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February 8, 2003
February 6, 2003
Collin is 19 months old.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is to everyone that took the time to post on my board regarding my question on who reads my diary and where you live. It’s been so fun reading up on everyone and I’ve really been enjoying hearing from those of you that have been long time lurkers, first time posters. Really, don’t be shy! I love “meeting” new people and love hearing about their families. This is what brought me to these sites to begin with. I also love pictures so if you have any family websites, I’d love to put a name to a face. Again, thank you very much and I appreciate the kind compliments and words on my diary. It makes me not feel so “alone” when it comes to this site.
***Remembering what life was like***
There are so many days when I just can’t believe that Collin is approaching 2, yet other times can’t believe he’s only going to be 2. I honestly have a hard time remembering what life was like without him and it just seems like he’s always been with us. Mark and I were reminiscing the other night and I asked him what we used to do before Collin was born. It was funny because all we would think of was work, sleep, go out to eat and go to movies. When I think about what life was like before Collin, it just seems like a big blur. Sure, we had fun all those years just being able to come and go as we pleased, sleeping in every Saturday and Sunday morning. Being able to watch what ever we wanted on TV, leave the house on a minutes notice to go meet friends at a bar, but were we happier then? No way! We were happy, but not happier then than we are now. Sure, now it takes lots of planning just to take a trip to the grocery store, I can’t remember the last time I slept past 7:00am on the weekend, our TV viewing mainly consists of Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street and we hardly ever meet friends out, much less in a bar but I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way. I love my life, I love my husband and I love, adore and cherish our son. Nothing beats a hard day like a big bear hug from my little man. Those cute little arms wrapped tight around my entire neck and head are what makes life so sweet. Our checkbook could read $0.00 (which some days it’s near that!), the laundry could be piled to the sky, the scale could tell me how many pounds I’ve gained, but none of that compares to what’s REALLY important in life – love. Wonder if I’ll look back one day and ask myself what life was like with only one child?!
Obviously our computer is back up and running. It was in the shop for a week and I swear I was going through withdrawals. I did get more things done around the house during the day, but it’s still nice to have the computer back. I feel so disorganized and forgetful when I skip entries. Now I’ll have to babbling lots to make up for lost time…
What’s Collin been up to?
I should say what HASN’T Collin been up to! This kid is like the energizer bunny most days. He just keeps going and going and going. I find myself completely worn out and tired by the end of the day.
***Red and blue make purple***
Collin has started learning his colors. We were sitting on the sofa one day watching one of his Baby Einstein videos where a lava drippy thingee (nice name hu? I made that one up myself – ha ha) drips the colors blue and purple and then swirls of purple and green splash together. I usually say, “Look, blue and purple and purple and green.” He obviously picked it up because he started bringing me things that were purple. It sounds so cute when he runs up and says, “puppple, puppple!” He’s so proud and I always make sure to praise him. Even if it’s not the right color I’ll still praise him for trying. One day he walked up to me with a crayon in his hand and said, “Booo” and sure enough, it was the color blue. He almost always gets the colors blue, purple, black and red correct but still has a little trouble remembering orange, green and yellow. He’ll either sit in front of the filing cabinet in the office and play with his magnetic colored letters and name off colors or else he’ll play with his spongy letters in the bathtub while saying the colors. We’ve really never started teaching him colors specifically, just naming colors when we are playing with blocks or different toys. I think he picked it up (fast!) from watching those videos.
***Future Monet?***
Speaking of crayons, Collin has turned into a little Picasso. He loves to color and draw. It took him awhile because he used to just take the crayon in his hand and dot the paper over and over. Then he started scribbling. I’ve saved so many of his masterpieces that I don’t know what to do with them. I hate throwing them away but I know I can’t save every single scrap he happens to scribble on. I’m trying to get him to only color on paper. Luckily he hasn’t figured out he can color on the eggshell colored living room walls yet. Just in case I made sure and got washable colors. I haven’t worked up the courage to let him finger paint yet. (grin!)
***E-I-E-I-O***
It sounds like a zoo in the house most days since Collin has started making animal sounds. He’ll walk around yelling “woof woof,” (dog) “yeoowwww,” (cat) “mooooo,” (cow) “rawrrrhhhhrrrr” (lion or tiger) “RAWRRRHHHHRRRRR,” (dinosaur) and his personal favorite (imagine a high pitch here) “arrrrrwwrrrrrrr” (elephant). For that one he arches his back, throws his head back and screams. If you don’t know it’s coming it can be quite startling but oh it’s so darling. I must get that on video. He loves singing “Old McDonald” because he’s good at the E-I-E-I-O part and the animal sounds. He can’t make all the animal noises but if we make the noise he will name off the animal (horse, duck, bird, pig). It’s pretty hilarious because when the cats run around the house during the day Collin will screech “yeoowwww” every time he sees or hears one of them. He tries to sound just like a cat and that makes it so funny. Same with the dog sound - He says the “woof woof” in a low growled voice.
***Potty Learning***
I think we’re going to start potty learning soon. I have no interest in pushing Collin to do anything he’s not ready but he’s been showing us signs that he’s interested. Maybe not ready but definitely interested. He’ll grab his diaper and announce pee-pee or poo-poo and he loves to flush the toilet. I sat him down on the toilet one day just to see what he would do and he seemed okay with it. I told him that when he wanted to, he could use the big boy toilet and go pee-pee in there. He still loves grabbing toilet tissue from the roll and pretending to whip himself with it. Then he throws it in the toilet and flushes. We are heading to Toys R Us soon to buy him a potty learning chair. I really just want a cushion his size to fit over the big toilet, but we also need to get a chair since we only have one bathroom and I don’t want him to feel like he has to wait if we’re using the bathroom.
***Words***
He’s also getting very good with his words. There really isn’t too much he says that we can’t understand. He’ll ask for ilk (milk) or more ilk or sometimes even more ilk peeese (please). I’ve been working with him on saying please. He’s catching on and even using it to get his way when he’s not supposed to (little sneak!). He’s also saying De nada (Spanish for you’re welcome. Got it from watching Dora the Explorer). He doesn’t understand what you’re welcome means, he just love how it sounds and giggles when we say it back and fourth. Collin’s also saying more two or three letter phrases like, How are you?” (sounding more like, “ow war wooo” - again because he likes how it sounds not because he’s really interested in how you’re doing). He’ll also say, “Oh no!” when he comes across a mess, spills something or just knocks something over. It’s funny because he’ll purposely knock something down, then in the most surprised voice and shocked face say, “Oh NOOO!” Gee, go figure! LOL! When he can’t figure something out or is unsure on how to do something, he’ll exclaim, “Oh my!” What a little character we have here. Cracking us up on a daily bases.
He’s starting to say mommy at times instead of mama. He’ll use mama mostly but he’s trying to make the transition. At time it sounds like mammy or mimi. He’s trying and it melts my heart any which way he says it. Daddy is still dada.
***Bathroom fun***
Speaking of daddy – Mark has been giving Collin his baths at night. Every night after dinner, I clean up the kitchen while Mark and Collin have their special bath time. I can hear them in the bathroom splashing and laughing. This gives them some time together and gives me a few minutes of peace and quite, even if I am cleaning up the kitchen. Mark dries Collin off and takes him to his room. Collin only likes for me to put his PJ’s on and while cry and put up a fight if Mark tries to do it. I guess it’s a routine that he’s grown accustomed to - Daddy for bath time, Mommy for PJ time. Collin’s also gotten really freaky about wanting to be rocked before bed now. At night when he’s awoke and cried, I would always go in and rock him, but we’ve never had a routine where we rock before bed. It’s usual story time, a drink of water and off to bed, generally with no fits or outbursts. Now, if he thinks we are putting him straight into his crib he’ll cry out, “wock, woooock” and want to be rocked for several minutes. And again he only wants me to do this. If Mark tries, Collin squirms the entire time, won’t stay still and will yell, “down!” I don’t mind because I think it’s his chance to wind down after being on the go go go all day long. I’ll rock him, give him a sip of water and he’s content to doze off. Of course there are those nights where he’ll want to be rocked for HOURS (not!) and want a gallon of water, then throw a complete hissy fit when we put him in his crib. I’m sure it’s because he’s trying to stay awake for fear of missing out on something fun.
Back to the bathroom…if you turn on the bathroom sink faucet and Collin is anywhere in earshot he’ll come busting into (literally) the bathroom, hands in his mouth like he’s brushing his teeth. He’s turned into a serious tooth brusher and wants to do it morning, noon and night. Not that this is a bad thing, it’s just that when you are washing your hands or filling something up on the bathroom sink, he thinks it always time to brush. He’ll climb up onto the toilet seat and get ready for you to hand him his brush and toothpaste. While brushing he even leans over the sink, spits and rinses his brush out with water. I hope this is a habit he keeps – the brushing his teeth part, not the busting into the bathroom!
***Ouch!***
I got squeezed into the dentist this morning to get two filings so I’ve been feeling icky all day. They really hurt this time and I haven’t been feeling that great. They’re starting to act up so I need to get this done and posted so I can go take some ibuprofen and go to bed. After this weekend, Mark has four weekends off from the band so we’ll be able to spend some nice quality family time together. I love that.
Just for posterity, I’m quickly (!) including a few more things for Collin’s journal.
*When Mark watches Harry Potter, Collin will say, “Ho Ho Ho!” when he sees Dumbledore. He obviously thinks that any man with a long white beard must be Santa.
*Collin has watched Sesame Street a few times and really likes it. His favorite is Big Bird.
*His favorite snack lately has been fruit pops. I take frozen cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches and grapes and give them to him in his old baby safe feeder. He loves it and it isn’t too messy. He walks around saying “fooot pop.”
*Collin and I have our special cuddle time each and every morning. From 9-10am we’ll lie on the couch, with Collin snuggled on my lap and drink milk and watch Nick Jr. together. M-F we do this and we both love it!
*I now have myself a little maid and cook. If I’m in the kitchen, Collin wants to help with dinner. If I’m down in the laundry room, he wants to help put clothes in the washer and dryer. He wants to help do every single thing I do. It takes longer when he helps but it’s cute and he feels so proud. I’ll have to remind him of this when he’s a teen and I’m yelling at him to clean his room.
*Hugs and Kisses, Hugs and Kisses! We now get showered with hugs and kisses from Collin. I’ll say, “Can I have a smooch?” and he’ll lean into me and put his little lips onto mine and give me kiss. When we ask for a hug, he’ll take both his hands and wrap them around our head and squeeze tight. Oh what a feeling that is! If I could bottle that up, I’d be the richest person ever - even if I never sold a single bottle.
Have a great week and God Bless our troops during this uncertain and scary time. Also I pray for peace for the families of the 7 astronauts that were lost on Columbia. What a tragedy. What hero’s.
Until next time…
Hugs, Jennifer and Collin
Updated webpage: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/n/nebraskacollin/
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