On the move

Since my last post, Reed experienced his very first Thanksgiving. It was just the three of us since we didn’t want to travel with H1N1 being so widespread and Reed only having had one of his two needed H1N1 boosters. We had a rather nontraditional Thanksgiving with steak instead of turkey, but we did have some traditional sides. Reed had a more traditional meal of turkey, winter squash and green beans (pureed of course). That weekend was probably the best weekend we’ve had since Reed was born. Reed was so sweet and fun and has really turned into a little boy instead of an “eating/pooping machine” as Adam called him. He’s getting much easier to go places with and he has a really flirty, mischievous, but mellow personality. The other day, he tried putting his pacifier and one of his teethers in my mouth which I thought was such a sweet and loving gesture (though not exactly what I wanted). I think he’s also starting to kiss us on the cheek like we do to him, though it’s coming out more like a slobbery zerbert.

Our little guy has definitely become a lot more mobile since my last post. There is literally no chance that if you leave him for a minute he will be where you left him. Changing and dressing him has become especially challenging as he wants to roll over and hop away as soon as he’s put on the changing table. Toys often help to distract him long enough to get a diaper on, but I still get a lot of bare Reed booty staring me in the face. He gets a very mischievous smile when he does it, so I think he knows exactly what he’s doing.

the daily stander

Reed is not exactly crawling, but at this point, I think he’s decided that his lunging is good enough for his purposes. He sort of leaps like a frog to get from point A to point B. He can get across a room to whatever he needs, so why bother learning to crawl? I suspect he will go straight from what he’s doing now to walking. Reed’s already standing up for long periods of time when holding onto things and can pull himself up pretty nicely as well. He’s obsessed with pulling himself up on Adam and me, and we’re starting to feel like glorified pieces of furniture. He’s done a little cruising, though he’s still pretty clumsy at that. He has a toy that allows him to walk around in circles (it’s a huge hit here), so I think that’s helping him to understand the mechanics of walking.

On the illness front, I finally ended up being the well one while both of my boys got sick (that didn’t last very long since I spent all-day yesterday throwing up from some unknown illness/toxin — fun). Last week, we learned that Reed had an ear infection (which wasn’t even what we’d taken him to the doctor for; he’d just been very congested and coughing). They put Reed on amoxicillin for a 10-day course. The morning after we gave him his first dose, I noticed a little spot of eczema on his cheek. The next day, I noticed a little more under his eye. The following night, he was covered in a red rash, and we had to bring him to the ER. They diagnosed him as having had an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin, gave us another antibiotic, and told us to watch his breathing (instead of letting us give him Benadryl — I suspect the ER doc just didn’t want to be responsible for suggesting a dose for such a little guy). Reed’s doing fine now — he’s still a bit itchy, but the rash is nearly gone. Adam and I both don’t have any drug allergies, so it was a little scary seeing Reed have such a response. He seems to be doing well though on the new antibiotic.

Reed has become an absolute pig recently — he’s often eating two four-ounce jars of baby food in a single sitting. He’s particularly obsessed with yogurt and will sit with his mouth wide open before I even get the container open! He actually knows what the container looks like! We still haven’t found anything that he won’t eat, though there are certainly things he likes better than others. Green beans, pears and raspberries, apples and apricots, and winter squash are definitely favorites. He’s eaten chicken and turkey too, but we haven’t tried him on beef or fish yet. I feel very fortunate that he’s not picky about foods — already he’s eaten things that I didn’t try until I was an adult!

One of Reed’s favorite things these days — and a surefire way to “de-crank” him when he’s in a bad mood — is taking a bath. Now that Reed can sit up in the

Bath buddies

bath, he loves being in there, and could probably spend hours playing in the water if it wouldn’t get cold. He has some bath toys that he plays with, but he likes to see and touch his little boy parts (which he’s become extremely curious about since he doesn’t get to see them much during the day). I usually only bathe him every other day, but if he’s in a bad mood, I’ll put him in the tub on off-days and just won’t soap him up. It makes him so happy to be there, and it immediately calms him down. He doesn’t tend to be a moody baby, but sometimes he gets a little overstimulated and this tends to help him chill out. Calgon take me away!

We have no plans for the winter break (I get a week off) other than baby-proofing, since I don’t fool myself that Reed is going to stay in his little “playzone” area forever. It should be a relaxing end of the year with my two favorite guys in the world.

Happy holidays to all of my friends and family reading this! We’re grateful to have you in our lives!