Addicted to Gum?

Collin had his first piece of gum a few weeks ago. He was digging around in my purse and found the package. He asked what it was and I told him it was gum. He wanted a piece and I did not think it was too big of a deal for him to have it. We were staying home that day and I knew I would be able to keep my eye on him. He was great with it....did not take it out to look at it and kept it in his mouth the entire time he was chewing on it. His jaw lasted longer than mine though. I was ready to throw mine away and he was still enjoying his. When he was finished, he told me and I asked him to throw it in the trash....which he did do.

Now, every day....or at least when he sees my purse....he wants gum. I don't let him have it every time he wants it, but when he does, he generall continues to practice good gum manners. He occassionally will not put the gum (shaped like a cube) in his mouth as soon as he gets it. He wants to hold onto it or put it in his pocket. This was distracting him the last soccer game and Daddy finally took it away (it had fallen out of Collin's short pocket). During soccer practice yesterday, he ran over to me and I thought he wanted water. Nope, he wanted gum. I had just checked my purse because I wanted some and notice there was not any in there. Collin did not care for this answer and continued to ask for it. I had to show him that I did not have any so he would go back and listen to what the coach had to say.

There are worse habits for a 3 year-old, right? :)

Busy Sunday with Friends

I am glad we relaxed Saturday because it sure was a busy day today: soccer practice, birthday party and friends over to have dinner and then a swim.

Collin is doing better and better in soccer practice. He pays attention more and does participate in the skills most, if not all, of the time now. He is still a little perfectionist and really concentrates on what he is doing while practicing each skill. Here is a video of him learning to dribble the ball through a course and then kick the ball to score. He does really well dribbling (not fast) and not tempted to pick up the ball.

Soccer practice did not wear him out enough. Daddy took a nap but Collin did not. He wanted to color and play with his new army men that we got him yesterday. I knew that we had a birthday party to go to and then our friends were coming over latter. Collin was going to be a MAJOR grouchy butt if he did not nap....which he did not.

He had a blast at the birthday party held at a local Gymboree. It was for a brother and sister of Daddy's personal trainer. Collin had a blast! There were a few older boys and he spent a lot of time running behind them and doing what they did. He did not want to leave went we needed to but was fine when we told him that Saige and Linden were coming over.

When Saige and Linden came over, then all went straight to Collin's playroom while the parents hung out in the kitchen. We had dinner outside and then it was time to get into the pool. After swimming for about an hour, the kids all took a bath and then it was time to go home. Collin was not ready for his buddies to leave.

I knew Collin had a great day when I was reading only the second book to him in his bed. I stopped to turn the page and then heard him snoring....loudly! The little guy has not fallen asleep during story time in a very long time....maybe before he was even one. I sat there for another 5 minutes or so listening to him snore...and enjoying every minute of it.

Relaxing Saturday

Collin and I spent Saturday hanging around the house.......and we had a great time. We:

• Did chores
• Put several puzzles together
• Colored frequently. I moved one of the shelving units we have next to his table so he could store all of his books, markers, colors and paint. This made it much easier for him to find a book and what he wanted to color with.




• Played in the backyard a little including some basketball and then taking pictures of the Bird of Paradise that was blooming in the yard


• Played in his playroom: built castles, played with his train set, he "fed" me some of his play food and we played with the cars
• Collin played puppy and I was his momma. He has a great puppy bark.
• He played Hide N Seek throughout the day. I was trying to make the bed and was delayed because he hid under the covers and then in all of the pillows I had on the floor. This was a lot of fun. He is getting better about not yelling out "momma, I am hiding" which gives his location away.

Pappy and Dustin stopped by because Dustin was practicing freeway driving. Maybe he will get his driver's license before he graduates. :) They did not stay long because Dustin was getting hungry.

When Daddy came home, we headed to the closest mall so Daddy could stop by one of the stores. We ate dinner first at a sports bar. The boys watched the football games on one of the many TVs in the place. We then stopped by the store and walked around the mall. We all had a great time.

3 year check up

Collin had his 3 year check up today. He was not interested in getting his weight checked even when another little boy showed him how it was done. When the nurse announced that she had stickers, he listened to her directions. He is 32 ish pounds (50%), 36 1/4 tall (25%) and has a BMI of 17 (95%)....could have told them that he was a short, solid little boy. That's probably because he eats bowls of cereal like this one almost every morning. Here he is this morning pointing at Mickey on the TV because he is riding a bicycle. Glad Mickey was also teaching a good lesson by wearing a helmet.





As soon as we got back into the exam room, he asked the nurse about the stickers. She showed him a large sheet of them and he picked out the fire truck. He did great with the blood pressure machine (92/58 and 117 beats per minute) and told me that it was squeezing his muscles. He and Daddy have been talking about muscles.


Then, the doc came in and she immediately commented about how he looked grown up especially in his school uniform. He was not a baby anymore. He followed her directions too but did not ask for a sticker after she was finished. She did give him a few sticks (tongue depressors) because he was so good. He called these his tickle sticks and started to tickle me with them. Then, he figured out that he could put the sticks sideways in between the buttons on his shirt. He laughed at this. Such a comedian! She said he looked great and that she did not need to see him until he was 4. Somehow, I think we might be seeing her before then.


We were not finished though. It was time for 2 shots (flu and pneumococcal) which he was unaware of. He got on the table and laid down just fine. I asked if he wanted some band aids and he told me he did not need them. I smiled thinking "oh yes you will". The shots, of course, made him cry. He looked down at the band aids on his thighs and he told me "I told you I did not want any band aids" Sorry guy...





Here he is coming out of the office showing me his tickle sticks.

"Mommy, look at my drawling"

I cannot believe it. Collin has asked to color every day now for the last few days. He usually wants me to color with him but he now will sit at his table and color. He like to use his markers more than the crayons at the moment. When I ask what is in the picture, he tells me a boat, water and his buddies, Jacob and Saige. He calls his finished product his "drawlings" and wants me to look at them.

Today before he came home from school, I hung one of his pictures on the wall so that he could admire it....and so that I could too. This is the first thing he saw when he walked into the room. The picture was hung a little high and he wanted me to take it down. He held it and showed me where on the wall he wanted it. I rehung it for him. I think he really likes seeing it there. I will continue to hang others for us to admire. This might even encourage him to color more.


Here is a picture to give you an idea of his "art studio" and the "drawling" I hung up. I cannot wait to hang up more of his art.

Delay Tactics or Being Cute?

Collin has found new ways to delay going to bed or at least me leaving the room. Tonight is a great example. After getting PJs on him that I have to help with now because "I can't!", I asked him several times if he needed to go potty before getting in bed to read books. He replied no to each question. I KNEW he would need to go later but you cannot force this.

After reading books, he wanted to rock. This is fairly new. Within a minute, he said "I want to get in bed". I put him in bed and then he said "tell me about Daddy". I was not sure what he mentioned by this because Daddy is out of town. Did he want to hear why Daddy was out of town, what he was doing there or what? I asked what that meant and he wanted to know what Daddy did today. I told him where he was and he said "oh" and then he wanted to hear about my day. I let him know I was in training today, went to lunch with friends and then went to work. Exciting, I know. Then he wanted to know about Mimi since Mimi spent the night last night to help me get Collin to school this morning. He added his own commentary the entire time I discussed everyone's day. I sang several songs to him and was about to tell him "good night" when he announced "Mommy, I have to go pee pee". Ugh, really? I don't want to say "no" because of that little thing called potty training, so we got up for him to pee.....which he did.....a lot! He got back in bed and thought I would sing him more songs. Nope! I let him know that I already did which he was unhappy about. He then told me to stay with him and to not go to my room. I did sit there for a minute or two and then let him know that I needed to leave to change into my PJs. he told me that I could and then to come back to kiss him good night.

Delay tactics or....just being cute?

Ducks, Ducks and more Ducks!

Daddy had a great idea for the family to do yesterday after I picked Collin up. He picked up some bread at the store and met us at a local pond that was filled with lots of ducks. At first, the ducks stayed on the other side of the pond until they figured out that we had ....... food!!! Collin did great throwing the bread in the water. The ducks scooped up the break as fast Collin could throw it in the water.

Then, Daddy had the idea to make the ducks come to shore. Here is a short video of Collin making this happen.

Once they came to shore, they were a little crazy for the bread. They even bit at Daddy and my pants. Collin could not move fast enough one of the times and a duck snapped a little of his hand. He did not like that at all! Daddy had to hold him the rest of the time as you can see in some of the pictures below. At one point, Daddy stood Collin up high on a spot. The ducks even climbed up there (can ducks really do that?)....they did. At that point, Collin said he was finished and ready to go.

First Dentist Appointment?..... Nope

This morning, I took Collin to his first dentist appointment. He knew where he was going because I told him last night. Even after breakfast, he told me he was ready to get dressed because "I am going to the dentist".

We arrive at the dentist's office and he was fine. There is a TV in the waiting room that shows advertising for Veneers. He was interested in watching this and checking out the waiting area....until the hygienist came in. He did not want to go back with her. She told him about dinosaur toys she and that peeked his interest. He was doing OK but not overly excited about what she was saying and then the dentist came out to see him. She was asking him questions about his teeth and he would answer her. She was concerned about his front two teeth because of how they developed. They were damaged when they came in so she wanted to know if they were sensitive or hurt him. He said no to her. She decided not to "tickle" his teeth (meaning clean them) because she did not want to push him and wanted his first experience to be as good as it could be. I had an appointment with the other dentist so Collin came with me to watch me get my teeth "tickled" and watched a movie with a monkey at the dentist. He really liked this and asked a lot of questions. He did ask the dentist a few times what she was doing when she was cleaning my teeth. She explained before she started the next procedure what she was about to do. I could not see him since I was laying down but she said that he was paying attention.

We will have to try again in six months.

"Let me read to you Mommy"

After reading one of Collin's books to him last night, he asked me for the book and said "let me read to you Mommy". He turned the book so that I could see the pages like his teacher does to him and then he started to "read". He sang the entire song of "Wee Willie Winkie" that I did not even know he knew.

Wee Willie Winkie

Runs through the town,

Upstairs and downstairs,

In his nightgown.

Rapping at the windows,

Crying through the lock,

"Are the children all in bed?

For it's now eight o'clock."

He even knew the time mentioned in the song. When he was finished, he said "Daddy will be proud of me". That sure did make me smile and I gave him a "high-5" like I usually do when he does a good job at something. Then he asked me "why was the Willie crying?" because he was crying through the lock. I said that he was not sad but talking loudly so other people can hear him. Collin replied with an "oh" and then read "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and a little of "Hey Diddle Diddle" before he asked to get in bed. I could tell that he was tired since he played at the bike shop with the Legos and some new buddies for at least an hour before I came to pick him up.

Social Dude

Collin had a very busy day with friends today. It started with he and Daddy going to get bagels for breakfast while Mommy worked on tax returns (great way to start the morning). We hung out a little and then Collin and I headed to Matthew's 3rd birthday party. Matthew is one of Collin's bed buds. The party was at one of those indoor jumping places and Collin had a blast...so much so that he did not want to leave. When he first saw all of the jumping things, he had to check them all out to figure out which one he wanted to do. He liked the slide and the jumping gym the best. Then....he had to be where ever Matthew was. He followed him to the slides and he followed him to the jumping gym. The boys played together REALLY well. Even when they took the ball from each other, there were no hard feelings. I caught Collin even giving Matthew a hug. Here are a few pictures...blurry but you can tell there was lots of action for over an hour.













Then it was time for pizza, chicken nuggets and cupcakes. Collin had a piece of pizza and 2 nuggets. He politely asked for the chocolate cup cake (because it was part of the overall monkey cup cake design) and then started to eat it. He took a few licks of the icing and told me he did not like it. I knew it would end this way because he has never finished a cup cake or cake that I can think of. He says he does not like it and gives it to me. I am not a "sweets" person so I don't eat it either.



All of that play did wear him out. He slept the 30+ minute drive home but was ready to go when we did get out of the car. I wanted him to rest because I knew Melia and her mom, Terry, were coming over for dinner and to hang out and play. Melia and Collin got along great! Collin wanted to show Melia his play room and new toys from his birthday. She was happy to play with them. At one point, he heard giggling and saw them sharing a Sit N Spin. Very Cute!!!







They played in the playroom, colored at the breakfast and office tables, cooked in Collin's kitchen, played Diego dominoes, read books and just had a great time. He did not want her to go when she finally did around 9pm.

One story I have to tell is how loving Collin is. Even though he is telling us "later" when we ask for a kiss, he still is a very sweet little boy. When they were coloring, Melia started to cry a little and out of the blue. Collin came over to her and said "What's wrong Melia? Why are you crying? What's wrong?" She did not answer him and he kinda got his feelings hurt. Melia's mom figured it out that Melia was scared of the dinosaur coloring book Collin was using. We told him and he said "Melia, I will take the book to my playroom. OK. You will be better then." He left but turned back around to see if she was still crying. She was still hugging her mom. He said "I will take this away and you will be better." He did, came back, patted her back and said "Are you OK now Melia?" OMG!!! I was so proud of him at that moment. My little dude has manners...yeah, he HAS been listening.

Shhhhhhh!

I have been working late this week because of the annual tax deadline on Sept 15th. Daddy has been wonderful and helping at night while I am still at work. Tonight, Mimi was over to help since it's Thursday night. By the time I got home, Collin was already in bed and Mimi was tyring to get him to go to sleep. I walked in since I was really missing him. Mimi was laying on the floor so I thought I would lay next to her. Before I did that, I asked Collin if I could give him a kiss. His reply, as usual lately, was "later". The "later" is not that night but the next day. Anyway, I laid down and began to tell Mimi how much I appreciated her help tonight. Collin said "shhhhhhh, no talking" which made Mimi and I laugh softly to ourselves. We waited a little and then Mimi began to talk and ask questions. Collin then said "no questions.....shhhhh!!!" This went on for about 5 minutes. Mimi finally got up and left the room without Collin noticing. He asked me to find Dinosaur which was in the other room. I said I was going to leave and was he OK with that. He said, "yes, Mimi will stay here with me". He obviously did not see that she left. I left his room to really get Dinosaur but took the opportunity to tell Mimi bye and give her a hug. When I came back to his room, he was asleep. We all knew he was tired. I love that little man!

Instead of Bob the Builder....Meet Collin

Collin has had Legos at the house since before he could walk. Daddy and I have built things with them for Collin to play with but he has not really been interested in playing with them himself. There are some Legos at Daddy's bike shop in the area for kids to play. Collin will play with the Lego cars and the animals but not build anything with them.

Something must have changed now that he is 3. Daddy and he built this "castle" in the pictures below. Isn't it a great castle? They even built a place for the cars to drive through and get around it.

Collin played with it a little and must have gotten bored because......it all came down faster than it took to build it.

He has since built a few more castles. The one on Sunday even had flags and a "shooter gun". He came up with both of these himself and was really proud that the flags stayed connected together when that castle came crashing down.

Yesterday, Mimi watched him at her house. He was excited about this not because Pappy would be there or that she had a pool. He told her it was because she "has lots of toys"......which is so true. Either she had the Legos and Collin was not interested in them before or they were a new addition to her "play room". Whatever the reason, Collin took the Legos out of the bag and started to build a pool. He made the outline of a square pool and then started putting Legos in the middle of the square. He explained to Mimi that these were the people in the pool. Must have been a public pool because, by the time Collin was finished, there was no room to swim around in that pool. Before we left, this pool was also "crashed" as Collin called it. Just being a boy.....

P.S. When I came home tonight, Collin was building another castle. This one had shooter guns around the pool that had walls around it with four flags flying on the side. What a great imagination!

Collin Sayings

We continue to get comments from people about how well Collin talks and enunciates his words. He is able to communicate what's on his mind (we are still working on volume and emotion behind it....especially when he is giving us orders), what he wants or what he is doing. There are still some phrases/words he gets mixed up on but he is getting better and I can tell that he is practicing. For example, everyone is a "he" or "him" no matter if they are male or female. From what I understand, this is normal for toddlers. They use the pronoun for their gender. When we hear him do this, we let him know the correct gender of the person he is referring to. This morning on the way out the door, he was talking about me and telling Daddy that "he....she is coming with us". He corrected himself as soon as he said "he".

Sometimes, it does take a few times of me hearing what he is saying to figure out the real word or phrase that he is trying to say. My favorite right now is "last morning". Give you a guess what he really means.............yes, he does mean yesterday. I figured this out by listening to him describe what he did "last morning" and they were things/events that happened yesterday.

Last night, when I put him to bed, I heard a new one. Usually, he will let me kiss him good night, and then he tells me "sleep in the night" for sleep tight and "see you in the morning". Well, last night, at first he did not want me to kiss him and let me know that I could kiss him later. He told me all of the above and then I started to walk out the door. He called after me and said "Mommy, come here. You can kiss me on the cheek instead." OK, I will take that so I turned around and did on both cheeks. I told him that I loved him and that I would see him in the morning. He told me "see you next weekend". What?!?!?! I don't want to wait that long. I am sure that is not what he really meant.

When you ask him how old he is, he is still two. We tell him that he is three now and he says "No I am not. I need another birthday to be three." I will give you a piece of cake for you to think you are three. No more birthday parties for awhile. Mommy needs to recover first (awww...just an excuse for those of you that know me).

That's all I could think of this morning. Better get to work now. :) Yes, both Daddy and I are working on Labor Day. Collin is at Mimi's house probably having a great time. I will pick him up later.

Mimi's Birthday and MRI Update

Tonight, we went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Mimi's 59th birthday. I tried getting Collin to tell Mimi that she was getting old but he did not want to say it. Probably smart since she is watching him tomorrow while school is closed for the Labor Day holiday. Mommy and Daddy have to work or one of us would be watching him. Anyway, the food at the Cheesecake Factory was great as usual. We had a good time and enjoyed the conversation with Pappy and Mimi. After dinner, we walked around for about 45 minutes and ended up at a bookstore. As you already know, Collin really likes books. Daddy bought a magazine because one of the bike shop's rides was featured in it and he bought Collin a Dr. Suess book which Collin read with the car light on the way home. We had a great night.

On the way to dinner, Collin's eye doctor called with the MRI results. She said the MRI looked good and that she did not see anything worry about. Collin is in the clear. She said she wants to see him back in about 6 months but does not think there is anything for us to worry about. Yeah!!!

Camping Like Piglet

Tonight, I read a story from Collin's birthday book about Piglet and camping with his friends. Piglet needed a night-light and was not sure he could sleep without it. Pooh told him about the stars being his night-light and Piglet liked that. Collin pointed out that he has stars in his room that I painted for him when I read this part. Piglet was able to sleep on the ground camping under the stars.

When it was time to get in bed, Collin pulled his pillows on the floor and said he wanted to lay on the floor. I guess he wanted to go "camping" and sleep under the stars like Piglet. He laid down, got up and pulled the blanket off his bed and then laid back down on the floor. He fell asleep about 5 minutes later.....just like Piglet.

Collin's Dad

Collin has a wonderful Daddy who is very involved in Collin's life. I her other mother's talking about how they wish their husbands were more involved with their kids and I cannot relate. I have never thought this about Collin's Dad. He:

• Gets Collin ready in the mornings, feeds him breakfast and takes him to school


• Picks Collin up from school. Sometimes they don't go straight home because there are things to do after school like swim lessons.


• Gets more milk on the way home so Collin can have his beloved cereal in the mornings


• Takes off work on Sundays to be with us and play with Collin.


• Checks on Collin more than once during the middle of the night to make sure he is OK and then cover him up. Collin does not keep covered very well....probably because he never sleeps in one place or very still.

Last night was a great example of Daddy's involvement. For the second night in a row, Collin woke up hours after he went to bed. We were already asleep in bed by this time too. He came over to Daddy's side of the bed and asked him to sing to him. We think he might be afraid of monsters and is waking up because he has really used his Monster Spray the last few days (turns out he probably woke himself up because he had a poopy pull up diaper...again). Daddy took him back to his room and put him in bed. Collin gathered all of "his guys" (his stuffed animals) around him and then told Daddy that "these guys are too heavy". Daddy moved them around the bed and off of Collin. He then asked Collin what was wrong. Collin did not ever tell him it was monsters even when Daddy asked. He did change his diaper and I think that helped. Wouldn't it help you sleep if you had a clean butt? haha

Now, to address the poopy diaper, Collin's stomach has not felt well after the MRI. I think the anethesia upset it (which can happen). He has had to poop more and it's been really runny. Before the MRI, Collin did not have these "accidents" at night and was very regular about going to the potty before he went to bed. He was even doing great last week during nap time, but not so much this week. I have had to wash his nap sheets a few times. This too shall pass......

Now....to start the Labor Day weekend!!!!