Ebbens Family

Catching Up—Part 2

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:29:00 +0000

Another new thing we started last fall was to start doing “tot school”. I found the idea on 1+1+1=1 and since I really enjoy preparing activities for kids, I was sold. Also, I was looking for something special I could do with Collin—a sort of special “big kid” thing since the new addition of the ~~“attention stealer”~~ baby brother :). So what exactly is tot school? Well, the blog above has their definition of it, but I will share with you mine. As in the blog it is NOT school. For us, it isn’t really about learning necessarily. I thought it was at first and I still do mostly learning activities—because I enjoy preparing them ;), but that isn’t what it is about. For us, it also isn’t about exposing him to new things or giving him things to explore—although I thought this at first, too. Collin is a natural born explorer and when he is ready, he picks things up pretty quickly (remember that Mama…when HE is ready!). So having extra “teaching” isn’t really what he “needs”. But what he does need is…me. You see everyone believes that since I am a stay at home mom, I spend all of this time with him, etc, etc, etc. But in all reality, most of the time, he just plays and I attempt to get things done around the house. I set out toys or get him started playing with something, but then I try to do something else. Or sometimes he “helps” me with what I’m doing. But it is very rare that I give him my undivided attention and I really think that is a need of his…for social/emotional/spiritual growth, not academic. So tot school gives me a chance to give him some undivided attention for a short time. When do we do it? Mostly it happens in the mornings when there is nothing else going on. I don’t worry about missing it if other things are going on, etc. I have Collin choose which activity we do for the most part unless I have something “special” planned—like a certain craft or baking thing. And we play until he is done or until I need to move on to something else-- anywhere from 15 min to 1 hour usually. Lately it has been much less formal as we haven’t done the shelf in a while and I just try to spend some time in undivided attention—as a multi-tasker, I really find this hard! It may just be playing with some toys with him or it may be a craft or baking, or an activity I found online…but as I said, it isn’t about WHAT we do.

So…here are some of the things we have done.

Our “tot school” shelf. This day it contained the factory game (see below), restaurant game (also below), orange play dough, a poster to color, locks/latches board, maracas & silky for some fun music time :)

Crunching Cheerios with a pliers

Blue “goop”. Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? YES!!

Each week (or 2) we focused on a color. At the end of the week we did a photo of all the toys we can find of that color. We will then make a book from these photos. Got the idea here.

Playing catch with the “silky ball” (a ball with a silky tail wrapped around it, held in place with a rubber band)

Working with nuts and bolts (thanks grandpa!)

This was definitely the FAVORITE tot school game—he chose it every day for weeks! (I put it away just because I was sick of it—bad mommy…) Anyway it was formally known as “the Menards game”. We would build a “Menards” (his favorite store) and then the colors were the parking lot. There was a matchbox car to match each color which had to park in the correct spot….and of course we had to come up with why they were going to Menards. :) As with most “structured” games his non-compliance came into play and so the variation on the game was that he would have me try to park the car, but then before I got to the spot he would put a different car in my car’s spot and so there was a big ado about “That’s not your spot, get out of my <blue> spot”. So…he was matching the colors anyway in order to not allow me to get to my spot! ;-)

stringing beads…and dancing them around

We make homemade play dough often (using this recipe) and we mixed the blue/yellow to make green…and then red/yellow to make orange during the appropriate week

saving “bugs” (pom poms) buried in the beans (can’t remember the rest of the “story”)

Chasing a balloon through the tunnel

playing the birthday game. Pick someone to be the birthday person (I believe it was around Nana’s birthday and so we celebrated her day lots!). Then put 20 pennies into the can while counting. Then sing Happy Birthday!

Mashing bananas for banana bread. Idea here.

Stamping

The candy game—another hit for my little candy fiend! We put a piece on each dot and figure out what the number is…then after sharing the candy, we can do it again with the bears if desired (not nearly as exciting!)

After visiting the zoo, we had lots of zoo related games, so we fed the ducks and swans at the real zoo and Collin was the duck at home (tongs were later replaced by tweezers since these pinch! Ouch!)

we also have put up the easel with different mediums each week. This week was dot markers and tends to be a favorite. The chalk board is also a winner.

I wanted to replace the “menards game” with something special and this was liked (even though the pic doesn’t look like it) but definitely not on the scale of the menards game. It was the restaurant game—pick a single food from the menu to order, ring it up, count up the right number of coins to pay for it, enjoy the meal!

Factory game: So it is a bit of a short cut, but the farmer visits the factories (cards) and finds out how many of bushels of corn they need…and of course what they will make with that corn!

Here he was digging bears out of the play dough. You can also see one side of the place mat we made for thanksgiving. The leaves were the feathers of a turkey.

For TONS of great tot school ideas, please visit 1+1+1=1 or

Catching up—Part 1

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:25:00 +0000

So way back last fall, Collin & I started a couple of new things that we do that I wanted to blog about…but never had time, so here goes. The first one was that Collin and I have started to do daily devotions together. We have two books that we use Gotta Have God: Fun Devotions for Boys: Ages 2-5 and 100 Ways to Know God Loves Me and 100 Songs to Love Him Back . The Gotta Have God book has a story and prayer and then an activity or coloring page for each devotional and the 100 ways to Know God (thanks Nana & Papa) has an application/story and then a song for each devotional. We have really enjoyed our times doing these. I was feeling that we needed to do more of teaching him who God is and spending daily time with Him and making Him more of a priority has been really good.

Here are a couple pictures:

Making a paper plate tambourine to praise God with (This was when we quarantined him to his room due to H1N1)

making marshmallow men after talking about greed.

Then a few weeks ago, Collin said to Dan one morning that he was going to “build Noah’s Ark” that day…and he did (basically just “fixed” on a box…but that’s what he called it)! We aren’t sure where this came from exactly—we don’t remember reading the story recently, but may have…or it may be from a song on one of his CDs. But I decided to take advantage of his interest and do some other Noah’s ark activities like stamping and acting out the story and I found this kit on clearance, so we have done some of it, too.

Noah in his “ark” (one of many prototypes) complete with animals and food.

This day we tried to stamp with sponge animals, but it didn’t work well, so we switched to coloring the sponges with the dot markers. We also did some normal noah’s ark stamps another day with the stamp pads. (although he really just likes to rub his fingers all over the stamp pad until completely covered…who needs stamps…or paper!) :)

Can’t wait to see what will be next!

Brothers

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:47:00 +0000

Gabriel is finally getting old enough that they are just starting to be able to do a few things together. Now don’t get me wrong, these precious moments are few and far between:

Collin STILL loves this book from when he was a baby, so when I told him one night he could read it to Gabe, he gave it a try first thing the next morning.

Gabriel learning to “fix” from the master!

Boy, am I in trouble now…

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:32:00 +0000

He may not be “crawling”, but he is definitely mobile. He will cross an entire room this way!

Gabriel scooting

Here is one of his favorite hide outs these days—under the table.

Overheard at our house

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:54:00 +0000

Recently overheard around our house:

As a reason for not taking a nap, "Mama, I have an ear confession [infection...he didn't...]"
While playing in the garden, "Let's embarrass [bury] my feet"

How can you not smile at that!

You think they could be brothers?

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Granted the eyes are different, but...

The View from our Window

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:21:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago we had a bit of "excitement" around here, but I'm just getting around to blogging about it. Here's the story:

Just before lunch one day, Collin and I were busy "dueling" in the kitchen with him in timeout in front of our basement door. It started to storm outside and I very quickly noticed hail beginning to bounce around outside. I decided to play it safe and told him to come around the corner into the living room so that we were out of range of the kitchen window (west side of the house). Well, sure enough a few minutes later I here it shatter sending glass and hail across the kitchen floor. Collin (Mr. 2000 questions) of course then asks if the window is broken and I very matter of factly tell him "Yes, it is", as if it is a very normal thing :). I tell him to stay put and go and grab Gabriel out of the bassinet in the dining room. When I return we move a bit further into the living room. Glass and hail continue to fly through the window and now a few pieces are starting to bounce into the living room, so I decide the staircase might be a bit safer. We wait out the remaining moments there listening to glass shattering both up and downstairs (and me just praying there isn't a tornado. I thought about going to the basement, but that would involve going into the kitchen--where there was glass flying everywhere.) Gabe peeked his eyes for only a moment, then back to sleep. Collin was definitely concerned throughout, but really only cried a bit near the end in the stairway because his blanky was out in the living room. When we came out, there was glass, hail, and leaves everywhere (up and downstairs) and the lawn was white with hail. It was amazing. We ended up having all 5 west windows broken out (storms and inside windows). Thankfully 3 of the 5 were not in carpeted rooms and the other two are a spare bedroom and the porch. So what do you do when this happens? Get shoes/boots on everyone and make PB&J of course ;)

We had glass scattered in the kitchen, dining room (clear to the east wall!), corner of the living room, both bathrooms, spare bedroom, and porch. I even found a hailstone on the east wall of Collin's room (across the hall from the spare room). Thankfully, by the time I got Collin put to bed and JUST started cleaning up the glass, some friends came to help out. Several families came to help get everything cleaned up before dinner! (It would have taken DAYS!) The yard was covered in leaves (looked like fall, but green). The garden was also destroyed, but we have had plenty of fresh vegetables due to many VERY GENEROUS church members!

Thankfully no one was hurt, but in the neighborhood pretty much all west windows were broken out with the exception of the church which only had one storm broken. Several vehicles were damaged as well with broken windows and dents. The sadest part of course has been the crop damage. We have had a great year as far as crops getting much more rain than is usual for these parts, so having fields destroyed was quite a blow. Many of these farmers have had drought issues the last few years and so were looking to have a "come back" year, but unfortunately several fields were just destroyed. Most farmers have insurance, but only to cover what they have into it, so it is another year without profit. So it's like working all season, and not getting a paycheck. There also were many pheasants killed and since farmers here often supplement their income with "hunting industry" that hurts as well. Some talked of fields smelling due to the number of dead birds. One farmer even found a dead deer due to the storm.

The photos I took didn't turn out very well, but I was able to get some from a friend. Twila Dykstra is a photographer who is in the church and also came to help with the cleanup. She was nice enough to share her photos with us. (click to enlarge)

Chipped siding, broken storm and window, shredded blinds (didn't show well, but looked quite funny from the inside), dented trim, and leaves "plastered" against the house.

The adjuster was here a couple weeks ago and estimated over $77,000 worth of damage to the church and parsonage! This week they came out to measure for all new windows on the west side of the parsonage. And today an old storm was put onto our kitchen window so we don't have plywood there anymore.
So that's the excitement around here! Enough for the season if you ask me!

Introducing Gabriel John Ebbens

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Praise God! We made it to full term! Just two weeks before his due date, Gabriel John Ebbens was born on May 28th at 6:43 am weighing 6 lbs 7 oz and measuring 19 inches. Gabriel means "devoted to God" and John means "God is gracious" (we were spared the NICU this time, among the other ways we know He is gracious) as well as it being Dan's grandfather's name. His first month has been wonderful. We did have some trouble with jaundice for a bit, but that is under control now. Big broher Collin loves his new broher and often gives him tender kisses. Of course we have our moments (including wanting to leave him in Mitchell the first week :)) but things are going well. Change is hard, what can you say. And there have been lots of changes in the past several months. I was on full bed rest for 3 1/2 weeks, so Grandma came to save the day. While Collin loved someone to play with and loved having Grandma nearby, the change from mommy doing most everything with him to mommy doing nothing was quite hard...on all of us. But we made it through and I almost think it made the actual transition of a new baby a little easier (Mom was back to doing a few things at least). Gabriel is growing like crazy--much to fast for Mama's liking! As of last Tuesday he was already 8 1/2 lbs! He's getting a double chin and chunky cheeks already. Time is just flying by!

Big Boy

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:15:00 +0000

It's been a big week around here. Collin is now 2 1/2! I can't believe how time flies by! He is getting so big and doing so many "big boy" things. He's been pretty cuddly lately with requests to "snuggle". :) Mom and Dad are loving that one! He is now sitting in a booster for meals, saying please/thank you/excuse me more often, he's learning to count objects and is pretty close on colors and just generally seeming older. On the other hand I believe we have now officially hit the "terrible twos" as shouts of "No" echo about the house complete with meltdowns and tantrums here and there (and lots more on days when naps are short...which have also been frequent lately). Collin also got his first haircut this week. Daddy was ready, but Mama was a bit nervous. I just love those curls!! So I did a big "photoshoot" and then we did it. It does look cute (still miss the curls though of course) and he did a really good job during the haircut--with the exception of his head whipping around to watch what was going on or to flirt with the stylist. :)

And in case anyone out there doesn't know already--Collin is going to be a big brother! We are very excited about this new addition, and pray that s/he will wait until fully "ready" to enter our family more physically (rather than the 10 weeks early that Collin decided on). Here's an early picture of this baby! (Yes...I guess I AM one of those persons who shows off an ultrasound pic...who knew?!) We couldn't get any great ones due to positioning, etc, but here's a facial at least.

I DID!

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:22:00 +0000

Just wanted to jot down this quick one. Collin has been "telling on himself" lately. He will come to me and say something he is not supposed to do like "open mommy desk?" and I will of course repeat "No, we do not open mommy's desk." And he will quickly respond, "I DID!!" very emphatically, almost as if he were surprised by it as well! Dan and I have gotten quite a laugh out of this (when he isn't in earshot of course) so I wanted to share it with you. I think it actually started out with his announcements of shouting "I DID IT!" after succeeding in something difficult, but now it's progressed...:)

Just what have we been up to?

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:31:00 +0000

There are so many little things that I thought it would be fun to tell about that we have done lately. I am (ahem) quite addicted to finding fun & interesting things to do with toddlers while reading online and the kick lately has been Montessori activities. I just love all the practical life and sensorial activities. They look like so much fun and I'm quite sure I am having more fun than Collin with all of this! Anyway, actually it started when we were in Dubuque as the library there had some actual Montessori materials that we could check out (these are the "knobbed cylinders"). Boy do I miss that now! Collin was actually a bit young for most of the materials at the time, but would be getting to more of them now and in coming years. And for those of you that don't know, Montessori materials are extremely expensive, so being able to borrow them from the library was ideal, BUT...we are having fun with some that we are able to make up ourselves (after all...that's what Maria Montessori did originally, right?) So in our toyroom I set up some shelves in a corner with a little mat and I put all of these types of activities there for him. I usually come up with a couple new each week and he can play with them whenever, but we do keep them on the mat to make sure things aren't lost, etc. The exception to this has been playing with the beans.
He's not always terribly enthusiastic about cleaning up 2000 beans (although I must say he generally is very good at cleaning things up...even without being asked sometimes now, but the beans are a bit overwhelming), so until we work up to that, it is only on special occasion and is generally in the kitchen while I'm trying to get something done :). Along the same lines, when we were busy unpacking, Collin got to work with some other "sensorial objects"--packing peanuts! :) He actually spent a LOT of time with these. First he just played in them--putting them from bowl to tray to basket, etc, but then he discovered he could break them. It must be some sort of fascination because he spent probably a half hour one day standing over a box of them breaking them into tiny pieces. And then when we were outside I was picking up some pieces of old shingles that were mixed in our rocks around the house from when they re-roofed and he spent LOTS of time breaking them as well until they were too tiny to break...then on to the next one.
I think one of Collin's favorite Montessori-type activities has been the "mystery bag," which is basically a bag with several toys in it. While blindfolded, he takes a toy out of the bag and has to tell what it is. He is very good at it and I've realized I need to change the toys out a bit more often! Some others we've done are: sweeping pom-poms into a dustpan, stringing wooden beads, clipping clothespins onto a basket edge, opening/closing different sized boxes (small gift, jewelry, etc), putting rubberbands onto a doorknob, shape sorter, feeling rough/smooth textures (sandpaper/smooth board), and some matching games. Collin has known how to match for quite some time, however the trick has been getting him to put matches together as a pair, etc. Just in the last week it finally "clicked" which was exciting. I've been waiting for this simply because there are so many activities once he can match items: match pictures, match objects, match fabrics, match colors, etc, etc. I'm also hoping we can work on sorting because that also has so many possibilities. Now I'm not one to push a child to learn and learn and learn (or at least I hope not), and I know he will learn all of these things in his own time, but my thinking is that these are things we can take to church for him to do! YAY! That is always a struggle...so being able to take some of these activities I think would be really helpful. Here are the pictures that Collin was able to match the other day.
We have also made cookies a couple times. I love to bake cookies and remember fondly making cookies as a kid different times so I was anxious to be able to do that with him. He poured in the ingredients (a little oatmeal on the counter never hurts!) and of course watched the mixer! He loves the mixer (it is electric after all)!!
We've also enjoyed playing at the park and playing in rain puddles (or maybe it was just a good excuse to dress him up in his rain coat and boots!).

Collin really likes playing in water. Most nights he takes a nice long bath and plays and plays. A couple times lately I've kept him busy during dinner prep by putting a bit of water with soap in the sink and he stands on his step stool and plays and plays. He loves the bubbles! Usually I just give him a spoon and he is content for quite a long time. This day we had found some "counting/sorting bears and cups" at goodwill (I was excited!) and so he was "washing them" for me ;).
We have also "painted" with water on the sidewalk and played with a spray bottle of water outside a number of times (this pic is back in DBQ).
We generally spend some time outside each day--unless weather is not so good and Collin enjoys playing with his riding cars and lawnmower or going for a walk around the church in his wagon. We've also done sidewalk chalk a few times (this pic back in DBQ). Although generally he just plays with the chalk more than he really "colors". Lately though he's been doing a bit more coloring on paper, so maybe if we try it again soon...
The other day we collected leaves and did our first official "craft project". We stuck them to some clear contact paper and stuck it to the window in the playroom. He wasn't as excited as I thought he would be about doing the project, but was pretty excited once it was on the window and enjoys pointing it out at different times, so maybe that will help his enthusiasm for future projects...because mama likes crafts! ;)

So that's what we've been up to...at least when we aren't working...and I guess we do do some of that, but that's no fun to talk about! :) (Oh yeah, he helps with housework, too! Putting laundry into the dryer, sorting silverware into the drawer, etc. My little helper! :))

Mr. Music Please

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:48:00 +0000

Collin just loves music. Even when he was just a newborn, singing to him would usually calm even his biggest fits (like diaper changes!). And we have become accustomed to singing throughout the day. If he is struggling with doing something or having a hard time being patient or just to make something a little more fun, we will add a song (Often made up or "This is the way we..."). He also really enjoys the music in church and generally if he is talking about going to church he will say "sing in church" or "listen piano in church". He just really loves music.
However until the beginning of the summer Collin would not actually sing himself. If you asked him to sing, he would usually hum a little bit. Then at the beginning of the summer, he began to do some actual "singing". At first he just sang a single word from the song over and over to the correct tune. The most popular was Mary had a Little Lamb (a naptime favorite book) which he would sing "Lamby, Lamby, am-me-am" to the correct tune and rhythm. The only catch was he would not sing with you. If you tried to sing with him, he would stop. But then about a month ago, he starting singing with us as well and is even singing many of the words to songs as well. "Jesus loves Me" is one of his favorites and he sings it often throughout the day (just today I heard him singing it in his bed while avoiding sleep at naptime.) So the other day I got a video clip of him doing it. Now he was being a bit silly at the time (since mommy was "making him sing"), so there is "Zacchaeus" (the book he was looking at) stuck in there a few times, but as you can see he does pretty well with it! I also had him sing the ABC song another day simply because I wanted to capture it at this beginning phase. We sing the ABC's when we wash hands (so we wash a little longer), but I hadn't realized how much he was picking up until we were on a long car trip and the song was on a CD I was playing for him. He started singing along and I was surprised at how well he did. Granted it's a ways from being all right, but it was a lot closer than I knew he could do! There have been many things like that now that he has started to sing along and it is so wonderful to hear him singing with you. He even joins in during the naptime/bedtime routine and while "Jesus loves me" is a bit easier during the nap one, "Victory in Jesus" is our bedtime song ("Collin" means "Victory") and is quite a bit more difficult, but he knows quite a bit of it.
I guess I am always so surprised at what a child his age can pick up. You think they aren't really paying attention or that things are just sort of going in one ear and out the other or beyond their comprehension, etc. But, really it isn't that way--they understand so much more than we give them credit for! Kids are smart! It's amazing how God created their little minds to work so well!
Well, here's the clips (the files are really huge (5-7MB!), so you might have to wait a bit for them to start...even on high speed and if you don't have it, you will need Quicktime)
Jesus Loves Me
ABCs

Walk in Weeds, Please

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:22:00 +0000

About a week ago Dan took Collin out for Saturday morning (often this is the boy's bonding time) and when they returned I asked Collin what they had done. His reply--"See Pheasants!" :) Dan and Collin had had their first little "scouting" trip together. Dan had taken Collin for a walk in a nearby field with a pond. Dan held Collin on his shoulders as they treaded through the weeds and Collin just laughed with excitement. I thought it sounded interesting and so we all went one evening after dinner last week. Collin now frequently asks to "Walk in weeds" or "see pheasants, please"--its pretty funny. I on the other hand had no idea how TALL these weeds would be--many are taller than I am and I proved to be much more of a city-girl than I would expect myself to be--only walking right behind Dan rather than blazing my own path, complaining about thorns, even walking on the mowed section part of the time! It was really nice and refreshing to go for the walk though and be out in nature and we hope to do that a bit more before the weather turns too cold. And Collin is clearly hooked! He LOVES it!

Collin can count!

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Once again I am amazed at what a child can learn without really being taught. While we were still in Dubuque we got a suspicion that Collin might know how to count a bit as one day I thought I heard him say six, seven, eight after I had counted 5 magnets with him while we were playing. But with Collin he doesn't really like to "show" you what he knows so it takes some work to figure it out. So at different times I have tried little counting games, etc, just to try to see what he knows and here and there he would do something, but never reproduce it, so I wasn't sure. Generally if you asked him to count he would say "1, 2, all done!"

Then shortly before his birthday he very clearly demonstrated that he knew what 2 was. He had been enjoying learning to put Dan's and my socks on his feet--usually walking around with one sock for hours afterward. Then one day he put both on and came to me and said 2!--with great enthusiasm. And in the following days, he pointed out many other 2's he observed. One day there were 2 pools setup outside since there were cousins and friends coming to play and he went to the window and exclaimed Two! Two pools!

During the past week we have finally gotten to see just how much counting he is capable of. I asked him to count books with me and I paused a bit before continuing at different points and he would fill in the next number! Keep in mind we haven't really "taught" him anything--we just count things here or there in a book or while playing--but it wasn't as if I was trying to do it all the time to teach him or anything. And we didn't do it very often at all. He has just picked it up. Today I even got him to count to 10 while I took a video clip of it. He generally needs help in the middle around 4, 5, or 6 usually because he gets distracted (or goes back to his favorite "2"), but then he will continue after you give him a number. He doesn't actually count objects yet, of course, but that is how I can get him to count...for now...

So here's the video clip. You will need Quicktime to view it and I wouldn't recommend it to dialup users as it is over 2MB. Let me know if you have any trouble viewing it.

Collin Counts to 10

So this leaves me wondering what else he might have learned without being taught....hmmm...hopefully nothing too terrible!

Coming up for air

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:22:00 +0000

Since my last post, things have been anything but quiet! We have moved...twice, and travelled well over 4000 miles for ordination testing, church interviews, and family events and visits.

We first moved to my parents' house at the end of June since we had to be out of our townhouses in Dubuque (Many, many thanks Mom & Dad). At the end of July, Dan accepted a position at a church in Rural South Dakota. Let me stress that--Rural. The town we live in is comprised of the property for the church and parsonage, a circular road around it and then about ten houses on the other side of the road...at least 3 of which are owned by hunters that actually live out of state. :) We are about 15 min from the closest town and about 45 min to a "city" of any size. But actually we are looking forward to learning to live in this type of situation. Doing things like grocery shopping monthly and just planning ahead more in general. It should be very good for us. We also feel like things here are a bit more simple than our lives have been in the past as far as time commitments,etc. Hopefully that will prove true as we get to know the area more. The church has a membership of 140 with around 100 regular attenders of varying ages. We've been here two weeks now and are still working on unpacking things. The big things are mainly unpacked, but there are still quite a few boxes that need to be unpacked and/or gone through. The house we are in is an old farmhouse. Comparing it to our previous townhouse, we find it has more living space, but less storage space, so it leads to some rearranging, etc. We really like the character found in an old farmhouse. The people here have been extremely friendly and generous and we really think we are going to like it here.

My favorite part is that we have space on the main floor for a playroom. It doubles as my office and I am excited to do all sorts of fun things in this room! I'm pretty sure Dan's favorite part is the new gun cabinet we bought since all of the space is accessible to Collin here (we really needed one anyway...) I think Collin's favorite part is his new "reading nook" in his playroom. We put several pillows on the floor in the corner next to the bookshelf. He has been VERY into books lately and looks at them several times a day, so this is a great place to do it. He will be playing and finish one thing and appear to be thinking "what next..." and then say aloud to himself "read books" as he heads back to a pile.

Collin took a few days after each move to adjust. He is young and so of course has a hard time understanding all of the changes we are going thru right now. First we packed up our house and moved to Grandma/Grandpa's house...and stayed there....how confusing. But then it was even more confusing to return to Dubuque (for a wedding) but not stay at our old house. To get his point across, he would ask for "Mama's house, Daddy's house, please". He also regularly asked (and still does) about our neighbors in Dubuque whom we were good friends with (they have a daughter Collin's age and they really hit it off as friends). He did REALLY enjoy spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, which made the next move harder. Six weeks later we moved here and he was overtired and just really out of place for the first few days. But now he really has settled fairly well. He is sleeping much better and just getting back to his usual happy (and not quite so naughty) self. He of course continues to ask about family daily and really misses everyone, so we talk about the visits we will take "one day".

Yesterday, Collin had his first "play date". It was an impromptu visit by a neighbor's granddaughter. He was replacing our bathroom sink and brought her along. I was so glad as I had been thinking just that morning about how I might get to know some people that Collin might be able to play with some other kids. There are many kids in the church, but it takes time to get to know people and find opportunities for play dates. But now we have found that this 4 yr old girl will be right down the street all school year, so hopefully there will be more opportunities as it went well--even though she is older, etc.

Collin has changed SO much during the past couple months--he is really growing up. I hope to post many of the photos we have taken and write some "catch up" blogs to tell you what has been happening with us these past months, but wanted to start with the present first.

A Nice Quiet Week

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:50:00 +0000

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

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:23:00 +0000

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

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:33:00 +0000

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

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:14:00 +0000

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!

Mouse Please

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:41:00 +0000

This has been a busy week as this was City-Wide garage sale weekend. I just love it. I get to buy all sorts of fun stuff for Collin without having to spend a fortune! We can find really great bargains at garage sales here (most clothing items are $1 per piece!) and there are literally hundreds of garage sales--a few starting as early as wednesday and running thru saturday. We found lots of clothes and even some books and toys. Probably the most "fun" items were a Little Tykes convertible car that either he can push with his feet or it has a handle for an adult to push, and a Sesame Street Toolbench with lots of tools--each for $5!! As I have said Collin truly doesn't need more toys, but how could I pass that up! :) The toolbench was missing a few small things, but had some extras as well. It is obnoxiously loud, but some tape helped that! The car is just missing the board for the bottom for riding, I believe, but I think we can "fake something" in it's place if needed. Mom came with me on Saturday and Dan watched Collin so we could maximize on the time--which was good because it was freezing outside so I didn't really want Collin in & out of the car in the weather. We had a wonderful weekend with lots of fun with Grandma!

Grandma also brought up some new blocks. Collin is so interested in building right now. He really didn't play much with other toys this weekend due to the new blocks! And his balancing of them is actually pretty remarkable.

Collin is also doing some more of putting words together a bit. The other day as I was sorting laundry Collin was playing in his "box" (the large box our grill came in acts as a playpen in the basement :)). He was asking for a bag so I prompted in a sing song voice "bag, please.bag, please." And he sort of tried it. Then a few minutes later while my mind was wondering I suddenly realized he was saying something to me (not just jabbering) and found he was saying "mouse, please. mouse please. mouse please." in the same sing song voice! Let me tell you I found that computer mouse he wanted & handed it right over! :)

We also had quite a few thunderstorms this week. So how do you explain thunder to a 21mo old? Collin was quite sure there was a large truck outside that he needed to "see, see, see" as it sounded similar to the garbage truck he enjoys watching that comes many mornings to empty the dumpster.

Finally we did have a little bit of non-toy fun earlier in the week. I cut a slit in a box for Collin to put playing cards through. (found the idea in a book) He had fun with it....and so did I :)

A beautiful day

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Today was a WONDERFUL day. The weather was just perfect--and look at that--the grass is actually mostly green! We walked to church and it was a good service with good challenges for me. Then we came home for lunch and naps all around. After naps we played out on the front lawn just "exploring". Collin just LOVES to be outside. He plays with sticks and rocks and leaves and mulch chips and....the hose attachments. :) In fact usually when he wants to go outside he says "ose, ose, ose" and points to the door. We had our snack outside where Collin forcefully fed Dan about half of his apple--just shoving piece after piece in :) and then went to the playground--stopping to visit with some neighbors on the way. Collin played with the rocks and sticks and climbed the stairs and went down the slide and just had a great time exploring while we relaxed and chatted. We returned home and Dan grilled while we explored more in the front yard. After supper is bath time and Collin and I played bubbles. We have done that quite a bit lately. It's great to blow bubbles during bath time because when they land on a wet surface (skin, toys, bathtub, water) they don't generally pop right away. I had no idea how much fun it would be! Collin likes to pop them with his nose :). Plus, you don't have to worry about the slimy hands since you can just rinse in the tub.

So I think this was just about a perfect day for me. We got to spend the day together as a family and it was outside in the best weather so far this spring--I can't think of anything that would have made it better!

Collin has been pretending more and more. This week we started to feed horsie "oats" and give him drinks of water (from a cup) :). It's so cute. He also loves to play with his stuffed penguin. He rubs noses with him and places him here & there & in "forts" and other little houses built of cereal boxes or couch cushions; identifies his eyes, nose & hair (with a nose rub thru the hair, of course); and then puts him ni-night at the end of the day.

I've also found some great blogs this week of mothers with children close to Collin's age who post all sorts of fun activities to do with stuff you have around the house, etc. Some of them take a bit of prep or are unusual things, but others are just obvious things that I hadn't thought of. For instance, on one of my favorites called Chasing Cheerios, there was an idea to put plastic easter eggs into an egg carton. Why didn't I think of that? Collin has now enjoyed it many times.
However, I also realized that I could really lose a LOT of time on this blogging stuff....very dangerous. This week, I read a statement by someone against TV watching--but it applies to my blogging as well. Basically their argument was that TV makes you believe you are living but really you are just passively watching someone else live. Same goes for these blogs in my opinion. I can read about hundreds of ideas of fun activities for Collin or I can turn off the computer and actually get the materials together so we can do some of them. I'm quite glad I came across that...it will help me to remember to keep my reading/surfing in check...

Wish you all a nice a day--as I have had today!

Here kitty, kitty!

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:07:00 +0000

Oooo. I missed these photos! These were taken the weekend we were at my parents house for Great Grandma Dotty's birthday. As you can see he loves the kitty! He likes to lick his tongue in/out like the kitty. :) As with anything soft or furry (or hair), he loves to stick his face in it and feel with his nose! Not quite sure where this came from, although I have been known to sort of "smell that baby smell" by rubbing my nose through his hair in the past ;)

Mooooo

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:34:00 +0000

Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit a farm. Dan had a trip planned with the Taiwanese cohort group to some farms where our good friend Mark works, so Collin and I decided to tag along. It was so much fun. Collin just loves animals. Whenever he sees one, in person, stuffed, or in a book, he makes kissing noises. :) At the first farm we were able to see cattle raised for beef. There were young calves that we could touch. I'm not quite sure who was more nervous--Collin or the calf. Both were hesitant and if one would move the other would jump. I wouldn't say he was really afraid, just a bit unsure.

Then we visited a dairy farm. It was all very interesting. Collin kept mooing after he would hear one do it and try to imitate their low pitch, etc. We ended the evening with a cookout on another farm--it was wonderful. And we had the warmest day so far to do it! Since then Collin has become more interested in animals' names and sounds. Many animals have recently been called "cows" and say "moo" :)

There have been so many little things I've been wanting to blog about in the past couple months and there are far too many to come up with great transitions, etc. So here's the disconnected bunch :)

First off, you may have noticed in the pictures that Collin's hair is finally coming in! It's really growing and getting thicker. Everybody comments on how red it looks now. And it is quite curly as well. We generally comb it (fairly) straight, but when it is wet or damp it is really curly--especially on top and in the back.

Dubuque did finally break that snow record--. And we keep seeing more little bits of snow here and there--IN APRIL!! But the forecast for the next week finally looks like Spring might be here. I hope so! Collin and I take walks or go to the playground whenever it gets even close to feeling warmish.

Collin has really been building his vocabulary. I'm amazed each day at the words he picks up. And he just loves to look at "word" books (Baby's First Word Book for example--thanks Gma & Papa) and each day he knows more and more of the pictures. He does still generally need an interpreter when anyone besides mom/dad are listening, but...it's coming. One funny one lately was his pronunciation of "Soup" which we had for supper a couple nights last week. He very clearly pronounced it "poop". It was all Dan and I could do to not laugh at that one when he was asking for more :) I think he is also very close to putting words together. Generally he still says one word several times and then when you repeat it back to him, he will say the next one--usually "please?". But a few times lately he has said a word paused and said the next one. Which brings me to the next thing he's been doing. He seems to have learned that apostrophe s means possession. So for example he will say "hat, hat, hat" and then "BaPa's" (Grandpa) or "juice, juice, juice....Mama's". He also seems to think that if he can't have something it must be because it is someone else's, so if for example he see's a book and asks for it, when I say "No we can't have that book" he will reply with "Mama's" or "Daddy's". So I'm pretty sure "Mine" will be the next thing coming...

For several months when Collin is waiting for something (usually food) and getting impatient I will suggest that he sing a song while he waits and tell him he must be patient. Then he would hum for a few seconds. Recently though I just told him he must "wait patiently" and he started humming. So now he associates that phrase with "singing"--I think it's quite cute--hopefully it will last!

We have also begun to do a bit of potty training. And if nothing else it has gotten him to sit long enough to do a few more activities. We started out with a sort of "potty boot camp" sitting him on it very very often and trying to get him to sit for 10 min or so, so he would get the idea of things. I made him a little "desk" from a cardboard box to do activities on (why today's high chairs don't have trays is beyond me!) and we had lots of fun. And the reward--not M&M's, but CHEESE! Let me tell you he really wants to learn this one if it means he gets a little slice of string cheese each time! We played with toys, blocks, unplugged electronics, homemade play dough, crayons, and our personal favorite--beans! I was so excited that Collin is old enough to start this one--don't know why, but I think it's fun. He just poured the beans back and forth between the cups. He might be a bit young yet as he gets quite frustrated when he spills...but he wasn't eating them! And hopefully it just might help to build that patience and perseverance that he is lacking. I try to only do them when he isn't already in an impatient state (overtired, hungry, etc). We've really enjoyed it.

I've worked with children a lot in the past (babysitting, daycare, nanny, etc), but I must say I am often surprised by things now that I have one here full time! One of the things that surprises me most is how many things they don't have to be taught. I think I first noticed this when Collin was a baby and was learning to crawl. Babies instinctively know that they need to reach for their toes and stretch out their legs, etc in order to be able to crawl. I could just see him distinctively practicing and stretching--like it was more than just play. Lately I've noticed more things that he has learned all without teaching. Collin can match items. He has a set of bug pop beads and one day I noticed he was carrying 2 of the same ones (there are 2 each of 6 diff ones), but thought it was probably a coinsidence. But then a couple days later we were playing with the bugs (on the potty...) and I had the grasshopper, so I asked him where the other grasshopper was and he got it. He then matched all 6 sets of bugs with me. I had no idea he knew how to do that! I think due to this same "matching" knowledge, he can also identify a circle now. There are shapes on the top of his "desk" and I identified a circle for him and he went on to point to another one and call it "ircle"--I was amazed.

I'm also amazed about how defined the different developmental phases seem to be. Collin was consumed with put/take play for several weeks and now it seems building is coming in. He loves to build towers (although when they fall he gets pretty frustrated) out of blocks, giant Mega Bloks, cans, food boxes--anything. He also seems to be starting the sorting phase as he has sorted out the 3-blue triangle blocks from his shape sorter a couple times and was lining up the canning lids in rows today. And he is just starting to do some pretend play--usually pretending something is a vacuum!

The End...finally!

The Great Grandma Tour and Easter

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:10:00 +0000

There has been so much going on the last few weeks that I need to blog about! Lets start with "The Great Grandma Tour". On March 8th we celebrated my Grandma Dottie's 86th birthday with the extended family on my mom's side. My cousins created a great quilt for her. They took pictures of grandma's 4 daughters--current and high school and then photos of all of the grandkids and their families (12 grandkids + spouses and 18 great grandkids) and made a photo quilt for her. It was really neat. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone and visiting with them.

We stayed the weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Puck's. Collin got a real kick out of the pull toy train. He would pull it a short distance and then just crack up laughing--it was hilarious!

The next weekend was Dan's Grandma DeYoung's 90th birthday party. It was held at her Retirement Residence Hall and there were many wonderful guests--family and friends. There were also some posterboards with family pictures from the past which were neat to see.

Unfortunately Collin had the flu for the weekend so we just visited for a short time to try to "reduce germ exposure". Despite a few "carpet spots", he was very cheerful throughout. And he even got some fun Easter presents from Grandma & Papa Ebbens (Thanks again!) including an Easter book and VeggieTales Video.

I had planned several "new and exciting" toys and non-toys for the party, which weren't really needed since we were only there a short time, but he really enjoyed playing with them at Grandma and Papa's house--especially while mommy made him stay on the blanket. I had a great time coming up with ideas and using many of the ideas from the books I've been reading. I had found some great little "toys" in the $1 section at Target including an Elmo backpack, sack, and notebook and a Disney Cars wallet and then found a mini fan that looks like a cellphone (2 of his "loves") on clearance at Walmart. Collin was so proud of his "ackcack" and plus its a fun word to say ;)

Some of the other fun "non-toys" we had fun with were canning rings & lids, pom-pons (another fun word ;)) & pipe cleaners, q-tips in altoid tins, cosmetic triangle sponges, and coupons (in the wallet). Some of them were a hit others weren't what I'd hoped, but overall it was a great time. I just love coming up with new "explorations" for him :)

We had a wonderful time with family...despite the "carpet spots" and extra laundry and the weekend went far too quickly.

The next weekend was Easter which we spent with my family this year. It snowed....pretty...but terribly out of season in my opinion!

We went to Church at Calvary and saw many friends there. The church was packed and the service was really nice and included an Easter breakfast sponsored by the youth group. It was a great time to visit with friends...and remember when this breakfast wouldn't have been so relaxing for us ;). Then we had lunch at Grandma & Grandpa's house. As we were finishing getting ready, Collin's cousins helped to "stretch his patience". It was the cutest thing as they read him an Easter book!

He got a bubble mower from Grandma and Grandpa Puck (Thanks again!) and since it reminds him of the vacuum--its a hit! After naptime Collin enjoyed his first official Easter Egg hunt along with his cousins. He loved it.

The eggs had coins in them (rather than candy--thank you!) and Collin enjoyed shaking each one as a noisemaker as he found it. The final egg was retrieved from above the ceiling fan--Collin was in heaven.
It's been such a wonderful few weeks visiting with family and friends!

Ode to the Vacuum

npuck@hotmail.com (Natalie) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Another one of Collin's deep loves that has been developing is the vacuum. We keep the vacuum in the front coat closet and Collin goes to the closet all the time to request that we vacuum. And let me just clear this up right away to be sure you don't have the wrong impression. His love of the vacuum has NOTHING to do with wanting to clean or be in a clean environment, etc (I only wish). I assume it has to do with the fact that the vacuum has a cord and plugs into an outlet (Collin's temptation that often lands him in timeout before our vacuuming session has ended). Plus it makes lots of noise, so it must be a really "great" electric item. A couple weeks ago we were at the neighbor's "bachelor pad" for dinner and their vacuum was sitting out in plain view. Can I just say the number of times we heard the words "backum...please" repeated was in the hundreds I am sure. Collin definitely has a one track mind! He also calls the classic push popcorn popper toy (pictured) his vacuum. After I complete vacuuming, he generally will play with the unplugged unit for 20 min or so...

I also want to note how our vacuuming practices have changed--since Collin. Previously, I admittedly did not vacuum as much as I should. Well now, I swear I can vacuum daily (I don't...but...) and still hear constant tings of little pieces going up the pipe. I think most of it is food which either has tracked from the radius of his high chair, or stuck to his rear when exiting the high chair. And we even have a "landing pad" plastic table cloth under his high chair to catch all of this food, but somehow I still find it everywhere! And it's not that he actually throws the food that often (well, this week he has, but....not normally). Anyway, that in combination with the bits of tissue, etc means vacuuming is much more frequent these days--to Collin's delight.

In other news--chance of snow again tonight! ...ug....where is spring?? Lest you think I'm exaggerating...truly it is close to being record-breaking. http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=193323. The second pic was the view out our window....for weeks. Although it has actually melted down quite a bit now, thankfully. Still piles, but not nearly so tall.

Right now Collin is also really into putting things in/out of containers--often called put/take or dump/fill play by developmentalists, etc. If you are not in sight you continuously hear pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum....pause....pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum, pum...pause...repeat as he runs back and forth from container to container across the room. Clothespins are still definitely "in" along with playing cards, books, and anything else with lots of pieces he can relocate. I just love to watch/hear it! I think it's cute. Such a little busy-body!