Muffins with Mom

Reid's class held a special Mother's Day presentation called Muffins with Mom. They had made special gifts and had practiced some special songs for the occasion. All the moms of the K2 students were invited. After the show, the kids joined us for a special breakfast of muffins and fruit kabobs.

The show itself was really sweet. They performed as flowers growing from a seed to a beautiful flower. Reid did a good job of singing OR performing - but not both at once. :) It was a precious morning! :) Thank you to all of Reid's teacher for putting together such a special day!

We were greeted with this great place setting - a special placemat, handprint, and a flower picture frame - and a BIG muffin! :)

A better shot of the placemat.

Reid reenacting with his "flower" - not sure why he looks so sad though. :)

I'm so glad we got a decent pic from that great morning!

Me and my sweet boy.

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!

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. :)

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.

Our Little Artist...

Reid has been loving the activities at school so far this year. Since he has moved up in age and changed rooms, they have more "structure" (well, as much as possible with this age group) and get to do more arts and music-related stuff.

I have started scanning his art - I already realize that you can't save every single piece in hard-copy form, so we are utilizing the wonders of technology.

Here's one from school. They used Bingo dobbers (sp?) - the ink bottles that make dots - to make their own original design. They got to choose their colors and then told the teacher what it was. Some kids said things like "a doll" or "my doggie." Reid aptly named his masterpiece "Polka Dot Spots." Touche.

This one is one we did at home. We paint now and then at the kitchen table with washable paints. They are finger paints but, frankly, I like to encourage him to use brushes. He seems to do better that way and is much less likely to stick the paint in his mouth. It's really abstract but I kind of like it. As you can imagine, almost all of them look the same in the end.

They have also been learning about basic body parts at school. Last week, each child got to lay down on a big sheet of butcher paper and the teacher traced the outline of their body. Then they helped color in the picture to look like themselves, learning the different parts of the body along the way. Here is a picture of Reid with his lifesize rendering of himself:

I'll have to be sure and get some video of Reid on one of his very musical days. He is all about singing and humming a tune (impressively, I might add) or playing his little toy drum. It must be seen to be truly appreciated. :)

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. :)