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March 18, 2003
“War, what is it good for?”
March 18, 2003
Collin is 20 months old!
Thursday marks the official first day of Spring! The weather here has been great and Collin and I have spent a ton of time outside during the day enjoying every warm ray of sunshine. It’s been in the mid 70’s with bright blue sunny skies and a slight cool breeze. Perfect for spending days out in the back yard playing ball or just digging around in the dirt (Collin’s personal favorite!). Last year at this time it was hard to do yard work since Collin couldn’t walk yet and unless he was in the backpack he needed constant supervision. This year, he’s running all over the yard, kicking balls, throwing sticks, digging in the dirt and pointing out every single airplane that flies across the sky. I can actually rake the yard and dig around without having to keep him completely occupied. But with spring approaching so comes the rain. The weather forecast shows rain for the next 3-4 days. I love those spring showers but I do not care for all the severe tornado weather that is about to knock on our door. Scary! I stocked up on batteries and flashlights the other day and I need to get a few essentials boxes up and put down in the basement. You DO NOT want to be without a working flashlight and a radio if you’re abruptly woken up at 3:30am to the sound of screaming tornado sirens (which by the way are practically in our back yard!). I’m hoping we don’t have any of those severe weather scares but usually we have a least a few tornado watches/warnings during the spring and early summer months. Blizzards and wind-chill in the winter, tornados in the spring and the humidity and heat index during the summer. Why the HECK am I living here? LOL!
Well, I finally did it! I joined a mom’s club. I’ve been wanting to join one since Collin was born but decided not too because I felt that Collin was just too little and not in need of play groups. I didn’t really feel comfortable having him around all kinds of viruses/sick children when he was so young and I didn’t feel the need to meet new friends. Now that Collin is older and really into playing with other children, the weather is getting nicer and I’m REALLY in need of some new mom relationships, I figured it was time to join. I sent in my dues and letter talking about me and my family (Collin and Mark) and two days later I got a call from the membership coordinator. She seemed very friendly and easy going, and she gave me an overview of what the Mom’s Club was about. It’s for SAHM’s or mom’s that work very part time. Our play dates, meetings, outings and events take place during the morning and afternoon hours. They also have mom’s night out, mom and dad’s night out (together), family picnics, a babysitting coop, a book club, a scrap-booking club (yay!), a walking club, a sunshine club, and a ton of more things I can’t quite remember right now. I can be in as many events as I’d like or only chose a few now and again. They don’t pressure you to attend any meetings and children are always welcome. You can bring your child(ren) with you to meetings or to listen to the speakers or they provide on site daycare for a buck and hour. Tomorrow I’ve been invited to a new member tea. I think that Collin is really going to love the play groups and special outings and I’m hoping that Mark and I will meet some great people that have more in common with us then most of our friends now (the childless one’s). I’ve very excited for this!
Speaking of social interaction…I’ve started taking Collin to library story time. Our local library has a toddler story time once a week in the mornings. It works perfect because it gets over at the time he normally takes his morning nap. When we get home he’s usually ready to snooze. The first week we went, Collin was very timid and shy and wanted to leave. He just sat and took everything in. I didn’t force him to do anything but showed him how fun it was to sing and dance along with everyone else. By the second week he was interacting with the stories, making hand gestures to the songs and wanting to play with the other children. It’s very cute and it makes my heart swell when I see him walk up to another child and want to play. After story time is over, the two librarians each have a “pet” hand puppet and they “talk” to the children and let them pet them on the head. One is a monkey, the other a turtle. Collin loves to pet them and even gives the monkey a hug goodbye. This week story time is about cookies. Chances are they will give each child a cookie so I’m betting it will be a big hit with Collin! (smile)
Have I ever mentioned how much Collin loves music? I’m sure most children do, but Collin will beg to go downstairs to the family room to strum on Mark’s bass guitars and acoustic guitars. He’ll walk towards the kitchen and strum his tummy and chant, “Pwayyyy? Pwayyyy?” (Play). It’s so cute but he wants to do it constantly! He’s started getting really sneaky about it now and when we tell him no, not right now, he’ll do things to persuade us. He’ll take something like his sippy cup or his blanket and then throw it down the stairs. Then he’ll come in and get us and take our hand to lead us to the stairs, showing us that look, now we HAVE to go down and get it. He thinks that means we will take him too. Other times he’ll come in and tell us that Moo Moo (Mollie, our dog) has to go out to go potty. We let her out through the basement so he knows we have to go down to do that too. The first time he did this I couldn’t understand why he would be telling us to take the dog outside. Then it hit me that he was being sneaky. Very smart! We usually go down to “play guitar” a couple times a day. He loves it and loves it even more when Mark takes him down and actually plays something. Collin will dance around and toss his head around like he’s jamming out. Do we have a future “rock star” on our hands? God, I hope not! LOL!
Does anyone have the DVD, the Scorpion King? On the DVD is a video by Godsmack, who did a song for the movie. It’s called “I Stand Alone.” Mark made the mistake of showing Collin this video when he was only around a year or so old. Now Collin chants, several times a day, “Bird! Bird! Bird!” or “I,” “I,” “I.” (Bird because a crow flies down in the first few seconds of the video and “I” because the main verse is “I stand alone” with the lead singer really emphasizing “I.”) Collin has loved this video since Mark first showed it to him and he never tires of seeing it. On average, we watch it at LEAST once a day, sometimes two or three times. Collin will run around the living room, singing a few of the words, will play a bit of air guitar and rock out. He bangs his head around (like a true rock star!) and dances. I waiting for the day that Collin works up a routine and dance, like most kids do to songs. I remember a girlfriend and I putting on a routine to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor when I was about 9 or 10. OMG does that bring back hilarious memories. Does anyone remember that song?
Speaking of DVD’s and CD’s. Collin has had 2 time-outs (his first!) because he’s broken two CD’s in half. I know it was probably accidental (at least the first time), but he knows he shouldn’t have been in the drawer to begin with. He was digging thought the drawer looking for (what else!) the “Scorpion King” disc and I told him no, that he couldn’t watch it. He gets very grabby and insistent when he wants something so he grabbed just any CD and then got too rough with it and snapped it in half. I told him why I was unhappy and put him in his room for one minute. It didn’t seem to bother him at all and in fact, he opened the door and let himself out. The second time, he was near meltdown mode, grabbing at everything and being rough. I told him to calm down and stop being so rude and he again, grabbed a CD and broke it in half. This time I whisked him away and put him in his crib and told him that what he did was rude and we don’t go around breaking other people’s things. This time he cried and was sobbing for his blankie. It broke my heart. After the one-minute was up, I went in and told him that it wasn’t nice to break one of mommy’s CD’s but that I loved him and then I gave him a hug. He was so excited to get out and you would have thought he was in there for an hour, not one minute. After that he was smiling and playing like a sweet little boy.
Oh and speaking of his blankie…I don’t think I’ve ever documented the name he’s given to it. For reasons that we do not know or understand, Collin has always called his blankie, “Dee-yha.” I have no idea how to spell it but that’s how it sounds. It took Mark awhile to pick up on how Collin was pronouncing it so for a few days Mark was walking around asking Collin were “Ga-da” was. Pretty hilarious! Anyone reading this have a little Linus (Peanuts) of their own? Isn’t it sweet?!
My MIL’s birthday went well. The weather was perfect and the in-laws actually showed up for breakfast and for the day. Speaking of…Collin has started calling her by a name finally. He’s been finally calling her “Gran.” (that’s what she goes by) I think it’s because he’s always asking about her dog and cats! It sounds a lot like Grin but you can tell what he means. He’s always asking about “Grins meow’s (cats) and Tomo (the name of her dog).
I unfroze my membership to the gym last week and started going again. It feels so nice to go and work out and God knows I need it! I felt so out of shape and flabby it’s not even funny. I’m at my highest weight and I’m not happy about it. I went to the gym three times last week and twice so far this week. I think I’m back for good. My goal is 40 pds and I know it will take some time but I can do it. I lost 30 pounds the summer before we conceived Collin and I was very happy with the way I looked. I felt great and I didn’t have the problem of opening up my closet and getting depressed because nothing fit anymore. I’m not a lazy person and I don’t gorge out but since my lifestyle is so different (sedentary!) then it was before now that I’m a SAHM. I’ve always had to “work” to be in shape. I was never one of those women who could eat and never work out and still look good. My family is on the short and heavy side but luckily I have my height to my advantage. Seems like every time I’d try to get back to the gym something would come up again. I started going back right after Collin was born, then my mom and grandfather passed way, making me depressed. Then I went back but froze it again due to a heal problem (plantar fasciitis). Then I went back but this summer I broke my toe delaying my workouts once again. It was just a cycle of going once or twice, feeling like a blob and saying forget it. This time I feel different, I feel energized and good about myself and I’m looking forward to trimming up and getting back into shape. Wish me luck!
I’m worried about the war; although there isn’t much I can do about it. We live near an Air force base and the air traffic has been constant for the last several days. I’m scared for our country and for our service men and women. I’m scared for all the innocent lives that will be lost and all the children, men and women who will be homeless, hurt and killed. I think this is something we need to do, but I just wished we didn’t need to march through Baghdad to do it. Killing many just to get to one spineless rotten creep! I support our military and I support our President. I pray this will be fast and over soon and that God helps those that are in need. God Bless America and God bless the people who wait in fear. The thought of a hurting child breaks my heart.
Thoughts and Prayers,
Jennifer & Collin
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