A dog and his boy

I know it should be the other way around, but these two are the best of friends. London follows Reed, Reed follows London. London mostly wants to hang out with Reed when there is food involved, Reed will play with London while the dog food and water dish are out and London is trying to eat. Reed is so good at petting London, pursing his lips and saying "oooooohhh". And London just sits there and takes it. He loves when Reed pets him and plays with him.

Here they are playing on the back deck last night before bed.

Cute Picture of the Day

The Haircut

As you all well know, Reed has a mullet. It's a cute mullet but still it's still a mullet. 5% of the time, it's a cute little curl at the base of his little skull and I could just eat it up. But 95% of the time it's kind of a frizz ball that puffs out all funny.

Fogg has been wanting me to cut the mullet off for a good long time and I've been fighting it cause I just feel like that's the one bit of my "baby" I have left. I clung to the 5% of the time when it looks so darn cute! He looked like a little chubby doll! But no denying it, he's getting bigger and older and now that he is walking, it's clear that my "baby" is no longer, he's a toddler!

After lots of public polls about the issue (most people saying to keep it!) and the most important opinion of my hair stylist (she scolded me for taking so long to get it cut) I finally took the plunge and got his hair cut yesterday. I took many before pictures for my own sake to remember (I didn't feel the need to keep the curls though). I got my emotions out and bit the bullet. I also did lots of justifying and reasoning with myself to make it ok. First of all, he's a boy and needs his hair trimmed up (if I had a girl, there is no way I would have cut it!). I also used my 5%/95% reasoning. I also just came to grips with the fact that he is over 14 months old and the time has come. And though it's wispy little hair, I even used the reason of the summer heat and the hot hair on his neck (I am doing him a favor!).

Anywhoo, I went and did it! Katie (my sytlist) was kind enough to do the honors for free. Here are the before pics:

The cuteness curls

Here is where it looks like a frizz ball

Here is the THE HAIRCUT:He did so good, just sitting there while Katie cut!

He loved Katie!

The after pics:

Try catching a walking 14 month old to get a picture of the back of his head, it's really hard!

Ok, it's actually really cute now that it's cut, more so than I thought! He looks like a toddler!

And here are just some fun pictures of him:

Reed loves his moosy!

He did this all by himself yesterday, emptied everything out of this basket than climbed in and sat there.

Cheers~

14 Months

Yesterday, Reed turned 14 months old. It's hard to believe that the time is going so fast. It's cliche, but so true how quickly this little life goes by! It's amazing that in only 427 days the things he has learned.

• He is about 23 pounds and about 30 inches tall.
• Can walk very well, is starting to run. He can go up and down stairs and recognizes drop offs and distances.
• Says what we think are a few words. He says mama and dada (we think but aren't completely sure). He also says a version of thank you but it's more like humming in the tone that one would use to say thank you.
  
• Loves to give high fives and clap.
• Seems to be transitioning from two naps a day to just one, with a "rest time" in the afternoon.
  
• Sleeps just like his dad, sort of on his side, sort of stomach, with one leg bent up with the foot across the other straight leg.
• Loves his stuffed moose toys. He will grab them and hug them. He also likes to take out books and bring them over, but only has enough attention for a page or two before he will take it back, close it, then return it again.
• His favorite activity in the house is to take items out of a container then put them back in. For example, he has a basket of plastic produce and he will take everything out then put it back in.
• Loves, loves, loves to be outside. He will walk over to the front door and cry to go outside.
  
• Is enjoying typical summer time things such as the pool and popsicles. I can't eat a popsicle without Reed begging for one too. He got a little plastic pool for the front yard but I'm pretty sure he's not a fan of getting in, just splashing from the outside.
• Always wants to be on top of the table or counter for some unknown reason.
• Doesn't really like watching TV at all, including kid's shows. He would rather play with toys, or better yet, household items.
• Loves to throw things. If he can get his hands on it - a cell phone, glasses, food - he will throw it as quickly as possible.
• His favorite foods are mac 'n cheese, chicken fingers, all fruit but cantaloupe, honeydew or kiwi, bread, pasta, potatoes. He really doesn't like any veggie at all except soft carrots with butter. He will try pretty much anything you give him unless it's green.
• Transitioned to cow milk, really likes drinking a lot at night time.
• Wears 12-18 month clothes - duh.
• Really likes dogs, if there is one around, he will point at it and want to pet it. Thanks to Lala and our babysitter Nana (Dianne), he is really good at being gentle when petting animals. He will always look at an adult to get approval for his gentle behavior. We wish he would learn that some sweet nature with humans, he can be a bit rough!
• Slaps his belly when he doesn't have a shirt on.

Well, I think that's all I can think of for now!

Cheers~

Summer

We have had an eventful few days! On top of Reed's walking (of which he was running only a few days later), we did lots of fun stuff. First, Uncle Gordon left (not so fun) and went back home to Portland. Reed was sad to see him go...


We headed down to the farmer's market in Ogden on Saturday morning. Just your run of the mill farmer's market, but there was a small petting zoo down there. Reed got to feed the goats, check out the bunnies, saw a potbellied pig, pet a horse, and stare at a llama.




Then it was to Reed's swimming lesson. Yes, I did find and sign up for a swim lesson for the two of us! It's pretty "easy" but it's good for Reed and I plan on doing this every summer until he is old enough to do a class without me. Anyway, here a few pictures from the pool!


I also purchased a small chair from a yard sale for $3 and decided it badly needed to be recovered. So that was my project for Sunday, here are some before and after pictures of my project.



Reed really enjoys his new chair, taking no time to kick back with his snack and drink!

Hard days followed by great days

Some days are really hard. Monday was one of those days. It's hard to be away from my little guy and it's hard to be at work all day wondering what he is doing. I have much on my plate these days and every once and a while it all sits on my shoulders heavy. I couldn't focus on my work, I was distracted, worried, overwhelmed. I couldn't wait to get in my car at the end of the day and make my way home. I did just that at the end of this terrible day and had the most pleasant surprise ever!

Reed decided that he was going to really start walking that afternoon. We were all sitting on the floor as we sometimes do, coaxing Reed to walk back and forth between us. This time, my brother was in the loop. London decided to stand right in between us all, so Reed has the additional walking task of avoiding London. Then just like that, Reed walked right out of the door (we were in our front room) and walked all the way to the back of the house, to the coffee table, where his bottle was sitting. I was beside myself! So I urged him to walk back to me, and he did! He was just having a grand old time walking back and forth around the house, changing directions, stopping just to stand, waving his hands in the air at the same time. It was definitely a change in his confidence in walking. Gordon got some great pics and photos from that night, but I don't have them yet.

Last night, we were at a BBQ at a friends house and they have a little putting green in the backyard. Reed had a great time chasing after the golf balls, trying to collect as many as possible. Here is a video of his walking and golf ball chasing.

We also got some great still shots.

Poor little dude

I was reading through some old posts of mine and at one point during my pregnancy I announced on this blog that it wouldn't become all about the baby - HA! Well, nobody really cares about Fogg and I anymore, which is fine, so I only really let you know about little Reed! Plus he is adorable!

Anywhoo, Reed has had a tough week. First, he fell last Tuesday while taking a few steps on his own. He hit the ground so fast he wasn't able to get his hands out to catch himself and he faceplanted on the hardwood floor. He ended up getting a bloody nose from it. Then a couple of days later, he developed a temperature of 102. We called the doc and they said to bring him in just to check things out. They discovered that he caught something that's been going around where kids have a high temp for a few days. They also found a little bit of fluid in his ear, that wasn't an infection, just something that might affect his balance or hearing if it gets worse. Once Reed kicked his fever, he developed thrush. Luckily it went away on its own after only a few days, before I could fill the prescription for the antibiotic. Then he got a cold! He woke up last night coughing for a good 5 minutes. He has a raspy voice now and a really runny nose. He has also been biffing it a lot lately, falling over, losing his balance, missing support with his arms and ends up hitting something on the way down.

Poor little dude...