Fire House or Fire Station?

So, apparently instead of saying fire station I call it the fire house and Tyson always thinks that is funny. I was wondering why the other day and then it hit me - I read the book Clifford The Fire House Dog to Reed all the time. So, that solves that problem. Phew :)

Reed and I went to the Dunn Loring Fire Station with a play group from a different ward. I was actually pretty excited myself because I never remember any trips to the fire station. So, we packed up our stuff and were on our way. Reed did not like it as much as the 4-year-old kids that were there, but he was still entertained.

We learned about the fire truck and what the firemen wear when they go out. Right in the middle of the tour they actually got a call about a fire. So, the kids got to see the firefighters in action. So cool!!!

While they were gone, we learned about the rehabilitation unit which is used for the firefighters. It is a van that shows up after a while and checks the health of the firefighters. We also saw a rescue truck, like an ambulance. We got a tour of the inside of the fire station and by the time we were done, the other firefighters were back with the fire engine. The kids got to walk through the truck and I even snapped a few pictures :) Overall, a fun time.

Reed's favorite part was finding a small statue of a firefighter and "honking" his nose (one of his new favorite things to do) and playing with the firefighter hat he got at the end of the tour.


Going in the back of the rescue truck

The rehabilitation unit

Reed contemplating going in the rescue truck - he decided against it.

Apparently it's a fire department, not a fire house nor a fire station! Ugh, I am so confused....

Reed "honking" the firefighter's nose

He actually did get in the actual fire truck!

But, he would not sit down on the seat...

The kids who went, minus Reed. Instead, he went over....

here and sat by himself. Too much craziness for this little guy!

The hat!

He loved putting it on backwards.

He was smiling, but the wind kept blowing his hat off. So, this was the best we could do :)

My Belly; Like Father, Like Son; More Reedisms

This is a combination of a few posts....so bear with me :)

** Reed and I play at our community park quite often and I am always snapping pictures (well, when I remember). I thought that these ones were particularly cute. Those baby blues just get me every time!




Note: This onsie is actually from Finland. A girl in one of my past wards served her mission there and bought the onsie on her mission. Apparently, this brand (whatever it is called) is super hip in Finland!

** I teach piano lessons a couple of times per week out of my apartment. It actually has been really fun and just something for me to look forward to throughout the week. Reed is normally really well-behaved during the lessons (thankfully) or he is napping. I have recently figured out why he is so well-behaved (observe below):


Yes, he finds the stickers and places them all over his forehead! I think one of my student's did it to him once. Now, he is always finding the stickers and putting them on his forehead :) Funny kid!

**I have been a little nervous at what Reed will do when the baby is born. He will still only be 22 months or so. I decided to start letting Reed "practice" being a big brother with a porcelain doll of mine. We call her Baby. Reed has done remarkably well, considering. He holds her, gives her kisses, calls her "bee bee", gives her loves, and even looks for her hands and feet. On occasion I do find him dragging her around the house and one time he sat on her belly (which is nice and squishy, not porcelain), but I think he is shaping up to be a great big brother! He even lets Baby nap in his crib!



**One strange thing that I have noticed about Reed's teeth: he has all but one on the bottom, not the very middle tooth, but the tooth next to the middle one! How weird is that?! Actually, I can finally see that it is starting to come in, but still has not broken the skin. Weird - he got his first set of molars before this tooth! Go figure.....to see what I am talking about, check out Reed's smile in the following photo.

If you are looking at the picture, it is the tooth on left-hand side.

**Tyson and I realized that we haven't really taken any belly pictures this time around, probably because I am usually the one taking the pictures. It is hard to take one of my own belly. For those who care, here are some belly shots taken on October 9, 2009 - 27 weeks.



**I have noticed that Reed LOVES to do whatever Tyson is doing, it doesn't really matter what it is. For example, on Saturday, Tyson decided that he needed to snack on some ramen noodles (he still likes to relive his bachelor days of glory with this food item). Tyson makes the ramen, puts it in a bowl, puts the bowl on a plate (so it doesn't burn his legs), and watches some TV until he is done with his snack. Every time Reed sees this (usually on Saturdays) he asks for a bowl and a fork (because daddy eats the noodles with a fork), has to sit down right next to Tyson on the floor, and proceeds to stare at the TV exactly like daddy.

Reed, for those of you who don't know, is NOT a TV watcher. He will only sit to watch one movie and that is the alphabet movie that Grandma Walker gave him for Christmas. Anything else and he turns the TV off and does something else, EXCEPT when Tyson is eating ramen on the floor. So, I caught them on camera doing just this :)

Another one is if Tyson is having cereal, Reed HAS to have cereal in a bowl, even if he doesn't want to eat it. He just likes to be like daddy. (They also breathe the same when they sleep...yeah, weird that I know that)Little boys really do like to be like their daddies.

Will eat to blow out candles

Yes, I know the title sounds strange, but it is something that Reed did yesterday that simply cracked me up. Firstly, Reed has always loved candles/fire. He used to want to touch it (scary), but now mostly just wants to blow the candles. He has not really been able to blow them out, but knows what it looks like. The other day, I was teaching Reed how to blow out candles (because I don't want him to touch them, but rather blow them out) and he blew one out by himself! I got more excited than I like to admit that h could blow out the candle all by himself. So, at lunch Reed saw the candles and was asking me to light them so he could blow them out. I used this a little to my advantage to get him to eat some food he was not too excited about. He would take a bite, then I would like the candle. Then, he would take another bite in exchange for being able to blow the candle out. This went on until the meal was done and candle time with mom was done as well. I was shocked that he never tried to touch the flame, but always focused on blowing it out. Smart boy! I guess all the times of saying, "Too hot!", "Ouchie!", and "That's a no-no." really did pay off. No, it doesn't happen at every meal time, mostly because I won't let him see the candles that much, but I thought it was a great way to combine fire safety with meal eating!

The pictures really have nothing to do with the story because I cannot take pictures while trying to watch Reed blow out candles, but they are fun anyways. This is the rest of September (I know it is the middle of October) in picture/video form. Hope you enjoy it!



This is one of Reed's favorite little friends. Apparently, he likes to back girls into corners and chat with them. Check out the video below....it looks like he is hold her hostage! Good thing I know they are friends :)

Reed will often squint when he is trying to be funny in a picture. This is right before we moved out of our old apartment when Reed realized that he could climb on our closet shelves. He was extremely pleased with himself.


Reed showing his fake smile and laughing about it afterward.

Wow, I cannot believe that my baby is 18 months and going to Nursery! (First official day of Nursery - September 20, 2009)

Reed's old room - we forgot to take a picture with everything in there, but it was basically all against one wall. Ah, dens/closets are so much fun!

Reed's favorite cupboard in our new apartment. He climbs in, shuts the door on himself, then giggles when we ask where he is! Such a fun game :)

For play group, we went to some shows in the park. Reed loved the guitar.

Contemplating about stealing someone's food (he apparently is not shy when it comes to taking other people's food).

This was a one-man band. He played guitar, sang, played the drum, harmonica, and probably some other instruments as well. That is talent!




Daddy and Reed playing with Target bags. It's amazing how much fun free things can be when playing with daddy.

Reed sort of holding Taryn hostage. Thankfully, she was willing to be put in a corner, squatting. They did this periodically throughout the night. It was the ward chili cook-off and I won 3rd place! Go White Chili!!!!

Moving, Bubbles, and More

The rest of September was pretty eventful for us. The biggest thing that happened was the last Saturday of the month we moved apartments! Yes, we upgraded (sort of) from a 1-bedroom with a den (glorifies closet) to a 2-bedroom. We literally moved 2 apartments over, turning out to be the next building over as well. So, I did feel a little weird packing all our books and things when I knew it was about 20 steps to our next apartments and no stairs up or down to get there. But, it did make the move much easier for the lifters! Thanks to all who helped move and clean! I could not have done the cleaning without you!

We are all moved in to our new place (besides one box that Tyson is supposed to go through, hint, hint), and I must say it was the easiest move we have done since being married! True, our other moves were to storage units and across the country, so they have been not the easiest to begin with. But, it was nice to get everything moved, cleaned, and all big things arranged in less than a day. Our new apartment is actually better than I thought it would be. I was not super excited at the beginning because it is a non-renovated, meaning the washer/dryer is in the kitchen = our kitchen is super small. But, that left MUCH more closet space for us to use (thank goodness)! Plus, Reed's room has a closet and in that closet fits the crib! Woo woo! Baby and Reed will sort of be sleeping in the same room, but she will get her time sleeping in a closet as well :) I wouldn't want it any other way :)

I am struggling right now because we have a bed for Reed besides his crib (well, on loan from Kristy), but I am nervous to move him into it since he is so young. I am afraid 1. he will not go to bed and 2. he will fall out of bed. I know that falling out of bed is not the worst thing ever, but I think I might go and get one of those railings that fit on normal-sized beds. For anyone out there that has moved a child under the age of 2 into a big bed, how did the transition go? What worked and what did not work? I am just going to have to do it one night and be prepared for not much sleep, but I am just apprehensive. However, I do want Reed to be successfully sleeping in his new bed BEFORE the baby arrives. So, we should do it quick.

The pictures are just fun things we did in September. If you need explanations, look below the pictures :) Enjoy!
Reed is now learning/saying lots of new words, one of which is BUBBLES! Yes, bubbles are some of his favorite things to play with.....can't blame him...I still love bubbles!



More bubbles (oh, yes, Reed does sleep in an over-sized shirt until it gets too cold)

Falls Church had an activity in the park called "A Taste of Falls Church" and we decided to go, not realizing that you would have to pay for almost everything. Now I can see why we didn't get to go on some rides....they are so expensive! Anyways, we did get some food there and sat on the grass. Reed's favorite parts were watching the people play tennis on the tennis courts and backing up against the wall in this picture! Go figure....

I forgot to mention that daddy had to go with Reed to touch the wall and back up against it :)

How cute, is that?! Too cute :)

Reed is a great lunch-eater......usually

He always has a cheesy grin....

But, the one thing that really makes me laugh and leaves me confused is how he eats his carrots. He prefers to have a bag of carrots to himself. He then takes each carrot out, take one of two bites out of it, then puts it on his tray, until his tray is filled with partially-eaten carrots. Good thing is, the next day, he will eat the same partially-eaten carrots. So, he eats most of the carrot :)



Bubbles!!!!

Philly

On Labor Day (September 7th this year), Tyson, Reed, and I decided to make a day trip of going to Philadelphia, PA! I have been a couple times, but Tyson had not....so, we had to take advantage of the time off of work and make the couple-hour drive.

We left Monday morning and things went pretty smoothly. I was actually really excited because we were going to pass through Delaware to get to Pennsylvania....one of the states I have not really seen. It was pretty much the same as Maryland, green and beautiful! We did stop and have some food there, so I can officially say that I have been to Delaware, though I want to go again and actually see some of the beautiful sights! Anyways, we got to Philly and it was just about perfect timing because the parade had just ended, so we could drive on the streets that google maps had planned out for us! Phew!


It is the best shot I could get....

Look hard at the street name - yep, Reed St. !

Pennsylvania is not any different than DC in one respect - lack of parking! Ugh! That is so annoying! We finally gave up and went into a parking garage that was ultra-expensive....still something that I miss about the West (Las Vegas specifically)- free and ample parking!

We went to the Visitor's Center to pick up our tickets for our Independence Hall tour and looked around the place. It was actually very informative and a really nice resource to have for people who are there for just a short period of time. We missed the movie they had playing, but decided to walk around what is known as Independence Square.

There were stones with people's names on them, and then I came to discover that it was the names of some of the people who had lived on that block during the time of the Constitutional Convention and when Philadelphia was known as the Capital. We also walked into the Constitution building (not sure if that is the specific name), but didn't actually go into the museum due to lack of time.

We ate some lunch at a random restaurant that had really awesome stone-cooked pizza which Reed even enjoyed, then hurried back to go on our tour. The tour was actually really informative, but I didn't catch a lot of it because Reed wanted to run around or be loud....but, ah well. One of the rooms was where trials were held and it was the belief that someone was innocent until proven guilty (adopted from the British). The other room was where the Constitutional Conventions were actually held. There were a few of those meetings to try and figure things out. There was a lot of controversy of what should be done and amidst of this, the Declaration of Independence was written. One thing I didn't know or had forgotten was that the signers of the Declaration did not do it all on the same document at first. They circulated many copies of the Declaration with some signatures on it and some were actually just typeset onto the document. Then, someone got the idea that everyone should sign one document, to make more of a statement of unity and so forth. Interesting....


The trial room


Where the conventions were held



Top of Independence Hall

We walked of to the, oh, I think it was called something similar to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but not exactly.....that is the one in DC. Well, it was neat because they had a statue of George Washington with some powerful inscriptions on the side, along with an eternal flame. It just hit me again that freedom is definitely not free. So many people fought and died for freedoms that I have taken for granted all my life.




We walked over to the 2nd Bank of the United States and saw some other buildings having to do with Philosophy. We walked back to the Visitor's Center and saw, last, but not least.....the Liberty Bell! For some reason I have very fond memories of the Liberty Bell from when I was about 6 and we took a family trip across the country. I think I got a L.B. pencil sharpener or something. I don't know why I remember that, but I do. Funny the childhood memories that stick with you :)


2nd Bank of the United States

Independence Hall...again :)

The Liberty Bell!!!!

Overall, Philly was fun! Sadly, we did not get a Philly cheese steak, but next time, I will get one - when we have a little bit more time. We drove back to Northern Virginia and collapsed in bed after a fun-filled day!