You, Me, and Riley

chapter 25

I smiled as I looked in the backseat and watched Riley's excited face as Dana slowly drove through the parking lot of the zoo. "Are you excited baby?" I asked drawing her attention from the window to my face.

"Yeah!" She said kicking her feet against the seat in excitement. "Do we get to pet them too?" She asked

"Not all of them" I said "There is probably a petting zoo though."

"You mean we can't pet the tigers?" She asked with a frown.

"Only if you want to lose a hand." I said smiling at her.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take!" She said with a big smile.

Dana and I laughed as we all got out of the car and I reached into the backseat to grab Riley's little backpack. I shut the door and turned around to see Riley trying to make a dash across the parking lot towards the entrance of the zoo. "Riley Peters." I said grabbing her arm and gently yanking her back to the car. 'Where should you be?" I asked kneeling in front of her. She sighed quietly as she put her hand against the purple sticker on the side of the car.

"I should have one hand on the sticker." She said with a pout "But Mom I'm not little." she said covering her face with her free arm.

We put the purple sticker on the car when we noticed a terrifying pattern with Riley. Big or little the moment she is out of the car she books it across the parking lot. I knew we needed to come up with a solution when Riley and I went to the grocery store and she ran in front of a car (she was big at the time). The screeching of the tires, honking of the horn, and crying of the Riley were loud enough to permanently imprint itself in my memory. The sticker was on the car the next day. Little Riley is usually the last thing out and the first thing in so even though she loves the sticker she hardly gets to use it. It has made a significant difference with Big Riley and she usually remembers to use it. (grumbling about being big the entire time.) The only time she forgets is times like today when she is over excited or has a lot on her mind.

"I know baby." I said standing up and kissing the top of her head. "But this Mama doesn't care." She started to lightly kick the tire mumbling to herself and I couldn't help but smile as I finished getting ready. As the weeks went on we began to notice that even out of little space Riley had so many characteristics that screamed little. Running across the parking lot is a good example but there are many more.

"You got yourself a paranoid Mom Riles, little or not, when it comes to you all she sees is what could possibly go wrong." Dana said putting a pair of sunglasses over Riley's eyes as I started putting sunscreen on her "I think she has a spreadsheet." She loudly whispered causing Riley to giggle and me to roll my eyes.

"Alright let's go." I said putting the bottle in the bag and holding out my hand smiling as she cheered and ran over to stand between Dana and I taking our hands and skipping towards the zoo.

"I wanna see the tigers, and monkeys, and bears, and kangaroos, and elephants, and penguins, and lions, and-"

"Lets try a different approach." Dana said after we paid for our tickets and walked in the entrance "Is there an animal you don't want to see?"

"No." Riley said after a short pause.

"That's what I figured." She said with a laugh "Where do you want to start?"

"The tigers!" She said jumping up and down.

"Where did this obsession with tigers come from?" Dana asked as she pulled out a map and looked for the correct exhibit "I think we've heard you say that word 30 times today. There they are" she said pointing to a spot on the map "all the way in the back of the zoo." she mumbled under her breath.