A Nice Quiet Week

Collin did his very first painting! We tried yellow and green fingerpaint. Now many of you know how I love to do crafts with kids--especially painting, so I'm guessing you are a bit surprised I waited this long! Well, he just wasn't ready and I was sort of waiting to be able to do it outside, but ultimately I decided I couldn't wait any longer and did it inside anyway. It was lots of fun (I know he doesn't look thrilled in the pic, but really he was!)...and yes, his tongue was yellow and green in the end :( along with many other things--even after a bath for him and soft scrub w/ bleach for the tray! Perhaps next time we can skip the tongue, but...not too likely at this point. And I know there is always the suggestion of using pudding, but I'm afraid that will give him the wrong impression of painting and he will always want to eat it--at least now it tastes bad! Anyway, it was a fun first adventure. I'm sure we will try it again soon.


We also found a fun little critter in the dirt in the backyard. It was all I could do to keep Collin from "multiplying" our worms by squeezing just a bit too much, but he was interested. I'm not entirely sure he understood that it is a true living creature--more than a stick or leaf, but he was interested none the less.

Even though Dan is still extremely busy with studying, we did get a chance for a little outing during the Memorial Day weekend. We spent a couple hours Saturday at Mines of Spain State Park which is nearby. It was so nice and relaxing, and thankfully time seemed to stand still for us. We visited the wetlands area and saw many, many tadpoles in the water--along with a cute little frog (below pic). Collin just loved sitting by the water edge and throwing rocks into the water. That was definitely his favorite part of the walk although he also enjoyed picking dandelions and many many rocks along the way :). At the end he was quite tired and I tied him on my back with a piece of fabric like this:http://www.mobywrap.com/t-instructions-Hike.aspx. I "fashioned" some clearance fabric (read "ripped fabric to be correct width") a while back for cases just like this where a stroller isn't possible. We gave it a couple test drives at home, but this was the first "live" one. And it worked pretty well. I couldn't do a long walk that way (he's heavy, you know!), but for the short time he needed it, it worked great. And he really enjoyed it I think. He just snuggled in close and relaxed--and as we know Collin RARELY "snuggles in", so Mama enjoyed that.

Also, I've compiled some graduation photos and some other Spring pics in the photo album. Have a look if you like!

Books, Books, Books

This was book week! Collin has just been eating them up lately. He brings them to you to read or just reads them on his own. Everyone who has been around him this week has noticed his new focus on them! (He liked books in the past, but it's all day long right now!) So Mama decided this was a great time for his first trip to the library (since we were getting sick of reading all of the books we already have memorized!) We found a great selection and checked out 5 books. He has been especially interested in "page books" rather than just the board books we've mainly read in the past. I think he likes turning the pages and he is also more able to sit for more of a story now. I just love the fact that he is enjoying them so much. He also has started "reading" them himself again. He hadn't done that in a few months, and it is so cute to see him jabber jabber, turn page, jabber jabber some more. Also with some of the books he actually picks out words from the book to jabber. For instance, for the book "Blue Hat, Green Hat". He would point to the page and say Bu Hat, oaps (Page says "Blue hat, green hat, red hat, oops"). Or for "I'm a Little Teapot" he would just jabber teapot over and over. Other times he just throws in favorite random words that he's wanting to saw amongst all the jabbering ("coffee" for instance :)). I also put together a couple photo albums for him. He LOVES to look at his baby albums to name all of the people in the pictures. I don't really want the album completely worn out, so I made some prints of some of his favorite pics and put them in an album of his own. I also made one with some familiar objects (toys, lights, fans, etc). He really likes them and they are good for entertainment when we are not at home.

Collin has also been trying to learn how to dribble a ball. One of the neighbors often plays basketball and he sees him doing it. He takes his ball, throws it and then chases it with arms swinging. It's quite funny! He does sometimes hit it once right after he throws it, but after that its just swinging arms. :)

Collin is learning to use a regular cup. I'm amazed at how quickly he seemed to pick it up. We have had a few spills (thank you high chair with a tall rim around the tray) and he still occasionally takes it in too fast and chokes a bit, but overall he does really well with it. He also is really improving with using his spoon. We've been eating oatmeal for breakfast every morning for about 3 weeks now and that has really helped. He has been fine with it for liquidy things for quite a while, but this week he actually used it for some rice and other "solids". In time....

Lastly, on the non-toy front, he's been putting popsicle (craft) sticks thru a slot in a travel mug this week several times. It's a great game while sitting on the potty :) Got the idea here: http://chasingcheerios.blogspot.com/2008/03/popsicle-sticks-insulated-mug.html

Graduation

It is official! Dan graduated with his Master of Divinity Degree last weekend. It was a fun-filled weekend with many events and lots of family/friends. It was all very nice. Dan also was given the VanDerZyl Preaching Prize for being one who "has demonstrated the ability to relate faithfully a scriptural text to the contemporary situation, and who shows the greatest potential to excel in a preaching ministry." We are so proud.

So now what? That's what everyone's asking. Right now the only thing we know is we will be moving sometime between now and the end of June. Other than that, there's a lot in the air right now (Prayers would be appreciated). Dan still has a few things to complete before being ordained: 400 hours work in a Reformed Church, Ordination exams (6 oral, 3 written papers--one completed already), and a week long intensive class in MI this June. He will also take 2 of the oral exams in June, so that is what he is studying for now--very intensely!

As for the rest of our weekend--it was all very nice. My family came up for the day Saturday. And Grandma also came up on Friday to watch Collin since he was sick and could not go to the babysitting we had planned on--Thanks Grandma...and extra thanks since Collin also gave you his cold...:( . Dan's family came up Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday. It was so nice to see everyone. We had a nice relaxing time.

Nana brought up a wedding favor from a recent wedding we missed due to sickness. It's the game where you have golf tees in holes on a triangular board and you try to jump them to remove all but 1 tee (I've also seen them at Crackerbarrel). Anyway, I haven't played it yet, but Collin loves putting the tees into the holes. I'm amazed at how hard he works at it without getting frustrated. He does really well with it. He did it several times with Nana and several times since then (It's perfect for times we need entertainment when we are out--restaurants, etc)

Auntie Kate also had a little game with Collin. She would put his blankie over his head and then snap it off really quick. Collin thought it was hilarious and just cracked up every time. (Of course he also saw all of us laughing at him, so he added a bit of "hamming up" too :).
It was a wonderful weekend. Congratulations Daddy!!

The Big Boom

This was "no" week. Just about any question I asked Collin this week was answered with the word "no". Not in a defiant sort of tone or anything, just a common "no". I think he's just sort of testing how this whole "no" thing works and seeing what all he can say no to and have control of, etc. I will say it makes things a little more difficult and since it was rainy, it was a tough week for it, but overall, we are making it thru. I'm hoping it's just a trial and not a sign of the year to come, but only time will tell.

It amazes me how Collin can communicate things as well as he does with just single words. This week we went to an end of the year barbeque on campus. Some ROTC students from the undergrad thought it would be funny to blast an old cannon (not knowing the barbeque was going on when they planned it) right on the green where we were. Let me just say, Collin was quite frightened by the whole thing. Here's a conversation we have had MANY times since then.
Collin: BOOM?
Mom: Did we hear a boom last night?
Collin: [covers ears] oud
Mom: Yes we covered your ears because it was loud.
Collin: [whines]
Mom: Oh, did it scare you?
Collin: Bye, bye?
Mom: Bye, bye boom. All gone. (we told it bye, bye when it left that night)
Collin: Light?
Mom: Did you see a light last night?
Collin: Bushes.
Mom: Yes there was a light in the bushes, wasn't there.
Collin: On.
Mom: Yes, the light was on.

The part about the light almost seems to be the sort of rainbow at the end of the story for him as he generally smiles at that point. He really does seem to be having a hard time with the whole boom thing though. He talked about it almost constantly when we came home that night and TONS the next day and several times a day even now (it was wednesday). I wonder if we had reacted differently (cheering, etc) if it would have helped, but didn't think of it until the next day. We did prep him for the noise, but maybe that made it worse, don't know. I tried sort of reinacting it with cheering the day after, but he wasn't convinced. It also didn't help that there were thunderstorms this week...Now we've talked about the fact that it was just loud, but won't hurt us, and try to focus on the bye, bye/all gone & the "bushes" part of the story. The other night I accidently made a noise in the hall while he was sleeping and a couple min later he awoke crying. I went to him & he was just shaking. This does happen now and then, and I generally calm him in the crib, give him ducky & blanky and he goes back to sleep in a few min. But, the other night after I tried calming him for a bit, he actually said "Boom?" in a scared little voice, so I assume the noise I made triggered a nightmare for him or something. I felt so bad for him & snuggled him back to sleep. Poor kid, not sure what to do to help him get past this....if anyone has any advice...

The exciting news of the week is that Dan has completed his class work!! All of the final papers, plus all of the other "end of the year events" made it a really hectic last few weeks for him with very little sleep and lots of work, so he is taking it easy for a couple days before he resumes studying for ordination exams in June. Graduation is next weekend and many family will join us in the celebration. Hooray Daddy!