The one where I brag- about me as well as Reed!

Life has been so fun and so busy lately.  I don’t know where the time is going, but somehow it’s May! At least I know I’m not the only one feeling like I have my head sticking out the window of a speeding train and life is a blur of beautiful colors whirring by. However hard it is to make out the shapes and details- it’s still amazing, fun and breathtaking!

I need to take a moment to brag here for a second.  I don’t think you guys realize how abusive I am to my creative talent.  The moments when I feel inspired and words are bubbling up inside me- I usually have my hands full.  I’ll be feeding Bryce a bottle, holding him in my arms and looking into his blue eyes, when the thoughts and ideas start rolling through.  I might be sitting at Reed’s bedside in the dim light of his lamp, reading him a book and looking at the way he’s just kicking back and listening to my voice and I think, “I never want to forget this moment”.

But I have to wait!  I have to save it all up- keep a couple notes in my phone so I don’t forget topics, and then when, or mostly, IF the boys nap at the same time- I can plop down and throw open the laptop.  GO! I tell my fingers. Hurry! You have precious few minutes here, so get going!  Its difficult, let me tell you.  Writers block is not an option.  There’s no warm up exercises- I just have to start typing and hope that something intelligible shows up on the screen.  I apologize deeply for the times when it doesn’t and you end up trying to decipher my ramblings.

So I have to applaud myself for being able to pound this out on demand.

I want to talk about some of the things Reed is saying and doing right now.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned that he knows all the letters of the alphabet. He can both identify when asked, “Reed, what letter is this?” or if asked, “Reed, where’s the letter S?”  But that’s been months ago- well before his 18 month mark, so now we’re working on the sound that the letter makes.  We are also teaching him the shapes of the states, so you can ask him, “Reed, where’s Oklahoma?”  His Cars book has a few of them, so he can point out Oklahoma, Texas, California, Arizona… the others are sketchy and hit or miss at this point.

Reed has started putting sentences together.  The one we probably hear the most is “Oh no, Reed.”  This probably means he fell (he doesn’t cry when he gets hurt unless its pretty serious).  At 19 months he said, “Yay school bus!” when he saw a bus, so I asked him, “Reed do you want to go to school today?”  He said, “No.  No Yay School”.  I guess school wasn’t “yay” that day!  Unfortunate, because he had to go anyway, but it made me really happy because he was expressing his feelings about it. Two weeks later I made him an omelet for breakfast and when I set it in front of him he said, “Mommy. Cook. Egg.”  Mike and I both got so excited to hear him say that!  He repeated it to himself over and over.  

Then last week right before he hit 20 months he put two of his regular phrases together into one big one.  He likes to point out that I’m driving so he’ll say, “Mommy drive. Mommy drive.  Reed, no drive” He likes to sit in the front seat when we get home and play at the wheel while we’re parked in the garage.  He also likes to point out our vehicles so he’ll say, “Mommy’s car” and “Dad’s truck”.  Well, last week Mike and I had switched vehicles so I could take the double stroller to the zoo and Reed said, “Mommy drive- Dad’s truck”. 

These kinds of things make me act like I’m on drugs.  There is no casual and calm praise given, no.  It’s a high pitched flurry of praises coming out of my mouth like a machine gun.  “Reedthat’ssogreat! You’resosmart! YoujustsaidMommyDriveDad’sTruck! That’ssogood! You’reamazing! ILoveYousoMUCH! GreatJobReed!!! You’resosmart! I’msoProudofYOU!”

Pretty amazing the stuff you’re capable of when you become a mom.  You know the super-powers that you get just for becoming a parent? They’re supposed to be things like super human strength (lifting a car off your child) or lightning fast speed (catching your baby from falling off a tall landing at the playground) usually to save your child’s life.  So far my only super-power has been lighting fast speed of the mouth and superhuman strength of the vocal chords.

I know he thinks I’m a goofball.  I’m subscribed to the “praise good behavior” school of thought.  He said “bup” for a long time and then changed to “mup” before finally sounding out the word milk correctly. When he did, I made such a scene that he looked at me with twinkling eyes and a half smile like- “wow, Mom. Okay, I’ll call it milk from now on.”  The shower of kisses, hugs and chanting, “Yousaidmilk! Yousaidmilk!”  made him feel pretty darn good.

One of the sweetest things is when he hears Bryce crying and he says in his sing-song voice, “Bryyyyce”.  Sometimes he wants to put his pacifier in for him, but sometimes he just keeps doing whatever he’s doing and calls out to Bryce, as if just the sound of his brother’s voice will call the little guy down.

We drove to Fayetteville last weekend for a weekend of bike racing and Reed has been cheering, “GO MIKE!” and “GO CRAIG” ever since.  I don’t think he’s realized who “Mike” is yet.  He likes to say it because he gets us to chuckle and the kid sure has a sense of humor, so he likes to be funny.  Saturday afternoon was the road race and Mike came in a few minutes after the lead pack.  I said, “Oh man, Reed. Dad got dropped.”  When Mike circled back around and came to talk to us, the first thing his little toddler says to him is, “Dad dropped” (in a very disappointed voice, no less!) He’s a mocking bird, and not only did he pick up what I said, and my tone- but he repeated it over and over for hours!! Poor Mike!!

It was a great weekend, though. Both boys did really well with the trip and we had lots of fun at not only the races but the park nearby and the hotel pool. Our friends Josie, Matt and Luke were also there for the races, so that made it fun to have good friends around.

We are looking forward to the next one!