These are the words that Reed uses on most mornings of school because I have told him these exact words more times than I can count. I know that he has a good time at school once he's there and playing with all his friends. We finally got to a good point two weeks ago where he didn't cry when I dropped him off. Well, then we had fall break. I was worried. Real worried. So, I took him to school on Tuesday thinking that it was going to be bad, but he talked about school all the way there and walked in the building (normally I have to carry him to his classroom) and then followed his friends into his class without even looking back. Talk about a proud mommy moment!! And the best part is that he did even better when I dropped him off today. We are so excited that he has finally warmed up to school and is now happily making the transition from being with me to being at school. This has also flowed into him being okay when I drop him off at the playcenter at the gym. Woohoo! Go Reed!
This week his class had two very fun activities. The first one was on Tuesday when the kiddos got to "cook". The parents brought in a variety of items to make trail mix. They got to measure the ingredients, dump it in the bowl and then mix it up. Reed is loving to cook these days, so I am sure he was excited.
Today they made a family tree at school with pictures of the three of us. He was so excited to show it off when I picked him up from school today. He even mentioned a brother and sister on our walk out of school (lots of kids in his class have brothers and/or sisters). I told him he didn't have a brother or sister yet but that he would hopefully have one in the future.
Enjoy the pics below of his cooking lesson!
All the kiddos being good listeners, well, minus a few, lol!! They are too cute!
Reed dumping in his marshmallows.
And after his turn was over you can see him behind the kids just doing a little cleaning, ha!
Stir, stir, stir it up!
One of his buddies decided to relocate to the end of the table to stand beside Reed, so cute! The teacher told me on Tuesday that the two of them were holding hands and talking away during school. Sweet boys!
We had an awesome time at Reed's 2nd birthday party, for which my in-laws were sweet enough to let us host at their home. With only two weeks between our return from the UK and his party, the pool was the only logical place for his party. A big thanks to them again!!
We celebrated our little boy with our family and friends and it was a great time! We munched on burgers, cake and ice cream. It was a great day! Reed got some awesome new toys to play with around the house. He is certainly a lucky little boy to have so many people who love him!! And boy, do we love him!!! Happy 2nd Birthday again baby boy! We hope you enjoyed your pool party!
The birthday boy playing in the pool!
Getting ready to blow his candles out.
The birthday cakes that I made with my mother-in-law. They were super yummy. We might have to do this again next year!
Reed's buddy Brick enjoying some cake!
As if playing in the pool wasn't enough, Mike Mike was nice enough to take the kiddos on a tractor ride. They all loved it! Reed riding and Luke driving, too cute!
And a little basketball never hurt either. Reed loved shooting hoops with Kallan and Marin.
And making a slam dunk with a little help from Bill!
Reed checking out one of his many gifts.
Showing off his marching skills after he got a special card we picked up for him in London.
2nd Birthday Family Photo
Reed riding the stick pony that Kath made for him!
Driving his golf cart that Nana and Granddaddy and Jo and PawPaw got him for his birthday!
Holy mackarel, our kid is 2! And almost 25 months, to be exact. While we are loving being back at home, I am having a hard time adjusting to doing everything that I want/need to do and also finding time to blog. So this blog is indeed a little later than it would normally be, oops. This is probably going to be the last month of the chair picks for our little man. I might be tempted to put him in it on his birthday every year until he's 18, you know, just to torment him.
Reed has not met a word that he can't say. He repeats everything we say to him. And, he shocks us all the time at what he remembers and how well he uses the words that he knows. He is regularly telling us that something is "big fun", "good tasty", "it's beautiful", and on and on and on.
He continues to be a sweet little boy and says "I love you" to us un-prompted.
He is strangely shy with people that we know but otherwise hasn't ever met a stranger. He will rarely immediately start talking to my friends but painters arrive at our house and they are instantly his best friend. It is pretty hilarious.
He loves, loves golf. Shocker.
His favorite books are Triceratops for Lunch and I'm a T-Rex, two books about the dinosaurs on the show Dinosaur Train, which he L-O-V-E-S. Thanks again to Lauren for the awesome gift!
He absolutely loves to "read" books to us or just to himself. When he opens a book he always starts off with "once upon a time". So cute.
His favorite TV shows right now are Dinosaur Train and Thomas the Train.
His favorite toys right now have to be his trains. He has multiple books about trains and also toy trains. We got him a train set for his birthday and he literally comes downstairs every morning and exclaims "look at the trains". It is the sweetest.
He loves to sing. He knows most of the words to "Ooo de lally" from Robin Hood. He can also sing "The More We Get Together", "Ring Around the Rosie", "Old McDonald Had a Farm". He also randomly knows the words to the chorus of "Airplanes", "can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now." Yeah, imagine a 2 year old singing that, precious!
"Hello Mommy" and "Hello Daddy".
"No", but mostly "nope", have become Reed's favorite words. He responds to most questions with "nope", otherwise he says "okay" in the sweetest voice ever.
He is slowly but surely getting better at dropoff at school and at the gym. Unfortunately, we have his fall break this week and he is sick so there will be no gym for us for a few days, so we might be back to square one. Boo.
Reed stayed with only his third babysitter ever on Wednesday night and he was a total rockstar. He didn't even care when I left. Too bad he doesn't feel this way when I drop him off at school.
I often greet Reed with a "hey sweetie". When we were still in London I went out to the store and when I opened the door he said "hey sweetie".
He can say his ABCs all the way through. He even now emphasizes the sssssssss and xxxxxxx, which I think he learned at school.
He did start school during his 24th month. It really has been great for him. I can already start to see a slight change in the way he reacts to his peers.
Stretching is sometimes painful for Chris, so it sometimes includes grunting. Reed would mimic him by pushing up against the wall and making a grunting sound, hilarious.
After I finished singing "Hush Little Baby", which might be his favorite bedtime song, he added a verse that I didn't sing but Chris had started to sing to him. Such a smart boy!
Keep checking back for updates about our little man, as I am sure I have forgotten something!
This month was probably the hardest ever to get a good shot of our little man. It could have been that he was coming down with something, he's sick now, or that the lighting was never just right enough to make me happy. Oh well, I got one that I think I am happy with.
Take 1
Take 2
24 Months/2 Years
This one is probably my favorite because it just looks better. I might try again for another shoot in his chair for one last time to try and get it right!
We had the awesome opportunity to see our cousins Hayley, Hagan, and Hudson who made the trek down from Tennessee to go the American Girl store at Northpoint Mall the weekend. Reed, Chris and I had planned to meet them there, because how ridiculously cute would it have been to have a picture of Reed and Hudson hanging out in an all pink and red store? Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to get a reservation for 6 there, so we opted out. Maybe next time? Instead of heading to the girlie store, we met them for the afternoon at Fernbank. The main reason for going there was to give Reed a little bit of a dinosaur fix. He loves them so much and just wanted to stare at them the entire time we were there. There were a few other cool exhibits at the museum as well that we checked out, but it was all about the dinosaurs for Reed. We had such a great time seeing them and hope that we see them again very soon. Love you guys!
While we were still eating lunch at the cafe, Reed was way too preoccupied with the dinosaurs just outside the door. We told him that he could go out there as long as we could still see him. He would walk a few feet and turn around to check to see if we could see him. So cute!
"Wow"
And another "wow".
The Kiddos!
Hudson requested that I take his picture with the dinosaur. Unfortunately, I only got the dinosaur's arms, but I thought it was an adorable picture of Hudson.
I think my dream job would be to research for the captions that Pop-Up Video adds to music videos. I know, I know, I have high aspirations, lol! It would be so much fun though. Check out the video for Britney's Till the World Ends to get a teaser for the upcoming premiere of Pop-Up Video.
This past weekend Chris and I had the honor of attending the wedding of Diana and Eric, a sectionmate of Chris's from HBS! What a beautiful wedding it was, most of it organized by Diana, and so very much fun! It was great to catch up with friends from Boston, especially Patrick, Patricia and Brad. We look forward to seeing all those guys again very soon. Gotta make it happen!
The lovely bride and groom!
Me and my hubby at the wedding.
I think I caught Chris and Patrick mid-laugh.
Patricia and I. Poor thing got into a bicycle accident just a week before the wedding.
Towards the end of the wedding, drums were set up and one of Diana's friends, also a guest of the wedding, showed off her mad drumming skills. I have a new goal in life to be able to play the drums at a friend's wedding (yeah, probably not going to happen, but a girl can dream). It was so awesome and gave a very cool vibe to the reception. Watch her in action below. So cool!
In addition to attending the wedding, we also did a little bit of sightseeing and friend-seeing. When we arrived on Friday morning, we headed to Manhattan Beach to eat lunch with our good friends Alisha and Ryan. We ate lunch at a yummy Greek restaurant called Petros. It was so great to finally see them. It has been a long two years. Can't wait to see them again, probably in their soon-to-be-new home in San Diego.
Ryan and Alisha
Alisha and I
Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach (another view)
The pier at Manhattan Beach.
Friday night we had dinner with Patrick, Patricia and Brad at an uber-cool restaurant at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica called Whist. The food was good, the atmosphere was excellent.
On Saturday, we got in as much sightseeing as we could before the wedding. We started out by having breakfast at Urth Caffe where they have a trademark Spanish Latte that was so yummy. Thanks to Maureen for recommending this place. I highly recommend it as well if you are ever in LA, it is a must try. After stuffing ourselves, we made our way up to Mulholland Drive to get a good view of the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of haze, so the pictures aren't great. Oh well, better luck next time. As you can see from the pictures below, we drove down Hollywood Boulevard, one too many times, Rodeo Drive, drove by Warner Brothers Studios, checked out the Santa Monica Pier, from afar, and drove up to Malibu where I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was a great trip! I can't wait to go back to LA for a visit.
I'll just go ahead and ask for forgiveness for my Pretty Woman quotes!
"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream?"
Warner Brothers Studios, unfortunately, they didn't ask me to come in and film something.
Hollywood Boulevard
Capital Records
"Beverly Hills, what a thrill!" Guess that movie?
"Rodeo Drive, baby!"
"Reg...Bev....Wil!"
On the drive up to Malibu, we drove by Pepperdine University where they had placed a flag for every person lost on 9/11. What a moving memorial.
