Milestones: Reed

I didn't set any goals for Reed for 2009 (please read my post about Graham down below first!) as he is older and I couldn't really think of anything in particular that he needed to work on. (really, what WE as parents needed to help him work on) But he has had some milestones just the same. Reed LOVES school, I mean loves it to death. It sometimes takes me awhile to wake him up in the morning but once he's awake and realizes he is going to school he jumps up, gets dressed (sometimes takes a bath first floating with just his nose and mouth outside the water), eats his cereal and is ready to go. He has been an extremely picky eater his whole life and I would say that he has been really good about branching out and trying new things. But getting back to school, he has come such a long way in his reading. I don't know how old I was when we started reading but I don't think it was kindergarden.

He has also gone back to being a really sweet, helpful kid. I sort of remember him being this way until about 2 1/2 but then the troublemaker took over. A long, long time ago Jeff's cousin Robin Faulkner told me that kids start being nice and fun to be around again about the age of 5, right when they start going to school fulltime, which she felt was unfortunate. At the time Reed was about 3 months old and I couldn't comprehend how he COULDN'T be sweet and wonderful all the time.............. Anyway, he has gone back to being wonderful (most of the time) helping me out, helping Graham much of the time, being a great big brother. There are, of course, fights and arguments as well but I guess they wouldn't be normal kids/brothers if there wasn't that going on.

The biggest milestone I think is Reed lost his first tooth last week. While he is SO excited about knowing the tooth fairy will be in his room with her magic wand, he waited about 11 days to put it under his pillow because he was waiting until today to take it to show and tell. His "grown up" tooth is already showing through, he informed me the other day that it is also his "permanent tooth." :)

Milestones: Graham

I've been thinking about this post forever but have been too darn lazy to write it. There is NOTHING on TV here on Friday nights (during the week they have great shows on late....) so here I go.
As 2008 was nearing it's end, I thought up several goals for Graham for 2009. 1-lose the pacifier (pop pop); 2-learn to swim without floaties; 3-be potty trained. While on our trip to Bintan, Indonesia, the day after Christmas, Graham woke up from his nap and we were headed to the beach. Jeff was pulling on the pop pop and Graham was holding it with his teeth, the soft plastic part ripped off. No more pop pop. I thought we would have a horrible vacation due to this but Graham did quite well. He asked for it a couple of times but never really cried (he still has Doggie). First goal completed and we had not yet hit New Years!
The second goal seemed to be met almost as easily, since we go to the pool several times a week, sometime in January Graham decided he no longer wanted floaties and poof, off they went and he's been swimming like a little fish ever since!
Thus far Graham is the typical 2nd child, doing everything just a little bit earlier than his big brother did because he copies everything he sees. And then there is potty training......
"Buddy, do you want to wear big boy underwear like Reed?" "No, I'm DIAPER BOY!!!!" This is no lie. Graham has not shown much interest in losing the diapers. He states he likes them and I believe him! He will sometimes go on the little potty, get all excited and do a little dance, but then asks for the diaper to go back on. His teacher at school has pretty much insisted that we send him in underwear (I have no idea why, he's only there for 3 hours and she's not ever had to change him). So, a few weeks ago, I started sending him in underwear. He has had an accident there and a couple on the way home but overall, has done fairly well. Yesterday he went all day with one pair of underwear (skipped his nap). Well, he announced to me that he did pee in the pool but he's not the first kid or the last to do that, right? So today I took him to the store with me and then the American club, didn't even bring a diaper, just an extra pair of shorts and underwear. After getting groceries he rode a little ride in the mall and then, boom, peed all over the floor. Ok, my fault, should have taken him straight to the bathroom before letting him get on the ride. Then we went to the club, he "went" about 6 times in the bathroom, so far so good. Finally, he was going to swim. We discussed at length about how important it is that he not pee or poop in the pool. I won't give you details, but he pooped twice in his swimsuit (luckily was not in the pool either time). I can only hope we meet goal 3 by mid-August when he's supposed to start at Singapore American School!!!!
Finally, I just have to say how loving and funny Graham is. He has hit his terrible 3's with the fake crying to get his brother in trouble and saying "I hate that!" about just about everything but it's not all the time. Today we were in the cab and I asked if he thought we were going to have fun, just the two of us. He answered "Yes because we really love each other" and then gave me a hug and a kiss!
That's the loving side, the funny side is how he likes to let us know when he can do something "easily," one of his favorite words, and his practicing his bowling anywhere, anytime, working on his form. The kid LOVES to bowl and he does it probably 2x a week at the club. He continues to worship his brother but definitely has his own mind and personality. That's our Graham-cracker!