Five & fabulous.

She is one of the most spirited children I've ever met. My answer for "what's one word to describe your child?" is always "passionate", in both good and bad ways. She gets incredibly excited about everything. The anticipation of future events is almost too much for her to handle sometimes. She just loves experiencing life! On the same note, she can get incredibly upset about the littlest things. And she has a very hard time recovering when she is sad or angry (something she gets from both of her parents - letting go is not our strong suite.)

She has this insane memory that continually blows our minds. She remembers the most minute details from years ago (and at only 5 years old, 'years ago' was when she was only 2 or 3!) She can tell you what she wore/ate/saw/did at pretty much any past event. She also vividly remembers anything you've ever said and is not afraid to call you out on it.

She loves school and everything related to it (especially homework!) She really loves to read. She picked up reading so fast that we're having a hard time keeping up with her! My mom picked out a 75-page Dick & Jane book for her to help with sight words in the Spring, and she can now read the whole thing cover to cover. And she's really interested in spelling and writing words. She'll say to us "Can I go play with J-A-C-K?"

She has an appreciation for food that is adult-like. She will try just about anything and eats just about everything. And because she watches so much of the Food Network (see #3 below), she now uses many food adjectives when she eats. It's not uncommon for us to hear something is "so creamy" or "perfectly seasoned". On the other hand, she is incredibly complimentary of my cooking, proving her palate is still very childish.

She's hilarious and full of attitude and silly and sassier than your average 5-year-old. Her imagination is active and full of adventure. She is a fabulous big sister and an amazing daughter. We are so, so lucky to have her as ours.

Happy birthday, Brooke Mary.


Here's her yearly birthday interview. Just before her birthday party, I remembered that we hadn't done it yet. I figured we wouldn't have time and would just do it the tomorrow. Oh no, that was not acceptable. She remembered and was sure to remind me we needed to do it before bed. A memory like a steel trap, I tell ya.

Brooke's Birthday Interview: Year 5
1. What is your favorite animal? A bunny.
2. What is your favorite food? Chicken & rice. And spaghetti & meatballs.
3. What is your favorite show? I'm gonna pick 2: The Pioneer Woman & Doc McStuffins. (The Pioneer Woman is a cooking show on the Food Network. She's an aspiring chef so she loves to watch the FN!)
4. What is your favorite color? Pink, purple, and silver.
5. Who is your best friend? Molly, Claire, and Hannah.
6. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal.
7. What is your favorite restaurant? Chipotle...and LaRosa's.
8. What is your favorite book? Pinkalicious
9. What is your favorite song? Jingle Bells
10. What is your favorite toy? Last year, I said my video game, so this year I'm picking Ariel dress-up.
11. What is your favorite snack? Cereal with milk. (She gets this from her Mama. It's the perfect snack!)
12. What do you like to sleep with at night? Honey Bunny and Bunny.
13. What kind of birthday party are you going to/did you have? A Frozen birthday. (And yes, she sang this answer.) 

8 months.

Dear Jack,

Phew! It's been absolutely exhausting trying to keep up with you this month, kiddo! You are hardly ever still anymore. You went from barely crawling to dashing across the house within a matter of days at the beginning of the month. And you've figured out how to pull yourself up to your feet, which just makes you seem so old to us! You are so happy and playful with your newfound mobility. You're still growing bigger and stronger every day, up to 23 lbs 10 oz. Mommy nursed you for the very last time on Christmas morning plus you're eating more & more table foods, so we're curious to see how these diet changes affect your growth next month. Between that & all the calories you're burning by crawling, we're sure the weight gain is going to slow down drastically! Here's what's been keeping you so happy (and occasionally making you sad) this month:

Favorites
The fireplace - As soon as you started crawling, you were drawn to our fireplace like a magnet. The hearth is very low, the perfect height for you to put your toys. And you've tried climbing up onto the bricks on more than one occasion. One of your most favorite things to do is pull the foam edge guard off, something that drives your parents crazy!
Standing - You figured out how to stand up on your own this month and you haven't looked back! You pull yourself up to a stand as often as you can. You got a couple new toys for Christmas that promote even more standing, so you're about to get a lot of practice.
Balls - We moved Joe's basketball hoop and all of his balls to the basement. Every once in a while, he'll sneak a ball or two upstairs, and you have a blast with it! You unintentionally roll it across the room and then crawl after it. We'll keep a few upstairs for you from now on.
Chewing on things - Every single thing you touch goes into your mouth. There's nothing you won't - and haven't - chewed on! We're certain you've got more teeth on the way with how you're chewing your way through life. We joke all the time about not needing a dog to clean up the floors because we have a Jack. We're constantly fishing dropped food out of your mouth - puffs, old peas or blueberries, etc. We're trying hard to keep up with all your messy siblings' dropped food, but you're faster than us!
Tissue paper - With the holidays in full force all month, we quickly learned how much you love tissue paper! You love to wildly wave it in the air, delighting in the crinkly sound it makes. You also like to rip it into tiny pieces which then, surprise surprise, make their way into your mouth.

Not-so-favorites
Getting into Your Car Seat - You have already learned the art of back-arching when we try to buckle you into your car seat. Even when presented with toys, you still fuss each time we do it. 90% of the time your whining ends as soon as we turn on the car and get rolling. Having your big sister in the back seat to look at helps, too. She helps make you happy by talking to you and making silly faces.
Being Put into Bed - We still put you to sleep before laying you in bed, a bad habit that we need to fix soon! This will likely be quite a battle as you scream if we put you in there before you're in a deep sleep. Now that you can stand up, we've had to lower your mattress pretty far down, so stealthily laying you in bed is almost impossible. You often wake up in the transition, immediately flip onto your belly and get onto your feet, screaming the entire time for us to pick you back up.
Anyone other than Mommy - Oh Jack, you sure are a Mama's Boy! Your attachment to Mommy is getting worse and worse. If you're even the tiniest bit fussy, it gets exponentially worse if you see or hear me. While I love how much you love me, it does often make it very difficult to get things done (especially when you're sick!!)

One of the most exciting parts of this month was celebrating your very first Christmas with you! We introduced you to all of our family traditions that we have leading up to Christmas - decorating the tree, St. Nick's night, Breakfast with Santa (you only cried at the very end!), the Festival of Lights at the zoo, etc. You lived in Christmas shirts & PJ's all month & looked adorable! You were great with the decorations (mostly because they were out of your reach) and didn't pull down too many ornaments off the tree - we put soft, unbreakable ones at the bottom for you. Unfortunately, when Christmas Eve finally rolled around, you woke up with a high fever. You spent your first Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with a 102 degree fever. You were in pretty good spirits, all things considered, though you wouldn't let us put you down to nap or sleep even for one minute. Because you've been such a sweet boy these past 8 months, Santa brought you a xylophone, a sports toy, and a Batman ride-on car. Though you had to miss a little bit of our family celebrations because of it (which completely shattered Mommy's heart), you still had a pretty awesome 1st Christmas!  

Mommy & Daddy are so smitten with you, Jack! Daddy is pretty thrilled that you started saying "Dada" this month. And Mommy is so darn proud that you can sign "more" and clap (you just did both of these for the first time a couple of days ago!) Every day with you brings us so much joy! We love you so much!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Day Twelve: Christmas Eve

Day 12 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

Christmas Eve did not quite go as planned this year, but it was still a very fun day. Jack woke up with a fever of 102 and spent the whole day battling the fever. Thankfully, we hadn't made any big plans for the day, so extra snuggle time was possible (he didn't let us put him down to sleep the entire day.) With Daddy home, we were still able to do fun, festive things with the big kids. We made salt dough ornaments to pass out to family and painted them later in the day. We made chocolate chip and M&M cookies for Santa (Mrs. Claus told us these were his favorites - with a sick baby, I was grateful his favorites were so easy to make!) We spent the day at home with our sick boy, watching Christmas shows and playing games. Before bed, the big kids snacked on cookies and hot chocolate, then we all snuggled on the couch to read Christmas books. Finally, the kids picked out cookies for Santa and a carrot for Dasher (the kids and Daddy had been tracking Santa on Daddy's phone and saw a note that Dasher was especially hungry.) The big kids were in bed by 9 but had a very hard time falling asleep - the excitement was overwhelming! While I didn't make it to Midnight Mass this year thanks to a very fussy baby who only wanted his mama, it was a great day...for most of us. (Jack's fever hit 103, not a happy camper!)

This was taken right before bed. It's not easy to see, but there are cookies, milk, and a carrot behind Jack's head. Jack was a trooper and took a great picture for us, despite feeling pretty crummy.

Day Eleven: Letters to Santa

Day 11 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

The kids had their letters to Santa written mid-November. Once the toy catalogs came in the mail, they feverishly started narrowing down what they wanted to ask for. We didn't get around to actually mailing the letters until a couple of weeks ago. Both of the big kids had 5 things on their list. Brooke's included a Barbie doll house, a Barbie Curls Doll, a Doc Mobile, a Dora & Friends Café, and an Elsa dress. Joe's included Batman Legos, a Ninja Turtle, a remote control car, dinosaurs, and the Paw Patrol Lookout Tower. We wrote a letter to Santa to let him know that all 3 kids had been good this year! And we let him know that Baby Jack didn't make a list because he wasn't picky :) We put the letter and lists in an envelope, and Daddy took it to a special mailbox at the Rec Center that goes straight to Santa. Just the other day, Santa wrote us back! Brooke, Joe, & Jack received a letter from Santa himself, telling them how proud he was of all of them for having such a great year & promising he'd stop at our house on Christmas night!

Day Ten: Entertrainment Junction

Day 10 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

On Friday, we went to Entertrainment Junction for a couple hours in the morning. Our kids have been before with others, but the husband and I had no idea what to expect. It was a fun morning! Joe really liked the train displays, though he had trouble slowing down enough to really look at them. (Our kids really struggle with being in the moment. They live in a constant state of "What's next?", something I think they get from me.) There was a big jungle gym with tunnels and a slide that they climbed through for a long time, train tables to play at, and a little train they could ride. After weaving our way through all of the displays, we moved into the holiday section where the kids got to meet Mrs. Claus and see Santa. This Santa was a tad more realistic than the first one we saw and I was able to snap a few good pictures. The kids liked getting some last-minute reassurance that they were still on his Nice List. Although we weren't there long, I'm so glad we took a timeout from all the shopping and wrapping and cleaning to spend some fun family time together :)

Day Nine: Christmas Lights Drive

Day 9 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

As we left dinner one night this week, the husband purposefully made a wrong turn, eliciting immediate "Wait, where are we going?" questions from our oldest. We proceeded to drive around the area looking for Christmas lights! Jack fell asleep for an evening nap within seconds of buckling him into his seat, giving us a quiet 30-45 minutes to find the best houses. Thanks to a tip from some friends, we headed straight to a local neighborhood we knew had lots of lights. It did not disappoint! We found a street where all but 1 of about two dozen houses was lit up! Then, as we weaved our way through the same neighborhood, we found the most well-lit house the husband and I have ever seen, with roughly 75 blow-ups and things to look at in the yard (the picture below does not do it justice!!) We ruled that the best house of the night when determining our top 3 at the end of our drive. We capped off our night with a trip through the Wendy's drive-thru for Frostys :)

Day Eight: Breakfast with Santa

Day 8 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

Breakfast with Santa was a highly anticipated event in our house this year! The kids talked about it for days before (and it might or might not have been used as a bargaining chip for good behavior...) When the morning finally arrived, they couldn't wait to see him. We all sang Jingle Bells as he entered the room (at which point my 2-year-old niece did her absolutely hysterical Will Ferrell impression from Elf with her cry of "Saaaantaaaaa!") Though he seemed pumped about seeing Santa all morning, Joe's nerves kicked in as it got closer and closer to our turn. Thankfully, watching his sister climb right up onto the Big Guy's lap without any hesitation gave Joe the confidence to do the same. Baby Jack was a little confused at first, staring at (a pretty terrible version of) Santa in bewilderment. He was ok when his big sibs were with him, but eventually started to cry when he went solo (making the Reeder family 5 for 5 on tearful Santa visits.) Santa gave each child a small present - games for Brooke & Joe and new sippy cups for Jack. It was a super fun morning!

Disclaimer: I'm not very happy with my pictures from this event. We've since been to visit another (much better looking) Santa and I got the classic pics I wanted (those will be posted soon!)

Day Seven: Festival of Lights

Day 7 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

We spent an evening with friends at the Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights this week. The kids' eyes were wide as they took in all the twinkling light displays. Joe loved the tunnel of lights that leads into the zoo as well as the flashing tree by the entrance. Brooke's favorite spot was the fairy land by the elephant house that was filled with pink & purple lights. I'm pretty sure Jack's favorite part was the nap he took midway through :)

They have lots of fun Christmas activities for the kids. There were 4 reindeer for the kids to see; Brooke & Joe spent several minutes trying to guess which of Santa's reindeer they were (they both agreed one of them had to be Prancer.) Brooke got to write a letter to Santa and put it in the zoo's mailbox. A zoo employee told her that the letter would be taken to Santa that night - he said the reindeer fly back to the North Pole each night to get ready for Christmas. They also got to take pictures with Frosty & a gingerbread girl (Joe was very nervous and wouldn't get too close, though.) I think my favorite part was meeting Mrs. Claus. She's the best! There weren't any other children around so she spent a solid 5 minutes with the kids, telling them all of Santa's favorite things and about the North Pole. It was super cute!

It was freeeeezing cold with a fierce wind that did not help things. Although I prepared the kids for the cold (2 pair of pants each, sweatshirts under winter coats, hats/gloves/scarves/etc.), we found ourselves ducking inside every chance we got. This actually worked to our advantage, though, because our kids are usually too afraid to go in the "houses" at the zoo (think insect house, nocturnal house, cat house, etc.) Since there weren't any animals outside, this was the only way we got to see anything. Between the lack of animals and the bitter cold, our stay was brief. Despite this, we had a great time and the kids did, too.

Day Six: Christmas Book Countdown

Day 6 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

One of my favorite holiday traditions that we started a couple of years ago is our Christmas book countdown. On November 30th, I wrapped up 24 of our Christmas books. Every night in December, the kids take turns opening a book, and then we read it before bed. Since we pack away our Christmas books with our decorations, they barely remember which holiday books we have so it's exciting to open them. I usually add in a couple new ones each year, too. So much fun!

Day Five: Hot Chocolate Picnic

Day 5 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

We have lots of ways we count down to Christmas in our house, and the kids' most favorite way is our advent calendar. Each day, they takes turns looking in the pockets to see what the surprise is. This past Sunday, the pocket had clues in it that led the kids to the Christmas tree. Underneath, they found kid-sized mugs & hot chocolate - one of their most favorite treats! The whole family watched the Polar Express in our pajamas and had a hot chocolate picnic in the family room.

Baby Jack wanted in on the action. The big kids learned very quickly to protect their treat!

Day Four: Making our Gingerbread House

Day 4 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

We went to a Gingerbread House Party down at the Rec the first week of December. It was such a fun event! Each family had a gingerbread house to decorate & take home. There was a giant table full of every candy and sugary treat you could think of to use to decorate. The kids were more into the candy-eating than the decorating, surprise surprise. Especially Joe - I'm not even sure I can quantify how much candy he ate that night! They did help out a bit, though. Each child was given a side of the roof to decorate. Brooke was very methodical on her side, carefully placing gumdrops and candies where she wanted them. Joe insisted on putting graham crackers on his side (we decided they were solar panels...our gingerbread house is very green.) Our house is now proudly displayed on our kitchen table for all to see :)

Day Three: Victorian Holiday Village

Day 3 of the 12 Days of the Reeders' Christmas...

For years, I've seen this adorable miniature village covered in lights right down the road from us. I knew you could walk around to look at it, but never really checked it out. Upon some investigation this year, I discovered that they have a free little event for children a few select days in December. We took the kids after dinner one night and they had a blast! Brooke and Joe loved peeking in the windows of the cute little houses. They passed out hot chocolate and cookies, had balloon animals, an opportunity to visit Santa (which we skipped because of a killer line), and a little train ride (which we skipped because Joe was throwing an epic tantrum because he didn't like the candy cane balloon animal that he asked for so we had to leave.) Despite a less-than-stellar ending, it was fun!