Category: Reed
Reed dresses himself now
Reed is a stubborn boy like most 3-year-olds are, but there is one fight that we have had each and every day for the good part of a year. Ever since Reed started to care what he was wearing, we have had to do everything possible to get him dressed: yelling, spanking, bribery, time-out, good-cop bad-cop, pinning, double-team… you name it. It doesn’t matter what we are dressing for either, so it is not just for the “church clothes”.
Recently, he’s grown big enough for jeans that need a belt. So we got him a real belt and he quickly learned to put it on by himself. He started wearing boots as well, and those were easy for him to pull on and off by himself. For a little while this smoothed the fight, but he still was reliant on us for other parts of his wardrobe, as well as what was appropriate to wear.
Last Sunday morning, I forget how the situation started, but Reed said that he was going to get dressed. Julie and I were astonished and we promptly supported his initiative. He went to his room and got himself completely dressed by himself!
Now, our typical rules for (boy) church clothes are no shorts and shirt must have a collar. Reed came out wearing jeans, boots and a long-sleeve t-shirt. When he marched into our bathroom with me to show his Mother what he had done, I quickly downplayed any clothing criteria, and opted for the proud moment. Reed was beaming from ear-to-ear from our praise.
Our routine in the morning now is that I sit in his room while he picks out his clothes, and then I leave while he gets dressed. I only offer advice on the weather, but otherwise it is up to him.
RB
Reed’s Cowboy Hat
We had to go undercover to get footage of Reed playing in the backyard with his new cowboy hat on.
The Crocodile and the Soldiers
The other night I was reading the Easter book to Reed (his choice of course). When we came to the page where the soldiers took Jesus away he gently put his little hand on my arm and said:
Mom, stop. When I become a crocodile I will BITE those soldiers and they will not hurt Jesus.
You can’t make this stuff up.
*as I was telling Randy this story he told me that the night before he had the same conversation with Reed during the Easter book. But this time Reed grew up to be a dragon and not a crocodile.
Kid Update
I apologize all the time that I don’t update the blog enough, so I’m going to stop apologizing every time I DO update. That’s just annoying.
Alison turned the ripe old age of 18 months 2 weeks ago. The next day she took me into the bathroom and went poop and pee on the potty. I might have freaked out a little. I am not ready for that yet. Then she woke me up at midnight to change her barely wet diaper. I am definitely NOT ready for that!! The next day at school she made her teachers take her to the potty. Good Lord. Thankfully, she hasn’t pushed it anymore since then. She’s just really whiney if she has poop in her diaper (and I can’t blame her for that!)
She is already learning about lady things. The other day she walked into the kitchen wearing her sun hat and my purse. If only my eyes could automatically take a picture every time something awesome happens…I didn’t get the picture.
My sweet little girl is turning into quite the sassy toddler. She is figuring out how to defend herself against her brother. I don’t want her to fight…but I am excited for her to stand up for herself. She is learning to bite and scratch…NOT a fan of that!! She brought Reed to tears yesterday from the bite she gave him. Yuck. Not ready for fighting.
Reed is turning into a big boy right before our eyes. He can now get completely dressed. And he can buckle himself into his car seat. And as proud as I am, I still love when he crawls into my lap to read a story, or for a quick cuddle. He has the funniest sense of humor right now, and I really want to videotape him all the time. He is at the fun age when sill things absolutely crack him up. He has just discovered Jake and the Neverland Pirates. There is one episode that Cubby says this pit of tar is ‘stinky’. Reed almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard. He asked me to rewind it so he could hear it again. Love this age. He also says the funniest things and I REALLY want to do a better job of writing those funny things down. If someone calls him Reed Baldwin he will say ‘my name isn’t Reed Baldwin. It’s Reed Banana-head-muffin’ and then he doesn’t laugh, because he is dead serious. So I laugh. Just cracks me up.
Unfortunately Reed is becoming very physically aggressive. As much as we address the issue with him, we don’t seem to be getting through. He gets sent to the office once or twice a week for punching other kids. Even at home he is constantly punching things. I realize he is a boy and I have no experience with 3 year old boys…but I can’t have him become a bully or be the mean kid at school. Does anyone have any constructive advice for me? I have no idea how to teach him to control his impulses and how to teach him that attacking other kids, or me, or Alison is not the way to show your emotions. Sorry to turn this update negative, but we just dont’ know what to do. Normally I would call my trusted pediatrician…but he isn’t here anymore to give me advice 🙁
All in all, the kids are growing and learning and turning into such sweet little people (aside from the violence issues. I swear we don’t let them watch violence on tv and we aren’t violent people at all.) Alison has this sweet little smile that melts my heart everytime, and when Reed puts his arm around Ali to protect her or spontaneously blows raspberries on her belly to make her laugh it fills my heart to overflowing. I can’t imagine life getting better than it is right now!!!
Swim Lessons
Reed took swim lessons for the first time in early June. He had a 45 minute lesson everyday for 2 weeks (at school). His teacher and the lifeguard kept telling me he wouldn’t do anything during lessons so I was sad that we wasted our time and money.
Then we went to a pool with a baby pool and…holy cow. This boy might not be participating in swim lessons, but he is learning everything they are teaching. He is jumping in and swimming with his face in the water all the way across the baby pool. He really is an animal when he can be in the safety of the baby pool. Needless to say I am pleased with his progress and excited for his next session.
The only problem is that Ali watches every single thing he does and now she is ALL ABOUT jumping off the side and putting her face in the water. The child has zero fear or respect for the water and it freaks me out. She will stand in the baby pool and bend her knees until her head is under the water. Then she will stand back up and give us the biggest smile. She’s so proud of herself for going underwater all alone.
Bedtime chat
I was talking to Reed last night about the weekend we had at Jellystone Park with the Pikes. We started to talk about Kate and how much they played together (and fought), shared the beds in the loft of the cabin and went on the slides in the water park. I asked Reed, “Is Kate a pretty girl?” He smiled sheepishly at me and then said, “Yes, but she doesn’t have a dress.” “Does she need to wear a dress to be pretty?”, I asked. “Yes, and then she will spin (in her dress).”, he replied.
Then he talked more about the water slides… “When I get bigger I will put Kate on my lap on the slides, and when we go down I will hold her so that she does not get water in her face and she does not have to pinch her nose in the water. I will do that when I get bigger.”
One day I will be more consistent
I have come to the conclusion I don’t write enough on this blog because I have this weird idea that all posts must include pictures. Problem is, I have time to write when I’m at work. But the pictures are at home. (Yes, I realize I have said this before). I have so many stories to tell and things I want to write down…and then I don’t. And then I forget them. And then what is the point of having a blog anyway? So you might see more posts with no photos. Oh well. I need to write the stories that happen in our little world.
On saturday we went for a hike with our friends the Swayzes. It was just the mommies and the kids. The 3 big kids walked the whole 2 mile hike, and I wore Ali on my back. This is the first time I have used the Ergo Baby carrier that everyone loves…and let me say I get why you love it! I wish I had bought myself one a year ago. Ali fought it at first because she wanted to walk with the big kids, but once we stopped for a snack and I let her run around for a few minutes she was more than happy to get back in the carrier. I seriously loved that thing. I will definitely be buying one before we have #3. (For the record, I’m not pregnant, just planning).
One the way home both kids were obviously tired. Ali was asleep before we hit the highway. Reed was a little more awake and so he asked if we could listen to Pink. (Sorry Randy, he just loves Pink and asks for it all the time). After a song or two he abruptly said with total seriousness in his voice, ‘Mommy. Turn off the music. I don’t want to wake up my sister’. Can you believe how sweet he is? I just love how protective he is of her. Don’t get my wrong, he isn’t perfect. He will push her down with the best of them…but then he is fiercely protective in the next moment.
Stuttering
As a matter of documentation, we are noting on here that Reed started stuttering within the last few days. He has had a tendency to repeat the first words of a sentence, but never been stuck on individual letters or sounds like he is doing now. It does not seem to frustrate or embarrass him yet, but he does talk to us about it being “hard to talk” sometimes.
What we have read says that there is no need for alarm yet, but we will be monitoring it from this point forward.
RB
Climbing into our bed
A few weeks ago, Reed started waking up in the morning and coming into our room to climb into bed with us. Julie and I both grew up doing the same thing with our parents. In fact, we each have very distinct memories of either nuzzling in between our parents, or just talking an goofing around in their bed. (Most of the time, for me at least, it was on a lazy Saturday morning when my parents were trying to sleep-in.)
So, for the longest time, we had tried to pull Reed into our bed to just hang out and play or talk when he would get up a little too early for us, or we just were not ready to get on our feet and get him some breakfast. He would simply kick and whine when we pulled him up and insist on getting up (bossy!). Needless to say when he actually brought his blanket into our room and wanted to lay on our pillows, we were ecstatic (that might be overstating, but you get the idea). We might be able to actually trace the change of mind to a few weekend naps with Mommy in our bed… he got a taste of the Tempur-pedic and realized what he was missing.
Now, pretty much every morning for the last week, he will come into our room (usually while Julie is getting ready for work) and take Mommy’s place in our bed. He insists on having his own blanket cover him, and won’t have anything to do with our comforter. Then, when Ali wakes up, we go get her and add her to the mix. On the mornings that we do have the time to play around, we have some all-out rumbles with lots of giggling. (It usually ends with Julie or myself getting head-butted or punched in the eye by Reed.)
We are certainly okay with this behavior because Reed still sleeps a full night in his own bed and then comes to our room when he would normally be getting up for the day. He has always been a good sleeper, so it really doesn’t worry me too much that he would shun his own bed for ours. For now, we are enjoying that he wants to be with us because we know those days are numbered.