Reed is a man who knows what he wants. From what to snack on to what to play with, he makes each choice a conscious decision. I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that he doesn’t accidentally end up in situations anymore. He walks into a room with a purpose, he opens a toy bin with a specific need to fill and I almost think he’s thought through exactly what he’s doing next before he even takes a step. If Mike is lying on the floor, Reed will crawl on his back, saddle up, and expect a ride. When he marches into the kitchen looking for me, he comes straight up to my legs, forces me to turn around so I’m facing him, looks me directly in the eye and says, “Puh! Puh!” Translated, this means “up, up”. Each day when I drop him off at school, he enters his classroom and within a couple of minutes he pulls out a chair at the table, sits himself in the seat, and slaps a hand on the table with a look that says, “Snack! Now, woman!”
He chooses a book and brings it to me or Mike, all the while babbling in his own language but asking if we’ll read it to him, then once he hands the book to us, he turns around and sits right into our lap. Putting this down in black and white- it seems so small and insignificant, but it puts such a big smile on our faces. There is such a difference between a time when we chose a book and sat him in our laps- it has turned around now, and Reed is the one initiating the activity.
For approximately the last week, he’s started loving on his stuffed animals. He hugs his Tigger up to the side of his face and grins while I say, “aww, you love Tigger. That’s so sweet, Reed.” He gets such a positive reaction from me for showing affection that he has continued to hug on all of his stuffed animals and blankets. Reed has never been into his lovey, a pony blanket named Chester, but he has started carrying him around. It’s funny because it almost makes him seem more like a baby even though he’s doing it as a toddler and never did it as a baby.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love taking Reed to different activities and getting him involved. Part of this is because I love encouraging his social side and watching him interact with others. I also love the opportunity to observe the differences in personalities. Since Reed is my only child for the time being, I like to compare and evaluate his mannerisms and behaviors with other kids his age. I have found that I am always satisfied with my assessment – if not just downright proud of my little man. He is tough, resilient, and easy going. During play groups he almost never throws fits or gets upset when someone takes a toy from him or knocks him down. He does however take things from other kids, which I try to remedy by distracting him with something even better while returning the toy to it’s previous owner. Something I find interesting is that he explores things that other kids don’t even notice or care to consider. For example, at the library during “Lapsit”, he will squeeze behind a toy shelf and when I peek at him he’s beaming. It seems as though he just loves finding hidden places that no one else has explored. During Gymboree last weekend, he was content playing away from the other kids for a little while, but also took a much greater interest in a large stuffed toy that the other kids hardly noticed. Mike said the instructor encouraged the children to come up and feel the toy and play with it, but Reed was the only one who was interested. I sometimes wonder if he does this sort of thing just for approval, so we will all be proud and praise him. Smart boy.
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