Birthday Week Roller Coaster
Poor Colin - he had such a fun birthday, but man did the fun end with a bang!
That night he was so tired after dinner that we skipped his bath and just put him straight to bed, but the poor little guy couldn't sleep. He kept coughing all night, waking himself up, and I finally gave him some decongestant to try and give him a little relief.
The next day I picked him up from school right after lunch for his 2-year checkup with our pediatrician. It was his nap time, so he slept through most of it since it was just the doctor and I talking, but eventually I had to wake him up so we could get through the exam itself. All in all Colin is doing just great, which I knew but it is nice to hear anyway. And the doctor was very shocked to see that he was above the 50th percentile for both height and weight! I think he'd decided that Colin was just going to be a little peanut of a kid, but I think he's just a bit of a late bloomer. Either way, so long as he's healthy I really could care less.
From there we went to the car dealership where we spent a very boring couple of hours filling out paperwork and handling the final details of the trade-in on the Murano and our lease on the new Town & Country minivan. The highlight of that trip was during my meeting with the finance guy (sign here-here-here-here-here and here!) when Colin decided to have a bowel movement and announced very loudly "I'm pooping!!!!! UUUNNNNHHHH!!!!" Not that his proclamation was necessary since moments later an unmistakable *ahem* effervescence filled the man's office, but I guess he wasn't taking any chances.
After picking up our fancy new ride we drove to... the barber where I put him through the torture of getting his hair cut (he looked like a shaggy dog). When Larissa started she initially tried the clippers and Colin instantly started sobbing, wrapped his arm around his head, and proclaimed "MY HAIR! MYYY HAIR!" She wisely switched to scissors and got most of his hair cut while I held him and tried to distract him with the iTouch, but when she tried to finish the job with the clippers again he had a complete melt-down. We eventually decided enough was enough, and while the back of his hair and sideburns are slightly unkempt he has a nice short summer cut that should last us a month or two. PHEW!
Saturday was another highlight though... we took a trip to the Philadelphia zoo. We did this last year for his birthday as well, and while last year he was really only interested in the ducks and the petting zoo goats, this year he had a lot more fun. In addition to the ducks and goats he had his first ride on a carousel (he rode the alligator), his first boat ride (two turns around the pond in a swan paddleboat with mom and dad), and was enthralled by the giraffes, various monkeys, and a whole lot of snakes. Oddly, for the second year in a row the king cobra was amazingly active right as we were by his enclosure - this snake didn't just move around, at one point about 4 feet of snake was pointing straight up into the air, showing off his amazing snaky strength and balance.
We left the zoo around closing time, and Colin was exhausted. He fell asleep almost the instant we got into the car (and his father followed suit not long after!) and after an uneventful drive home we got him straight to bed. Unfortunately that didn't go so well since in the middle of the night H and I heard a sudden loud THUD from his bedroom followed by a brief pause, then crying. We both knew immediately what had happened and were instantly sprinting down the hallway. H flipped on the hall light, and I (right behind him) also reflexively tried to turn it "on." My efforts resulted in the light going off (UGH!) so I had to try again. Meanwhile Sydney had started barking madly, as apparently she thought that our Keystone Cops impression needed a soundtrack. H picked up Colin checking him for bumps, bruises or breaks but somehow the kid was fine. He held his hand to his head and said "right deeeere" in various spots, but all he really wanted was to be held and go back to sleep. It was about 2AM so I couldn't blame him, and in spite of H's concerns for a possible concussion I advocated that we just let the poor kid sleep. We did, however bring him into our room and put him between us where we could keep a close eye on him for the rest of the night. I'm not going to count how many new grey hairs we sprouted that night, but suffice to say it was probably a large number.
Sunday morning Colin was his usual self, and I took him downstairs where we enjoyed a nice breakfast after which Daddy came down and joined us and I snuck off to the gym for Combat class. When I got home we went to take Syd on a brief family walk around the neighborhood which turned out to be great fun for Colin. First we ran into some neighbors who have two boys (ages 3 and 5) and they were playing on an inflatable trampoline/slide. Colin was invited to join in and the three boys had a blast while the dads were discussing cricket and tennis, and I tried to monitor Colin who really didn't need any intervention from mom. Eventually we moved on and during the course of our walk Colin saw a bunch of deer, ran some sprints on the tennis court, and generally had a blast.
After lunch and a nap Colin came back downstairs and snuggled with me for a few minutes after which he decided to get up. What he didn't know is that while he was sleeping I put together his first bike: a royal blue Schwinn tricycle complete with tassels and a bell! We hid it behind the sofa intending to give it to him after his nap, but never had the chance to make a big deal since Colin hopped off my lap and just walked around the sofa, nearly into the trike. And while we didn't have a lot of fanfare, his reaction couldn't have been more priceless. He stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropped (literally!), he gasped, and then proclaimed "MY bicycle". We took him outside and while he didn't entirely get the whole pedaling concept (he preferred scootching with his feet on the ground) he certainly knew exactly what to do with the bell!
While it was certainly a week full of ups and downs, I think in general Colin had a pretty darned fun birthday. Not bad for only 2 years old!
That night he was so tired after dinner that we skipped his bath and just put him straight to bed, but the poor little guy couldn't sleep. He kept coughing all night, waking himself up, and I finally gave him some decongestant to try and give him a little relief.
The next day I picked him up from school right after lunch for his 2-year checkup with our pediatrician. It was his nap time, so he slept through most of it since it was just the doctor and I talking, but eventually I had to wake him up so we could get through the exam itself. All in all Colin is doing just great, which I knew but it is nice to hear anyway. And the doctor was very shocked to see that he was above the 50th percentile for both height and weight! I think he'd decided that Colin was just going to be a little peanut of a kid, but I think he's just a bit of a late bloomer. Either way, so long as he's healthy I really could care less.
From there we went to the car dealership where we spent a very boring couple of hours filling out paperwork and handling the final details of the trade-in on the Murano and our lease on the new Town & Country minivan. The highlight of that trip was during my meeting with the finance guy (sign here-here-here-here-here and here!) when Colin decided to have a bowel movement and announced very loudly "I'm pooping!!!!! UUUNNNNHHHH!!!!" Not that his proclamation was necessary since moments later an unmistakable *ahem* effervescence filled the man's office, but I guess he wasn't taking any chances.
After picking up our fancy new ride we drove to... the barber where I put him through the torture of getting his hair cut (he looked like a shaggy dog). When Larissa started she initially tried the clippers and Colin instantly started sobbing, wrapped his arm around his head, and proclaimed "MY HAIR! MYYY HAIR!" She wisely switched to scissors and got most of his hair cut while I held him and tried to distract him with the iTouch, but when she tried to finish the job with the clippers again he had a complete melt-down. We eventually decided enough was enough, and while the back of his hair and sideburns are slightly unkempt he has a nice short summer cut that should last us a month or two. PHEW!
Saturday was another highlight though... we took a trip to the Philadelphia zoo. We did this last year for his birthday as well, and while last year he was really only interested in the ducks and the petting zoo goats, this year he had a lot more fun. In addition to the ducks and goats he had his first ride on a carousel (he rode the alligator), his first boat ride (two turns around the pond in a swan paddleboat with mom and dad), and was enthralled by the giraffes, various monkeys, and a whole lot of snakes. Oddly, for the second year in a row the king cobra was amazingly active right as we were by his enclosure - this snake didn't just move around, at one point about 4 feet of snake was pointing straight up into the air, showing off his amazing snaky strength and balance.
We left the zoo around closing time, and Colin was exhausted. He fell asleep almost the instant we got into the car (and his father followed suit not long after!) and after an uneventful drive home we got him straight to bed. Unfortunately that didn't go so well since in the middle of the night H and I heard a sudden loud THUD from his bedroom followed by a brief pause, then crying. We both knew immediately what had happened and were instantly sprinting down the hallway. H flipped on the hall light, and I (right behind him) also reflexively tried to turn it "on." My efforts resulted in the light going off (UGH!) so I had to try again. Meanwhile Sydney had started barking madly, as apparently she thought that our Keystone Cops impression needed a soundtrack. H picked up Colin checking him for bumps, bruises or breaks but somehow the kid was fine. He held his hand to his head and said "right deeeere" in various spots, but all he really wanted was to be held and go back to sleep. It was about 2AM so I couldn't blame him, and in spite of H's concerns for a possible concussion I advocated that we just let the poor kid sleep. We did, however bring him into our room and put him between us where we could keep a close eye on him for the rest of the night. I'm not going to count how many new grey hairs we sprouted that night, but suffice to say it was probably a large number.
Sunday morning Colin was his usual self, and I took him downstairs where we enjoyed a nice breakfast after which Daddy came down and joined us and I snuck off to the gym for Combat class. When I got home we went to take Syd on a brief family walk around the neighborhood which turned out to be great fun for Colin. First we ran into some neighbors who have two boys (ages 3 and 5) and they were playing on an inflatable trampoline/slide. Colin was invited to join in and the three boys had a blast while the dads were discussing cricket and tennis, and I tried to monitor Colin who really didn't need any intervention from mom. Eventually we moved on and during the course of our walk Colin saw a bunch of deer, ran some sprints on the tennis court, and generally had a blast.
After lunch and a nap Colin came back downstairs and snuggled with me for a few minutes after which he decided to get up. What he didn't know is that while he was sleeping I put together his first bike: a royal blue Schwinn tricycle complete with tassels and a bell! We hid it behind the sofa intending to give it to him after his nap, but never had the chance to make a big deal since Colin hopped off my lap and just walked around the sofa, nearly into the trike. And while we didn't have a lot of fanfare, his reaction couldn't have been more priceless. He stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropped (literally!), he gasped, and then proclaimed "MY bicycle". We took him outside and while he didn't entirely get the whole pedaling concept (he preferred scootching with his feet on the ground) he certainly knew exactly what to do with the bell!
While it was certainly a week full of ups and downs, I think in general Colin had a pretty darned fun birthday. Not bad for only 2 years old!
Comments