2010 in review

Kika's house!

Reed has been attending a new daycare for the past two weeks - ever since I started working again. So far he seems to be adjusting really well and loving the new adventures he has at Kika's house. We feel very fortunate to have landed him in this loving and fun place. To add to my feeling of gratitude, Kika has sent us several wonderful pictures of "her kids" and she texts me during the day to tell me how Reed is doing. Here he is feeding Kika's chickens and here are a bunch more pictures

Growing up and NYC fun!

[All dressed up after his big job as ring-bearer for our friend's wedding Sept 4]

It's unfortunate that I cannot find more time to post to this blog because there is so much to say. A few things that I simply do not want to forget are happening these days. First off, Reed is almost fully potty trained. He has no problem telling us when he needs to go and can even hold it until we get to a suitable potty (most of the time). Unfortunately, during one trip to a public toilet in a restaurant, he sat on the seat and it automatically flushed before he could get off. This terrified our little guy and since then he is obsessed with the loud noise of a toilet. His words (mimicking me) are "NO loud noise, I thomas" (promise). "Lil potty, no noise". It makes us totally crack up every time he says it, but I try to keep myself together and validate his fear of the big scary toilet.

In other news...His language is exploding right now! He is starting to say sentences of words that he has heard us say that we had no idea he was listening to. For example, he'll go to the front door and say "Tom on (come on) mama or papi", "papi fix house", I'm hungry, thirsty, tired etc." "I wanna walk, run, ride etc."

He has grown attached to two stuffed animals - kind of a odd couple of sorts. One very large stuffed dog (Bidi) who acts as his pillow and one tiny beanbag dog (Mimi) given to him from our neighbors. They come with us anywhere we need him to sleep and he calls out for them if they are not there.

We just got back from a great family trip to NYC and Syracuse, NY for a visit with friends and a big wedding where Reed was the ringbearer. Check out this video of our little dude braving the aisle and all the paparazzi.

Before the wedding, we had a great time in NYC with our dear friends Elizabeth and Carl and their son Edmund (same age) in Manhattan. It was hot, so our days consisted of lots of water play, sitting in the shade, soccer at dusk, and gelato!

[Edmund jumping in the back ground]

Reed ate his first gelato (ice cream) cone on the upper west side of Manhattan on a beautiful summer night. Unfortunately for his naive parents who allowed this to happen at 8:30 a night, the poor kid was wired until 11pm. Was it worth it though? Heck yeah!

Many more pictures here on our smug mug site

"Howa you?"

[Playing soccer with friend Edmund]

It has been so long since we've seen the sun in Berkeley that we were starting to forget what Summer felt like. So yesterday- on one of the only days above 75 degrees- the three of us spent the afternoon at a local lake in Berkeley. It was just what we needed! At this lake a very funny conversation occurred between Reed and a total stranger. Here's approximately how it happened and what was said...

Reed - "Hi"
Nice lady - "Hiiii"
R - "Hi"
NL - "Hello there" (nice lady starts to walk away)
R - "Howa you?"
NL - (nice lady stops, turns around, chuckles a bit) "Well I'm just fine. How are you?"
R - (with most flirtatious smile and head tilt) says nothing for a few seconds, then...."I fi" (which is I'm fine) then "You're funny"
NL- (uncontrollable laughter) Well I think you are funny too and such a sweet polite young boy
R - (still flirtatious smiling) "Bye bye"
NL - "Bye bye"

Billy and I - (laughing and a little proud) "I think that was his first initiated conversation with a complete stranger"

Reed's second year in pictures

Cool man

Reed loves his sunglasses almost as much as he lives trains and being naked


(all of which are demonstrated in this picture). We are working on the early phase if potty training so he is diaper-free quite often at home. It's a process that requires patience and baby steps. We'll keep you posted


-- Post From My iPhone

June Update 2010

It's been way too long since I've posted anything here so here is a brief update on life in Berkeley with our almost two-year-old.
Reed is still as curious and sweet as always, but he is also definitely a toddler.
His most used words (aside from mama and papi) are: "mine", "no", "maya", "buh" for book, "ousai" for outside, "agua or wasa" for water, "hunny" for hungry, "mo" for more, "bie" for bike.

He is testing his and our limits all the time. This means: jumping off higher and higher objects, running confidently, walking toward the street until one of us yells stop, dipping one foot off the curb to see what we do, climbing on anything that resembles a ladder (this can include bookshelves, stairs, and actual ladders), jumping on and off of furniture, selecting books carefully and often choosing the same book over and over and over, pouring and spilling water whenever and wherever possible.

Okay gotta run, Reed's awake but here are a few pictures from a recent day at the botanical gardens and Tilden little farm.

[Throwing rocks in the creek]

[Slobber kisses]

[Maya and Reed at 22 months]