The Manley/Coleman Family

The Yoder cousins came through Chicago on their annual visit to Iowa. Reeve was beside himself with glee having his two older cousins around to play with all evening, and the girls were thrilled to meet their new cousin Gabriel. They played out back with trucks and bikes, and then we all took a train ride up to a great pizza restaurant.

We have friends with two boys almost the exact same ages as Reeve and Gabriel. They invited us to their neighborhood a few blocks over for a block party. There were toys, stickball, basketballs, and a bounce house. The two babies just hung out, naturally:

. . . while Reeve spent quite a bit of time in the bounce house:

. . . and then Reeve and Jacob finally had to sit down and take a breather after three solid hours of play:

We (finally) took Reeve to the dentist. they had the perfect set-up: toys, ceiling-mounted tv preloaded with videos, and a dentist who knew how to make kids happy. Reeve found a Thomas train, which immediately set a good mood, and then when the dentist told him his nose was magic, well, he couldn’t resist her charms. When she touched his nose, somehow the chair magically went down for the cleaning, and when she touched it again, it magically went back up! Reeve was impressed. That’s one magic nose indeed.

I love how babies get all squishy and roly-poly when they stretch and wake up from naps.

Reeve was checking out his 6 day old brother. Then he decided his trains were more interesting.

Opie and Reeve are like peas in a pod. Opie is less a cat and more a very forgiving golden retriever, since he lets Reeve pull his tail, wrestle him, tackle, etc with little fuss. One day Reeve put on some mouse ears we were given, and he crawled around the floor with Opie.

And then Opie joined him for bath time.

Grandma Manley sent Reeve a backpack for school.

Reeve started his first day at a Montessori preschool, just a few days a week. He had no trouble jumping right in, introducing himself and getting started! No tears, no separation anxiety, barely even a glance at mom and dad when he entered the classroom. This kid is quite the extrovert.