The Eye of the Storm

I suppose the title of this post could be interpreted in two ways:

1) We are quickly approaching the Clumpster's arrival and although being preggo and keeping up with a 2 year old ain't no easy feat, the thought of having a real deal newborn to take care of in a few short weeks (6-8 weeks- eeek!) is downright terrifying. So, is this the eye of the storm that awaits us come March/April? We think so.

2) Riley has taken us to the pit of despair and anguish in tantrum-ville and back this week- not sure what happened but somehow he found his "evil" switch that seems to turn our sweet, fun-loving little guy into a downright little monster in the blink of an eye. It's been absolutely unbearable on some occasions but as of this weekend, the tantrum-fest is on hiatus? The eye of the storm, or perhaps our "tough love" strategies of just letting him freak out and not giving in, is working. Only time will tell I suppose..

Current exciting "Riley news"?

-Riley still wants a sister, unfortunately, he still wants that sister to arrive "with a penis"- he seems pretty excited, although we know he doesn't really comprehend what he is in store for once that little bean comes home! Jim brought up the 0-3 month baby bin this afternoon so we could wash/check everything out and he squealed, "I'm so excited"!
- He loves cooking- we made pudding this weekend and are going to attempt to make "X: and "O" sugar cookies this week for his Valentine's party on Friday at school.
- Apparently, the boy loves his shrimp as he ate 4 rather larger crustacean friends out of the pad thai Jim made for dinner last night and he couldn't get enough of my shrimp salad toast points at brunch today.
- Snow is pretty much heaven for Riley- unfortunately, his delinquent parents failed to buy him any proper snow gear this winter so we've been straight up WT-ing out on the front lawn! There is a cemetery by the school I teach at that has some awesome sledding hills, so next year, watch out!
- His current favorite tv shows/movies are "Toot and Puddle", "Snow White"- this was after a weekend with Grammy and Poppy while Jim and I whooped it up in Boston, and "America's Funniest Videos"
- He's talking up a storm- he's got a pretty solid vocabulary, which doesn't necessarily there aren't plenty times in the day where we don't know what the heck is saying/asking for, but our family, friends and even sometimes strangers comment on his verbal abilities, so it's kind of nice to hear.

Anyway, here's some recent pics b/c what's a post without some visuals, eh?
SNOW!


Visit with The Croccos and Wojciechowiczs! Riley still asks to see Baby Dorian!


Is Riley copping a feel or trying his hand at pickpocketing?

Baby John and his cheesy poofs!

Riley getting a kick out of cousin!

Potty cuteness...I wish there was more to discuss on the potty front but it's still sort of an after thought for Sir Riles. We don't push it and he feigns interest so we're waiting until he really wants to get going on the potty training front.