Memorial Weekend -Day 2

On our second day, we spent the morning at Grandma H's house. Collin spent time playing with his toys. He also went outside to show Grandma H how he can ride his bike....with training wheels still but he is confident on the bike and goes really fast. He needs to remember how to use the breaks before he can learn to ride without training wheels.

After naps for Grandma H and Daddy, we went to see Aunt Darlene and Uncle Mark. They have a new house we have not seen yet. Their backyard is several acres with lots of trees. Collin wanted to explore really bad but Mark said there were lots of snakes and tarantulas out there. Yikes! Mommy encouraged Collin to stay on the porch with her. Two cousins came over so their mommy could go to a wedding. Collin followed Kendall around. She is 8. Brycen was fun too but Kendall paid more attention to Collin.

We stayed a few hours and then went to see cousins on Daddy's side of the family. Collin and I took a trip to see them over the New Year holiday so he was excited about seeing them again. He kept saying, "We are going to see Ben, Will and.... What's that girl's name?". It was a nice evening so the kids played outside on the swings or played catch. Collin tried to hit a few balls. He missed but made a good effort. Will did hit the ball when I pitched it....straight into my stomach. They all thought that was funny.

We ate hamburgers, watermelon and cherry dessert with ice cream. For some reason, Hollis thought it was someone's birthday because there was dessert and because we were using birthday napkins. We asked who's birthday it was. She pointed to Daddy and said it was Crystal's birthday. We thought that was hysterical and called him Crystal the reason of the night. We even let him blow out a candle on the dessert before we ate it.

We knew the kids were having fun because there was a lot of laughter and running in the house. At one point, it was so quiet, we stopped talking to see what they were doing. They were all in the backyard playing with the toys. One time, I caught them throwing socks from the top of the stairs to try and hit Will. They were all laughing so hard that it was hard for me to put a stop to it. By the end of day, Collin knew all of the kid's names and did not want to leave Ben, Will and especially Hollis.

Memorial Weekend - Day 1

Friday, we took off from work and school to head North for the weekend. We have big plans to see Grandma H, cousins and friends. On the way there, I was shocked that Collin did not ask once to see a movie in the car. I set him up with his backpack full of toys, some flash cards and books. I put the travel tray on his car seat and he was happy to play with what was in front of him. Out of the 4 hour trip, he might have slept and hour.

Our first stop was Grandma H before she had to go to work. While Daddy took a much needed nap, Collin and I visited with grandma until she had to leave. After she left, he and I played and then relaxed waiting for Daddy to get up. When he did, we headed to see Daddy's childhood friend and his family. Collin just adores the oldest girl, Madison. He stuck next to her the entire visit. Collin was surprised to see the new addition to the family when she woke up. Little Caroline is the first granddaughter and is 14 months old. It was a nice day out, so we decided to go swimming. The kids had a blast...especially when they were dumping water on Daddy's head. They swam for a few hours before we all got hungry. We went to a great Italian place. Collin was hungry because he had several pieces of bread with olive oil (I cannot blame him), several bites of baked ziti and a large slice of cheese pizza. The shocker was he wanted several helpings of fried calamari.

After that big meal, we went to a local frozen yogurt place. Collin wanted "banilla" with cranberries which was vanillas and gummy bears. I cannot believe after all of the food he ate that he nearly finished his yogurt. Where did he put it all? He does weigh 39 lbs so I guess he needed all of this food.

After dinner, we went back to their house and sat outside. The weather was great. The kids kicked the balls over and sometimes into the pool while the parents visited. We headed back to Grandma H to spend the night.

Pictures to follow.....

End of School Picnic

Daddy and I joined Collin for a picnic at school to celebrate the end of the school year.  We brought sandwiches and a blanket to sit outside under a tree.  Alex, Ellie and Jacob's parents joined us.

Collin was so excited that we were there. When we first walked into his classroom, he jumped up from where he was sitting, ran over to us and gave each of us a hug on the leg.  He asked if we were staying for the picnic and we told him we were.  When we went outside, he picked the spot were he wanted all of us to sit. He was so distracted with all of the people there that he was not too interested in eating his sandwich...plus, he drank most of his drink like he usually does instead of eating.  He did eventually finish most of his sandwich and some of the chips before he ate a Popsicle that the teacher passed out to each of the students. It was so hot out that the Popsicle started dripping fast.  Collin asked for help eating it and I showed him that biting it helped him eat it faster.  This made him mad and he wanted me to put the bitten off piece back.  He did not care for the explanation that I could not glue it back on.  Once it was off, it was off.

Ellie, Alex and Jacob listening to Nikel talk about tornadoes

Daddy and Collin enjoying lunch

Mr. Chad, Ellie and Alex eating lunch

Nickel, Ms. Susan, Jacob, Daddy and Collin

Mela, Ms. Susan, Jacob, Collin and Daddy.  The kids are not eating the popsicles fast enough.

Resting after a great lunch and before heading back to work

After eating, he joined the other kids playing.  He saw that we were leaving and ran over to give us a kiss goodbye...then ran back to play.  He was fine that we were leaving.  Daddy and I really enjoyed be there with him and look forward to the next time we stop in and have lunch with him.

Collin and his "Friends"

Every night, Daddy and I check on Collin in his room before we go to bed.  Most of the time the lights are off so we use the light from our cell phone to light up Collin's bed just enough to see that he is sleeping and covered up.  Last night, Collin wanted me to leave the light on by his bed because "you are coming back Mommy" even though I did not plan to until after he was asleep.  So, when we went to check on him later, we got to see him and had the opportunity to take the picture below.  It's a little fuzzy but it does show:

• How cute he is when he is sleeping
• That Monkey is right there by his side...all the time still.  Looks like Monkey is giving him a hug in this picture
• He has his other friends near him.  The two bears (a pink and a blue one) are new friends this week.
• His blanket from when he was an infant is by his side too.  He started carrying this around with him when he gets home to cover up on the couch.  The blanket is so tiny next to him now that it only covers part of him.  He does not care though.

"Measure Me Mommy"

For the last several weeks, Collin has been interested in how much taller he is.  He either talks about it or demonstrates it by standing next to something and showing me that he is taller against the object than he was before.  I can tell he has grown when he stands next to the kitchen counter or table but he obviously is aware of how much taller he is near other objects as well.

Last night after he finished eating a big sandwich, he told me, "Come here Mommy.  Get a color and come back to my room with me."  I guessed that he wanted to measure himself on his growth chart I have set up in the bathroom.  Sure enough, when I went into his room, he was standing at the growth chart telling me, "Mommy, measure me to see how much I am now."  This is what he looked like:

Doesn't he look proud of how tall he is?  You can also tell he is a pro at this because he is standing up straight and his heels are touching the base board.

Ironman Spectator

Saturday morning, we stayed a the house because I knew we would be gone for most of the afternoon watching some friends compete in an ironman event.  Collin also requested to stay home for the day.  When he woke up, he asked me "Are we going anywhere today?"  I asked if he wanted to and he told me "No, I want to stay at my house."  He really does like staying at his house.

We did stay home so he could relax and enjoy his house.  I put in a movie for him and then pulled out my stuff to scrapbook (I am getting WAY behind).  He watched a movie for a little bit and then wanted to help me.  "Mommy, I can help you cut."  "I want some stickers too."  I could see that I was not going to get much done.  I found his stickers, markers and paper for him, set him up on the other side of the table from me and let him work with me.  He put stickers on the paper and then used the markers to finish the picture.  For example, one sticker was a hat.  He then drew the face with facial features and the legs (he does not draw a body and arms yet).  He did this until all of the stickers were gone.

Eventually, it was time to pack up and head North to watch the ironman event for a few hours.  I had hoped Collin would be tired enough to take a nap which he did do in the car for about 40 minutes.  After walking with all of our stuff for over 25 minutes, we found where we planned to meet up with some of my coworkers.  One of our coworkers, Casey, was competing in the ironman for the first time so we wanted to cheer him on.  Collin did FANTASTIC while there for almost 4 hours.  He visited with my coworkers, helped us cheer on the runners and quietly played with the toys he brought.  He also met a little friend named Kira who is the daughter of one of my coworkers.  He followed her around and also made sure she saw him doing certain things.  At one point, he wanted to get in a nearby tree.  I put him in there and he looked over at Kira's directions and yelled out "Look at this guys!"  I asked him who he was talking to and he told me "that girl over there" while smiling his best I-am-being-cute smile.

I think he enjoyed the walk back the most because we stopped along the way to watch other kids play, he walked along the curbs like at gymnastics and looked at some of the other spectators as they cheered the competitors on.  I think he is a people-watcher like his Mommy. 

In the tree to get a better look

Spring 2011 Montessori Class Picture

This is Ms Kristine and Ms Arlene's Primary Class of Spring 2011.  Collin is on the top row on the left.  What's up with that innocent little smile?

The Three Monkeys

Earlier this week, Saige woke up and told her Mommy that her and Collin were going to Monkey Buziness which is one of those indoor slide and bounce places.  Who knows where she got this idea from but we thought it was a great idea.

I took the day off to run errands in the morning.  After Collin's nap, I picked him up from school and headed straight to Monkey Buziness.  We arrived just as Saide and Linden did.  They all were so excited to see each other.  We went inside and, for over an hour and a half, the kids slid, jumped, climbed and crawled on all of the bouncy equipment inside.  Collin and Saige had no fear and climbed on EVERYTHING. 

Here is Collin perfecting the "bounce, sit, then slide" on the tallest slide there.  This one and the obstacle course with a slide at the end was his favorite.  We only took a short break for snacks and potty then they were at it again.  By the time we said it was time to go, there was not fussy though.  They were all tired, and Collin was dripping with sweat, that it was easy to leave the place.

Star Spangled Banner in the Morning?

One of the many ways we convince Collin that it's time to go to bed at night is to show him that it's dark outside.  He had turned this around and used it on us.  In the morning, he has been turning that around on us.  He walks into our room, pulls the blinds up and tells us "It's light out" or "The suns out so get up!" if we are still in bed.  It does not matter that it's still only 6:30am.  If it's light out, then it's time to get up. 

This morning, I took the day off and was still in bed when he walked in before 7am.  I heard him come in, mess with the blinds and then walk over to my side of the bed. 

Collin:  "Mommy, it's light out.  Get up!". 
Mommy:  "Collin, the alarm has not gone off yet.  Get in bed with me". 
Collin:  "I said it's light out.  It's time to get up.  My stomach's growling"
Mommy: "Just five more minutes"

He crawled in bed and I thought to myself, "Good, I can get a few more minutes sleep now".  I was wrong.  he leaned over towards me and started to sing The Star Spangled Banner over and over again.  I did my best to not laugh.  How many other mommies were woken up this morning to The Star Spangled Banner?  I was so lucky....even though I had planned to sleep in a little longer this morning.

Batman and the Gymnist

As you have read already, Collin loves wearing his Batman cap and gymnastics.  For the past few days, he has combined the two into what I would call "Jumping Batman".  He figured out how to climbed on the bar stools that are behind our big couch in the living room.  With his cap on, he jumps or falls from the bar stool onto the couch.  Each time he does this, the back pillows from the couch fall which makes for a great landing pad for Batman.  He sometimes stops in the middle of this jumping to get pillows from his room, put them on the couch and then tumble across them.  I am trying to work or clean the house when he is doing this.  "Watch this Mommy!" and then he will tumble on the couch.  He fell off the couch one time (not hard at all) and thought this was a blast.  He started doing it again laughing and saying "ouch" when he landed on the floor. 

Another part of this game is that I blow the "whistle (really just make a whistle noise)" and then he jumps on the couch.  He does this for over 30 minutes having a great time the entire time.  We can always fix the couch pillows later.  Daddy and I enjoy listening to Collin have a good time.  Plus, I remember doing this and building "forts" with the couch pillows and chairs when I was younger.  I want Collin to explore and be creative like this.

I don't have a picture of all of this but will snap a few soon.

Garden Helper

Sunday, I told Collin and Daddy that I was going outside for a bit to work in the yard.  Collin had no idea what this meant but followed me and said "I want to help you".  He had his Batman cape on (which is a frequent occurrence these days) so I said that Batman can help me pull weeds.  I got two plastic bags for us to carry and use while we were pulling weeds.  I started along the driveway and fence area.  I showed Collin the different between weeds and a plant that I wanted to keep in the ground....the entire time thinking to myself that I might lose some plants in this "helping exercise" but that was OK.  I was happy to have my little guy with me.  I told him to pull the tiny weeds and I would get the bigger ones.  At first, he questioned every plant/weed he saw asking me, "Is this a weed?".  If I replied "yes", he then would pull it and put it in his bag. 

I thought he would get tired or bored of this in about 5 minutes but he didn't.  He hung with me for almost 45 minutes doing a fantastic job of pulling only weeds and getting most of the weed when he pulled it.  He was very clean about it putting the weed in his bag.  We had to empty the bags a few times in the larger garbage can which he wanted to also help with.  We moved from the fence to the backyard.  I loved hearing him tell me were he saw weeds and what size they were.  "Over here mom!! Here is a big one for you", "You can get these weeds over here.  I am going over here to get these weeds" or "These are really tiny weeds Mommy".  He even helped me water the potted plants.  We water these every other day these days because it's getting really hot out.  He has is own watering can....which I cannot use because "that one is mine Mommy".  But of course, Collin.

We did have to stop and take his cap off because it was getting too hot.  Black cap plus summer sun does not equal cool.  :)  He also needed a short break for a drink of "black apple juice" which is his favorite these days.  This is not apple juice but either pomegranate blueberry, blueberry or some other dark juice.

Jumping Time

Collin continues to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE gymnastics.  I catch him practicing at home especially the night he comes home from practice.  He especially loves it when he gets to jump on the trampoline.  Here he is getting to do just that.

Bookstore and Dinner with Friends

We met Ms Terry and Melia tonight to have some fun with friends.  It had been too long since we saw them.  I picked Collin up from school and was a little early to meet our friends so we ran an errand first.  I had a gift card to a local store so I thought I would check out what they had.  I found two work shirts for my suits which were colors I had been looking for. 

Collin was ready to see his friend so we went to the bookstore a early.  When we walked in, he said "Have we been here before?"  I asked him if the place looked familiar and he said "Yes" while heading straight back to the kid section.  There were not only children's books but toys and stuffed animals.  He played with the Thomas the Tank Engine train set while waiting for Melia.  A little girl younger than him came over to play and he got slightly irritated with her because she wanted to play with the train he had in his hand.  Fortunately, he also had to leave and go potty at this time to break up the toddler fight that was about to start.  When we got out, Melia was there.  We looked at books and the kids were very helpful to pick out books for us to look through.  Collin would rather pick out the stuffed animals that represented characters in the books they were next too.  He held up two different dragons and said, "Mommy, let's bring these home OK......Maybe we can at least bring one home" and the gave me the BIGGEST smile.  Oh....he is good!  We did not buy the dragons though.  I did convince him to put them back.  He then picked up two puppies and carried these around the rest of the time we were there.  Daddy was ready to eat so we headed to checkout....only with the books we were buying for birthday presents.  He kissed both puppies and put them back.  He really does still love stuffed animals.  If we bought every one that he wanted, he would not have any room in his room because there would be so many animals in there.

We met Daddy at a local Mexican restaurant, Escalantes.  It's one of my favorites because the salsa is great.  We ordered queso as an appetizer.  Collin probably ate the most of it....takes after his Mommy.  I LOVE queso too.  He was so hungry that he ate half of his food to which was chicken tenders and ketchup.  I am surprised he at ate all because we did have to take 4 trips to the bathroom for "false alarms".  He ended up going potty at home. 

What a great night with friends. 

Waiting for a table...

Forever Young....and more

As you already know, Collin and his classmates sang three songs to us Friday morning for Mother's tea and Mother's Day.  I took pictures and video of Collin but you could not hear him sing individually.  Since then, he continues to sing the songs without us even asking him to do so.  Here he is singing what he remembers of Forever Young and then going straight into She's a Lady.  He is in his favorite PJs (these are the "soft ones" that I did not expect for him to be wearing in warm weather....but it does not stop him).

Great Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day that actually started Saturday afternoon.  We were at the house getting ready to leave to meet Mimi and Dustin for dinner when Collin handed me a gift bag from a jewelry store.  Hmmmm.....what could this before.  He said "Happy Mother's Day" and then wanted to look inside.  There was a box gift wrapped which he helped me open but with precise instructions: "First, you open it here like this (on the one side of the box lifting up the flap of paper) and then you turn it to the other side (doing the same thing) and then you push it out (pushing the box out of the opening)."  We eventually together opened the box.  Inside was a casual watch.  I was first, I was surprised and not expecting to receive a gift (at least not Saturday) and second, was not expecting to see a watch.  I pulled out the watch from the box and it was clasped around a tiny pillow.  Collin was puzzled about why there was a pillow in the box but wanted to keep it when I took it out of the watch.  Here we are opening the gift and a picture of the watch:

I LOVE it.....especially since it's from my family and for Mother's Day.  We then headed to see Mimi and Dustin for dinner.  We met at a sushi place.  Collin was a little wound up and kept getting out of his chair which he usually does not do.  It's probably because Mimi was there.  We then decided to have some ice cream at Marble Slab.  Collin and Mimi shared his "banilla", Daddy and I shared peanut butter and chocolate ice cream with Reese's Butter Cup crumbles and Dustin had his own ice cream cone with black cherry ice cream.  We had a great time at dinner and then afterwards.  The purpose of meeting was that Collin was to spend the night with Mimi that night because Mommy and Daddy where going to up early the next morning for a bike ride.

We got up early Sunday morning (5am) and headed north for a 60 mile bike ride.  I have not ridden 60 miles since before Collin was born.  The closest was 47 miles in September of last year.  I have been working out and training for the triathlon so I thought I would give it a shot.  Daddy would be there so I could catch a ride with him whenever I decided I was finished.  When we were ready to roll out, there were four guys and me.  I thought "60 miles and keeping a pace of 20mph +.  OK, I can do this".  The first 10 miles were a little tough because the area where we were riding is know for rolling hills.  This morning, there was also a slight breeze (which turned into major head and cross wind later that morning).  Eventually, three of the guys brought off and one stayed behind with me.  He and I were really at the same riding level compared to the others.  We had a map and Daddy planned to be at every 10 miles ahead of us to make sure we were on the route.  That still did not help.  Gary and I got lost.  Thank goodness for GPS on our phones because we figured out where we were which was about 10 miles off the course.  By this time, we were both exhausted from the rolling hills and head wind.  On the hills, we were riding at single digits and then getting up to 20mph between the hills.  This really wore both of us out.  Plus, we had already ridden 40 miles.  I was ready to get off the bike.  We told Daddy where we were and he said he would wait for us to get back to the next turn that would get us back on the route....and then took off.  The way back was not as hilly which I was glad to have because the cross wind was pushing me closer and closer off the road.  We rounded a corner and then saw Daddy headed our way.  Yeah!!!!  I was finished.  We both climbed into the back of the van and sighed in relief.  The total miles was 47 which took me a little over 3 hours.  By now, I wanted to eat, take a shower and then take a nap.

I did get to eat and take a nap on the way back home.  Both of us were ready to see Collin so we skipped the shower and additional nap to pick Collin up.  He was having a snack of applesauce when we arrived so we waited and visited with Mimi and Pappy.  In the car later, Collin asked if it was nap time and we told him it was when we got home.  He said, "It's not sleepy time, it's awake time".  He said this again, then 10 minutes later, yawned and fell asleep.  He transferred to our bed easily and we all took a much needed nap.  Later, we had dinner and then swam for about an hour.  Collin still will not put his head underwater but was more brave about jumping to my arm in the water to then kick and swim.  We will get there eventually.

What a great Mother's Day!

Monkey Joe Fears = Gone!

Phew!!!  Collin finally conquered his Monkey Joe fears today.  The first time he met Monkey Joe (which is a huge character that lives at the Monkey Joe bounce place), he stopped jumping on the indoor inflatable slide, started to scream and cry and then ran straight for the front door.  He wanted out....and wanted out....NOW!  Six months after that, I thought we would try to go to Monkey Joe's again.  We pulled up to the place, he saw were we were and then told me he did not like Monkey Joe and wanted to leave.  He started to even whimper a little.  I was not about to pay to play and then have to leave immediately. 

You might recall, that recently, Collin has been telling EVERYONE he sees that he is having his birthday party (yes, it's still several months away) at Monkey Joe's and he is going to be 4.  I have no idea where he got this and why he would want to go to Monkey Joe's again since I thought he did not like Monkey Joe.  So, today I knew we were going to attend Spencer and Rafe's (friends from school) birthday party at Monkey Joe's.  This could either go really well or really, REALLY bad.  I told (actually, warned) Collin that we were going to a party and it would be at Monkey Joe's.  He just wanted to know if his party would be there too.  I was secretly hoping that this party would help him 1) stop talking about his party being at Monkey Joe's and 2) that he would not be afraid of THE Monkey Joe when or if he saw him. 

We arrived at the place and before we got out of the car, Collin announced that he would give Monkey Joe a kiss and shake his hand when he saw him.  Huh?  A kiss and shake his hand?  Well, that's better than saying, "I will scream and run out of the place when I see Monkey Joe."  Well, at least this was a positive start.  As soon as we went inside, he saw some friends and started to play and run around.  Within 10 minutes, he was already dripping with sweat (a Holmes trait) and having a great time.  Monkey Joe was no where in sight.  Maybe he was not there today.  That would be great.

The kids played for 45 minutes and then it was time to go to one of the party rooms for to sing and have cake and ice cream.  I was shocked at how easy it was to get Collin to go into the room.  He helped sing "Happy Birthday".  He saw the hostess passing out cake and ice cream and he told me that he was not hungry.  Yep, that's my son...he does not care to eat cake or ice cream.  He'll eat it but it's not a big deal to him.  At this point, I saw Monkey Joe enter the room.  Collin did not see him.  I moved closer to Collin in case this was going to go really bad.  Monkey Joe went to the other side of the table where Collin was and then he saw him......and started to wave his hand at Monkey Joe and then say "Hi" really loud.  Phew!!!!!  So far, so good.  Monkey Joe came over to Collin eventually, and he gave him a "high five".  He then started to sing "Happy Birthday" to Monkey Joe and started to laugh.  He then followed him around the room laughing and pointing at him.  I guess he is over his Monkey Joe fears.  Yeah Collin!!!!  I now wonder if he will continue to talk about his birthday party being at Monkey Joe's.  Seeing it actually happen for someone else showed me that it would not be too bad if we did end up having it there.  It's not my favorite idea but his birthday party is not about me and where I want to go, right?

Here he is with Monkey Joe who is so tall that I could not get him and Collin together in too many pictures.  Oh, that's Colin H. next to him.  They played together the entire time yelling "Colin, over here" to each other.

Mother's Tea at School

This morning, I went to Collin's school for Mother's Tea.  This was in honor of all the mother's.  The kids greeted us with a present and a list of A Few of Mom's Favorite Things.... Here is what Collin said about me:  "Mom loves to eat donuts, drink milk, watch girl shows, work on her computer and make cheese sandwiches for me".  Huh!  This is hilarious.  When have I eaten donuts in front of him?  Maybe once.  Cheese sandwiches?  I make him sandwiches but not necessarily cheese sandwiches.  The list for the other mother's was just as hilarious.

The kids then sang three songs for us.  Collin actually participated this time for most of each of the songs.  The first one was either his favorite or at least the one that he remembered the words the most.  It was a Bob Dylan song, Forever Young.

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Here he is right before he sang the first song.  He was so excited to see me standing in the audience full of mom's watching him sing.  I was proud of him for participating and not clinging to my leg like the last time there was a "performance".  While he was singing, he would occasionally look at me to make sure I was watching him and then he gave me the biggest smile. 

The next song was "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones.  Collin liked singing the part about Shes a lady...whoa whoa whoa, she's a lady.  Here is a small part of that video.  Don't you love the concentration?

Then, there was one more song.  Collin did not sing much of this one.  I could tell he was getting tired.  After the songs were over, the kids were to bring the mom's a snack of pound cake and a cookie.  Collin brought a plate over and sat it on the table.  I went to take the cookie and he "snaked" it out from under me.  I said "I thought you brought the snacks for me".  He told me "Yours is over there" pointing to the rest of the plates.  That little stinker!!!

I then opened my gift from him that he made in class.  It was a handkerchief around a paper doll.  Collin drew blue eyes and long hair on the doll to represent me.  He held it up and was so proud of what he did.  Then, I found the picture of me that he drew.  I picked it first out of all the others recognizing the way he draws.  He did a good job because he drew lots of hair and legs coming out of my head....for very long legs. I love the drawing.  He also gave me a ring he made.  He loved that I put it on and was still wearing it when he gave me a hug before I left to go back to work.

Collin, thank's for making me a mommy and my day today.  I love you!

Bike Training?

Collin is confident while riding his bike these days.  His legs are getting stronger and stronger.  He is able to ride so fast and keep up with Daddy or I when we are on our bike beside him.  Those little legs are pumping hard on the pedals whenever he does ride.

Tonight, while Daddy was watering the plants along the side of the house, Collin rode his bike.  Daddy had him practicing getting out of the saddle (standing up to pedal) and riding under the water stream which are both great skills to help Collin build strength while riding his bike.  I think we will soon be having a little boy riding without his training wheels.  He needs to understand how to use the brakes (pedal backwards on the bike) before we start this process.

Catching Up

It's been so crazy the last few months with tax busy season and training for my first triathlon that I have not had time to post some general things about Collin.  A lot of these are for Grandma H so that she can keep up with what her little 3-year old grandson has been up to:

Sayings

"Hey guys" - he says this a lot when he is trying to get your attention.  It works because I cannot resist hearing what he has to say.

"Are you proud of me?" - he has been using this one a lot lately.  To help him understand that he does things he should not do, I have told him that I am not proud of him during the time that he is doing something that he should not have.....like being rude to someone, not sharing his toys, or yelling at Daddy. I don't use it all of the time but, when I do, he knows that I am not happy with him and he does stop doing what he is doing.  Now, he will be doing something that he knows he should not be, does it and then looks at me to ask "Mommy, are you proud of me?"  I do answer him honestly knowing that this might upset him.  I take the opportunity to tell him why I might not have been proud of him ..... and he does seem to understand.

"1, 2, 3, 4, ... FART!" - I think I have already mentioned this one.  He is counting everything these days.  He is still fascinated with bodily functions (I do realize this will last until he is an adult...or even all of his life based on the family he is a part of).  Combining the two, he likes to substitute the letter "5" for fart whenever he is counting.  Why not?  He does get a reaction when he does this.

"I guess I love you" - he will randomly say this when he is eating, playing or riding in the car.  He says this followed by a big smile.  I try telling him what "guess" means and ask him why he includes "guess" in his phrase.  He just looks at me as if he does not have a clue what I am talking about.

Bedtime


He still does not like to go to bed and will do what he can or find an excuse to delay the entire process.

Pull Ups - he still wears these at night.  Based on some questions he asks or statements he makes, he really does want to not wear them but knows that he does because he does pee pee in them in the middle of the night.  Every morning now, he announces either "I did not pee pee in them" or "I did not pee pee much in them" to let us know the condition of his Pull Up.  Most of the time, he is soaked and we are glad he had a diaper and not underwear on during the night.  He is wet in the morning for two main reasons:  1) he drinks fluids continuously all day long...including close to bed time.  Very easy to say that he should just not drink that close to bedtime....easier said than done.  We let him know that if he does drink before bed, he will have a wet diaper and not get to wear underwear to bed anytime soon.  Sometimes, he does think about this statement but diapers win out because he wants his water.  2) he is a DEEP sleeper like is Daddy.  He sleeps so deep that he snores most nights.  It does not matter if he had a cold or not....he is snoring.  This is not a cute little boy snore either.  He is LOUD.  I can hear him easily through the monitor.

Grinds his teeth - like is Mommy and Aunt, he grinds his teeth several nights a week.  If he does, he does this right as he is falling to sleep or when he stirs to change positions.  The dentist and what I have read say that this is very common for kids his age and that he will likely grow out of this by the time he is 6.  I sure hope so because the sound is hard to take.  He does not wake up when he is doing this so that's good.

PJs and Pillows - he continues to want to sleep in his "soft" PJs which are his long-sleeved flannel ones. Yes, it's already in the 90s here during the day and 70s at night.  He does not care....he wants his soft PJs.  He is very upset to find out that either the bottoms or the tops are dirty towards the end of the week (and closer to the time to do laundry) because he wants to wear these....and prefers not to substitute for even long pants that are not flannel.  "They are not soft Mommy."  He also still sleeps with his pal Monkey (that is holding up really well still) and a "cold, cold pillow".  He takes the pillow and puts it between his legs when he turns sideways to fall asleep.  Both Mommy and Daddy sleep this way.  We never said it's because the pillow is cold so I am not sure where he got this from.

Eating


Breakfast still continues to be his biggest meal.  The kid can put away the mini-powdered donuts if you let him.  I think he has eaten 8 at breakfast before and wanted more.  He favs are: cereal with "Mommy milk" which is soy milk, donuts, eggs with ketchup and waffles.



He used to prefer just juice but now asks for water a lot more.  This really makes Mommy happy because I don't want him to fill up on all of the sugar (even though I do buy reduced sugar, organic juice.  He does not drink milk much.  His favorite juice right now is not apple juice anymore but "black juice" which is blueberry pomegranate.  He drinks only water after it's dark outside.  He loves to drink tea or diet coke when we are eating out.  Yep, that's my fault because those are my preferred beverages of choice...mainly for the caffeine these days.

He still does not like veggies.  He at least loves fruit and does not mainly eat bread and cheese like he used to.  He also does not request typical toddler food while we are out eating: mac and cheese, hot dog or chicken nuggets.  He turns his nose up to these.  He likes quesadillas, chicken, hamburgers (LOVES these) and sandwiches.  He likes to have raisins, cut cheese, cut apple slices, peanut butter crackers and other fruit for snacks.  He does not ask for candy.  He does eat it if another friend is eating some but we don't have it in the house, that his is aware of {wink, wink} so he does not eat it at home.

Humor

He continues to be a little jokester and loves to make people laugh.  An example was from this morning.  He just saw baby Leah yesterday so maybe this is where he got the idea.  I was getting dressed this morning to go to the grocery store with him.  I heard him ask me where Monkey was and this is what I saw: 

He told me that "Monkey is in my belly....like baby Leah was".

Being a Boy


He LOVES to run.....and not just outside.  We will be about to walk down the hall of the house together and he will stop me with his hand and say, "ready, set, go!" and then run down the hall to race me.  If we are outside, he wants to race me or anyone else he is around.  Daddy says that when he picks Collin up from school and it's recess time, Collin is easy to spot because....yep, he is running....and he is one of the only blondes in the group.

He loves playing with his cars, trains, digging in the dirt in our backyard and riding his bike.  He gets sweaty easily because he plays really hard when he does play.

He still loves to play "Where is Collin?" (hide-and-seek) which he has been playing since before he was one year old.  He does this almost every time I am in our bathroom getting ready for the day.  He hides in our closet in the back or at least behind our clothes and tells me to look for him.  Of course, I know where to find him by his voice.

I look forward to many, many more years of enjoying life with my little boy.  I love you Collin!

First Triathlon

Mimi picked Collin up from school Friday afternoon for him to spend the night at her house and stay Saturday.  That's because Mommy AND Daddy were leaving at 3:30am Saturday morning to compete in their first triathlon.  I already knew that I was competing and had been training since January.  This race was meant to be as a test to see how I was doing with my training for the one in June.  The race distances are about half of the ones of the race in June (300 meter swim, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run).  Daddy has been working out since last summer which has included swimming.  He said nothing to me this entire time about maybe competing until I picked up my packet from the bike shop Friday night.  He let me know of his plans to also compete.  I was ecstatic and proud of him for competing.

The next morning, we did wake up by 3:30am.  Daddy drove about an hour to the race location.  While he and others were setting up for the race, he let me sleep another hour.  Then, it was time to get up and get ready for the race.  Both of us set our bikes and other stuff in the transition area and then got marked with our numbers (Black marker used on our arm, leg and back of our calf).  Because it was dark, no one even noticed that Daddy also had been body marked for the race.  When it was light enough, I checked out the lake.  This entire time of training, I have been in fear of the lake swim.  I never liked swimming or playing in lakes growing up and this had not changed as an adult.  I was NOT looking forward to this part of the race. The plan was to just get through the swim and then really excel on the bike and run.  Daddy had also been swimming and could swim the race distance.

When it was time for the race, we lined up by the lake in our age group.  We knew how to do this because we all had swim caps with different colors based on our age group.  I was swimming after Daddy so I got to see him start and cheer him on.  At this point, most of the people that Daddy knows realized that he was racing too but were still in shock.  Angy came out to cheer Mommy and a friend on .... an ended up cheering for Daddy too.  He looked great in the water.  Watching him helped me forget that it was my turn in just 9 minutes.  The water was 75 degrees and cold at first.  That feeling went away quickly when it was time to swim in the dark water full of growth sometimes within inches of the top.  Pool swimming does not prepare you for this.  I swam in the beginning and then walk-swam about 5 minutes later.  It was tough to swim with everyone around me.  I was the tallest in my age group so every time I tried to swim, I was touching someone.  At last, the swim WAS over and it was time for the bike.  Ahhhh....my favorite part.  I really excel at the bike.  I prepared for it to be windy which it was.  Glad I was ready for it.  I did pass Daddy up at this point and he was looking really good.  It was great to see him out there.  The head wind was really strong....but it was strong for all of the racers.  I could not wait to turn back around on the course (it was an out and back course) so the wind would be at my back.  Just as I thought, when I turned around, I was really flying.  I got back and then had to run.  This is difficult after riding because your legs could be fatigued from the run.  My legs were good but I was tired by now.  With all of the swimming and other training I have been doing, I have not been running as much and I can tell.  However, this was a race, and I really pushed myself.  I kept telling myself to not walk that I could keep running.  When I could see the finish line, I sprinted until I finished.  My goal was to finish in an hour and 15 minutes.  I saw that I finished in one hour and 3 minutes.  I felt great about that time and what I had accomplished that morning. I got some water and then turned back around to wait for Daddy to finish.  He finished about 20 minutes later really needed something to drink.  I was SO proud of him and what we just accomplished.  I was really shocked when I walked up to see the race results and saw that I got first place in my age group.  I really did not expect so see that.  That made the day even that much more special.