Too young?

We went over to Saige's house this afternoon for dinner and so Collin could show her his new fire truck that Daddy got him. After dinner and Saige's bath, she got into her parents bed to watch some cartoons. This is what she does most nights. Collin decided to join her and this is what they looked like. Too cute.......at least right now. ;)

Helper - #2

I mentioned that Collin likes to help around the house....especially in the kitchen. Here he is pulling grapes off the stem and putting them in a bowl so I can wash and rinse them. This helps us in the morning when I am getting his snacks ready for school. He is still trying to learn that when a grape rolls on the floor, it's dirty and had to be thrown away.

Collin - The Manipulator

Collin is stilling trying anything he can to not go to bed. We have nicknamed him the Manipulator recently because of it. As I have stated before in another post, we sometimes have to chase him down to get him into a bath. Luckly, the new house has a door at the end of the hall. I close this before heading down the hall to start the bath water. Fortunately, his room has a bathroom connected to it. I close the bedroom and the bathroom doors and only leave open the door between his room and the bedroom. There is still some chasing going on to get him into the bath.

Once in the the bath, he does not want to get out. He now has learned to sit on the drain in the bathtub to stop the water when I lift the plug to let the water out. He thinks this is hilarious and starts laughing. He is right, it's funny but I know all he is doing is delaying getting into bed even more. He will periodically lift a butt cheek up to let some water out and then sit back down to stop the water, start laughing and do it again. This happens until all of the water is out. He gets out, drys off and runs to his room because he knows it's now time to brush his teeth. I have had to brush his teeth the past few weeks because he won't do it. I am shocked that he does open his mouth to let me do it. When it's time to read books, he picks out as many as he can. I tell him only three and he continues to pick out more. Once I read the three, he wants to pick out more. I tell him it's time to get in bed and he hides behind the chair or buries his head into the seat of the chair. He eventually gets in bed (by himself or I do it). He does still ask for us to sing to him before he will fall asleep. By this time, we are both ready to go to sleep ourselves. That's a lot of work.

I have tried to do all of the above, except the bed part, out of order to see if any of it makes a difference. Not really. He knows he had to eventually go to bed.

Last night, we had friends over. Ryan read Collin several books and was about to come get one of us to put Collin into bed. Collin got out of the chair and brought a book in for Yoko to read to him. She read him another book or two and then Collin wanted me to read him a book. I could see what he was doing....delaying getting into bed......The Manipulator was at it again!

Tackle Time

Collin and I played Tackle last night. Basically he goes as far away from me he can get in the house and runs at me into my arms and I fall backwards on the ground. This happens over and over and over again. The first 20 times are fun but he is relentless so I have to be creative to get him on to something new.
Either way it sure is fun seeing what he wants to get into next.

Mornings are fun to but can also be a challenge as he is trying to do everythign on his own now and so everything becomes a process and takes longer. But I am glad to see he is so independant and is growing up so well. I am so proud of him except when he throws a fit then Not so proud.

Collin and Ben

Here are pictures from yesterday when Collin met his buddy from school, Ben, at a local park. Looks like they had a great time huh? I was not able to go since I was not feeling well and did not want to be even more sick for my first day at work tomorrow.

Daddy and Collin Today

Since Mommy is not feeling well (sinus infection again), Daddy and Collin spent a lot of time together today. In the morning, they went to get bagels for breakfast and then run an errand so Mommy could sleep in. When they got back, Collin helped Daddy sweep the leaves in the backyard (yes, the beautiful trees do cause much more yard work than having no trees at all). Mommy woke up at this time and joined them in the back eating her bagel they brought back.

After resting on the couch, they went outside to ride bikes. They then went down the street to Max and Lucas' house to play. Collin mainly watched them play until he decided to jump on the trampoline in their backyard. They joined in and he stopped to watch as he typically does when older kids are around.

They came back home for lunch of roll up meat and strawberries. Collin fought to eat anything but then did start to eat both. He took two bites of the meat and had several strawberries before he fell asleep in his seat. He started to lean over and almost fell out of his chair so Daddy took him to his bed....where he is now.

The plan later is to go over to Saige's house to play, watch football and have dinner. What a great Sunday!

Kitchen Helper

Collin LOVES to help Mommy in the kitchen....especially if it involves water (rinsing the dishes), stirring or putting the food together (cheese in a quesadilla or pizza toppings). He can stand at the sink as long as I will let him hand washing and dumping water from one side of the sink to the other.

At the park

It was a great day yesterday so I took Collin to the park after picking him up from school. He had a good time climbing the stairs and going down the slide MANY times. He took a break and crawled through a tunnel that was close by and then started sliding again. He switched playground areas when he saw bigger boys playing on the big slide. He stood there watching them for a few minutes before climbing up the stairs and going down the really big slide. All of the fun came to a halt when he saw the dogs. He started crying, yelling at then dogs and wanted to go home. I carried him to the walking track that surrounds the park and put him down. We raced back to the car which was fun.

Dry all day....

Yesterday was the first time that Collin wore his underwear all day and did not have any accidents. He went to the potty all day at school and even when he got home another 3 times. We went to the park to play on the playground, went on an errand with Daddy and even to the ice cream place (he went potty there....fun times in a public restroom where he wants to clean the bathroom by picking up all of the trash off the floor and throwing it away.....gross!).

Mommy is being brave and put Collin in his underwear this morning for the day. So far, so good....

Update: He did end up peeing in his underwear around 3pm.

What did he say?

For the last few weeks, Collin has been talking in his sleep. It's usually after he has been asleep for about 3 - 4 hours. He says only a few words or laughs but it's enough to wake us up. We don't mind though because it's fun to hear him talk and wonder what he is dreaming about at the time.

Daddy used to talk in his sleep when we first got married so this is another thing to add to the list of how Collin and Daddy are a lot alike. Glad Daddy does not poop under the table anymore though...hahaha

New Phrases

Collin does not say "no" anymore. Please, don't be happy for us just yet. "No" has turned into "no way" now. Here is how our morning went:

Mommy: Collin, let's put your clothes on so you can go to school.
Collin: No way.
Mommy: Don't you want to see your friends?
Collin: No way.
Mommy: If you don't put your clothes on, you will have to go in your PJs to school.
Collin: No way.
Mommy: Well, then let's get dressed. Daddy is waiting.
Collin: Daddy is waiting. (then he finally comes over so I can get him dressed).

Later today when I picked him up from school, he asked me on the way to the car, "how are you doing, Mommy?". I responded that I was doing good now that I got to see him. When we got home, he asked me the same thing when I was cooking dinner. I told him that I was hungry. He said, "Me too. I want cranberries" (which is really gummy fruit). They must have been teaching this at school today or last week.

Trip to Mema's Yesterday

Yesterday morning, Mimi and Dustin came over to Collin's house to load up in the car for the 2-hour ride to Mema's house. It was MLK day so school was closed and it had been too long since the last time we saw her. Dustin and Mimi were great at entertaining Collin on the way there and that was a HUGE help to Mommy. When we arrived, Samatha, Collin's 5-year old cousin, ran out to greet Collin. Apparently, she had been excited about seeing Collin for the last 3 days and could not wait to see him. Samantha and her two older brothers, Brian and Joey, live with their mom at Mema's house. Dustin was happy that his older cousins were there and even more happy that they had a Wii to play with. It took about 15 minutes for Collin to warm up to Samantha's enthusiasm, but once he did, they were inseparable. He followed her around and wanted to do everything she did including eat when she did and climb on all of the furniture if she did. When she had to go potty, he followed her in there and did not understand what she meant by she needed her privacy. He stood there anyway. They played outside for a little while with the balls, climbed on some of the farm equipment and pet the donkeys. He was not fond of the big dogs but did eventually pet them later in the day. That's HUGE since he typically screams whenever he sees a dog (cat, bird....no matter the size).

Later in the afternoon, Samatha came running back to her room where most of us were to tell us that someone was there. To our surprise, Lisa and Timmy showed up. We were all happy to see them, especially Collin.

We ended up staying at Mema's for about 7 hours before heading home. Collin did not take a nap so I expected that he would sleep most of the way home, which he did. He stayed up for about an hour after getting home and then went to bed with no problem. He slept until his usual time of past 7am. Whew! I was hoping he would not wake up too early. I needed some rest too.

Great family day...

We got up this morning and had "c'mon rolls" as Collin calls them, rested and then went for a long walk in the neighborhood. Collin got tired for a little while, so I carried him on my shoulders. Then, it was time to either race Mommy or play hide and seek with Daddy. We raced, played hide and seek, and then raced some more until Collin found a huge seed that he called a ball and wanted to throw. We spent some time throwing the seed until we made it home to get the football and throw it in the front yard. Even Mommy played with the boys. That ended with Collin wanting to throw the ball in the tree to get it stuck rather than throwing the ball back and forth (see the New Year's Day post when he wanted to do the same thing). He thinks it's more fun to get the ball unstuck from the tree rather than throwing it.

We then rested, had lunch, rested and went for a hour bike ride. Collin rode in the trailer and FINALLY took about a 30 minute nap. He is just not napping on the weekends anymore. At school, he naps...but is usually one of the first one's up. Anyway, after the bike ride, Mommy tired to scrapbook but was unsuccessful because Collin kept wanting to "play with Mommy's stickers. I want a sticker!". Ugh!...So, Mommy gave up and played with Collin until it was dinner time. He is already in bed tonight which is about an hour earlier than usual....he better not get up early. hahaha

We plan to go to Mema's tomorrow for the day with cousin Dustin and Mimi since school is closed. Should be fun.

Blue, Blue, Blue

That is Collin's response whenever I asked him what color something is. I should be happy I guess since this response used to be White....and now it's at least another color. I have been working with him on his colors for about 6 months now. He seems to be "studying" them with me when we read books or work on them.....but still retains "blue" and no other colors. Guess I need to fire the color teacher....hahaha.

Saturday activities

I would have thought for sure that Collin would have slept in this morning (now Sunday morning as I write this) after his day yesterday.....but nope, he is already stirring:

We woke up and had breakfast that consisted of Rice Krispies cereal. He likes to listen to the cereal make noises, eat it and then drink the milk from the bowl. We then wrapped the presents for Hannah and Hayden's birthday party in the morning. It was Rock Star themed. Collin was mainly interested in playing with Hayden's trucks and cars instead of mingling with the 30 other kids (not kidding, it was insane!!). There was a point in time where he actually did use his toy microphone to sing a little when the music was on. He loved his Rock Star necklace and sticker he got as a party favor.

We then went home thinking he would nap a little before we went to Saige's house to play. Nope, he only napped on the way home which was about 15 minutes. I can sometimes transfer him from the car to his bed, but that did not work this time. He popped up from my arms and said "read me a book?". I knew it was all over! He was not napping anymore....and did not for the rest of the day.

We then went to Saige's house to play with her since we had not seen her since New Year's Day....way too long for these buddies. When Collin arrived, Saige greeted him with a loud "Collin!!!". I guess she was happy to see him. They played awhile in her house cooking me eggs, talking on the phone, getting the mail and keeping Saige's sister, Linden, out of the house. Saige showed Collin how to crawl in and out of the window instead of using the door. Now you know why they are great buddies.

I was talking to Saige's mom and noticed that it was quiet. The kids were not in the house so I thought, "Great, where did they go?" Remember the last time these two were too quiet when they were together last? They were found exploring my shower! This time, I found them at the table behind Saige's play house playing with the Legos. At least they were not in the shower again!

After all of that playing, it was time for a snack of hot dog, blueberries, strawberries and potatoes. Collin was really only interested in two hot dog bites and lots of strawberries. He tried a bean that Linden was eating and spit it back out. At least I keep trying to give him new things so he won't be a bread, pizza, chicken nugget, fries, and fruit guy much longer.

We left Saige's house to meet Daddy at our house to pick up dinner (Escalante's Mexican) and bring it over to Mimi and Pappy's house. Pappy hurt his back and has been in the the house a few days resting and recovering. We thought he would enjoy some Collin relief......and he did. I had packed Collin's PJs and Monkey so we could bathe him while over there hoping he would sleep on the way home and then go straight to bed. Collin walked in with his bag and told Mimi that "Monkey is in a bad mood". OMG!!! That is too funny. Collin was in a really cranky mood today (no nap, remember?) so he must have heard me telling Daddy that he was in one of those moods. I don't think I used the phrase "in a bad mood" but must have at some point. Collin took the Monkey, wrapped him up in a blanket and put him on a chair to take a nap while we ate dinner. Afterwards, we all went to the Den to watch Collin ride a rockin' horse and then throw a ball or stuffed animal to each of us. His aim is only getting better and better. Now, he needs to work on catching...which he really makes no attempt at doing right now.

Under Table = Poop

Collin is taking after his Daddy in more ways than I can count. When Grandma Holmes was visiting us for the holidays, she told us the story about Daddy learning to be potty-trained. He was great at peeing in the toilet but did not want to go poop in there. She was not sure why. She said that she knew when he was pooping though because he would crawl under any table that was near and sit under it when he was either pooping or had just finished. We, of course, thought this was funny. That was until Collin started to do the same thing. He is potty-trained at school and most of the days when he is at home....except for pooping in the toilet. I have watched him closer now and observed that when he goes poop in his big boy underwear, it's right after he just hid under a table.....little stinker! (literally). I hope he is not doing this because he heard us talking about Daddy. At least I know when I need to change his underwear and not have to discover the mess later.

Potty-training is fun!

Get Out!!!

I wrote this post already and the darn Internet connection crashed on me. Here is goes again from memory:

Collin is very particular about how he wants things including how takes care of him when it's time to start getting ready for bed. Most of the time, it's Mommy if she is home. If Daddy tries to come in when he is in the bath or even when we are reading books, he looks at Daddy and says "Daddy, get out!" while pointing his pointer finger at him. This, of course, hurts Daddy's feelings so he does not leave at first. Collin only repeats his order of get out....so Daddy does eventually leave.

This changes if Mimi is over. She rules and Mommy is then told to get out. Trying it again later when it's story time, I am still told to get out. He has a really short memory because this is all forgotten in the morning when he is hungry and orders waffles for breakfast. This is his standard order now days.

Chuck E Cheese is Awesome!!!!

Today after picking up Collin from school, I decided we would go to Chuck E Cheese instead of going home. This was brave of me because he had underwear on and I did not bring my Collin bag that has extra diapers. We got there, ordered pizza and then started to play the games. This is when I looked up and was surprised to see Mimi standing there. Daddy told her where we would be and she showed up after work. We were both glad to see her. She ended up staying the entire time we were there.

Collin really liked the game where he had to scoop up the bubbles and put them in a jar. He was not quite sure how to do it but that did not matter much to him. Then he was willing to switch to another game when he saw the one that had basket balls. He was too short to be able to throw them anywhere near the hoop, so we were a team. I held him up while he threw the balls. He made 3 baskets out of the 3 games he played. He could not figure out the skee ball game because he wanted to throw the balls and not roll them. This is when he discovered the tickets coming out of the game and wanted to put them in his pockets. After one attempt at skee ball, he rode a mechanical horse and then it was time to eat pizza. After pizza, he wanted to climb on the equipment that lead to the ceiling but he was too short to climb up the next step. After I convinced him to get out, he wanted to ride the merry-go-round. I KNEW he would not like it but let him try it anyway. Yep, as soon as it started, he started to cry and freak out until I got him off the horse. He told me he did not like it and kept saying that until it was out of sight. This is when I spotted Chuck E Cheese walking around and thought that Collin would be OK with seeing him but also would not be surprised if he started to scream. As soon as he saw him, he DID start to scream and wanted to leave. This was actually perfect because it was getting close to the time to go anyway.

Sorry no pictures. The camera is in the diaper bag....with the diapers.

Miscellaneous

Just some random observations about Collin:

With all of the medicine we have had to take in the last month, I hope he has not turned into a hypochondriac. Anytime anyone coughs, sneezes or blows their nose, he says they need medicine. If he scratches himself, he needs medicine and a band aid. solves everything.

He has picked up saying "oh my gosh" when he drops something or if it's difficult to work (like opening a door knob). I am not sure where he learned this from. We don't think either one of us use that phrase or use it that much....but I am certainly going to pay more attention.

Now that it's really cold out, he is wearing long sleeves during the day and at night. He does not like long sleeves or anything on his fore arms....especially the right arm. Most of the, he pushes up the sleeve of the right arm even after I adjust the sleeve by pulling it back down for him. This is the same with his PJs. When he wakes in the morning, one of the first things he does is push at least one sleeve up.

If he really wants something, his voice goes up as he is asking for it. Frequently, he is also shaking his head up and down as if to say "please say yes".

He loves to play in the bubbles in the kitchen sink that are there for hand washing. This might be the ONLY time he does not push his sleeves up when needed. We went through 2 shirts yesterday because the arms were soaking wet. Yes, I know....don't let him do it......but it was entertainment on a very cold day today.

He is still potty trained during the day. W are too scared to try at night.....or when we know we will be running lots of errands. Sounds messy to me.

Cool Glasses

We went to the pediatric ophthalmologist today to have Collin's eyes checked out since they have been bothering him. I figured that the doctor would be using lots of lights and other instruments so I made sure that Monkey came with us. He could be used to show Collin what the doctor would be doing to him.....turns out this was a good thing.

Collin did great during the appointment for the most part. He did not like the drops that dilated his eyes and was happy to go back out to play with the toys. He did not know we were just waiting to go back in though. We went back in and the doc used lots of props which kept Collin's attention off what the doctor was doing. When it came time to rest his chin on the machine that takes a deeper look, this took some time to get him to keep still long enough for the doctor to see what he needed to see. He kept telling us "don't like it" and moving his chin off the chin rest. Even after all of this, when the doctor was leaving the room, Collin ran up behind him to give him a hug. The doctor turned around and knelt near the ground so Collin could wrap his arms around and give a hug. What a sweet little boy!

Since his eyes were dilated, he had to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes. I asked for two pair and put the first pair on Monkey. He thought that was funny and wanted to know why he was not wearing his. It was as easy as that! He wore them all the way to the car and fell asleep in them on the way home.

When Daddy got home later, he had to show him.

Collin is growing up and becoming a little person

Yep Collin is getting older and starting to make decisions. So now before we do anything we give him options and he decides what he wants to do. This is great except when there is only one option as he does not understand this and gets frustrated. He can talk pretty well mostly in complete sentences and communicates his thoughts pretty well. But not everything trasnlates the way his brain is thinking it and so he gets mad.
Night time is the most fun as he really hates going to bed. As mentioned before he knows that bathtime leads to brushing teeth then to bed. SO when you mention bath time he goes bonkers but the real show starts when it is time to climb into bed.
This all said I am amazed whenever he makes a decision and it is usually a good one. But man when he does not get what he wants it is a real barn burner. Laura is best at working him through this and I am learning the best thing to do is ask him questions and provide two answers that he can choose from. Whenever I do this it becomes his choice and then he can fight me.

By The Way, I also think he fights me more because of the Man thing and he is jealous of me with his Mommie but we knew this was coming.

Making Dinner

Collin is self-sufficient when it comes to dinner. Tonight, we were on the couch visiting with friends that stopped by. He turned to me and said "eat" and then pushed me off the couch. He then went to the pantry and wanted me to get him a snack. I told him he needed to get his stool and get his own snack.....so he did. He got his stool from the laundry room, put it under the cabinet door of the pantry with his snacks and got some cranberries.

After he ate the cranberries, he was still hungry and wanted me to help him with something else to eat. I again told him to get his stool. He opened the freezer, pulled out a waffle, used the stool to put it in the toaster and then pushed the lever down on the toaster to heat the waffle. When it was done, he wanted my help to get it out of the toaster because it was "hot". I pulled it out and he wanted it on a plate "to cool down". I was watching the entire time and could not believe it.

No More Monkey's Jumping on the Bed

As I have mentioned before, Collin and I sing songs in the car. It's been awhile since we have sung the Monkey's Jumping on the Bed song or even read the book. I was trying to get him to take a nap today so I thought I would crawl in my bed and pretend to take a nap.....not going to fool this 2-year old but I thought I would try. Collin followed me into the room and started to climb on the bed by pulling on the comforter. He must not have had a good enough grip because he slipped and landed on his bottom. I thought for sure I would hear him cry but instead, he started climbing back up on the bed and said, "mama called the doctor and the doctor said no more monkey's jumping on the bed". He was smiling when he said this. I busted out laughing and gave him a huge hug. Nope, we did not take a nap.

Mommy, the boy is on a scooter!

Collin loves to look out the front windows of our new house.

There has been a lot of activity in the street and the neighbor's houses the last two weeks because of the holidays. This morning, there were boys riding their scooters in the street. Collin came and got me to tell me that "the boy is on a scooter!" I was surprised he remembered what this was. There is a scooter in a Christmas book we have been reading the last few weeks which is where he must have remembered this from. He then asked if we could go outside......and we did. He grabbed form my hand and started walking towards the neighbor's house that is in the cul-de-sac portion of our street. Three boys live there and the oldest was the one on a scooter. Once we were at the driveway, Collin became shy and stood there watching the boys. They were great at stopping what they were doing and coming over to Collin. They were quickly able to get him to play with the basketball, throw the football some (he threw it too hard from them so they changed to helping their daddy wash the car.....good job Collin, maybe we have a football player in the making).

Once Collin saw that the scooter was abandoned, he got on it and tried to make it go. But standing on it with both feet was not going to make that happen as this picture shows. He got frustrated and yelled out a little because it would not move. I told him to watch the other boy use his scooter by pushing off with his foot. I had to show him by holding his left off the scooter and on the ground. That's all it took. He figured it out after that and rode that scooter until it was time to leave.

I was impressed when he got to the end of the driveway and turned around because he said "there are cars in the street". There were not any but he knows that he is not allowed to go in the street without holding one of our hands.

He was not too happy with me when it was time to leave. I could tell it was nap time because he was getting cranky when the scooter would not go over the cracks in the driveway. To hold off a meltdown, I figured we needed to go. I am sure we will be back at there hours MANY times in the next few years. Didn't I say three boys lived there? ;)

Happy New Year!!!

Today was an awesome day!!!! Mommy invited a bunch of my friends over to our new house to play and make crafts together. Some of my friends were not able to make it because they had some infection or virus in the ear. At least, that is what Mommy called it. My friends that could make it were:

Melia

Matthew

Eli

Alex

Isa

John

Cade

Dane

Finn

Once most of my friends were at my house, we started gluing things together, coloring and making masks during what Mommy called Craft Time. Here are a few pictures of us having fun. Daddy actually stayed at the table the longest and make a mask, fence with trees and a house out of the Popsicle sticks. Who knew Daddy was so artistic. Then, everyone played with my toys which I did not like at first. They were my toys and I just got some of them for Christmas. I learned to be OK with this eventually when I saw that my friends were just playing with them and not taking them home.

Eli wanted to play outside with the ball so, instead of her playing by herself, we all went outside to play with her. It was a little cold but we did not care. I kept yelling at Daddy to throw the ball in the tree after I saw it get suck in the branches one time. When we got tired of playing with the ball, then we raced each other. Some of my friends were getting cold so we went back inside to play with the train set Matthew was playing with. Melia, Isa and I wanted to run in circles in the house (see the blog post Mommy did just a few days ago) instead of playing with the train. I ran into Isa a few times on accident. She is tough because she got right back up.

After everyone left except Melia and her mommy, we put on some music and danced to several songs. I LOVE to dance! I liked that everyone was dancing and not just staring at me doing it. Melia is a good dancer too and fun to play with. We started to run around the couch and dance at the same time. That was really fun. Melia was getting tired and had to go.

Mommy, Daddy and I cleaned up the house, I took a bath and then we played in my playroom until I my eyes got really heavy. Daddy was getting tired to so we went to bed in Daddy's bed. I thought this was going to be fun until I realized Mommy was not coming. I only cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year is as much fun as last year was.