A Big Little Man

Reed is SO BIG.  I don't get it.  

He's still easily our most active child.  He's not hyper, but he's always busy.  He always has some mission.  Opening cupboards, rearranging pots and pans and tupperware, climbing the hearth to scare me, building his little "forts" behind the back cushions on the couch, hiding in his little spots(behind the rocking chair in his room and between the dresser and the foot of the bunkbed in the big kids' room) and waiting perfectly still and quiet, until we find him.  He just grins at us once he's found.

He knows how to relax though, too.

He has the best sense of humor, and makes the funniest mature faces while he laughs along with us, pretending to understand what we find funny.

He is SO good at pretend play already.  He makes fantastic explosion and fighting sounds, and likes to make stuffed animals bark at Gia.  He'll lie down with a couple of toy dragons and fly them around, roaring, and then slam together with some of his explosion sound effects.

Even though he's busy, he's also really sweet and cuddly.  Especially when someone first comes over, he'll go up to them to be picked up, and just cuddle for a really long time.  It's so sweet.

If his siblings are mad or sad, he automatically starts fake crying too.  Except for Neely.  Lately any time she's mad at us she goes and sits down somewhere to cry or pout.  He always goes and sits down too, and backs himself in next to her and then leans way over across her lap to stare into her eyes from a couple of inches away.  Makes her laugh every time, and forget she was ever upset.

 

Speaking of backing in, that's another thing he does.  If someone is sitting down and he feels like being close, he'll back in to their legs and just lean against them.  It reminds me of Gia, actually.  That's a rottweiler thing that she especially loves to do.  Maybe she taught Reed.

He loves my lemon water, and begs for "mow-uh".  He CHUGS it, and gets frustrated when I make him stop long enough to catch his breath between gulps.  Ha!

He loves his siblings, and always wants to be a part of what they're doing.  

 

If they aren't paying attention to him he starts pestering them until they play with him.  He has the cutest mischievous smile when he's doing this.  He can hardly contain it, and kind of sucks his lips in.  It's hilarious.  The most recent one I noticed was when Paige was trying to get ready to play a game on Jess's phone.  Reed brought over a cup and kept putting it on her face.

 

In the mornings, Neely often wakes up before she's ready to really be up, so she'll come get in bed and cuddle me.  One morning Reed woke up a little, saw her, moved over to cuddle on her and went back to sleep.  She loved it.

 

He and Neely have really bonded, with the big kids gone at school.  It's sweet to watch.  She calls him "My Reedy" sometimes.  :)  He's still small enough that she doesn't get mad at him yet.  

 

We love those little curls on the back of his head, but since my mom was coming to visit last week, and it's tradition for her to give them their first haircut, she gave him a trim while she was here.  Sorry Grama!  I love those curls, but if we waited for mom's next visit, he'd have a mullet to his mid-back by the time she came back. 

 

 I'm excited to see what color his hair will be, since it looks lighter like the girls right now, and if the curls stay.

As of this last Sunday, he has 11 teeth.  He says several words-"hello" when he pretends to be on the phone, "hi"-usually when he first enters a room and waves at us, "Googuh(good girl)" meaning Gia, "no", "mow-uh(more)", "deer", "aww"(when something is cute), "wolf", "ball", "bye", "Bubble(Neely's baby mermaid doll), "book", and "Boo" when playing peekaboo.  

He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba, except in the Nature episode when the giant butterfly takes Toodie for a ride, flying around.  He thinks that's scary, and gets pretty upset with the butterfly.

He's another angel baby, and makes everything better.