Another Great Day!

The day started great when Daddy let me sleep in an additional hour while he took Collin out to get doughnuts for breakfast.  When they came back, they picked me up to then get groceries.  While I was putting them away, the boys when swimming for about an hour and then rode bikes outside.  I worked while they played together.  Daddy was doing this because he wanted to be with Collin because he will be out of town for the rest of the week AND to give me a little break so I could work. 

Because Daddy is out of town for the week, he needed to work today.  Right before he left, he and Collin were watching Cars.  Collin walked over to me to lay next to me on the bench at the table while I was working.  He continued to watch his movie.  Within 15 minutes, he was asleep.  I was surprised because 1) he is not that great about taking naps on the weekend and 2) it was not even 11:30am.  He had not even had lunch yet.  I continued to work for another 20 minutes and then got up to clean the house because friends were coming over to play in the afternoon.  Here is what Collin looked like while I was doing it.  He moved around three times but I was in the area to make sure he did not fall off the bench and stir too much to wake himself up.

He did wake up after an hour because he had to pee.  I helped him and then thought he was up for the day.  I did not see him in the living room and thought he might be in the playroom.  I found him in his bed.  He said he was still tired and he went back to sleep for another 20 minutes.  Wow, he must have been worn out from yesterday and this morning's activities.

When he eventually woke up, he joined me on the couch while I was watching HGTV which was playing a show about first time home buyers. I was resting before our friends came over. There was a scene where the buyers were checking out the kitten. The wife said that the kitchen was really tiny and only could fit a few people in it plus there was not a lot of room to move around and cook in there. Collin looks over at me and says, "our kitchen is really big and can fit a lot of people in it, right Mommy?" I said, trying not to laugh and scoop him up, "yes Collin, I agree with you. We have a very nice kitchen." WAY too funny.


Collin knew when his friends came over because he was waiting at the door for them. Kyana and Madison where here! They played in the house for about an hour before they could not stand not being in the pool. We swam in the pool for two hours having fun on the slide and playing "shark". Collin did great because he was on the noodle (flotation device) the entire time kicking and swimming back and forth in the pool. That's better than only hanging off the side or only wanting to sit in the very shallow end.

After swimming, all of the kids were really hungry. We had pizza, chicken nuggets, strawberries and plums. They ate all of it. After dinner, they played in the playroom for about 30 minutes before it was time for the girls to go home. We sat outside in the front yard wrestling and waiting for Daddy to come home. He showed up 10 minutes later to join us wrestling.

When we were back in the house, Collin got himself some water and then said he was picking out his books so we could read. Huh? It was 2 hours before he normally went to sleep (only 7pm). I would be happy to have an extra hour if he really was tired and went to bed. We went in the bathroom to brush his teeth and this is when I showed him his new chores chart and a list of things he could earn stars for. We are starting out with:

• No hitting. He still hits occasionally when he does not get his way.
• Put shoes on by himself
• Put clothes on by himself
• Brush teeth
• Put clothes in the hamper
• No crying when he is in his bed. This is a HUGE one and we would love it if Collin learned not to cry when he is in bed and it's time for us to leave the room.

I explained that if he gets 10 stars in a week, then he will earn some coins to put into his coin bank (looks like a gas station pump). We read down the list and he got to pick out a star and put it on the chart if he earned it. Today, he did great. He earned stars for everything except hitting (he hit Kyana when she would not share with him) and crying in bed....because he had not gotten into bed yet. He did not put his clothes in the hamper either but did it immediately when I read that one off the list. He was really excited about the stars. He even told me when he was in his bed that he was not going to cry.....and he did not.

He was in bed by 8pm. That's an entire hour early tonight. More time to write this post. :)

Painting with Friends

We spent the entire day at Saige and Linden's house.  I was there to help decorate their big girl's room and paint some new pictures for each of them to hang by their bed.  We rearranged a piece of furniture and it really made a big difference.  Saige noticed it and loved it right away. 

The kids played together really well for the most part.  The girls took an hour nap (shorter than usual) and Collin rested on the couch but never took a nap.  They kept each other entertained while Kristen and I painted two of the five paintings to hang on their walls.  I drew on both of the canvases before we painted.  Each painting included things that the girls really liked.  Linden likes lady bugs and spiders.  Saige likes flowers and butterflies.  Just like girls, right?  There is no way I would have been able paints these at our house because Collin would want me to play with him or otherwise entertain him.  Here are pictures of at least the painting I did while it was in progress. 

Once while we were painting, the kids did their own painting on a large sheet on the floor.  Collin painted a "space ship" and then got mad a Linden for painting near his painting.  They made up to each other and started painting again.  Here he is painting his foot instead of the paper.  He laughed every time he put the brush to his foot because the paint was cold.  I guess he got bored with the paper!

I left for a few hours to practice some lake swimming.  I swam 880 meters before heading back to their house.  Collin initially did not eat dinner.  He sat on my lap after I was almost finished with mine.  He started to eat several pieces of my broccoli.  He then wanted a bite of the buttermilk pie that the others were eating.  He was not interested in it when I gave him at bite.  He barely licked the fork and said he did not like it.  I was at least excited that he ate the broccoli.

Even though he did not take a nap and had a FULL day of play, he still went to bed at his normal time of 9pm.  He was really grouchy and hit me a few times but he did eventually go to bed.  I had to get Daddy's help because I was so tired from the days activities.

Neat Freak? - Part 2

I have posted several times that Collin is very particular about certain things or how he focused on what he does.  Remember how he lines his shoes up facing the same direction when he takes them off?  What about needing a cold pillow when he sleeps at night to put between his legs?  Just a few of the MANY things that he is meticulous about. 

Here is a great video that Daddy took today of Collin rolling up his mat at school before he left to gymnastics.  The kids at school use the mat to play on or do school work.  When they are finished, they have to roll the mat up and put it away in the basket before they leave.  I don't recall a time that Collin has had to be asked to do this once he knew this was a requirement.  Here is Collin being careful to roll the mat up perfectly.  Doesn't that just make you laugh?

Too bad he cannot figure out how to put his clothes away in the dirty clothes hamper!!!

My plants

Collin has been helping me water the plants that are not included on the sprinkler system.  It's been so hot out that we do it after we eat dinner when it's not so hot out.  He either uses the water hose or really likes using his personal watering can that he picked out in the Spring.  He is really good now about knowing how much to water each plant.  If he is not sure, he asks me, "Mommy, is this enough"?

Aunt Nancy gave Collin a book either for birthday or Christmas that is titled Too Many Zucchini for Zachary Beany.  Collin loves this book and likes to talk about plants growing and watering them.  The book came with a packet of zucchini seeds that we finally planted 2 weeks ago. 

Collin picked out the pots from the pots that I had in the garage, he put the dirt in the pot using his small shovel and then pushed the seeds into the dirt before watering it.  I thought it would take at least two weeks until we saw anything growing out of the pot.  I was shocked to see green sticking out of the dirt just 3 days later.....and so was Collin.  He checks out how his plant is doing every day and even reminds me now that we need to water it. 

Taken after 2 weeks and 3 days.  Looking really good.

"Not Cool Mommy"

During the summer, Collin does not have to wear a uniform to school.  He can pick out whatever he wants to wear.  In the beginning of the summer, I liked it because he REALLY was getting tired of his uniform shirts and wanted to wear his Spiderman shirt (he has 5 of them).  He could not wear these during the school year but now has worn these shirts probably 3 times a week.  I was trying to mix it up a little and get him to wear a different shirt the other morning.  I pulled out a few to show to him and he said "That one is not cool".  Huh?  Not cool.  I asked why it was not cool and he said "It's a baby shirt because it has an animal on it" (it had a dinosaur on it).  I am sure this is school influence.  I then picked out another shirt that did not have an animal on it.  "That one is not cool".  OK...what's wrong with this one.  "It does not have a guy on it".  I did eventually give up and let him wear a shirt with Iron Man on it.  He was happy with this choice...and so was I because we needed to get moving. 

Later that night, it was time to pick out books but Collin was really slow to pick them out.  No change here because he still uses every maneuver or delay tactic he can to not have to go to bed.  I started to pick some books out for him.  "That one is for babies" or "That one is not cool".  All right, I had heard these responses before.  He got frustrated with my picks and did pick out three acceptable books.

Since I am on the subject of clothes and Collin being particular, he

• does not like to wear any type of sandal.  Not sure why...he does not give a reason
• does not like to wear socks with his shoes
• does finally wear shoes that don't have to light up on the bottom.  He had a pair of Toy Story shoes that lit up when he walked.  These almost fell apart before we could get him to wear an new pair.   The new pair was only different because it had Spiderman on it and these also lit up.  His current pair does not have any characters on them at all.  I was surprised he wanted these and continues to wear them.
• still wears his flannel PJs at night and gets really frustrated when they are not clean for him to wear
• is proud to be wearing his new big boy underwear.  Thank goodness he is not particular about which ones he has to wear every day.
• prefers Spiderman shirts or his new Cars shirt over any other type of shirt
• does not want to wear a swim shirt for splash day at school....or any time he wears his swim shorts

Conference call and....kisses?

Daddy is out of town so I had to take Collin to school this morning.  Wouldn't you know that I had a conference call also scheduled for 7:45am this morning that I could not reschedule.  That is right in the middle of breakfast and negotiating getting dressed time.  I needed to have Collin eating breakfast while I was on the call so that we could leave after I was finished.  I also wanted to wait him up in time to get him started eating without rushing him.  I knew that he can be slow in the mornings and possibly indecisive about what he wants to eat.

I woke him up at 7:15am.  He was stirring anyway so he was not a "bear" when I woke him up.  He asked for me to lay with him which he does not normally ask me to do.  Here we go....I could not push him to move faster or the pushing back would start.  I did get in his bed and he decided he was ready to get up.  He asked for cereal and I poured it for him.  This morning, he wanted Rice Krispy cereal.  As he was eating, I explained that I will be on my cell phone in the office talking on it for work.  I would be right in the office and not far from him.  I explained that he needed to stay at the kitchen table eating his cereal.  I would be finished soon and then we would go to school.  He told me "I will be quiet Mommy.  Can I kiss you and not talk to you?"  I told him that he could because I knew he would be peeking in on my anyway while I was on my call.

I did not plan for the call to be late.  Ugh!  It started 15 minutes late which meant that we would really need to move it to get to school and for me to also get to work to attend my 9am meeting on time.  The call finally started.  When the phone rang, I told Collin that this was my call and walked into the office area.  Within 5 minutes, Collin was at my arm hugging it.  He then kissed my arm, looked up at me and smiled.  He then left.  Five minutes later, he did it again.  I got another kiss and the sweetest smile.  The put one finger up against his mouth as if to say "shhh", smiled and then left again.

After my call, I told him that I was really proud of him and thanked him for being soooo good during my call.  He smiled and knew that he did good.  He did not want to get dressed but did it eventually quicker than I thought.  In the car, he told me, "Mommy, I guess I love you my sweeite heart".  Awww!!!!  What a sweet little guy.  That made my morning!  We made it to school and I was 5 minutes late to my meeting.  Not bad.....and a wonderful morning with my son.

Fun at Mimi's House

Had a longer post but it would not save.....so, here is a shortened version:

This afternoon, we went to Mimi's house to play with cousins Timmy and Leah.  Collin and Timmy actually played together most of the time instead of playing side by side or in different rooms.  They played really well together and did not fight...too much.  I heard Collin saying "your not sharing" and Timmy wanted a toy Collin was playing with.  Collin gave it to him and found another toy to play with.  They even ate a snack together in their favorite chairs at Mimi's.  Collin was having so much fun that he did not want to go when it was time to....until I told him we were going to see Saige.  He quickly hugged Timmy, Mimi and Lisa, then headed to the front door.  He even climbed into the car and buckled himself into his new big boy car seat.  I was not moving fast enough for him. 

Here is Leah during tummy time.  She was awake for more than an hour playing with toys in front of her or practicing getting on all fours and then rocking.  She was doing REALLY well.  She was awake the longest I have seen her and I really enjoyed this time with her. 

I hated to cut our visit short but Saige and Linden were waiting for us.  When we arrived, the girls were already outside waiting for us to open the car door.  They were so excited that we were there.  The kids played outside and even got in a small plastic pool filled with water.  Collin thought it was funny that I let him get in with his shorts and underwear on.  After 1 1/2 hours of playing outside, we went in to start winding them down to relax and get ready for bed.  This is when Collin decided he was finally hungry.  He devoured three slices of small pizza and a snack size bag of pretzels before we headed home. 

After reading two books, he was asleep within the third verse of the song on the CD.  Whew!!  I was hoping he would fall asleep quick.  I could use some quit time tonight before going to bed.

"I am a Robot"

Last night after we came home from running in the park and visiting with friends, Collin was still hungry even though he had dinner before he and Daddy left to meet me at the park.  He finished two pieces of "mommy bread" (homemade banana bread) and then started walking across the room to where Daddy was sitting in his chair in the living room.  Instead of just a regular walk, Collin started walking slowly and repeated, "I am a robot, I am a robot" while moving his arms like a robot might.  Neither of us had ever seen him do this before and loved it.  He must have learned it from one of his buddies at school.  I am sure people laughed and thought it was funny when he did it which might be why he wanted to do it over and over again last night.  He even did it this morning when he was walking toward me to give me a kiss and hug before I left for work.

Duathlon Training

Collin loves to run and ride his bike so.......he will be entering his first race this October.  It's a kid's duathlon which means he will run, ride his bike and then run again.  Last night, we meet a few of the triathlon team members out for a run at a local park.  Here are Collin and Timmy training for the run.  Timmy is a great coach because he runs a sub 6 minute mile on a regular basis AND he is really good with Collin.

Triathlon Morning

Daddy AND Collin went with me to cheer me on this morning during my fourth triathlon.  Yes, four this year since the end of April.  We had to leave the house at 5:30am to arrive at the race site in time.  Therefore, we woke Collin up early...but he was ready.  Last night, we told him he would be getting up early and that we would change him into his clothes for the day.  He said he would help us...and he did.  Daddy woke him up and I was ready for a little guy that was not ready to get up and possibly put up a fight.  Instead, he opened his eyes and said "Eeny meany miny moe, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers....here let me help you" which is when he helped me put his underwear on.  He was great through the rest of the process and all the way out the door.  He did not sleep at all during the car ride and either looked out the window or asked how far we were going.  What a great morning so far with my guys!

When we arrived, he had a bunch of questions about why it was still dark, why there were so many bicycles and where were we going when we were walking with my bike to the transition area.  This race could not have been set up better for children spectators.  There was a park right in the middle of the area where the race ended.  Also, they could see me get out of the water, ride and also run by.  As I was getting out of the water, I could hear Daddy and Collin yelling for me and giving me words of encouragement.  Then, right after I got on my bike, I saw Collin before he saw me.  He was sitting on the street curb waiting for me to ride by.  He told me "Go Mommy!"  How could I not after that?  It was a 6.5 mile loop so I did get to ride by them again.  When I was headed in and getting off my bike, I saw Daddy and Collin and blew them a kiss.  That really helped see them because I knew the 3.25 mi run was going to be REALLY hot.  It rained the night before so it was muggy and there was not a cloud in the sky.  I was right....the run was hot and difficult.  I did finish and LOVED seeing Collin and Daddy at the end.  Collin gave me a hug and then told me to watch him on the playground.  He came back and stole my water I was not finished with and then took the cool rag off my neck and hid it.  All my fault, I know.  He is a little jokester because of me. 

He played on the playground for a little bit and then had to go potty.  I think some of it was because he got to go in the Port o Potty (ugh!).  He did have to go when we were in there.  He wanted me to flush it before he went because it stunk.  I told him I could not and he did not understand why but thankfully finished peeing so we could get out of there.  He played on the playground some more only to stop and tell me when a kid either hit him or threw wood chips at him.  I was watching the entire time and saw Collin provoke the first kid that hit him with his flip flop....the one that Collin just threw at the kid twice hitting him both times.  Just part of being a kid and learning to get along. 

We came back home, took showers and then got in bed for a nap.  Collin told me I could sleep in the middle because he was going to sleep on my side.  When I got in, he said he was not tired and was going to play for a little while.  He was only gone about 5 minutes when I felt him climb back into bed.  He had gone to get one of his favorite sleep buddies and some water.  After he got in bed, he pulled the covers back over me, then rubbed my back for a few minutes.  After he finished that, he rubbed my cheek and gave me a kiss.  OMG!!! How sweet was that?  It was hard for me to go to sleep after that with the be smile I had on my face.  What a great day so far.

Here he is waiting for me to finish swimming

He wanted a picture with me after the race

Lunch at School

Daddy had lunch with Collin at school Tuesday.  It was Meatloaf day with peas and potatoes.  I am not surprised that Collin did not want to eat anything.  Daddy got him to eat at least three bites of the meatloaf but nothing else.  I know Collin does not eat most vegetables.  He is a "texture" kid....if it's funny looking or looks like it will take too long to chew, he is not interested in it.  The teacher said that Collin typically does not eat a lot of his lunch. We knew he did not eat some days but to hear that he did not eat most days was upsetting.  It's probably because the kid puts down the food in the morning at breakfast.  When he eats three bowls of cereal, I am not surprised he is not too hungry 3 hours later.  He does also get snacks at school sometimes because of birthday parties and snack day.  So....we are going to try to cut back on the breakfast some to see if he is more hungry.

I met Collin for lunch today because I was working from home.  Today was pizza and applesauce day so I knew he would eat that.  I also brought some strawberries because he likes those.  He devoured his applesause, ate all of the pizza and then have of the strawberries I brought (about 5 of them).

Can you tell which picture of him was when he was trying to eat the meatloaf?  At least he was attempting to smile for the camera (or phone in both cases).  hahaha

Just Five!

Collin's favorite number is 5.  He uses it all of the time when he is negotiating with us or telling us how many he wants of something.  Some examples from just the last week are:

• "Collin, how many donuts do you want to eat".  He says "Five" while holding five fingers up.
• "Mommy, I want you to read me five books tonight"
• "Collin, when is Grandma H coming to visit you?"  He replied, "Tomorrow in five days".  Did not make sense but he did use "five" again.  :)
• "It's time to get out of the bath" and he says, "I need five more minutes".  He uses "five more minutes" frequently...but does not mean five minutes.  I have even turned the timer on in the kitchen for five minutes.  When it goes off, he tells me that was not five minutes.

Nancy is here!!!!

After celebrating Audrey's birthday party at Pump It Up, we ran some errands and then can home to get ready for Aunt Nancy to come over. She is is in town and spending the night to watch Collin tomorrow because I have a triathlon in the morning. This will be my first pool swim.

Nancy brought Collin an early birthday present. It's a huge pirate ship tent. Collin LOVED playing in it while I cooked dinner. We had fish, roasted potatoes and peas. Yep, Collin only liked the fish. He also really liked the cookie brownie bar. After dinner, Collin and Nancy played together all over the house. Before heading to bed, they watched a little bit of Despicable Me. It was fun to hear Collin. Laugh really hard during certain parts of the movie. Of course, he is still up after 9pm because Nancy is her. He is such a little manipulator still. She cannot push him to get to bed. Good luck Nancy!!!

Race results tomorrow. Must go to bed!

Grocery Helper

Collin likes to help me at the grocery store.  We generally go to the same one so he knows that there are the carts with a car in front of it there.  We went to another location of the same chain grocery store yesterday.  There were the car carts there but they also had a Collin-sized cart which he chose instead.  I was not sure how this would go but thought I would give it a try.  He did great and had a good time.  I would tell him what we needed, he would get it and put it in the basket.   I would tell him that we needed two or three of an item, he would count them for me and then put them in his basket.  He even rearranged the food in the basket a few times so that the new items would fit. If the items was breakable, I got to put it in my basket.  A few times, he did throw things in his basket but that was because "I have seen you do this Mommy".....which is true.  When it was time to check out, he put all of his groceries on the belt in the checkout lane.  Some of them where hard to reach but he insisted on no help from me.  He was well-behaved the entire time, listened and laughed.  The errand took longer than usual but we had fun doing it.

The pictures are OK because they are from my phone but they do at least show him smiling and enjoying grocery shopping.

Just starting out at the bread isle

His basket is getting really full and we are almost done

Influence of Classmates

Collin learns so much from school.  I can tell what he either learned from his teacher or picked up from the other kids in his class.  Here are some of the things he has recently learned from his classmates:

• "That's not fair!" - I hear this when I tell him something that he does not want to hear or such as, "Collin, we need to go inside now because it's getting dark.
• "I hate you!" - You know I love to hear this one.  He says this also when he does not want to do something I just requested him to do. 
• "You're not sharing" - this makes me laugh sometimes because he has no idea what sharing really means.  He thinks it means that if he wants something, he can take it whether the person he is taking it from wants or is ready for him to.  The other night, I was eating dinner and he wanted a bite of something off my plate.  I told him that I wanted to have a few more bites but then he could have some.  "You're not sharing Mommy!"  I try to explain that I will share but I had not even had a bite yet.  I then sometimes here, "You are not my best friend".  So....I don't need to be his best friend, right?
• "You are not my best friend" - He says this when he thinks that I will change my mind from what I just said or did.  If I don't or cannot play with him when he asks me to, then I am not his best friend.  It does not matter to him that he asked me when I just sat down on the toilet or starting to cook dinner.
• "No sir" along with his pointer finger in the air shaking back in forth.  This is one of my favorites because I know the teacher tells him this when he is doing something he is not supposed to do at school.  He tells me this when I ask him to do something but he is not ready to.  I will say, "Collin, it's time to take a bath" and the replies with a mad face "No sir" followed by the finger shaking in the air.

"Mommy, will you sleep with me"

I hear this little voice say this to me around the same time early several mornings throughout the week...typically between 2:30am and 3am.  It's Collin waking up to notice that I am not there and has trouble falling back to sleep.  Most times, I go back to his room with him, tuck him back in bed and then leave after 5 minutes.  I decided to lay down this morning because I was so tired.....and then woke up at 5:25am....just in time for the 5:30am alarm.  I had fallen asleep on the floor for 3 hours.  Surprisingly, I am not sore today from doing it. 

Gynmastics Finals

Here are the videos from Collin's gymnastics finals last month.  I was not able to get these off the camera until now.  Here he is doing his floor routine.  I love that he checks to see periodically if Daddy and I are watching him.  Of course we are!

Grrrr, not working still!

Here he is on the balance beam.  He really does have good balance.  He usually does not put his arms in the air for his finish but he did a really good job with this too.



Here he is on the different balance beams from a week ago.  He really has no fear of heights and good balance.  We just need to work on tucking his head when he does a forward roll.....yep, on the balance beam.

July 4th Neighborhood Parade

This morning, we participated in the neighborhood parade.  Last year, Collin wanted to ride in the stroller...which was a good thing because he would not have had enough energy to ride his bike like he did this year. 

When he woke up, we decorated some glasses and then his bike.  He liked picking out the different colored stars to put on his glasses.  He made both him and me a pair.  Then, he loved putting the streamers and flags on his bike.

I love the concentration pulling the back of the stickers

I love his original "Holmes Shades"

Here is his bike...and he is ready to go.

Collin did GREAT in the parade.  He was able to ride his bike for the entire 3 miles of the route and he road really fast.  It was good that there was a break at the end that had popsicles, lemonade and cookies.  He was sweaty...and used a sweat rag that he and Daddy shared.  That runs in the family.  While at the rest stop, he enjoyed petting some of the puppies.  There were almost as many animals as there were kids.  He was still a little shy around the dogs but did warm up to them.  On the way home, he did have to take multiple breaks...but did not ask for us to pick him up to carry him home.  We were both very proud of him.

Here he riding his bike and doing a great job of dodging the other people in the parade. He even looked left and right when he came up to a road crossing the street we were on. Great riding skills.

Me wearing the glasses Collin made me and celebrating the holiday festively.

Fun in the pool

After I rode 25 miles and then ran 2 miles, I washout and ready to cool off. When I got home, Daddy and Collin were ready to swim. Perfect!! That would cool me down AND I would have fun with the family. Collin and I got in the pool first because Daddy was watching the last part of the Tour de France. Whole waiting for Daddy, Collin and I loaded up our water guns to get rady for Daddy. He had no idea what was about to happen. Collin was giggling hard and could not wait for Daddy to come outside. Wen he did, we got him!!! He grabbed a water gun and started to get us back. We did this back and forth for aour 20 minutesand had a great time. Collin did hit his lip on the side of the pool which slowed hi. Down a litle until he found out he was not bleeding. Then, I played Shark and got Collin under the water.

Collin and I got on pool floats. Daddy then played Shark. At one time, he growled at us. Collin told him that sharks don't growl. Duh Daddy!! We loved it when Daddy did some cannonballs to splash us and make big waves. We stayed in the pool for over an hour before getting out to get some lunch.

I love days like this to spend with the family.

Movie and Swimming

This morning, I took Collin to see Cars 2 at the movie theater.  We met a coworker of mine and her 3 year old nephew, Kyle.  The boys did not talk to each other in the beginning but got along great really quickly.  I bought Collin a kids pack to eat during the movie.  It consisted of a little bit of popcorn, Laffy Taffy and a  Diet Coke.  He did not like the popcorn or or taffy and drank a little of the coke.  That meant more popcorn for me which I did not end up eating anyway.  Collin did great during the movie.  Besides leaving twice for him to go potty (he wants to go in the stall by himself now most of the time), he sat on the edge of his seat watching the movie the entire time.  He commented throughout the movie at what he saw but it was not loud enough to disturb the other patrons.  Kyle ended up having to leave because he through a tantrum.  Collin was convinced that he was in the bathroom the entire time and said, "It's taking him a long time".  We had to go into the bathroom after the movie was over for me to show him that Kyle was not in there.

On the carousel while waiting for the movie to start.  Notice that he is wearing his Cars shirt.

We met Daddy at home and then left to the lake for Mommy and Daddy to practice swimming in a lake.  We took turns watching Collin who played in the dry sand, the sand in the water and then played a game of throwing his water shoes in the water, getting them and then throwing them in again.  We were there over 2 hours.  He did great the entire time.  Daddy swam over 300 meters and I swam over 500 meters.  I have two races coming up:  July 10 and 17.  The first one involves a 300 meter swim and the next one involves at 500 meter swim...so I was practicing for that last race.  The swim felts OK but MUCH better than the 600 meter swim in my last race a month ago.  This time, I did swim in more of a straight line, did not have to swim on my back at all and did not feel like I was going to drown.  Phew!

Collin slept all the way home which he needed because he had not had a nap yet.  However, he did not go to sleep until close to 10pm.  I hope he sleeps in a little tomorrow....oh wait...I will be riding my bike by them so I guess it does not really matter to me.  :)

A little Mommy and Collin Time

I know that Collin and I had enough quality time together this week since Daddy was out of town most of the week.....but I thought we could use some more.  Friday, I picked "puppy" up from school.  He, Jacob and Sophia were crawling around on the floor playing puppy.  All three of them greeted me being a puppy.  Collin even licked me on the leg.

After finally leaving, we headed to Chuck E Cheese.  Yes, I cannot believe I went there.  It's been over a year since Collin and I have gone together.  We still had tokens and all of the tickets from the last visit.  However, instead of going home, I was looking for us to do something indoors for an hour or two since it was so hot.  Daddy would not be home for awhile since he was at the new bike shop working on it like he had been since he got back home.  I thought we would stay an hour, eat somewhere else and then go home.  I called a few of his friends to see if they wanted to meet us there and they all pretty much said "no way, you are crazy!".  The first game he wanted to play when we got there was the basketball game which was to throw as many balls in the hoop as he could in the time limit.  He actually did REALLY well.  The ticket part of that machine was broken so he only got one ticket.  Since he did not realize what the tickets where for, he was happy to just have one.  Then, he and I played the water game a few times where we had to shoot water in a little hole to make the balloon rise. The winner got 14 tickets.  GREAT game if you were focused on tickets.  He did this twice and wanted to play another game because "this game is boring".    He played several other types of games but ended up playing the basketball game the most.  When we ran out of tokens, I showed him how to feed his tickets into a machine to count them.  He was disturbed that the machine did not give him back his tickets until I showed him that he could turn in his 141 tickets for prizes.  He picked out a rockets and two large, squishy ants.

At this time, he did decide he was hungry and wanted to stay there to eat.  We ate in the theatre room because he told me that he was not afraid of Chuck E Cheese anymore.  "He is not going to eat me Mommy, right?"  He did walk up to one of the characters after they finished playing and it moved.....and Collin took off running the other way.  He was finished eating and did not want to go back into the room

We left Chuck E Cheese and went to Baskin Robbins to have a banilla ice cream cone.  He ended up eating all of the ice cream and the cone by himself.  He mush have been really hungry after all of that fun playing games.

When we got home, he wanted to go swimming in his underwear.  We have done this a few times and he loves to do it.  I let him play in the pool for a little bit before we went inside to get ready for bed.  He was in bed before 9:15pm which was the earliest he has gone to bed all week.  Thank you Collin!!!

Aka is Here!

I know some of you have been checking in this week for updates.  It's been a long week.  Daddy has been out of town so Collin and I were on our own.  I did have to work this week so that made for some very long days Monday and Tuesday (worked until 1am each night). 

Nothing new really to report at the home front for this week anyway.  Collin did kill another bug for me and helped me with a wasp that I killed in the house.  Guess we need to get the bug man to come over to the house huh?  The nights were late because Collin was just not tired.  I thought for sure he would have been because of how full his weekend was.  Nope!  He stayed up until past 10:30pm Monday night and close to 9:30pm Tuesday night.  Wednesday was about the same.  We even swam some Wednesday night to try and wear him out a little bit.  It did not work....at least he was "bathed" though so we skipped a bath that night so I could move the bedtime process along.

Last night, we went over to Ryan and Yoko's house to see Aka, their newborn son who was born Saturday afternoon.  They all came home Wednesday night and were ready for visitors to come over last night.  We brought them several dinners to chose from for the rest of the week.  Collin was intrigued by little Aka.  He pointed out how small his toes and hands were.  He commented that he did not cry loud when it was time to change Aka's diaper.  Collin studied Aka's face as Collin was feeding him a bottle and asked Ryan why Aka did not have any eyebrows.  Great question, right?  Ryan told him that the hair did not have time to grow yet but that he did have long eyelashes.  Collin did get bored with Aka and wanted to play with the cars that Ryan had at the house.  We left after about an hour and a half.  The parents were both tired.....and so was Collin.

New friends...Collin feeing Aka a bottle

A full little boy