21 Months!!

Just 3 months shy of Reed's 2nd birthday!  It is just hard for us to believe that he is becoming such a big boy.  In some ways I wish it would slow down, but in other ways I am excited to watch him grow and learn.  He is such a smart little boy already and Chris says it won't be long until he is better at outsmarting us than we are at outsmarting him, lol!!

Stats:
Weight: Skinny!  (I fear a lashing from the doctor when we go back.  Surely he's gained some weight, but we really can't tell.  Maybe it's because.........)
Height:  Tall  (He's such a tall and lean little boy.  Like Chris said, when we saw after he was born that his footprint wouldn't fit on the page, we should have known that this was coming.)

At 21 Months:

• We have a hard time getting him to eat much of anything.  Seriously.  What are we going to do about this?  He loves his hot dogs and basically any kind of fruit we give him, but he sometimes refuses to take more than a couple of bites at a meal.  He does love Mexican night though and I think he would probably live off of black beans if we let him.  I am hoping this will turn around.  For the time being I am trying to live by what I've read and what my doctor recommends, they will never refuse food to the point of starvation.  
• Not sure if I have mentioned this before, which would be crazy if I hadn't, Reed is B-A-N-A-N-A-S for GOLF!  He loves it, loves to play it, watch it, talk about Daddy, Marc, and Granddaddy playing it.  If golf is on and fans are cheering, he is usually saying "go Tiger" and clapping.  Apparently he thinks all golfers are Tigers, lol!!  Sometimes when he wakes up in the morning the first thing he asks me is "where's golf club?"
• He is a very polite little boy, always saying thanks after he asks for something and I give it to him. He sometimes forgets the please part though.  He also says "excuse me" after he burps or poots and the sweetest thing ever is when he says "bless you" after we sneeze.  What a precious little thing he is!  We were at the Science Museum the other day when I sat on a bench that makes a pooting sound, he said "excuse me", lol!
• He also will stick out his hand for a handshake and say "nice to meet you".  If you say, "hi, my name is Brooke, what's your name?", he will respond with "Reed".
• He loves to count.  If I even put up a finger, he will start in.  "One, two, free, six, eight, nine, ten, elemen, twelve."  We are working on getting four, five and seven back in there.
• He has also started trying to sing his ABC's.  This morning he woke me up singing "A, B, C, D, ....(not sure how he says E and F), G, P, T, U, V, X, Y, Z, now know ABC's, sing, me."  He's getting there, lol!
• Loves his Daddy!  Yes, I know you already know this but when we are with Chris for a prolonged amount of time, like this weekend, Reed can't get enough of his Daddy.  Last night when we were going to read a book before bed, Chris told Reed that Mommy was going to read the book.  He said "Daddy". 
• "Hold you" is still probably one of my favorite things that he says.  He often requests hugs as well.  So sweet.
• I can't say that he necessarily knows what "no" means considering he usually doesn't stop what he's doing when we say it.  Or maybe, based on the look on his face, he knows but refuses to listen.  We will get through this stage, we will get through this stage.
• "Delicious".  Yes, he says it and always at the right time.  Hilarious!
•  He pooped in the potty once last month.  It was a fluke but he did it.  He still could care less about going to the potty.  I think we have a long process ahead to get him potty trained.
• When I say "whoopsie", he says "daisies".
• He's also started saying "what am I doing here?"  I have no idea where this came from but it is hilarious.  After putting him in timeout, he walked up to me with his hands on his chest and said "what am I doing here".  He also asks at other random times.  
• Absolutely loves bubbles.  This is the only reason why he is willing to give his instruments back at music class because he knows that Miss Jane is going to show him some bubbles.
• Just the other day he saw a pool in a magazine and called it the bath.  He also called the ocean, "lotion".
• He started pretending this month to eat the cookies out of his The Cow Loves Cookies book.  He would even give us a bite as well.  Of course a bite was always followed by "mmmmmmm".
• If he meets someone he doesn't know and we ask him to say hello, he often says "shy".  And sometimes when he sees people he doesn't know, he says "scared da people".  I have no idea why.  We certainly haven't said anything to make him scared, and we really don't think he is scared considering what a ham he is around strangers.  Just last night he was talking to the "guy" on the airplane and then proceeded to show him how he dances.
• Music = "meekles"  Huh?  Not sure where he came up with this.
• We told him that we were going home next week to see Mike Mike, Kath, Nana, Granddaddy, and everyone else.  He said "excited" and clapped.
• On Mother's Day, just because he's sweet like that, he hugged me and said "love you" unprompted.
• Nodding his head is something he's picked up lately.  It requires a little bit of movement from his entire body but at least his head is nodding as well.
• He sings to himself all the time, which we think is pretty awesome.  His favorites are The Clock Says Tick-Tock, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus (his favorite right now), Zoom, Zoom, and the ABCs. 
• He started saying "gu morning".  Love being woken up by this instead of crying.
• He's also started responding to our questions with "okay".  Me:  Reed would you like some blueberries.  Reed:  Okay.

21 Months!

"Cheese!"

He had to go get his St. Andrews hat and requested that I take "more pictures".  I am glad he is finally requesting these, lol!

Silly boy!

I asked him if he wanted to take a picture swinging his golf club and he said "okay".

London sights with Nana!

Reed and I had so much fun with my Mom in town last week.  It was so nice to have someone to keep us company and help with Reed while Chris went back to the grind.  We saw lots of fun sights and even had two lazy days where we didn't even get out of the flat!  It was great!  We were so sad to see her go!

We went to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard.  Reed loved it, as he always does!  "March, march!"

My Mom treated us to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  Reed loved it, of course.  He was a little "scared of the amals".

We played with the toys at Harrod's.

Reed and I finally got to ride the London Eye after missing it when Lauren and Chris rode it.

And Reed loved it.  He wasn't scared at all.  He was more interested in checking out all the "peeples" and "boats".

Buckingham Palace in the distance.

Nana and Reed

Mommy and Reed

Whoa, baby!  That's a long way down!

Like I said, not scared at all, lol!  Chris would have freaked had he been there!

I swear, he looks like a totally different kid with his sunglasses on!

There was a street performer of sorts dressed as Mickey Mouse, which Reed is crazy about, but he wouldn't go near him.  Disney World should be fun, lol!

"Horsies!!!!"

We spent my Mom's last day here in Primrose Hill where we had a completely random picnic of sandwiches and pancakes, haha!  

The view of London from the top of Primrose Hill.

Reed and Daddy......look at those red cheeks!!  He played so hard!

Reed and Nana

Seriously? Seriously.

My awesome hubby surprised me with tickets to see In a Forest Dark and Deep starring Matthew Fox for our 6 year anniversary.  We took advantage of only our second night out since we've been here while my Mom was in town.  It was our first non-musical play ever, so we were excited.  I had read some bad reviews of the play but we were excited nonetheless, I mean, we were going to see Matthew Fox act live.  The play, I have to admit, wasn't that great, but it wasn't that bad either.  The play comprised of a brother and sister, who happens to have a secret, arguing constantly about their past.  It was what you could call a "raw" play, but I was truly amazed that the two of them could act out an entire play without intermission for an hour and a half.  Very cool!!

Yay for date night!

After the play ended, I asked one of the ushers where the stars of the play usually come out and he said around the block at the stage door, so we headed around there.  

There were 20 or 30 people waiting out back for Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams, who played Bruce Willis' wife in The Sixth Sense.

Olivia Williams......probably should have had my picture made with her.

Matthew Fox signing a zillion autographs.

He looked more like Rob Zombie than he did Dr. Jack Shephard!

I'm-going-to-get-my-picture-taken-with-Matthew-Fox face!

He got closer and closer to me continuing to sign tons of autographs, even on a few girls' arms, weirdos!  I still don't understand the appeal behind an autograph, unless you plan to make money off of it.  If any knows what it is about getting an autograph, please do let me know.  Well, he got to where he was literally right in front of me with his back turned to me.  And then he went the other way, so I had to follow him.  I finally got my chance and asked "can I get a picture?"  To which he replied, without even looking at me, "I'm not doing any pictures tonight".  Loser, lol!

Definitely-not-getting-a-picture-with-Matthew-Fox face, lol!

Prior to him coming out of the theatre, a group that got to go backstage came out and one of them mentioned that his brother was also coming out and to not get confused.  It would have certainly been easy to get confused, because his brother looked just like him but without his current Rob Zombie facial hair.  I said something to his brother about being his brother and they were actually really nice.  Hindsight being 20/20, I should have had my picture taken with his brother.  He looked more like our favorite Lost character than Matthew Fox actually did.

While I was disappointed, I will not let this ruin my love for Matthew Fox or for Lost.  I completely understand that he was much more excited about going out to dinner with his family and friends (he actually told people that he was going to dinner) than he was about taking a picture with me, however, it seems a little crazy to sign all those autographs and not do pictures.  Oh well, that's his prerogative. 

My new celebrity mantra is they have to come to me, lol!  Yes, I know this will never happen and that's okay with me.  No longer will I even think about going up to one that I see or even look for them out in public places.  I'm just not going to do it.  I will just enjoy seeing them do what they do best, acting!

More Edinburgh Sites!

Edinburgh Castle, which is built on top of an extinct volcano.

View from the castle.

The castle appears to be leaning due to my mad photography skills, lol!

The Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter.  We went in and had coffee in hopes of coming up with our own brilliant idea.

Reed found an elephant to ride while inside.

Unfortunately, no good ideas were sparked by this visit.

The Royal Mile

Palace of Holyroodhouse where the Queen summers.  This palace is also home to the Mary Queen of Scots bed chambers.  Very cool!

Holyrood Abbey ruins.  Me likey!

A portion of the exterior of the Palace.  Many people were hiking up these giant rocks, hills, mountains, whatever you want to call them.  Our feet were not feeling it, but they were gorgeous to look at.

We stopped by the National Museum of Scotland which was recommended by the B&B owner.  It was a good museum.  It reminded me a little bit of the Science Museum in London.  Reed got to drive a car!

Reed as an astronaut!

This robot can spell your name!

"I'm making a very important call here guys."

A Dream Come True!

When we made the decision to move to London we knew that we would make a trip north to Scotland for Chris to play golf.  The good news was that my parents and brother also wanted to join us.  That meant fellow golfers for Chris to check out the courses with and someone for Reed and I to do some sightseeing with while the men-folk played golf!

The ultimate dream for probably every golfer is to play golf at the Old Course at St. Andrews.  Unfortunately, it costs a FORTUNE to actually schedule a tee time at St. Andrews Old Course.  You basically have to pay them all the money you have and give them your right arm, lol!  They do, however, run a lottery system where you can put your name in a lottery for the next day of play.  Based on the number of lottery spots available, I think they probably actually set most of their tee times that way.  Chris, Dad and Marc's first opportunity to play the Old Course was on Thursday.  When the lottery results were revealed it was no dice.  Bummer!  I was very sad and nervous that this might mean that they wouldn't get to play the course which happened to be the most important one of the trip.  Well, my friends, that dream was realized for both my husband and my brother (my Dad has been fortunate to have played the Old Course before)!  On Thursday afternoon as my mom and I shopped through the streets of Edinburgh, we pulled up the lottery results to find their names!   We were so ecstatic!  I am sure our elation on the sidewalk was a little odd to passersby, but we were pumped and weren't even going to be playing!

While the boys played Turnberry, Carnoustie, Kings Barns and the Old Course, my mom and I did some exploring.  We saw most of Edinburgh and also tagged along to St. Andrews to do some more sightseeing.  It was an awesome trip!  I am certain that the men had more fun than we did, even playing in 20 mph winds, but it was still worth it.  I would certainly go back again and I know Chris would.  Scotland is beautiful!  I highly recommend it to anyone!

The Kew House Bed & Breakfast where we stayed in Edinburgh.  It was a super nice place with super nice owners.  I don't think we could have chosen any better.

Edinburgh Castle

The Scott Monument is a Victorian monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott.

The Balmoral Hotel, one of the two historically swank hotels in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh reminded me a little bit of San Francisco with the streets sloping down toward the water.  Edinburgh is not as close to the water though.

Reed dipping his fry in my curry dish, lol!

We got rained on a bit the first day, but we got rewarded with this beautiful double rainbow.

Donaldson's College in Edinburgh that is currently for sale.  They are going to development it into condos or a resort.  I vote resort!  I want to stay there!

The North Sea and cliffs in St. Andrews.

When I see this I sing "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"!  Very cool!  Looking over the 1st hole tee box and the 18th green.

Getting a little practice in before their round started.

Unfortunately, it started raining on them right before they teed off.  Thankfully, it stopped!

Dad on the 1st tee.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Here I go singing again.  Chris on the 1st tee at St. Andrews.

And, of course, my brother deserves a little song too on the 1st tee.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!  What an awesome experience for all three of them!

Reed loved it too.  He begged to "watch the golf"!

THE Bridge on the 18th.

One of the many infamous bunkers.

In the home stretch!

Marc deliberating on his putt.

Go in, go in, go in!  I was screaming on the inside!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!  This place makes me sing!  Do I need to mention that again?!?!?  So exciting!

18th Green

After their round!

With the Royal and Ancient!

While Chris, my dad and brother played at the Old Course, Reed and I toured the small little town of St. Andrews.  My mom was feeling under the weather so she missed sightseeing in St. Andrews, but we did drive around it so she got to check it out the quick way.  It was a cute little town!

St. Andrews Cathedral ruins.  After seeing this, I have determined that ruins are much cooler to me than things that are completely intact.  I think it helps to imagine it being used oh so long ago when it looks like this.  I may be weird and the only one who thinks this but that's okay!

So very cool!  You could actually see where the pillars used to stand when inside the cathedral.

St. Andrews Castle, another cool sight for me!

Check back later for the rest of our sightseeing in Edinburgh!  We certainly saw a lot!!