22 Months

This month Reed has mastered the art of eating cereal and milk with a spoon. It started off pretty messy, but he's a pro now. I made gazpacho the other night and he devoured it with a spoon as well. He has also gotten really good at identifying shapes. He can pick out squares, rectangles, triangles, circles, hearts, and stars pretty accurately most of the time. His language skills continue to improve and he often uses whole (but definitely not complete) sentences when speaking. Reed loves "swimming" but is still hesitant to put his face in the water or float on his back, favoring kicking and getting in and out of the pool. He's also taken to referring to himself as "Cowboy." "Cowboy running with Mom," "Cowboy playing balls," or my favorite "Cowboy pooping."

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 26 lbs

Clothing Size: Everything is 18-24 months or 2T. He's definitely long in the torso and short in the legs like Mom.

Shoe Size: 6 and starting to get a little snug.

 

Teeth:  16  -  8 on the bottom, 8 on the top. Still waiting for his 2 year molars to come in.

 

Reed likes: Shoes, Soft Sheep and Pup to sleep with, and all his other stuffed animals to play with, balls, reading books, playing outside, Dodger, blocks, going to gym class, bath time, his Grandma and Nonna, rocks, hats, sunglasses, playing with any sort of plastic cup, puzzles, doing "art work," watching El Perro y Gato with Dad, cooking with Mom, and anything that has to do with water.

 

Reed dislikes: It really depends on the day - we've definitely entered the terrible twos where something that is fine one day is the end of the world the next! For the most part though Reed has a pretty easy going disposition.

 

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Buddy, Monkey, Dictator-tot, Kooky Monster, and Bud.

Food: He loves fruit, meat, hemp milk, and most "carbs."  He is hit and miss with vegetables but I always serve them to him and have him try at least a bite. He loves dipping and his sauce of choice is ketchup. His appetite fluctuates from day to day, sometimes not eating much at all to other days seemingly being a bottomless pit. He's been more adventurous this month in that he's been willing to try new things including gazpacho, tortillas rolled-up with Sunflower butter, sandwiches, and marinara sauce with lots of veggies in it.

Communication: Reed has gotten a little better at using "me" and "you" correctly. He is also good about saying please (usually when prompted) and thank you (usually unprompted).

How Reed is sleeping:  He goes to bed around 7:30pm and has been making it to around 6:00 am most mornings. We've been using a toddler light that is blue during these hours and yellow the rest of the day and I really think that has helped him go back to sleep instead of crying out when he wakes during the night. He sleeps in a sleep sack, with a pacifier, a sound machine going, and his two "guys" Soft Sheep and Pete the Pup. He goes down for his nap between noon and 1:00pm and sleeps 2-3 hours.

 

Favorite Moment: We've stayed at my in-laws home in San Luis Obispo a couple of times this Summer and Reed has so much fun each time we visit. A few weeks back we were joined for our normal McClarty Family Sunday dinner by Gran and Papa. Reed entertained us all by going around the table over and over again naming everyone. At one point he threw out "San Luis house" and from there I contributed that it would be really fun for everyone he had named to go to San Luis together. On our way home that evening we made the turn off a main road to one of the side streets we use to get to our house. Reed immediately dissolved into tears and Jon and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Finally we got the following out of him: "no Mommy Daddy house, San Luis house, all the people." We were both amazed that 1) he knew that particular turn meant we were going back to our house and 2) that he had remembered our dinner conversation and interpreted it to mean we were going that night! Luckily he accepted my explanation that we needed to plan a trip before we could go especially because we couldn't just leave Dodger at home by himself.

Milestones:
Using a spoon to eat "liquidy" dishes
Learning his basic shapes

Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake: (no Reed's room didn't get new paint, the rocking chair is in the soon to be nursery and my leather chair is now in Reed's room, but to keep consistent I tried to do the photo shoot in the grey rocker)