Sunday, April 18, 2010

Just a Ton of Stuff!

The running dialogue in this journal of my life seems to be all about how fast time is flying by. For the umpteenth time in a row, I feel compelled to point out how quickly the days have run past since my last update. How is April already winding down?? There has been so much going on in our little world. We are busy and happy and overwhelmed at times, but we are having a wonderful spring, without question!

First of all, we have been attending quite a few birthday parties lately and having a blast doing it! Virtually ALL of our friends have a child born within a month time span. We have had a birthday party every weekend now since the end of March and I can say without a doubt that Colin has been having the best time. I was nervous when all the invitations started rolling in, given Colin's tendency to dislike loud, crowded events. I am so happy to report that he has been loving the parties and there has not been a single issue during any of them! When we arrive at the parties, Colin is quiet for a few minutes while he checks out the scene and takes it all in. I have learned that the key is to stay aside with him while he gets his bearings and keep the contact from others down to a minimum while he figures out what is going on. After only a couple of minutes, he is ready to explore things and immediately begins playing and having fun. I promised myself that we would try the parties, but that if he was even the least bit unhappy, I would take him out of the environment. I was fully prepared to do this, but was so excited to see him having a blast. He loves his friends and always spends the ride home telling me how much fun he had, whose house he wants to go to next, and which toys were the best. :-) Last night we attended Keegan's 3rd birthday party and it was dinosaur themed, complete with dinosaur egg hunt. Colin had the best time in the world, was so sweet and gentle (he "took care" of all the babies as usual) and behaved like a champ. Jer noted that during the egg hunt, Colin only collected three eggs instead of the whole bag full that most other kids found. He is not the child that will run into chaos and loud kids in order to find the most eggs, but he was thrilled with the ones he got and LOVED carefully finding the prizes hidden inside. What a wonderful night with great friends! Now that all the parties have come to a close, I can't wait to begin organizing Colin's. It will be here before you know it!! Here is the little man last night...hunting dinosaurs...sort of. ;-) A little over a week ago, we attended Annelie's first birthday party, only to catch a violent stomach flu along with the majority of the attendees. It was crazy!! Colin woke up throwing up at around 10pm that Saturday night and continued to do so on and off until late Sunday morning. We went through a ton of sheets and pj's and the poor baby was so upset by it. He kept asking why all the "yucky water" was coming out of him! It just broke my heart! Luckily it only knocked us out for 24 hours or so and we were back to normal on Monday. We were REALLY upset to miss Pierce's birthday party that Sunday afternoon. Colin had been looking forward to it for weeks (they had a petting zoo!) and we were all so sad to miss it. I felt especially bad for Kim because almost the whole gang got the virus, so we all missed it. I am just glad it is over!!

Jer and I decided to take Colin to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens a few days ago and it was one of the best afternoons ever. Colin adores being outside with lots to see and this really fit the bill. I would never have expected something like the gardens to be so highly entertaining for a two year old, but then again, Colin is not the average two year old. :-) He spent hours running around from garden to garden (this place is giant...it will take us several trips to see it all) and checking out everything he could. His favorite part by far was the Japanese Gardens. He asked us "is this America?" and followed that with "No, this is China!". I almost fell down. I never expected to have a discussion on the subtle differences in Japanese and Chinese architecture at two and a half. HA! He loved the whole day and has asked to go back constantly since then. My little nature lover! Here is the whole family, thanks to a nice onlooker who offered to take our picture. That is the Rose Garden down below.


Colin basking in the sun in the Japanese Gardens. I love this one so much.

Stopping to smell the roses. ;-) He went without shoes for most of the day. He gets his love of being barefoot from me.

Daddy and Colin in "Japan". I think they are so sweet in that shot!


I have a ton more to update about Colin in general, so I will make most of that another post. These days we spend the majority of our time in the garage and front yard. Colin is obsessed with being in the garage with all of the "stuff" and he will spend hours out there looking at everything and moving stuff around, much to Dad's chagrin! I have taken to setting up one of the folding lawn chairs out there with a magazine or book in hand while the little man goes through everything, plays store, and goes in and out of the parked car pretending to drive. Here he is peeking out of Dad's sunroof...which is a sight I see a lot of these days! He LOVES sitting in the parked cars. A LOT! It should also be mentioned that those dimples are the light of my life. :-)

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, those gardens look AMAZING. I had no idea that was out there. Might need to make a mini road trip one day!

 
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