SOOOOOO close...

Woke up to find this… 

You’re surprised, I know. 

 

8 hours earlier…

G and I were heading to bed. It was just after midnight…a little later than usual. Riley was already downstairs on the couch. I went to tuck him in.  

I wasn’t in bed but 5 minutes when I heard what sounded like a crash. I waited. I listened. Nothing.

A few minutes passed but my curiosity got the better of me so I went to investigate.

Riley was still tucked in on the couch but immediately said when I came down “What are you doing down here?”  All seemed to be okay so I headed back to bed. 

 

This morning…

As soon as I came downstairs, I noticed the tree. How could you not?!?!  Well…actually…G did not notice.

We were sooooooooo close!!! 

I called Riley making sure my voice was calm and steady.

He came down and was visibly upset.

I did not have to say a word. He immediately started repeating “It crashed! It broke!! I BROKED IT!!” Then he started slapping his head.

At times like this, he will let me hug him. It is hard to see him so distraught.

As much as we try…HE tries…there are times when he just can not help himself. And so we let it go. It’s just an ornament and the tree has to be undecorated at some point. My only concern is that he may hurt/cut himself trying to clean up the broken shards of glass.

*Lightbulb moment*   

Perhaps next year I will suggest we do it together during day light. Really…I’m not new here. But what confuses me the most…why the heck has nobody thought to do this before either?!?!?

 

From our family to yours… 

Stay safe and may we be able to get closer than 6’ to our loved ones in 2021!

 

Christmas 2019 is a wrap…

We’ve had company staying with us since Christmas Eve so we have been busy enjoying the holiday festivities and I have been off of social media for the most part.

Not to say there have not been any worthy posts. Oh…there have my friends. Lucky for you, I thought to take pics. 

So to recap…here’s how Christmas 2019 went down in Riley World in pictures…

J1 and J2 spent the night so they would be here to start “opening presents” promptly at 9:30am. Both boys were out celebrating until the early hours of the 25^th. One of them was genuinely excited. The other two were genuinely faking it.  

By 9:58am, Riley had disappeared upstairs with his stash.

By 10:00am, J1 and J2 had disappeared back to bed.

J1 was occupying R’s space downstairs. Riley made it perfectly clear that he was not thrilled. “How many nights is J1 staying?  He’s STAYING isn’t he.”  We tried to assure him it was only for the one night. 

After brunch J1 went downstairs to get packed up and found this…

Not unusual for Riley to put things “back to normal”.

I guess it was past check-out time because R had moved all of J1’s things into the bathroom. 

Unfortunately, Fred got sick and we had to play musical beds on the 27^th. The change in routine started the countdown to when they would be leaving. “How many more nights are they staying? 5 more nights??” followed every morning since with the number of nights. Being tactful is not a Riley World strong suit.

Last year we negotiated leaving the tree decorated until January 1^st and it worked!  So, this year I was pretty confident that he would leave the tree decorated until January 2^nd (after our friends leave).

We woke up on the 29^th to this…

Not undecorated but not quite decorated either.

This morning (December 31^st)…

I guess all the changes were too much after all. 

From our family to yours, may 2020 bring all things good...health, happiness and love!

5...More...Sleeps...

Look at that face.  Is that not the face of anticipation??

Last night was the “Special O” Christmas bowling night where the big man shows up to “surprise” everybody. It was at this event 7 years ago that Riley surprised us all and went up to sit with Santa for the very first time.

Ever since, he has never looked back. At age 20, we even got our first Mall Santa picture.

Riley was eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival. He was ready. He knew what to do…the same thing they have done for the past 6 years. They would call his name, he would bound up to sit on Santa’s knee and the conversation would go EXACTLY like this:

Santa:  What’s your name big fella?
R:  My name’s Riley Tucker.
Santa:  And what would you like for Christmas?
* At this point, Riley would recite his entire Christmas list *  This year's list...
R:  Frosty the Snowman the original TV classic with the cover from Amazon I found it a DVD player 3 movie Illumination Despicable Me 1, 2 and 3 Shrek the Ultimate Collection Madagascar the Ultimate Collection Cheaper by the Dozen 1 and 2. 
Santa:  I’ll see what I can do for you.

This year…well…*gulp*…they did things a little differently. To be more efficient, they called up the teams one at a time and everyone got to sit on Santa’s knee and have a picture taken. There was not a lot of chit chat. I saw things slowly slipping sideways.

This was very confusing for Riley. He had been waiting patiently to have his “conversation” with Santa. He went up, sat on Santa's knee and waited for Santa to start.

Only he didn't. He smiled for the camera. And then he waited. 

Some awkward silence.

Santa gave him his cookie which basically was the “get off my knee and move along” gesture. Riley World has a hard time understanding gestures. So…Riley sat there still waiting.

Look how excited he is about the cookie.

More awkward silence.

And just as I was about to call Riley down, Santa asked “What would you like for Christmas?” followed by the “I’ll see what I can do for you.”

With that...all was right in Riley World and he had his jacket on and was out the door in the blink of an eye. 

Wishing you all a wonderful & safe holiday season!! 

Million Dollar Smile....and it only cost me $10

One would think after almost 18 years I would know what makes Riley World tick. All the subtleties. Every little nuance. One would think.

And then…BAM!  Right in the face….a reality check.

One of the things on Riley’s Christmas list was “The Grinch CD.”

Every time I saw him, he would specify “The Grinch. Just the disc.” Of course I knew what he meant. Duh!!  He wanted “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” DVD! Just like all the others on his list. Why he specifically kept saying “Just the disc” for that one and only item…surely slip of the tongue.

And then…

Last week he came downstairs with this in hand…

*25W lightbulb turns on*

Me:  OHHHHHH...You wanted the CD!
R:  …....
*I’m sure he was thinking…ummmm…yea!*
Me:  I’m sorry.
R:  That’s okay!  
Me:  You wanted the AUDIO CD. You wanted the one that tells the story.
R:  *relieved voice*  Ohhhhhh-kay.
Me:  I made a mistake. Sorry about that.
R:  Did you make a mistake??  You made a mistake. That’s ok.

So last Friday we went to try and ummmmm…rectify MY mistake.

We looked in all the shelves. No luck. I told Riley we could buy it online but first we would ask at the front desk. After looking it up, the young man said he would go check in the back.  

I didn’t have a lot of hope but we waited patiently.

And then….

R ...“HE FOUND IT!!”

I hadn’t even noticed he had come out. I was doing everything I could, short of jumping over the aisle, to see if he had anything in hand.

Sure enough…

As we waited to pay, R kept repeating “HE FOUND IT! Now it’s perfect!” 

R's not one for pics...but I asked him to show me his "Happy Face"

Christmas 2014 is a Wrap!!!

So has everybody recovered from the copious amounts of food and drink consumed this past week or so? Moi??  Ummm…that would be no……a definite no. My lounge pants are no longer comfortable and even my skin hurts. This is not good. Not good at all.

This cartoon (shared on FB by my friend Danielle) pretty much sums it up only the date of the second picture is wrong! It should read 26 December. 

Image Credit

This year Christmas in Riley World was filled with a number of “firsts”!  

1. After the first couple of days Riley opened all the following days of his Advent calendar on his own. 
   


2. Bringing up all the decorations.
   


3. Actively taking part in decorating the tree.
   


4. Getting his picture taken with a Mall Santa.
   

Come Christmas morning Riley waited patiently in his room until 9am!! No small feat considering he usually gets up before 5am. Santa delivered with 5 DVDs and a Birdo stuffie (a Nintendo Mario character). Most of the other items on his list were covered by family with the exception of one DVD, which was ordered but did not arrive in time.

By the time G and I got up on Friday the 26^th, Riley had undecorated the tree all by himself. 

Obviously presents are done therefore Christmas must be finished.

Any evidence of Christmas was removed from his visual schedule as well. 

Now remember the one DVD that was on his list, that was ordered but did not arrive in time??  Guess what he put on his Birthday list which was started on…you got it…December 26^th. 

His birthday is in June.  :(

Happy Holidays from Riley World!!

All he wants for Christmas are the same DVDs!

For YEARS Riley was so NOT interested in Christmas, birthdays, the Easter bunny or any other special occasion. Sure we bought and wrapped gifts, hid eggs, and dressed him up in costumes that he would ummmm…tolerate. So WHY on earth did put ourselves through all that agony?!? I have absolutely no idea.

And then…about the time when kids stop believing in Santa or wanting to go hunting for eggs or wanting to go trick or treating…it happened.

It was Christmas Eve. Riley was around 10-11. We heard a sound coming from the other room. It sounded like…paper…being torn. We were most confused. There in the middle of the room was Riley ripping the paper off a present…for someone else.  :O

This year Christmas has been on Riley's mind for quite some time. First came the list. Then more lists with more items (all DVDs). I tried to explain to Riley that he already had most of the DVDs on his list so he may not get everything on his list. 

A few days later I noticed Riley “tidying” his room (although R’s definition of tidying and mine are not exactly the same). Then I found 'some' DVD's in my bathroom garbage. 65 to be exact! 

The next day I found 25 more and he probably still has ~50+ left. What the heck was going on?!?!

Now I am 99% sure there was absolutely nothing wrong with the DVDs...in MY eyes. There was, however, something not right with them in R's eyes.

You may be asking yourselves:

1)      Why does he have SO many DVDs?

2)      Are they all different?? 

3)      Where are the covers?

And of course the million dollar question…

4)      Why do you keep buying him the same DVDs over and over again?

Well to answer your questions:

1)      When Riley was little he asked for virtually nothing. So when he actually started asking for specific DVDs we were thrilled! Luckily for us most of the DVDs could be found in the $5 bin and so we made every effort to give him what he asked for (within reason).

2)      Of course not. There are multiple copies of the same DVD. Haaallooo!?!

3)      The covers have a shelf life of about 3 days. The plastic cover is ripped off within a day or two and the paper jacket stays intact for about 1 day before being torn apart and discarded in the nearest garbage. And no...I have absolutely no idea why he does this.

4)       Could you turn down this face???

3 more sleeps to go....

Our 1st EVER Mall Santa Photo!!!

To be fair…J2 never wanted his picture taken with a mall Santa either. Sure we had one taken his first Christmas (he was almost 1) when he didn’t know any better.

Doesn't he look thrilled.

After that…NO WAY JOSE!  He would stand a good distance away and yell his ‘wish list’  (which consisted of Duplo and apple pears) to Santa. Oh how I wish his list was the same now.  *sigh*

So it was with great relief that we never had to think about taking Riley to sit on Santa’s knee. But…and there is always a but…back in the days when there was a company kids Christmas party complete with Santa and presents? Yah.  That.  J2 would bravely go up and sit on Santa’s knee. After all…there was a present involved. Riley?? Ummmmm…not so much.  

Age 3

Age 4 - The closest we got was the edge of the stage.
You may notice my teeth are clenched and I had the vise grip on R. ;)

Two years ago Riley surprised us. At his Special Olympics Christmas bowling night Santa made a surprise visit. G and I were naturally freaking out as R had never, EVER wanted to go near Santa. When they called his name we were prepared for him to refuse to go up. And then it happened. Riley bounded up out of his seat and onto Santa’s knee with THE biggest smile on his face. 

Never say never.

Today Riley and his cousin Sara went Christmas shopping together. I hinted to Sara that R may be willing to get his picture taken with Santa. Look what they brought home. LOOOOK!!!!!

My eyes...MY EYES!!!
I think I have something in MY EYES!!!

She said Santa was most impressed with Riley's Christmas list. Why yes. Of course he recited a number of his DVDs. Not his entire list but enough to impress Santa.  

Our SECOND Christmas Miracle!!  :D

The Never-Ending List...

It started back in October. 

The Christmas list. 

5 items.

Riley tried to add a 6^th but I vetoed that pretty darn fast. No. Just NO!
There will be NO Teletubbies in this house EVER again.

Slowly the list began to grow…

and grow…

and grow some more until.....

Nice try Riley!     

A Christmas Miracle???

It started on November 12^th. As soon as Remembrance Day was “finished”…the next ‘day of Observance’ in Riley World was THE topic of conversation.  Daily.  Hourly.  Oh heck…every time I saw him.  :O

It goes something like this…“Christmas is coming. In December it is Christmas. What’s in December? Christmas. I need to wait patiently to open my presents. What do I need to wait?  Patiently.”   Ad nauseam.   Over and over and over again.  *sobbing*

This is because all things in Riley World revolve around statutory holidays/specials days/special events. It has been this way since……forever.

On December 1^st the outside lights HAD to be up. Come rain, shine, sleet, hail or snow…the lights MUST be up and ready to be turned on. I stalled as long as I could bought myself some time and promised Riley that the tree/decorations would go up this weekend after I had time to ummmm tidy up the living room. Who am I kidding…our house will never be tidy.  :(

So after G & R left for R’s Special Olympics swimming class this morning…because I am *written in sarcasm font* an awesome autism mom and would like nothing better to do with my TIME ALONE than to clean, vacuum and dust…I downed my coffee and dragged dusted off  got out the vacuum cleaner. Don’t get me wrong…I LOVE Christmas! Only…NOT first thing on a Saturday morning. Just sayin’…

And then…Riley came home. The clouds parted and the angels started to sing. He happily ran up and down the stairs bringing up (one at a time of course) tubs and boxes of decorations. The entire time pleased as punch with himself.

Now Riley had been talking incessantly excitedly about wanting to decorate the tree with dad for weeks on end. Yet he has never…EVER wanted to touch the tree so I seriously had my doubts. Last year we had moved a step closer with Riley “directing” G where to hang the decorations.

And then…the skies were bright blue and the angels WERE SCREAMING!!

LOOOOOOOOOOK. AT. HIMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE'S TOUCHING THE TREE AND EVERYTHING!  YES...I KNOW I'M TYPING IN CAPS BUT THIS DESERVES ALL CAPS!!!

20 years old and Riley WANTED to decorate the tree!!

Our Christmas Miracle...indeed!  <3

Wrapping Up Christmas 2013

Finally! As of yesterday Christmas was officially over in our house. Granted Christmas was finished in Riley World on January 2^nd…hey undecorating the tree is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ummmmm....yah...thanks Ri.

So just to bring a little blog closure to 2013…here was how our December went down.

December 2^nd:  Tree decorating. First time EVER that Riley wanted to “participate” in decorating the tree…sorta. R did not want to touch or place any decorations on the tree. However he was a very good director and G was a very good placer. 

December 8^th:  My mom treated my sister, R and me to Odysseo by Cavalia. 

R slept through the entire first half. He woke up at intermission and was ready to leave. We didn’t. He proceeded to whine through most of the second half. The conversation on the way out:

R: That was fun!!
Gma: Did you enjoy that Riley?
R: Yes grandma. I enjoyed that.
Auntie S: Did you like it Riley?
R: Yes Auntie S...I liked it.

Oh really.  *smh* 

December 12-14^th:  Since we are on a “gap year” in Riley World we decided to take to the air/road. The three of us (J2 is not on a gap year therefore had to stay home and work…boo hoo) decided to head south for some sun and fun just before Christmas. First stop was Viva Las Vegas. It was National Rodeo week and J1 was playing so what better excuse than to go see him.

December 14-19^th:  We headed west to sunny and warmer Palm Springs for 5 nights. We have some very generous friends who let us stay at their home away from home. My cousin/husband joined us for the weekend and G got in 4 rounds of golf while R and I lazed around the pool. 

December 23^rd:  Riley got his first ride in an ambulance. That was fun. NOT! Since this is an entire blog post in itself…here are the Coles notes: he almost passed out; he has a history of seizures (although he has never had a grand mal); I was alone with him; I panicked; after 2-1/2 hours in emergency we came home and he slept for the next 15 hours. He was better by Christmas morning.
 

December 25^th:  Christmas dinner at my sister’s. A deeeeeelicious turkey dinner was enjoyed by all. Well. Almost all of us.   

Click here or on the pic to watch the video.

You know you want to.  :)

December 26^th:  A fatality in Riley World. After the discovery of R’s beloved Puppy’s remains and a day of shock and dismay (mine), we celebrated the life of Puppy. 

December 30^th:  Santa surprised G and sent him back with J1 to his new home in Nashville for 5 days. I'm not sure who was more excited about that...G or me?!?  I kid...I KID!!!  

2014 has already seen some changes in Riley World that I am excited to share with you. Here’s to more forward than backward steps and as always wine laughs, lots and lots of wine laughs.

Cheers!!!  Di

2014 Starts NOW!

GAH!!! Is it already the 4^th of January!!  As I seem to be having a harder and harder time multi-tasking prefer to live in the moment…my blog was one of the first things to fall by the wayside last month. I do plan on sharing all our Kodak moments but for now a quick little post to let you know we are still alive and kicking.

December came and went in a flurry of activities. We had a few “FIRSTS” in Riley World which is always cause to celebrate. On December 2^nd Riley helped G decorate our tree and unbeknownst to me…Christmas was finished in Riley World on January 2^nd.

So come Monday Riley World will be back in full swing. Give me strength.  :)

FINALLY!!!!!

Here's to a Happy Holiday Season!!!

Lucky me got an early Christmas present last week from my new favourite niece GJ! Imagine my surprise when I opened the box (which I thought was one of R's Christmas presents that I had ordered) and in it was something for ME! Could there be anything better suited???  I think not. At a time when one might have a tendency to have a little too much cheer...this will ensure that I maintain a one glass limit.  

My NEW glass on the left holds an entire bottle of wine!

From our family to yours...have a wonderful, holiday season!