20

Well, I seem to do this. I don't think anything is happening, then it's been a little bit since I update and there turns out to be lots of stuff to tell you about!

It's been a very busy 2011 so far. Hard to believe it's already the 18th! In two days, Reed will be 20 MONTHS OLD! I can't even believe it. Everyone told me it would go fast and to really enjoy every moment, so I'm glad I have been! It's truly amazing how quickly 20 months will go and how much different he is. Everything he knows, he has learned in only 20 months. Talking, walking, running, decision making, eating, acting. I'm truly amazed by how much he picks up and everything he learns to do. It is really a true joy to watch your child learn.

Because I like to do things in chronological order always, we'll start with a week or so ago. I requested a day off from teaching skiing and my boss up there at Snowbasin is a BIG Steeler's fan. I had to promise to send him a picture of Reed in his Steeler's outfit in order to get the day off.



I visited the Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden with my friend Bree and her two boys, Ashton and Carden. It was the first time I had been there and I was dragging the boys all around instead of the other way around. Anyway, Reed found a few exhibits interesting to him - the parachuter (sorry no pic of that) and the farm display. He loved the animals and activities in it.

On the firetruck

The future president?

Checking out fish with Carden and Ashton (and Bree)

My mom gave me a few sweaters that her grandmother, Meg, made way back. I'm guessing early 1900's? Anyway, I cleaned them up and had Reed wear one to the museum. I also tried the cowboy one on him for fun. Not sure he'll wear it in public but I think it's awesome with the fringe and pictures on it. I've got two more that I'll try to get on him for a picture soon.


We finally bit the bullet and decided to get Reed off his bottle. We've only been giving him milk in the bottle a couple times a day (when he woke up in the morning and right before bed) but he sure was attached to it. We have given a half-hearted try of getting rid of it before but we made the decision to just be done with it this past weekend. We put them all up and out of his sight and gave him milk in a sippy (with a soft top so it was sort of like the bottle). He sure didn't like that. He ran to the middle of the room on Friday night - the first milk time switch - and threw himself on the floor crying. He then went to the big chair and just cried and cried. Fogg was trying to comfort him, but Reed didn't want any of it unless Fogg was willing to cave. Eventually, I picked him up and we went upstairs to read some books. He still wanted a ba-ba but was willing to sit through two long books cover to cover. He went to bed no problem. Next morning, same deal, wanted ba-ba, we offered the sippy. He did the same fit, this time we distracted him with pancakes. That night for bed, he asked for ba-ba, I offered the sippy but he didn't cry. He actually took 2 sips. Sunday morning he actually drank a little more with breakfast. So no more fits but he still isn't happy about it. He'll drink more and more every day, today he had almost what he would have had in his bottle. Interesting parenting moments for us, trying to explain to him. I felt sooo bad about hurting his feelings and not giving him what he wanted but after just a day or so without the bottle, he began to eat better, act better. I think that he was drinking way too much milk and it was messing with his digestion, making him a little grumpy and unwilling to sit through a meal. He's been a champ and we are so very proud of him.

We took Reed skiing on Saturday morning! We are so proud of him for hanging in there for 6 whole runs! And by run, I mean the 100 feet long mini bunny slope. But over Christmas he wasn't into it at all, so this was a HUGE improvement. He was happy to get into the gear and said "weeee" on the way down. He loved going up the magic carpet. He really enjoyed watching the groomer, which he called "tractor". By the last run, he went from top to bottom, by himself (meaning I wasn't pulling him, catching him, turning him) without falling. He started himself by pushing his feet forward and stopped naturally at the end. LOVED it, I smiled for days because of how good he did.

Magic carpet ride with Daddy! Boy do I love those two guys.

One of the first runs, I was just giving him a little tug with my pole to get him going but then let him just go on his own.

Whoops! Sometimes this would happen but he never cried. I think it's a sort of cute fall.

Headed down by himself!

Checking out the groomer

See? Going down all by himself

Yay!

And more about Reed. He is saying so many words. There is no way that I can tell you all of them, but some new ones are PJ's, juice, cookie, digger, night-night, good boy, bad boy. He is repeating a lot of what we say and very interested in what things are called. He is also getting so good with people, getting easier to drop him off at daycare (well him, not me) and being ok staying with people he doesn't know. LOVES dogs. Started calling me Mommy and Fogg Daddy (instead of mama and dada). Kid loves books too. I was driving him to Nana Branch's house this morning and he started practicing words he knows and it went something like this: mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, laaalaaa, lala, lala, boy, boy, tractor, tractor, nana, nana, nana. He is also making up songs, most of the words I don't know but he throws in words we do know. Last night's song was about daddy, the doggy, and a boy.

Now on to the other people in the family that you all don't care about as much - which is just fine with us! Fogg is doing ski patrol this season and starting to really enjoy it. If we can figure out how to edit his video, we can show you a very cool cornice that broke off when they bombed it a few weeks ago. I've been super duper busy with work at backcountry.com, teaching skiing on the weekends and then just trying to keep everything else accomplished like laundry, food, and oh yeah, raising a toddler. I head out of town next week for a trade show so Fogg is single working dad while I'm gone. He'll do great though.

Alright, I think I'm caught up. Sorry for the super long post, if you've made it this far, then you have earned a gold star today!

Cheers~