Birthday Blues...

We went to a birthday yesterday for one of our neighbors and friends, little James, who was turning 2.

Reid did such a great job in understanding that we were going to a party for James and that James would be getting presents, because it was his birthday. Even as the presents were being opened, Reid even sat back with me and watched so nicely. He was excited for James to open our gift because he had chosen it himself - a pretend cash register, with money and sound effects to boot.

After the gifts were opened, we were all almost the three-hour mark. Reid was tired and SO over the "It's James party and these are his gifts" line. So, we came home to chill out and everything was fine.

I awoke this morning and heard Reid on the monitor. Sometimes, but rarely, he will wake up and not call for me immediately. I could hear him playing so I didn't go get him. Finally, I could hear him singing in the sweetest voice... "It's not my birthday. I don't get to have presents. It's not my birthday, no presents for me."

I swear. Hilarious. Of course, I could try to explain that his birthday is only a month or so away but since he has no concept of time, it wouldn't really matter. :)

The Santa Chronicles

We were so lucky this year to have the opportunity for Santa himself to come to our house a little early, so I planned a little breakfast/brunch party around it so Reid and his friends could meet the big guy together. And, not have to go to the crazy mall to do it. :)

Since he was old enough to have an opinion about it, Reid has not been a fan of sitting with Santa. We have a few shots of him and the big guy from last year where he never actually touched or really looked at him. There weren't any tears that I recall, but we also aren't those parents that will try and force him to do something he so obviously didn't want to do.

Reid with Santa in 2007. He was like "Whatever, I'm not even gonna look at you, weird man. But, I'll be happy to take that candy cane." :)

Even just a few weeks ago, Reid saw Santa at a Chick-fil-a here. He SO wanted to talk to him, you could just tell. He would tip-toe up behind him, so brave, but when Santa turned around and they got face to face, Reid was outta there. They ended up having a nice little chat with Reid sitting on the floor about three feet away.

Reid actually ended up touching Santa's boot on this day. There was a jingle bell on it but, again, when they looked at each other... no way.

So, when Santa arrived at our house last weekend, I didn't have very high hopes. I personally LOVE Santa so if all the kids ran away, more time for me. As always, some of the kids came prepared with detailed explanations of what Santa should be bringing and some hid in another room for an hour. Reid was somewhere in the middle, which is still better than I anticipated. He wasn't afraid but didn't want to sit with him. He just watched from afar for a little while. However, his tune changed quite a bit when he saw Santa's bag and it appeared there might be some toys. He figured out quickly that face time with the big man might have some perks.

Here are some pics - he was AWESOME!

The grand entrance, as kids run in all directions.

After a few tries, and after the "sack" was spotted. Reid actually said, "Hey, what do you have in that sack?!?" Not so subtle.

And even a hug!

After gifts were handed out, Santa read "T'was the Night Before Christmas."

And, Reid, ignoring the story to play with his toy. It was an awesome visit though!

Reid's First Public Performance

Today was Reid's Christmas program at his school and his first "official" public performance - not counting tantrums in the grocery store. The program began with mini-performances from the K-2's (Reid's group) and K-3's, then a play by the K-4's.

Reid's age group sang a cute little song about ringing the bells for Santa. Since they are kind of hard to understand (What? Twenty 2-year-olds singing at the top of their lungs hard to understand?), here's the gist: they are ringing the bells for Santa, then they quiet down because it's time to sleep. Then, the alarm clock goes off - there's a visual here - and they get up and ring the bells for Christmas Day.

At least, that's my interpretation - you can judge for yourself.

The video is not too long and is pretty cute. I was sure Reid would clam up when he saw the people but he did great. He was kind of zoned out at the beginning but you can see his lips moving. He was really concentrating. Then, he notices the microphone in front him and thinks, "hey, I know what that's for." He really was the star of the show. It's hard to hear on the video but, at one point, he was singing right into the microphone so you could hear his little voice over everyone else's. Too cute.

(Disclaimer: We had the camera zoomed in a little too much at one point so it's overly shaky and kind of grainy- but still cute!)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Confections

I LOVE to make Holiday goodies of all kinds, and really have to hold myself back to not go crazy every year. (I'm itching to make Christmas cookies right now but am trying to hold off a week or so...)

Anyway, I was trying to think or something Reid could really help with and came up with chocolate-dipped pretzel rods... with sprinkles (of course). It was fun and we didn't make many this first time around, but they were good and turned out cute!

Reid in his Christmas apron... that I purchased in the dead of summer.

The beginning of the process. See the (relatively) clean counter, and the reasonable amounts of sprinkles being used?

And, toward the end. Now look at the sprinkles. Sprinkle madness! But Reid thought it was just right...

Shoving a fistful of sprinkles into his mouth...

Chocolate!

Before shaking the sprinkles off...

And after. Pretty cute, huh?

Thanksgiving in Alabama

It's been too long since my last post, but the holidays are upon us and there's just not enough time in the day!

We made the trip to Alabama for Thanksgiving last week and were able to stay 4 days. Of course we had our traditional feast with all the Martins - this year we rented out a space instead of everyone cramming into someone's house, which worked really well! - but we also got to do some other fun stuff along the way...

This is what I have decided to refer to as Reid's "picture face" It's what his face looks like when he is in the middle of saying, "No Mommy, don't take my picture!" (or something similar). :) He was super cranky for a little while on Thanksgiving day, partially because he refused to eat anything except some bread and some crackers. And, I only brought one cup of juice which meant he had to drink soda or sweet tea the rest of the day... which he didn't mind. At least the sugar/caffeine high from the sweet tea improved his mood.

See? Mood already improved, even though he decided the best place to be was under the table...

We also had a playdate at my friend Laurie's, who I have known since forever. Her three girls (Katy, and the twins, Anna and Emma) kept Reid entertained for about 3 hours. Here, playing ring around the rosy...

And, all falling down, which is the best part - don't you agree?

Miss Laurie made grilled cheese sandwiches and s'mores for dessert. This is a look of sheer happiness on his face. He didn't even notice that he had on a big pink bib. I think I could get him to go back to Miss Laurie's anytime...

Saturday, we fed the ducks at the park in Athens, which has become one of his favorite tings to do at Granna's house. (Notice the "picture face" again.)

Ducks!

"Here, Daddy. You want some bread?"

There were just enough leaves in Granna's backyard to make a small pile...

Over and over again!

And, mom and I went shopping EARLY on Black Friday - a tradition that had been put on hold since Reid was born. I had really missed it! We didn't get up quite as early as we could have, but we were at Kohl's in the middle of the madness by 5 am. Then, of course, we shopped for about 45 minutes and waited in the crazy-long line for over an hour - but it was so fun. I was able to go get in the car and deliver some Starbucks back to the store with tons of time to spare. We went to other places, too, but Kohl's was the best. Everyone is crazy but civilized there - no trampling, pushing, pulling, or fighting (at least not that we saw).

We also met up with my friend Kelly to meet her new sweet baby girl, Layla Anne. Of course, she took pictures and I did not... maybe she'll send some my way. That is one cute baby!

That's about it. I should have some good stuff up next week following Reid's Christmas show at school and our Santa party for the kids at our house next weekend. I'm sure there will be some amusing pictures and videos!

Tidbits...

Just a few funny things I wanted to write down:

• Reid passed by our wedding picture on the staircase yesterday, as he does several times a day, except this time he stopped and looked at it. He said, "Mommy, you're a princess!" then we got to have a whole conversation about how he was a Prince and Daddy would be a King (although Reid kept saying "Queen.")
• If you ask Reid where he lives, he consistently answers "Cow Sarolina."
• In flipping through channels the other night, somehow I came across an episode of Alf - remember him? The cat-eating alien from the planet of Melmac? He immediately caught Reid's eye so we stayed on that channel for a while... actually for an entire episode. Reid was completely engrossed in it. He asked who Alf was and I told him he was from outer space, since this really isn't a foreign concept to a 2-year-old. Reid decided Alf is a "space pig." I may have to TiVo another episode to see if the fascination sticks... :)

Operation Christmas Child

I have been meaning to post this for a week or so now, but Reid and I have been fighting off some seasonal yuckiness...

Reid's school participates in Operation Christmas Child every year. For those of you not familiar with the program, click here: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/. (It is a fairly widespread program, especially in the Bible Belt, but I know some folks may not know about it.) I liked the idea of trying to teach Reid that he could help someone that he doesn't know, though it's kind of a hard thing to explain to a 2-year-old.

So, in 2-year-old terms, I told him that there was a boy like him who lived very far away - I used the photo of the kid on the brochure, since I thought a visual might be helpful - and that the boy did not have toys or a cool toothbrush like Reid has. Then I asked him if he would help me pick out some things that the boy might like so we could put them in a box and send them to him. After some more discussion, he thought that sounded like an okay idea.

We took a special trip to the Dollar Tree to pick out things for the box. I decided to make a "boy" box because I thought it would be easier for Reid to select the items. We found cars and play dough, and crayons and a coloring book among other things. I also put in some hygiene items like a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc. The very lucky boy also got a book of Dora the Explorer stickers. Now, I realize that wherever this box ends up, the child will likely never have heard of Dora but every kid loves stickers. There were lots of other kinds to choose from but it just HAD to be Dora. Reid figured... I love Dora, so how could the the boy far away not also love her? (Well, to put that in 2-year-old speak... "No! The boy likes Dora! He likes Dora!") You just can't argue with that logic. :)

So, we brought all our goodies home to put them in the box. I had wrapped a shoe box in white paper so Reid could decorate it. We used markers and stickers - it was a mess in the end but he was very proud of it. We filled the box and took it to school the next day. He carried it in so proudly but almost had a meltdown when I told him he had to give it to the teacher. He wanted to give it to the boy himself. I had to remind him that the boy lived far away and that Miss Barb (the school director) would mail it with all the other boxes from the other schoolkids. In the end, he gave up the box willingly.

Just this morning, when we got to school, he looked at the poster in the entryway and pointed at "the boy" I had used as my visual. The poster is now surrounded by a mountain of shoe boxes waiting to be shipped out. He still remembers putting the box together and why we did it, though it's only been a few weeks. Hopefully we can grow upon this experience into something more meaningful as the years go on.

Inspecting the selection of toys to choose from...

Decorating the box.

The completed masterpiece.

Putting all the items in... yes, I had to rearrange. :)

Tagged

(For those of you not familiar with this...this is basically a chain letter in the mommy-blog world. At least it's more entertaining and there are no curses attached! )

I've been tagged to do the following:
1) Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2) Choose the 4th picture
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 other people


I wondered what picture it would be, but it's a good one! This is from the Feb 2006 folder on our computer. Me giving Reid his first bath. A you can tell, he was not too pleased!

I'm supposed to tag 4 other people now, but that might be impossible since so many others I know have already been tagged. If you are reading this, haven't already been tagged, and you have a blog- well, consider yourself tagged! :)

A Historic Day

I'm guessing a lot of you know my political leanings. I'm not writing this post to rant or, in this case, gloat, at all.

I would just like to point out that the first President elected in my child's lifetime is also the first African-American President (or any minority, for that matter) in our country's history. This is something that I wasn't sure would happen in my lifetime and now it will be a reality for my child from the very beginning.

The election of Barack Obama - whether you agree or not - is a tremendous turning point for our country and will go down as a truly historic day. Time will tell what his legacy will be, but I am so proud to be a part of it and only wish Reid was a little older so he could understand the significance.

Monkeyin' Around!

We had lots of Halloween fun this year! We got to trick-or-treat (TOT) a few weeks ago at "Boo in the Zoo," which was fun but super crowded - but apparently it always is. It was a good trial run in the costume and served as a good practice for Reid's TOT manners.

Then was Reid's class Halloween party, which was his first 'official' school party. I am co-room mother with another mom from the class that I am also friends with, so it's really more fun than work. We had a party on Thursday and Friday since most kids don't go every day. Reid went Friday. We had cupcakes and fruit salad and another mom made a surprise spider pinata that we shared with the other 2 year old class. So hilarious to watch them go at it, with badminton racket of all things. They also got to TOT to the other classes in the costumes. (You MUST look at the photo below of the baby belly dancers...)

Then, last night, we joined some of our neighbors at their house for some pre-TOT dinner. Since Reid decided he didn't need a nap yesterday, much to my chagrin, our TOT outing with the neighbors lasted maybe 45 minutes and he was done. We came home where he got his second wind, of course, and changed into his fireman raincoat to hand out candy.

We have WAY to much candy to go around... I had to divvy it up and either get rid of it or hide it. Reid has his stash of age-appropriate stuff and the chocolate is around (but not too close at hand). The rest will be banished. :) I know Reid will be devastated wen he figures out that candy corn is a seasonal product... the boy is an addict!

Here are some pictures of all the activities - enjoy!

Don't you love the cute, puffy monkey belly?

The paparazzi just wouldn't leave him alone!

The best shot we could get together- no nap was already kicking in.

Reid's friend Cecilia - she is such a spitfire.

Okay, how cute are these little belly dancers, named Aashi and Khushi. Authentic costumes from India. They had glitter all over their body and hair. Precious!

Party time!

Whacking the pinata with a racket! See the effort in his face... :)

The spider, before she burst.

See the cute little face on top, and the banana in his pocket.

Reid and Joshua at Boo in the Zoo.

Long Lost "Uncle Donald"

I simply had to write this one down.

Driving home from Alabama last weekend, it was lunchtime and Reid started talking about being hungry. I said that we were looking for somewhere good to stop. Right about that time, we passed an exit and he saw the ever-present golden arches. He pointed to them and said, "Can we stop at Uncle Donald's?"

Okay, yes, that's funny. But even moreso that he has probably only been to a McDonald's maybe 3-5 times in his entire little life (we're more of a Chick-fil-a family...). It's certainly not part of our regular vocabulary.

Just another example of excellent marketing by someone, somewhere!

Autumn's Bounty... of Crafts

Wow, do we have a lot of fall-inspired crafts around our house these days. They are all very cute and I do wonder who has time to come up with all these things. Reid is bringing home something from school almost every day now. Here is just a sampling:

Two little pumpkins. Reid helped paint the first one last week (love the yarn "hair") and the other one came home with us today. Apparently several candy corns were lost in an effort to give this little guy a nose. What can I say? My kid loves candy corn. :)

This was painted with a marble rolled in paint. Pretty neat!

The potato family. Okay, technically not fall-inspired, but they were also learning about family at the beginning of the month. Hopefully, all the students had to use potatoes and this is not meant to be a social commentary of the shape of our family. Hmmm?

More pumpkins. I expect the theme to last through Thanksgiving. Maybe I can keep a running tally of all the pumpkins through November. These were made with his painted knuckles...

I love this one. Pretty self-explanatory on how they made it, but it sure is cute!

Terrible 2's?

We're all familiar with the Terrible 2's, and for good reason. Some days, this phrase could not ring more true in our house. But, sometimes, the terrible 2's are terribly sweet.

These days, Reid is learning about feelings... love, empathy, sadness. He is starting to understand how his actions can make someone else sad, like not sharing toys with his friends. (We haven't quite mastered how our actions can also make someone happy, like listening to mommy on the first try, but I digress.) He's learning to say "I'm sorry." When I tell him I love him these days, sometimes he tells me he loves me, too, and it's so sweet because I can tell he understands the "feeling" of it. Sometimes, he even says it without me saying it first - he is such a momma's boy. He gives lots of hugs and kisses these days, as well, which is a relatively new thing since he's never really been a snuggler. Also, a few days ago, I said something about having a tummy ache, and he came over to rub my belly telling me that I would feel better soon. Precious.

His manners are also starting to kick in. He is getting very good at saying "please" and "thank you" without any prompting. I just love this. I have never been one for saying "ma'am" and "sir" all the time, so I only make him call me ma'am when he is being reprimanded. But the please's and thank you's are just too cute. We stopped at CVS on the way home from school today and he insisted on taking in a little pumpkin he painted at school. He said hello to the cashier and asked her to look at his pumpkin, whom he has dubbed "Scooter." (???) Of course, she thought he was precious (how could she not?) and asked if he could have a lollipop. So she asked him if he would like one and he said, "Oh yes, please!" and "Thank you so much!"

I can see that he often is the most mannerly when he knows it will benefit him directly, like asking super-politely for a treat, but hopefully he's seeing that treating people nicely always ends up better than the alternative (though sometimes we adults have trouble remembering this one, too). Hopefully this phase will last for a little while...

(I'm making a point to get all this cuteness in writing so next time I want to strangle him, I can look at this and see the silver lining... which will probably be in the next few hours!)

Random Tidbits

Nothing too specific to talk about over the past few days. I thought I'd take the opportunity to document some of the completely unrelated - but memorable (well, from a mommy's standpoint) - things observed this week:


1. We may have caused major trauma to Reid when we left him for a week while we went to Chicago. Ever since we got back, he tells me all the time - seriously, numerous times a day - that he misses me. He uses different variations... "I missed you, mommy," "I was missing you," "I miss you when you're gone," etc. It started when we got back from the trip, which seems reasonable, but has not subsided. At first, he would tell me he missed me when I picked him up from school (a 4 hour time frame), and when got back from working out (45 minutes or so). Now sometimes he tells me when I leave to go to the mailbox, or when I'm in the next room. I didn't really give much thought to it until last week when I finally asked him, "When did you miss me?" and he replied, "When you were at the airport." Kind of sad... hopefully he'll move on from that soon. :(


2. Reid has discovered Little Bill - the Bill Cosby cartoon. It plays on Noggin in the afternoons. Personally, I am super excited about this. Prior to Little Bill, he was starting to love Caillou a little too much. (Sorry to all you folks reading this that aren't tuned into the preschool cartoon circuit...) Caillou is a fine show but, for those of you that know it, you know Caillou doesn't always portray himself in the best light (a.k.a., he acts like a real 4 year old). Oh sure, the message is good in the end but you get to see him throw tantrums and backtalk as we learn the lesson. It was so interesting (not necessarily in a good way) to see Reid mimic Caillou's personality. Not cool. Now we have discovered Little Bill - with his sweet disposition - who is nice to his friends, takes care of his hamster, and doesn't talk back to his parents. Now, I wonder how much I can sell our one Caillou DVD for on eBay...?


3. Somewhere recently, Reid must have seen someone making snow angels on TV. I don't know where. He remembers things so well that it could have been something he saw months ago. Well, he has decided that he wants to make them frequently these days, generally inside on the carpet. It's a pretty simple process but cute to watch, especially when he gets so excited that he calls them "snow jangles."

4. Finally got Reid to sing on video. It took a little coaching, but here is his rendition of his own composition called "Water" (notice the familiar tune, I think), and of course the classic, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." I let him watch it afterward and he was cracking up at himself - apparently slapstick with a pillow (you'll see) is all the rage in the 2 year old mind. Enjoy!

Apple Picking

Fall is HERE! I love Fall. I enjoy the colors, the falling leaves, but I think I really just love the cooler air, the respite from the hot, sticky Summer. Of course, we all like Summer at first but then it gets really hot and it loses its appeal pretty quickly.

So, back to Fall. Our windows are all open, and have been so mostly for a few weeks. The new screen door (yay, Ross!) is used all day long to let the cool air in and keep the flies out. And, we are not currently paying $$$ for heating and/or cooling - hooray! What more can you ask for?

Along with the cool air comes new fruits and veggies. Apples and pumpkins are my favorites. We went pumpkin picking last year in late October, which was awesome, but the drought had been bad that the apples were few and far between. I think the place went to even had to ship apples in because of it. Not this year though.

Sunday, we went to Sky Top Orchard, just over the state line in North Carolina. It is a super fun place - very simple, but with everything you need for an enjoyable day. The location is awesome. It is high up on a "mountain" (people in the Rockies might call it a big hill, but here it is a mountain) and the view is awesome. You can see neighboring hills and valleys and the lines of apple trees stretch out as far as the eye can see. They have play areas for the kids, as well as some animals, a bamboo forest, and tractor rides across the property. Not to mention apple cider slushies and apple cider doughnuts. Yum-o. We packed a picnic lunch so we were able to go pick our apples, have lunch under a shade tree, then go back for doughnuts and a tractor ride. So fun!

Reid loved walking through the trees, picking apples. He thinks he likes apples. He really does. He has been successfully brainwashed to say things like, "Apples are delicious. So juicy!" He's so excited to take a bite and then... promptly spit it out, the whole time saying how great it is. He will do it over and over. So, I now have a peck of apples that we won't be able to eat as-is. I know I will make some apple crisp, but we can't have that lying around all the time, so I may try prepping and freezing some for use later. We'll see.

Here are some pictures from the apple picking trip - enjoy! (I'm sure we'll have pumpkin picking photos in the near future...)

Taking a big bite... seems like he likes it....

Inspecting the apple. Notice all the bite marks from previous attempts.

At our picnic lunch. He is literally saying, "No mommy, don't take a picture of my picnic."

The measurement might not be so accurate, since he wouldn't stand up straight and the sun was in his eyes, but it sure is cute!

Peeking out of the Apple House.

On the hayride, minus the hay.
Awesome view!

Trying to convince him to actually eat the apples... Look at his little face. He's like, "No, I don't think so."

Gotta get those good ones!

We'll do anything for those high apples at the top!