So many little items accruing in the Reid backlog, I felt it was time for a rundown:

1. As parents, we want to instill strong dental hygiene in Reid. That being said, we're still using the funny little finger-cuff toothbruth and have hidden indefinitely the baby "toothbruth" that Reid played with for 20-30 minutes the first and only time he got his hands on it.

2. Tremendous number of teeth. Essentially, the mouth of a three year old.

3. Reid's new favorite thing to do is enjoy the outdoors. Of course, he's 14 and a half months old, so what that means is running into the street (horrifying), eating rocks (similarly disturbing) and sweeping the porch.

4. About the sweeping. That's a new fascination, and one we're interested in cultivating. Well, not really, because he does a terrible job. But basically, he likes to push the broom around on the front porch, flashing those pearly whites and reorganizing the collection of fallen leaves, deceased flower petals and dead bugs that litters our porch.

5. I'm sure this is a developmental thing. Reid's outdoorsman routine is terrific. The other morning, he decided it was time we went outside. So, he made a very big show of getting from the NRPA (Normalized Reid Play Area) to the AOD (Area of Danger). This area includes the office where our beautiful but ill-advised "ladder" bookshelves present an incredibly high falling/being crushed by books risk. The AOD also includes our staircase and our front door, as well as where all the shoes like (we have a shoe-free house). Reid practically dragged me into the AOD and led me to a chair. This is the chair where Reid is usually perched on one of our knees while his shoes are put on.

Once I sat in the chair, he brought me all manner of shoes. Two of his, three or four of mine (and some insoles from some other shoes, sadly) and one of K's (for good measure) all came to the chair. I put on two of mine that matched and his two and hid the rest. Lacing up his shoes, I was wondering how this was going to play out. I put Reid down and he walked to the front door, reached for the knob, and came very close to turning it.

Yeesh. He's growing up.