Little Muscle Builders

Lately it seems my days are often spent with not just one baby in my arms but two. Reid is a clingy little man and often wants to be held and Everett, I guess, not wanting to be left out wants to be held too. So this Mom has been building muscle by carting both of her boys everywhere. I’m almost ashamed to admit this but I use to complain about it. I felt overwhelmed at times by having these little people need me all of the time but a fellow mom whose boys are now teenagers told me to enjoy it because her boys no longer “need” her and she missed it. And I realized that there will come a time when my boys will not want to be held and this will evolve into it no longer being possible and frankly, plain weird. One day they will not only be able to fend for themselves but want to and in the future, hopefully way, way in the future, there will come a day when another woman cares for them. I will always be here for them but this part of being their mom only lasts for a short season. And while this season is at times overwhelming and exhausting, it is a very beautiful and rewarding season as well.




My main muscle builder, Reid, is getting so big. He is six months old now and it is hard to believe it’s been half a year already. He loves being with his big brother and since he watches everything Everett does I am pretty sure it is already his mission to try and keep up with him.
 

With that being said it is almost as though he is also determined to take full advantage of being a baby. He is still in our bed, still isn’t sleeping through the night and still refuses baby food. We have tried rice cereal mixed with formula, rice cereal mixed with applesauce, plain applesauce and baby food all of which he spits out. All we can do is keep trying, at some point I would think he’ll decide he needs something more substantial than formula.



He is turning into quite the wiggle worm and his sitting on the couch has to now be supervised because all of his flipping and rolling has already taken him off the couch once and almost off of it many times. But it turns out I can run pretty fast when I need to so that’s a nice revelation.



He also can flip himself over in his car seat and push himself out of it so now if I sit him in it I have to buckle him in.



He is getting to the place where he can hold his own bottle. It doesn’t seem like he is old enough for that yet but occasionally he does. 



But the cutest thing is he has discovered his tongue. He’ll stick it in out and chew on it which is very amusing.



He is also a little drool bucket and is regularly soaked. This has led to a rash on his chest so we are trying out the bib thing which can be a nuisance with all his wiggling so it doesn’t always last. But one thing is for sure, he is a cute little mess.



My other muscle builder, Everett, has a little independent streak that is making it’s way to the surface. He is at the age where he wants to do things on his own and he doesn’t want you to hold his hand. He may ask for your help or come running to you when he is uncertain but for the most part he is Mr. Independent now. Though, endearingly, he still sucks his first two fingers.



Sometimes though his independent streak doesn’t work very well for his parents and we have to hold his hand, carry him, take something away or tell him no. This doesn't sit well with him and he will stick out his bottom lip, give a little sigh-whine and walk away to lay his head on or against something. His little pout doesn’t give him the desired response but rather Dustin and I usually laugh because it is so cute. At this point Everett will look up, hesitate and then grin right back and go on his merry way with whatever first upset him now forgotten.



His new favorite show is the “Fresh Beat Band” which revolves around four friends who each play instruments and sing. I think he has discovered his first girl crush in Marina who plays the drums. The show is bright and colorful which Reid also loves and the songs are catchy which Dustin loves. It’s not unusual to hear him, meaning Dustin, singing one of the songs and I think he is more excited at the idea of buying the soundtrack than the boys!



And like any other kid growing up in this day and age Everett loves technology. He pretends to talk on the phone, loves iPads, remotes, controllers and any thing of that nature.



However, his interest in those things don’t last very long. He is too busy discovering other items to get a hold of. Some of his new favorite things are Q-tips, plastic cups, silverware, plastic bags which he likes to pull out of the box and there was also the time he unrolled most of the aluminum foil off of it’s roll. And if it’s not that it’s of course, toilet paper.



There was the time when he found a candy conversation heart that Dustin gave me when we were dating and the crazy kid ate it, never mind the fact that it was over six years old and very, very stale. He also found a bouquet of roses Dustin gave me that I had dried and discovered that smacking them on the floor made a great, big, wonderful mess of petals that you could crunch up. And then there was the time that after searching a couples hours for my missing glasses Dustin found them in the trash can where Everett had tossed them.



There is no doubt about it, this crazy boy keeps us so very busy. He is lucky he is so cute. ;-)