Sick Little Boy

Since we came home from our cousin trip, Collin has run a high fever.  Other than the fever, he does not have any other symptoms.  It started Tuesday night so we stayed home all day for the July 4th holiday.  I would have liked to have participated in the parade and seen the fireworks but it was also nice to stay home and spend it with my family.  I left only to pick up some lunch and then again to get groceries.  Collin slept most of the day yesterday.  When he was awake, he did not have that much energy and did not eat at all.  Around 6pm, he woke up and asked me if he could go to his bed.  I knew the poor dude did not feel good because it's usually a fight to get him to start getting ready for bed.  He did want me to sleep next to him which I did for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep.  I "escaped" only to be caught and hour later when he woke to retrieve me from the kitchen table. 

Last night, he slept in our bed so I could get him water and check on him throughout the night.  He was burning up when I came home from swimming that morning so I gave him some more medicine which does reduce the fever temporarily.  It's been ranging from 99 to 102.5 degrees.

When he woke this morning, he asked Daddy why he was not sleeping next to him when he woke up.  He told him that he had to get up last night because Collin was kicking and head butting Daddy. Daddy then asked him if he was in a race and Collin said "No, I was having a bad dream and was fighting it off."  Daddy then asked him if he was scared and Collin said "No".   Who knows if this is really what he was dreaming about or if he even remember but how cute was this explanation especially coming from the little guy that does not feel good and did not sleep much that night.

Grandma H watched him today.  She said he slept most of the day or laid around.  He is still running a fever and will stay home from school tomorrow.  She said he asked for me several times today.  When I get home from work, he will have plenty of "Mommy Time".

He must have caught a "bug" on our trip.  At least the other kids did not get sick and he was not sick on the way home.

Best Buddies

This picture really sums up how much fun Collin had the last few days.  He and Hollis played together as if it was just a week or so since they had seen each other.  They faught and played like best buddies.  They will have many, many more years of fun.  Daddy and I encourage this because of so many fun, great memories we have growing up with our cousins.



Night Time - Potty Training...Maybe?

While Collin was at his cousin's, he saw that none of them wore Pull Ups at night.  Neither did Will at the house house we visited.  When he was getting ready for bed on our last night, I asked him when he thought he would start wearing underwear to bed instead of Pull Ups.  He told me he would soon.  I just smiled at him.  I heard that it takes longer for boys and for first-born boys but thought we should start trying again now that he is almost 5 years old. 

Last night, we had movie night which means we put the futon down into a bed in the playroom and then watch a movie.  Last night, it was my turn to pick so I picked Ant Bully because Daddy had not seen it yet.  We all crawled onto the futon and watched the movie.  I was shocked that Collin had not fallen asleep after the movie was over knowing that he must be tired from the drive home that day from his cousin's house.  He did fall asleep after I laid there for about 20 minutes.  I left and got into my bed which I could not wait to do after not being in it for the last two nights. 

Collin woke up around 3:30am needing to go potty.  He did go pee and then got back in bed.  He woke up again at 5:30am having to go potty again.  This time, he had to poo.  At least he was waking up to go potty.  I wondered if it was because we talked about it the night before.....or it was because he did not feel good.  The last time he got up, he was BURNING UP.  I gave him a fever reducer and crawled in bed with him.  He did end up falling asleep and did not wake up again until...9am!  I knew he was not feeling good.  He was still a little warm but had a lot of energy.  He stayed awake for about 2 hours before falling asleep....on the floor.  You know he had to be tired because he fell on the floor.  He woke up an hour later because he had to go potty which he did do and then went back to the floor. 

#1 = Maybe he is learning to get up when he is sleeping to go potty and

#2 = My little boy is not feeling well.  He and Daddy are napping together right now. 

Cousin's Trip #2 - 3 Days of Fun

Collin had so much fun with his cousins Ben, Will and Hollis last year that we decided we needed to make an annual trip to see them.  We were a little later this year than I intended but we did finally make it to see them this year.  Grandma H went with us this time.  Collin did not sleep the entire 4 hour car ride there and did really good.  He was busy watching his movies to ask too many questions like "Are we there yet?".   We stopped for lunch before continuing to the cousin's house.  When we arrived, the boys greeted us with Nerf guns.  This was a very familiar scene because this is how they greeted us a year and a half ago but with different kind of guns.  Collin quickly joined in and they played like this for at least the first two hours.  I even played on Will's team a few times and actually had fun too.  You can work up a sweat playing with Nerf guns.  Hollis was feeling left out so I stopped to play with her a little while.

They stopped only long enough to eat dinner and then it was time to relax.  Dinner was baked potatoes and salad.  I loved it but knew that Collin would turn his nose up to both.  He did try a bite of the potato and some of the salad but then sat there the rest of the time until we finished eating. 

The next morning, Collin woke up and immediately grabbed a Nerf gun and was ready to play "shooter guns" with his cousins.  But...they were not awake yet.  He would have to wait another 30 minutes.  Later that morning, we all, except Grandma H, loaded up to head to a nearby water park for a few hours.  The kid's pool was a VERY large 2ft 6in deep pool that Hollis and Collin could stand up comfortably in so the Mommies sat at the edge and watched them play.  When they got tired of this, we moved to the slides and lazy river.  Collin was not timid about going down the slides at all.  I was impressed. 

Here he is going down the taller slide several times with Hollis.  He stopped a few times to have the large bucket of water spill over him before quickly climbing back up the stairs to go back down again.

There he is waiting his turn to go down the slide

Even though he bumped his head, he said he was ready to go again

Getting splashed before getting in line again

The kids took a snow cone break.  Collin has not had one of these in 2+ years but was one of the cleanest eaters.  He was smart and asked for a straw to sip the syrup out of his cone.  He saw Ben doing this.  He ate most of it before he was ready to get back in the pool.  They swam a little longer before we had to go.

Collin and Will making friends with another boy

Hollis and Collin playing with the ball

We had to leave the water park because Collin and I needed to get cleaned up quickly before heading North to see a long time friend of mine and her family.  She has an older little girl and a 4-year old boy, Will.  Collin said, "another Will like my cousin Will".  The boys had a blast together even though there is a year age difference.  After eating a yummy dinner, the boys played outside on the swings and slide before driving around in Will's new 4-wheel car.  Collin was a passenger at first and then Will asked if he wanted to drive.  I did not think Collin would but he surprised me by not only driving around but doing it for at least 20 minutes before the battery started to die.  He drove it outside the fence and to the garage so the battery could be charged. 

Doesn't he look like he rules this backyard?

The boys then played on other scooters, bikes and bulldozer toys before Will needed to go inside and take a bath.  Collin was not ready to leave so he was invited to take a bath too.  That helped me for when we got back to the cousin's house so I was fine with it.  The boys got along great in the tub taking turns playing with a boat and a Hot Wheel car ramp stuck to the bathtub wall.  When we were getting ready to leave, Will asked to see our car.  Too cute!  He and his parents walked out with us to check out our car before we left. 

I was shocked that Collin did not nap on the way back to the cousin's house but I knew he was tired.  We arrived just before 9pm and knew he needed to go to bed soon before he because a big cranky butt.  It did not take long to see this cranky butt displayed so I took him to bed right away.  He fought to fall asleep but did sleep hard that night and did not get up until close to 8am. 

In the morning, we went to a local splash pad for the kids to get outside and stop playing shooter guns.  The Mommies and Grandma H were ready to not step on "bullets" and hear the shooting.  Even though there was water, the kids enjoyed sliding, climbing and running around in the other area of the splash pad away from the water.  Collin was really proud of himself climbing up a structured and told me to get the camera to take his picture.  Here he is with Ben at the top.  He climbed all he way up and then back down by himself. 

We headed back to pick up Grandma H and meet Rob, the kid's Dad, for lunch at Braum's.  We were all craving it last night after I mentioned that I was craving an ice cream on the way back from my friend's house but could not find a Dairy Queen or a Sonic on the way home.  What a treat Braum's was.  Collin ate fantastic and wanted an ice cream cone like the other kids.  I assumed I would get to finish what he could not but he ended up eating the entire cone.  What a little piglet!  Guess playing with cousins and driving a little car last night made him hungry.

Heading back to the house, they all knew that it was time for us to head back home.  Hollis announced that she wanted to come to our house to swim.  She did not understand that we lived hours away.  Her Mommy and I talked about when they could come down for a visit with us.  The kids all home it;s sometime soon.  What a great trip.  

Being silly on the ride back.  Collin looks like he is sad because he knows he has to head home soon.

Hollis did not want to be left out of the craziness in the car.

Rock Star at the Dentist

Collin was such a rock star at the dentist this morning.  He has been before but did not remember the experience.  On our way to the dentist, he asked if he had to get shots.  I told him that he did not and he could even confirm that when we got to his office.  When we arrived, he did ask the receptionist if the had to get shots.  She told him no and that they did not even have any shots in the office.  He liked to hear that.  He went to play in the reception area while waiting for his name to be called.

The hygienist first weighed him and he weighs 38.5 pounds.  He has lost some weight since Mimi weighed him last.  Then, he had to brush his teeth in front of the nurse and he did a great job.  She wants us to help him with the back teeth since they are really close together like mine.

Next, he had X-rays of his back teeth to see if there were any cavities....which there were not.  Yeah!  He did great sitting still and counting to 4 each time she inserted a new film tab in his mouth.  When she went to check on the X-ray to see if the quality was good, he looked into the camera that she left in front of him.  He said there was a tiny hole inside and showed me what tiny was by holding out his thumb and pointer finger with a small amount of space in between.  He looked in again and told me that the machine stunk.  I asked him if he like the "shirt" he was wearing which was the protective layer he wore.  He smiled when I asked if he wanted to wear it to school.

He looks so small underneath the protective sheet.  You cannot tell from his facial expression but he was fine sitting in the chair getting the X-rays.

Here he is in the same chair last year.  What a big boy he is now.

He got to pick out a sticker (he chose Transformers) before walking into the examination area.  Before lying down on the table, he picked out sunglasses to wear to protect his eyes from the bright light the hygienist used to work on his teeth.  Here is the rock star in the soccer glasses he chose.

He calmly laid on the table while the hygienist scrapped build up off his teeth and then flossed and polished them.  The dentist came in to check on him, especially his two front teeth. Some of the dark part of the enamel fell off which left a jagged edge on Collin's tooth.  The dentist told Collin that he was going to shave some of it down.  Again, Collin laid there and let the dentist use a loud tool on his front tooth.  It was obviously not sensitive because he did not twitch his foot or hands.  He laid perfectly still. 

The dentist said he teeth looked really good and warned us to floss his back teeth because they are so tight together.  They were prime for cavities to start forming there.

After getting off the table, Collin wanted to look at his teeth.  He knew where there was a mirror in my purse, he got it out and looked at his front teeth.  He actually looked at them again the next morning.  I am sure they feel different and he wanted to see what they looked like.

He did so good that he got to pick out two more stickers and a pencil.

Skating Party

Collin went to Jake and Charlotte's birthday party this morning at a local roller rink.  He has been here several times before and knew what he was going to do when we walked into the building.  This time though, he wanted to try skating without the assistance of the white skatemate.  For about 20 minutes, I held him up, picked him up, and held him from behind to help him skate.  He did standing but instantly fell when tired to move forward.  Here are the only pictures I took of him trying to skate by himself.  He fell so fast, that I never got a picture of him standing. Here is what he mainly looked like. 

He decided he did wanted me to get him a skatemate so he could keep trying. I was proud of him for not giving up. Once he had the skatemate, he skated around and around the rink. He got tired quickly though and wanted me to push him on it. He put his skates on the bottom of the PVC pipe and I pushed him around and around. He laughed so hard at this. By now, he had been skating over an hour and was getting hot and wanted to rest. However, he did not rest on the side of the rink.  He just collapsed in the middle of the floor and wanted to lay there.   

He did not want to get off the floor to have pizza and cupcakes.  He did eventaully leave when he saw that all of the kids were sitting at the table.  After eating a very small slice of pizza, he asked to skate more.  By then, it was time to sing to the birthday boy and girl which he did do.  He wanted to sit right next to Jake to sing.  Just as with any other party, he want me to cut off the icing before eating his cupcake.  He has switched over to chocolate these days and does eat all of the cake part.  Usually, there is a bite or two left for me. 

We left the party to head to Timmy and Leah's house to play for a little while before going to Saige's house for dinner.  Just another typical day for Collin.

We have a Swimmer!

If you would have told me that Collin would be swimming by now, I would have thought you were joking.....but he is!!!  Last night, Collin and Daddy jumped in the pool.  Daddy swam under water while Collin watched him.  Then, Collin tried...and did it....himself!  He was kicking and moving his arms.  He swam for at least 8 strokes and made it back to the steps in the pool.  Mimi was there to see it too and was amazed at how much progress he has made in just a few short weeks and without lessons.  After swimming a little, he wanted to dive for stuff that he threw to the bottom of the pool.  He now does this not only on the steps but to the very bottom of the pool.  Daddy does have to push him down so he can get to the bottom but he does not need help after that.

Probably pushing it right now to put him in swim lessons.  Maybe in the Fall when it's not to crazy.