Reid - 4/28/2017

Reid ate some oatmeal and dried cranberries for breakfast.  (This was after finishing the oatmeal he brought from home!)  For lunch he ate 2 bites of tilapia, LOTS of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate a few green beans (all that I put on his plate), and LOTS of applesauce.

Kenzie came after school yesterday afternoon and was being pretty bossy to Reid.  He'd been bonking himself in the head and Kenzie yelled at him; "REID!! That is NOT good!!  That can cause brain damage!!"  Reid shrugged and simply responded; "Just make Nora laugh!"  And in fact that is what he was doing and he was being quite successful.  :)

I think it's funny when Reid says he doesn't want to read a book, but then he can't resist when Lauralea or I start reading.  In this first picture Sophie and Avi are both focused on something (probably Bubba) across the room.  Sophie was pointing at the book and saying, "This is Gary, this is Lauralea, this is me, this is another Lauralea."  :)  But Reid was totally into it!!  In the 2nd picture it totally started as a very nice love to Lauralea and quickly changed into squeezing behind Lauralea on the couch.  Reid was saying, "Send it to my Mom!  Send it to my Mom!"  So here it is Mom!!

Reid was wanting the book that Baby Nora had and then he remembered the technique we've taught him for a long time.  "Trade something!!"  So he went and got this carrot - which actually is one of Baby Nora's favorite toys - and made the swap!  Well done Reid!!  (In Nora's Blog today there is a picture of her crawling around with a carrot dangling from her mouth!)

Reid - 4/26/2017

Reid ate a LOT of whole wheat toast and LOTS of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate toasted rye bread and mixed fruit.  He didn't want to try the pork roast, or vegetables; carrots, sweet potatoes, and regular red potatoes.  At breakfast Hudson took his bib to Reid and asked, "Can you help me Reido?"  And Reid helped him; so cute.  Then Hudson asked what was on his wrist (Reid's ID bracelet) and Reid said, "You don't want to know."  Hahaahaa!  Yes I think he does and that's why he asked you!!

In this first picture Reid was saying/singing "Nora Nora open the door Nora girl, Nora girl."  (That comes from one of our songs in case I've never told you that.)  Then Reid was toppling over backwards and Nora was laughing.  Nora laughs at lots of silly things the other kids do.

Hudson spotted a squirrel sitting on the very top of a power pole and yelled; "Squirrel Gary, squirrel!!" All the kids came to the window and we watched the squirrel come down the pole and run across the road.  Reid yelled, "Get out of town Mr. Squirrel!"  Ha!

When Reid came in this morning he looked at the toys and said, "You have the same toys out!!  It been like 13 months!!"  Haha!  Toy exchange every 2 weeks Reido, every 2 weeks.  Then Reid was telling me something about what happened at home last night and this is what I heard:  "It cracked me up too much; I almost peed my pants!!  They (Dad and Tate) were measuring how hard it is to pick each other up."  Ok, What was so funny about that?  "Tate's face was close to Dad's butt.  You come to our house and see how much cracking up we did!"  :)  Ok, I'm not sure how I'll go back in time, but we'll think of something!

Reid - 4/21/2017

Reid ate raisins and no brown rice for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of salmon, half of dinner roll, three servings of corn, and two servings of mangoes.  Sophie arrived at breakfast time, sat down and started eating.  (Reid was already done with breakfast.)  She asked, "Is Reido here!?!"  An answer bellowed from the Play room;  "NO!!"  What a fun and entertaining goof he is!

Reid was desperately trying to get Nora to look at him and she was giving him the cold shoulder!  He was saying, "Nora!!  Look at me!!  Hey, Look at me!  Look at my face!!"  Several times.  Over and over.  Cracked me up.  So I grabbed the camera and he had started bonking himself (hard - not gently) on the forehead and of course that made her start laughing!!  He said, "Well actually, that hurts!"  LOL!!  Yup!  Sometimes success can be painful Reid!

We played with Play Dough at Art Time and read lots of books at Story Time.  I already mentioned this week about Reid participating more.  And at Story Time he hasn't been commenting that "That was the most boring book in the world!!"  Ha!  (After every story.)  One of the books we read today was "What do you Love?"  (Park slides, piggyback rides, mud pies, and Mommy's eyes.)  What do you love?  Reid said, "You already know."  Ha!  Soccer?

A couple of humorous moments from this morning:
"Hey Reid, your zipper is open."  "I don't care."  Shocker!  Ha!
He was telling me a story about "friends coming over, minutes before they came, Bode caused him to fall down the stairs, etc..."  That might be close, or not close!  But I was trying hard to understand the tale!  Ha!  He said, "It took you 18 hours to figure it out!!"  So I told him I was doing the best I could with the best hearing aids I could get!!  HA!

Reid - 4/20/2017

Reid ate lots of whole wheat english muffin and lots of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch he ate a bite or two of baked chicken, couple bites of whole grain tortilla, no cabbage, ate corn on cob, and ate baked apple with cinnamon.

Reid has been having really good days here - and by that I mean he has been much more engaged with everyone and participating in most of the activities as well.  A few weeks ago it was hard to take a picture of him when he wasn't in "his" chair!  Ha!  Not that I was real concerned, but I was hoping he wasn't too terribly bored!  He still occupies his chair frequently, but he's also out many many times.  And here's a picture of him listening to Lauralea read a book before she left for work.

Avi was teasing (hmmm...this is a very common theme for Avilene) Reid and was in his chair 2 or 3 times this morning.  She reacts instantly when he moves from that chair!!  He was pretending to growl at her when I took this picture.  She looks pretty frightened, right!?!  NOT!!

Reid and Sophie were doing "dot painting" quite aggressively and they thought it was hilarious that it was jiggling the table and moving the other paint bottles.  The last picture: It's not too often I can get a picture of all of them playing so closely together - without trying to stage a picture!  This was all about the 3 yellow buckets with the 3 different shapes.  As usual one or two were trying to fill the buckets and one or two were emptying the buckets.  And Nora was the amused spectator!

Reid - 4/19/2017

Reid had started yelling, "I'm hungry" before 8:00.  But he survived until breakfast.  He ate french toast and LOTS of strawberries.  For lunch he ate bites of Paleo Stew - with burger, and at least 6 vegetables in it - broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes.  He ate lots of crackers and bites of tropical fruit.  He was very cooperative when I was asking him to have bites of stew and fruit each time before he could have more crackers.  Good job Reid.

Nora LOVES the igloo and as soon as she went inside Reid ran over to peek in upside-down just like yesterday.  "I do it again!" he said.  Not much to say about the 2nd picture except that Reid joined Sophie when she was working on puzzles.  I love it when he initiates play with the other kids like in both of these first two pictures.

I was watching Reid ride this bike outside and I was thinking how big he is.  Good grief!  I have 2 sizes of bikes and this is one of the biggest bikes.  His knees are above the handle bars!  So this reminded me to mention that I've applied for a grant and I'm hoping to get some "older" stuff soon!  I applied for 3 scooters (double wheels in the back) that I know Reid will enjoy and make the summer more fun for him outside.  And a couple other items as well.

It was so pretty outside this morning and we played in the sunshine!  YES!!  While we were still inside Hudson asked, "Do art, do art?"  So I said we'd go outside and do sidewalk chalk and everyone was thrilled.  I think they each made 1 line and the over-achievers made 2 lines.  Ha!  We're done!!  They were off to more fun stuff!  I was taking this last picture because I thought it was so funny that Sophie was doing the work while the boys (especially Big Reido) sat in the wagon.  Just as I was about to take the picture Reid had a love surge and gave Bubba a big love.  So precious.  And I love Hudson's reaction.

Reid - 4/18/2017

Reid ate flat bread and LOTS of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch he ate lots of hamburger and LOTS of elbow noodles covered with applesauce.  And a few bites of peas.  At breakfast Reid was eating grapes and said, "I'm gonna eat these until my Mom comes!!"  (That's his default phrase when he's eating something he likes!)  Then at Lunch he made an announcement: "I can eat 8 bites of anything in one serving!!"  Haha!  And believe me, when it comes to eating Reid can pretty much stand behind his boasting!!  All morning Hudson kept asking, "outside Gary, outside Gary, outside Gary, outside Gary....???"  I kept saying, "After nap if it doesn't rain Bubba, after nap if it doesn't rain Bubba...."  Reid finally said, "Have you ever looked at the weather?  That will tell you if it rain or not!?!"  :)

I said I was going to read some books.  Reid said, "I'm not gonna listen to any of them!"  Oh really? So I chose some Special Books and some I know he likes.  I watched him in the mirror as I read and he was quickly being sucked in.  Ha!   I did a favorite of his first and he didn't stay away for more than one or two pages and he was already making comments from afar.  When we were done with Story Time Reid said, "That took 14 hours."  Haha!  Yes, but I noticed you enjoyed it all!  :)

Apparently Reid had earlier taken off his socks and Avilene found them on the floor.  Reid said to Avilene; "Just put them on the changing table."  (As he continued to lounge!  Hmmm....Somehow this seems kind of wrong!  Ha!)  So in this first picture Avilene dutifully put both of Reid's socks on the changing table.  Thank you Avi.  (She has a sock in her left hand if it's hard to see.)

Reid was playing on top of the igloo and Nora, Hudson, and Avilene were inside it.  Reid peeked inside and the kids loved it.  "Hey!  Where'd you come from!?!"  Then he was hanging his bare feet over the edge telling the kids to smell his feet.  What a goof!!

Reid - 4/14/2017

Reid ate oatmeal and baked apples (with cinnamon).  He and Sophie raved about how wonderful the apples were and that helped Hudson try some and he liked them too.  Reid said they were "yummy" and "these things are awesome!"  It was worthy of a "double dab" then a triple and quadruple dab.  For Lunch - hmmm....apparently not worthy of any dabbing!!  Reid wouldn't try the stew with hamburger, green beans, carrots, and red potatoes.  He ate a biscuit and apricots.

Reid did tons of jumping this morning and playing on the mattress.  It was awesome.  He did more moving than I've seen him do in weeks!  Two or three times he jumped onto the floor instead of the mattress.  I told him;  "You're making my knees hurt just watching you jump."  He said, "Well they're gonna hurt a lot more!"  Hahaha!!  Then came some more Dabbing!!  Next jump - Dab in midair!  What a goof!!  Sophie said she jumped from the sky and Reid said, "I'll show you what jumping from the sky look like!!"

Here are some more pictures from this morning's activities.  Reid, Sophie, and Hudson were the only ones here and they played in the "hideout" that Kenzie and Riley built yesterday - pretending to sleep. Then Reid was doing some "face plants" and I got a picture of him falling straight forward without catching himself with his hands.  The 4th picture is when Reid said, "I totally did a cartwheel!!"  Or something similar to a cartwheel!  I know the kids are having fun and burning off some energy when they ask for a water break!  That's a good morning!!

Reid - 4/13/2017

Reid ate whole grain flat bread and LOTS of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch he ate Lots of pulled pork sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate lots of cantaloupe.

Hudson was chanting, "Can you, can you, can you...???"  I had no idea what he wanted, but I assumed it was reading books.  (That's his default plea!  Ha!)  Reid said, "Not today Bubba!"  That cracked me up.  So I asked Reid, "What's Bubba talking about?"  Reid said, "I don't know."  Haha! Then Hudson raced for "Reid's Chair" and got in it first.  However, as Reid approached Bubba got nervous, started giggling and scrambled out of the chair.  Unlike Avi who'll just sit there and wait to see how Reid will respond.  This has been their ongoing game for several weeks now!

I was working at the changing table and Reid yelled, "LOOK LOOK!!"  I turned around and there Baby Nora was standing.  That's the first time here!  It was pretty cute how excited Reid got and I was glad he alerted me!  She let herself back down with great control.  Nice job Nora!  So I told Reid; "thank you for yelling look look!"  He said, "Yup and then I farted."  Haha!  What a goof!!  He then pretended that he didn't care, but he was excited!  Reid was obviously feeling some love for Nora.  He was watching her and then had to get down and give her a love.  Also this morning he saw her crawling into the igloo and apparently he hadn't noticed it before.  He said, "Hey look!  Baby Nora in the igloo!"  Yup, for the umpteenth time.  :)

It's hard to see this, but Reid and Nora are both actually sitting in the legos drawer.  Here's the story: Hudson is scared silly on the changing table so I have to change him on the floor.  It's not the most convenient place for me because I have to hold off Nora and change him.  (This may be too much information, but it was a HUGE poop this morning and I don't need an invader!!)  Anyhow, I sat her in the drawer, she wasn't happy, but Reid was a super helper!  And he got down from his chair to get in there with her without me even asking him!!  Thank you Reid!!

Reid - 4/12/2017

Reid ate lots of whole wheat toast and ate mangoes for breakfast.  At breakfast time he said, "I didn't do anything last night!!"  Before I could even ask the question, he was ready with his answer!  LOL! For lunch he ate two servings of hamburger with spaghetti sauce and spaghetti noodles, no squash, and ate fruit salad.  He said, "This kind of like spaghetti!!"  Hahahaaaaa!!!  Well bingo!!  That's what it was meant to be!!  We'll take that as a sideways compliment!!

Here's a picture of Avi reading a book in "Reid's chair" before Reid arrived.  I always tell Reid that Avi says his name perfectly!!  "Read read" while holding her books.  She ran to the gate to greet Reid when he arrived and when I turned back around she was already back to Reid's beloved chair sitting and looking very proud and smug!!  Ha!!  He's been doing very good not getting frustrated with her. He's learning that she will get down pretty fast if he'll just ignore her.

The kids had fun with the play dough at Art Time this morning.  This is homemade play dough and it's over 2 years old!  It's still in great shape, but it's about time for a new batch!  The kids use little rollers, plastic cookie cutters, pizza cutters, and knives, forks and spoons.  Reid probably spent 10 minutes or more at the end of his play dough time making his into the "perfect ball."  (Those were his words.)  And it actually was very round and quite perfect!!

Reid - 4/10/2017

Reid ate a couple servings of raisins for breakfast and didn't want any bran cereal.  His Blog will be short today - he was here less than 2 hours.  This next note isn't about Reid, but I think you might enjoy it anyhow.  I must have been having a flashback moment because at breakfast and I was singing, "Come on people now, smile on your brother..."  (from the late 1960's)  Sophie said, "I don't have a brother!!"  Haha!  Oh man I laughed so hard!

Sophie was playing with a blanket and keeping it away from Hudson.  Reid said, "It not yours Sophie; it Gary's. And you can share."  Ha!  I wondered if he could apply that to himself so I said, "That chair you're sitting in is Gary's too and you can share."  Reid grinned all over himself and said, "No.  That my chair."  :)

Reid was watching Sophie read to Hudson when I took this picture.

I took this 2nd picture when Reid was rapidly rolling back-n-forth on the couch.  He said, "I'm gonna do this till my Dad comes!  Ha!!~

Reid - 4/7/2017

Reid ate dried plums - no malt-o-meal for breakfast.  He had 2 or 3 servings of those plums.  I was giving some of the plums to Nora and he asked, "Why are you wasting those on Baby Nora!?"  I tried not to laugh, but told him that wasn't a nice thing to say about someone else.  :)  He ate a little bit of Lunch except for the brown rice.  We had beef steak, brown rice, vegetables (zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers), and pineapple.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon and Reid was trying to mess with me when I took this picture and tried to block my view.  :)  I am transitioning Hudson to the table and I always start with the Snack meal because there are fewer items.

I love this next picture.  Avi knows that Reid loves the blanket she's holding.  (It's one of my blankets - Reid is holding his special blanket from home.)  Avi found the blanket on the other side of the room, picked it up and raced over to give it to Reid saying, "Ree Ree Ree!"  So cute!!

I've been changing Hudson's diaper on the floor because the height of the changing table is an issue for him right now.  Anyhow it's a challenge to position him in such a way that I can block the little ones, especially Baby Nora who immediately crawls over.  Nora was mad that she wasn't being successful and Sophie jumped right in to assist her without me even asking.  She was comforting Nora and Reid was trying to assist Hudson with some reassuring talk; "It's all done Bubba, it's all done..." They were both trying hard to be good helpers and doing so on their own initiative !!

When Sophie arrived one of the first things she told us was about - "Dumbo" her stuffed elephant.  So where is Dumbo and why didn't you bring him?  She said, "He's at home and he's sick."  Well who is taking care of Dumbo?  "Mommy is."  Reid was listening to this conversation and said, "Who the heck would do that!?!"  Not sure exactly what it meant, but the way he said it was hilarious!!

When I took this picture of Lauralea reading to the kids this morning I was trying to get all four of these kids with a finger in their mouth.  All of them were doing it, but they would never ALL do it at the same time, so I got 3 out of 4!  :)

Reid - 4/6/2017

Reid ate LOTS of waffle and a few bites of fruit salad for breakfast.  He also had several bites of "Shepard's Pie" (with mashed potatoes, corn, peas, hamburger) for Lunch.  No flat bread, but he ate his cherry fruit mix.  When Reid first arrived this morning he looked around and said, "Hey Gary! Did you forget to pick up!?"  (Toys from yesterday)  Dang!  Busted!  :)  Which amused me because there were already kids here, but maybe he knew the toys were scattered more than they could do in that short of time.  Or the mess looked familiar from yesterday!

He's Reid "one with the chair" Templeton!!  All the other parents make comments about Reid and his chair.  It's pretty cute.  This morning Avilene was totally teasing him with getting in the chair.  Reid handled it very well and I was impressed.  And I applauded him as well.  She ran for the chair when she saw him heading out after breakfast.  So he went and sat in the legos drawer, which was super hilarious as he totally filled up the drawer!!  Ha!!  I told him to essentially ignore her and she'd soon leave.  When she began to crawl down he moved toward the chair and she flew back to it.  Little Turkey.  I told him he could have it, but he chose to sweetly wait.  Thank you Reid.  I said, "Avi knows you like that chair."  He said, "She don't know that I LOVE it!"  Actually the problem lies in the fact she totally knows!!

At breakfast I'd went over and opened the door, looked around and then shut it.  Reid asked, "Why do you open the door when nobody is there?"  That's a good question and here's the reason.  I told him I like to check that the gate is closed and that the storm door is shut.  He said, "Well there was tornado far away and maybe you're gonna feel it ; not see it."  What!?!  Awww....that was triggered by storm door comment!!  :)  Initially it sounded so random until I did a replay on what I'd said!

"Hey Gary!  Mom had doughnut in car for me and for a (h)second I thought it was disneyland infinity figure!"  Ha!  "They also gonna make a 4.0 that will be final one."  Well thank goodness that will be over!  Ha!  He added. "It come out December 18!!"

Reid - 4/5/2017

Reid ate half of french toast (with peanut butter to entice him) and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch he ate bites of salmon patty, no whole wheat bun, no squash, and ate two servings of tropical fruit.  Reid made an important (Public Service?) announcement at Lunch Time:  "All of you in here, including Baby Nora, should NEVER try a Jalapeño chip!!"  It is awful!!  :)  Thank you Reid.

We read books, did sign language and also some shapes that Reid asked for.  He remembered lots of the shapes and even "trapezoid."  He quickly gave Cooper the credit and said, "Mostly because Cooper told me all of that."

Reid was giving Nora more loves this morning (just like he was on Monday afternoon) and it was so sweet and adorable.  On Monday he was apparently having 'love surges" because he kept doing it over and over.  It was pretty sweet and cute.

He engaged in lots of play this morning and even went out to watch Sophie work on puzzles.  He was trying to tease Lauralea while he was out there by sitting in her chair.  "Hey Lauralea! guess where I'm at!?"

Reid - 4/3/2017

Reid arrived at 10:00 so ate one meal here this morning.  For lunch he ate two servings of hamburgers and hamburger buns (no lettuce, tomato, mushrooms on the side), ate avocado, and two servings of oranges.

Here are 3 pictures from this morning that depict the activity of Reid!!  Not exactly action pictures!  Ha!  We kind of have this game going where he likes to hide his face while I'm trying to get a picture!  So that's what the first picture is about.  So I grabbed his blanket and left him bare for the 2nd picture! Then in the 3rd picture I noticed in the mirror he was peeking at me and I grabbed the camera again. He was giggling and thought that was pretty funny.  You can just see his head peeking around, but I didn't catch his eyes.

The funniest quote of the morning: "I can't believe it's hummer (summer) and it's still snowing!!"  I can't believe someone told you it's summer Reid!!  :)

Reid made another observation this morning that proves once again he's a seasoned Daycare Attendee.  He heard me ask Hudson, "Are you poopy!?"  Reid said, "If they say no; they actually yes and they are poopy!"  Yup!  You got it right!  :)