Cousin-ly love

Everybody at the Reddy Zoo seems to be recovering from last week's germ infestation. There are a few sniffles and coughs still hanging around, but nothing like what we experienced last week. Everyone is back at school this week. Today we are spending the day with our cousins.

Cousins are an extremely big part of our lives. Not just because there are so many, but also because of how close they all are. Everyone has a cousin (or two or three) who is pretty close to their same age which creates instant playmates. Since there are plenty of people and things to celebrate in the Reddy family, the cousins are together quite a bit, especially around the holidays. Everyone lives relatively close to one another, which makes this togetherness more convenient. The close proximity also makes it easier to get together for no reason at all. Or for the moms to trade days of babysitting in order get errands done.

In addition to all of that, Miss M, Big D and C.B. each have at least one cousin in their classes at school. Banana will also be in the same class as one of her cousins when the time comes. One of my sisters-in-law and I were just discussing how our kids know their cousins as their friends in addition to being cousins. Her son is at an age where things need to be clearly defined and he was referring to Big D as his "cousin-friend". It's really the perfect definition.

Looking back at my childhood and my lack of cousins nearby, I envy the relationship my children have with their cousins. However, it is because of them that I have wonderful relationships with my sisters-in-law. I enjoy being with them as much as our kids enjoy being together. Although we'd rather chat over coffee than have lightsaber battles during our "playtime".

The cousin-friend relationship is a very special bond that I plan to help nurture in any way that I can. I pray that my kids and their cousins are able to maintain their closeness into their adult lives.

That time of year

Well, it's that time again. The time of year when moms everywhere begin their conversations with, "So, are your kids well?" Unfortunately, quite a few of the moms I have asked have answered NO. That's the answer at our house as well. Banana and Miss M started with fever and congestion over the weekend. Banana's fever was fairly low and she was much better by Monday. Miss M, however, is on her third day absent from school. And Big D started with symptoms this morning. I am guessing it's the flu because Banana recently had a flu shot and she isn't nearly as sick as the other two. The upside to this situation is that since it's less than two weeks before Christmas, the sickness should have already swept through our household and be gone before the big day arrives. I HOPE! The flu’s proximity to Christmas also means that I can pick up my Christmas cards and another round of cold & fever medicine from Walgreens all at the same time. Could it be that there is a such thing as a convenient time to get sick?

He wants YOU...

...to read this blog. I don't blame you for not checking us out lately; for thinking it hadn't been updated. I admit I have given you every reason to believe that I only write a new post once every couple of months. But I've been better lately. You'd be proud of me. In fact, if you haven't checked lately you've missed out on a lot of posts. And I've added lots of pictures to Flickr as well. Now, I can't make any promises that I will keep on posting like this, but I am trying. Thank you for your support!

Space Exploration

No...I'm not talking about "a galaxy far, far away". I'm talking about the interesting spaces my kids have been exploring lately. It all started when Big D put C.B. into a box I was using for Christmas gifts. It was pretty funny because C.B. completely disappeared into that box. The boys thought it was funny too. In fact, that box became their favorite toy for a while, and I had to find a new place for my gifts to go.

It seems to have escalated from there. C.B. has since squished himself into a cooler that doesn't hold much more than a 12-pack, and Banana has been crawling into cabinets here and there. I just hope I don't lose anyone!!

Click here for pictures...and may the Force be with you.

Snow Day

We had a snow day today, like much of the St. Louis area. The kids were dying to go out and play in the white stuff. I think they spent as much time getting in and out of their snow clothes as they did playing outside. But they were thrilled to be out there, and even got all dressed up to go back out again later in the day. It was beautiful out there. See for yourself!

Click on the picture for more snowy photos.

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday yesterday. We had a great dinner with Gramma Marsha, Grampa Jerry, Uncle John and Uncle Steve. We played some games and ate lots of food and enjoyed not having to work or go to school. We also enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving tradition of White Castles at midnight (well after the turkey has been digested!)


Thanksgiving is technically over, but since school and work are not happening until MONDAY, it seems the holiday is going to last four days here at the Reddy Zoo. However, I'm not sure there are enough leftovers to last that long. Oh, well! Enjoy your turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey tetrazzini, turkey jerky.....

My Terrible Three with Middle Child Syndrome

C.B. is three-and-a-half, seemingly the perfect age to use the "Terrible 3’s" to describe his behavior lately. (That's right; I said "Terrible 3s". Two is a breeze compared with three.) However, some may call it "Middle Child Syndrome", since he is one of the two kids in the middle of our four. Labels like these and the behaviors they imply do seem to describe C.B. at this stage of his life. And maybe labels like these make it easier on parents to explain away these behaviors. But who really wants to be labeled?

Think about it...if the label is positive, we tend to feel pressure to live up to it, which could be good. But what if we can’t? Many people then become depressed or resentful when they’re unable to live up to the expectations of the positive label. Likewise when the label is negative, like "Terrible 3's" or "Middle Child Syndrome", we often find ourselves living up to that negativity and exhibiting all the expected negative behaviors. So it doesn't seem helpful to put a label on C.B.'s behavior. What I really need is to spend more time with him, be more patient with him, and remember that "this, too, shall pass!"

I realized this morning that I have help with this in unexpected ways. When C.B. got up and came downstairs this morning, Banana walked as fast as I've seen her walk yet to get over to him. C.B. was amused by this and exclaimed, "She ran!" (I guess you could call it running.) But what happened next was even better. She went right up to him and gave him a great big hug. What a smile he had on his face! I think that hug meant more to him than anything I could have done or said this morning.

Who's that kid with the OREO cookie?

We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new Shop-n-Save near our house for about a year now. We go by it every time we drive to or from school so we have been watching the building progress. Well, it finally opened yesterday and we just HAD to go and check it out! There were tons of other people there with the same idea, but plenty of cashiers as well so the wait wasn't too bad. Also I only had two of the kids with me. However, Banana chose the checkout line as the perfect place for her tantrum in the cart. In case you aren't aware, you get to bag your own groceries at Shop-n-Save. It's not bad, but I need more practice. My strategy is to cram as many things as possible into each bag so I don't have so many bags to carry in when I get home. Sounds logical, right? Well, it works for me. Anyway, with Banana crying I had to throw any strategy out the window and bag like the wind so I could get out of there. As we were sprinting out, a nice Shop-n-Save employee handed C.B. a package of Oreos and told me thanks for shopping today. And since Banana was crying the nice lady gave Banana her own package of Oreos and told me to have a nice day. Free cookies! Twice even!! I never thought I would say there was anything positive about tantrums in the grocery store. Though my sister-in-law Debbie just mentioned the other day that they opened an extra checkout lane just to get her out of the store one time when her son was having a moment. It might be worth a try to pinch your kid while you're in the checkout lane and see what you get when the crying starts. Okay, maybe not.

Happy Halloween!

Another Halloween came and went. It's the same every year...the excitement builds up for at least a month before the actual day gets here, and then we're left with more candy that we can possible finish even weeks after it is over. We decided after last Halloween that we would be a family of vampires, and the idea stuck one year later. It stuck with Big D and Miss M, that is. C.B., who has been generally uncooperative lately, and Banana, who is too little and cute to turn into a vampire, dressed up as less threatening creatures. I lost count of how many times we got kids in and out of costumes, due to the number of Halloween parties at school, church, etc. I'm surprised the costumes actually made it through Trick-or-Treating in one piece. Click here for some spooky Halloween fun!

Happy Birthday, Big D!

Big D turned five years old today. He woke up and immediately began telling everyone that it was his "real" birthday (not to be confused with the birthday parties he's already had). I have to admit I feel like we've been celebrating D's birthday for a week already, but it hit me today that he is really FIVE now. I try to tell myself that it can't be five years already, but there he is blowing out the big #5 candle.


Here are some more pictures of our big five-year-old boy. Enjoy!