Everett and Reid are on track to becoming best buds. Reid constantly watches his big brother and no one can get a smile from him for doing nothing at all like Everett can. Everett is a good big brother too. Sure there are moments when Everett gets jealous or annoyed or grabs too rough, seriously I’m convinced Reid’s pain tolerance is higher than normal because of this, and Everett is having a hard time understanding that he has to wait until Reid is no longer interested in a toy before he can play with it. But he does do really well.
They are starting to “play” together and “talk” to each other and they also sort of fight. When Reid is frustrated and crying nonstop Everett will say “hey! hey!” which only succeeds in Reid kicking it up a notch. This results in an annoyed Everett getting more frustrated and saying his part louder. It’s always a very chaotic event but an amusing one as well!
Everett asks to hold Reid now. He’ll hold up his arms and reach for his brother and when I let him hold him, I’m doing most of the actual holding, Everett will put his arms around him and rub his head on Reid’s and say “Aww.” And then he’ll decide he’s done and push Reid away. Sometimes Reid just doesn’t want be held by Everett though and we have to take him right back but it’s cute while it lasts!
Everett loves to wrestle and he is very ready to wrestle with Reid.Tummy time must be supervised and even when it is it usually turns into a baby wrestling match.
Everett’s signature move starts with feet pulling,
goes into tackling,
and ends with a hug. See, he does love him! At some point though it gets to be a little too much for Reid and we have to call it a draw. Until he’s big enough to really play, he enjoys watching Everett wrestle and roughhouse with Dad.
And watching these two is like watching David and Goliath. Everett may be little but he has a whole lot of spunk and determination so despite the size difference the “fights” are very entertaining.
They both love it.
Everett is sixteen months now. He weighed twenty-two pounds and measured thirty-two inches tall at his check-up. And the four teeth he has been working on have finally cut through. He has two molars on the bottom that are really in and his two canine teeth on top are just now visible. He’s been walking for a month and is getting around faster which means free work-outs for me, yay! He continues to be a very curious little boy who checks out everything and gets into everything. His favorite household find is the toilet brush which he likes to wave around like a magic cleaning wand and if he is not on a mission to pull that out he scatters Q-tips or bobby pins around the house like he’s planning a treasure hunt. So basically sticks are still his favorite thing.
And so are drums. During church one Sunday, Everett decided instead of coloring with his markers that he could use them as drumsticks on his coloring book and my mom and I noticed that he hits both markers together and then will hit one higher like he is playing the cymbal. The boy has got it down. And Bro. Eddie is his new favorite friend at church mostly because after service is over he will take Everett on the platform so he can play like the big kids. And at home, despite the fact he has a real drum set, he plays on the coffee table, the couch, the lamp shade and his new favorite, the dishwasher.
For obvious reasons he loves real silverware but he also loves play silverware. He has my younger sister’s old play kitchen in his room and this provides hours of fun. Okay, he’s one so more like minutes of fun but still, it holds his attention for quite awhile. Not only that but I am already scoring major brownie points with my future daughter-in-law.
Though we just have to work on teaching him to clean up his mess afterwards. Ahem.
Between this kitchen center and his drum set, Everett loves playing in his room now and will often go back there on his own and play by himself. He is losing the baby ways and growing more independent. He even likes to be covered up with a blanket at bedtime now. Before he use to kick the blanket off but now he reaches for it, I didn’t realize how attached to it he was until his cousins were over and took it to play with and he had a complete meltdown. And the other morning when I went in his room to get him he had covered himself up with it. It was too cute!
When he is not in his room he is climbing over everything else. Sometimes it doesn’t work out too well for him like when he climbed into the toy basket and realized he couldn’t climb back out. He tries very hard to climb up on the couch but he’s not quite tall enough yet. If he has a toy nearby though he will climb up on that or the coffee table and he is always very proud of himself when he does. He can easily crawl up the stairs by himself and would love to walk down if we’d let him. Thankfully our baby gate is very secure and he has no idea how to open it. Once he can it’s all over.
He’s becoming a very brave little boy though he is still interested in Reid’s baby things. Like Reid’s bouncer. The silly kid always asks to get in it and we oblige because he is still a baby and really what’s the harm?
The baby to toddler transition is interesting and fun to watch. Everett notices everything now and copies a lot of what Dustin and I do. It’s almost scary. When Dustin and I whisper after we’ve finally gotten Reid to sleep Everett will whisper too and when we kiss he will make a clicking sound and try to kiss us at the same time. It’s hilarious. He loves to say hi and bye now and will wave. He loves it when people smile and wave back and if he wants your attention you can bank on him calling you “Papa”. We also noticed that he is starting to nod or shake his head when you ask him a question, it doesn't always make sense but it is starting to make conversation in that way. And he knows to point to show what he wants. He is also at the age where he knows who his people are and is recognizing the people he sees more often. I realized this when I took Reid for his check-up and we had the same nurse who had given Everett his shots a few weeks earlier. As soon as she acknowledge Everett the poor little guy started to cry! He remembered her and the shots she gave him!
My little baby is definitely growing up and I can’t believe how big he is getting. Just thinking about the fact that he will be two this year makes me want to cry but at the same time I’m really looking forward to it!
Reid is four months old, well actually closer to five at the this point, but for the sake of this post we’ll stick with four. He weighed fifteen pounds at his check-up and cried one time right when he got his shots and was done. He did so good! The older he gets the more and more aware he becomes. He still has to see everything and he gets antsy if he’s not moving. If you’re not moving him he will move on his own and will jump up and down over and over again. Everyone is convinced he is teething because he is quite the little drool bucket and while it may be possible, there are no swollen gums or teeth yet.
He still loves to be in a position where he can see where his family is. Though his favorite place is still in someone’s arms. If he can’t be held he usually ends up in his car seat propped up. He use to enjoy his swing but recently it just brought on tears when he was placed in it and he rarely slept there.
So we replaced it with the baby bouncer and he is much happier. He loves all the toys, he reaches for everything now and has a pretty firm grip once he has a hold of something. So all of the colors and toys keep him pretty entertained. He has also just discovered that he can jump in it and this bouncing baby boy is in heaven and his big brother coming over to play makes it even better.
He has discovered his feet and plays with them frequently. He does great with tummy time and when he is on his back is so very close to rolling over. He gets closer and closer each time he tries so it’ll most likely happen any day now. He talks, baby talk of course, all the time and will ramble on for a while. This always greatly amuses Everett and it’s cute to watch that interaction.
The other big thing is he is getting closer to sitting up on his own. We usually just prop him up on the couch in the little crevice but now he is starting to sit up. He can sort of sit on his own but he is leaning over pretty far and can only stay that way for a very short period.
He does pretty well though! The one thing he doesn’t do quite well yet though is sleep on his own. He fights sleep to begin with and the only way I can get him to go to sleep without holding him is to place him in his car seat and prop up a bottle. Other than that the little man will only sleep in my arms. At this point we should be transitioning him from our room to his crib but he doesn’t even do well in the bassinet so I am really dreading it. I already know those will be some rough nights with Reid that will most likely result in Everett waking up and Dustin and I dealing with two crying babies. So for now we, well I guess really me, are spoiling Reid big time by allowing him to sleep right next to me in our bed. I have mixed emotions about it but ultimately the transition will have to start soon!
Despite the sleep issues he really is a good baby. His stomach issues that he had in the beginning seem to be evening out as he gets older so I am hoping that by the time he is six months old he will be a happier baby. In a few weeks we’ll be starting him on rice cereal and then baby food. It’s so hard to believe that we are already at that point but that should fill him up better and help with his content and our peace of mind as well. Hopefully. In between the fussiness though is a happy little boy who has the biggest smile and that’s worth it all.
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