All About Reid

I haven't done a post about just Reid in a long time. While my adorable 15 month old son has enough personality to fill up many, many blog entries, I will try to condense this into one post.

Reid is a vibrant and happy little boy. There are two distinct sides to his personality. He is quiet and ultra-focused for big chunks of time while reading books to himself and playing with toys. It is not an exaggeration to say that he could be mistaken for being profoundly deaf at times. No amount of calling his name or making funny noises will distract him. It's kind of scary. He gets it from his dad. Really, though, he is obsessed with reading and books these days. He points to the pictures and reads aloud. He also brings books to me to read to him.

Here is Reid in "focus mode" with his absolute favorite toy truck

The other Reid can be summed up in two words: "perpetual motion". Other applicable terminology for this side of Reid would be "wild child", "hellion", "crazy baby" and "turbo". He runs, jumps, climbs, screams, and wallers. I believe this last term is the southern version of "wallows". For Reid, wallering entails rolling around like a crazed monkey on his soft gym mats, the floor, the baby pool or his parents. He also loves to throw balls. The kid has quite an arm on him! He can even catch balls that are thrown to him occasionally. Unfortunately, Reid also loves to throw food, wooden blocks, my iPhone, books...anything he can pick up. He has learned to stack blocks, and I saw him stack 5 wooden blocks the other day.

Here is a collage of Reid wallering in the baby pool

"Hellion" (meant in the most affectionate way possible)


Climbing with wet feet. I'll let you envision the end result.


Throwing his ball with determination (and wearing a stylin' swim diaper)

Our child is a social butterfly! He craves social interaction and attention. I am pretty sure he has already met everyone on our block. My mom was out in the front yard with him one day, and he saw a neighbor a couple of houses down. He started running down the sidewalk babbling and waving her down. A few days later my dad had him in Borders and was standing in line for several minutes waiting to check out. He said that Reid was trying his hardest to get the attention of people standing in line without success. Reid was getting very frustrated until finally someone looked and said hi. Apparently, he thinks that public adoration is his birthright.

Reid wanting to be held by Daddy


Running man

Reid is saying some words that we understand, and I know that he says plenty more that we have yet to pick up on. Right now he uses "bah" for many, many things: "ball", "bird", "airplane", "dog". It is always accompanied by emphatic pointing. Reid also says "mama" and "dada", "woof-woof", "up" and "bye". He signs "more" (for which he also says "bah") and "all done".

He is a good eater, but definitely likes to exert control over what he eats and when. He is quite fickle--one day he'll scarf something down and the next he acts offended that you have besmirched his high chair tray with the same food. I have learned not to say that Reid loves or hates certain foods. It really just depends on his mood. Reid does eat the food that we eat, but he also has his "toddler" foods that he loves.

Reid's food staples these days:

Fruits: blueberries, strawberries, apples, pears, mango, banana, oranges/tangerines
Vegetables: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini and green peas (lately, he rejects green vegetables unless they are lightly tossed with ginger-soy sauce)
Other: chicken salad sandwiches, diced ham (we buy a small ham, dice it into baby-sized pieces, glaze it with an orange spice sauce, bake in the oven, and freeze for future use), yogurt, waffles, veggie burger patties, cheddar cheese, grilled cheese, PB&J, and eggs

He is learning to use utensils, and he can feed himself a container of yogurt with about 2/3 ending up in his mouth.

Reid is engaging in much more functional play. He offers his milk cup to his stuffed animals and baby doll/sister-in-training. He gives the doll a pacifier and tries to take off and put on its hat. He likes to brush his hair with my hairbrush and pretend to put his lotion on himself.

He is obsessed with being outside. He plays outside in his water table and new baby pool. He plays in the dirt. He plays on his little slide climber. He loves to go on walks. Whoever is lucky enough to walk him in the 100 degree heat often gets home and takes him out of his stroller only for him to climb right back in and point at the door and grunt.

But the thing Reid is the best at? Melting hearts with his smile!