Let the Excuses Begin

Tonight, we were cleaning his playroom and getting ready to take a bath.  He asked if tomorrow was a school day and I told him that it was.  He then said, "Remember the day that Daddy took me from school and you brought be a basket by my bed because I was chocking?  Well, my tummy hurts like that again and I need a basket".  He was feeling great before me mentioning school to him so I assumed that he was saying this because he did not want to go.  I told him, "Well, if you are not feeling well, then you need to go to bed now without any books or bath".  He quickly told me that he was fine and wanted to finish playing in his room. 

He is already coming up with excuses to not go to school?

Weekend of Girls!!

Collin seemed to have a great weekend spending it with friends each day.  Saturday afternoon, Ella and her sister, Scarlett, came over for a visit.  Scarlett slept most of the time....but that is OK since she is 7 weeks old and this was her first outing to a friend's house.  While the mommies talked in the living room, the kids played either in the living room area or in Collin's playroom. Ella and Collin had a great time playing together or at least playing in the same room together.  They seemed like they were having a great time playing.  In a little over an hour, it's amazing how much damage two kids can make.  This is what Collin's playroom looked like when it was time for Ella to leave.  Yes, those are books on the floor.  Three of the four shelves where empty and the contents were all over the floor. 

When it was time to leave, Ella was so sweet and told Collin, "I really miss you" and gave him a big hug.  He was still busy playing and did not hug back until we were all outside and she was in the car ready to leave. 

Today, Collin went to Meghna's birthday party.  She is one of his favorite classmates so I knew he would really want to go.  We went to one of the local pottery places.  The kids got to choose what pottery piece they wanted to pant.  Collin picked out the alligator and quickly started painting it.....with both hands.  He switched back and forth but mainly used his left hand....and did a great job.  After painting, pizza was served and then the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to Meghna.  Just as with other parties, Collin did want a piece of the cake but wanted me to cut off the icing because he did not want to eat it.  No, I cannot leave it on the plate either.  He wants it away from his cake.  He looked at the cake and said, "Hmmmmm....chocolate!"  What happened to his favorite..."banilla"?  We stayed for a few minutes so he could visit with his school friends.  We will have to wait to see what his alligator looks like because we had to leave it to dry.  Meghna will bring it to school later once it's dry and fired in the kiln. 

Later this afternoon after his nap (oh yes, a two hour nap), he was helping me clean the house.  He found a small, white hard piece of something.  He looked at me and told me, "Mommy, I found a dinosaur tooth.  Look at it.  See, it's a tooth".  He must have been thinking about all of the animal teeth we have been reading about in his books and then the teeth he painted today on his alligator.

Collin, The Cool Dude

Daddy and I find ourselves looking at Collin and saying what a cool dude or how awesome he is.  We love having him in our lives and watching him grow up.  It's been too long since I have posted an update about a day in the life of Collin. 

• He loves to watch his movies.  Right now, his favorites are Cars (or any short movie with the Cars characters in it), Monster's Inc., Rudolph (even after Christmas), and The Wild.  When he watches The Wild, he likes to tell me that he is one of the characters and I am the other.  He has been picking the squirrel lately for him and I am the Koala. 
• Breakfast is still his biggest meal.  He can put away some cereal (sometimes three bowls at one sitting) or 12 donut holes on "Donut Friday" with Daddy.  This might explain why he does not eat much lunch, if he eats at all.  He does eat his snacks and snacks for dinner more than sits and eats dinner.  Even when we are sitting as a family for dinner, he would prefer to get up, walk around or do something else rather than eat.  He does prefer eating lots of different foods but not in large quantities for dinner such as applesauce, fruit, crackers, cheese, sandwich meat, hot dog, etc.  Unlike other kids his age, he does not care for macaroni and cheese, french fries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, most veggies (except for green beans and broccoli).
• He wants to pick his clothes out.  He still does not wearing his uniform but does because he knows he has to.  When he can wear non-uniform clothes, he wants to wear shirts that "have writing on them".  This means shirts with pictures or words on them such as Spider Man or other pictures.  Forget him wearing colors or shirts with buttons.  I guess this reminds him of his uniform shirts.  He likes jeans this year.  He did not last year.  He prefers to wear his "tie" shoes over wearing the ones with Velcro.  He works really hard to make the knot in the laces before we help him tie them. 
• He will make a good negotiator some day.....or at least he is now.  If he does not get his way...and he is not tired...he negotiates his way until he comes to a compromise that he can accept.  Tonight is a great example.  He wanted to eat Nilla Wafers after dinner.  I said he could have three. He said, "I have a good idea.  How about I have five and then don't ask you anymore".  I then said "I said you can have three and not five.  I appreciate your idea but you can have three tonight".  He pulled out three wafers, ate them and then looked at me with a look that said "are you sure I cannot have one more?".  I know every night, he will negotiate how many books we read when he knows that my answer is typically three....unless he is getting to bed later because he fought taking a bath and brushing his teeth.
• He is doing great going to the bathroom during the day.  He goes by himself in the stall of the public restroom as I stand outside the door.  He still does not like to wash his hands and let's me know he does not need to because he did not touch anything.  He demonstrates this by holding his arms up in the air to not touch anything.  We are still working on keeping dry at night.  He is asking again lately to wear underwear at night.  This week, we are talking more about diapers, underwear and keeping dry.  Maybe he is ready this time.  Unlike his guy friends, he is not messy in the bathroom which I appreciate.  He does not want to wipe if he knows that someone else is there to help him....something else we are working on.
• We should buy stock in pillows and blankets...he LOVES them.  This morning while I was getting ready for work, he greeted me in the bathroom with a pillow and blanket from his bed.  He expected that he would lay in the closet floor while watching me get ready.  Anytime he is on the couch, he cannot sit there without having at least a pillow and blanket near or on him.  He prefers "soft covers" and has stolen mine many times. 
• He is an affectionate little boy. I regularly receive hugs and kisses without me asking for them.  This weekend when he was riding his bike, he road over to me, stopped and held his arms out.  I thought he wanted help off his bike.  He just wanted a hug....and then road back off.  He is a little jokester while being affectionate.  He gives me kisses and then wipes them off while laughing.
• He is still shy when meeting new kids.  However, he starts talking to them or trying to get involved with what they are doing quicker than before.  He does still observe first and play later.
• He loves to help me in the kitchen...especially when making his "Mommy bread" = banana bread.  I measure the ingredients, he pours them and then stirs.  He wants to know the temperature on the oven an dhow long it will take to cook.  He also wants to cut the slices of the bread he eats.  He even likes to help me clean up by rinsing the dishes.
• He sleeps well at night....so well that he snores loudly.  Daddy and I love listening to him snore and breathe through the monitor in our bedroom.  He does not typically get up at night.  When he does, he comes to get one of us to either find Monkey or "will you sleep with me".  Once we walk back in his room and he crawls to the top bunk, he is asleep within 5 minutes.  I try not to lay in the bottom bunk because I will fall asleep and be there for a few hours before I figure out where I am.  Don't want to miss the morning alarm!  He generally goes to bed by 9pm and is up after 7am.  At times, he will get up in the morning before 7am and greet me in the bathroom.  This happens once a week or even less. I enjoy those times even though I am rushing to get out of the house.  He either hangs out in the bathroom, wants to play in his playroom or wants to watch one of his movies.

I am sure there are many other observations or comments I am forgetting to make.  In summary, I love being Collin's Mommy even when he is grouchy or in the best of moods.  Every day is different and a joy with him in my life.

Afternoon at the Park

I have not been to the park with Collin in a long time.  Because it was a beautiful 80 degrees (yep, it's January), we went to a local park this afternoon so Collin could play outside and maybe take a nap when we got home. 

When we arrived at the park, he said, "We have been her before with Jacob".  He was right and remembered several parts of the park that he wanted to play on.  He quickly met a few friends and played with them or at least played on the same playground equipment he was playing on.  Every few minutes, he would run back to were I was watching him to get a drink or eat a small snack.  He had a great time and was getting tired after an hour.  I knew this because he was rubbing his eyes.  Sure enough, he hurt himself running up the stairs to a slide.  He wanted to go home....finally.  I was glad we had this time to play that was not scheduled running errands, attending birthday parties or attending some event.

Here he is swinging in the chair and wanting to go higher and higher.  I cannot push him as high as Daddy but it was good enough.  He was laughing so hard that smile cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

I could not believe how fast he was climbing up everything.  Here he is climbing up the side of the equipment.  This was the first thing he did in this section of the park.  When he saw it, he said, "Mommy, watch me do this.  I can do it".  I was impressed at how fast he did climb and was steady while doing it.

This section was on the other side.  He climbed up so fast and then immediately jumped that it took a second for me to realize what he just did.  Here he is doing it again.  When he reached the bottom, he laughed, cleaned off his knees and did it again a few more times.

Going to the park did work.  He requested to watch a movie when we got home and was asleep 20 minutes later (actually, longer than I thought it would take). 

Habla Espanol?

Collin has been taking Spanish lessons at school once a week since the beginning of the year.  He already knows how to count to 10 and say a few colors like azul (blue) in Spanish.  I ask him to count and he happy starts with Uno and counts to Diez singingly.  He learned to count to 10 in Spanish faster than he did in English.  Way to go Collin!

Monkey on the Bookshelf

We stayed home today because school was closed.  I worked some in the morning and then took a break to play with Collin in his playroom.  We played cars for a little bit and then he walked over to his bookshelf to get something off of it.  I watched him pull the stool over, climb up to the first large shelf, grab a book and then started dancing like a crazy boy.  The video attached is not as good as what he did the first time because he was ready to get down and play.  However, as you can see, he is a little nut!

Surprise Lunch

I finished my client meeting early today so I thought it would be fun to surprise Collin and meet him for lunch.  When I arrived, they were all lined up to go outside first before lunch which is not what they usually do at the time I arrived.  The teacher explained that, because it was cold out, they were going to go outside for about 15 minutes before lunch.  Collin started pouting when he saw me because he wanted to go outside instead of having lunch with me.  I said that was fine with me if he went outside but I was going to eat my lunch now. I had to go back to work.  He reluctantly chose to eat lunch with me.  After grabbing the basket with the flowers and place mats, he smiled and happily went to the other room where you eat with your parents.  He forgot all about playing outside.

He did not want to each his hot lunch of raviolis, corn and beans.  He only wanted to drink his milk.  I separated out the corn and green beans.  He did eventually eat all of the beans and some of the corn.  He gagged on the ravioli bite that the took.  Glad I showed up so he ate some of his lunch.  I don't think he eats it most of the time....unless it's pizza or chicken nuggets.  Not variety allowed for this kid.

Just as he started to eat his lunch.  This was his smile for the camera.  He was probably thinking about how the raviolis were going to taste.  :)

Sydney and Jesse's Birthday Party

WARNING:  You are about to read about the coolest birthday party Collin has attended (besides his own, of course). 

This morning, we headed North for Sydney (4) and Jesse's (2) birthday party.  They are children of someone I used to work with but still keep in touch with.  We had no idea what was in store for all of us when we arrived.  We knew we were in the right place when we drove up because of all of the cars parked in the front.  I noticed a LONG trailer and wondered why they needed one of these.  When we turned the corner to the back of the house, I immediately knew why.  Collin just stood there trying to decide where he wanted to go first. 

There was a petting zoo with baby pigs (2 months old), chickens, llama, chickens and other animals.  I thought Collin might be afraid of going in there but he did go in........and wanted me to go with him.  He did not pet any of the animals but enjoyed watching them run and hop around.

Deciding which animals are his favorite

The petting zoo was a nice size for a private party

If the petting zoo was not enough, there were not one but TWO different animals that Collin could ride.  He chose to ride the pony first and then rode....drum roll......the camel.  Yep, I did say camel.  Daddy even rode the camel with Collin.

I had to include this picture.  Does Daddy look like he is scared?  hehe

Collin spent most of his time in the bouncy house that included a slide.  Can you believe it?  I don't have any pictures of this one.  He loved jumping up and then sitting down before sliding down the slide.  As least he was big enough to be able to climb back into the bouncy house after sliding.  That would have been a lot of work for Mommy to have to pick him up and put him back in as many times as he used the slide.

After lunch of hot dogs and chips, we sang "happy birthday" to the honorees.  Collin had Daddy stand in line (there were a LOT of people there) to get him a "banilla" cake.  Just as with any other time he eats cake, he had me scrap off the icing before he ate it.  He did not leave a crumb on the plate either after shoving each piece into his mouth and filling it full. 

He did insist on the pink plate.  I chose the green one first by mistake and got corrected. I should have known.

He slept most of the way home and has been asleep for over 3 hours.  Yeah birthday party!!!!  After he gets up, we plan to ride his bike around the neighborhood to wear him out again.

Cool Glasses

Every boy needs some cool glasses.  These are the best though.  He can use them ask a straw AND they can keep him cool.  Santa gave these to him in his stocking and he could not wait to use them when he pulled them out.

Carrots before bed?

You have read multiple times that Collin is great at coming up with ways to delay having to go to bed.  He has mentioned before that he is still hungry when I announce that it's bath time.  I generally do not let him eat again but maybe let him get a drink.  One time he mentioned he was hungry, I thought I would catch him and said, "OK, if you are hungry, you can have some carrots" knowing that he did not care too much for carrots.  He surprised me by saying that was fine with him and proceeded to eat at least four carrots.  Hey, it's a way to get him to eat carrots.  However, now when he says he is hungry and I don't offer the carrots, he asks for them.  I know he does not like the carrots because he makes a face while eating them.  This proves the kid will do anything to not have to take a bath and get ready for bed.  What will he think of next?

How does Medicine Work?

Collin had a runny nose and some congestion earlier in the week.  One of the times I gave him some liquid medicine, he asked "Why do I need to take this medicine?".  I said that the medicine will help him to breathe better and stop his runny nose.  He took the medicine and then had this puzzled look on his face.  He then asked, "Mommy, how does the medicine know to go up there?" as he pointed to his nose.  Great question, right?  I told him that the medicine knows where he hurts and where to go.  He was happy with that answer and ran off to play.

Happy New Year

We are looking forward to the new year.  i cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for the Holmes family.

I have enjoyed the last few days off from work spending it with my family.  Collin has gotten to spend time with lots of old and new friends.  Besides the road trip to Memaw's, we had friends from San Antonio stay with us from Friday through Sunday.  They had older kids (Brianna, Braedon and Bri) but Collin did not care.  He adored them and followed them around everywhere.  He especially liked that Braedon slept in his room on the bottom bunk bed.  After the first night, Collin slept with us so that everyone else could get some sleep.  He apparently would wake up during the night and ask Braedon questions.  If he was not doing that, he was rolling over into the wall which made a huge noise in the guest bedroom where the parents were sleeping.  During the day, we swam in the heated pool and played outside with the new remote controlled cars jumping a ramp Daddy brought home.  The older kids where just as happy sitting and watching TV.  While they did this, Collin helped me make sugar cookies for them to decorate later and banana bread. 

For New Year's Eve, the parents went out.  We stopped by one restaurant that had a 2+ hour wait and ended up at Pappadeaux which is a great Cajun seafood place.  After that, we went to see a movie, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.  When we got home, the older kids were still awake.  We stayed up to watch the New Year festivities on TV and then all of us got in the hot tub for a bit and listened to the small neighborhood fireworks go off.

Our visitors left on Sunday and we went to meet the family for lunch at Razoo's to celebrate Aunt Lisa's 38th birthday.  We sat in the corner so the boys could walk around and play with the cars Collin brought to play with.  I got to hold Leah for a  long time before she got bored. 

Yesterday, school and work were closed so Collin and I hung out all day.  After running two quick errands in the morning, we stayed home the rest of the day.  At one point, we road bikes in the front of the house because it was too nice to stay inside.  Collin got the idea to "jump" the ramp that Daddy brought home.  After not having enough speed to go over the ramp the first few times, he did finally make it over....and then continued to go back over and over and over the ramp again.  He had a blast.  I had to go over it also.  Daddy came home for lunch and got to see Collin ride over the ramp. 

Daddy and I are so blessed to have a sweet, fun little boy and to have each other.  We are looking forward to what 2012 brings us all.