School Boosterthon Fun Run

Collin had a blast at the school fun run this morning.  Before the run started, the MC had the kids warm up to a few upbeat songs.  Collin and his buddy, Brody, did not participate as much as the other kids.  They had looks on their faces that seem to say, "Why do we need to warm up?  Let's start running...come on already!" 

When it was time to start, the MC was smart and had the kids walk around the first to make sure they were more spread out before they started running.  As soon as they were allowed to run, Collin ran the entire time other than at the end of each lap to get marked showing the child ran one lap.  He really looked like a natural runner out there:  focused, great stride and took the outer lane so that he did not have to dodge as many kids.  I was standing in the middle of the lap so I was not able to get as many pictures of him because he was running on the other side.  He did run on the inside lane a few times to get a High-5 from us because he saw us doing this to the other kids we knew. 

When we thought it was over, I took a picture of his back that showed how many laps he ran.  Well, he continued to run another several laps to end up running 46 laps.  The max is 35 laps but he did not care and wanted to run more. 

Afterwards, I was surprised that he did not seem tired when he was walking back to his class.  I bet he will be tired when he gets home.  That's fine because we are headed to Dallas when he gets home for Grandma H's memorial service in the morning. 

Confessions of a Menopausal Mom

Being in menopause has it's moments.  I can deal with the hot flashes, night sweats and am getting used to the fatigue.  I am NOT happy about the hormonal zits on my forehead.  I feel like a teenager all over again.  Collin and Dad like to point out when I have new zits....like I don't know about them.

Last night, I was getting Collin ready for bed which really meant that I was redirecting him every 5 minutes when he would come up with something else that could lead him out of his room.  He even wanted to bounce a balloon back and forth.  I am all for that kind of fun but not at 8:45pm and he still needs to put his PJs on.  At one point, I got distracted, too, and walked into his bathroom to check out the new "friends" on my forehead.  Collin walked by and said, "Mom, you are getting distracted.  Don't look at your zits.  Daddy does not care if you have them. Besides, if you did not have them, you might get me another Daddy and I DON'T need two Dads."  Excuse me.....where did THAT come from?  He sure does have an imagination.  I told him that I was not interested in finding another husband.  Daddy was plenty for me.  Collin agreed and handed me a book to read to him.  Now...that's more like it.

Natural Salesman?

The school is putting on a fun run this Friday to raise money for the new school being built.  Each class has a goal to raise a certain amount of money (I can't remember what that is at the moment) before the fun run.  The kids are to raise money for each lap they run, up to 35 laps.  These are short laps and most kids are expected to complete these laps. 

We want to help him get his pledges but also think he needs to earn them.  Each student gets prizes based on the number of pledges and money they raise.  Yesterday, Daddy and Collin practiced saying why he is raising money before they went to 8 houses in the neighborhood.  He started to cry when he first had to practice because he was nervous and did not know what to say. I explained that so was I when I was his age. I had to practice and got better and better each time I did it. I still did not like it but did it for my school or sport's team and for the prizes. He remembered about the prizes and perked up and wanted to practice more.

Here is Collin during one of the "practice sessions":

Out of the 8 houses, he received money from all of the people that were home.  He was really excited to show me the pledges he got.  He said that Daddy was a Superhero because, "I was really scared to do it and did not want to, but each time I got better and better because Dad was there to help me."  He was excited about going back out again today when he got home.  They went out for 20 minutes and he got two more pledges.  He was disappointed in the number of pledges but I explained that he really got the same amount because he was out for a much shorter period of time.

Library Time

Every Tuesday, Collin's class goes to the school library to pick out books to read for the week.  He usually picks two to three books to read.  I have noticed a theme with the books.  Here is an example:

 

 

Yes, he likes books about dogs or animals.  The teacher also said she can tell he loves his dog because he journals about Burke every day.  We asked him why he writes about Burke all the time and he said, "Because I love him SO much!"  We gave him suggestions about other topics and he said these were all boring.  We do think it's cute that he has such a bond with Burke and making great memories with him. 

1st Grade Parent Night

Daddy attended the parent/teacher night while I stayed home with Collin.  She said that Collin is doing really well with his reading and writing. He is where he should be for 1st grade.  She did say that there are several students ahead of him in class but to not worry.  By 3rd grade, most of the students are at the same level.  He explained that when we practice spelling words, he gets frustrated if he cannot read the word or spell it. She said that it normal and to not push him so much that he does not like homework time.  He does have homework every night that includes required reading, practicing spelling words and then an assignment from the teacher.

Speaking of homework, he does not generally fuss when I announce that it's time for homework.  We spend 20 - 30 minutes reading a few books online (he likes this because he earns points), practicing spelling words (he has 10 - 12 words a week so far), some math or other skills.  I use flash cards for math and a 1st grade book to practice different subjects.

So far, he has had two spelling tests.  He got a 60% on the first one which I am not too surprised about.  We did not get to spend must time with him practicing the words and we are all getting used to a homework routine.  We did great with homework last week so, for last Friday's test, he got a 95%.  I showed him how proud I was of him and that our hard work that week worked.  He smiled and wanted to practice the words for this week. 

Collin's Buddies

 

Collin and Brody at lunch

Oliver and Collin spending the day with each other

Collin is generally a happy boy...especially when he is with his buddies.  He is excited to have Brody in his class this year.  At least the teacher, Ms Davis, assigned seats that have the boys at different tables.  She did not know that she was smart to do this.  They at least pay attention in class better this way but come lunch time, the boys are together once again.  Collin said that Barton is part of that mix now.  He met him in Pre-K and they are in class again with each other.

Oliver has been a buddy, too, but they don't see each other in school.  I try to get the boys together at least once a month.  In this picture, they were belting out songs from the back seat while Bonnie drove back to the house.  I am sorry I missed that.....not really.  Collin does that all the time.  He announced yesterday that he wants to be a singer when he grows up.  He has lots of practice right now for sure.

Rainy Football Game

Tuesday night, the team had a football game that started in the rain.  We were hoping it was going to be canceled but they never did.  Collin did great blocking and running after the flags.  He did execute one running play and did well....the defense did pull one of his flags.

After the game, we told him that we were proud of him for running the play Coach gave him....and without fussing.  He said that he was not afraid like before because "I told my brain that I could do this and I did."  Sounds like a good explanation to me.  No matter why he did it, at least he tried and without throwing a fit.

The Steelers still lost.  There are a few boys on the team that don't pay attention to Coach.  They are also the younger ones on the team and started falling apart later in the game.  I was not surprised because it was 7:15pm at that point.  Collin was still full of energy because he is used to being up that late. 

Collin is the boy with his hands on his knees to the left of the picture

Hands on his knees again getting ready to play offense

Breast Cancer Ride - Best Support Team

This past Sunday, I rode in a breast cancer ride with Team Wonder Woman.  This is the same ride I did with this team last year at this time.  Because of my final surgery in May and the required 3 month recovery time, I was not able to train for the ride until mid-August.  This did not leave much time to train so I was not planning to ride the 81 miles I road with a small group of ladies from the team last year.  Also, because I was feeling better than last year and the expectations from work were higher, I worked many more hours leading up to the ride compared to last year.  However, I was very  happy with the 47 miles I ended up riding with my best buddies, Georgia and Bonnie.

No matter how many miles I did ride, I knew I had the best support team there....Collin and Daddy.  How appropriate because these guys have been by my side caring for me these past 18 months since the diagnosis.  They definitely love me because they had to get up at 4:45am to leave to be at the ride site in time for the team picture.  We could not find Collin's Wonder Woman support shirt from last year.  So he wore his Superman PJ shirt.  It was long-sleeved which he needed because it was cool that morning.  During the team picture and before I left for the ride, Collin was by my side.  He wanted to help me with my bike and also asked questions making sure that I had what I needed for the ride, like my shoes and helmet.  The ladies loved having him there too.  Some ladies had not met him before so they where asking him questions...but found out it was a little too early for questions.  :)

Superman and Wonder Woman

Hanging out waiting to go get donuts

Serious team picture

Crazy team picture

The Amigos - Georgia, Me and Bonnie

AT one of the rest stops

Calling Mommy....Calling Daddy

When Daddy got a new cell phone last year, he gave Collin his phone mainly for him to play games on it.  The extra cost of $15 a month was worth not hearing, "Can I use your phone?" when we were out or in the car. 

The entire time he has had the phone, he has not used it to call anyone until the last two days.  Daddy is out of town right now.  Tuesday night, Collin called Daddy using his cell phone to ask if he had to go to football practice.  Tonight, he called me to ask how to use the can opener.  I asked if Mimi was with him because she could show him how to use it.  She didn't know how to use it which is why he called me.  I loved hearing his voice and it was perfect timing because he was really having a terrible day at work.

Tonight, Daddy called me and then conferenced in Collin who was at home with Mimi.  Collin wanted to know how my voice came through Daddy's phone.  We told him how but he still was focused on where Daddy was and where I was.  He did not figure it out but really liked that he was talking to us at the same time.  "Mommy, can you lay with me when you get home tonight?"  Of course I would.  I missed my little guy today.  :)

Get Ready for Some Football....and Soccer!

Collin has a full load of sports this Fall.  He is signed up for flag football again and two different soccer teams.  He was most excited that he gets to play A LOT of soccer and that he can run in football.

He is playing for the Steelers for football.  He was happy to find out that he is #3 again like he was last year.  He and another kid, Luke, are the fastest runners on the football team.  When they play Sharks and Minnows (the Minnows have to run faster and not get caught by the Sharks), Collin is usually one of the last players to get "caught".  Because of this, Coach wants either Luke or Collin to carry the ball.  Collin still does not like this attention and cries just thinking about having to carry the ball.  He does not want his flag pulled either.  I tired to explain that none of the kids want their flag pulled.  Besides, he will run really fast and likely not have a flag pulled.  He did not care so the Coach had him play Safety.  We will have to see if he will run a few plays during their first game this Saturday.  They played a scrimmage game against one of his buddy's (Foard) team Saturday.  Both teams did really well.  I was excited to see our boys running a few of the plays they practiced.  They also play MUCH better than his team did last year.  It does help that the are all older than the year before and they don't have too many young kids on the team.

He has not had a soccer practice yet because they have gotten rained out.  He will have one this weekend.  He played soccer with his buddies over the summer so I am sure he will quickly remember the drills and be just fine. 

Between the practices and games, we will have a full schedule this Fall.  Also, now that he has homework every night, he hopefully will be more tired and ready for bed.  Last night, it was 9:30pm again before he was sleepy.  He fell asleep 15 minutes after that.  Maybe that's all the sleep he needs.  he seems great during the day and not generally tired.

Challenging Week

It's been a tough week with working so many hours for my usual tax deadline.  What makes it even more tough is that Grandma H is not here anymore.  I am tearing up just thinking about it now.  Daddy has had a more difficult time than he thought since she passed.  He misses her and has regrets.  I have hard this is normal after a parent passes.  Can you possibly think of everything to talk about?  You don't want to bring up difficult subjects while your parent is lying there in pain....so you don't.  You talk about your day, what Collin did and what the doctors say.

A few days ago, Daddy told Collin that he was going to Grandma H's house.  Collin wanted to know why and Daddy said he just needed to go over there.  Collin said, "He can get her something really nice to wear, like a dress, for her to be buried in."  What a sweetheart!  I told Daddy that he sure could do that.  Collin has been to a funeral before but the person was not cremated like Grandma H wanted to be.  We have not explained that she will be buried but it will not be like what he has seen before.  A friend suggested to have her already buried before the family has the grave site service.  That way, no one, including Collin, will have to seen the tiny box be put into the ground.

During one of our nightly talks before bed, Collin started to cry.  He said that he misses playing soccer with her and watching her shows.  I told him that is normal and he should feel sad.  Wasn't he happy that he did get to enjoy those times and has those memories of her?

This weekend, we started to clean her house out.  I thought Collin would have a rough time but he seemed to be OK.  Actually, we all did.  Collin watch his usual movies while Mimi and I started to clean out the kitchen.  At one point, he filled up a large bag of stuffed animals and games from his room at her house.  He has since slept with all of these animals.  "These are from Grandma H and I want them close to me." 

We are making it and will be fine as each day goes by.  Love you Grandma H.  We think of you every day.  We are glad that we got to know you better in the 2 1/2 years that you lived near us.  Collin will always have the memories of her picking him up from school, playing video games or playing outside.  He fondest memories were spending the night at her house.  He loved to watch movies with her and sleep in her bed.  She would kick him out to his room sometimes because he does still snore REALLY loud.  :)

Bye Grandma H. We Love You!

I am so glad that Collin and I went to see Grandma H last night briefly to tell her that we love her and about what we did for the weekend.  Collin held her hand and leaned in to say "I love you Grandma H" and then I leaned in and whispered that "We are going to be OK.  We love you very much."  Daddy stayed longer and then came home briefly to get a pillow to go back to spend the night with Grandma H.  Collin had put a pillow for Daddy to take off to the side of the bed and then left a stuffed animal, Clifford, to bring with him back to sleep with Grandma H.  It was SO sweet that he did that. 

Daddy went back to the nursing home while I put Collin to bed.  Collin took his usual time getting to bed so I did not hear my cell phone ringing.  It was Daddy calling to let me know that Grandma H had passed.  She was breathing harder like she had been earlier that day.  Then, she started breathing slower and then took one last breath.  This was about 15 minutes after her other son called to say that he made it home safely.  So, I would like to think she felt like she could go because we all saw her and said we loved her. 

We waited to tell Collin tonight after school and football practice.  He took the news fine.  He did cry and say that he loved her so much even more than Burke.  He was really said that he did not get to tell her how much he loved her.  We reminded him that we did.  He was still sad because he said he could not talk to her anymore.  We showed him how he could and got off his bed and leaned to the side.  Daddy started talking to her first and then Collin said he loved her.  We hated to see him cry but he cheered himself back up for us to read books before I laid with him in bed.  He did not talk about her anymore. 

We love you Grandma H.  So glad you are not hurting anymore.