Mama Gifts!

I was too enraptured with love for my sweet hubby last night to take a picture of what he did for me, so I'm all the more glad that he took a picture of Collin enjoying part of it, which makes it even sweeter! Well, despite the fact that my kid was eating chocolate chip cookies on my good chairs. Ack! I was disappointed all day yesterday that I unknowingly polished off the last of a GIGANTIC cookie that my in-laws sent us for Valentine's day. You might wonder how I polished it off unknowingly. It wasn't because I was in a chocolate induced coma, or eating while sleeping like those people on drugs. Well, it's because my sweetie-pie brought it to me when I hinted at maybe wanting a slice of it while we were watching a movie, upstairs in our room. I didn't know it was the last slice, and the next day, I complained that had I known it was the last slice, I would've relished it more! Hey, Mrs. Fields frosted chocolate chip cookies are mmmmmmm good!

Anyway, I went to a Pampered Chef party last night (by the way, if you need anything, ask Jen, she's the lady!), and while I was away, my hubby thought, hey, I'll make my gal some more cookies. He doesn't bake. But, he tried. He busted out my FAMOUS recipe for cookies, the one that has people eating dozens of cookies when they don't even LIKE cookies and he attempted them. Awwww. And, he had help. Collin....I guess that was AFTER he got Collin out of Daddy's shirt, which he insisted on putting on and then parading around in.

When I got home, he had them arranged on our "You are Special Today," plate. He even tried to make some in the shape of hearts. Can you believe this guy? Me neither.

Collin, not to be outdone today, has been giving me my favorite face all day. He knows that I'm a sucker for his "ham and cheese" smile. He has been shouting "ham cheese!" all day and then giving me his famous smile that is totally lame and scrunchy but melts my heart every single time I see it. It's been lighting up the room every other second. I'm not sure what he's up to with this cute act, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to get something out of me...a new car, some extra happy meal, something.

P.S. Ignore the fact that he violently protests the making of this video at the start. The kid is a ham for the camera, and actually asks for me to make videos...then he goes nuts when I turn it on for some reason at the start of them. He's weird...and I need to learn to edit. Oh yeah, and by the looks of it, you'd think he gets nothing but french fries! Only on Tuesday. It's crazy to try to get lunch and dinner prepped...so he gets his famous happy meal on the way home from speech therapy which backs right up to lunchtime. He's going to be really bummed if next week is, in fact, our last session!

The "Secret" To Thank You Success

I've mentioned before that Collin and I have secret time under his crib. Wow, that sounded awful, didn't it? Okay, rephrase. We hang out under the crib and share secrets. It's a fun time that is going to be so brief because pretty soon, he'll be too big to fit under there and we'll move to a big boy bed. Anyway, it's sweet while it lasts.

Today, it moved to story sharing under there, interspersed with door slamming. Collin's learned the art of shutting ALL the doors in the house. He still can't quite get the door opening bit. Maybe it's because we haven't taught him. There's a method to that madness. So long as he closes the door, he's trapped in his room, right? And, Daddy was trapped on the other side of the door, trying to get a picture of Collin and Mommy reading stories together. It was pretty sad to see Daddy so forlorn on the other side of the door, getting rejected like that. Kind of.

Although, it was amusing to watch Collin squeal with glee every time he slammed the door in Daddy's face....

From underneath the crib, of course!

Anyway, I try really hard to get thank you cards out to everyone who sends us ANYTHING. You'd think this is a totally unrelated thought...and it is. But it happened to today too. Collin is not immune to this thought. Since he's been able to hold crayons, he is responsible to his bit of the thank you duty as well. In case you thought that those scribbles on your thank you notes were done by me blindly jabbing at the paper pretending to be a kid, just hoping you'd think your grandson/great grandson/nephew so deeply cared enough to thank you as well, you were wrong. He did care enough to thank you. In fact, when we do the notes, we talk about whoever we're writing a note too. It's a big deal for us. I swear, this kid will be a thank you note writer if it kills me...or he'll hate them and never write a single one. We'll see. If that's the tiny bit of rebellion that I have to tolerate in my son, I can handle it. Deep breath, ahhh, and I'm recovered.
It's cute for now anyway. Daddy and Collin were working on these today. We even got ONE correct color name out of this time. Collin correctly identified purple for a change. Normally, the answer to "what color is this?" is always, "red."

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Okay, it's not Valentine's Day anymore. That's because Valentine's Day was yesterday and I ruined it by finding myself with another bummy headache. Is it just me or am I getting more and more of those lately? I am kind of annoyed by them too. Bryon's bullied me into calling the doctor this week and we'll get to the bottom of it. But, we had a nice Valentine's day anyway...today.

We got a family present. Bryon got us a family membership to the L.A. Zoo because I love the zoo and Collin can't get enough "ammals." He is obsessive about playing with all his animal toys, especially the Little People and all their play areas lately. He pretty much insists though that they all are either going night-night and we should all be quiet or that they are outside going poop or pee. That's a kid for you.

Anyway, after I changed his shirt on Valentine's day because Daddy didn't dress him in appropriate attire for the day (seriously, no heart shirt on Valentine's Day...what WAS Daddy thinking?!), I crapped out and spent the rest of the day incommunicado. Alas, they had fun and Daddy informed me that Collin got up close and personal with his chair. Apparently, Collin decided that he and his chair have not been properly introduced from all angles just yet, a fact that he was eager to rectify in my absence.

Alas, after he untangled, we went to the zoo today, where father-son bonding continued.

Daddy insisted that I take this picture of them admiring the most dangerous of all the animals at the L.A. zoo...the tree. Yes, for some reason, there is a pen of trees in pots. Why? Who the heck knows; but, they are actually cordoned off in a pen. Surely it's a landscaping project that is not finished, but it has been like that for a long time, so it's a running joke.

And, if you thought the relationship with the chair was now fully explored, you were wrong. Since they got better acquainted yesterday, Collin thought he might move onto third base. That's topless, right? Well, whatever base topless mounting is, Collin did it. Yeah, I probably should've gotten him down immediately, but it was pretty funny to see this for a quick second, so I snapped a picture first. No, he didn't fall and crack his head open.

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

Spoiled Kid

I wonder, sometimes (albeit, not too often!) if it's possible, to spoil my kid. Yes, we took yet another trip to that happiest of all places on earth today. Disneyland. Hey, it was projected to rain and Daddy thought that meant the lines would be short, and he had a day off, so what the hey, let's go! Oh yeah, and he got shwacked in the face with a Frisbee yesterday at group PT (that's group exercise for everyone else out there) and actually got a bruise on his noggin that looks really lame, so he needed cheering up. The kiss Collin gave him helped; so the trip was twofold, a reward for Collin's kindness (a stretch, I know) and a cheerful boost for Daddy.

Anyway, the day was pretty great, as per usual. Collin rode some new rides that we hadn't done yet because we don't usually venture over to the California Adventure side of the park. He was pretty enamored with the Ladybug ride. He kept begging to ride it again...that is until Daddy tried to take him on for his photo-op. Yeah, when he realized that the second go-round would be with that Daddy guy and not with Mommy, all bets were off. Nope. No second ride for him. Na-uh.

The sun shone for quite a while actually. Rain? What rain? Does this look like a rainy sky to you? It was cold, sure. Well, cold for me. I was wearing three layers and still felt a bit like I should be putting a coat on but Bryon called me a wuss and protested me putting any more clothes on the kid.

And, the forecasted rain did keep a lot of people away, I think. We only had one relatively "long" line and it was for the Finding Nemo ride. Even that was only about a half an hour, which isn't bad. We have to ride that every time because it's Collin's favorite and he begs for it. That line was special this time because Collin invented a new game, in which he discovered that his stroller has a plastic window in the back that we can see him through. How he didn't know this before is beyond me, but apparently it was news to him. Whatever, it entertained him for a good ten minutes. This is eons in line-time as he crawled up and down in his stroller to play peek-a-boo with us with great hilarity.

Then, it happened. The heavens opened up and it began to pour. We toughed it out for a bit. We thought, heck, let's try to just hang with the best of them. Not many people seemed to be leaving, so why should we? Let's just get a little wet. We've got hats, right? Then, I took a gander at poor Collin's legs. The kid was getting soaked in his stroller. It was pitiful. Stupid parents we were to forget to consider that part. All the other smart parents there had ponchos over their kids' strollers or blankets, something. Not us. We had a kid that looked like a drowned rat. He was at least willing to put his hood up at some point, a testament to how wet he had become, considering that he is more likely to let you light his head on fire than to let you put a hood on it for any length of time.

So, back to the car...for the change of clothes and to go home. Good choice, I think. Collin was a little alarmed at being naked in the car, I think. But, he was happy to be dry, especially because he got a snack out of the deal. Alas, he had a fun day, despite it being cut short. A good measure of how much fun Collin has at Disneyland is how well he sleeps, either in the car or in the stroller at some point during the day. He was asleep before we were even out of the parking garage. Phew. I think that means, despite my guilt at being not "fun" enough to tough out the rain, he had a pretty good time. Besides, there's always next week. I think we might go again on Wednesday. Spoiled yet?

Love is in the Air

Valentine's Day is my second favorite holiday. My first favorite holiday is my birthday. What can I say, I am a sucker for a day devoted to me? I'm pretty partial to Collin's birthday these days too. But, I digress. I love Valentine's Day. Tell me it's comercial, tell me it's trite. Blah, blah, blah. I like it.

Coincidentally, Bryon and I had our wedding ceremony shortly after Valentine's Day; not because I was attached to the sentimentality of the date, but because it is cheaper to get married on a yacht in California in the "off" season (i.e. winter).

And, if you haven't guessed already, we are lame. Bryon loves, loves, loves the Muppets. And, I love Valentine's Day. So, what better cake table adornment at your wedding could you have than a cheap, drugstore toy that plays a version of a Muppet skit song? Yeah, we're that hokey. It's not like it was the theme or anything. I didn't dress up like Miss Piggy or anything, I swear.

But, the cheap-o toy is still kicking around the house. You can't throw out something that played an integral part in your wedding, even if it cost $4.99, can you? Collin was briefly startled by it as a small(er) infant, but made his peace with it.

And, he rediscovered it yesterday during a game of, "Mommy was letting me stand on the dresser." Shhh, don't tell Daddy. Anyway, the cool part is he actually recognizes that the song is from the Muppets! Crazy. He's seen the skit maybe twice in his life, and he's dragging the dang thing around screaming, "Mutteets!" and repeatedly turning it on and off and dancing his fool heart out. Of course, even more awesome, is that no one else is allowed to dance to it. That ruins his jive, I guess.

Anyway, this is the cutest sight I've seen in a while. Not so cute is the sound of this cheap-o toy's batteries dying and the song sounding like a cat fight in the backyard. And, even less cute, the fact that the battery door is not only one of the ones screwed shut, no biggie, but that the screw is set back so far that a regular screwdriver won't reach it. Grrrr.

I know his eyes are closed in that picture, but it's so darn cute, I can't help but LOVE it. And, please, no one look too closely at his hair in any of these shots. You might, just might, find barrettes in there. I can't be held responsible for that. Okay, maybe I can be. It was a strange afternoon. That's all I can say. The bottom line is that we had a FANTASTIC day, barrettes or not.

Oh yeah, and in case you are wondering, the song is "Manamana." It's pretty rockin. Yeah, I know, we're lame.

Besides all this loving of the cool toy and the "Manamana" business, Collin's taken an affinity for Valentines. He discovered that he got one in the mail from his Great Granny and Great Grandaddy and as soon as he found that out, he would not be parted from that card. If he only knew what the $5 inside really was, I think he'd want that more. That's beside the point though, really. He even took the card to the park and as a true sign of boy-affection, buried it in the sand, repeatedly and made a "cake" out of it. He only does that with things he really loves!

The Animals Thought Wrong

We all thought it would be a harmless day. Collin woke up with another hat obsession. So, surely no one else would be in harms way...right? Wrong. Well, at least until Homer decided to poke the bear. I mean, it was his fault, really. He shouldn't have been lurking there behind Collin's "ammal" book. What was he thinking? Playing with such an important part of Collin's library?

He deserved what he had coming to him. (P.S. This video is nothing without the sound)

And Eddie, it's his fault for having eyes...and ears. They are just so yankable.

Okay, and even I admit to the occassional snout shove like this, allbeit without the joyous grin Collin's sporting. You'd do it too if you were being slobbered on with the amount of kisses this dog gives out. I know, I know, he looks pitifully sad when you shove him away, doesn't he? It's awful. It's like kicking an old lady across the street instead of helping her.

No, I don't let Collin torture our animals. That would be cruel. Collin is 90% sweet to them. Most of his chasing of the animals is because he wants to "hug" them, which in reality is sweet and loving. Just because the animals see this chasing in a different light, doesn't mean is technically cruel. And, Homer does go back for more, over and over and over again so I do think he sort of asks for it. I know his head is very, very small so maybe his brain lacks the capacity for reason; or maybe, just maybe he likes the chase. And, maybe I'm mad at him for chewing my new shoes (wait, isn't it the dog that's supposed to do that?); so, I let the kid chase him from time to time.

Anyway, the animals were definitely wrong this morning when they thought nothing would be amiss with their day! Besides, I think that it's hard for even them not to forgive Collin when he gives them this face.

And...Why My Kiddo Rocks Today

I can't help but love the little guy every day; but, today I'm on cloud nine with my main man. Last night was a rough evening, as it always is on February 9th; but Collin came through for Mama. He got up from his nap and knew the way dogs know, that "Mama sad." He cuddled me all afternoon and upped the hug-ante. I got more kisses than I asked for and more hugs than I could use. Wait, is that possible? No. Never mind. I got more hugs than I could dream of. That's better.

I got story snuggle time all evening, which was awesome. Sad will be the day when both of our little bottoms don't fit in the Lazy-Boy anymore. Either I'll have to get smaller, he'll have to stay the same size forever, or we'll have to buy a wider chair. Which option do you think seems the most reasonable? Yeah, don't even bring up the idea of moving to the couch, that's not as snuggly.
He drew lots of pictures on the grocery list too, which is way too adorable for words. He thinks it's helpful. Daddy thinks it's wasteful. I think is funny. He brings the pictures to me and tells me, as usual, they are of elephants. It always makes me smile. Today, it made me smile even more because guess what it was supposedly a picture of this morning? Zach Braff! Ha!

He was a good boy at dinner last night too, which is always a gamble. Dinner can be thrown on the floor, eaten with gusto, spit back on the plate or go off without a hitch. We can be forced to "cheers" our glasses over and over again until our food is all cold, or we can have a normal conversation. It's all a toss up. But, it's like he knew the extra place setting at the table meant we should be able to talk to one another. He was sweet and even ate what was in front of him without excessive (not without some, of course) begging for bread. Why do breakfast and lunch always go more easily than dinner? Weird, isn't it?

And, he is a near graduate of Speech Therapy. Amber is in the process of evaluating is progress and he scored off the charts today for his comprehension skills. I'm so proud of my little guy. He was literally blowing the questions out of the water. It's hard not to feel like sticking your chest out and strutting around when professionals give you big, fat numbers and tell you how amazing your kid is. So, wheee my kid's amazing! Did you guys know that? I did. He's got a bit to go on the evaluation for expressive language over the next few sessions and that will be the real gauge of how far we've come but I have confidence that he's made real progress.

So, I love my sweet, napping son today. So long as he continues to nap for the requisite amount of time!