Crying Wolf......or "I have to poop"

Collin has learned that if he let's us know that he has to go poop, that we stop what we are doing and run him to the bathroom. At first, he did really have to go to the potty. Now, he has learned that if he announces that he has to poop, that we stop what we are doing and pay attention to him. Many times this past weekend, that's just what happened. Collin would let me know that he had to go, so I led him to the nearest potty. When we got there, he said he did not have to go. At first, I thought he was just scared or changed his mind. After a few times of this, I thought he might be doing this to get attention. I don't know for sure....but to play it safe, I did make him sit on the potty every time just in case he was not kidding. I was not interested in cleaning up that mess.

Test Drive

I am leasing my current vehicle which needs to be turned in on April 15th. Three years ago when I started the lease, I knew the timing of turning it in would be bad for me since I am a tax consultant. I told myself then that I would deal with it latter. Well, I am dealing with it now. After two weeks of test driving cars on my way home from work and researching online for SUVs I thought I would like, I narrowed it down to two: a Chevy Equinox and a Volvo XC60. Chris talked the Chevy dealership into letting me drive the car for a few hours Saturday so I could see what it would be like to have it in real life circumstances.

I arrived at the dealership and switched out the car seat from my current car to the Equinox. Collin and I then went for a ride. I was driving the car back home to see what it would be like to back it up in our narrow driveway. On the way back, Collin kept telling me that he did not like it. I finally figured out that he was saying he did not like the car. Well great. I was not going to let a 2-year old tell me which car I should buy but, if he hated it, that would not work either. I figured out that the backseat is further away from the front seats so he could not kick the back of my car while he was in his car seat. He hated it, I LOVED it! He also kept telling me to "show me the street". I did not know what he meant until I put the car in reverse. There is a back up camera on the screen in the middle of the front console....which is directly in front of Collin. He wanted me to show him the picture of the street. At least he was paying attention.

After driving it to our house, to the bike shop so Daddy could see it and then to Saige's house, I decided this is the one I was going to buy for several reasons that I will not bore you with here. So, I am now the owner of a 2010 Chevy Equinox.













We now have a white house and two white Chevy cars. Welcome to suburbia!

Great Sunday!

It was too nice of a day to stay inside today. After running a few errands which included going to the grocery store, Collin and Daddy worked outside in the yard. You already know that this is not Daddy's favorite thing to do but, when you have a helper like Collin it can be entertaining. Here are Daddy and Collin filling back in a hole created in the front yard where a tree was taken out. It was dead from the harsh winter we had.












We then ate lunch on the back patio which we have been doing a lot lately since the weather has gotten warmer. We thought nap time would happen after lunch but Collin was not interested at all. I knew we were going to the neighborhood Easter egg hunt and party. A toddler without a nap at a party can be disastrous so I was really hoping he would take a nap instead of falling asleep on the way there. He did neither.

We arrived to the egg hunt just in time to line up. Learning from yesterday, we stood to the side so Collin would not have to compete with so many other kids. This worked because he did get a few eggs this time as you can see.





He really wanted to pet the real bunny that was there but changed his mind both time we got close to it. Later, Daddy held the bunny while Collin pet it. That worked out great. There were plenty of snacks after the hunt. Daddy and Collin somewhat shared an ice cream but Collin wanted his own.














While there, Collin let me know he had to pee and started his pee pee dance. I knew he really meant it and thought we would have to go in the woods. Not knowing if this would work, I had to try instead of letting him pee in his underwear. When we got to a distance I thought was far enough away, I told him that we were going to pee in the woods. He did...and loved it. He ran back to Daddy who was talking to another parent and announced, "I went pee pee in the woods Daddy!" He was SO proud of himself.

We all had a great time. Here is what Collin looked like when we got home. He went straight to a bath that Daddy had ready for him.

After his bath, Collin asked if he could pee in the woods. Look what I started!

He is doing great with the potty training. He even went poop at Saige's house yesterday which was a shocker for me. I know some of you might not be interested in his "movement" but it's a BIG deal to go poop in the potty....especially at someone elses house.

TMI Collin!

Potty training has had more laughs than I thought it would. Don't get me wrong...there are MANY times that it can be frustrating....for us and Collin.

The last time the family was over, Mimi was helping Collin go potty. When he finished, he asked Pappy, who was sitting on the couch, "Do you shake it Pappy?" Pappy did not know what Collin was asking so he replied "shake what?" Collin just repeated the question and then said "I shake it....and Daddy shakes it." By this time, Mimi walks in and figures out what Collin is asking Pappy. Collin was trying to find out if Pappy shakes "it" after he goes potty just like Collin does. He learned this from watching Daddy. OMG!!!! I thought this was hilarious when I heard this story repeated to me.

I might not have done it justice or left some of the details out but had to post this one.

Egg Hunting Practice and Day with Saige

This morning, we met Saige and her mommy at the clubhouse in their subdivision for an Easter egg hunt. Collin and Saige were lined up and eager and ready to put the eggs in the basket that they could see laying in the grass. When it was time to start picking up the eggs, there were so many kids, that Collin only managed to pick up 2 eggs and put them in his basket. They did not stay in there long because the kids around him decided they would look better in their basket instead. He was fine that he did not have any eggs when the hunt was over.

We went back to Saige's house to play. The kids had a great time together. In the early evening when we were making dinner, the kids were in the other room laughing. When I walked into the room, this is what I saw:

I am sure that Collin started this since he LOVES to jump on our couch at home. I thought it was clever of the two of them to at least put pillows down on the floor instead of just jumping on a bare ground. We added more and they did this for at least 20 minutes. There was some crying because of someone landing too close to the other or accidentally kicking the other person while trying to get up. Even Linden had a good time watching.....and was not spared a kick in the head. She recovered quickly.

Leftovers

Like his Daddy, Collin does not usually like leftovers unless it's a bread product. Tonight sure did surprise me then when he ate mainly leftovers. We went to the park after Daddy dropped him off at home. I was hoping this would burn some energy and he would want to go to bed earlier. His bedtime in the last week or so has pushed until past 1opm most nights which was killing me. I tried everything and was determined today that he would go to bed earlier.

After the park, I asked him what he wanted to eat. He said a hot dog. He had one yesterday for lunch but I was not going to argue tonight. While I was heating up the hot dog, Collin was eating his cantaloupe and grapes leftover from his school snack today. He ate most of the hot dog and noticed the leftover Pop Tart in the frig from breakfast this morning so he asked for it and then ate it. He then saw the applesauce that was leftover from Friday or Saturday, I forget. He ate all of that. He wanted a bite of my leftover lasagna but decided against it when I put it to his mouth. He drank the leftover milk in a glass from this morning (it was in the frig too). He asked for strawberries, which I did cut up some for him, but he was getting full. It was about time!!!

Potty Training Funnies

Potty training can be funny too....at least I do find myself wanting to laugh through most of this. For instance, Collin is getting annoyed now when someone asks or checks to see if he has gone in his underwear. If you ask him if he has to go potty, he will say "No, I already went at school" even if it's a Saturday or not otherwise a school day. I do take him to the potty in public so he will reply later that he already went at the store....even though that was over 5 hours ago.

If you check with him too much of if he is just not in the mood, he will tell you in a stern voice, "don't check my pants Mommy!" if I am walking toward him and just touch the back of his pants or sniff around him. I would feel the same way if someone was doing that to me all day long.

Last week when he was doing the I-gotta-go dance, Mimi and I were taking him back and forth to the bathroom to try and go potty ( mainly Mimi that night). After coming back into the room that he just left before trying to go potty, he would announce "false alarm" which made us laugh. He did eventually go. After that night, he has said false alarm a few more times.

OK, where did he learn this from? Speak up!

I was telling Collin this morning that we needed to change out of his night underwear because it was really full. I showed him how full by slapping the front of his Pull-Up. He then turned around, pulled his pants down a little, shook his hips and said "shake your bon-bon, shake your bon-bon".

OMG!!! Who taught him that?!?!? It was too funny and a little scary that someone was repeating the words to a Ricky Martin sound in my house.

Grocery Store Fun

Like lots of Mommies, I do have to allow extra time when I am planning to go to the grocery store with Collin. It takes longer to get him dressed and in the car. Yesterday, I told him we were going to the store and that he needed to go potty. He stopped what he was doing and then ran off to his potty. I thought, "wow, that was easy". He has gone on his own before, even pulling back up his pants but does need my help to wash his hands. This time, as I was walking down the hall to bathroom, I heard him say "oh no". Great, what just happened. I quickly found out. He was standing on his stool facing the back of the toilet like he does when he has to pee.....except his pants were still up. He was in a hurry and forgot to pull down his pants and underwear. Change no. 2 of the day.....then we were finally off.

When we got there, he talked about driving the car which is the grocery cart with a car in front. We arrived, and he picked out the color he wanted which was red (choices of red, blue and green). He usually does pick out the red unless it's gone. He was doing great sitting in the car until he saw me pick out some wrapping paper for the baby shower we were going to in a few hours (yep, hard to plan further ahead these days). He wanted to see it and got out of the cart. Well, he started to be a boy after this point. He was walking behind me and I heard him making shooting noises. I turned around and this is what I saw. He was "shooting" me with the wrapping paper. These days, everything is turned into a gun....including wrapping paper.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Collin is proudly wearing his leprechaun hat he made at school today. He had a great time with Daddy after school throwing the ball at the end of our street. He had gone over to the neighbor's house to see if JP, Max and Luke could play but they had already taken baths and were in for the night. When I came home, we went to the bike shop to close up and then went to dinner at a new Thai place in the area. The only thing green were the peas in Collin's fried rice.....which he did pick out.

Egg Bombs

We have small plastic eggs for Collin to Easter egg hunt in the yard with (which we have not done yet). Last night, I thought it would be fun to hide them in his playroom. He had fun finding the 18 eggs around the room. I did have to give him a few hints of where to find the ones that were a little harder to find because they blended in. They were hard to find in that room because the eggs were as brightly colored as the toys in the room so I then hid them in the guest room (it's Mimi's room right now because she spent the night last night to help me while Daddy is out of town in Atlanta). Collin had fun finding the eggs hidden in the shutters on the window, on the floor, in the plant and on the bed. He wanted me to hide them again so I started to do so. I did not finish because Collin thought it would be more fun to start throwing the eggs at me or the wall. When the eggs hit the wall, they made a loud popping noise so he wanted to do that more and more. I was able to get him to stop so I could quickly pick them up and move onto something else. I did get a few egg bombs thrown my way before I finished picking them all up. That's a boy for ya!

Snap crakle pops rule!

Collin loves to eat snap crackle pops (Rice Krispies). We pour the cereal into the bowl, Collin leans over the bowl while the milk is poured in so he can hear the cereal make the noise. He will either eat one bowl or up to four bowls of this cereal. When he is close to eating most of it, he does ask for help to gather the rest of the little "pops" on the spoon for him. He then drinks the milk from the bowl just like Daddy. Here is a picture from this morning. Like the hair?

Potty Training Questions

I have had several questions about Collin and how he does it for potty training so I thought I would include the answers here. Since we started this several months ago:

• He pulls down and up his underwear (still calls them panties) and pants himself
• He wear underwear that has a slight pad in the front and underneath so that if he leaks a little, it does not get his pants wet. They are blue, white or have cars on them. He does not have a preference so far.
• Prefers to stand up to pee at home and in public. At home we have stools everywhere. In public, he knows it's time to stand on the top of my shoes so he is tall enough to use the public restroom. He will usually say "Mommy, I need to stand on your feet" as we enter the stall.
• Wants to flush
• Does not use an "adapter" for the seat
• Will wash his hands without reminders, majority of the time.
• He does wear a pull-up at night but I call them "night time undies" so he will not think he is wearing a diaper. Not sure this makes a difference in this process but I thought I would try it.
• I have not seen him hide under a table lately when he needs to poop. He now just stands there or does tell me that he needs to poop. We are still working on this one but making some progress.

This weekend was great as far as he telling me when he needed to go instead of me asking or telling him that we are going. He is funny when he tells me he has to go though. He will say "Mommy, I need to pee" and then say "hurry, hurry!" because this is what my reaction was to him when we first started to do this. That puts a smile on my face.

I know he is having fun with all of this. Yesterday on our way to the bathroom, he was pulling down in pants and underwear slightly in anticipation of going potty. He stopped walking, turned around with his bottom facing me and said "Mommy, look at my butt" and then turned back around and laughed. Yep, he caught me laughing at this but I had to quickly tell him that he does not need to do that. I can see the teacher not thinking this is too funny.....and wonder which one of us taught him this. Not me!!!! Not Daddy either!

Yardwork and friends

Collin had another full day today. We started by going to the local kolache place to have breakfast. Collin ate an entire cinnamon twist by himself. This was the first time I had to take him outside of a restaurant to get him to settle down. He was yelling at us because he was not getting his way or because we did not understand him. He did stop crying and calmed down.

We then went to the grocery store. Daddy got to experience Collin in the car cart. Collin likes the steering wheel and honking at people. If he sees something he wants, he does escape temporarily to get it and put it in the cart. I do have to look things over when we are checking out because I have found things in the cart that I did not put there.

We got home, unloaded groceries and then it was time to gather the leaves in the front and back yard. Daddy hates to do this but having Collin help makes it a little better. Collin did help as much as he could. He did use the little rake to rake up some leaves but he took lots of breaks to run through them. He also helped me pull a few weeds....until he found two mini-Frisbee's to throw into the tree. Remember, Collin likes to get things stuck in the tree for us to get them out. Don't ask me why......

He and I took a nap together in my bed. I did sneak out the last 45 minutes so I could get us ready to see Terry and her daughter, Melia. When Collin woke up, we did head to their house. The kids did not take long to warm up to each other. They playing inside before we walked to the local park. Collin played in the sand while Melia swung. They both ended up in the "monkey grass" playing with the acorns. Why....who knows......but they did seem to have a good time doing this. We were getting hungry so we ate at a local pizza place that was kid-friendly and then came back to Melia's house to play more. I put Collin in PJs thinking he would be so tired that he would sleep on the way home so I could just transfer him to bed. Did not happen. I did read a few books to him to get him in the "sleepy mode" again but that did not work. He said he was hungry, thirsty, that his tummy hurt, he wanted to take a bath....anything to not have to rock before getting into bed.

Potty training is still going well for the most part. He did wear underwear the entire weekend except while at the zoo (but he did go potty several times while we were there). He had two accidents that I recall. One time, he could not get his pants down fast enough and the other was during his nap (remember where he slept today?)

Zoo, new friends and cousin Timmy

We met some friends at the zoo this morning. Ms Michelle and her boys, Brady and Tanner. I used to work with Michelle over 10 years ago but still keep in touch with her. The guys got along great! They had fun following and copying each other.....and sometimes even getting each other in trouble. We went to the children's section of the zoo first to pet the animals before seeing the main part of the zoo. They all liked the lion, elephants, giraffes and the seal at the end of our trip there. We were lucky that the boys did not want to ride the train outside of the zoo. We were ready to eat and for them to take a nap.

After the zoo, we met for lunch because the mommies were HUNGRY. The boys were too even though they had some snacks while at the zoo. Don't they look tired? hahaha They had so much fun that we are looking forward to the next time we get together.

We came home to relax before heading to the bike shop to bring Daddy something to eat. Then, we went to the bookstore next to the shop to pick out an Easter book. We had to hurry home because Aunt Lisa and cousin Timmy were coming over to play and have dinner. The boys had fun sliding on the little slide in the back yard and playing with the balls. Just as boys do, they both ended up with some scratches that we did not see until later when they took a bath together.

Collin had such a full, fun day that I thought he would go to bed earlier tonight. Nope, he was in bed around 9:45pm. He did his best to distract me from reading books so he could then go to bed ("Mommy, we need to wash the clothes. Mommy, I need a drink. I am hungry. Let's go see Daddy). I cannot blame him for trying.

Eyes Update

Collin's eyes do seem to be doing much better. He is not complaining as much about them as he was before. We did have a follow up appointment with the doctor today that needed to be rescheduled until May 7th.

Mimi and Collin

Mimi has been helping me this week with Collin while Daddy has been in DC. She was sharing with me yesterday some of the things Collin did. Here is what she said:

When I went into Collin's room this morning, he was sitting in his bed putting a cover on Monkey that laying on his pillow. Collin said Monkey was not feeling well and needed medicine. I asked what was the matter. Collin said it was Monkey's throat. Just in case Collin was feeling bad, too, I asked if his throat was hurting and he said no.

Later that afternoon when I picked him up from his school, I commented how the wind was blowing the leaves on the parking lot area. Collin said the wind was blowing his snack bag that was on his arm (he insists on carry his bag in and out of school). Collin threw it as if it were the wind doing it. In the car with Mommy on the phone, Collin said his snack bag was in the street, then at school and other places when Mommy asked about the bag. When I asked in between each of the answers, he said it was in the car and laughed. He likes to joke and fits in well with the rest of the family.

I loved the Monkey story because he does take care of Monkey like we take care of him. Monkey has had waffles to eat, had his teeth brushed, and does need to rock before going to bed sometimes. Thank goodness Monkey had not had to potty or need a bath with Collin. Anyway, Collin has told me before that Monkey's tummy hurt. When I asked more questions, I did find out that Collin's tummy was hurting. At least he is letting us know somehow about how he feels at the moment.

Collin - School Update

This afternoon, I met with Collin's teacher to discuss his Progress Report. She said she sees improvement in all areas. He does get along with his friends and is developing as she would expect for someone his age. She said that he is working very hard at following the rules and directions. She is working with him to use his words instead of his hands but that this is typical for his age.

All good except potty-training. He was doing great but she had not seen much improvement lately. He does go pee in the potty but does not poop in it. He rarely had accidents during nap but has had a few lately. We need to be better about making him wear his underwear and not a diaper at home and on the weekends.

Last night, I did work with him on pooping in the potty. I tried reading books to him while he was on the potty or playing in his playroom that is next to a bathroom. Anytime I saw that he looked like he might be pooping, I took him to the bathroom. No success. He told me that he was scared of sitting on the potty and that he hurt. I asked where and he pointed to his bottom. Either, he was tyring to get out of sitting on the potty or his tummy/bottom really did hurt. What he does not know is that we are going to try again tonight.

2 hours later.......

Well, well, well. Collin must have snuck a peek at his blog and did not want it to end the way it did above. After dinner (typical dinner of not much and not much interest), we playing in the TV room. He did say once that he had to go pee pee and he did on the potty with very little help from me. I asked him about poo poo and told him not to go in his undies. He said he did not have to. About 20 minutes later, I noticed Collin was starting his "poop face" which means he was standing still (at least he is not hiding under the table anymore while he poops), beginning to pull his shoulders up and his face was turning red. I grabbed him up and took him to the nearest potty (all bathrooms in the house have stools ready to go). After a few small cries, he did go poop on the potty for the first time!!! I gave him a high-five and told him he was a big boy. After he got cleaned up and we were sitting on the couch eating his "cranberries" (reward for pooping on the potty), I asked him if it was scary pooping on the potty. Before answering, I could tell he was thinking about it before he responded "no". Maybe this got him over his fear.

Today is another day....but at least he is headed in the right direction now. I heard from other mommies that it's the first poop on the potty that is the hardest for toddlers when the are potty training.

Let's eat!!!! Just kidding....hahaha

Mini - Me?

I am raising a jokester like me. Collin has a sense of humor already and I can see both of our influence in this. Here are some of the things Collin did just yesterday:

- I asked him to give me the sock he had in his hand. He walked up to me like he was going to give it to me, held out the sock and then quickly pulled it backed when I reached for it. Stinker!

- I painted my toenails yesterday while he watched. After I finished, I told him that my toes were wet...do not touch. He pointed his finger to one of my toes like he was going to touch it and then pulled it away fast. When I stood up, I saw him raise one of his feet, look up at me and then put his foot down REALLY close to my toe. He then started to laugh. From this, I knew he missed on purpose and thought it was funny.

- He wipes my kisses off and laughs

- He knows he is two years old but holds up five on his hand and says he is three.

Just Clowing Around

Here are two really great pictures from this morning when we went to the rodeo. We all had a great time.

Holy Cow!!

The family went to the rodeo this morning to see the animals. Collin was excited about it because he ran into my room while I was getting ready and told me that "we are going to see the cows and chickens! I gotta eat my Pop Tart".

The first thing we did when we got to the rodeo was to check out the petting zoo. Collin slightly afraid of the animals, so Daddy took him in and that was better. He enjoying pointing out the animals but did not want to touch them. I saw the pony rides and did not think Collin would want to do it because of the pony's size. I asked him if he wanted to and I was right, "nope". Maybe he would warm up and want to ride them later. The next stop was to check out the cow that was being milked. He thought that was really interesting and wanted to hang out there for a little while. We then found the baby animals. He saw baby cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. Daddy and Collin checked out the adult pigs that were nearby and then we headed to pet the bunnies. He did like this and got a bunny pin. It did not stay pinned long to his overalls.

We had lunch and then checked out the outside part of the rodeo in the Kid Adventures section. The first stop was to see the Mutton Bustin' which was little kids riding on the back of the sheep. He really liked watching this especially when the sheep would jump in the air after the kid would fall of its back. He then checked out Fun on the Farm where he picked an egg, planted seeds, picked oranges, milked a cow, then sold his goods to buy something at the market. None of the items were real but he really did have fun doing it...especially carrying around the basket. Here are just a few pictures from this morning. Guess who is asleep right now? You are partially correct, both Collin AND Daddy.

Collin Bird

Collin is fasinated with bird's nests. On the way home from school the other day, he was looking for them in the trees while in the car. Mimi said he did the same thing when she picked him up too so they walked around the front yard looking for them in the trees after getting home instead of going into the house.

After his bath on another night, Collin wanted to lay down wrapped in a towel on his monkey mat. Then he wanted his bed pillow, blanket and monkey. He said he was in his nest. When it was time to read books, he searched and searched for a book on his book shelf. I asked what he was doing and he said "looking for a nest". Mimi was there and helped look through most of his books trying to find a picture of a bird's nest. We actually had a few, thank goodness!!! "Are you my Mother" was one of them which happens to be one he really likes. That night, he went to sleep in his "nest" and not his bed.

This has been going on for at least a week now. Wonder why his is suddenly interested in nests? Maybe they talked about them in school. He could not tell me.

Bad Bird, Bad Bird, Poop poo on the window

Collin noticed that the window was dirty and pointed it out to me the other day. I made the mistake of telling him that it was a bad bird that pooppooed on the window. He then said and continued to say "Bad Bird Poop Poo on the window," then he would say "Poo poo in the potty get cranberries"

We are trying to bribe him to going poop poo in the potty by offering him cranberries(Gummy Bear Vitamins). He really likes these and we thought it would entice him to do what needed to be done. He still has not done it here at home but he does it at the school. I think it is because the toilette at school is kid size and the one her at the house is to high so he says he is scared.

This picture is unrelated but I really like it so I wanted to post it. So I hope you enjoy it the way I do.

Daddy

Blowing Kisses

Check out the video of Collin in Ella Faith Petersen's blog to the right. e have no idea why Collin started doing this but it was truly hilarious. The things kids think of.

For those of you that cannot see the video, Collin blew on Ella's back to make noises while Ella was eating. This did not phase her at all. She continued to eat while Collin blew on her back. It was too funny.

Worn Out

Wow, Collin REALLY did not want to go to bed tonight. He did everything he could to not go to bed. I fought to get him in the tub...but finally made it. Once in there, he was fine and enjoyed throwing the balls into the net in the tub. He refused to go potty before getting into the bath so the entire time he was in there, all I could think about was Collin producing little "floaties" in the water. He didn't so....success! After the bath, he ran to the TV room and would not put a diaper or PJs on. I FINALLY got a diaper on but no luck with the PJs. After about 20 minutes, I did manage to get PJs on a crying little boy who then unzipped his PJs once I put them on. He started taking his PJs off, I zipped them back up and then we did this again a few times. I fave up and let him sit with Daddy on the couch and watch TV. We finally made it back to his room to read a book. He did not want the book I picked out and was crying while I picked him up and rocked him in his chair. Halfway through the book, he did stop crying and enjoyed me reading to him. After reading several books, he was still not ready for bed....but I was ready for him to get in bed. I let him turn the music on (I knew better than to do it myself....trying to avoid even more crying) and the light off. We got Monkey and then started to rock. I put him in his crib when he asked me to and sang a few songs to him. Typically, he goes to sleep after this or at least lets me leave without crying. Not tonight. He cried as I was leaving and continued to for another 15 minutes or so. Finally, after about an hour, he was in bed asleep.

I need some Aleve for a huge headache. I still love the little guy though.