Our Little Litigator & Muddy Fun

Reid has learned the art of the argument. Granted, his "art" is on a 2-year-old level. Some people might call it negotiation. Whatever the request, the answer these days is frequently.... "no." Maybe he's holding out for a better deal, or maybe he's trying to see if he can wear me down. Sometimes he does, which is a foreign concept to me because I am very used to winning in a battle of wills. (Those of you who know me know that much is true.)

I would be unfair of me not to note that he is also using his polite words with increased frequency. Please and Thank You, and even I'm Sorry are sometimes offered without prompting, which is the cutest thing ever. However, when he decides that he does not want to do whatever you are asking he is persistent. His "no" repertoire has expanded recently to include oldies but goodies such as, That's not fair (accompanied by crossed arms and a squinched up face) or I don't have to. Likewise, my retorts have been leveled to things like "Yeah, well tough" and "Too bad, so sad." I know, seriously, it's no wonder he sometimes wins these arguments.

Of course, having a two-year-old has its fun points, too. We managed to have some outside fun a few days ago in the midst of our recent rain, courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay. It has been raining in some form almost nonstop for three days. Fortunately we just got some new rain boots - still a little too big - so we got to play in the rain with Reid's best buddy, Joshua. Not much to say, other than it was very fun, very messy, and required an immediate bath afterward - South Carolina red mud stains the skin on contact for those of you that don't know. The pictures will tell the story... good times!

Reid, sitting in the muddy puddle, sans boots.

Why walk in it, when you can sit in it. Right?

Joshua, showing off his mad mud-stomping skills.

Ah, yes. Reid, who always manages to fall down or run into something. In his defense, the rain boots are WAY too big. So glad I got this pic in mid-air. :)

The grand finale. They played in the red mud for about half an hour after the puddle jumping. I had intended just to hose Reid down in the front yard (hey, you can take the girl out of Bama...), but the red mud had stained the majority of his body. So dinner was put on hold while he had an emergency bath.

We are off to Alabama this weekend for a spur of the moment trip. The bonus is that I get to to be in Bama for the kickoff game against Clemson... seeing as how I live surrounded by Clemson fans, I'm glad to come home to my people. Roll Tide!

Last Week of "Summer"...

Okay, so it's still really summer and will be for several weeks. It's pretty warm outside still, though not unbearable the past few days thanks to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay in Florida. We are getting lots of wind, which is SO nice. Yesterday the windows were open all day and Ross will be installing a screen door on the back of the house this weekend in preparation for the cooler months. I hope they come soon - there's nothing like sweating while trick-or-treating to let you know you're in the South. :)


Speaking of that wind, it has been wreaking havoc on what's left of my tiny little garden. I have already pulled the squash plants up but my tomatoes are still kicking and are really out of control. The wind is blowing over the tomato plants, cage and all. Of course, the fact that they are taller than me when they are upright is not making things any better. We also have a watermelon plant with two melons on it. One melon is about the size of Reid's head and should be ready to eat soon. The other is a baby and fits in the palm of my hand. I doubt it will ripen before we have to pull the plants up, especially since Reid tries to pick it every time we go outside. He loves that baby watermelon. I'm thinking about planting a blueberry bush in the fall - we'll see if I can stick with that plan.


We visited Reid's school yesterday for Open House. Regular school here started back this week so his program begins again next week. He is moving into an older classroom so we got to go visit today. There were no problems, and I didn't think there would be. He already knows both his teachers and at least half of his classmates. We found out that he is the only boy on one of the days he is there - Reid and seven girls. Should make for some interesting playtimes, though several of them can take him in a wrestling match on any given day. The new classroom has a jack-and-jill bathroom between his room and the other Older 2's class. It has the cutest little toddler-sized toilet. Fingers crossed that this sparks our interest in the potty again. They also get to sit at a little semi-circle table for art projects and lunch this year, instead of the high chairs that contained them last year. I can't wait to see how that goes. His favorite teacher, Mrs. Lorin (who was also his teacher in the previous classroom), said she was so happy to be done with high chairs. I'm wondering if she will still feel that way in a few weeks when they realize they can get up and down from the table at will. Sometimes containment is good. :)


We are looking forward to a weekend of good weather and our ever-growing, never-ending list of home improvement projects. Well, I'm looking forward to it - Ross is probably not!

P.S.: I have a few pics that go with this post but, frankly, I am too lazy today to upload them. Maybe tomorrow. :)

All About Bunny...

Reid officialy has a lovey. We've had "Bunny" - or "Bunny Weaver," if you ask Reid - since he was 11 months old. I remember because we had found out that we were moving to South Carolina and were getting ready to stay at my mom's for a while right around his 1st birthday. On a trip to Ross (the store, not the husband) in B'ham, Reid spotted the furry, floppy bunny on an Easter display and grabbed for it. He held it in the cart during the entire trip and, being from Ross, it was pretty inexpensive. So, we bought it. He ended up liking it enough for me to go back and grab another one - thank goodness!

For over a year now, Bunny has been a fixture in our lives, but he did not run our life. He was always present at naptime or bedtime, and occasionally on a car ride. Bunny was always happy to stay in the car while we ran errands or be left in the floor who-knows-where until the next sleepy time came. But, no more.

Over the past couple of months, Bunny has become increasingly more demanding. Bunny is no longer content hanging out on the sidelines. No, no... Bunny is now the main event. Bunny is at or on the table at every meal. Bunny plays outside with us and rides in the tricycle basket to the playground. Bunny goes on all car trips, into all stores and restaurants. Bunny even has Reid offer assistance if Bunny wants to wave to a friend or push a button on a toy. Bunny and Reid have private conversations, and Bunny even likes to play with Thomas the Train. I even heard them talking about Sir Topham Hatt in the playroom just yesterday...

Fortunately, we do have a backup Bunny, though I suspect that Reid can tell one from the other. One Bunny's ears flop slightly differently than the other. This small difference cannot be seen by the untrained eye, but I know it's there and Reid sometimes seems to notice when I pull the old switcharoo. Just today I swapped them when he wasn't looking so one could be washed (we rotate them regularly so the have the same amount of wear and smell similar). At bedtime, he was looking around and when I asked what he was looking for he said, "my other Bunny." I tried to play it cool but I know he knows. It doesn't seem to matter too much, though, which is good.

Anyway, it is pretty entertaining around here with Reid and his best friend, Bunny. Sometimes Bunny is a hassle to deal with, but it sure is sweet when I can hear Reid tell Bunny that "I sure do love you." Priceless.

Finally Home from Alabama...

Reid and I are finally back from Alabama. In the midst of a wedding, a baby shower, two dinners, and a lunch (all over the course of a few days), we got to see lots of friends and family.

Reid got to spend some time at Granny's seeing the baby chicks, picking strawberries off the vine and blueberries off the bush, and playing under the grapevines. The grapes were a little too sour to eat off the vine, but underneath the vines it smelled just like Welch's grape juice. We also got to see how the cows were doing - Bobby and Whitney (yes, named after THAT Bobby and Whitney), and the other cow whose name I can't remember (sorry, little cow!).

Reid spent lots of time with his Granna while I was running around distributing baby gifts to all my friends who somehow decided to procreate at the same time (you all know who you are!). He helped wash Sally - the Mustang - and was so very sad when Doug took it to Florida for almost the whole time we were there. He kept asking, "Where's Sally?" and told Doug on the phone to hurry up and bring "her" home. He loved playing with Libby, even though she sometimes didn't know she was playing with him, and Nigel the puppy from next door.

I got to see some good friends from high school and college on this trip. It's always so much fun to catch up, though these days we end up talking about babies and kids. You just can't away from that subject.

Lastly, an update on the potty training situation. That appears to be on hold for a while. Things were looking so good for a week or so but Reid just seemed to decide that he wasn't on board anymore. When you have to wrestle him to the potty it never turns out well and he will always win in a battle of wills, even against me (a worthy competetitor). :) So we'll try again soon, after he starts back to school and can see some of his friends using the potty every day. Hopefully that will stir some interest.

And, I want to give a special shout-out to my girl Sunshine. I'm so glad I got to see her this past weekend. She can turn a trip to Gymboree into a memorable experience...

Grandma, Grandpa, & Other Fun Stuff...

Grandma and Grandpa were here for a few days on their way through, from Oklahoma to Florida. Greenville is not technically on the way, but the Reid-man is worth the extra mileage. We had a good time hanging out and Reid just loves to play with Grandpa. We had a late night last night, not getting into bed until after 10:00pm (Reid, that is). He was pretty cranky this morning and I thought he was going to flip out when they left, but he handled it fairly well, though he did ask where they were when he woke up from his nap - poor little guy forgot they had gone already.

Reid was his usual crazy self this afternoon after a nice, long nap (which does not always happen these days). Some goofy things from today: we have these cute, BIG, foam shoes with laces that are made for practicing tying your shoes. They are not really meant for being worn as footwear. Of course, that means nothing to Reid. He decided he wanted to put them on. I figured out how to lace them to his feet - kind of like Roman sandals - and he was so proud that he wanted to go show "TV." That's right - the TV. (We won't address how that reflects on my parenting right now.) It's a little disturbing that he is referring to the TV as something similar to a friend. He ran as best he could in his big clown-shoes and held his feet up in front of the TV so "TV" could see them. Interesting...

He has also discovered the camera and is very interested in what it does. Whereas up to this point he has always made it difficult for someone to take his photo he is now kind of interested in it. He insisted that I take this picture of him and "Dora" and "Jeremy." (Parents of toddler boys will know that Jeremy is the plane - like on Thomas the Tank Engine, even though this one is not that actual character. Dora is of course, Dora the Explorer, though this little person in the plane only resembles Dora in that she has dark skin, a backpack, a bad haircut, and and no fashion sense. Okay, maybe they do look the same...)

Finally, as I was putting Reid to bed tonight, he asked me to lay in bed with him. This is something we do a few times a week. Reid never sleeps in the same bed with me or any other person, but he loves to procrastinate before bedtime with a little pillow talk. He has become fond of "Prince Reid" stories that I make up on the fly. These stories ramble on and have no real story, but of course he loves them. I let him pick what happens next when I am at a loss. Tonight, he let Bunny - his lovey - make up a story about airplanes that like pig food and cow milk. The imagination is a wonderful thing...

We are off to Alabama in a few days. I'm sure there will be some fun stories to tell when we return.

P.S.: If you've noticed that my child is pants-less in pretty much every photo, I promise it's due to our current PT situation... he does have pants, I swear!

Check out my Thomas undies...

So, here's the video of Reid in his Thomas undies. We are still doing well on the potty training. We've had a few days without an accident, though much of that is mommy's doing, not necessarily Reid's. Still, we're progressing. Enjoy!

Riding the "Potty Train"...

So, we are officially potty training. We have tried for a few days before to see how Reid would respond and it wasn't good so we stopped. But, this time, we have been at it a week now and there is definite progress.

Reid still hasn't really "asked" to use the potty - I just take him now and then. I've been trying to let him know that he can tell me if he needs to go but I think he is still learning the sensation and doesn't think that quick on his feet just yet. But, he is loving his Cars pull-ups - not to mention the Elmo and Thomas big boy undies - and has had two dry nighttime diapers in a row now. Good progress.

He's a little younger now than some of the other boys we know were when they started this process. Maybe it will take us a little longer in the end but we can't turn back now!

I have a video of him in his undies, too, but am having technical difficulties getting it to load. I'll work on it and maybe include it next time.

Yep, we're blogging...

Alright. So, I'm a little surprised that we (okay, "I") have not jumped on the blogging bandwagon sooner. I love keeping track of all my friends, especially the far away ones, on their blogs. I've decided it's time. And, I figure it will be a good way for me to keep track of Reid's oh so frequent milestones. Now that he's older, we are so bad about taking pictures and it's hard to write "everything" in the baby book. Especially the cute little day-to-day things that crack me up so much. So, the blog is born. We'll see how it goes. Bear with me as I learn how to set this thing up!

More to come...