Lunch with My Man

I finally was able to take some time away from work to meet Collin at school for lunch.  I did not tell him that morning that I was going to have lunch with him because I wanted to surprise him.  I also wanted to see how he acted around his classmates and how well he followed his teacher's instructions. 

I got there early as planned so I could already be in the cafeteria when he arrived.  He was walking in a line with his lunch bag and his classmates.  One of his friends noticed me and told him but he did not hear.  I waited until he sat down and then walked up behind him.  I tapped him on the shoulder and asked "Can I have lunch with you today?"  He turned around and had a huge grin on his face when he saw it was me.  I jumped up and even gave me a hug....then the instructions started.  I was to sit where he pointed and then take out my lunch.  As he was taking out his chicken sandwich, strawberries and fruit stick, he was positively commenting what I packed for him to eat and was excited about it.  Well, yeah, that's good to know since I do pack that fairly regularly.  He also wanted to know what the note said that I included with his lunch.  This one said "You are the coolest!"

He did not talk as much as I expected him to like he did when he was a Montessori School.  He spent most of the time eating and hugging my arm.  His friends asked who I was and wanted to know my name.  I told them and then they wanted to know Collin's Daddy's name.  I told them Chris and they proceed to tell me everyone they knew that was named Chris....and there were a lot of examples.  Most of the time though, the kids diligently ate there food.  About half the kids bought the hot lunch and the other half brought.  I don't know if that is usual or if there are some kids that buy on Friday regularly.  Collin did ask why he did not get to go in the line.  I pointed out to him that he would not eat anything on the plate and he agreed that he would rather have what I packed him.  That made me feel good to know that I was not wasting my time every morning to pack his lunch.

"Did God Hear My Fart?"

Collin has been going to church on Wednesday nights with Saige and Linden.  For the last several weeks, they have been learning songs to sing next week at the Christmas program.  I can tell the songs they learn each week because he sings them at least that night and sometimes the next day.  I just love to hear him sing and know that he is really enjoying this time each week.

They must have talked a lot about God this last time or Collin was really thinking about Him and had lots of questions for me after reading books that night. 

C:  "Mommy, where is God?"

M:  "He is everywhere and all around us."

C:  "Why can't I see him then?" - That's a good one, right?

M:  "Well Collin, we can see him when we are in Heaven."  - Oh no, he will ask when he is going to Heaven next.

Collin plays for a little bit and starts to get ready for bed.  He looks back at me and says,

C:  "Did God hear my fart?"  Ummmm.....

M:  "Yes, Collin, God hears everything you and I do." 

C:  "Did He laugh?"

M:  "Probably not.  He has heard you fart since you were born.  He is used to it by now."  - Dang, I am getting good at these quick responses.

He asked a few more questions about God and then jump to a corner of his room.  I asked what he was doing and he told me he was trying to jump on God to see if He would talk.  What an imagination that little boy has.  I really enjoyed tonight and all the nights we have our talks like this.

Starting the Resume Early

I have been working with Collin to learn his address, city and state and his A, B, Cs since his last progress report.  He is doing MUCH better with his A, B, Cs and only has trouble now with I, Q, T, U, V, and W.  He's getting there.  Mimi and Grandma H have been helping too so he is learning really quick.  Daddy, on the other hand, is teaching him other "useful" tricks such as squeezing his butt cheeks together or flaring his nostrils.  Daddy is really proud of Collin when he does either one of these.

We both learned that Collin taught himself to burp.  I did not believe it at first so I asked him to do it again.  Not only did he do it but he did it several other times.  Now that he knows he can get our attention doing this, he has done it repeatedly over and over again during the Thanksgiving holiday.  I thought for sure that I would receive an email from Ms. Hansen sometime today telling me that his burping is disrupting class.  I didn't.  Is that a good sign?  Maybe.....he did burp at least three times on purpose when he got home.  Great!  Well, at least he is a typical little boy.

The City and Sea World - Day #2

What a weekend!!!  Sea World did not open until noon today so we had a huge breakfast before exploring the city for a few hours.  Hour hotel room faced the river.  Collin saw several boats going up and down the river so we thought it would be fun to take a boat ride.  It was an informative, relaxing 30 minute ride.  Collin's favorite was to count all of the ducks he saw.  He wanted me to help and kept tipping my head down to face the water if he saw I was looking another direction.  Funny at first but annoying later because I was trying to look around at the great scenery.

After the boat ride, we still had a few hours before we headed to Sea World so we walked to the Alamo that was really close to our hotel. It was special for me to be there because, the last time I was there, I did not have my boys in my life.  Also, I had been here several times as a kid.  I enjoyed watching Collin fascinated with the same things I was.  I really liked looking at the old guns in the display case.  He did not want to walk around outside as much as I did as a kid though.  His attention span was not long because he was focused on going to Sea World.

In front of The Alamo

Really cool tree inside the Alamo walls

Looking at the "map" to see where we were

We took our time heading back to the hotel where we planned to rest for an hour before leaving again.  We had to walk back past the waterfall because we told Collin we would.  That kid sure does have a memory.  He did not let us forget anything we said we would do....and especially if it involved or interested him.

Collin had to count every step we took up or down while walking around

So excited to see the waterfall

Day 2 of Sea World was just as great as Day 1.  We started with the sea lion show that we missed yesterday.  Continuing with a Christmas theme, it was really cute.  Collin liked the sea otter because he was so cute. 

I was really excited about Day 2 because I wanted to ride, and did, the two adult roller coasters.  I wondered if I would love them as much as I did as a kid....and I did.  Collin really did not want me to go the first time and gave me a huge hug before I headed to the coaster line.  What a ride!!!  I loved it and would have done it again but wanted to not keep the family waiting any longer.  I liked the Steel Eel better than the Great White Shark which was the suspended coaster.  Both were a ton of fun but the Steel Eel was scarier.  We saw the penguin exhibit in between the two rides.  Collin did not say as long as I thought he would...maybe because it really smelled like fish in the exhibit.

There I go.  The second to the last car in the back waving to the boys.

The Great White Shark

Collin and Daddy where going to ride the water ride but Collin hurt himself on the stairs when he was not paying attention.  He then turned into a grouchy little boy that "can't walk because my bone is broken" and wanted one of us to carry him.  Yes, he did scrap his leg in two places and there was a little blood.  We stopped to have a snack thinking this would help but he only cried more because it burned.  I found two band-aids that he said made it worse.  Distraction time was needed so we headed to the Shamu show with the other Killer Whales.  The show was FANTASTIC.  Glad I was not sitting on the first half of the benches.  Those people got soaked!

Probably one of my favorite parts of the day was to ride a roller coaster with Collin.  He was not sure about it at first but then did ride it with me.  No, this was not one of the big ones.  It was the coaster in the Sesame Street section of the part.  He asked if it was fast and I told him that it was not as fast as the ones I road.  He did great!  During the ride after the first loop, he told me he was scared ... but was smiling.  When it stopped but we were still on it, he looked over at me and said, "You were wrong Mommy.  That was fast!"

This was right after he told me he was scared.  See, he looks fine.

Right up front.  Oh baby!

He road the carousel next before we headed home.  As with other carousel rides, he picked out which animal he wanted to ride before the turn before him stopped for him to get one.  The purple zebra was all his. 

On the way out of the park and back to the car, we had fun goofing off.

It was Collin's idea to show our butts....I promise!

This is as funny as we could get at this point

We stopped to pick up a stuffed animal that we promised he could have.  He talked about Elmo both days but when it came down to it, it took him 20 minutes to decide between Elmo and a really soft whale.  I am sure it was a tough decision because the whale was so soft.  He did end up picking out a small Elmo which he slept with on the way home.

We had so much fun that I am sure we will be back again.


A great weekend must come to an end





First School Picture

Collin's first public school picture.  Notice that he is not wearing a particularly cute shirt.  He insists on picking out what he wears especially because he wore a uniform to school the last two years.  He LOVES that he does not have to wear a collared shirt.  Instead of fighting with him, even though it's one day a year for school picture, it's not worth it.  He is still as cute as can be no matter what he is wearing...and still sweet...for the most part.

Sea World!

We have never been to Sea World so we thought this weekend was a good weekend to take a quick road trip to enjoy Sea World for the weekend.  Collin has been excited about going all week.  He even did not want to hang out as long after our run this morning because he was anxious to head to Sea World.

We arrived in the city and went to the hotel first.  Collin was really disappointed because w were not at Sea World yet.  Being in the car for almost 3 hours, I don't blame him that he was ready to get out of the car. 

We arrived and he was so excited when he saw the Shamu statute greating us before we went into the park.

After we walked into the gate, Collin took over the map and said, "We need to see the turtles and then the sharks first". We found out later that there are no turtles in the park. We stopped to feed the dolphins first. he wanted to have nothing to do with the fish and feeding the dolphins so I feed them. It was actually fun and they were really ready to eat.



We then walked around to check out the sea lions and Daddy tried talking to them.  Collin thought it was funny at first but I agre ethat it did get old quick.  We walked around and saw the shark tank and other fish.  Collin was scared of the shark at first but this was fine to get up close to the tank and check out the fish.



We had to stop and get his face painted.  He chose the lizard.  Daddy was surprised that Collin sat so still while she painted his face.  She was fast which really helped.  He was too cute later when we got to the hotel room checking out his face from all angles in the mirror.  He was really worried about the paint coming off.

I don't know what character this guy was but I was shocked that Collin wanted to stand this close to him.  I still remember the times that he would run from Chuck E Cheese or Monkey Joe.

We ended our first day at Sea World watching the dolphins and whale show.  We all REALLY liked this one.  There were people diving from all heights and other acrobatic feats in between the fish performing.  Daddy daid he had a good time today which I loved hearing. 

Today was the first day of Winter Wonderland at the park.  There were lights everywhere and people walking as Christmas characters that worked at the park.  Collin really liked the lights.

 We are all looking forward to another several hours at Sea World tomorrow.  It was good to get back to the hotel.  We were hungry and needed to rest.