Whole Lot A Shakin' Goin' On!

Mama always takes a deep breath and braces herself when she decides to take the boy to Disneyland solo. It's not that it isn't the happiest place on earth. It isn't that I don't get choked up every time I take him through the gate because it's so overwhelming to share such a great time with him. It's just that it can be exhausting to take a toddler by yourself. Still, the fun outweighs the work.

The day may not have been off to the greatest start. Okay, I'm exaggerating. He only had one time out; and, I must admit that taking a picture of him smack in the middle of it sort of distracted him and made him giggle, thus defeating the punishment. But, it was way too cute.

Anyway, we made it to Disneyland and the day rocked. We rode something we never rode before, the little horse drawn buggy that goes down main street. Collin thought that Kaleb, our horse was pretty cool. I attempted the whole "extended arm" photography thing. I'm fairly impressed with myself. I'm also impressed with the bags under my eyes. Collin woke up at 2 am last night to wet the bed, and stayed up for thirty minutes to cry about me changing the sheets. (we're working on underwear at night just for the heck of it...why not? He's stayed dry for the most part).

Alas, what's more fun than a real horse? Why, a fake one of course! This would be Collin on the carousel. Can you tell he likes it?

I learned something about Collin today too...that he's tall! Well, the Disneyland definition of tall enough, that is. He's officially tall enough to ride the smallest coasters there. So, we stood in line for the coaster in toon town. Oh, how excited he was. Oh, how excited Mommy was. It was more cool than I can describe. Then, literally as our feet were about to hit the car, the little voice on the big speaker made us get back off. Apparently, there was an earthquake that we didn't feel. When that happens, all the rides at Disneyland are shut down and inspected by engineers for safety, especially roller coasters. The roller coasters take the longest to re-open, like three to four hours. Since it was almost 6 o'clock, we went home. Pooh! Next time! I guess we'll share that experience with Daddy too!

Collin and I will just have to share the teacups again as one of those "Mommy and Me" only memories, I guess! (Seeing as how they make Daddy barf!)

It's pretty obvious who's stronger stomach Collin inherited...no barfy barfy for Collin. Oh, and look who had to buy a new sweatshirt today. When the weather report says 70s, Mommy didn't predict having to bring a sweatshirt. I think he looks cute!

Thanks, Granny!

This is one of the outfits that Collin got for his birthday. Well, not the grungy sweatshirt; but the adorable alligator shorts and polo. It actually made me squeal; it was so adorable. It reminded me of those embroidered critter khakis you can buy for a zillion dollars at Crewcuts (the J.Crew for kids), that I'd never buy because, while I love them, I'm not insane. Anyway, I love it. Don't you think Collin should be a J. Crew kid's model?

He's even got action shots down. Granny, you are a great shopper. And, Collin knows how to work it. Maybe, I'm biased. Or, maybe he's just the cutest kid on the planet.

Not a Picture of the "Poop Incident"

So, Collin takes his poops alone. I think this is a good quality of his. It means I don't have to put in grunt time with him and I can go about my business while he goes about his. It means I have to put in minimal time with the stink too; just a bit of dumping the, well, dumps, into the big toilet when he's done and some wiping. I can handle that. He's always done remarkably well with this procedure...until today.

Today, when I heard the grunting cease, as is my cue to enter and begin wiping, I was appalled at the scene. In the few seconds it took me to stop washing dishes and make it to the bathroom to commence the wiping procedure (no, I don't leave him alone in there for GADS of time), he'd made a Jackson Pollack of himself with poop. It was beautiful really, if you are into that kind of abstract art with feces. He picked his poop up out of the potty, rubbed it all over his leg, on his face, in his hair. It is the stuff of legend really. The best part? The tantrum he threw when I insisted on washing it off. Or wait, maybe the best part was that in the midst of this, he decided to sit down on my lap before I had a chance to wipe his bottom. That was pretty awesome too.

So, I leave you with the glory that I did NOT decide to take a picture of this blessed event. Instead, I decided to take a picture of him being cute today. Grandparents, this is the grandson you love and miss, not the one you are glad you weren't here for today.

See, he was pretty fun after he got out of the wading pool this afternoon. He's naked under this towel, by the way; which is totally adorable because he decided that getting dressed was overrated after swimming and wanted to let it all hang out for a while. Mommy, however, decided that shades were NOT actually appropriate dinner attire and made him put clothes on.

I also nixed his idea of wearing his underwear on his head, despite the fact that it was indeed funny.

The Hottest Tot

What did you think I meant?

It was absurdly hot today; not that I'm complaining, of course. The day Bryon gets orders out of here and we have to move, I will cry, wail and bemoan my fate to the Air Force gods until you all can't stand hearing another word about it. But, considering it is only April, it was a bit unusual for it to be in the 90's, I think. Alas, we swam.

And, we stripped. Okay, only one of us stripped. The other one of us sweltered and decided it was inappropriate to walk around the house in her underwear.

And that's all for today folks!...ba-dum-chee! (that's my best imitation of a drum sound)

P.S. Does anyone else miss those sweat curls that he would've had today? Anyone? Anyone? Only me? Okay.

The First Cut is the Deepest

I'm not sure there are words appropriate enough for description of this monumental event. It was; however, time. He was scratching at his eyes and the tips of his ears all the time. It was making me feel like I was torturing him just a little bit to continue NOT cutting it. Still, I had to practically pinch myself to keep from crying. This is ranking up there as one of my worst days as Mommy so far. The cupcakes we stopped and bought at Cold Stone as his "special treat" for being such a good boy the whole day were partially for me too.

Don't get to used to this hair...it's about to disappear!

He was a champ. He loved the whole thing; well, all except the cape around his neck which he thought was some sort of torture device.

See, Collin is pretty convinced that they were trying to strangle him with this cape.

Yeah, I made them give me a lock of his hair...and then some. I don't care if I seemed crazy.

And, anything that promises to give him a lolipop at the end is sure to be a winner in his book.

Now, I feel like I actually have to get to know him again. He literally looks like a little STRANGER to me. I finally cried when we put him down for a his nap and he said, "Mama stop sad please!" It was adorable. That's my sweet boy. I even got a hug out of the deal...and a head butt. He is a boy, afterall.

The new, and I'm told, "improved" Collin.

Today Magnum P.I. Will Be Played By....

Chris Farley.

Or, Collin McClain. I guess it depends on how you look at it. I choose to look at as Collin McClain, especially when he's making the Chris Farley face.

You may say it looks like the ham and cheese smile. I say there's a small distinction that, yes, maybe only a mother can recognize. I hate the Chris Farley face when he makes it. I love the ham and cheese face. So, for today, the mug shot, no expression pose may be better to show off his outfit.

He decided to wear a hat today, all be it, briefly. Whatever, the case was, I took that decision and ran with it. Since it was a Detroit hat, and it happened to coincide with Hawaiian Friday, he looked a lot like Tom Selleck in his Magnum P.I. days.

(who, by the way, in all photos I could find wore plenty of Hawaiian shirts and plenty of Detroit caps but not both at the same time. What the heck! Apparently, he thought the hat was just to casual for "dressed up" Hawaiian shirts. I don't know; I didn't watch the show.)

Of course, it wasn't Collin's fault he looked like an 80's sex symbol. He just goes with the flow around here and Mommy didn't stop him like she should have. Noooooo, she just snapped pictures, later to incriminate him. He doesn't look like he minds too much at the moment.

He also looked darn cute. I also figured that since I managed to break him of the pacifier, I would take on the challenge of finally getting this kid to wear a hat and keep it on his head for longer than thirty seconds. So, we went to the park with a hat on, with the promise of a cookie when he got home if he kept it on the whole time.

Did he get a cookie when he got home? No. Did he keep it one relatively long? Yes. He wore it about 80% of the time. But, I'm a stickler for rules so no cookie. I know, I suck. But, it was a success in my book. I think it would've stayed on if it fit him better. It kept popping off, so I probably should give him a cookie. We'll see; maybe later for something random, like hugging me.

P.S. Thank you Aunt Roty for letting us participate in Hawaiian Friday again by buying Collin a shirt that actually fits him!

He Loves Rock n' Roll

Collin and I had another date today. Daddy's gone, so aside from the torture I decided to inflict upon him last night via taking away his drug of choice permanently (aka pacifier), I thought it might be nice of me to take him somewhere fun too, just the two of us. I also thought it might be fun to wear him thoroughly out so that tonight when he went to bed, he might not ask for the darn pacifier for quite as long. So, despite the fact that he let me get all of six minutes of sleep last night, I took him to the zoo today AND out for a special dinner. He looks like he deserves it, doesn't he? Look how pathetic he looks after he finally fell asleep for the first time last nigt, for the first time, pacifier-free.

The crazy part of the zoo plan? We didn't bring in the stroller. Yeah, I took wearing the kid out as a serious mission. We walked the whole way. He was so tuckered out that he actually started laying down on the sidewalk when I refused to carry him further. Hey, you'd stop carrying him too! He's heavy and it's a long walk! I don't care if he's cute. But, I relented and picked him up after realizing what it looked like to passers-by to have me standing over my exhausted child and begging him to just get up and walk. I mean, he wasn't THAT tired, he just didn't want to walk anymore. But to someone else, I probably looked like a crazy person.

Anyway, we went to Redondo Beach for a burger at Ruby's Diner afterward. He had so much fun there, coupled with lying down in the parking lot on the way back to the car, of course. Jeesh, you'd think I was killing the kid! He took a nap between these two events! I think he was milking the exhaustion factor a little bit; and, he wasn't even the one who had to carry his sorry butt a half-mile through the darn zoo back to the car earlier in the day. I'm the one who should've been lying in the street in the ocean breeze, I think! Besides, I'm the one who's now got his cold and he's the one on the mend.

The upside is that we had an awesome day together, just hanging out and seeing animals. He's pretty sure we saw peacocks and elephants, which we did not. He's also pretty sure that it's a really good idea to lick, yes LICK the toilet seat cover dispenser in the restroom at Ruby's. EWWWW! I'm just trying to block that memory, along with the memory of him touching the floor of the public restroom of the beach access public parking garage at Redondo Beach, which he just HAD to use before we went home. I'll just do my best to replace those two memories with the fact that we were out of the house all day today and he didn't have a single accident. Wahoo!

Or, I'll replace it with the memory of ride home from dinner, during which Collin decided to sing along with Joan Jett on the radio..."I Love Rock and Roll." Yeah, so put another dime in the juke box, baby. As, I type this, he was singing it to his monkey upstairs in his bed. Apparently, it's a catchy little tune.