Peek-a-boo

[peek-a-boo has reached a whole new level of fun now that he is so much more interactive...
Reed's almost 9 months in this video]

Easter

Reed celebrated his first Easter with the Witorts and the Plumbs in beautiful sunny Berkeley. Some of the activities included: half-ball games, egg-cracking, mountain biking, family dinners, and rock band! Reed had a wonderful time with all the family as did his parents.
More pictures here

[The brown bear cousin club: Tessa (10), Hannah (7), Reed (almost 9 months)

[Reed's first egg-cracking contest, first competitor: cousin Elliott who went on to win the championship!]

[Hanging at the park with Grandma Sherry and Hannah]

On the verge...

This is as close as I've seen to Reed trying to crawl. He is moving backwards and sideways quite well so moving forward is bound to happen soon.

[April 7]

When Reed was younger and Billy first went back to work, we tried to do a video chat as often as possible. Since then, we have not found the time in each day (or I am working too) so they have fallen off the radar. Yesterday we resurrected the tradition and I caught it on video. Reed was soooooo excited to see his Papi on that funny white thing mom uses a lot (i.e. laptop)

[April 7]

Miles of smiles & house update

[Chewing on a teething biscuit feels good]

[Actually this piece of grass tastes good too]

[I love hanging outside on sunny Berkeley days]

[Especially with my mama and papi (behind the camera)]

For more smiley pictures and other recent adventures go to Reed's smugmug page

[Here's a pretty recent picture of our house]

For more pictures of the house face-lift go to this house smugmug page

Practicing new sounds (8.5 mos)

It is so fun learning more and more about our little guy. We have always known that he is very social but at the same time laid back and kind of quiet. Aside from his hysterical laughter he has yet to make many other sounds, especially loud ones. However.....just a few days ago we noticed him making a very quiet puh or buh sound...almost a whisper.
Now these very sweet and whisper-like sounds, which to us seem like he is practicing before he tries them for real, are a regular activity. This morning he was off to a great start with his buhs and puhs and luckily I got the camera in time to catch some of these sweet practice sounds on tape. You have to really listen for them and watch him put his lips together to make the sounds because it's a little hard to hear.

Other fun new things....He has followed the lead of his girlfriend Maya and now likes to hold a spoon in his own hand while we are feeding him. He still accepts foods like a baby bird with a huge wide opening mouth but sometimes his own spoon is in the way so you have to wait until he gets it out of the way for us to pop in the food. Since my last post he has tried spaghetti with red sauce (even with a tiny bite of meat), lentils and rice, cheese and hummus. All seem to go over very well. In fact so far, there is nothing that this kid doesn't like.

[Papi is soooo funny]

8 Months old!

No longer a little baby, Reed is an engaged, inquisitive, loving little boy. He is making so many new sounds, and through sounds and actions, clearly trying to communicate with us. Slapping the table during meals is a sure sign that he wants more of whatever we are feeding him and looking away, or dropping food on the floor for an eagerly awaiting Samba tells us he is done. He still rubs his eyes or mouths my face when tired.

He's moving around (albeit backwards scooting) but you can tell this guy is discovering he has places to go.

He's eating many new things and so far he seems to like all of it. He eats three meals a day and nurses or takes a bottle between each meal and in the morning and night. Some of the food on his menu these days includes:tofu, butternut squash, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, egg yolks, pears, apples, bananas, prunes, cereals, pureed soups like potato leek and carrot ginger, mango and of course his favorite food...avocado. Here is a video of his first whole banana...

Three nights ago he slept through the night from 8pm to 7am with one dream feed at 10:30 where I woke him just to tank him up. Last night he was back to his more typical routine with a few wake ups in the middle of the night for a pacifier and awake by 6am. Some mornings he wakes up in pretty good spirits and just kind of talks to himself, other mornings he is determined to eat.

In other family news...Kris started her job in Feb and all is well. Reed is with our nanny Carmen and his friend Maya 2 days/week, with Billy 1 day/week and with me the other 2 days. B is working on a new patent for his work and enjoying some new challenges. The house is an ever present project but we find ways to enjoy that too (recent pics here). We are busier, but having more fun in our lives than ever! Until next time....
love - k, b, r

Two bottom teeth

Just wanted to update all of our out-of-town family and friends that Reed now has two bottom teeth poking through! So far not too much change in his disposition or sleep and he doesn't seem to be in too much pain but we'll wait and see. He is still putting anything and everything in his mouth these days and he is starting to try to chew up little bits of food. We introduced him to yogurt the other day and he loved it (especially with a little pears mixed in). It is too hard to get a picture of the teeth but here he is with a full yogurt face.