Bad Dream

Collin continues to do or say what he can so that one of us, mainly me, lays next to him when he initially gets in bed.  I, too, do what I can to get out of it because he needs to be able to go to sleep on his own. 

Last night after I told him that I needed to be on the computer for a little while before coming back in to lay with him, he said, "I have a great idea (they always are).  You can sit on this side of my bed with your computer and your papers over her (pointing to his right).  We can turn on the fish tank for more light for you."  Then he looked so sweetly at me waiting for for my response.  I told him that WAS a really good idea and then hated to tell him that there would not be enough light for me but it was true.  He did eventually lay back down and then I re-covered him and his animals back up.

I has been at the computer less than 10 minutes when he came out to the living room.  I asked him what was wrong. 

Collin:  "I had a bad dream."

Mommy: thinking he made it up just so he could come out of his room and get me in bed with him "Oh, I am sorry to hear that.  Tell me about the dream."  Gotcha kiddo!

Collin:  "There was a waterfall and I was falling down it"  Oh, that's a good one and great comeback

Mommy:  "I can see why you might have been scared.  Then what happened?"  Let's see where he takes this one.

Collin:  "Saige was there and she was crying"  OK, he is REALLY good. 

I did walk him back to his room and tucked him back in.  By this time, he was yawning and really tired.  He fell asleep within 5 minutes and did not get back out of bed for the entire night.

5 Year Check Up

I met Daddy and Collin at Collin's 5 year check up appointment this afternoon.  Daddy said that Collin recognized the building as they pulled up and wanted to know if he was getting shots.  Daddy said that we would have to see what the doctor says.  While in the waiting room, Collin did not seem preoccupied about the shots.  That's probably because we read at least 6 books before the nurse called his name.  While waiting, he figured out the system of the office.  "The lady will come from over there and call my name."  Each time the nurse came out, he looked up to listen for his name. 
She did finally call him and said we were to go to Room F.  Collin walked by each room until he stopped in front of F.  The nurse asked him a few questions like his name, what street he lived on and the name of his school.  He knew is name but not the answer to the other questions.  I have been working with him on his address including city and state but he could not remember his street.  He remembered Houston though.  She then looked through his chart and announced that he did not have to have shots.  I would have thought he would have been more excited but he was busy checking out the board on the wall and making hand prints on it.

She then weighed him and checked his height.  He is 3 feet 5.93 in (29.9%) tall and weighs 37lbs (22.21%) so he remains a little guy and even fell further down in the percentages.  The doctor was not too concerned about this dip because his BMI ratio was good.  She said as long as he is eating she is not worried.  He is an active little boy and sometimes gets more than an hour a day of exercise.  She was really happy with that.  We did discuss that he is still not dry at night and she said that she would not push it based on what we told her about him snoring loudly and grinding his teeth.  He is just a heavy sleeper.  Also, she did say it does run in the family.  Knowing that Aunt Lisa wet her bed when she was older confirmed that he will just need more time to learn to be dry at night.

We did discover that his developing cough is likely bacterial bronchitis so she gave a prescription that should help him in the next week.  I am not too surprised because Daddy has had a cough for over a month and it has been hard from him to get rid of it. 

He and Daddy headed home to swim with Saige and Linden (shhhh....he is not supposed to swim with his cough.  One last one before he starts his medicine) and then I headed back to work. It's that time of year for me because of the tax deadline.

Feedback From First Day of School

Collin seemed to have a great first day of school.  Daddy picked him up and they rode bikes on the way home.  On the way, Collin asked if they were riding bikes every day.  Daddy said that they were.  Collin then said, "We can ride bikes unless it's raining then we can ride in the black car...not the Jeep".  We are quickly finding out that Collin is not fond of the Jeep and all of the wind in his face.

When they got home, they swam for an hour and played with the underwater camera some more. There were some great shots and they looked like they had a good time. Next, Daddy thought they would play soccer in the front yard since Collin will be playing soccer soon.  He wanted to play baseball instead.  Daddy threw the ball to him and he did really good hitting about 50% of the balls thrown to him.  Next, Collin went to play with Saige and Linden until 7pm which is about the time I got home.  Those extra 2.5 hours he was home compared to when he went to Montessori school were BUSY!

When he was finally home for the night, I got to talk to him about his day. One of the first questions he asked me was “Mommy, why did you get home late tonight?” I was not home late but it might have seemed that way because he was home for a longer period of time before I came home from work. Some other feedback from Collin:


• “I met a new friend Julia but she’s a girl”

• “I had a really good lunch today” – we asked follow up questions to try to figure out what was good about it but he did not respond

• “School was fun. The teacher read to us”

I knew he had a good day when he announced this morning, “yeah, I have school today”. Wow, I was getting used to the question, “is it school today” and then hear the disappointment when I would reply that it was a school day. That might only be because he knows there is movie at the end of the day if it’s not a school day in the morning and he does get to spend more time with me because I am with him more when it’s not a school day.

I cannot wait to hear how his day today goes.

First Day of Public School

Today is Collin's first day of public school.  He is starting Pre-K at the elementary school just a few blocks from our house.  We have been talking about him going to this school most of the summer to get him ready for it and hoping that the transition would go well.  Maybe that's why he was fine this morning and did not throw a fit.  He was actually so excited that he only ate 3 bites of his three scrambled eggs this morning.  Normally, he eats all of these so Daddy thought he would do the same when he made them this morning.  Nope, he was ready to get dressed in the clothes he picked out.  His new shark shirt was dirty so he wanted to wear his school spirit shirt instead.  I told him he did not have to wear it but he insisted.  He got dressed and then brushed his teeth.  Daddy was getting dressed at this point and Collin wanted him to wear a matching school spirit shirt.  Collin said I did not have to because today was not my first day of work.  Don't kids say the funniest things?

After packing his lunch of 2 "fold overs" which are peanut butter jelly sandwiches made with one piece of bread folded over, bunny crackers, fruit snack and a drink, we took pictures by the fireplace.  Daddy took his first day of school pictures by the fireplace so Grandma H wanted me to make sure that I got a few pictures there.  While doing this, Daddy was getting the bikes ready to ride to school.  They plan to ride their bikes to school every day that there is good weather. 

Once outside, Collin wanted to know if I was going with him. I told him that I was not because I was going to work.  That was a good enough response for him.  He got near his bike and then wanted me to take a picture of him telling me "I love you Mommy".  At least he is still my sweet little boy.  They then got on the bike and rode off to school.

Excited about riding his biked AND going to school

This is right before he wanted to tell me that he loved me.  Aww...

Here they are headed off to school.  I cut it a little short because Daddy started telling me things that he had already told me to do several times that morning.  What, I will forget already?  It was a crazy morning because our little guy is growing up.

I caught Daddy riding back when I was heading out of the neighborhood.  He said that Collin got off the bike and headed to his new class.  He was not nervous at all and was a big boy.  I think meeting the teacher and seeing his class Friday was a great idea and helped with how smooth today went.  I cannot wait to hear tonight how his first day of school was.

Collin and Ms Hansen, his Pre-K teacher

Fun with a New Camera...Under Water!!!

We had a great time playing with our new camera that takes pictures in and out of the water.  After I got home from a long bike ride, Collin thought it would be a great idea for us to get in the pool, "that way you don't have to take a shower mommy".  Considering I just rode my bike almost 3 hours, I thought this was a fantastic idea AND we could play with the camera. 

Collin had no problem posing, swimming, jumping in the water and just having fun while I figured out the camera under the water. What I thought was so cute was that he always had this grin on his face when he was under the water. You would think this was because he knew I was taking his picture. Well, that's not true. This is how he always looks when he is swimming or underwater. Now that he is not afraid to get his face wet or put his head under the water, all he wants to do is swim to me, to the side of the pool, from one step or the other, jump in the water or dive for toys at the bottom of the pool. I love that he is finally not afraid of the water so we can enjoy swimming now…..as you can see in the pictures we took today.

Look at that happy little boy.  He loves swimming now.

Concentrating on the swim strokes

At the bottom of the pool

One of my favorite ones

He wanted to try swimming without his googles.  He did great!

Jumping from the rocks...

....and then splash!!!

My two favorite boys....being boys.

Last Day of Montessori School

This afternoon was somewhat of a sad day.  It was Collin's last day at his Montessori school.  He has been going there since he was 20 months old.  He has had a good time with his first teach, Ms Maria, and then his current ones, Ms Kristine and Ms Arlena.  They have been wonderful with him helping him learn and understand his world. 

Daddy dropped him off today and also gave presents to both of the teachers.  One of the cards played dance music when it was opened.  The kids had a great time dancing to the music.  I bet the teachers have not had a card like that before.  I am sure they will not forget this day for a long time.

Later when I saw Collin at home, I asked him how his last day was.  He talked like it was a regular day.  We have been talking about it being his last day so I know he knew it was...but don't think he will really realized it until he starts at his new school next week.  I took some pictures of him on his last day to compare to his first day.  Look how much he has grown in just over three years. 



So proud to be wearing his uniform



Being silly.  I love this guy!

Meet the Teacher!

This morning was "meet the teacher" at Collin's elementary school.  Grandma H, Daddy and I all went with Collin to meet his teacher, check out where his assigned seat is going to be for the school year, check out his classroom and meet some of his new classmates. 

When we arrived at the school, they were not ready for us to come in yet.  That's when the leg-hugging began.  Collin wanted to stick right by me holding onto my leg.  We quickly saw a friend from T-ball, Tyler, and walked over to talk to him.  I did most of the talking and hoped Collin would warm up a little before we went into his class.  He did not.

We finally were able to go in and walked down the Pre-K hall.  I pointed out Collin's name above a hook outside his classroom where he is supposed to hang his backpack before going to class.  Ms Hansen, his new teacher, was standing at the doorway.  She introduced himself to him and he was too shy to respond.  We walked in and quickly found his spot at the head of a table.  There was a list of things we were supposed to find in the classroom to get him familiar with it.  He was so quick to find everything on the list that it only lasted 10 minutes.  He then sat at his spot watching the kids come in.  He did eventually warm up and played with Sam at the back of the room with some toys.  We stayed for about 40 minutes letting him introduce himself to other new friends before we left for his last day at his Montessori school.

He does not look to happy in this picture.  I am not sure why the sad/mad face.  He usually likes to have his picture taken.  Maybe it was just too much for him to take in.