The Fourth (and Fifth) of July

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at our friends Russell and Laurie's house. It was scorching hot so we were pretty much in the pool the entire time we were there. I didn't even have time to snap a picture of Reed in his adorable navy polo shirt and red, white, and blue plaid shorts, as soon as we got to their house the Kiddo wanted to swim. He spent a lot of time with Mom, Dad, and Auntie "C" in the pool, but by far his favorite person of the day was Tio. Drew played with him in an inflatable tube that was decorated like a donut, did big tosses in the air with him, and at the end of the night introduced him to a summer classic - the Slip 'n Slide. Reed would lay on his belly and hold out his hand, then Tio would hold his hand run 10-15 feet and let Reed go, launching Reed down the rest of the slide. The Munchkin was so tired by the end of the night he had his eyes half closed for the three minute drive home, but I think he would have kept playing with Drew for hours if I would have let him.

 

 

This morning we continued our fun week by heading up to my Grandparents' ranch. One of their cows had a calf a while back and we finally found a day that worked to go see the little guy. We picked Grandma up on the way and Grandpa met us up at their house too. We went inside for a bit and Reed played with an antique coffee grinder, much like the one I used to play with at their house when I was little, read some books with Great Grandma Didi, and had a snack. Pretty soon he was demanding to "see animals!" We obliged and headed down the hill to the pen Great Papa Dean had corralled them in. Reed had fun checking out Grandpa's truck and then ran over to see the cows. He was enthralled with them and kept wanting to get closer (while holding Grandma's hand of course).

 

 

 

 

Escape from the Heat

This past weekend Reed and I headed to the coast to meet up with my friend Sarah, her daughter Alyson (2.5 years), our friend Skye and her son Parker (11 months). Although the trip had been planned for quite awhile it worked out to be a great weekend to get out of town as temperatures sky rocketed back home. Sarah and Skye's drive up from Southern California took forever so once they arrived and got settled in we headed to a park around the corner so the kids could burn off some energy. My other friends Jonna and Sean along with their twins (3 months) and son Keegan (2.75 years) were able to meet us and stayed around to enjoy some pizza too (Reed loved his cheese-less Hawaiian pie). After dinner we played Ring-around-the-Rosie a bunch and then it was time to say goodnight.

Sliding with Sarah and Alyson

Reed and Keegan

 

Practicing his balance beam skills

Now this is a kids' table!

Reed slept great overnight but the other kids (and Moms) didn't fare too well so we decided to stick fairly close to home for the morning so we could get back quickly when nap time came about. We ended up at the Avila Barn where we all enjoyed feeding and petting the animals, the country store, and a tractor ride. Parker napped during the tractor ride and the two older kids were in a great mood so we decided to hit up the deli and ice cream shop that are also there. I was a little concerned because I hadn't brought more than a few snacks for Reed but we were able to split a steak salad which he devoured and some strawberry sorbet. We headed home and the two older kids went down for long afternoon naps. About the time they were waking up Parker went down for his nap. This meant Reed got to watch one of Alyson's movies during snack time - he thought this was awesome!

College Roommates turned Mommies

Practicing his big brother skills with Skye and Parker

Alyson

Parker and Reed

Can you tell he was excited to see horses?

Attempt at a group shot

Waiting for the Tractor Ride

 

Once Parker woke up we headed to Big Skye Café for dinner. This restaurant was a favorite of mine and Sarah's when we went to Cal Poly and we had a great time sharing it with our Kiddos. After dinner we walked around by the creek down town and even got to see a few ducks swimming. Our friends headed home early on Sunday morning while Reed and I stuck around for a bit to clean, play in the park, and have a picnic. While it wasn't a restful or overly relaxing weekend it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my time with Reed and everyone else. On Saturday when we were walking back to the car we stopped to cross the street and Reed said "love Mom" it was so special and I told him I loved him too and what a great time I had with him in San Luis, he followed that up with "miss Dad." This kid is too much!!!

21 Months

I have probably started these monthly posts in the same way for the last six months . . . telling you how much fun Reed is and what a little personality he is developing. Well nothing has changed! The 21st month has been a good one. Reed's imagination continues to grow. I constantly find him telling different toys stories, having a stuffed animal help him with something like playing legos or puzzles, and a couple of times he has told a tall tale to one of us about an adventure he's been on that day. Much to Jon's disliking he is in love with "cowboy music" and requests it whenever we get in the car. He also is obsessed with learning the names of baby animals and has learned so many that I had to consult the internet for more. People, he knows what hatchlings, joeys, and goslings are!!! Reed has had an obsession with shoes for a while now. One of his favorite games is to get my shoes out and play with them when I'm sorting laundry or putting away clothes. He puts the shoes on all by himself and can walk quite far in a pair of heels!!!

 

 

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 26 lbs

Clothing Size: Everything is now 18 or 18-24 months, he has a few 2T tops and will probably be getting more since some of his smaller shirts are getting a bit short.

Shoe Size: 6

Teeth:  16!!!  -  8 on the bottom, 8 on the top. Just waiting for his 2 year molars to come in and then we get a relief from teething.

 

Reed likes: Shoes, Soft Sheep and Pup to sleep with, Big Sheep to take running, 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, markers and drawing, watching El Perro y Gato with Dad, cooking with Mom, and anything that has to do with water.

 

Reed dislikes: Sleeping in, diaper changes, taking his pajamas off, being told no, and having his food cut, or otherwise altered, in a way he doesn't see fit.

 

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Reed Reed, Buddy, Monkey.

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. Sometimes I have to walk away when he starts dipping fruit in hummus or ketchup, but he LOVES it!

Communication: Reed's sentences have gotten much more frequent and he has started to use "you" and "me" (not always correctly). He has also taken to singing and has a few 3-4 word verses he'll bust out from time to time.

How Reed is sleeping:  He goes to bed around 7:30pm, then he usually wakes somewhere between 5:15 and 6:15 am, I don't let him out of his crib until 6:00 though. 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 around noon and sleeps 2-3 hours.

 

Favorite Moment(s):

The morning of Father's Day I told him who was coming over for dinner, he immediately got excited and started to repeat names and tell me he was going to eat steak with them. As soon as he woke up from his nap he ran to the front door and basically stayed there pacing for half an hour waiting for everyone to arrive. He would run in and say to me "all the people here?" and I would tell him it was going to be a bit longer and he would run back to the door. When the first car load arrived he was literally dancing around on tippy-toes waiting for them to get to the door.

 

Another thing Reed has been doing lately is telling us "Dad loves Mom" anytime we hug or kiss in front of him. It is so sweet and honest it really does reinforce how important showing affection in front of your children can be.

Milestones:
Nothing really big on the developmental front this month

 Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake:(This is what I got when I asked him to smile).

 

Busy Week, Picture Taking Fail

So last week was super busy. By the end of the week we were all dragging and weren't sure we were ready for the big weekend ahead of us, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Uncle Kyle, Aunt Kari, and Annaliese came to town for the weekend to celebrate a few different things.

On Saturday we had a very nice dinner out to celebrate my Mom's Birthday. It was fun spending time together the eight (kind of 9) of us, not even sure when the last time we were able to do that was!!! The wait for food ended up being forever long, but the kids behaved themselves quite well. Reed didn't even get out of his high chair until the very end and that was because Grandma wanted some snuggles. I told him over and over again on the way home how proud I was of him and how well he'd done. After dinner was over the Kiddos were more than happy to run around the parking lot and Grandma snapped this cute pic of us practicing to be a family of four with Annaliese.

Sunday was Father's Day and we hosted a barbecue for both sides of our family. This is where the camera fail really comes into play - I didn't even get a single picture of Jon and Reed together, let alone Kyle, Kari, or close-ups of really anyone besides Reed, a lucky shot I got of him with Great Grandma Didi and Great Papa Dean, and a picture my Mom took of me and Annaliese!!! There were 18 of us total, most of whom are in the picture below, so Jon really did overtime cooking for everyone on what should be a day of relaxing for him!!! It really was a great afternoon/evening and I think I was just too busy enjoying my time with everyone and handling hostess duties to remember to take pictures of everything.

 

 

 

Just so I'm not the worst Mom ever, here is a picture of Jon and Reed that I just adore. I snapped it a few weeks back when we were all hanging out in the backyard. Reed and Jon have been getting to spend an evening each week together while I do prenatal yoga and it's so neat to hear Reed talk about all of the things he's going to do with Dad while I'm gone - I swear he hardly looks up when I walk out the door now. He is so lucky to have such a loving and fun Dad and I'm so lucky to have a supportive and loving husband!!!

 

 

 

A Day in the Life of an Almost 21 Month Old Reed

So here is what a typical day, from earlier this week looked like for the Reedster at 21 months:

5:00 I wake up to try to finish planting flowers in our front yard
5:20 Reed wakes up. I go in, give him his pacifier, and tell him it's time to sleep, also pointing out that his clock is still blue, which means bedtime.
5:45 Reed has been in his room talking and rolling around for 25 minutes so I decide to let him get up. He reads books in his bed while I do stuff in his room, then I get him up, do a diaper change, and head to the kitchen for breakfast.

6:25 Reed is finished with breakfast, says a quick goodbye to Dad, we do his inhaler, brush teeth, and feed Dodger
6:45 We get in the car to go for a run.
7:50 We get back to the house. Reed says he wants to do markers so I oblige and go through mail/bills while he draws. I notice him put a marker in his mouth and tell him it needs to stay on the paper, he does it again (I take a picture because it looks hilarious), then say we are all done with markers, tears ensue.

8:25 I tell Reed that it is time to put his swim clothes on. He doesn't like this idea, hates the swim diaper, likes the swim trunks after I tell him they are from Tio, hates the shirt.

8:40 Reed says he's hungry so he eats some applesauce and then we head off to swim lessons.
9:00 Apparently you don't swim on the first day of lessons (wish I knew that before we had WW III over the clothing change) but you do walk around the pool, learn all of the rules, and meet your instructor.
9:45 We get home and I tell Reed we can go swimming in our pool since we didn't get to go in the big pool. I get in the water up to my calves and decide that maybe we should practice sitting on the edge and splashing instead.
10:00 Grandma calls and we figure out our schedule for the next day since I have to go into work and Reed will be with her.
10:15 We take Dodger for a walk

10:45 Reed plays on the slide and investigates what Dodger is doing. I try to catch him on camera playing with the door beneath the slide, but right after I snap the picture he declares "poop" - which makes his facial expression and position pretty funny! We head in to do a diaper change. After we are done Reed insists on doing "hair gel."  I leave Reed reading a book to his rocking horse and head to the kitchen to make lunch.

 

 

11:20 We eat lunch together (along with his two stuffed animal monkeys who he insists sit at the table with us).

 

11:40 Reed plays with the monkeys and buckles on his booster seat while I clean the kitchen
11:50 He throws all of his "guys" (stuffed animals) into the crib and then gets in and rolls around with them. We clean out the crib, read a book, then Reed goes down for a nap.

12:00 While Reed sleeps I pick-up the house, do an arm/leg workout, finish planting my flowers, give Dodger some much needed attention, harvest ripe veggies from the garden, shower, answer some work emails, put the laundry away, take care of some HOA bills and paper work, and install a toilet paper holder in the bathroom
2:45 Reed wakes up, immediately demands milk and then sorbet. The kid hasn't had or asked for sorbet in over a month, so I'm not sure where this came from, but I happily oblige and he powers through two and a half small cups of the "red kind" (raspberry).

3:15 I smell that Reed needs a diaper change so we head back to his room
3:30 Reed announces he has "nother" poop - apparently I didn't wait long enough the first time around before I changed him!
3:40 Reed says he wants to "eat sompin'" but when asked or even given a few choices he can't come up with anything, we go to the kitchen and he decides hemp milk will do the trick.
3:50 I've been trying to encourage some independent play time each day hoping this will help during nursing sessions, etc. when #2 arrives. I get out some blocks and we dump them on the living room floor. Reed plays with them while I clean out our dehydrator, I mention to Reed that I'm going to baby yoga in a little bit, and I start getting a few things together to help Jon with dinner and bath time. Apparently my disclosure prompts Reed to get out my yoga mat, work out shoes, and a bunch of DVDs, at least he's trying to be helpful!?!

4:20 I start playing with the blocks with him
4:40 Jon gets home, we exchange hellos and quick downloads of our day, then I say goodbye and head to yoga.

5:00 The boys head outside and play on the swing set

6:00 Dinner. I'm not sure what Reed did during cleanup, but the house was clean when I got home so I'm guessing he probably played in "his" cupboard while Jon did the dishes, etc.

6:45 Bath time, lotion, inhaler, nasal spray, allergy medicine, fluoride, pajamas, brush teeth. Jon gets Reed all cozy and ready for bed and they read stories waiting for me to get home

7:25 I get back to the house. We read one final story together, give hugs and kisses, and then it's lights out.