Baby Riley’s “lips are movin!”
Meghan Trainor welcomed her first child Riley with actor Daryl Sabara in 2021 and, having reached his 18-month milestone earlier this month, the “shy” boy’s now expanding his vocabulary.
“We have a speech therapist because I heard all COVID babies are behind with speech, but he’s also extra shy and quiet,” Trainor, 28, told us. “I’m like, ‘How are you a shy boy when you’re my kid and your father Daryl’s, who wanted to be on TV at three years old?’ It’s really cute because we’ll clap for him and he’ll get embarrassed and put his head down. But he recently started saying ‘Dada,’ which is huge for us!”
It was “dada” Sabara, whom Riley was likely at home with while Trainor hit Los Angeles shopping hotspot The Grove for a preview of the new Lego Dots aesthetics pop-up experience on Thursday. Having grown up playing with Lego bricks with her brothers, Trainor has since introduced Riley to them and wished he could have joined her for the fun night out.
“I’ve got the big Lego blocks you can stack because he’s a big stacker and organizer,” she said. “And I looked up a farm set because he loves pigs and cows. I just wish my boy was here seeing all this, but he’s getting ready for bed. I can’t wait until he’s older, so we can do more arts and crafts together. He would love this and it makes me excited to have three more babies and bring them to all these cool events!”
READ MORE: Meghan Trainor, Hilary Duff And Ashley Tisdale Enjoy Mommy Getaway Together
Confirming she wants four children with Sabara, 30, Trainor’s hopeful she faces fewer complications with any future babies. The “All About That Bass” singer experienced a “pretty gnarly” C-section with Riley followed by a terrifying period of waiting for him to wake up in ICU.
“He didn’t wake up for almost a week – he was just sleeping and they don’t have a name for it, so that was tough,” she said. “I’m like, ‘This isn’t called anything?’ and they’re like, ‘No, he’ll just wake up when he wants to.’ It took five days, then he was up.”
“Then I didn’t produce milk, even though my whole family are like cows – they were all fine [breastfeeding],” Trainor continued. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna be a breastfeeding champion,’ then I barely made a bottle in a whole day of pumping. I had to mentally get over that and go, ‘This is just what it is for me. Maybe next time it’ll be different.’ But he’s been great. He loves his formula and he’s plenty big.”
With Riley now “perfectly healthy,” Trainor recently enjoyed a girls’ getaway in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with pals, including Hilary Duff and Ashley Tisdale. The ladies enjoyed a night at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa, where they posted photos drinking wine, swimming and wearing matching white tracksuits emblazoned with “Mother.”
“Mamas were Mamba-ing!” Trainor laughed. “We booked this place where we could eat, drink and party. Not really – we’re so lame that we just ate, talked and giggled, then swam and got massages the next morning. It was a beautiful, magical night that we all needed.”
“And they did it for me because I told them I’d never been apart from my husband,” she continued. “I was like, ‘He’s my best friend. Why is that weird?’ And they’re like, ‘We need to get you out of there,’ and planned a girls’ trip for me. It was my first chosen night away from Riley, but I did good!”
What did the ladies discuss during their moms vacay?
“It was like, ‘Is this weird stuff happening with your baby, too?’” Trainor dished. “It’s the best because I didn’t have any friends who were pregnant with me. Hilary reached out and was like, ‘I’m pregnant, too,’ which was great because I could ask her questions. Our babies have been together since they were three months old and now they’re a year and a half and we’re like, ‘They’re walking!’ It’s so special.”
It’s all things motherhood, which inspired Trainor’s upcoming album, Taking It Back, out October 21. The first single, “Bad for Me,” features Teddy Swims, while another track, “Mama Wanna Mambo,” features Natti Natasha.
“It’s about how mama wants to get out and dance after being home all day.”
And while they don’t appear on this album, Trainor has Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes on her future collab wishlist.
“I’m such a teenage girl,” she giggled. “I love Shawn Mendes. I’d love to collab with him.”
Taking It Back proved cathartic as Trainor navigated first-time parenthood.
“I have a song called ‘Superwoman’ for all the mamas – and all the working moms, who have that mom guilt of working all day while missing their baby,” explained the musician, who snapped selfies with Canadian star of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Anna Cathcart at the Lego Dots pop-up, which featured immersive rooms representing new aesthetic themes.
“That hit immediately for me, so I’m working on that.”
“I also have a lot of self-love anthems, like my next single, ‘Made You Look’, and a lot of a fun doo-wop like my first album,” she added. “We’re throwing it back and the main messages are to love yourself, be easy on yourself, and know you’re doing the best you can. They’re all therapy songs for me.”
As for what Riley thinks of the new tracks, he already has a favourite.
“It’s so cool – the first song I wrote that he fell in love with was ‘Taking It Back’,” she shared. “I was holding him and bouncing and dancing to it and went, ‘Daryl, is he asleep?’ but he was just chilling and happy. And, every time the song stopped, he [grizzled, like,] ‘Play it again! Where did it go?’ I was like, ‘Great, he likes my music!’”
