Snippets
After the long Labor Day weekend, where I got to spend four uninterrupted days with Colin, there's a lot to catch up on. But since I don't want this post to turn into War and Peace I'll try and hold it down to quick notes.
Colin's vocabulary is rapidly expanding. He is learning new words (literally) daily, and is getting the concept of communicating his needs/wants. His new words from this weekend include: up, again, yogurt and he learned how to "roar" like a lion and "baaa" like a sheep. He's also starting to combine words - yesterday he wanted me to pick him up so he could draw on the white-board on our fridge. So he said "more, up, please" and pointed into the kitchen. Clear as day. I couldn't believe it - that was probably his first true sentence. WHEEE HOO!!!!
He had a miserable cold all weekend and was on the 2-bite diet. He'd accept two bites of a food (if any), then utterly refuse to eat anything further. Period. His cold was so bad he slept almost all day on Sunday, so there wasn't much opportunity to eat then, and on Monday he continued his hunger strike. He even refused french fries. WHAT KID REFUSES TO EAT FRENCH FRIES?!?!? Finally when he gave me a big fat "no" for dinner I gave up and put H on the task. I came down and Colin was eating like a champ - he'd finished nearly a whole hot dog, some juice, part of a baked potato, and who knows what else. What changed his tune? Daddy got mad. H said that when Colin was throwing his rejected food on the floor (AGAIN) he got angry - then Colin wanted to please him and finally started eating. Go figure. I was trying to avoid the angry-dinner-table scene, but it seems that's the only thing that convinced my son to eat. *sigh*
We took a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo on Monday. I don't know if it is because he's older now, or if he liked this zoo better, but he really enjoyed the trip. His favorite parts were the tigers, ducks, penguins, and the miniature goats at the petting zoo. He went nuts for the goats, and was running from one to the next petting them exclaiming "dog! dog! dog!"
H, on the other hand, was horrified. He didn't even want to go in to the petting zoo, and proclaimed that in years to come there is NO WAY he would ever let Colin have a pony ride because it all just smelled too bad and was too dirty. When Colin was running around petting the goats H was undeniably uncomfortable and kept suggesting that we leave. Soon. Now. Isn't he done yet? Let's go. He did kindly take a number of photos of Colin, so I give him a lot of credit there, but I was almost as entertained by his discomfort as I was by Colin's delight. (Baaaad Monica!) He heaved a visible sigh of relief when I finally agreed that we should leave the petting zoo and headed to the hand-washing station. Although despite me scrubbing Colin's hands thoroughly with soap and water, H asked anyway if the boy was "really" clean. LOL
Colin also took two spills yesterday. The first was the worst - he was trying to "stand" on a 4-inch superball (bright green, filled with glitter) and toppled over cracking his right eye on the marble lintel between the hallway and powder room. After the initial sobbing stopped we could see that he took quite a hit - poor little guy! We applied ice, and thankfully the bruise is minimal although we both felt terrible. Then later that night Colin decided he wanted to walk down the stairs. Not crawl, or back down, he was trying to actually walk down them. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when H called me in to see what was going on. He was trying to instruct Colin on how to sit-and-scoot down one stair at a time, but the little guy wasn't buying it. Suddenly he went to take a step, missed and was suddenly cartwheeling head-first toward the ground. Thankfully he was on the last step, and I (miraculously) caught him just before he hit so there was no actual damage, but we were both scared. And, as expected, Colin recovered much more quickly than his poor mother. I think I felt a few new grey hairs pop out, and headed back into the kitchen where I had a little Amstel Light therapy as I finished making dinner.
And finally... H and I have hired a babysitter for the first time. Yes, I know. Don't say it. Colin is almost a year and a half old, and we haven't had a night out yet. Save all the lectures - I've given them to myself already. More than once. It just never seemed like the right time. He was too little, then he just had surgery, we were too tired to go out, money was tight, our dog is nutty, yadda-yadda-yadda and the next thing you know... well, here we are 16 months later going out for our first date. (OK - we did technically have a "sitter" for a few hours once. It was H's parents, and they watched Colin while we ran our half marathon this past April. Don't even talk to me about how crazy it is that our first three hours "alone" after the baby was born we spent running 13.1 miles... I don't want to talk about that either.) I feel good about this though - we're going out for our anniversary this Saturday and I called one of Colin's former teachers from school (Miss Jessica) who graduated and is no longer at Goddard, but does some babysitting on the side. Colin adored her, and he was always one of her favorites so we're already set up for success. Although it will probably be a big shock for him to see her at our house.
And that, my friends, is the big holiday weekend recap!
Colin's vocabulary is rapidly expanding. He is learning new words (literally) daily, and is getting the concept of communicating his needs/wants. His new words from this weekend include: up, again, yogurt and he learned how to "roar" like a lion and "baaa" like a sheep. He's also starting to combine words - yesterday he wanted me to pick him up so he could draw on the white-board on our fridge. So he said "more, up, please" and pointed into the kitchen. Clear as day. I couldn't believe it - that was probably his first true sentence. WHEEE HOO!!!!
He had a miserable cold all weekend and was on the 2-bite diet. He'd accept two bites of a food (if any), then utterly refuse to eat anything further. Period. His cold was so bad he slept almost all day on Sunday, so there wasn't much opportunity to eat then, and on Monday he continued his hunger strike. He even refused french fries. WHAT KID REFUSES TO EAT FRENCH FRIES?!?!? Finally when he gave me a big fat "no" for dinner I gave up and put H on the task. I came down and Colin was eating like a champ - he'd finished nearly a whole hot dog, some juice, part of a baked potato, and who knows what else. What changed his tune? Daddy got mad. H said that when Colin was throwing his rejected food on the floor (AGAIN) he got angry - then Colin wanted to please him and finally started eating. Go figure. I was trying to avoid the angry-dinner-table scene, but it seems that's the only thing that convinced my son to eat. *sigh*
H, on the other hand, was horrified. He didn't even want to go in to the petting zoo, and proclaimed that in years to come there is NO WAY he would ever let Colin have a pony ride because it all just smelled too bad and was too dirty. When Colin was running around petting the goats H was undeniably uncomfortable and kept suggesting that we leave. Soon. Now. Isn't he done yet? Let's go. He did kindly take a number of photos of Colin, so I give him a lot of credit there, but I was almost as entertained by his discomfort as I was by Colin's delight. (Baaaad Monica!) He heaved a visible sigh of relief when I finally agreed that we should leave the petting zoo and headed to the hand-washing station. Although despite me scrubbing Colin's hands thoroughly with soap and water, H asked anyway if the boy was "really" clean. LOL
Colin also took two spills yesterday. The first was the worst - he was trying to "stand" on a 4-inch superball (bright green, filled with glitter) and toppled over cracking his right eye on the marble lintel between the hallway and powder room. After the initial sobbing stopped we could see that he took quite a hit - poor little guy! We applied ice, and thankfully the bruise is minimal although we both felt terrible. Then later that night Colin decided he wanted to walk down the stairs. Not crawl, or back down, he was trying to actually walk down them. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when H called me in to see what was going on. He was trying to instruct Colin on how to sit-and-scoot down one stair at a time, but the little guy wasn't buying it. Suddenly he went to take a step, missed and was suddenly cartwheeling head-first toward the ground. Thankfully he was on the last step, and I (miraculously) caught him just before he hit so there was no actual damage, but we were both scared. And, as expected, Colin recovered much more quickly than his poor mother. I think I felt a few new grey hairs pop out, and headed back into the kitchen where I had a little Amstel Light therapy as I finished making dinner.
And finally... H and I have hired a babysitter for the first time. Yes, I know. Don't say it. Colin is almost a year and a half old, and we haven't had a night out yet. Save all the lectures - I've given them to myself already. More than once. It just never seemed like the right time. He was too little, then he just had surgery, we were too tired to go out, money was tight, our dog is nutty, yadda-yadda-yadda and the next thing you know... well, here we are 16 months later going out for our first date. (OK - we did technically have a "sitter" for a few hours once. It was H's parents, and they watched Colin while we ran our half marathon this past April. Don't even talk to me about how crazy it is that our first three hours "alone" after the baby was born we spent running 13.1 miles... I don't want to talk about that either.) I feel good about this though - we're going out for our anniversary this Saturday and I called one of Colin's former teachers from school (Miss Jessica) who graduated and is no longer at Goddard, but does some babysitting on the side. Colin adored her, and he was always one of her favorites so we're already set up for success. Although it will probably be a big shock for him to see her at our house.
And that, my friends, is the big holiday weekend recap!
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