Randomness

Thoughts from this week:

Can it be spring all year long?  There is nothing better than picking up a toddler from daycare who is exhausted; played-so-hard-outside-all-day kind of exhausted.

We celebrated the graduate on Monday and today is the last day of grad school.  He will now require all to refer to him as John Holt, MS-C.

Two tidbits on the homeless man we've driven by every day this week. 1) His sign reads, "Embarest but hungry.  No money but big heart.  Please help."  2) Colin asked why the man was standing there so I did my best to explain.  The next day we saw the man and Colin very quietly told me, "Momma, no he has money.  No house.  He really sad."  Amazing.

It's Week of the Young Child so daycare has dress-up days all week.  One of Colin's teachers reported that he was very excited to "go to my beach" yesterday after changing into his swim trunks for hawaiian beach day.  Today was wacky hair day.  Any guesses who styled his hair? 

I stole this off of my brother's Facebook page.  Love it!

...Baker's Man...

...Bake me [some bars] as fast as you can.



CJ and I made M&M Peanut Butter Bars last night.  He was such a wonderful helper - stirring up the batter was his favorite part.  Of course we were too busy licking up the leftover peanut butter and eating M&M's that I didn't get a picture of the messy-face-in-action. 

As much as I'm looking forward to having a full-time husband back in two weeks, I'm going to miss our Colin and momma nights.

Easter

Last weekend we celebrated Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Rau.  It was Colin's third Easter holiday but his first time dyeing eggs.  He was pretty intrigued with the fizzle in each cup while the tablet dissolved but that's about it.  But who can blame him?  I still get antsy waiting for the eggs to turn vibrant colors.  

The Easter bunny hid eggs and baskets of goodies around the house while we were at church.  Of course the ones with chocolate had to be eaten right away.  :)



Finding his basket





Enlisting G&G's help



Wordless Wednesday

2.5

Colin,

You are 2 and 1/2 years old today.  How can that be?  Seems like just yesterday I was praising the month of March and your recent 6th month-day for your new-found skills of sleeping through the night and sitting up on your own.  How have you gone from that to a rambunctious, funny, caring, and sweet 2 and a 1/2 year old?

Your dad and I are amazed by you every single day.  Something you say ("Sophie is a BIG DOG. Bigger than Gwen.").  Something you do (conquering the green climbing bridge at the park by yourself).  Your attentiveness and memory are extraordinary!  But you also like to be silly and enjoy trying to get a laugh (see photo below of your underwear on your head.  You just did that one day after going potty.  Apparently you knew it would make me laugh.)   

Your silliness is complemented with the perfect amount of sweetness.  You definitely like to please your mom and dad.  If you are not listening and we tell you that you're making us sad, it upsets you.  A couple weeks ago I received a comment from a mom at daycare about you.  Her son has autism.  She said that he doesn't play nicely with most kids but you are always so kind to him.  Your fascination and love for your new baby cousin proves that you will be a wonderful big brother...some day. 

   

At 2 and 1/2 years, you are very much a "boy's boy."  You love playing outside and with any type of ball.  Baseball, bouncy ball, football, "lolleyball" as you call it - anything that you can play catch with.  You enjoy going on walks with us and riding in the Burley.  We've been soaking up some amazing spring weather with nightly park visits.  Just this week you mastered climbing a bridge to the "big kid" slides and started pumping while on a big swing.   

 To round out this long post, here are some bullets of all things Colin at 2 and 1/2:

• Weight hovers around 29-30 lbs
• Wears size 7.5/8 shoe
• Wears size 2T/3T clothes
• Eats anything in sight
• Favorite veggie is still peas
• Favorite fruits are strawberries and blueberries
• Loves pizza
• In bed at 7:40PM; awake at 7:00AM
• Takes one nap at 12:30PM
• Can count to 10 in spanish and recite quite a few spanish words
• Knows almost all of the sign language alphabet
• Can count to 20, recognizes alphabet and letter sounds
• Knows colors, shapes, months, and days of the week
• "C-O-L-I-N" spells Colin
• Completely potty trained during the day (no accidents in quite a while)
• Stands up to pee!
• Loves reading and will often "read" books with us
• Loves to sing and dance
• Enjoys Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora, Sesame Street, and Bubble Guppies

The picture above is you, yesterday morning, watching cartoons in the kitchen while your dad helped get your shoes and coat on for school.  Morning has turned out to be one of my favorite times of the day with you.  Watching you stretch and rub your sleepy eyes, I can't help but wonder what the day will bring for you.  Whether you make a fantastic new discovery or have a few "I'm 2 and I want to do it!" tantrums, one thing is for sure.  Each day will be filled with lots of love from your mom and dad. 

 

Christmas in March

Not only did we celebrate St. Patrick's Day last weekend, we also had Christmas with Andy, Susan, Mac, Jack, and Grandma and Grandpa Rau.  Mac's hockey schedule makes it pretty difficult to travel during the winter months so we were finally able to spend some time together (and devour mom's famous Christmas cut-outs). 

Colin had a blast at the St. Patty's parade, enjoying the 70-degree weather, candy, and bagpipes.  

 

Deep conversation

Guess who this present is from?! Uncle Andy told Colin that he can put
the Gopher sticker up where ever he wants to.
(It's still sitting on the bookshelf in the family room...) :)



Uncle Andy found this toy that Jack was enthralled with
when he was a toddler. We just might have "played" with it almost
every night since last weekend.



 Grandma Rau's new sewing machine and her sewing skills were also put to the test over the weekend.  She slaved away making curtains to block out the spring sunlight in Colin's room.  It gets pretty bright in his room on a sunny day and during weekend naps he had been asking me to "turn the light off".  The curtains accomplished what we were hoping they would and I think they turned out pretty cute!  Up next, a big boy bed and comforter to coordinate...  

Odd & Ends.

As usual, we've been on the go the last couple weeks.  Spring decided to come early this year so every waking minute has been spent outside.  It's evident in the bedtime tantrums from one tuckered out two-year-old.  Here are a few photos from the past week.

Colin's been enjoying getting to watch playoff Sioux North Dakota hockey before bed a few nights.  Hopefully his good luck will continue when they start the NCAA's this coming weekend. 

We also met Mike and Karina's newest addition, baby Sloane.  After Will showed Colin "his baby" they were right back to shooting hoops and making a mess of the playroom.    

Under Colin's orders, we ate supper on the deck one night and even had a little Sunday afternoon reading session with momma.   

Grandma and Grandpa Rau also visited last weekend to finally celebrate Christmas with Andy, Susan, and the boys and to make curtains for Colin's bedroom.  More on that soon!