The Moments of a 2 year old

This was also written in August:

 Reid turning 3 made me realize how much I have a preschooler and not a toddler!  So before I forget I want to document some precious moments:
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He loves to sing.  A song he must of learned in nursery (at church) is:  "Row Row your boat, Gently down the street, Merrily Merrily life ... a ... dream"
He also taught us a song with a monkey and crocodile.  Too fun!

A quote (misquote) from Iron Giant movie is: "I TOLD YOU, I'LL COME BACK TOMORROW, NOW STAY, no following (waving finger at you), good"  Then walks away, if you chase it becomes a game.

Reid says this all time, but I never find out what the idea is:  "Mommy, I have a idea"

I'm glad he's a sweetheart, he snuggles with me and hugs me and kisses me.  Sometimes he likes to play a kissing game, where we kiss then as we back up, we open our mouths really big... this is called BIG kisses.

He gets this angry look - kinda reminds me of my nephew and that scene in Star Wars right after Anakin's mother dies where he makes the evil eyes.  Sometimes Reid even gives me the crazy eyes, where they go side to side.

Reid loves to play a chasing game where he says "chase me" or "you get me" or "Reid get you".  We just run in circles around the house and laugh and laugh.

The other night, when Matt was at some church meeting, I tied a blanket around my neck so I had a cape, and he called me Super Grover, we proceeded to run around the house for about 20 minutes with our arms in the air like we were flying. 

Funnny words - sanwiounch (sandwich), forkhead (forehead), seghettis (spaghetti)

While Reid is taking pictures, he'll instruct you to "Say Cheese, show a happy smile"
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For his birthday we ate pizza and opened presents as a family.  Reid got a Big Thomas, a Buzz Lightyear rocketship, a toy computer, Cars puzzle, and 2 movies.

For a party, we did a combine party with one of his besties... she did a great job documenting it in this blog post.  It was a blast.  I actually felt like I got to have a blast at his party too!

One of the highlights for us was that we got floaties for Reid.  He loved being free in the pool!  He swam for about 3.5 hours that day.  Then he crashed on the couch before we could make it home.
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Just to show some of Reid's personalities here are some fun photos of the last year:

Reid really got into puzzles in the last 6 months.  He loves to sit there and do them.  (although that is getting harder with a mobile little brother)

My friend generously gave us a bike that is too small for her son.  Reid immediately accepted it and asks constantly to ride Reid's bike.  We've only been out a few times, but he's getting better.  Unfortunately he still learning that backwards means brakes, not go backwards.  :)

BROTHERS!  Ever since Weston learned to crawl, Reid has decided he likes Weston.  He wants to play with him or get him involved in his latest plot.  Sometimes they don't get along, but overall they are good.  I love how much they love each other!

The Sweetest 2.5 Year Old

- Reid started singing songs with us.  At first, he would just say the last word, but now he knows almost whole songs.  His favorites are: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, John the Baptist, Christian Soldiers, Country Roads, Love is Spoken Here, and the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song.  Truth be told, Country Roads is the cutest.
- Reid is starting to learn about sharing.  According to nursery leaders, he's pretty good most days at sharing.  Other than the Lightning McQueen car, black train and his ride truck, Reid is good at sharing his own toys here at home.- Reid has mostly adjusted to having a brother, but I think one thing  that helped was that her learned how to ask to have mom to himself.  "I need a mommy hug.... No, Weston down... need a mommy hug".  I try to support his need for some mommy attention, but trying not to baby him... it's a tricky balance.
- Reid is starting to learn cause/effect.  So we are trying to teach him consequences.  Reid spilled his drink the other day, so I went through the motions of helping him get a rag and clean it up, and what to do with the rag afterward.  I was pleasantly surprised when the next time he spilled and I told him to go get a rag... he did!
- Reid is starting to like his brother.  When Weston sees him, he always smiles and Reid gets excited that he can make him "happy" or "smiiiiwwing" (smiling).  He will often share a car with Weston, and we've started teaching him about asking for a toy and then trading for another toy.

 - Reid has really starting understanding and responding to our requests.  He understands that we want something, or when we explain why he can't have what he wants. His comprehension has expounded.
- We have constantly worked on colors, but had no luck, until he started asking for me to draw Thomas (with a blue crayon), or James (with a red crayon), or Percy (with a green crayon).  Success!  Our child is not colorblind!  So, we worked on it for just a bit, and then BAM! he knew all of his colors all of the sudden.  Pink and purple still need a little help (but well, we don't use them much, they are girl colors), and orange and yellow are a little confusing, but he's getting better.
- One of my favorites is that like every 2 year old, Reid whines.  But we have talked about being happy and saying things in a happy and nice voice.  He gets this cheesy closed mouth smile and tries to show mommy that he can be happy, so he can get what he wants.  I love the face... I can't help by smile myself.
- Ever since about a week after Christmas (when Reid got really sick), he takes Lightning McQueen to bed with him.  This was such a surprise, cuz Reid does not like stuffed animals, so I thought he would never want a toy in bed with him.  Well, Lightning McQueen has won the cherished place of bedtime with Reid.
- Reid goes through phases of bringing his blankets out of bed.  We started with him leaving his bed blankets on mommy's bed, and slowly moved it to his bed.  But occasionally he still likes to bring them to mommy's bed.  But it is comical now, because with the colder weather we have added a full twin size blanket on his bed and watching him drag it to our room makes me smile.  But then I ask him to put them back on his bed and he does it right away.

Reid shows his love unconditionally for mommy and daddy.  He is my friend and buddy right now.  He is behaving so well and rarely gets in trouble.  If he does, its to the corner and before his 2 minutes are up, he's in the corner apologizing or saying what he should have done differently.  I know this won't last forever, so I am enjoying every moment I can.  We made it through the months of adjusting to moving and then adjusting to a baby brother, and now we are just enjoying being us... at home.... and he's the sweetest boy.  I want to never forget these precious moments.

(Reid helping Daddy play "robots"

a.k.a. Daddy doing his robotics hobby by tearing 

apart our broken DVD player for parts) 

Halloween 2011

Well, it was our first big Halloween... here's how it went.

We missed our church party, but went to our friend's, but Reid still didn't like it much... partly cuz of the costume drama.  We made this super cool Mater costume last year, but then Reid got super sick on Halloween, so we didn't use it.  He didn't even want to put it on.  Then about a month ago, we got it out and he drove Mater all over the house.  "Sweet!" I thought, "my kid actually likes the costume this year."  So we thought we try it again.  No, he didn't want to use it.  So we carried it around and trunk-or-treated at the church party.

Since that didn't go well, the day before Halloween we got out Reid's Halloween bucket and had him go "trick or treating" to each of us, so he could practice and get excited.  Well, he asked about it for the next 24 hours!

On actually Halloween was a Fall Festival for little kids at a local park.  I wasn't about to carry Mater, a baby and a sad toddler, so I put on some hole-y jeans and a flannel shirt and Reid's tool bet and called it good for the morning.  He ran around and had a blast... feeding a lion, putting into a nelephants trunk, and riding on the hay ride ("tractor ride").  Went to lunch with friends and came home and napped.  

I was foolishly still hopeful that Mater would be selected for the evening, but NOPE, he wasn't.  So we grabbed the tool belt and he was ready.  Our neighbors invited us to go with them, and I thought that would be better for him to see how it worked with other kids.  They had a blast.  Reid loved having other "guys" (non-adults) to follow.  He would say "ick o TREAT"... always screaming the treat part... it was hilarious.  He was also very good to say "thank you" and sometimes even a "bye" or "see you later".  He was the hit of the night.  He also got very excited about the moon, and saying hi to fellow trick or treaters that passed us.

Unfortunately, after the first scary house (and it was actually scary), he required mom to go with him up to the door from then on.  For the first few houses after a scary house, he would ask, "Scary?" and we would all reassure him it was ok.  I never made him go up to the door at the scary houses, but he still knew if it was a scary house just by passing it.  And some houses that weren't scary, but had Halloween sounds, still made him very cautious.

About halfway through the night he started slowing down, I finally figured out it was because his candy bucket was too heavy!  I started carrying it for him in between houses, and then he perked right back up.  But by the end, my neighbors, Reid, and I were all tired.  Matt stayed home with Weston and the dogs to hand out candy.  Weston was a champ and slept the whole time, doorbells and all, can't say the same for the dogs.  :)

When we got home, he asked for some nerds, which he loved and milk duds, which didn't last, and a lollipop.  Then he happily sat down watched Thomas while I got Weston to bed, and then he went to bed quite easily.

It was such a fun time for us to see Reid as he's growing up, interacting and participating more.  We had a great Halloween!

Is It Two Months Already?!

Well, month two was much more exciting! 

The first week were just enjoying getting back to normal life and even took it easy with General Conference weekend.  We just used the air mattress we had blown up for company and sat on it while we watched conference on the computer.

The following weekend my brother, his wife and four children came to visit.  They were here for 3 days total, but I think we had a lot of fun.  We visited, played games, went to the Nature and Science Center where we got to play in the dino pits, we rode on the train in the park downtown, we even were able to fit in seeing the bats come out at night.... and one of those days was Sunday!  I was very humored by my nephews who are 5 and 7 and all the questions they ask.  I gotta get ready for that age when kids absorb everything.  We are so grateful they took the time to come visit and meet Weston, it was a lot of fun!

(who would've thought watching bats come out at night would be so impressive)

 

(and yes, you do get "dropped on" we had a run for it when the flight path changed)

They left on a Tuesday morning, so we began the craziness of packing for a week and a half, and left for Arizona the next day.  Matt's brother was getting married on Friday.  We planned to do it in one day, but gave ourselves two days, just in case.  We did make it in one day.. one very long day.  It was rough from the first hour on, including missed turns, stressful pit stops.  Then the afternoon, things calmed down, but by evening Weston was DONE.  So we nursed, changed him, and drive into the sun with a crying baby.  Eventually he fell asleep, but the poor kid was just sick of the car seat.
Friday was the reception and the wedding, thanks to my sister who watch Reid all morning and my parents who came up to the temple to watch Weston.  That evening was a beautiful reception and lots of friends and family to visit with.
Saturday was Matt's sister's baby shower which was a blast, lots of girl time.  Plus our friends drove down from the Safford area and hung out with us all day.
Sunday was busy because we were able to bless Weston with all the family in town for the wedding.  Matt and I were busy being hosts, Weston was in heaven being passed around and loved, and Reid got to play with his best buddy Ryde.  It was so much fun, we had so many loved ones there, it is times like that that I realize how blessed I am.  I had tons of people there, and a bunch more who couldn't come.  I am so grateful for all the love and support we have.

Matt couldn't afford another day off work, so we stuck around all week.  Monday was a recovery day.  Tuesday - Friday were about trying to make visits, take care of our rental house, let tired children recover, and other various errands that just seemed to make the week fly.
Saturday we drove home and Weston slept and slept and slept!  We made great time, and it went really well.  Reid had been asking for about 3 days to go home, so he was a very happy boy.  Regardless of the craziness, we were so grateful for parents who hosted us and social things at there houses so that we could make the best of this trip with a 6-7 week old.

I don't know where last week went, but between playgroup, church callings, tired boys, Matt's long hours at work, doctor appointments, laundry and all that comes from a trip, the week flew by. 

This week is full of fevers, running noses and lack of sleeping.  I knew it would catch up to us, I am grateful that it waited until the craziness was over.

Weston's 2 month stats:
Weight: 12lb 4.5oz
Length: 24in (although, it wasn't quite that if you ask me)
Head: 39.5in
(I looked it up, Reid was the same weight, but over and inch shorter)
Sleeps 8-9 hours at night!
Thanks to cornstarch the diapers are no longer stressful, and I usually only get presents once a day!
Smiles always at mom, especially when he's crying cuz he's hungry and mom picks him up
Loves to smile and laugh instead of eat
Loves kisses and zberts on his cheeks and neck (I even got a full blown giggle!)
Is cooing and talking all the time
Has a fussy time of day (dinner to bed time)
Weston has become the sweetest boy ever and just chills and is patient with me
Doesn't love tummy time
Sleeps in his own room
Loves to watch his big brother play and will even give him smiles

(2 months old)

  (smiles for Grandma, 7 weeks old)

Reid's done some new things this month too: 

• With new visitors with different vocabularies around him for a month, his talking has improved so much.  Not only does he say more complete sentences, he is getting better and pronunciation (which really is a shame, I'm going to miss "nin-nows", a.k.a. windows).
• He has started copying us... we are learning that we have to be careful what we say around the house!
• He is now learning how to say prayers, which brought tears to my eyes the first time.  (always has been good at folding arms, now we are working on closing our eyes... very tightly! hahaha!)
• He is becoming a more experienced and brave climber on furniture, playgrounds, it doesn't matter, he'll climb it.
• After going to a play date, he learned about Thomas the Train, and now it is ALL about trains.  He loves them... he spends hours each day making car trains, or toy trains, or something that isn't a train into a train.  He still loves cars too though.  He pretty much like moving vehicles.
• He has started asking for diaper changes when he actually needs them.  Oh boy, guess I gotta figure out how to potty train!
• The jealousy is just beginning.  Mom is the favorite right now, and there are times he wants me when I'm holding Weston, but cries until I put Weston down and pick him up.  It is sweet but hard.
• But on the up side, he's very sweet and always tells me when Weston is crying or if he is sad, and then he'll let me go take care of him.  Such a good big brother!
• He can count to ten and is getting better at counting to twenty
• He knows almost the whole alphabet in capital letters, we are now working on lower case.
• My favorite is that he has started to sing songs.  Sometimes just a word or two, but he just sang 1 entire line from Bob the Builder all morning, it was so cute!

So that was month two... Phew!  I think I need a nap.  :)

Why Two Year Olds are Great

Because when you are busy stressing and counting contractions...
They come up to you on the couch, and start bopping you on the nose saying, "Boing, boing, boing!" 

I totally lost all my concentration and that contraction time was off a little bit... but I sure did get a really good laugh!

(p.s. the contractions slowed down later that night... so no baby yet)

21 Months

Reid is growing quickly, and in the shadow of a move and another baby.  I felt that I should blog about a few things he does.  Sorry this post is more journaling for a mom who isn't doing the best job at documenting everything.

Reid has found a large interest in letters and numbers.  In fact he can tell them apart (most of the time).  All numbers are 2 or 8, and all letters are H or O... sometimes he'll say a few more letters.  My favorite thing he does right now is when he's getting ready to run down the hall, or slide down the slide or whatever might require a count off, instead of 1...2..3...go... He says "2...8" and then goes.  It's adorable.

Something that makes me giggle, only as a 12 year old boy should, is that every time we are getting in or out of the car, Reid immediately starts asking "Butt? Butt? Butt?  Pease Mom, butt?... Butt!  Butt!  Pease Mom, Butt!"  I seriously just about lose it each time, I just want to giggle.  What he is asking for is to push the garage door BUTTon.  Yeah... we're working on the TON part of that word.

As we have moved into a 2 story house, Reid is quickly getting faster at stairs, but occasionally, he wants to slide down on his bum with you, and lets you know this, by patting the ground next to him... multiple times.  He's even started doing this when he wants you to sit next to him on the couch.

When he has found something good to do to occupy his time, and he would like you to join him, he waves his arm in a circle, as if to say "Come on".

His zerberts are better and juicier than any of mine!  I crack up every time he finds a bare mid-drift and dives right in for the love zerbert.

Reid loves to play sheet monster.  Where he puts a sheet/towel/blanket over him and wanders around trying to 'get' you, and then wants you to 'get' him back.  It can be fun, but he gets worked up, and yesterday he learned, it is not always a good idea to wander too far (with your vision impaired) when you are on top of the bed!

Reid loves to read!  haha.  He really does, he says "book", and we can spend 30 mins easily reading at one time. (which is a lot for a toddler if you ask me)

Reid is the best pucker-er... the kisses are a bit juicy, but the pucker is IRRESISTIBLE!

When I cry (because let's face it, I'm pregnant... I have emotions), he always comes and sits on my lap and say "Mommy" and gives me a big smile.  I tell him I need a hug, and I always get one.  He knows how to heal a sad heart!

Reid has learned that kisses do heal wounds.  His first major skinned knee, he ran away once he had received his mommy kisses (post washing), and took no interest in the Superman bandaid!  He also has learned that if he hurts mommy, or she gets hurt, he can kiss her owies better too.

Every night when I put him down for bed.  he says "Nigh Mommy", waves, and then puckers for his nightly kiss.  (Not sure how much longer I can lean over the crib for that special moment!)

Reid has come to love the dogs.  He chases them around and often gives them hugs and kisses.  He does torture them a bit and has been known to chase them around the yard... but he doesn't realize it is torture, his heart is pure and he just wants to love them completely.

Reid LOVES water.  He'll splash and kick in the bath... he doesn't even care if he gets his own face.  He loves to lay on his belly and practicing kicking.  We've even tried to teach blowing bubbles, but he doesn't get it, cuz Mommy doesn't put her face in the water either.  (I'm ready for the community pool to open up!)

Reid is a great eater.  He loves most fruits.  He calls all of them "brapes" (grapes).  Strawberries and raspberries are probably his favorites, with grapes, bananas and apples shortly behind.  He also likes veggies.  Tomatoes are his favorite, but he likes carrots, cucumbers, and bell peppers too.  He's a great meat eater, chicken is his favorite.  He also loves bacon.  Potatoes are a hit also, hash browns, french fries, you name it.  He's occasionally picky with breads, tortillas and starchy stuff, but general eats it if he can dip it!  (ranch and salsa/sour cream mix are big hits)

And last but not least... Reid misses his Grandmas and Grandpas.  I have a picture of both sets with me and Matt at Matt's graduation party, and he recognizes them and is excited to see their picture.  And twice he has wandered through the house trying to find them.  It was so neat to get to spend time with them before we left Arizona!


I'm so grateful for his spirit and personality.  I can't imagine life without him, and I am thrilled and so blessed to be able to spend EVERY day with him!  Love you Reid!