Ms Helpy Helperton

My little one takes care of everyone. After she discovered my injured toe she was very distressed. She gave it a pat and a kiss and made sure everyone was very careful around Mommy. She loves to rock and feed her babies. To be clear, everything is a baby to Riley. She is equally happy to push a baby doll or stuffed animal in her stroller as she is to push bunny shaped sidewalk chalk or a picture of a baby. It's in her blood to be a nurturer. I used to carry band aids and Tylenol at all times even when I was single. I often baked cookies for my coworkers and my first car was a station wagon.

Today I pulled a t-shirt and shorts out of pile of hand-me-downs my friend's daughter gave me. I didn't even look at it until I sat down in the living room and Riley pointed to me. It turned out it was a black shirt with Joker from Batman drawn on it. I started to wonder if maybe it was scary. Miss Roo toddled over to me. She made her fakest fake cry, as it turned out on behalf of the scary clown on Mommy's shirt. She then proceeded to "share" her chicken nuggets. After she had made the appropriate eating sounds she noticed crumbs from Joker's "snack". When Riley sees a mess she doesn't just say the word in her sweet little high pitched voice she says it in a low gravely voice that reminds me of the “ Whaaaaaat's Up!” guys. So having exclaimed, "mess!" she immediately started brushing off my shirt. So helpful.

She's also very concerned about where things go. The other day she brought me a sample paint container and paint brush. I smiled and politely requested she put them back. Hours later I wondered into my room excepting to find the items in the middle of the floor. To my surprise she had put them back in exactly the same spot they came from. Amazing. Not a lot of toddlers are actually helpful very often, despite their best efforts.

Aside from being nurturing, tidy and very sweet Riley is also mechanically inclined. She helped Daddy put together the new lawnmower. She brought him his screwdriver, which she can correctly identify thanks to Handy Manny. She brought him instructions, wheels, the bottle of oil it was adorable. They were like a surgeon and scrub nurse. She was very taken with the oil bottle she brought the empty bottle (with the lid screwed tightly on) over to the flower bed and "oiled" the flowers. She is only one after all, but her heart was in the right place