Ree-Ree, I can't believe you are already 2 and a half years old. By the way, "Ree-Ree" has come directly from you; it was never a nickname we gave you. You refer to yourself as Ree-Ree all the time. When I say, "Reeves, you're a monkey", you say, "No. I Ree-Ree!" It is too cute. I have been meaning to write this post for some time (obviously). I don't think you have gotten a "letter" since Bennett was born, and I wanted to be sure to make note of this special age in your life.You are a wonderful big brother to Bennett. 
You call him Bubba, but I'm just chalking this up to your speech delay, and reassuring myself that in time, this will pass. Bennett is already enough of a bruiser. I don't think we need to go ahead and prejudice people by calling him Bubba. Your father and I generally tend to refer to things with whatever misnomer you have given them, but we are standing firm on this one. You'll just have to come up with something else to call him. But, you are so sweet with him. You have already gotten pretty protective of him and don't always like it when we let people you don't know hold him. 
Of course, thanks to your recently discovered deathly fear of dogs, you were more than happy to sacrifice your brother to Lolly's miniature daschund, Henry. The dog is about as big as my foot, but there you were, up on your toy box saying, "Puppy eat Ree-Ree!", while Henry did laps around and over Bennett.
You call him Bubba, but I'm just chalking this up to your speech delay, and reassuring myself that in time, this will pass. Bennett is already enough of a bruiser. I don't think we need to go ahead and prejudice people by calling him Bubba. Your father and I generally tend to refer to things with whatever misnomer you have given them, but we are standing firm on this one. You'll just have to come up with something else to call him. But, you are so sweet with him. You have already gotten pretty protective of him and don't always like it when we let people you don't know hold him. Of course, thanks to your recently discovered deathly fear of dogs, you were more than happy to sacrifice your brother to Lolly's miniature daschund, Henry. The dog is about as big as my foot, but there you were, up on your toy box saying, "Puppy eat Ree-Ree!", while Henry did laps around and over Bennett.I have no idea where this fear of dogs has come from. You used to adore them and always loved to pet them. Now, you won't even be in the same room or yard with one. While I think it is good to have a healthy fear of dogs, what you are sporting is a crippling, paralyzing phobia. There is a happy medium, and I know you will find it, but I must say, it is a real pain, waiting for you to work it out. For our part, we are not keeping you from dogs and are encouraging you to pet them when we are around friends' dogs. It seems to be working in spurts. While at D's house overnight, your fear of Gracie, the dog who is so old and sweet, she is little more than a 3-D area rug, did diminish after a few hours of hard work. So maybe there's hope. I guess this means no more marathon viewings of Kujo.
I can't, at this point in you life, write a letter without mentioning your talking. I will admit, I have been more than a little worried about you. Despite the reassurance of friends and family, I have been concerned that you may have been suffering from a speech delay that would involve more therapy than your father and I alone could give you. 
We asked Dr. G about it at your 2 year appointment this summer. She said that, while behind others your age, she was not worried about it. She did say that, if by Christmas, we were still concerned, to call her, and we would reevaluate it. Of course, there have been days when I have convinceed myself that it was a big problem, and you were not progressing like you should. I would think about calling a speech therapist, but honestly, I was afraid of what we might find. I remember reading somewhere that if you go looking for a problem, you're certain to find one. This was how I felt about your talking. 
You were slow, but I knew you would start to get better. Then it was like a shell cracked, and you started saying intelligible words. Then you started piecing phrases together, then sentences. Suddenly, where once you were saying, "Bose's!" over and over, you were then saying, "Bose's house!" You have now graduated to full blown sentences. "Go Bose's house!" You ask all the time about D and Jodie and of course, D's big boat, which sounds more like "beer boat", but I have managed to ascertain that you also use "beer" when referring to dinosaurs, yellow diggers, cakes, and boobs, so I'm pretty sure you mean big. 
You have learned that high tide is when the water is in the marsh, and low tide is when you can see the mud. You also know that Daddy wears bow ties. You still say plenty of gobbledygook, but you're beginning to make more sense now. You are constantly pointing out things when we're in the car, and you love to sing songs. Every once in a while, I find myself longing for you to be quiet, but then I immediately stop myself because the only way you're going to learn to put all these sounds together is to keep doing what you're doing. I'm so proud of how far your talk has come these past 6 months. Although, if possible, I think I may praise you just a little too much because now, whenever you say a correct word, you beat me to the "Yay, Ree-Ree!" yourself.
We asked Dr. G about it at your 2 year appointment this summer. She said that, while behind others your age, she was not worried about it. She did say that, if by Christmas, we were still concerned, to call her, and we would reevaluate it. Of course, there have been days when I have convinceed myself that it was a big problem, and you were not progressing like you should. I would think about calling a speech therapist, but honestly, I was afraid of what we might find. I remember reading somewhere that if you go looking for a problem, you're certain to find one. This was how I felt about your talking. You were slow, but I knew you would start to get better. Then it was like a shell cracked, and you started saying intelligible words. Then you started piecing phrases together, then sentences. Suddenly, where once you were saying, "Bose's!" over and over, you were then saying, "Bose's house!" You have now graduated to full blown sentences. "Go Bose's house!" You ask all the time about D and Jodie and of course, D's big boat, which sounds more like "beer boat", but I have managed to ascertain that you also use "beer" when referring to dinosaurs, yellow diggers, cakes, and boobs, so I'm pretty sure you mean big. You have learned that high tide is when the water is in the marsh, and low tide is when you can see the mud. You also know that Daddy wears bow ties. You still say plenty of gobbledygook, but you're beginning to make more sense now. You are constantly pointing out things when we're in the car, and you love to sing songs. Every once in a while, I find myself longing for you to be quiet, but then I immediately stop myself because the only way you're going to learn to put all these sounds together is to keep doing what you're doing. I'm so proud of how far your talk has come these past 6 months. Although, if possible, I think I may praise you just a little too much because now, whenever you say a correct word, you beat me to the "Yay, Ree-Ree!" yourself.I would be too vain to think that your speech progressions are due solely to the fact that we have been working on it so hard. There is, of course, the fact that you have started "school" this year. 
You go MWF, and you love it. You have made so many new friends and done so many fun things. You adore your teachers, although their names are still a little to much for you to say. I hope that you'll be able to by the end of the year. You don't always want get in the car to go to school, but by the time we are pulling in, you point to the little sign and say, "Ree-Ree school." It makes me so happy to see you enjoy this. While I do love the quiet time Bennett and I have while you are at school, the highlight of each of those days is when you come running across the playground to me, usually showing me whichever digger you're playing with. You tell all your friends goodbye, then we run off to the car, and you babble to me all about your day.
You go MWF, and you love it. You have made so many new friends and done so many fun things. You adore your teachers, although their names are still a little to much for you to say. I hope that you'll be able to by the end of the year. You don't always want get in the car to go to school, but by the time we are pulling in, you point to the little sign and say, "Ree-Ree school." It makes me so happy to see you enjoy this. While I do love the quiet time Bennett and I have while you are at school, the highlight of each of those days is when you come running across the playground to me, usually showing me whichever digger you're playing with. You tell all your friends goodbye, then we run off to the car, and you babble to me all about your day.Reeves, there are so many other things to tell you, so many amazing things you do that I wish I would document so that I can share them with you when you grow up. Thank goodness for this blog because although I don't get everything down that I wish I would, this certainly helps. I want you to know that you are a sweet, wonderful little boy. 
You make your father and me very happy. There are days that, when you go running up to him when he gets home from work, I have seen tears come to his eyes. He tells me all the time how good it makes him feel when he scoops you up to your cries of, "Daddy! Daddy!" 
We love you so much, Boo. God couldn't have blessed us anymore than when He gave us you and Bennett to raise. You are growing up too fast, but we love watching every day and every minute of it.
You make your father and me very happy. There are days that, when you go running up to him when he gets home from work, I have seen tears come to his eyes. He tells me all the time how good it makes him feel when he scoops you up to your cries of, "Daddy! Daddy!" We love you so much, Boo. God couldn't have blessed us anymore than when He gave us you and Bennett to raise. You are growing up too fast, but we love watching every day and every minute of it.
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