Tuesday's with daddy Sept 30th 2008

Redneck water park.... Collin was in the back of the truck while I was doing yard work today and so I started to spray in his direction and he just started gigglin. He loves the water, here is some more shots I took. This lasted no less than 45 minutes and would have gone longer if he had anything to say about it.

So today was a ton of fun and I have more pictures. Mom may not be happy with us after seeing these. This one I like to call "Ice Cream taste good, Mom

Collin wanted to share my Chocolate shake from Sonic.

So far today is like any other day with Collin, Fun and interesting. Wait til you see what I got him. I will try to get some pictures up within the next couple of days.....

First Group Ride

This afternoon, several of us met at the park for a slow-paced ride on the bike path near our bicycle shop. The weather was nice but a little hotter than it was the day before. We did enjoy being outside and getting a little exercise. I even smiled when I was going up the hills. ;) Collin had not really taken a nap all day and it's not because we were out and about all day. He, as usual, did not want to miss out on anything. Well, about 10 minutes into the ride, here is a picture of Collin enjoying the scenery....

After about an hour, we ended up a a local restaurant to have dinner and socialize. He loved being at the restaurant with everyone and the attention he was getting. He tried hummus again and still does not like it. He ended up eating chicken and bread from one of the sandwiches and some gold fish crackers which are one of his favorites.

Later that night, he got to meet a new girlfriend, Ella. She lives across the driveway from us and came home tonight She was TINY!! Collin looked at her and was more interested in playing with the dog and checking out Ella's closet.

Another busy day....

Collin can....

get into his big-boy car seat on his own...we do have to buckle him in still

crawl faster than we ever expected

disappear in a moment

scream at the top of his lungs

find my wallet in my purse within 10 seconds even if it's at the bottom

climb up and back down the stairs (he does this every day)

throw a ball to you and want you to throw it back

dance when there is any type of music playing

put things into a bucket, basket drawer, etc and then take them back out

open the child-proof gate

brush his teeth

throw everything out of his crib faster than you can put the stuff back in

unplug a cord from the wall faster than you can grab him up

open the microwave door (this is a game for him now)

open and shut doors

open drawers......and sometimes get his arm or finger stuck in the drawer...ouch

chase the kitties and the slap on them

find his belly button when you ask him where his belly button is. Watch out if you are in public because he will more than likely try to find yours too by lifting up your shirt!

crawl onto and down from the couch

manipulate his parents to get whatever he wants

say ma-ma and da-da but not regularly

make me laugh no matter how bad of a day I had

say I love you without saying a word.

Running Errands with Mommy

Today was a REALLY busy day because I was with mommy most of the day. She never sits still. Daddy is right about her fiddle-farting all day long. I knew it was going to be a long day and I wanted us to be ready for it. While mom was picking out what she was going to wear for the day, I thought I would turn on the water for her to take a bath. Well, I wanted her to think it was for her. I really wanted to run my fingers through the water because it's fun and I like the way it feels on my fingers.

Next, I saw mommy bruising her teeth so I thought I should too. I LOVE to do this when she does it, Mimi does it or just whenever. I have even worn myself out brushing my teeth before that I fell asleep with the tooth brush in my hands. I was a little embarrassed about that but I will get over it. I am sure Addison and Matthew will still be my friends.

Anyway, after breakfast which consisted of banana (I ate it from the peel and was so proud of myself) oatmeal and milk, we headed to Target to get a few things. I was interested in watching all of the people and looking for my buddies. I did not see them but I did see a lot of ladies smiling and waving at me. I am so popular and I love it! I tried to help mom pick items off the shelves and put them in the cart. Sometimes I would taste them and chew on the corner to mark that I wanted it so mommy would not put it back. She really belted me in the cart this time because I was not able to wriggle out and stand up like I have been able to do many times before.

We went back home after Target to unload the stuff mom bought and so I could have a snack. She thought I would take a nap but she thought wrong. After she pretended to take a nap on the couch, lay on the floor next to me and read a magazine, she gave up about 45 minutes later. I was tired but I had things to do and remote controls to lick clean. Our next stop was the mall. Guess what I did on the way? hehehehe....SLEPT.

I heard us drive up to the store but continued to sleep because I was really tired. We were at the mall for only a little while because mom does not like to shop. She went there because she has a high school reunion and a work function to go to so she needed something to wear. After the mall, we ran another errand on the way home. I snacked on yogurt once we got home and then started to organize the second floor of the house. Mom had tried to pick up my toys earlier and I put them back were they should be....at least for the moment. Daddy come home and we left to go shopping for our neighbors that just had a baby girl. Another girlfriend for me which makes me happy. The place was closed so we went to dinner with friends. I drank some lemonade daddy ordered for me and really liked it. I then put all 7 gold fish in my mouth at one time. Mom had this look on her face after I did that. I don't know why though. I coughed a little and daddy started to give me some milk. To make room in my mouth, I spit all of the gold fish out of my mouth. I do this often if I am not finished with what I am chewing in my mouth and my parents give me something to drink. I then ate some Mexican rice, black beans and tomatoes. Yep, some of this came back out too. I then finger painted with my food and cleaned up the spot in front of me by wiping my left hand back and forth until my spot was clean. The floor was not though. Daddy was nice to clean it up for the restaurant while mommy finished eating.

Tonight, I had another good time in the bath tub playing with my toys. I was fascinated with the toy shark and used it to bite at the basketballs and mommy. I then tried to swim in the water by getting on my belly a few times. That hurt though since I ate too much for dinner.

I cannot wait for more errands tomorrow. Both mommy and daddy with be home together.

Bobbing for Tub Toys

Tonight, Collin had a great time during his bath. He usually gets in the tub and goes straight for the toy basketballs that he then can drop through the hoop suction-cuped to the side of the tub. Sometimes he will take the small bucket I use to rinse his hair and put the basketballs in it and then take them back out. Tonight, he got on all fours, put his head in the water and clamped down on the basketball with his mouth. I asked "What are you doing?" and he turned around, looked and me and smiled with the basketball in his mouth. He was so proud of himself. I took the ball out and threw it through he hoop. He did it again but this time, he got the rubber ducky in his mouth. It was too funny. He then got in the squat position and bounced up and down on his butt to splash the water. Both of us had to use a towel tonight to dry off.

That part of the kitty smells?

So by now you know that Colllin is not walking yet. This does not matter to him as he can get anywhere faster by sprint crawling. This is Collin's sport "Sprint Crawling" to describe imagine a baby crawling along at a fast pace and then turn the speed up to 10. Collin is in a full body sprint his head is rocking back and forth and up and down and all of his limbs are flailing about. I think he is going so fast there is actually a point at which all of his limbs are off of the ground at one time. If you are on the floor below him it sounds like thunder.

Anyways to get on with the title of this blog, Collin likes to chase the cats around the house. I am not sure if you realize that cats walk or run with their tails straight up in the air, exposing a certain part of their bodies. Well Collin was chasing the cat tonight and Chloe the cat slowed down but Collin did not. I will let you imagination run wild with this one............

No Collin did not, butt he did get very close and Laura and I believe if he does not walk soon there will come a day and a great story for Mom and Dad to tell at his Wedding.

On another note I wanted to share a photo I took but was just able to get on our home computer. You should really enjoy this The picture tells a thousand words(so I do not have to type them)

Tuesdays with Daddy Sept 23rd

WE HAVE POWER!!! Yippee!!! So today was a movin day. Collin and I loaded up the truck and moved back into our house. This was abit stressful for Collin because he did not know what was going on. When we first got home he went crazy playing with every toy he had. he would go from one toy to the next and back again. I think he thought we were going to leave again like every other time we have stopped by the house this week.
Tonight he was extremely fussy, I think he did not want to leave. He forced himself to stay awake I think he was afraid if he fell asleep he would not wake up in his house. It is really surprising to me how much he knows this is his home and these are his things. I think he missed all of his stuff. Mainly I let him run around the house up and down the stairs checking everything out. We finaly got him to eat and he fell alseep in the chair halfway through his dinner. I will post a picture later when I can email it to myself.
One quick story from today, When we made it to the 3rd floor he went to the bathroom where we still had a tub full of water that we filled up before the Hurricane in case we did not have running water. He was splashing and slapping the water and gigling. I let the drain open and he played it all the way down, at one point he climbed in the tub and fell in the water. He started to cry because it scared him but I was laughing so I think he got mad at me. When I pulled him out he was freezing because I have the AC Turned way down to cool the house and had not turned it up yet. So I bundled him up in the towel dried him off and put a new diaper on him and off he went.
We had a fun day and when I left to get dinner for Laura and I he cried because I was leaving him. That made me smile.

Hurricane Ike - Update #4

Still not power at home. After playing in the park yesterday, Collin and I stopped by the house to take car of the cats (I fed them while he chased after them to "pet" them and pull Chloe's tail) and to get more clothes for the week. Collin seemed to be really happy to be back at his house. As soon as I put him down, he immediately crawled up the first flight of stairs and turned around to see if I was following him. I did not plan on it because I needed to stop in my room first, but I headed up the stairs with Collin. As soon as he got to the second floor, he started climbing the stairs to his room. I guess he was missing it. When we got up there, I put him in his crib so he could play with his stuffed animals he had not seen in a week and so he could be in his bed. He laid down and put his head on his monkey. It was soooo cute. I could tell that he was happy to be there. I was trying to hurry though because it was 84 degrees in the house and both of us were starting to sweat. He was not too happy when I picked him back up out of his bed so I stood there a little while so he could watch his planes that I made "fly". He really liked that and he stopped crying.

We were told we are not expected to get power until Thursday or after. We will see.....

Hermann Park

This morning, Collin and his buddies, Addison, Matthew and Melia, met at Hermann Park by the reflecting pool to get the kids outside and so the mommies could catch up. It was nice to not have to worry about the hurricane for awhile and for Collin to roam around without having to worry about him messing up/breaking anything at Hotel Cardone (what we call the house we are staying at while we wait for power...yep, still without it). As soon as we spread the blankets out and laid out the snacks and toys, the kids started to explore. They were busy checking out each other, each other's snacks and mommies. There were not really any shy moments because these guys have gotten together several times. Since all of the kids but Collin can walk, I was surprised to see that they were not interested in walking off the blankets to explore the rest of the park. Actually, that's what eventually happened when they got bored with what was on the blankets. Matthew was busy eating the rocks, Addison wanted to push the strollers and Collin was being the monkey by crawling on one stroller to then crawl to the other stroller to stand up (that's what he is doing in this picture).

All of the kids eventually joined Matthew by the rocks. to either walk around or sit on the benches. We got some great pictures of the kids hanging out. Of course, there was not one time that they were all looking forward (thanks Collin), sitting down or had their eyes open. Still really cute though.

Five More Minutes Daddy!

Living with 3 teenagers in the house must be wearing Collin out. Normally during the week in the mornings, he will either wake up on his own or easily wake up when it's time to go. This morning, Collin did not wake up after both daddy and I got up and started getting ready for the day. Remember, he is sleeping in a pack n' play at the end of our bed. There was plenty of noise that should have woken him up. We even turned on the lights and this is what he looked like.....

I continued to get ready in the bathroom next to our room and even used the hair dryer. I thought for sure he would be awake by now. Nope....he still was sound asleep although he moved to a different spot. When I left for work, he was still in this same position. Poor guy. I will have to try to put him to bed a little earlier tonight.

Hurricane Ike - Update #3

Our status has not changed. We still do not have power and are not expected to have it until after Monday. We do continue to check with our neighbors to see if we have power and check on the house as often as we can. We are staying with the same friends that we have been staying with since Monday night. It sure is different watching this family's life that revolves around the 3 teenage children they have. Tonight, all of the guys are going to a movie while the girls stay home and play with Collin.

Collin does something new everyday and it's hard to keep up with all of the new things he does. One that he has been doing regularly now for the last week is bounce like Tigger. While he is sitting with his legs folded underneath him, he flings his arms up in the air and then back down to bounce forward. He will do this a few times in a row to really get moving. It's too funny when he does this and it makes us laugh.

I have been brushing Collin's teeth with a toddler finger brush for a few months now. He now is very interested in my toothbrush when I am brushing my teeth. I gave him a spare one and he took it and put it in his mouth to brush his teeth. He looked up to watch me do it and then tried to imitate me. He did quickly get bored of this and crawled off with the brush "sweeping" the floor as he went. I need to remember to not put that brush back in his or my mouth. Yuck!

He has been making a motorboat sound with his lips recently. The vibration is probably soothing to him and his new tooth coming in on his bottom left. I noticed the tooth about a week ago. The timing made since because he has been hotter than normal, a little more grouchy at night and woke up a few times in the middle of the night. It's still barely peeking through but it can be seen now.

Hurricane Ike - Update #2

We are back in Houston but staying with friends because we still have no power. Chris and neighbors have been back to the house a few times and noticed that there is NO activity with the downed power lines and poles like in other areas. Our guess is that they are waiting for shipments of poles from other areas before they can work on ours. I would be surprised if we have power by the weekend. We are getting tired of this hurri-cation. Ike-CARumba! as someone else said. I thought it was funny and creative. The main bike shop is open as of yesterday so that is keeping Chris busy. Some of the employees had been camping out there but they all have power now. sniff, sniff

Daddy went back to work yesterday while Collin and I stayed at the friend's house all day. We went for over an hour walk because it was a beautiful day outside. I also found a park and Collin got to swing a little and slide down the slide. He loves the slide. We have taught him to hold onto the sides and then let go when he is ready. He smiles and sometimes laughs on the way down.

No new developments with Collin. We thought for sure he would have taken a step by now since he has been around so many kids. Nope....he still prefers to crawl. We do have a new nickname for him. He has been sleeping in our room in a pack 'n play. When he wakes up in the morning, he stands up to see if we are awake. If he does not see us, he starts his morning routine of throwing out whatever is in his pack n' play. Once everything is out, he looks over at us again and then starts this screeching noise. We dubbed this noise and him "The Terradactyl" because that is what the noise sounds like.

Another new thing Collin does is pull up your shirt just enough to see your belly button and to poke his finger in it and laugh. It's really funny until he does it to someone he just met. He does not do it all of the time so it's really unpredictable. This morning after he ate rice cereal, apples, some cantaloupe and 1/4 of a waffle, his belly was really protruding more than it has in the last week. I lifted his shirt, said "Buddha belly". He thought that was really funny so he started to lift his shirt up and laugh when I said "Buddha belly".

Hurricane Ike - Family Update

We are fine and staying with friends in San Antonio since Saturday afternoon since we still do not have power and water. We were VERY fortunate to not have any property damage. Both bike shops are ok and sustained minor damage. The power is back on at both of the shops but we do not expect them to be open soon. My office is still closed through tomorrow since downtown is closed due to continued falling glass and still no power. I have not heard when we will have power at our house or when downtown power will be restored. Our current plan is to return to Houston today and bring supplies from San Antonio with us. We will stay with a friend in Katy until our power is restored.

Collin is doing fine and getting to play with some new friends, Pierson and Tate, who are the younger sons of the family we are staying with. He was eating well until today and is really fussy. I am sure he knows that something is new since we are not home and that daddy and mommy are home all day.

I will keep everyone posted when we have power and are able to return home.

Learnt to Read on mi ownen

Remember when I told you that anytime Collin is to quiet there must be something going on. Usually it is followed with a big mess of paperwork. Tonight we were playing upstairs in his area and he went into his room where he could not be seen. No problem because the area is pretty much babyproof. But after awhile I started to wonder because not only did he disappear but he was very quiet.

This is great he was just sitting there flipping the pages of a book acting like he was reading it. I think it was great because not just an hour earlier I was reading a book about 5 little monkeys to him and now he was reading.

Look how cute he is and you can't see it very well in the picture but his cute little fingers have a hard time flipping the pages but he gets the job done.

Tuesday's with Daddy Sept.9th

So we started out the day by hanging around the house and playing with all of the cool toys. I got Collin a big bag of Big Legos. It turned out like I thought it would, I would stack them and he would tear them down. Then I would clean up and put them back in their bag and he would empty the bag of Legos all over the floor and then laugh. Causeing me to wonder was he Laughing with me or at me? HMMM?

Anyways I move on, we then went to lunch with a friend. That was fun because there was another baby there, a 15 month old. I realized when I am out with Collin I am part of this club, the baby club. When you have a baby in tow you are safe to talk to and people tell you the funniest things, had I been out by myself or with another male friend with no baby, I would have gotten the congenial tilt of the head with the half smile when I said Hi. This I now call the baby club, it is much like the Girlfriend Club, where girls that would never recognize you had you been by yourself now feel safe to talk to you when you have a girl with you. So now I am part of two clubs being that I am both Married and a Father. Later in the day I found out the dues to be part of the baby Club are nice and smelly.

Collin and I then went over to another friends house that has a new born and a 2 year old Boxer puppy. Remember Collin likes Puppies. Collin played with that dog so much it completely wore him out. He would just lie down in the middle of the floor to rest then when the puppie came he would get up all smiles and chase him down. He also likes playing in the kennel, open the door close the door, open the door close the door, open the door close the door, open the.......................

This was another great day with Collin at the end of the day he was so tired he became clingy, I was sitting in the chair with the automon and he wanted to sit with me and was so sleepy but he wanted to play with either the channel changer or my glasses. What a determined little boy, fighting that urge to go to sleep just to chew on the clicker.

Collin really likes taking paper and pulling little pieces off of it one at a time. He will take a napkin and, in less than 10 minutes, he has pulled it into tiny little pieces. I have no idea why he does this but it happens every time he has paper in his hands. I did learn recently why I need to keep the bathroom door shut. I could hear Collin busy doing something. I had left the room to go into the kitchen and I heard Collin open the safety gate between the main room and the office/bathroom/laundry area (I don't even know why we have it up anymore). I walked over to see what he was doing and found him sitting in an entire unrolled mass of toilet paper. I left the pile there for daddy to see what Collin did while daddy was working.

Tonight, we were at dinner. Collin was a little fussy like he has been at night lately. We thought that he either 1) was tired because I wore him out today or 2) has not liked us feeding him more solid food instead of giving him a bottle first and then feeding him solids if he is still hungry. Well, tonight he was drooling a little and biting the side of the table. Hmmmm....maybe he is teething? We did finally get him to eat some solids that I brought we me. We thought he would want to eat some of what we were having but found out that Hummus is on the top of his list of foods he does not currently like. It came out of his mouth just as fast as we put it in.

Speaking of coming back out, if he is chewing on food and he sees more food coming or put in front of him, he spits out what he is chewing to make room for the new food. He does this every time. We tried putting all of his food on his tray at once and he would try to put it all in his mouth at one time. Of course he had a hard time chewing it. So, we thought we would stop that by giving him a little at a time. However, if we don't pay attention to if he has finished chewing what he has in his mouth and put more food in front of him too early, he instantly start spitting out what's in his mouth to put the new food in. I try not to laugh at this because I don't want him to think it's funny and keep doing it. I have to turn my head sometimes when he does it though. I guess this is all part of the learning process to feed himself.

Big Boy Seat

One of Collin's presents from us was to face forward in the car in his car seat. Yep, he is in a big boy car seat now. I installed it yesterday in my car(don't ask how long it took...but you know I read all of the directions and it's installed properly...haha). Daddy came home to pick us up for dinner and for Collin to experience the seat for the first time. Here is Collin enjoying his first ride in the big boy seat. Is that him being happy to face forward or is he afraid of his Daddy's driving? I cannot tell. Maybe it was better for him not to know. ;)

Now, where is that bowl?

I was working from home yesterday so Collin played in the house most of the day. I had my computer in the kitchen instead of in the office so I could watch Collin and so he would not get into anything in the office (it's not Collin proofed at all). At one point, he came into the kitchen to start "cooking". I call it cooking when he opens the one cabinet he is able to open which has all of the plastic storage containers in it. He usually pulls a few out and finds a lid or two that he likes and starts chewing on them.

This cabinet is behind me when I am working in the kitchen. I heard him back there pulling out the containers and "talking". At one point, I turned around to find this scene....do I need to say more?

Collin also does not care if he is playing with toys or other things lying around the house. For example, Daddy finished the milk and put it near the gate at the top of the stairs. That's what we usually do when we have to take something downstairs but not at that moment. Well, Collin crawled around the corner and we heard this strange noise of something that he was using to hit the floor. Here is what we found.....

Dog Park vs Playground

The puppy fascination continues. It was a gorgeous day so I thought I would take Collin for a walk to the park to swing since he had played in the house all day. On the way, we passed a dog park. I stopped to show Collin the dogs playing since I know how much he likes the puppies. He loved it! He had the same reaction he did when we were running in the park the other day. He kicked both of his legs up and down and pushed out of his stroller so he could see better. We stayed there for about 10 minutes so I thought it was time to leave to head to the playground. As I was turning the stroller, Collin let me know that was a bad decision. He was NOT ready to leave yet. As soon as I turned the stroller back to face the dogs, we was happy again. We eventually did leave to play on the swings which he was happy about. Little turkey....

Puppies!!!

I left work early today and picked Collin up from Mimi's to spend some time with him. It was a really nice, but hot, early evening so I decided to pack him in the jog stroller and go for a run/walk around the park. Yep, I have not done this in awhile and am glad I did. Collin seemed to have a great time as indicated by him kicking his legs up and down and "talking". He really perked up every time we saw a dog running by. He would push up out of the stroller to sit up so he could get a better look at the dog and start smiling really big. I am sure I did not help the excitement by saying "look at the puppy. Collin, see the puppy?" When I would push the stroller ahead of the dog, he would start to through a fit so I would slow down a little so the dog could catch up. I am glad we live close to a park so Collin can get his puppy fix because we will not be getting a dog anytime soon.

Tonight during dinner, I let Collin have his spoon to feed himself so he would get used to holding it and trying to control it. I fixed me a plate of food similar to what he was eating and showed him how to use the spoon. He really concentrated on trying to pick up the food on his tray with the spoon but was not ever successful. He did not give up easily though. He did finally start eating his food with the other hand while continuing to hold the spoon. I am glad he did finally drop it or I was going to have to pry it out of his fingers....or let him go to bed with it.

That's my name!!!

I forgot to mention yesterday in my blog about how we know that Collin for sure knows his name. While we were at the doctor's office in the crowded waiting room, Collin was playing between the two chairs we were sitting in. He was ignoring the nurse's voice when she would come out of the door to call the next patient. That was until he heard "Collin Holmes". I watched him stop what he was going and look toward the nurse's voice. He then smiled. I will take that response as he DOES know his name......Now daddy, we also now know that he is ignoring you when you say No and he does not look your way. ;)

12 Month Stats

Today, we both took Collin to the vet for his 12 month appointment (yes, he has been 12 months for almost 2 weeks now). He is 21 lbs 11 oz and 29 inches long. He did have to get 3 shots which nearly broke my heart when he started screaming. The nurse said that she needed to remember to get some help with him the next time because he is so strong.

The doc said he looked good and was happy with his development. We were told that we do need to start weening him from the bottle which we started to do with his dinner tonight. Collin was one unhappy kid when he did not get a bottle at dinner. He did drink from his sippy cup without the lid with a few spills and will still mad when I took him upstairs to give him a bath.

No means NO

So we are trying to start setting some boundaries for Collin. The experts say that whenever Collin is doing something he shouldn't you should look directly at him and sternly say NO, or DON'T DO THAT. They say that you should tell him with your facial expressions that you mean business.
Have you seen how Cute Collin is? And when he is doing something he shouldn't he gets even cuter? So keeping your facial expressions serious and not laughing while trying to set those boundaries is really hard. Collin always does something that would normally make you smile or laugh, but in this magic moment you have to look at him seriously and sternly.

Just so you know I get to practice this whenever Collin gets near the Cat food and water. Collin will look at me telling him NO then look back at the bowl with his hand hovering over it as if to say "I'm Not doing anything" then look back at me. He has this question in his head like Does Daddy not want me to do this? or I wish daddy would leave me alone so I could eat this cat food! Either way he is learning my stern face and he pulls away.
So goes life, and I am glad that Collin is pushing my boundaries and I can establish his. Although I do not look forward to punishing him I do look forward to helping him grow up into a great Man with strong boundaries.
Once again, I enjoy being his Daddy.