Reid's Past Month

Reid's had an exciting month of growth and adventure. He attended Air Venture with Daddy and his Szilagyi Grandparents. 

It was a pretty exciting experience. The sky was full of planes all week so the anticipation was intense. A friend from Church volunteers at the event and he gave Reid that pin just a couple days before. He kept reminding me that "when Grandpa gets here and takes me to the airplane show I have to wear my airplane pin mommy. I have to keep it somewhere safe so I can wear it with Grandpa." 

His favorite part was the "big booms." They do a re-enactment of the Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima bombings (which is totally strange, but let's just gloss over that).  He also had plenty of time to touch and ride in mighty machines and talk to lots of pilots and "army guys." Sunday we had five men dressed in uniform and he was DYING! He could not have been more excited. Total awe. 

The other day I told Reid I was very proud of the sweet boy he is growing up to be. He has a very caring heart and is special friend to each of us. He loves to dote on his sisters. He has a special way of cheering either of them up when they are upset (as long as he isn't the reason they are upset to begin with). He and Nell play so well together and I credit his kind personality for that. 

His favorite thing to do with Daddy is wrestle and act completely wild.  

His favorite thing to do with Mommy is snuggle and get tickles. Helping in the kitchen is a close second.

Puppy is still his best companion. I can't imagine what will ever make their friendship end. Hopefully whatever it is will be smooth.

We attended school registration last week and will attend an open house this week. At registration he had his first School photo taken. It was adorable! I wasn't going to buy any copies, but once I saw it I couldn't resist. I can't wait to get my hands on it. This generation will grow up with an endless amount of phone photos, but there is still something to be said of those classic school photos.

After registration we went to the park to have a picnic with some friends. The day's activities tuckered him out and he fell asleep in my arms around 4:00. I was so torn. A part of me knew it was too late for a nap and he'd ruin his night sleep, but I couldn't pass up the chance to just hold him while he fell into a deep slumber. I cherished the moment. And instead of regretting it that evening, I decided to pull out all the board and card games he knows how to play. The two of us lounged out across the front room floor and spent some special time together. Both the girls were sleeping and Ben was out on a bike ride, so the house was quiet and I just let him talk about whatever came to his mind -- no interruptions. It was so special to both of us.

Occasionally he tells me he doesn't want to go to preschool, but Ben and I both know he is ready. He likes to make friends wherever he goes. We were at the park almost two weeks ago when he looked over at the splash pad and asked me if there were any boys for him to play with. He could clearly see that there were not, just one girl. "She looks like she's your age buddy, you can go play with her," I encouraged him and he took off. He immediately bonded with her and the two of them spent a good twenty minutes giggling together.

We had a similar experience at the beach last weekend. Right when we staked out our spot he asked which kids he could play with. Because it wasn't too crowded, we weren't right by any, but both groups on either side of us had children. I tried to explain that he could try to play with other kids, but people come to the beach to be with their families. He was not satisfied with that answer and soon Ben was walking him over to a sibling set that was building a sand castle. He spent the entire two hours with those kids. He even followed one way out into the water ... giving me a bit of a panic.

Ben had wandered out to the sandbar with Nell and I was feeding Coraline on the beach. I glanced over to check on Reid and noticed only the girl (his age) was building. Where had he and the (older) boy wondered off to? I scoured the beach behind us and couldn't see them. I checked the water and didn't see them. Almost 100 yards off I could see some kid swimming with all his might. "BEEENNN! Where is Reid?!?!?" I shrieked as loud as I could. I also had a lot of hot anger in my voice, how had Ben let him wonder off? I had simultaneously begun running down the beach, in the direction of the flailing kid. My heart ruled that kid out for several reasons. One, that kid was swimming and Reid doesn't swim. Two, how would he even have gone out there? He isn't brave enough, I didn't have my eyes off him that long? That can't be -- oh my hell that is Reid!  I realized it just as the mother of the other boy pointed and said (in a thick French accent) "He's there, he followed my son to his father." She'd jumped to my aid when she'd heard me screaming. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know he'd followed my son."

Obviously, it wasn't her fault (or her sons). And when I saw Reid's face I realized it was one of those moments where I couldn't act hysterical or get really mad at him because the whole experience hadn't scared him at all. Despite the thrashing I saw from the beach, he was in complete control. He was drenched and almost out of breath, but he was also grinning from ear to ear. He had finally turned around and was heading back to the shore, realizing his new friend had gone too far for him to catch up. I can tell you two things. One, his bravery shocked me; I could not believe he'd wander that far into a lake. Two, I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR PUDDLE JUMPERS! He looked like he'd hardly struggled (other than being out of breathe). When I noticed "that kid flailing" I honestly thought it was a real swimmer.

When we caught up to each other we had a serious chat about staying close to mommy and daddy and not going that far into the water without an adult. Retelling this story probably sounds horrifying. But honestly, I was relieved when I realized "that kid flailing" was Reid. The other scenario that had gone through my head was that he'd walked half a mile down the beach and was lost forever (obviously, we hadn't ignored him long enough for that to happen, but the beach just wasn't that crowded and I was shocked I couldn't see him down the little stretch of sand my eyes could lay hold of). The whole experience hardly phased Ben.