How did that happen? When did he get so grown up?
Time has obviously gotten away from me and here it is 2 months after Reed's 7th birthday before I got around to writing this.
Reed gets more independent all the time. It's wonderful to say to your child "Please pick up the marbles and put them away" and have the child say "Okay" and then DO it!
Books are still among Reed's bestest friends - in fact when we are on vacation this past August in Nags Head, North Carolina, on the wall of Logan's Ice Cream store was a poster that said "Books are friends that never fail me" and Reed said something like - wow, I love that poster! At this point, though, video and computer games are gaining ground...never to overtake books, but definitely they're important in his life. Back when Reed got his Nintendo DS game system (when he was 5), I feared he'd play it too much...but at that point he could take it or leave it, it wasn't a big deal. Now he plays much more regularly. When we got our Nintendo Wii system about a year and a half ago, he was so easily frustrated when he couldn't get things right on the first try, he whined and cried and it was a Whole Big Thing. Now he still gets frustrated, but he keeps trying, with much less whining.
This school year brings us much less fighting about homework, thank goodness. There are still bad days with whining ("This will take forever!" This is too hard!"), but mostly Reed knows it's gotta be done, so he does it. Whew. What a relief.
Reed thinks he's too grown up for some things now, which is of course bittersweet. He thinks a lot of the kids music he formerly really enjoyed is too "baby-ish" as he calls it. In the mornings when Tod walks him to school, he can only go as far as to cross the road with him, then Reed gives him a hug (well, it's more of a leaning-into than a hug) and heads off to his classroom. Long gone are the days of Reed enjoying wearing two different socks (it's been a while, but I still miss that!), but he's still okay with wearing socks with designs on them, those are preferred to plain ones.
Reed has a real, true best friend in Harrison. They were together in the K program at Winwood and then at CASA together last year, but this year they're just down to being in CASA together in the afternoons. They're mutually obsessed with each other, which is funny. I hope that years from now when they're in high school, they'll still be friends and then I can torture them with pictures and stories of how goofy they were together when they were little.
Reed continues to be an information sponge, wanting to learn new things constantly. I think he's really enjoying learning about grammar and sentence structure in first grade, and of course he still loves math. The social studies component of his day has been of interest to him as well, and he often comes home sharing facts about different historical figures.
This year's birthday celebration was a bit more low-key than years past. What Reed told us he wanted was to have some friends over and just play "party games" (but not Spin the Bottle, he was sure to point out....WHAT!?!?). So he invited about 6 boys over for pizza and cake, and we played a Star Wars version of pin the tail on the donkey, plus a pinata. They played Legos and briefly jumped on the trampoline (note to self: 7 7-year old boys together on the trampoline is a BAD idea). They were loud. They had fun. I think Reed really liked it!
We're so proud of him, and can't wait to see what the next year brings!
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