30 on the 30th

Today our little guy turns 30 months (2 and a half years) old!   I thought I might share a few of his milestones and just sweet stuff that makes him our "Reni Boy."

1.) He has learned that when he has done something he shouldn't, he's supposed to apologize.  He can just read it in your look or body language and will quickly say (sometimes not always in a contrite tone), "I sorry, I sorry!"

2.) Sometimes I think he spills just so he can request a 'nackin' to clean up a mess.

3.) He has the SWEETEST little boy voice, but when he's upset with his sister, he can scream like a girl!

4.) If he wants to stall (bedtime or naptime, usually), he'll request, "Four minutes, four minutes" and hold up as many fingers.

5.) He has difficult saying the s-t consonant combination.  Words like story, sticker, stop, stuck, etc. all come out as dory, dicker, dop, duck, etc.  Takes a little bit of interpretation to understand out of context, but again, cute for his age.

6.)  He soaks up his big sister's example like a sponge.  When Ellie gets excited about something, Reni expresses equal joy.  With our upcoming trip to Albania (which includes flying on an airplane), the kids are naturally excited.  Last weekend, though, Nathan had to fly to a conference in Tucson.  When it came time for him to pack, Reni misunderstood and thought it was time for us to leave for Albania.  He started dancing round our room, pointing his index fingers in the air singing loudly, "Packing suitcases, woo-oo!  Packing suitcases, woo-oo!"

7.) This little boy is crazy obsessed with cars.  Others are starting to point out to me that it is beyond what is generally typical for boys they have known.  He carries his cars EVERYWHERE he goes.  He likes to line them up at imaginary starting lines and have 'races'.  His favorite place to do this is the kitchen floor.  I suspect because the hardwood planks are the perfect 'lane' width!  For a long time he carried them around in a fabric bag until the handle broke.  Now he's using a Little Tyk*s golf caddy to take them with him around the house.  The only problem is if he fills the caddy to the top, some tend to spill out when he tilts it to move.

(this video is several weeks old -- and I apologize for the focus issues at the beginning!)


8.) For a while Reni has been expressing his opinion quite strongly.  You will regularly hear him saying, "I wanna pick!"  It doesn't matter if it's between two IDENTICAL objects!  Whether it's what cup he drinks out of, which kind of granola bar he snacks on, or what shirt he wears, he seems to feel the need to express his personhood HIMSELF. This can be very frustrating at times if I don't remember to head things off at the pass, prepared to give him 2 choices or lift him up to select something from the cupboard. I think though that it's a good sign of development.

9.) While Reni might be missing his lower legs, he has found a variety of ways to get where he wants to go (vertically speaking) and compensate for what he lacks in stature.  We have a few little plastic step stools that we bought for him to reach the train table in his room and water table on the porch.  Those are still not tall enough to reach some areas (like his high chair tray) so he's gone on the prowl to find an alternative perch.  The perfect object seems to be his plastic toy bins turned upside down.  I've learned to keep one or two empty of toys at all times (because otherwise he just dumps and leaves the contents strewn all over the floor to move the box where he needs it).  This means that things like the TV screen, the top of our bed, and the couch are now within reach. And once he can reach something with his hands, he can pull that entire body up with his amazing upper body strength.

10) Crazy as it seems to us, you can reason with this child and he understands (or seems to).  Here's just one example:  We decided over a week ago that under no circumstances was he taking a drink to bed with him anymore.  Explaining that sippy drinks can give him ear infections, he was no longer going to have that comfort item in bed with him.  It's been so easy, we've wondered why we didn't try this sooner!

11.)  While he's been doing this for several months, he hasn't ceased to come up to us and just say, "I love you!"  Of course, this garners him much positive attention in return!


12.) Finally, he has picked up on prayer and frequently asks if he can give thanks for our food.  And if we're out in public and folks around us don't bow their heads with us (like students in the university cafeteria), they will likely get a verbal scolding from Reni with a scowl and wagging finger!