Then...On To Being Goofy

Colin has taught himself to burp on command...his command. Not sure if this is one more thing he's picked up from the big kids in his class, but I'm not amused.

Other funny-isms.

If he doesn't get his way, you are not his best friend anymore. Nice. I just say, "Nope, I'm your mom".

We spent the night at Nana Mary and Papa Beard's house before heading up to the Lake. Upon arrival Colin greeted them with big hugs and then asked, "Where are all my cousins?" For in his more recent memory there was a house full of relatives visiting for the holidays.

He is eager to be 4 years old so he can be bigger and faster.

Colin is definitely comfortable with technology and expects everything to work like an Ipad. He was touching the graphics of the NASCAR race on Kathy and John's TV trying to move them out of the way. On the way to the Lake he was getting ready to watch a movie on his travel DVD player and asked, "Where is the YouTube? I wanna watch a show." And, he's found all the game apps on my Ipod.

Some tough questions

"Mommy, am I going to die?"
Ummm....long pause.
Well, yes, after a long, long, long time, everyone dies. Elephants, birds, bugs, people...
"I don't want to die. Why do I have to die?"
You don't have to worry about it for a long time. After many birthdays, probably not until you're 99 yrs old and a grandpa.
"I'm scared to die."
It's okay to be scared. I don't like to think about it either.
"How do I die?"
After many years and many birthdays, our bodies slowly stop working and sort of like closing our eyes, we die.
He hunches his body over. "Like this?"
I guess so. I don't really know what it's like to die.
"Then do we come back new? As a new person?"
Some people do believe you come back new as a person. Some people believe you can come back new as an animal. There are lots of ideas of what happens after we die.
"I want to come back new."
Okay, me too.

So unprepared for these conversations with my always processing 3 year old.

Lake Week 2011

We enjoyed great weather for Lake Week 2011. Most everyone was able to make it in for some or all of the week. Colin loved having Zoe and Justis to play with and only beat up on them a few times. Naptimes and bedtimes were an after thought as we swam most days and chased fireflies at night. By the end of the week Colin was very comfortable "swimming" when loaded up with his life jacket and water wings.

Colin was convinced to go on the boats when we said he could drive. I picked up some kid-sized gardening gloves at the Hidden Lakes gardens, and he used those as his driving gloves, weeding gloves, and super hero blasting gloves.






Midweek, we gave Colin a haircut. It was meant to happen in two stages. The first stage was a faux hawk to let us get started. Then he loved it so much he didn't want to sit for another trim. However, he didn't want his hair spiked, so it was an odd looking faux hawk. We have yet to get him to Great Clips for a clean up. Justis liked it and asked Uncle Bill to buzz him down too. In the photo below Colin is sitting in his old excersaucer still at the lake. I don't know how he still fits (sorta), but you can see his lovely hairdo.

Dinos and Diggers

Nana Sheila was visiting for the weekend and we took her to COSI to see the Dinosaur exhibit and Construction trucks.




Colin liked the dinosaur activities, but was very wary of the big moving dinosaurs. The T-Rex did appear to keep his eyes on you.

Graduation, sort of...

Colin and his fellow Penguins at school put on a dance show for their end of the year celebration. They danced and sang to some of their favorite songs. Their teachers, Anne and Jackie, videotaped the performances and shared with the parents. It was quite entertaining to see how they corralled 8 toddlers for several songs, showcasing some skirmishes, tussles, and yelling. Funny. For their special performance they worked on making tie-dyed t-shirts.

Below: Colin and his class, and then Colin with his buddies Ingrid and Addie. The "Big 3" as they were called moved up to the Bunny Room two weeks ago. We are still having some morning battles getting him to go to his new classroom, but he doesn't want to leave at the end of the day. So, I think he's okay.

The Spelling CP

So, as Bill put it, "the safety net is gone!" No more spelling words in front of Colin to have an adult conversation.

The other night, getting him ready for bed, Colin had a sore, red bum from a bout of diarrhea. As we were prepping with some aquaphor, Bill mumbles to me something about Colin's "a-s-s" and how quickly it gets a rash. The conversation moved on and the next day Colin's bum was looking better.

The next morning, we're getting ready for school and Colin asks Bill, "What did you say about my bum yesterday? My bum was red and you said something." Neither of us really recalled the conversation, and Bill said, "Your bum was red and we put cream on it." "Dad, you said a-s-s. What is that?" We couldn't look at each other. :) Fortunately, Bill came up with some explanation talking about his bum and then moved the conversation to one of the books in the bathroom about boats and that they say S.O.S. when someone is in trouble. Hopefully, the attention diversion buys us some more time. Or, he'll use it at Daycare much to their surprise.

Seriously, he's three and already we can't spell in front of him? Oy!

School Transition

Colin is in his last week of being a Penguin at school. He and a few classmates move up to the Bunny room next week. He's been talking about becoming a Bunny for months and one of his 'best buds' is already a Bunny. That was until the transition started -visits to the Bunnies and getting to know his new teachers. Colin hit the brakes! He definitely needs time to assess the new situation and I think he finally realized what it's going to mean to be a Bunny: new room, new (older) friends and new teachers. He doesn't want to leave his favorite teacher, his love, Annie.

We've been talking about the changes and that they can be scary and different, but he's going to be okay...I explained that this is his last week as a Penguin and that next Monday he moves to the Bunny room. He thought about it for a minute and said, "I think I'll take that day off."

I think we are going to have a few weeks of rough transition, then he'll be fine.