Mornings with Collin

Collin has not woken up in the mornings earlier than 7ish am for the last several weeks now.  Because of this, I have been able to get ready in the morning and leave the house without disturbing my guys.  I do give each of them a kiss on the cheek before I leave.  However and for who knows what reason, Collin has woken up before 6am the last two mornings.  His bed time has not changed and he has not woken up in the middle of the night.  Whatever the reason, he is awake and ready to play.  Because he is so awake, he is not interested in laying on my closet floor with his pillow and "guys".  He wants to play in the playroom, ride his bike or watch a movie.  Yesterday morning, he was content to start eating breakfast and watch morning cartoons.  I am sure this helped Daddy out because he did not have to mess with breakfast.  They had time to ride bikes a little before leaving for school.

This morning, Collin was not ready to eat and did not want to play in his playroom.  I was planning to change the purse I was using after I got ready for work.  I thought this would occupy him to help me take the stuff out of my purse and put it in the new one.  I know, I know....a little crazy because my stuff could have ended up all over the floor.  Nope....Collin did great.  When he found the cash, he counted it (not the dollar value but how many bills) and then put the 1s, 5s and 10s together.  He also organized the contents by their color:  I had black, red, pink, white and money as categories.  Who knew!  Then, when it came time to put the contents in my new purse, I did not know what to expect.  However, I know I did not expect Monkey to show up in the middle section and snuggled under the zipper.  No wonder the purse looked like it was about to explode.  I did have to stop and explain what a few things were but, otherwise, Collin was quiet and happy to play with and help me with my purse.  After rearranging only a few items, my new purse was ready to go.  Thank you Collin!

Kitty Bedtime

Collin still regularly pretends to be a dog, cat or another animal.  Tonight, he was kitty and wanted me to be kitty's mommy.  I thought that would be easy enough because I am already "kitty's" mommy...or so I thought.  What I was required to do was to only speak like a kitty.  Collin wanted me to read his books by only meowing....so I did.  That was hard and fun at the same time.  One book required me to sing Happy Birthday.  Collin recognized what I was singing when I was meowing the song and started to laugh.  Then it was time for kitty to crawl in bed which he thankfully did.  I continued to be kitty's mom and licked kitty good night on the cheek because kitty's don't kiss, they lick.  He liked that I continued to play my role.  I did lay on the bottom bunk for a little while because I was tired.  Instead of him checking on me to see if I was there by either stating simply "Mommy" or "Are you still there?' he meowed.  I replied by meowing back. 

Gotta love the imagination. 

"You Drive Better Than Daddy"

When I was driving to get breakfast this morning, we were barely out of the neighborhood when Collin announced that I drive better than Daddy.  I was in Daddy's car so maybe that's what prompted him to say that.  I asked him why he said that and he said "You drive straight and then turn.  Daddy hits the curb when he is driving".  Way too funny!  Your busted Daddy!

One Tired Mommy!

The weekend was not what I expected it was going to be like but it was a great weekend nonetheless.  I am ready for bed but want to capture the weekend before I forget some of the details.  Most of the weekend was spent taking care of Saige's mom, Kristen, because she had an abscessed tooth.  The infection made her cheek swell and she could barely talk.  I spent the night with Collin at her house Friday and almost Saturday night so I could be there for Kristen.  Good thing I was there on Friday night because she got up a few times during the night and needed my help.  Collin did like spending the night at the girl's house especially because I slept in Linden's bed with him. 

Besides it being MS150 weekend, the family did the following:

• Grandma H met us at the house to go to Collin's 9:15am Saturday game.  Remember that we were at Saige's house that night and morning.  I did pack his baseball clothes and bag so we would be ready to go and leave from Saige's house.  Daddy joined us mid-way through the game after he was finished with the MS150 duties from the morning.  He left the house at 4:15am which is the main reason Collin had to spend the night with me.

Collin running to 3rd base

• After the game, Grandma H, Collin and I went to the mall so Grandma H could buy a few things.  We had so much fun that Grandma H and I returned to the mall after dropping Collin back off at the house.  Collin, Saige and Clayton were going to Monkey Joe's for a few hours to wear the kids out...I mean, so they could have some fun.
• Saige came over later and played a little before we all headed back to her house to put everyone to bed so her mommy could go to the ER and get some help for her pain.  Here Saige and Collin are playing with Playdoh before playing in the playroom and then outside in the sandbox.



Helping open the new jars of Playdoh.  They each picked 3 colors to play with.



Saige is playing with the Monkey and Collin is about to make "noodles"


• Sunday morning, Collin and I got the family breakfast.  He really wanted a bagel and Daddy and I wanted breakfast tacos from "Caco Cabana" as Collin calls it.  I really did not want to go to two different places but would if Collin ate his breakfast.  We went to the bagel place first.  I told him that we would stop if there was not a line, and lucky for him, there was not one.  He wanted a bagel with pink stuff on it..aka strawberry cream cheese.  He wanted to eat it in the car.  I thought it might get a little messy, however, because he did not have much time to eat before Grandma H arrived, I let him.  He did great!  Nothing got on the car seat or on his PJs just all over his mouth.


• Grandma H came to pick Collin up Sunday morning at 9am so that he could help her pick out plants and plant them in her yard.  I heard he had fun and really helped her out.  He arrived back at the house in time for him to take a short nap before he went to baseball practice.
• While Collin was at Grandma H's, Daddy and I laid out by the pool for a few hours.  He jumped in the pool a few times to cool off while I read some magazines poolside.
• I went for a swim at the club (750 meters) and then the grocery store because friends were coming over to the house later.
• We went to Collin's 3pm Tball practice.  He did good hitting and fielding the ball.  We still need to get him his own helmet because all of the ones available are so big on him.
• When we got home, Saige came over to play and then the Tirados (Nicole and Matt and their kids, Kyana, Madison and Jessica) came over to play and eat dinner.  The kids had a blast in the sand box and blowing bubbles outside.

What a weekend!  We are so blessed to have great friends, have a house were we can entertain at the spur of the moment and such a wonderful family. 

"Mommy, why do you have lipstick on?"

Saturday night, Daddy and I attended a gala.  We were invited by a good bike shop customer of ours.  It was a black tie event so I was excited all week to see Daddy not only in pants but in a tux for the evening.  I have never seen Daddy in a tux, not even for our wedding.  The theme was also "The Gatsby" so Daddy wore a black hat with his tux.  I had my hair put up in a french twist.  Later, I did wish that I had styled it down.  Daddy agreed because he said he really loved my long hair worn down. 

I finished getting ready first and walked out of our room.  Collin saw me, stopped what he was doing and asked me, "Mommy, why do you have lipstick on?"  I wear lipstick but it's close to the natural color of my lips.  Last night, I had on bright red lipstick I got when we were in Las Vegas last time.  He had this huge smile on his face while he stared at me.  He knew I was going somewhere 1) because Mimi was already over and 2) I was really dressed up. 

When Daddy came out, he had an audience of Collin, Linden, Kristen and Mimi.  They came over to see Daddy in his tux.  He was a hit!  They took a few pictures of us before we left for the evening.  Later, Mimi told me that we looked like we had just gotten married when we were in the car about to drive away.  Speaking of in the car, Collin wanted kiss after kiss because he thought it was funny to get my red lipstick on him.  As we pulled away, he had this huge grin on his face while he was waving bye.  Guess he was OK with us going out last night.  :)

Awwwwww.....

Sleepover with Saige

Because Saige's sister, Linden, had surgery to remove her adenoid, Saige spent the night at our house Friday night and stayed through Saturday morning.  She came over around dinner time.  Collin wanted to eat whatever Saige was having even though I knew he would not eat it all.  Saige eats more than Collin does...especially at dinner time.  They both ate a hamburger patty, strawberries and Saige ate some of her fries.  Collin did not finish his patty but did better than I thought he would.  When they were almost finished, Saige's mom arrived with an extra large cookie that a neighbor brought over for Linden.  The kids could not wait to eat it, so we did that before getting ready for bed.

I needed to bathe the kids separately and thought it best to bathe Saige first.  I knew Collin would be hanging right by the bathroom door wanting to know what we were doing.  I was hoping he would play in his playroom but he was not interested.  Saige wanted to play in the tub a little bit before I bathed her.  Collin was too cute outside the bathroom door.  He would say "Saige, it's OK if you play with my toys in the bathtub" or "Here are some new crayons you can use in the tub".  He wanted to know how much longer we were going to be and when it was going to be his turn.  I knew that he missed us and did not want to be left out of what was going on.  Too cute....  When it was his turn, he wanted to bathe quickly so he could get out and play with Saige.  Her mommy said that she goes to bed by 8pm most nights but I knew she would stay up later because she was at a friend's house.  I did want to be ready just in case she did want to go to sleep. 

After bath and brushing teeth, the kids played in the playroom while I cleaned up the kitchen.  By then, it was 8:30pm and they looked like they were getting tired but did not want to slow down.  I put a movie on in the playroom (it only took 10 minutes to agree to the same movie) so they would settle down.   I thought that at least one of them would fall asleep.  Thirty minutes later, they were both awake.  Saige said he was ready for a book and then to go to bed.  They each picked out a book and I read to them in the playroom so they could sit on both sides of me.  Then, they pottied and got in bed.  Thank goodness they did not fight about which bed they wanted to sleep in.  Saige slept on the bottom and Collin on the top bunk...his usual spot.  They did take another 30 minutes to fall asleep.  Saige kept getting up to go potty more or to look at Collin on the top bunk.  They did finally fall asleep, Collin first, after Daddy came in to turn the music on.

The next morning, I heard them talking around 6:15am.  Saige told Collin that she wanted to get up but to not go home.  She wanted him to get up but he needed to stretch first.  He said he needed to put his arms over his head and then stretch his toes.  It got quite and I heard them sneak in to look at me in the bed.  I pretended to be asleep so I could lay there just a few more minutes.  That lasted only 10 minutes.  They both crawled in and Collin started to jump on my back.  Hey, I am 42 years-old buddy! 

We got up to make breakfast, Monkey Bread.  The kids helped me cover the cut up biscuits with sugar and cinnamon and then put it in the pan.  While the Monkey Bread was baking, we made Mommy Bread (banana bread) so it could go into the over next.  After this time, Daddy came home from at cycling event to join us for breakfast.  Collin devoured his bread and Saige ate a good portion of hers.  She did say she really liked Monkey Bread.  I sent some home with her. 

Stirring the banana bread together

After breakfast, the kids played in the playroom, colored and played some games.  They started to get on each other's nerves, saying not so nice things to each other, so I separated them a few times.  Eventually, Saige wanted to go home.  It was around 10am.  We needed to start getting ready for Collin's Tball game which started at 11:45am.

Grandma H came over and we left to watch Collin play in his game.  He did great at trying to catch the ball but either blocking it or running towards it.  He did also hit the ball each time he was up to bat.  However, he does need to straighten out his run to 1st base.  Also, Daddy wants to get him his own batting helmet that is not as heavy.  You can tell when Collin runs that the helmet is heavy by the way he is running. 

After the game, we went to the mall for some Mexican food.  After Collin finally finished his food, he rode the carousel.  He watched it go around and around the first time so he could pick out which animal he rode.  He changed his mind several times but finally picked out a bunny because "he looks like the Easter Bunny".  He is getting older because he did not want me to stand too close to him while he was riding.  I knew that would happen eventually.

Glad he was tired by the time we got home.  He must have been because he took a 3 hour nap.  I was able to get some work done and go to the grocery store.  Yippie!

Collin's Art - Family Members

While Mommy and Daddy were on a date at the movies, Mimi and Collin got to spend some quality time together.  It had been awhile so Collin was eager to play with his Mimi.  After an interesting dinner of tuna salad on crackers and marshmallows (yes, the kids still loves his marshmallows), he wanted to color.  He drew a picture of himself, Timmy, Mimi and Leah.  He made sure that he drew a smiling face for him because he was happy.  For Timmy, he first drew a non-happy face and then a smiling one because "he is happy to stand next to Collin and Mimi".  Leah was so small that she did not have much of a face but he was sure to include socks on her feet.  He explained to Mimi that she did not need shoes. 

Collin's people drawings are similar - round faces with legs coming below from the head.  The hair is either sticking straight up or curly.  No bodies are included so far.  There are arms coming out the side of the head and 2 fingers. All mouths are turned up at the edges.

To better explain how cute this art work really is, here are some pictures:

Here is the overall picture.  Starting  from left to right is Collin, Timmy, Mimi and Leah.  Collin does have blue hair and green ears.  I see a yellow color in there.  Maybe he was trying to color medium blonde hair?  His hair IS getting darker but I doubt this is what he was trying to do.

Here is Collin next to Timmy.  Gotta love the arms coming out of his head.  See how he is smiling because the "smile" does turn up at each corner.  He did also include the details of eyes and a nose.  Are those cheeks I see?  Timmy is next with his sad face and MUCH smaller than Collin.  This is how he sees Timmy...smaller than him but not a baby anymore because Leah is the baby.

Here is his Mimi.  Love that hair.  Is he trying to tell Mimi that she needs to brush it?  Haha...just kidding with you Mimi!  At least she has a big smile and, look, her arms are coming out of her legs and not her face.

This is the cutest baby Leah I have seen.  She is so tiny yet he still made sure to include the detail of her having socks on.  I think I see a pair of eyes in there too.

Reunite with Collin and Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Because Collin's school was closed for Good Friday and I had a triathlon Saturday morning, Collin spent the day and night with Grandma H.  When Daddy dropped Collin off that morning, Collin was not sure what was going on and was acting a little shy.  Grandma H said he was still like that for another 30 minutes but warmed up to her and the new surroundings after that.  They did the following throughout the day:

• They built not one but TWO forts.  One was in the living room and the other was in his bedroom around the bed frame.
• He helped her pull weeds in the backyard
• They rode bikes and she found out that Collin is still afraid of ducks.  When he saw them coming, he hopped off his bike and started running in the opposite direction
• He helped her unpack more boxes
• Raced cars on a blanket in the living room
• ...and had fun playing with each other

That night since Collin did not have a bed yet, he slept with her in her room.  Good thing since we forgot Monkey at our house.  She said he fell asleep quickly and slept through the night. 

When we picked him up, he was not ready to go which was a good sign.  I did get a running hug which I loved.  We stayed for a little while so he could show us his forts and what he did while there.  Daddy snuck in a much needed nap since we were up that morning by 4:30am for the race.  It was worth it because it was a great, fast race and .....I did get 1st Place. 

After coming home, Clayton came over to get ready for the street egg hunt.  There was a neighborhood hunt last Sunday but Collin did not make it because he was still at Tball practice.  There was also one at the church early Saturday morning but I was racing and he was at Grandma H's.  So, we decided to have a street hunt.  All of the kids including the older one participated in the hunt.  Clayton and Collin did not get as many because they spent time shaking each egg as they picked it up to see if there was something in it.  If not, they threw it back down.  Eventually, they figured out that the more eggs they could pick up, no matter if they were empty or not, was fun.  They did find a few confetti eggs that busted on each other. The adults enjoyed watching the kids and catching up.  We have not see much of each other lately because of all of our schedules so it was really nice to catch up and not be in a hurry. 

Clayton, Collin and the Daddy's looking for eggs

Collin thought it was funny that an egg was on his Tball stand

Clayton and Collin finding eggs in the bushes

After hunting for the eggs, the boys came inside to check out what was in each egg.  A few more confetti eggs were in the baskets that were quickly used on each other.  Yep, they made a mess but the laughs were worth it.  I found out that Collin really likes Starburts which is good because he got a lot.  Not much chocolate which made sense because it was hot outside and it might have melted before it was opened.  They boys then played a little while before heading back to their house.  Clayton's Mommy was not here because she is 9 months pregnant with Clayton's sister, Savanah.  She was not feeling well so we were helping her out by entertaining Clayton.

Vanilla and Chocolate

Yesterday, I met Daddy close to my office so that he could head to a meeting at the shop.  Collin and I checked out his "baby" house that will be going back on the market tomorrow.  He helped me determine if any lights were burnt out be jumping to flip the switch on or off.  He was too funny rounding the corner on the first set of stairs because he bent over, looked at the floor and said, "She cleaned.  The bug is not there anymore".  He was remembering a bug in that spot the last time he was at the house. 

Once we determined how many bulbs we needed and other supplies to clean the house today, we headed to Home Depot to get the supplies.  Before we got out of the car, Collin told me that he wanted a plant with flowers to put in our house.  I did not think a $5 plant would be a big deal, so I let him pick out an indoor blooming plant.  He picked one that had yellow flowers and later placed it in the house in our living room by the TV "so that we can look at it everyday". 

When we were leaving, I asked if he was ready for dinner and what he wanted to eat.  Besides stating that he wanted to eat nuggets at his house, he also said that he wanted "banilla" ice cream.  It WAS a hot day and I thought that was a good idea.  On the way to get some ice cream from the grocery store, Collin explained that he was "banilla" and so was Alex, Jacob and Ellie.  His friends Meghna and Ism were Chocolate.  I don't know if he used these references because we just talked about the different flavors of ice cream we were about to get at the store or if he does refer to himself as "banilla".  He did confirm that he notices the difference in people's hair, eyes and skin color.  Very observant.

Collin and his trailer bike

At first, Collin was not sure about riding his new "bike" with Daddy.  It did not have training wheels or a front wheel.  Yes, no front wheel.  It hooks onto the back of one of our bikes and Collin pedals and rides along behind us similar to a tandem bike.  He first got on the bike Saturday and road just on our street and then with Daddy and I around the neighborhood later.  After that, he was hooked. 

He woke up yesterday morning at 6am and asked me, "Mommy, can we ride my new bike right now?"  I told him to look outside and see how dark it was still.  "Well, can we do it when I get home?"  I said that he and Daddy probably would but that he needed to ask Daddy....which he did as soon as Daddy woke up. 

When Daddy came to pick him up yesterday, that was his first question to Daddy.  Daddy said they could but that he needed to hurry up and get in the car. Instead of looking at the fishes in the fish tank in the school lobby and playing on the sculpture near the circle drive outside, he headed straight for the car and was almost buckled by the time Daddy started the car.  He did not fall asleep on the way home and had his helmet on when he got inside the house before Daddy could head down the hallway to change into "play" clothes.  They road around the neighborhood and then came back to our street to show Saige the bike.  Collin let her ride it a few times before he got back on it.  They road around for over an hour before heading into the house for dinner. 

Here is a picture and video of my boys enjoying their new ride on Saturday:

Tball Team Pictures

Before practice today, the team got together for individual and team pictures.  I did not get a picture of Collin posing by himself with his bat because of where the camera lady was and the lighting.  I cannot wait to see the pictures to choose from because he sure was posing, smiling big and looked so cute in his uniform. 

Here is a picture of his team.  Don't they look great?

Collin is the first kid on the front row on the right

Here is one of Collin's poses during the team photo.  Can you tell that he is used to his Mommy taking his pictures?  Later when we went to Grandma H's to check on her and see the unpacking progress, he was still in his uniform and wanted me to take a picture of him with a bat that Grandma H found.  It's possibly Daddy's when he was a little boy.

During practice, Collin did much better getting in front of the ball to block it from going behind him.  They were told to be like crabs with their pinchers and grab the ball.  Collin took it seriously and dove for the ball every time.  Once he got back up, he remembered to throw it to 1st base every time.  Also during warm up, the Coach would hit balls to the kids in the field.  Once they caught the ball, they had to throw it into a bucket laying on the ground by the 1st base line.  If they made it in, they got 10 points.  Collin was one of the few kids that made it in.  The 10 points did not go to anything and fortunately, he did not remember to ask Coach or one of us later about it.  He still needs batting practice.  He was doing really good but yesterday was not as good as he has been doing.  It could be that the Coaches don't know how to position a Lefty or it's just that Collin needs to practice more.  We tried to practice earlier in the day but it was one of those whining moments...so we went back inside.  He took a nap within 30 minutes.  Should have known he was tired.

Baseball and Fans

Collin had an audience during his Tball game yesterday.  Now that Grandma H has moved, she was there and will probably be at most of his games.  Linden and her daddy showed up and then Saige and her mommy came a little later.  We were all there cheering him on. 

The Lions were out in the field first.  Collin and Tyler shared the area near the pitcher's mound so they saw a lot of balls hit their way.  It really does not matter though.  When the ball is hit, EVERYONE runs for the ball.  At one point, Collin did get the ball and several kids piled on top of him.  For a moment, you would have thought they were playing football and not Tball.  Collin did get up and threw the ball to first.

Collin and his team mates going after the ball.  He is the Lefty second from the right.

Colling going after the ball.  He is jersey #1.

When it was his turn to be up to bat, he missed with the first swing and then hit it the next time.  He does still take a moment to figure out what to do next, run to 1st base, before dropping the bat and taking off.  When he got to 1st base, Daddy was there because he was the 1st base coach this inning.  Daddy was explaining to Collin to run to 2nd when the ball was hit.  Collin looked at him and said "Go away.  I already know that."  Well, he told him.

Collin waiting to run to 2nd base

It's a Hit!!!

After the game, the kids played on the playground before we head home and then went to dinner.  We asked Collin what he liked to do best.  He said hitting the ball and throwing it.  I did not think catching was his favorite....yet!