I have to apologize, October has been nuts for our family. Many new and exciting things happening. I am going to try my best to recap the month. :) Warning.......PICTURE HEAVY!
We attended the Buddy Walk again this year. We had the opportunity of setting up a table there and spreading the word about Service Dogs to the Down Syndrome Population for the Portland/Salem area. Again a great Buddy Walk. Team Riley grew this year! We had Trisha Jennings and family of Sunset Goldens of Oregon there with Butter to support us, The Breck and Sara Meyer family also attended with their 8 children who all love Riley dearly. Also ran into Jenny and Tarik who stayed with us! Highlight of this trip was the fact that Riley got his face painted. You all have NO idea what that meant. Riley is highly sensitive. He hates his hair, face, etc touched, messed with. He would scream if you would try and get his face painted. Riley calmly sat for about 40 minutes with Crystal Meyer and watched as other children got their faces painted by Blossom the Clown. Finally it was his turn. He got up, sat in the Blossom's chair and got his face painted into a puppy! Blossom was calm, and very gentle with him. I could see that she "understood" him. The fear was in his eyes. She brought herself to his level and worked through it with him. When he needed a break she would break. It brought tears to my eyes. This is a HUGE break through! I was so proud of him. And he was proud too. :) Blossom won't ever know it but she played a huge part in therapy for him. Thank you!
We also started the month going to the NHS play "The Butler Did it Again" it was FABULOUS! We were invited backstage to meet all of the actors! They greeted Riley and our other children and loved him! They played with him, autographed a picture for him, let him be silly, hugged him, it was incredible. These kids seriously went out of their way to make this an incredible experience for our family. Riley had never been to a play, or movie, or anything of the sort. Sitting still and quiet is difficult. Duh. But...he sat through this entire play. Laughed when others laughed, clapped when he was supposed to clap etc. We LOVED IT! Thanks so much to all of you for giving us this opportunity! A portion of the proceeds will benefit Riley. INCREDIBLE! 
Riley participated in his Mabel Rush Elementary Lion Walk! He loved it! We joined him and walked with him. He loved Maru the Lion and kept pushing his brother around the track in the stroller. Riley made it a 3/4 of a mile and starting slowing down.....finally at the last bend before the mile mark his decided he was going to sit in the double stroller and hitch a ride to the finish line! :) Silly guy. He knows what he is doing! It was a fun day!
We attended the Buddy Walk again this year. We had the opportunity of setting up a table there and spreading the word about Service Dogs to the Down Syndrome Population for the Portland/Salem area. Again a great Buddy Walk. Team Riley grew this year! We had Trisha Jennings and family of Sunset Goldens of Oregon there with Butter to support us, The Breck and Sara Meyer family also attended with their 8 children who all love Riley dearly. Also ran into Jenny and Tarik who stayed with us! Highlight of this trip was the fact that Riley got his face painted. You all have NO idea what that meant. Riley is highly sensitive. He hates his hair, face, etc touched, messed with. He would scream if you would try and get his face painted. Riley calmly sat for about 40 minutes with Crystal Meyer and watched as other children got their faces painted by Blossom the Clown. Finally it was his turn. He got up, sat in the Blossom's chair and got his face painted into a puppy! Blossom was calm, and very gentle with him. I could see that she "understood" him. The fear was in his eyes. She brought herself to his level and worked through it with him. When he needed a break she would break. It brought tears to my eyes. This is a HUGE break through! I was so proud of him. And he was proud too. :) Blossom won't ever know it but she played a huge part in therapy for him. Thank you!We also started the month going to the NHS play "The Butler Did it Again" it was FABULOUS! We were invited backstage to meet all of the actors! They greeted Riley and our other children and loved him! They played with him, autographed a picture for him, let him be silly, hugged him, it was incredible. These kids seriously went out of their way to make this an incredible experience for our family. Riley had never been to a play, or movie, or anything of the sort. Sitting still and quiet is difficult. Duh. But...he sat through this entire play. Laughed when others laughed, clapped when he was supposed to clap etc. We LOVED IT! Thanks so much to all of you for giving us this opportunity! A portion of the proceeds will benefit Riley. INCREDIBLE! Riley participated in his Mabel Rush Elementary Lion Walk! He loved it! We joined him and walked with him. He loved Maru the Lion and kept pushing his brother around the track in the stroller. Riley made it a 3/4 of a mile and starting slowing down.....finally at the last bend before the mile mark his decided he was going to sit in the double stroller and hitch a ride to the finish line! :) Silly guy. He knows what he is doing! It was a fun day!Riley is having a great time at school this year. He loves his teachers, bus drivers, and fellow students.Seriously...he LOVES it! Runs to the bus every morning and jumps in his seat and loves to go. He even stays in his seat without a lock and drumroll please.....keeps his freaking shoes on! This is HUGE. I went and "spied" on him at school a couple of weeks ago. He was getting breakfast like a big boy at the cafeteria with his helpers! It was so cute! Good thing he didn't see me though! It would have been OVER. When I show up at school no matter what time it is, he thinks it's time to go!
Riley proved at the play that he could manage a movie. So.....he went and saw Where the Wild Things Are with Morgan and the kids! He loved it and sat again through the whole thing. :) I'm sure this will be the first of many movies for Riley!
Today I heard the door bell ring. I went to the door to find my neighbor down the street standing at the front door, with Riley. I gasped, my heart sank and instantly felt anxious. I feel so guilty. When Riley goes missing I always know. I ALWAYS know. This time, I didn't. I had no idea. I thought he was still watching Sesame Street in my bedroom while I was doing dishes. We are still trying to figure out if the door wasn't latched or if he scaled a fence. My dear neighbor down the street found him in her backyard knocking on her back door. :( Feeling pretty bad tonight about this.
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