Peta Murgatroyd’s Son Rio Just Turned 1 & Clearly Isn’t Happy With the ‘Pizza Challenge'
In the age of social media, every little milestone — for better or worse — is captured with a photo or video. And so parents have found special ways to celebrate their kids’ first and last days of school (maybe with a homemade sign or one from Etsy) or to give their holiday photos an extra dose of cuteness (matching pajamas, anyone?!).
And perhaps most common of all are the special ways parents mark their infants’ monthly milestones (1 month old, 2 months old, etc.). Some parents have signs that they place next to their little chunk, some have adorable little shirts for them to wear, and others lay their kids down on the floor — typically on a blanket that shows their growth. But Peta Murgatroyd and Maks Chmerkovskiy aren’t typical parents.
The Dancing with the Stars dance pros are mom and dad to kids Shai, 7 and Rio (with Baby No. 3 on the way!), and little Rio just turned 1. They celebrated the big day with a compilation of photos of Rio on his monthly “birthdays.”
And what, pray tell, was the setup? Little Rio was placed on one side of an open pizza box, and each month, another slice of pizza was added until a 12-piece pie was complete beside him. The growing little guy was so silly and smiley for the first 10 slices — but for months 11 and 12, he just wasn’t having it. In both of the photos, he is mid-sob, with his eyes shut tight and his face bright red. It was clear a full-blown meltdown was right around the corner.
And no, it wasn’t his birthday that made the little guy sad — although we’re sure it made his parents misty-eyed — it was the weirdness of the situation.
“This pizza challenge we committed to so we could look back and have this forever,” Murgatroyd wrote in her caption. “The last 2 months were tough haha because he was so aware of what was going on and did NOT want to be placed on the ground beside a pizza lol …”
OK! Fair! I probably wouldn’t want to be splayed out next to a pizza to show how much I’ve grown either. (Even if it’s hilarious and adorable.)
The video then cuts to a sweet clip of Chmerkovskiy bouncing a smiley Rio, who is looking at his parents while they chant, “Rio is 1!”
“????????????Our baby boy is 1 ????????????,” Murgatroyd said on Instagram. “@rio.john.chmerkovskiy you light up our lives. You bring so much joy into our family. We love you beyond ????????”
In just a few weeks, Rio will be a big brother and his athletic parents will officially enter the Two Under Two Club. Murgatroyd found out she was pregnant with her third child just four months after Rio was born. “Yes we know…we just had a baby… haha! This was very unexpected…but we are sooooo happy and so ready to be a family of 5 soon!” Murgatroyd captioned her hilarious pregnancy announcement video.