Reed Stuff

Reed is getting so big.  He's 21 months old already.  He is so much fun, still easily our most active child.  Always busy with something.

For a while he did these trust falls and it was funny but it scared me.  We had a sofa under the window in the living room.  He'd climb up and stand on the TOP of the back of it, and I'd rush to sit next to him because it made me nervous.  He would stand there, pretending to gaze out the window, and then suddenly lean back and let himself fall backward, his body stiff and straight, just bravely assuming I would catch him even with no warning.  Of course I did every time, but still.  Thankfully he hasn't done those in a long time.

He likes to call for Jess.  He'll just yell out "Daaaaaaa!" and wait for him to appear.  :)  He also likes to help him.  We've been working on a slow, tedious job out back.  We removed the outdoor carpeting a couple of years ago and it left hideous glue and mortar all over the concrete.  We're gradually chipping away at it.  Reed will help for like ten minutes at a time, just quietly working away.

He loves his siblings and they love him too.  One day Grama was over and Neely let Reed get away with something (I can't remember what it was) and Grama asked "Neely do you always give Reed everything he wants?" and she said "Well he's our baby" in that "well YEAH, obviously" tone.

 At bedtime he makes the rounds, giving them each a big smooch.  You can tell he knows his kisses are high-value around here.  He smiles, all confident in how happy he knows he's making them.  Haha. 

When he's hanging out with them in one room, and one of them does something he thinks is funny, or sometimes if something funny happens on their show, he comes running to "tell" us about it.  It's so cute, he's speaking gibberish but you can just tell from the look on his face he doesn't want you to have missed out on whatever he found hilarious.

He also loves his good girls...

 ...and they know he's their guy when they're wanting a snack.

There are three shows Reed LOVES-Tumble Leaf, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Bubble Guppies.  When we put one on and the theme song starts he gets so excited.  He'll get in your face, with his inches from yours, looking into your eyes, and yell "GABBA" or "BUBBA" in this funny hoarse voice.  Cracks us up.

He also likes to be read to, especially a few favorite books-two are about farms, and one is "Goodnight, Forest Friends".  He likes to stay on the bird page, and point out the birds, the tree, and the moon.  He'll also do the same thing he does at the start of his favorite shows, if he doesn't think you're as excited about it as he is, and grab your cheeks and make you look into his eyes while he says "Bird", or whatever is on the particular page he's interested in at the moment.  He did it to Cason the other day, and I wasn't quick enough to catch it while he had both hands on Cason's cheeks, but here's a moment just after.

 He loves birds in real life too.  He gets so excited when he sees them and yells "Burd" and tries to chase them.  Once they've flown away he'll say "Bye bye burd".

He loves to be outside.  Playing with dirt...

...or water...

 ...or being pushed on his "bike"...

  ...and pretending to fall, so you can help him back up.

 His favorite games outside involve throwing our stuff in the bushes or over the wall.  We've probably lost a lot of things we don't realize are gone yet.  Ha.  Then he waits while we go retrieve it, so he can throw it again.

 He is still a cuddly boy, but usually just for a few moments before he's off busy with something again.

 He takes a cute selfie.

 For a long while there, when he got upset with me he'd throw a silent tantrum.  He'd run away from me angrily and throw himself to the ground, and then just lie there looking mad but making no sound.  Those days are gone though.  NOW, his tantrums are far from silent.  Instead he balls up his fists, and screams the highest pitched, loudest pterodactyl screech he can produce.  It's crazy.  You can watch Jess's blood pressure skyrocket as it's happening.  You almost wouldn't believe this boy could do such a thing.  ;)

PUPPY!!

I've wanted a second rottweiler for a LONG time.  We kept waiting, thinking we'd get Paige a cat first so the puppy would grow up around cats and avoid any problems there.  In (I think) February, we brought a kitten home.  The kids named her Cookiedough Susan.  :)  Unfortunately, half our family started sneezing.  Paige swears SHE is not allergic, but it's wishful thinking that has her convinced it was a coincidence that she started sneezing and her eyes were itchy.  ;)  After a tough weekend of struggling with what to do, we returned Cookiedough Susan.  It was hard on us and on Paige, but with promises of a puppy we got through it. 

Soooo I started talking to our breeder.  Several years ago we went to a show and she had a female with her named Flirt.  I LOVED that girl, and kind of kept my eye on her.  A couple of years later she had a litter and I came across one of the puppy's pictures online.  His name was Pilot and I immediately wanted him.  He was Wendi's pick(the breeder) and not surprisingly, since she's a wizard when it comes to breeding and picking rottweilers, he ended up becoming the number one rottweiler in the country, and was for a few years, before she retired him from conformation this year.  This is Pilot:

 Here is his Westminster picture(haha!)

Anyway, she had two litters in mind for a puppy for us, one was out of Pilot, and the other was out of one of Pilot's sons-Dante.  Dante is a 

handsome fellow too, and apparently has Pilot's awesome personality.

I was pretty tempted to go with the Pilot litter, but for a few reasons we ended up going with the litter of Pilot GRANDbabies.  The parents are Dante and Tessa.  They are both in Northern California, so I haven't met them, but have talked to both owners and seen pictures.

Dante:

 

Tessa, the mama, is also beautiful, with pretty, sweet eyes.  She's big, about 100 pounds.  (Gia is only 75-80 pounds)  I'm told she is very laid-back, calm, and sweet.  Sounds like Gia.

 

The puppies were due in early March, so we had a few months of waiting ahead of us.  Waiting isn't my strong point.  Ha.  The kids and I had a paper chain countdown for our puppy.  We also went back and forth a few times from boy to girl.  We ended up deciding on a girl, and one day in the future we'll get a little boy.  Jess and I flew to San Francisco and met Wendi at a dog show to pick Gia up when she was a puppy.  I looked into doing that again, but it was going to cost a ridiculous amount of money.  I was nervous about it, but we ended up having her flown to Vegas, and Tyra, Paige, and I picked her up on May 9th.  We were so excited!  

The night before we took the kids to the store to get things we needed-a crate and food of course, but also lots of toys.  They were VERY cute about choosing the perfect toys.

We went to Cason's baseball game in the morning and Tyra, Paige and I left from there.  When we got there, she was in her little kennel, and thankfully looked perfectly calm and happy.  No sign of her having been stressed out on the flight.

She was so good for the drive.

Paige and I fought over holding her, and Tyra drove us home.

 

She really liked the bunny we got her.

We made a few stops in Vegas, and Jess kept texting us to hurry up and get home.  Ha!  They were so excited to meet her.  

 

 This is blurry but I love Reed's face.

Gia was so happy to meet her, wagging her nub of a tail, and frolicking around in the grass with her.

She was less excited the next day when she realized the puppy was staying, and that sometimes she'd want to play whether or not Gia was in the mood.  Ha.  Gia had barked only a handful of times in her life prior to us bringing the puppy home, and now she barks that many times a day, in annoyance at her new sister.  :)  She loves her though, and is very patient with her.  They even play once in a while, but it never lasts long, since Gia is a tired old lady.  

I saw the sun rise more in the first couple of weeks of having her than I had in all my life before, combined.  Ha.  

That's okay-she's a cute little early bird.

We named her Mavis.  You can tell it's one of those names people either love or hate.  (or apparently have never heard before).  I've loved the name since I was like 8 years old, and learned to type with a computer program my dad had, called Mavis Beacon teaches typing.  (85 wpm at like 9 years old, not to brag.  Haha!) My love for the name was rekindled when Hotel Transylvania came out.  The kids were happy about the name for that reason.  So I guess she's sort of named after Dracula's daughter.  :)  It seems appropriate, now that we know her.  I call her my fruit bat sometimes.

If you haven't seen the movie, Mavis turns into a bat sometimes.  OUR Mavis also has a sort of bat shaped marking on her bootie.  :)

Mavis got sick a few days after we got her and I was pretty scared it was parvo.  Thankfully after fluids and antibiotics she was feeling MUCH better a day later. 

We had a hard couple of weeks with all the puppy biting, and the kids pretty much lived perched on top of the couch where she couldn't reach them.  Thank goodness that is mostly gone and she's overall a very calm puppy.  Just has a couple of bouts of craziness a day and occasionally forgets the rules.  :)

 Reed is hilarious with her.  The other kids squeal and run when she gets like that, which is exactly the opposite of what they should do.  Reed tells her "NO" or "Uhuh" and then freezes, holding perfectly still so she gets bored, and looking away from her so she learns it won't get her any attention.  He loves her, and calls her "May-muh" and sometimes "May May" which a lot of us seem do now too.  He also calls her "good guh" like Gia.  Gia still gets plenty of his attention, especially when Mavis is in an obnoxious mood.  

He gets frustrated when he tries to play with her toys and she thinks it's tug-of-war time. 

Mavis is a good girl like Gia.

She loves belly rubs.

...naps...

...car rides...

...and Gia.

 

One of my favorite things about rottweilers is how attached they are to their people.  They're really confident and stable, not the type to get anxious about separation, but if you're around, they want to be near you.   Mavis has proven to be typical in that way.  If I'm cooking or doing dishes she sleeps on the kitchen floor.  If I move to a different room she follows and plops down nearby.  If we're at the table, she's under it.

She goes somewhere with us just about every day.  We've been teased about that, but it's actually really important, especially with dogs like rottweilers that people are afraid of.  There are certain windows when you NEED to socialize them with different people and animals, and just get them used to weird things so they won't freak out as adults when they come across something new and different.  Some days it's her puppy class so she gets to be around other puppies and people.  Other days it's just a ride through a drive-thru with us, or the carwash.  She thought that was weird, but didn't mind, especially after getting lots of treats.  :)

She has a great personality, sweet and playful but overall calm(verging on lazy).  We love her.  She's growing so fast.  Her puppy breath and a lot of her super soft puppy coat are gone already.  :(  She weighs about as much as Reed does now, and it won't be long before she's bigger than all of them.