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Rheyn has been growing like crazy these past few months. Not so much in weight gain (although he did finally hit 20 pounds, move up to size 4 diapers, AND 24 month clothes recently) but in so many other aspects, too. He has become such a great eater and most of the time, chewer. Nearly everything we grind up for him, he will eat without a fuss. This is a big deal.

We have gone through the barely-eating-anything phase, had the pleasure of cleaning up vomit at least 3 times a week for a while, we’ve poured Pediasure and Pedialite with added Polycose into Rheyn for weeks at a time – only able to squeeze in stage 1 baby food a couple times a day, if that.  Both Daniel and I have had our fair share of sitting at the dining table for an hour, trying to feed Rheyn but only coming out of the situation covered in a whole bowl (minus 4 bites) of pureed something-or-other slightly (okay…pretty damn) frustrated, with a wild-haired little boy staring at us – one finger in his mouth, grinning big.

Don’t get me wrong, Rheyn still takes great pleasure in flinging spoons, batting sippies off of the table, and tossing burp cloths as far away from where we’re sitting as possible but at least he’s not only eating his food but seems to be enjoying it as well! Progress! For Christmas, his Granny gave us a Ninja Food Processor and it is the greatest thing. We had a smaller grinder before that worked really well but it was definitely time to upgrade. This thing chops, grinds, and blends so fast. And if you’ve ever been at our house right before Rheyn’s ready to eat, you know that fast prep is essential.

He’s even eating more completely solid foods these days. Today he munched down some breading off of the shrimp we had for lunch and ate pieces of graham crackers and Thin Mint cookies. We’ve also realized that Progresso canned soup is a big hit. Most of the time we’ll drain part of the liquid and grind up the rest, heat it up a little, and feed it to him that way. He loves it! We normally like to make our meals from scratch but let’s face it, sometimes being able to pop open a can and have a pretty nutritious meal ready in 5 minutes is really, really nice.

Aside from eating, we’ve also been super lucky lately with sicknesses. Rheyn and Paizley have both been well for a long while now and the last time that they were ill, it wasn’t nearly as rough as past times. I do have to say this – if your little one has a cold and a hard time with a stuffy nose at night, get a Vicks Soothing Vapors Plug-In or Pediacare Gentle Vapors Plug-In! Seriously. We have both (sometimes we can’t find the replacement pads for one or the other) and they work wonders. Rheyn and Paizley sleep so much more soundly during colds when they have one of those going in their room.

Also, I highly recommend yogurt if your little on isn’t already eating it! Rheyn’s been eating it for over a year now but we’ve recently switched to all Greek yogurt for more protein and in some brands, higher calories. Rheyn and Paiz eat one 6oz. cup a day and not only do they love it, I genuinely believe it has helped their immune systems stay stronger. Especially Rheyn. He used to catch every single sick germ within a 10 mile radius and anything he caught would always drag on for weeks, if not months. I’m sure him being older now has a bit to do with the reduction of colds and stomach bugs, and I bet there are other factors here and there as well but even so, I know the yogurt has helped.

Rheyn is also getting better at walking on his feet rather than his knees. He still prefers to get around on his knees but is slowly walking longer distances on his feet while holding onto a helping hand. And when he isn’t too distracted, he can walk unassisted for about 6-8 steps. He had a foot and ankle appointment recently and his doctor, who we love, still believes that the SureSteps are helping, showed us that Rheyns muscle tone has definitely increased in the past 6 months (which we knew but it’s always a good thing to hear), and decided to continue on with our plan to let Rheyn’s legs grow and strengthen on their own time with physical therapy rather than using invasive braces. Our little man even showed off his unassisted walking skills while we were there!

Another thing I am super excited about is his new car seat that should be arriving in a couple of days. We decided on a Recaro ProRide convertible. I have been researching seats for a long time and at first, we thought we’d get him a Britax Marathon like his sister’s but after some more digging, I found that the Recaro is tailored more to kids with low muscle tone and saw on quite a few forums that other moms in the same kind of situation choose the ProRide and loved it. Right now he has an Eddie Bauer convertible car seat that has worked well for a couple of years now but the headrest bumps out a little from the back of the seat and always causes Rheyn to slump over when he sleeps. It just doesn’t look as comfortable as I’d like him to be overall. Plus after getting a good deal on a Britax for Paizley and installing it next to Rheyn’s seat, we realized just how small Rheyn’s is and have been wanting a seat more like Paizley’s for him ever since. Hopefully when it arrives he will love it and fit perfectly and safely. I know he will definitely enjoy sitting up higher than his current seat does so that he can see out of the window a little better! The boy loves his car rides but I’m pretty sure this will make him even happier.

🙂