Jumping Collin

To burn off some of Collin's energy, we will put him in his jumper occassionally. He had already been jumping for about 10 minutes when this was taken....


Collin is getting real good at the Eye Hand coordination, I have been working on teaching him how to flare his nose and make little sounds with his throat like my aunt Linda taught me when I was young. When I am doing the Nose flare he studies it for a while then he grabs for it. He alwost always gets the whole nose and at the very least he grabs one nostril. When I am doing the sounds he looks puzzled and tries to figure out where the sounds are coming from. The problem is I can not make the sounds once I start laughing at him, because he is sooo Cute when he is "Researching" He has this real focused look on his face. He gets that from his mother.

9 Month Stats

Daddy took Collin to his 9 month check up yesterday. Collin is feeling much better and the vet said that his ear infection is clearing up. She said that we only needed to give him 7 days worth of medicine in total which means after this Friday, he is finished with the medicine. That is GREAT news for Collin and I because it has been a struggle to give him his medicine. He does not like the taste and acts like he is dying when I start to give it to him (he knows what is about to happen when he sees the syringe full of the medicine in my hand). Anyway, because he has been sick for the last two weeks and not eating as much as usual, he did lose a little over 1/2 a pound when I took him to the doctor last Friday. Yesterday, he weighed 19 lbs and 9 oz and is 27 1/2 inches long. This is good news because we don't have to change to the "big boy" car seat just yet. His infant seat is still convenient to take him back and forth the Mimi's. We will eventually have to get more than one car seat when he grows out of the infant one.....and probably have to take out a loan to do it....hahaha. He still only has two teeth on the bottom and she did not make any comments about seeing or feeling other teeth coming in. The vet said that Collin looked good and that he is a good baby. We knew that already. :)

Bedtime Ritual

Several of you have asked what Collin does before he goes to bed. Lately, after he eats dinner between 7:30pm and 8:30pm, I let him explore his room for a few minutes to let his food settle before it's time for a bath. Since he has been sick the last two weeks, I have included the vapor stuff in his water which does seem to help him breath a little better at night (and I do use the humidifier in his room). I get the bath water ready while Collin "walks" the outside of the tub.

Since he knows that he can walk around while holding onto objects, furniture, chairs and....especially mommy and daddy.

Anyway, he then plays in his bath a little while with his toy fish. I put a clean diaper on and put him in his potato sack (see prior blog entry). I used to be able to do this while he was laying down. Now, I get my work out trying to put his diaper, night shirt and sack on him. He is such a wiggle butt lately. I normally have to put his diaper on an then reposition it a few times since he struggles and wiggles the entire time. Yes, I have used the trick about letting him play with a toy while I am doing this. Next, I give him a bottle if he did not finish it during dinner. Then, we read a few books until he lets me know that he is ready for bed. His favorite books right now are Sleepy Time (from Aunt Nancy), It's Bed Time, (from Mimi) Counting Kisses (from Grandma H), Pajama Time (from mommy) and Goodnight Moon (from a coworker). I have been reading Goodnight Moon to him since he was a week old.

Then, I turn on his lullaby music and turn off the main light and lamp. I hold him for about 5 minutes in the chair while he starts to drift off to sleep too make sure that he is ready for bed. Then, I put him in his crib on his side. I step back and cross my fingers than he is down for the night.....he usually is. I then join daddy downstairs for some TV before going to bed.

Gates, Gates...Where are the Gates?!?!

I just watched Collin crawl up 5 steps on our stairs because he was on a mission to get to the cell phone charger cord. He only stopped going up the steps because he accomplished what he set out to do. At least I was watching him.....like usual. ;)

Ear Infection...Still

Collin still has an ear infection after two weeks. He was better the last few days until yesterday when he had a fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes. I went to the doctor today and she confirmed that he not only still had his ear infection but that it was really bad. We now have extra strength antibiotics that he has to take for the next 10 days. He felt better for just about an hour after I gave him medicine went we got back from his appointment. Most of the day though, he was really whinny and wanted to be close to me. SO...I did not get that much done today. He also could not get comfortable to take naps today. I finally took him for a walk for about 25 minutes. He did fall asleep during the walk and then stayed asleep for an additional 20 minutes when I brought him into the house.

There was about an hour that he was almost back to the Collin we know and love. I sat him in his highchair so he could practice eating his finger foods (cracker and carrots) since he has not really been interested in this. He made a mess and really enjoyed doing it.

Collin is 9 Months!

Collin is 9 months today. Normally, we would be going to his 9 month check up today but daddy wants to take him. So, they are going next Tuesday morning to find out his new stats. My guess is that he will weigh close to 21 lbs and will be 28 inches long. People keep saying he is a big baby but that's when they see him by himself and not next to other babies. He is not small but his certainly not a big baby. I am just happy that he is steadily gaining weight and a very happy baby. Remember those days early on when the little guy would not gain an ounce in over 2 weeks? Glad we are not there anymore.

Help!!! I'm Stuck!

Whenever Collin sees something he can pull up to a standing position, he does it. He gets all excited, starts breathing heavier, crawls as fast as he can to the object he spotted, can quickly pulls up to a standing position. Most of the time, it's not because he saw something that he just has to have. When he pulls up, the just stands there. Sometimes, he puts his fingers or thumb in his mouth to chew on. Eventually, he does get bored and starts to whine. I figured out that this is because he stuck...he does not know how to get back down. The times that he has tried, it....it did not go to well for him. He usually fell backwards and scared himself...yep, crying was quickly after that. So, he at least learned from that and does not dare try to get back down by himself. I will watch him pull a hand away and lower it to the close to the ground. As soon as he feels himself get off balance though, he quickly pulls his hand back to the top of what he is holding onto. He will wait and wait for one of us to pick him up or put him down on the ground so he can start crawling. It's really too funny!

Bicycle Weekend

Collin was surrounded by the smell of bike tires this weekend. Saturday, we went to the bike shop for several hours so I could work on the tax return (boring!!!). Collin was in his pack 'n play most of the time playing with the toys he has in there. A few times, I caught him watching the mechanics put the bikes together. There was a bike close to one side of the pack 'n play. I swear he was sniffing the tires at one point. Something about the tires, at least, caught his attention for some reason.

Collin had a great time with people stopping by to check him out and pay attention to him. He was bored a few times and started to try to figure out how to get out of the pack 'n play...or at least make me laugh. Here he is licking the side of the pack 'n play while he was talking to it.

That did not last too long because 5 minutes later or so, he was asleep...so tired that his butt was still in the air!

That night, we had a date. Ryan and Yoko came over to watch Collin while we were out. We went to dinner and saw Iron Man. What a movie!!! It's a "must see" this summer. Collin took advantage of his babysitters and stayed up past 11pm! It was a treat for him to sleep until 8:30am the next morning though (9 hours, right on the dot....as usual).

This morning, we went to watch the bike races that were downtown. We took Collin in the jog stroller so I could get some exercise while I was out there. At one point, I took Collin out and sat him on the ground so he could have a change of scenery. After trying to climb all over me, he noticed the tires on the jog stroller. Yep, the tires caught his attention again. He squealed when he noticed them and started to slap them like he does when he is excited. He did eventually get bored of this so I took him for a walk. We stayed to watch two kids that we know from the bike shop. I guess we were out there a little too long for Collin though....

Such a helpful little guy.

"I think the water is ready!" Ever since we took Collin Swimmin he likes the water. At night when we go upstairs to put him to bed I will let him down on the ground to crawl from the top of the stairs. He does not look back and heads straight for the Bathroom. That is usually where Mommie is getting the bathwater ready for you know who. Collin will crawl right up to the tub and pull himself up and watch the water fill up his tub. He knows Mommie is going to use the soap from the bottle so he will play with it and push it into the tub so she knows not to forget it.

Collin has a fish that winds up and the tail flutters but when he gets in the water the fish goes striaght to the mouth. I tease him and say that he is just like his mommie (A vegetarian that eats fish).

So anyways tonight we took a picture of Collin getting ready to get in the tub. Naked as the day he was born just not as messy and smilin not screemin. He has such a cute little bottom especially when it is clean. SO save this one for your "EMBARASS COLLIN FILE" We can't wait til he starts dating, He He he!!!

Mommy's Day?

Collin Here: I truely do not understand why Mommie should get a whole day. I mean really what has she done lately. It is not like she achieved a new way to traverse the area or almost triple her range in height. She also did not learn how to navigate through a new surface area in the last month like I did. She surely did not learn as large of a percentage of new things in the last month as ME, compared to what she knew before.

When are you people going to celebrate all of MY wonderful accomplishments? All I have to say is that this past month has been a very successful month for me and WERE CELEBRATING MOMMIE? She hardly did a thing. I am going to take a NAP!!

Dad Here: All of this hard work and learning new things is very Tiresome for our little boy. Collin is either full tilt go, go, go or he is crashed. You can really tell when he is tired now and when he wakes up he is ready to go. Even at night he is on the go, they say that he is dreaming about all of the things he has learned.

Today was Mothers day and we did whatever she wanted to do. So Collin help her clean the yard up a bit before a nice bike ride. He did really good and only ate a few pieces of dirt and maybe 2 leafs? Oh well a little dirt never killed anyone. I guess I will find out what it does to his system later tonight or tomorrow morning. At least that was the deal I made Laura, since I was the one to put him down in the dirt.

Swimming with Mommy

It was my turn this morning to be in the pool for Collin's swim lessons. Daddy was there to take pictures. I really enjoyed watching Collin have no fear about being in the water and trying the new things that the instructor had us do. He was not as adventurous this time as with Daddy the first time. The instructor thought that this was because Tuesday's class was the first time he had EVER been in a pool so today, he somewhat knew what to expect. We did everything Daddy did with him Tuesday and Collin also got to float on a mat for a little while and have a break. He was a champ! I cannot wait to do this next Thursday.

Techie?

Collin has been fascinated with electronics for months now. Anytime one of our cell phone's rings, he stops what he is doing to watch the phone light up...and gets a HUGE grin on his face. If the camera is near him, he has to touch it and then put it in his mouth. Instead of chewing on our current cell phones, he now has his own phone which is an outdated cell phone we used to use. This only gets his attention for a little while since it does not light up like our phones or the camera.

So, while we were at the park Sunday and most of the kids were playing with Ethan's toys he brought, Collin was interested in either the toy cell phone Ethan brought (see the pic of him in the Sunday posting below) or gravitating towards Maria's camera. She let him play with it a little while until he got his slobber all over it. We tried to distract him by showing him the other toys or picking him up and moving him to the other side of the blanket. He was so focused on that camera that he would crawl right back to it. Maria was looking through some of the pictures she took that day and discovered that Collin apparently took some pictures of himself. Here they are. Not bad huh?

Actually, I think he only took the one with his hand in the picture. Maria took the others but it made for a more funny story, didn't it? ;)

Daddy took me swimmin, Yippee!!!

So I took Collin for his first Swim lesson this morning. He has 3 more. Collin did great with no fear. Swimmin is a lot of fun. Collin really enjoyed slapping the water. He was not afraid of the water at all and we had a great time. To the surprise of the instructor Collin did not cry or have a problem going under the water, in fact he did it 3 times with a smile on his face each time.

We played Ring around the rosies, Humpty Dumpty and had a great time. Collin learned how to climb out of the water which was fun because she had me put a toy just out of reach outside the pool so he would reach for it and go to it. He did just that and I can see that it will help his climbing the stairs at home game, out. Today was fun and Collin is a champ that did a great job.

When it was time to go under water I would blow in his face and then dunk and pull him towards me and then back up. Collin Kept his eyes open the whole time, something I can not do and have never been able to do. Laura is planning to come with me to the Thursday Class and hopefully she will have time to get in the water, it was great teaching him this new activity. This time Collin's Mimi came and took pictures for us. I can not wait to get him in to her pool at her house this summer. It will be alot of fun watching him grow and swim.

Too Young to Drive?

Look what daddy bought me the other day. I love playing with the things on the front that make noise. I can sit still on it really good but don't know what else to do with it. Mommy and daddy keep pulling me forward, but the top of my feet keep dragging behind. One day, I am sure I will figure it out and then be running overmy parent's feet. hehehe. Don't tell them about my plan. It will be our little secret.

Always on the move

Now that Collin can crawl, he is never satisfied with sitting still. I knew this would happen once he started to crawl like other mommies warned me....but now it's happening. I also thought incorrectly that it would take a little longer for him to start standing and trying to walk. I was wrong there too. He has already found the stairs and started to try to crawl up them. He is only able to get one knee up and then gets stuck. He does not know what to do next. Anything he can use to pull up on, he does. People are not excluded from this either. He will use daddy, I or anyone else that will let him to pull up on and try to crawl over us. Most of the time, he is able to sit back down after standing up without falling backwards. Every once in awhile, he will "get stuck" and get frustrated because he does not know what to do. He will either eventually figure it out or we will help himout. He found the kitty food so I had to relocate it to another room that he has not discovered yet.

Oh, he now has to teeth poking through on the bottom. They still have a long way to go but they are there.

Social Sunday

Collin better sleep good tonight....I know I will. He did a lot today. First, we met several of his friends at a new downtown park. Addison, Melia, Ethan and Matthew were there. We hung out under a huge shady tree and let the kids play/crawl around on several blankets. Collin went from one mommy to another, played with Ethan's toys. let Melia spank him on his butt and chewed on Maria's camera. He was always in motion unless I will giving him his bottle. I thought for sure after all of that activity he would have taken a nap before we went to dinner that night with friends. Nope...he had other plans. He did rest but not nap.

(From left to right: Matthew, Addison, Collin and Ethan...aren't they cute?)

Tonight, we met my co-worker, his wife and their boys (Brady is almost 2 and Tanner is 4 mos) for dinner. Collin slept on the way there and throughout the tour of their house. He then slept until we woke him up right before the main meal at dinner tonight. I did not want him to wake up in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep. When we came home tonight, he had no problem going to bed. Tired baby....