The end

Today is my last day off before the new school year begins. Colin woke up at 4:50 this morning. oy. Luckily he fell asleep in our bed with me for an hour or so longer. After getting dressed, we spent the morning going for a walk to see the trucks working on the building near our house. We went to Sandy's (new daycare) to drop some stuff off and play for awhile. He starts on Wednesday, and he is going to love it there. She built a car wash out of PVC pipe and hooks up a hose to it and water sprays out of all of these holes that are drilled into it. The kids run through it or drive pedal cars through it. Awesome. He got so worn out there that he fell asleep in the car, so he's taking an early nap right now.

This afternoon, we'll eat lunch and meet up with some friends we met in swimming class, Kristen and her little guy Will. I also happened to get a flat tire on my way home from Sandy's. I stepped out of my car and immediately heard a loud "Sssssssss!" I ran over a nail somewhere, and there's no doubt that within the hour I'll have a flat tire. So I guess we'll have to get that fixed too. Way to put a damper on my perfect day, nail.

Kevin's mom is watching Colin tomorrow since I have to work and he can't start daycare until Wednesday.

Good bye, carefree summer. Hello, school year.

Note to self: Enjoy the mere 2-3 hrs you have with Colin on the weeknights. Remember this feeling you hold at this very instant of really, deeply knowing your son. Don't let it fade to only discover it again next summer.

"What I Learned on Summer Vacation" by AJ

[in the "spirit" of the going back to work tomorrow...ugh...I've decided to write a 5 paragraph essay]

I learned many things over summer vacation. I learned more about money, I learned an undefined amount about Colin, and learned about myself.

Kev and I started to really dig into getting out of debt. We signed up for a debt management program and we're 2 payments into it and we're seeing our balances slowly but surely decreasing. We're going to start Dave Ramsay's Financial Peace University online this week to further our money smarts and hopefully progress through the program faster. We also started e-mealz and we're loving it! Most of the recipes are pretty good. There have been a few we didn't even attempt (pecan encrusted fish), a few we regretted attempting (sausage and crab gumbo), and a few we absolutely loved (grilled chicken and veggie tortellini, chicken lo mein). We're spending less at the grocery store for good food and a better variety of dishes. We're eating more veggies and trying new things.

Oh my gosh, where do I start to even delve into how much I learned about Colin this summer? Good gracious my boy is amazing. He kept me on the go all summer, and you don't hear me complaining about it. He absorbed so much knowledge this summer--about trucks, about play, about playgrounds (climbing, sliding, digging, getting dirty), about books, about so much more. He learned sign language with great interest. He's captivated when I show him new signs and loves to try them out. His vocabulary skyrocketed. He skinned up both big toes, fell down more times I can count, and got bit by mosquitoes just as much. He attempted potty training. He went to swimming lessons. He threw his fair share of tantrums, but very quickly learned that throwing them does NOT mean that Mommy will take him outside. Asking is a much better way. He's using his pacifier only for sleeping purposes. He is becoming so much more independent. At his new daycare's picnic on Thursday, he marched right inside with the rest of the kids to play a "go fishing" game while Kevin and I stayed outside with the rest of the parents. It was almost like sending him to kindergarten. No tears though :)

I also learned so much about myself as well. I learned how to handle Colin's more challenging behaviors in a calm, loving way. I learned how to stand my ground. I hope this carries out to the school year with my students. I learned that Colin can do more than I thought he could. He can help me cook by crushing crackers, he can help me pick up toys, he can put laundry down the laundry chute, and not because he has to do it, but because he wants to do it! It's fun! I learned that I can run. No more excuses--I'm doing it. I made a commitment and bought myself a pair of decent running shoes since I've been having a bit of ankle pain. I'm hoping the shoes will make a world of difference, and end up being a great investment in the long run (compared to a possible doctors appointment, physical therapy, MRIs, etc not being great investments). I'm not going to let the ankle pain become an excuse. I've even found out that there is a 5K in our town every MONTH from October through March that I may sign up for. I learned that I only want to teach summer school just through June next summer. My time with Colin is too valuable. The most important lesson I've learned about myself is that I'm doing a pretty darn good job of being a mom. It took 16 months, but I finally feel comfortable in my "mom" skin.

I am so lucky to be fortunate enough to have an entire summer to spend with Colin. What he and I learned together was incredible. Our relationship is full of more understanding and patience with each other. 301 days from now, we can start another summer together. I hope I learn more next summer than I did this one.

Happy 16 monthday!

You can now sign about 15 words. Your newest ones include:
truck, baby, fish, eat, play, cheese, apple, help, please, thank you, and we're working on sleep. You're putting words together into short phrases too.

Your new favorite words and phrases are:
There it/he is!, That way, ooooooh, mail, teeth, buckle, cheese, bye, and Rocket

(He was pointing to a semi trailer the neighbors had parked in their driveway. And excuse the random "hello!" which was directed at said neighbor)

You are sprouting some molars! You threw quite a tantrum on Monday morning, and mommy got a little peek inside your mouth and found out that two of your upper molars had already poked through. I guess you're skipping those lateral incisors and heading right for the big dogs.

You have decided you'd like to take a break from potty training. It's not as exciting anymore, and sometimes it can be hard to poop at the same time every day. We'll try again in another month or so.

Now you only take one nap from 12-2ish. We tried really hard to get you on this napping schedule so you'll have a smoother transition when you start going to Sandy's in a few weeks. Having this set schedule makes naptime so much easier for you to just close your eyes and fall asleep.

You're a little more brave with dirt now. You've found that sand and dirt can maybe even be fun to smush in your hands. You can always wash them off when you're done playing! But you do still like to clean and organize.

You love trucks. You love to see them on the highway, you love to see the construction equipment digging a big hole down the street, you love to push your toy trucks, you love to make truck sounds, and you know what a truck says (chhh!). You're happy to see trucks you can climb into at parks.


I'm so glad I got to spend a lot of time with you this summer, little man. We sure did learn a lot about each other, didn't we? I fall more in love with you each and every day.

Love, Mommy

Teddy Bear Park, how we love thee

This is a great little park in Stillwater. It's meant for younger kids, age 7 and younger. We've gone there at least once a week this summer. If you live anywhere near Stillwater and you have kids/grandkids, etc. you should definitely check it out!

Sometimes we go by ourselves as a post-Target shopping treat.

Most of the time we go there with friends.
We've met Jess and Nolan there a few times (this was the shopping that happened after the park. Colin is obviously way more interested in Nolan's cool Crocs than in shopping).

We've met Rachel, Graham, and Corey there.

We've meet Michelle and Andrew there

And on Saturday, we met Leah and Isaac there. Leah takes her super awesome camera with her pretty much wherever she goes, and she got a couple of cute shots of Colin.




Coincidentally, when Colin was born, he received a teddy bear that wears a Teddy Bear Park sweater from the man who funded the park. He wanted each baby born at the hospital in Stillwater to have a teddy bear. A few weeks ago, Colin asked for the teddy bear in his crib. Sometimes he even gives it a good ear rub before he falls asleep. I think he may be in love with the park too.

Now that summer is coming to an end, I go back to work next week and our weekly visits to the park will taper off. I'm already looking forward to next summer's TBP visits!

"If I'm not back in 25 minutes, call the cops"

(because I'm either passed out or abducted).

This is what you will hear in our house about every other day these days.

People, I run. I run! I'm running. And I don't taste blood and my legs don't itch anymore and I don't have to stop moving just to catch my breath and I don't have shin splints (cross fingers), and sweating isn't all that bad. My biggest problem is my iPod headphones falling out of my ears.

Why would my legs itch? --nobody knows for sure, but it is believed to be the blood flowing into capillaries it hasn't flowed into for awhile. this is good.

The tasting blood and the catching breath parts are because of the blessed asthma I am blessed to be blessed with. I make sure to take the prerequisite 2 puffs before exercise, and then I give myself a booster puff right before I leave. Magic.

Today was the first day of week 3 of the Couch to 5K running plan. That means that I did a brisk 5 min walk, jogged 90 sec, walked 90 sec, jogged 3 MINUTES, walked 3 minutes, and then repeat the jog/walk. 3 solid minutes of jogging is big for me. Every week I have to adjust my route to make it bigger because I need more distance.

I have to admit that I took a "before" picture when I started this program, and I'm hoping there's a noticeable difference. Don't even ask, because I will NOT post the before picture! Unless, of course, there is a noticeable difference, which will lead to taking an "after" picture, which will then lead to me posting them both to my blog.

FOUND

Remember this post?

I found my camera. I'm the jerk.

It was in the diaper bag. The diaper bag I checked at least 5 times.

I found it on Tuesday whilst digging in the diaper bag, looking for my new camera (that I had left in the console in the car) to take pictures of C at the Childrens Museum (we went with Jess and Nolan for our weekly summer playdate).

::hangs head in shame::

So I took some pictures...





MORAL: I really do have to learn to give myself a little more credit. I'm more "responsible" and less air-headed than I think I am. Whenever I misplace something, I automatically think it's gone forever and I spazz out. It all goes back to when I lost my confirmation ring back in high school. Because that really was gone forever. I must come to realize that misplaced =/= lost. Freak out not necessary.

Pacifier weaning: Phase 2

Complete.

Phase 2 was changed to getting rid of the nukky in the car. We turned Colin's car seat to forward-facing last Thursday after my chiropractor told me that it's actually slightly safer for those older than 12 months than rear-facing. Ever since, it's like a whole new world has opened up for Colin and he's entertained enough to not need it.

He used to want it on the 5 minute car ride to the store.

We even made it all the way to Rochester this past weekend without using it at all. He was tired since we left around nap time. He asked for it and I gave him his snack cup instead, and he fell asleep holding his snack cup.

I still bring the pacifier along for long rides around nap time and I hide it, just in case, because technically he wants it because he's tired, not just because he wants it.

While I didn't plan on making these two events intersect at the same time, it sure did turn out nicely!