Teens X 2 - Memory 2

In a few days, my middle man, Riley Lance will be 13 years old. I blinked and my rambunctious boy has become a teenager. Join me over the next several days in a walk down Riley's memory lane as we lead up to this special birthday...  

Memory 2 - Riley was such a sweet, happy baby!  His face lite up in a smile if you just looked his way.  I wrote in his baby book that he had "miles of smiles" and his smiles were "big, bright, and contagious."  I nicknamed him Smiley Riley... 

 

    Alas, all good things must come to an end. Riley hit his terrible twos at the early age of 15 months and my, oh my they lasted a llllooonnggg time.  I changed his nickname from Smiley Riley to Riley Roo, because he was like a little bouncy kangaroo.  My beautiful boy became quite the terror.  I cried myself to sleep most nights wondering what I was doing wrong, and thinking I was raising a menace to society!  Riley knew how to throw a professional temper tantrum.  The roll in the floor, scream to the top of your lungs, kick, bite, and fight kind of tantrum.  He felt quite comfortable to do this anytime and anyplace; church, the doctor's office, the store, relatives homes, friend's homes, and especially restaurants.  I remember several times when we would order our dinner and Riley would decide that he did not want to be there.  After letting the entire restaurant know how unhappy he was, I decided to sit in the car with him while Clark enjoyed his dinner and fed Avery.  Of course, I sat out there and cried.  We finally gave up on eating out.  Riley attended a Mother's Day Out program 2 days a week, and sadly, they asked us to leave due to Riley biting everyone in his class including his sweet elderly teacher.  I can laugh about it now, but I was not laughing then.  I was crying.  ALL the time.   Riley's Grandma and Nana were praying, for both Riley and me.  And guess what?  We made it!!  At the age of 3.5 my mean, cute, little monster was replaced by the calmest, sweetest boy anyone could ask for.  As Nana Presson always says, "This too shall pass."

A few pics of my lil' menace.

 

 
Can't you just see meanness all over that face?  I would love to be able to give it a smooch one more time!