Reid: Two Years

Nothing like being a month late. Again. I've tried to keep the highlights limited to the time between late August and his birthday on November 30. A lot has changed even in the past month - mostly an expanded vocabulary, him looking a lot more like a big boy, and having LOTS of new things to play with. =)

Dear Reid,

I can't believe we're already here. You're TWO and definitely not a baby anymore. I can't even kid myself by calling you a baby-toddler. Nope. We are 110% in toddler territory now. I mean, you're two.

Reid, two is already a whirlwind. It's the calm and the storm. It's leaving the house with less stuff (hooray!) and time outs in public places. It's a pouty face and crocodile tears quickly followed by a grin and giggles that won't stop. It's mini dance parties, chasing you around the house, and building towers. Two is you grabbing our cheeks with both of your chubby little hands and planting a big kiss on our lips. This age is Mickey and belting out Let it Go. It's grabbing your blankie, milk, and at least three books then backing it up onto our laps. Two is tantrums and embarrassment and sleeping through the night. It's eating everything in sight and still wanting more. Two is all about new words, stringing together sentences, and repeating everything we say. Two is "mine" and "no" and "love, love, love." It's about you having buddies and showing us, by example, what it's like to love unconditionally and be a kind human being. Two is stubborn, hilarious, exhausting, easier, harder, fun, sweet, and a total adventure. Two is love. You are two. And I love you.

Mama

Highlights:

You're busy, inquisitive, matter of fact, sweet, funny, a boundary pusher, persistent, stubborn, slightly obsessive compulsive ;), kind, ornery smart, loving, and so, SO loved.

You still love books and tend to 'read' them aloud to yourself instead of just pointing at things to ask what they are (though you still do that too). You love saying the words you know. Sometimes you sit on our laps very well to hear a story and other times you're still too busy for that.

You continue to add new vocabulary. You say 'uppo' for hippo, 'cocky-doo' (with much enthusiasm I might add) for rooster, and every kind of bird, aside from the rooster, is a 'guck'. You say the names of many, maybe even most, family and friends. Water is 'wahtee', sleep and sheep are both 'eep', and you request 'doast' for breakfast a lot. You're repeating everything we say too.

You love to take walks and ask for them regularly. You really enjoy being outside.

You still love to eat. =) You continue to eat just about anything and everything we toss your way. You're no dainty eater either. ;)

You suddenly LOVE Mickey and ask to watch Mickey often. Even if your'e not really watching it, you like it on in the background.

Some favorite activities over the past three months include: reading, walking, watching Mickey, making a mess with play-dough, naming the people in our little family - including yourself, playing with blocks, driving cars around, and playing with zippers. You've also enjoyed singing along with 'Let it Go' and 'Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog'.

You ask for your 'blankie' off and on and it always goes to breakfast with you in the morning. =) You don't take it everywhere you go but you do tend to need that specific type of blanket (Aden+Anais muslin blanket) to sleep.

You love to play and make us laugh. Especially at bedtime. ;)

You are a wallerer!

You began to use the potty and wore big boy undies for the first time... but that all kind of faded away.

You now wear size 7.5-8 extra-wide shoes, size 2T and 3T (mostly 3) shirts, 2t bottoms, and size 6 diapers.

You can open any door and even the baby gate with no trouble.

You have a very effective pouty face and sometimes get a little stubborn and dare I say a bit rude and demanding.

You are good at taking stairs, climbing up on anything and everything, and hopping back up when you get hurt.

You give the sweetest hugs and it's rare that someone gets a hug without also getting a kiss. =)

November: Part 1

Here's a quick rundown of our November. Another whirlwind month in the books.

First, Reid got new PJ's. His Aunt Val does that for Halloween. =)

 Sky and I had a dinner date at Pizza Hut before taking a painting class. Look how grown up!! =/

 We had a great time. This girl is funny.

 Arteests!

 My snowman. The sample work showed a pink hat. You know I couldn't be having any of that. ;)

 Reid's a little stinker. One day I was talking to him while he ate a banana. I said "that banana is good for your belly isn't it?" so he lifted up his shirt and rubbed the banana on his belly. Makes sense. But I see he's literal like his daddy. =)

 He thought he was pretty funny. =) So did I.

 One day, Dac and I did a photo session for our dentist's office. While we up there, we tried a new local place for lunch... Fork and Fennel. It was different... but cool and pretty good.

 We had our first snow of the season. Here's Reid not cooperating for a picture with Felicity at church.

 And here he is being mind blown before we left for church.

We went to our first birthday party of a daycare friend. Reid had been invited to one in October (the one of Oakley pictured below) but we were out of town for a wedding. Hutton turned one and it was an adorable milk and cookies themed party. Reid loves Hutton so I was glad we got to go.

Reid and Oakley had a great time. =) They are 1.5 months apart and are just cute as can be together.

We had a TON of family photo sessions and we photographed these guys' pretty wedding. 

 And snuck a family photo while we were there. =) I had just danced with Reid a little earlier and he got mud all over the front of me! Thankfully you can't see it in this picture.

 Val and I at the reception.

After a long day, we headed out for a family dinner. After a couple months of feeling like I never saw these guys, it's been nice to spend more time together again!

 One of my new treat loves is the chocolate chip peppermint brownie fudge sundae at Braums. Yum.

 I got a haircut!

 We got new flannel sheets for our super chilly bedroom. Love them.

 We had a wonderful (unfortunately pictureless) Thanksgiving. We both had a couple days off and used that time to prepare for Reid's birthday party later in the weekend. We also got to spend time with both families that day.

That night Dac and I ordered our new Christmas tree from Lowe's and ran to pick it up the next day. For a number of reasons, we haven't got a new tree since moving into the house several years ago. We've still been using (when we've actually put one up) the one after being married a couple months. We were living in a small, one-bedroom apartment at the time so the tree was very tiny. I loved that tree though... still do! It just looks even smaller in our bigger front room so I've been excited about a new one. We got a good deal on it and here's Dac putting it up!

 I also tackled a little DIY project. Thanks to Pinterest and instructions from a blogger who'd already done this, I covered our 'seen-better-days' IKEA end tables with wood planks. It was simple. I just had our local lumber store cut the wood down to size, stained it (twice), then had Dac attach the boards to the top of the table. Voila!

 The day of Reid's party (I'll have a whole post on Reid's birthday soon), Val came over and used her new Conair Infiniti curling iron on my hair. That thing is so cool and it was fun to have curls for the night!

 Here's a little sneak peek of Reid's party decor.

AND... the treats I took for his daycare buddies. =)

More to come soon!

October: Part 2

We'll just start off with Arkalalah. Since I was in charge of the state's school PR conference this year, I was able to keep from having it during Arkalalah week. Score!

As it turns out though, we didn't really partake in any Arkalalah excitement until Friday. I spent the morning finishing up Reid's Halloween costume, then we ventured downtown for the Kiddie Parade - Reid's first and possibly last. ;) It was so crowded and HOT.

 Plus, Reid totally didn't get it and couldn't have cared less. He did enjoy hanging our with Felicity before it started. =)

That evening, my parents came over and we walked back downtown to grab some food! Then later that night, we hung out with a couple friends... chatting into the wee hours.

The next day, our friends Matt and Kelly came over and we ventured over to the donut shop. Then, we met John, Anna, and adorable kiddos at the park to take their family photos and let the kids play a bit. I got basically no pictures of our fun times together, but I did get a quick shot of this stud muffin. So sweet and chill.

 After naps, we walked down a ways to catch part of the big parade. Again, it was super hot. So not appropriate hoodie-wearing Arkalalah weather.

 For real though, when did he get this big?

After the parade, we headed to Grandma Jo's for a bit. Here's Reid w/ uncle Austin, aunt Sheila, and Lily.

 Connie, Reid's daycare lady, took these. =) I just love them.

As much as I'd love the opportunity to stay home with him, I also find it hard to imagine him not going there. It's such a good fit. He loves Connie, loves his buddies there (they are awfully sweet...), and I really think it's good for him! 

My conference ended on Halloween this year, so I got back then headed to Terese's for soup and to get Reid ready. We didn't see many buddies this year, but we did see a couple before we left there! =) Aren't they cute?

Reid was Sherlock Holmes. I made the hat and the hooded cape (with help!).

=)

I don't have a ton of pictures of Reid and I together. Most of them are from he was a teensy baby and I looked like a total hot mess. I love that Dac captured these real quick though. =) I'm a firm believer in the importance of parents getting in the pictures with their kids. Big advocate here. But I'm not always great about ensuring I make it in the frame.

After that, we headed to see Grandma Jo; Connie and John (lucky for us, Reid's buddy, Oakley the cowboy, was there too!)

Then we were off to Aunt Debbie and Kevin's where we met my mom and dad, then went to Grandma Millie and Grandpa Ed's, and finally Aunt Darla and Uncle Darin's house. It was a full night and Reid loaded up on goodies.

For funsies, here's a little throwback for ya:

So now back to the conference. I was stressed for months about this thing. It seemed like things just kept going wrong. I won't bore you with the details but I was glad to see it finally arrive... and then go. =) It turned out well, for the most part, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's a couple pictures from our second social event at Mosley Street Melodrama.

I treated myself to the show special drink... we saw the Halloween show and you can't really see it, but this drink was smoking! =) I also had cheesecake. What can I say.

A friend of mine and her husband put on quite a show when they were called up on stage. =) KanSPRA knows how to have a good time people.

To wrap up October... here's a little story.

Reid was eating a banana for a snack one day. I was chatting with him and said something along the lines of "Are you eating your banana? Banana's are good for you aren't they? They're good for your belly!" So then, Reid proceeds to lift his shirt and rub the banana all over his belly. He was cracking up the entire time. It was so dang funny.

Little stinker!