Reed had a VERY eventful 18^th month of life.

Onto the fun stuff!  Ever since he had tubes put in his ears Reed feels good and is SO much happier.  Few things make this child happier than playing in the rain, eating, playing with Kate Pike, eating, and having Randy throw him in the air (I will have to take some video of the throwing.  It really is SO cute)

His favorite word is ‘WOW’.  It must be written in all caps because he only knows how to say it with all the enthusiasm he can manage.  At the river he probably said it 200 times in a row to his dinner one night.  He is going to be a fat kid just like his mommy…he LOVES his food!!  There isn’t really anything he won’t eat, it just depends on who else is eating it.  He loves to eat off of my plate.  I’m sure this is a terrible habit to start, but it encourages him to try new foods.  If I can get him to be a more adventurous eater by sharing my food I am happy with it.

This last week I have been able to watch Reed play with some friends.  One of the hardest things about working full time is that I don’t get to watch him play with other children very often.  One Wednesday night we had a play date with the Swayze kids and I absolutely loved watching him play with other kids.  Then at the river I got to watch him play with Kate for 3 days.  He is such a people-pleaser.  Sometimes he would take something that he knew Kate would want.  Then he would hide behind one of us for a moment while Kate got upset that he was playing with her things.  Then you should have seen the joy on his face when he would proudly walk over to Kate and hand her what she wanted.  I’m sure once we hit the terrible two’s he will act like every other child and not want to share, and hit and throw tantrums.  But for now it was so much fun to watch him play with other children and watch what makes him happy.

Julie

His second big surgery of the month (yes, twice in one month!) was the 5 stitches he got on the 27^th.

Randy was getting ready to hang a shelf in our room while Reed and I sat on our bed and watched. The shelf was on the ground by the bed (standing on its edge) while Randy was mounting the brackets.  My phone rang so I literally ran into the other room and answered it.  As soon as I said hello I heard the scream.  I ran back into the bedroom and Randy and Reed were covered in blood.  Reed had fallen off the bed right on top of the big shelf.  Luckily his wrist caught his fall and his head was the secondary point of contact.  Strangely it was my mom on the phone so I immediately asked her,  “How do I know if he needs stitches??!!”, in a panic.  I love that she lives so close because she offered to run to the house and tell me what to do.  Sure enough, she said we should take him to the Med Clinic for stitches.

You can see the pictures below, but it was the saddest most traumatic thing I have ever been through.  They had to strap him down and he screamed the entire time they were stitching him up.  Luckily as soon as it was over he stopped crying and went right back to eating his grapes.  All moms brag on their babies, but he really is a trooper.  Other than the initial fall and during the stitches he has never cried about it.  Amazingly he doesn’t even mess with the band-aid covering his stitches!!  We go back on Saturday to have the stitches removed and I am absolutely dreading that procedure.  They have to strap him down again 🙁

The other sad thing is that he is afraid of our bed.  In the morning I usually bring him in to wake up Randy.  He climbs on Randy and gives him a big hug and then lays there with him for a few minutes.  Ever since the fall he won’t go near the bed and really doesn’t want to be in our room.  Now, if I try to put him on the bed he just says, ‘no, no, no’.  I hope he will remember the fall, but find a way to wake Randy up in the mornings.  I love that part right before I leave for the day.

Julie

The month started off with yet another ear infection after a fun weekend at the lake.  This time I was ready to push for tubes, luckily I didn’t have to.  Dr. Purnell pushed for it before I could get the words out of my mouth.  September 10^th was the day of surgery and he was a champ.  He screamed for about an hour while coming out of the anesthesia, but other than that he was fine.  Before the day was over I could literally tell an improvement in his hearing and in his speech.  I don’t know why it never dawned on me that his hearing was impaired because of all the fluid stuck in his ears.

Julie

Reed is 17 months old today.  I feel like I say it all the time, but wow time flies.  It is crazy to think of the tiny little infant he was a year ago at this time.  Now he is a full blown toddler who walks and (tries to) talk.  He understands when we ask him questions or tell him to do something.  He has opinions about what he wants to wear to school and he loves his school.  He also loves routine.  Sometimes I think we need to back off of the bath routine a little because he won’t really eat dinner anymore. He is always trying to push out of his chair to run down the hall to his bathroom and bathtub.

It annoys Randy that I put him to bed at 7 because he thinks it’s too early, but you tell me.  I look Reed in the eyes and say, “are you ready to go night-night?”  He stares back at me and reaches for my hand to walk him into his room.  He leads me to his crib and starts trying to pull his favorite green blanket out of his crib.  On the nights I let him pull it out he will put it under his head and lay down on the carpet.  So what do you think…ready to go to sleep?  I think so.  Sorry Husband!  (And P.S he usually doesn’t make a sound when I leave the room and sleeps past 7am!)

He has some words, but we are really the only ones who know what he’s trying to say.  We are working on ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.  His teachers say he will say it to them, but he definitely doesn’t say it to us.  Kids.

He is still a great eater.  He’s picky day to day, but overall he will eat anything.  He really loves food if it comes off of my plate and not his.  This is annoying to me, but a decent weight management plan as well as a good way for him to learn to try new foods.

We always talk about how much he loves water.  But it is getting a little extreme.  He has never had swim lessons, but has been in the pool and lake since he was about 8 weeks old.  Reed’s new trick is running in the baby pool and going face down into the water and kicks his legs.  He intentionally falls forward and puts his face in.  When we pull him back up after a few seconds he tries to push our arm away to go back under.  He also knows how to hold his breath and never comes up spitting water.  I really don’t know how he learned this, or why he has no fear…but I love it.  However, if I had a pool in my backyard I would be a nervous wreck!!!

-JB