A promise

*This is prompted by an episode of "Datetime20/20" (not sure of the television newsmagazine) I saw about 6 weeks ago*

Dear Colin,

I promise to not use my cell phone to gab (or text--eep!) while I'm driving. Very rarely I have to call Daddy really quickly to ask him a 30-second question that just can't wait. But I will not call my girlfriends to chat or text anyone when I'm behind the wheel. No conversation is worth risking our lives for.

I am a cautious driver, but I know that the distraction of a cell phone diverts my attention to the conversation and off the road. Even hands-free is distracting, so I won't go there either.

I am an example for you. Even though you won't be driving for another 15 years, you are watching my every move. Because I want you to be an attentive driver when that time comes, I will show you what one looks like.

I love talking to my girlfriends, but I love even more to hear your sweet little voice after a long day at work. Even though I hear hundreds of little voices in the 9 hours I am away from you, yours is undoubtedly, obviously, my favorite. I can always chat with my friends and family when we're home, safe and sound, with our feet on the ground.

I know I can keep this promise because I've already done it for over a month. It was hard that first week, but now it's just the way it is. I don't want to get us into a car accident and have the worst happen and make Daddy and all our family and friends be all alone without us.

This I promise you, Colin.

Love,
Mommy
*Picture taken in July from the passenger's seat when we were stopped at a gas station while Kev was pumping gas; not while I was driving ;)*

Thankful

Thanksgiving 2010 is history, but it's never to late to be thankful.

For the little oneand the big one
and the furry one
and the ones who raised me (circa 2000)
and the ones who I will always, without a doubt, call friends (circa 2006).
and e-mealz
and Dave Ramsey
and my job

And for material things. Like...
the best wine ever, a moscato d'asti called Marco Negriand my favorite sweatshirt
and the House of Bounce which was a super duper fun treat for Colin (and me!) yesterday.
(that word he says is "Bapa" which means Grandpa)

and oh-so-much more.

Forgive the Christmas background.

My old one was too summery. If I changed it to Thanksgiving, I'd have to change it in a week. Since it's already a winter wonderland outside, I may as well go all out. Not that I don't respect the turkey. He tastes delicious.

Also forgive the plug to Shutterfly in the previous post. They have a special offers to bloggers who write about them. I couldn't resist. I really want 50 free Christmas cards.

Speaking of Christmas, I woke up early this morning and bought one of Colin's Christmas presents today.
A Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair off ebay.
The cover I got was an aqua blue and has his name monogrammed. It's going to take every bone in my body not to put it together when it comes and just hand it over to Colin a month early. But I won't do it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

It's time to think about Christmas cards!

I'm a big fan of ordering our Christmas cards online. I love to use Shutterfly because of all of the options I have! I can order them from home and either get them shipped to my door, or if I want them earlier I can pick them up at Target. You can even have Shutterfly stamp and mail them for you!

In our house, we're fans of cards that say Merry Christmas over Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings. Here is one of the cards Shutterfly offers that say Merry Christmas.However, if you like a card but not what it says, you can change the text on it! Other photo card sites I've used don't let you change the set text.

If you like a card but want more or less pictures on it, you can change the layout to accommodate your needs, like this one. If 6 pictures is too many for your needs, you can have anywhere from 1-5 instead.Here's a link to their entire selection of cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
Calendars make a great gift! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars
And Shutterfly isn't just for Christmas! You can create invitations to your next soiree too. http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/invitations

Look for one of these fantastic designs in your mailbox from our family this Christmas. I hope to see one from your family as well.

A Creature of Habit

Colin seems to thrive on the routine and predictable. Every morning, one of the first 3 words he says is banana ("nanny"). That's what he eats every morning if we have bananas. If we don't, he eats a cinnamon Eggo waffle. Every morning on our way to daycare, we pass a farm with cows. We say "moo" to them, and then Colin says, "more." I tell him to keep watching for more cows, even though we both know we won't see any more.

Every afternoon on our drive home, we pass a parking lot that used to house a big, bright blue truck. We're not sure what happened to it, but every day we talk about it. At some point, Colin asks, "Daddy?" and I say that Daddy's at work. Then Colin says, "bye bye." When we pass by the construction site by our house, we check to see if the dig-digs are working. They usually aren't, so Colin says "done."

At 5:00, crankiness sets in and dinner is made. He's feeling good again at 5:30 when food is on the table. At 7:00 he's ready to take a bath and he likes to make the children in Africa who have no clean water cringe because he likes to keep the water running.

At 7:15 or so, he's out of the tub, into his pjs and ready to climb into his crib. He puts his puppy on his right, and seahorse is to his left. He turns seahorse's music on, gets covered up with a blanket and says, "bye bye" to us. Then, as we're walking out, he'll say, "Mama!" to try to get me to play games with him. I've learned it's best if I walk away. He stops after saying it about 3 times, and then crashes. But if I respond, he gets cranky and doesn't fall asleep quickly.

He usually wakes up at 4-something. Kevin works his magic and Colin goes back to sleep. 60% of the time, he wakes up at 5-something and comes to sleep in our bed with us, although he is getting better at sleeping later in his own crib these days.

Predictability makes life a little easier because you know what to expect. As a teacher, I know that routines are very important to some kids. Others could care less about them.

Colin's newest words are:
Daddy (instead of Dada)
down
no ("mo")
done
snow ("mo")
puppy ("buddy")
banana ("nanny"<--that's his new word for banana. His old word was "nana.")
Sandy ("DeeDee")
play ("pay")
choo choo ("doo-doo" with the arm going up and down too, sometimes)
bubble ("bubbo")
puzzle ("bubbo")
piece ("petes")
ice
plate ("bate")
seat
please ("peese")
apple ("appo")
waffle ("wabbo")
more ("mo")
on
spoon ("boon")
cut ("dut")
boots
hat
mittens ("minis")
socks ("ots")
bounce
boing
ear
feet ("beet")
Grandma ("Amma")
books ("buts" <--with an accent of some sort over the u so it sounds like the /oo/ in books.)
home

In addition, he tends to repeat the last word of whatever we say. So if I say, "Let's go potty," He'll say "potty."

Every day, it seems like he says one more new word. It's amazing this explosion of words that we're seeing right before our eyes. I love it.

18 month appointment

Not much to say because they're always so non-informational (I can't WAIT to switch pediatricians someday!). I'm just recording it here for safe-keeping:
Weight: 27.6 lbs (71 %ile)
Height: 33" (67th %ile)
Head circumference: 48.5 cm (68 %ile)

Note: As soon as the nurse leaves the room after taking his temp, measurements, etc., Colin starts crying, grabbing at the door handle, and begs to leave. It's so fun.

(Kinda) Wordless Wednesday

Or maybe I should call it picture-heavy.
On our way down to Roch this past weekend, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that Colin put his puppy on his head. By the time I had gotten the camera and carefully pointed it in the back seat while looking in the rear view mirror at the picture screen to make sure I was actually taking a picture of Colin, he had put his hands up and started saying, "Cheese!"
Our TV went on the fritz last night, so we pulled a college gem out of the basement. We'll probably deal with the small screen through December, when hopefully we can investigate how much it will cost to repair the old TV.
I bought a size 2T London Fog complete coat/snowpant set from Herbergers last spring. The original price was $80 and I got it for $12! Here is Colin modeling it. It's the perfect size--a tad big, but will definitely still fit him through March. He's ready for snow!
And you bet your booty I'm going to Herbergers next spring to snag a deal on the 3T outerwear!