By the book

I have been extremely remiss in not writing sooner, but we’ve been having a heck of a time with illnesses in the Farkas household. Reed’s had a bunch of colds and I’ve managed to get every single one of them and hold on to them far longer than he has. Right now, a 2-week cold seems to have turned into a sinus infection for me. Fun! Even Adam, Mr. Immunity, got sick once.  Colds seem to slow Reed down very little — he tends to be just as cheerful and energetic sick as he is well. Amazing kid!

Sitting dragon

Since he was 5 months old, Reed’s been working on his sitting skills. On his six-month birthday (October 17th), Reed finally mastered sitting up. Now, he can stay up for 20 minutes or more and seems to really enjoy playing while seated. He’s also gotten very good at creeping and turning his body around while on his stomach. I told Adam that I predict he’ll be crawling within the next 3 weeks.

He’s well past the age where we can just leave him somewhere and expect him to be in that same place when we come back. Adam was on the phone while watching Reed, and when he looked back a couple of minutes later, Reed was halfway under the sofa! So we bought him this awesome playzone to keep him safe and occupied. We actually bought two and put them together, so he has this huge portion of the living room (more than 50% of it!) to make trouble in. He’s really been enjoying himself in it (it has activities and music) and we can walk into the kitchen to get something and know he’ll be safe. Next thing I want to do is get him a play mat for that area, since our carpets are really getting abused by his drooling and spitting up.

Every time I start to worry about a developmental milestone he should be reaching, he manages to achieve it. I was a little concerned that he was still only talking in vowels (since the book I read said he should be using consonants by around six months) and a few days later he was babbling with plenty of consonants (mamama, bababa, etc.). He’s stayed around the 50th percentile for height and weight. Talk about going by the book! It’s funny, because everyone always comments that he’s such a big baby and looks so much older than he is. I know I shouldn’t worry about milestones and all that since every child goes at their own pace and that’s only an average, but it is still nice to know that he’s so textbook.

Go ask Reed. He'll eat anything!

Reed’s eating a huge variety of solid foods now. His favorite, if you’d believe it, is green beans. Clearly he does not take after his mother who was so picky she ate almost nothing as a child. He also really likes peaches, butternut squash, sweet potato and even tart things like pears and raspberries. I can’t think of a single food he’s outright rejected, though prunes haven’t been a big hit (who can blame him?). The only time he doesn’t eat something is when he’s not in the mood for eating anything. He’s now eating in his highchair and really seems to enjoy being in there at dinnertime. When I think of all the digestive problems he had just two months ago, I feel so grateful for how well he’s doing now.

We decided not to go to Chicago for Thanksgiving because of the risk of H1N1 and seasonal flu. Getting on a plane and going to a big city just seemed like a really dangerous thing to do right now with an infant. Reed hasn’t gotten vaccinated against either flu yet since he just turned 6 months and neither is available here right now. Next week there is an H1N1 clinic in town, so we hope to get him the first of the two shots he’ll need to be immune to that (they need to be given 4 weeks apart, so it’s a real pain). He’s also on a waiting list at our pediatrician. With him being in daycare, and H1N1 now being widespread in Vermont, I fear that he’ll get one or the other illness before he can get fully vaccinated, but there’s very little we can do to prevent it. Just have to hope for the best. I got the H1N1 nasal vaccine and my regular flu shot, so at least I know I won’t bring it home from work with me. I managed to go 17 years without getting a single shot and I’ve gotten several since getting pregnant with Reed. All for love.