Art Show 2010

Colin and Mommy next to his blue and yellow painting.

Colin's school hosted its annual children's art show last night. We didn't realize what a production this was. The teachers stayed late the night before arranging the "galleries" with explanations of the skills being developed, the kids made snacks the day of. Colin's class made chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles. Everyone gets dressed up and views the art. It's a bit chaotic with kids everywhere!

Colin had several pieces on display. His tissue paper collage made it into the lobby display! His artist statement, "I pushed hard". Hmmm...interesting. Yes, I see.

Collage

One of the Galleries

Asian influence?

Flowers?

Dancing Shrimp?


Some the kids' pieces were really very good. A three year old in his class did a great still life of a banana and an apple. It's easy to see how much the kids in his class love their teachers Annie and Jackie. Colin didn't want to leave their side. They were practicing bowing and curtsying earlier that day. Colin liked to bow all the way to the floor.

Fat Lip!

Colin caught a fall with his face. Bloody lip and bloody nose.

Chef Boyardee

Colin LOVES to help Mommy cook! Here we are baking banana bread and making an all out huge mess. Colin really enjoyed tasting the batter. I put the spoon in the sink only to come back to Colin dipping the measuring cup in the bowl for one more taste!

Later we made carrot cupcakes. Colin had to wait until after his nap to try one. They're not bad...

Butterflies

Colin and I went to check out the Conservatory's butterfly exhibit. I thought it was pretty cool to see how they care for the cocoons, then release the butterfly hatch-lings. Like, ewww-cool.



Colin was sort of ho-hum about the indoor plants until he saw a little girl encourage a butterfly onto her fingers. Then, HE wanted to catch a butterfly on his finger. Catch, crush, you pick the scenario. I held him back a few times when we found some willing to be approached. The larger butterflies didn't seem to mind 2 yr. olds as much. We found a few at Colin's level and he was able to touch them with his finger. One flew off and landed on my purse. We thought that was very funny!





Other than that, Colin enjoyed pushing his stroller through the different rooms. Note to Conservatory members - I suggest installing automatic door openers! That was a pain to try to navigate Colin and the stroller through all those sets of heavy glass doors. Great gift shop though!

Go Buckeyes!

(Colin and his "cheese" face, aka Eddie Munster)

My child has a seriously scary memory! So football season wrapped up months ago and while Bill and I are fans and watch or listen to the games from home, we didn't really hit Colin with the full force of the Buckeye Nation pageantry. He could identify football when on TV, and we cheered "Go Buckeyes", but he didn't seem all that interested.

When visiting my parents last weekend, Colin saw that they had OSU coasters on the table. He grabbed them up and said "Go Buckeyes!". I put on a new OSU shirt he received from Nana and Papa W. and he said "Go Buckeyes!". Umm...when did he learn the Buckeye logo? We saw a picture of Brutus at the airport. "Go Buckeyes!". Okay...
We're at the grocery store this weekend and he sees the OSU flag. "Go Buckeyes!" At least we are identifying the "right" team!

Dropped him off at daycare today and asked if they've been talking it up since both Men's and Women's basketball teams did so well. No, they said, they haven't mentioned anything.

Note to self, watch all that I do and say around CP, (or any 2 year old)!

The Flying Bus

We had been talking up our trip north to see my family for cousin Lexi's 1st birthday. Colin and I were flying up for the weekend while Daddy stayed home to work on a house project. As we were getting Colin excited to go, I was stressing on how to travel with a two year old by myself. Well, we made it all the way down the tarmac to the plane before Colin halted, wide eyed, turned and scrambled up my leg crying "No Airplane!" He was upset all the way to our seats (mind you, I'm carrying the bags and him, the fellow passengers had that look of horror). It occurred to me that maybe he didn't like the idea of going up in the air. (Okay, really I have no idea, but this sounded good.) Quick thinking, I explained to my worried child that this was a big bus and we know the 'Wheels on the Bus' song. Whew, he seemed okay with that, but still wanted to sit on my lap and not in his car seat. We sang songs during take off, but he was still nervous. Colin was glad to get off the plane. He ran up to my mom and said "Colin on a bus, Nana!"

We had a fun time with the family. Colin got his fill of Nana's piano and a special treat playing Papa's new guitar (or bah-tar according to CP).

Colin and Lexi had fun at the mall's playland area. Colin did get a little pushy, though in retaliation in his mind, and he had one time out for hitting Mommy. Lexi crawled in and out of the tunnels and went down the slide a few times. Colin wasn't too keen on sharing his new Duplos with Lexi. "No Duplos, Secky" as he calls her. But I know deep down he was thankful for his gift from his cousin. Secky...love it. Lexi received some mega duplos for her birthday and Colin was only too happy to help her open them.



And we started Lexi on the Elmo Brainwashing...Colin with his "say cheese" face...



The big 1st birthday celebration was a lot of fun. Little kids everywhere. Lexi did great with her Ballerina Bear smash cake. The kids decided to help her!



On the way home, we talked up the Bus trip to go home and see Daddy. He was fine with all of it. We arrived at the airport and our flight was delayed an hour and a half! Fortunately, there was a short moving walkway right by our gate. So, I dumped our bags and we rode the walkway back and forth for 45min. I was getting queasy. Colin was getting tired and he was missing his afternoon nap. Finally, on the plane, settled in our seats (Colin in his car seat, hooray!), we both took a much needed snooze.

Swim Class

1..2..3..going under!
On several attempts, Colin shook his head "no", he knew what was to come.
But he took it like a champ. Oh, that chlorine was horrible on the eyes!



We are usually running late to swim class, (so hard to get everyone home, somewhat fed, changed and back to campus for a 5:50pm class. Sigh). So, we stay a little longer and let Colin slide down the water slide until his lips are purple.