a lot, but I know that is part of her anxiety and her need for reassurance. She is a very sweet and kind little girl and I am excited to see what the next year brings for her.