3rd Year Wellness Check

Colin had his 3 year wellness check on Thursday and things went great! As usual, I could not believe that it was already time for the visit and was thrilled to see his official stats. They are:

Height: 38.3 inches (3'2)

Weight: 32.3 lbs

He is in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight, which is exactly the same as last year. Colin eats like a bird, so I was anxious about his growth. Dr. Martin assured me that he is very healthy, has a low BMI, and is growing right on target. I asked about needing Pediasure (or something like that) since he seems to eat so little, but he told me that was unnecessary and that Colin is clearly getting everything he needs. Whew! I felt much better after that! He had to have two vaccinations, which went over like a ton of bricks. At his two year, he did not need any, so Colin has not had a shot in recent memory and had no idea what was coming. It actually went worse than I imagined...the nurse laid him down and I held his arms, which he had no problem with. Then she put the first needle in and he absolutely flipped out. She was super fast and it was over in a flash, but Colin was beside himself. He was screaming at the nurse, "WHY?! WHY DID YOU HURT ME?? WHY?! MOMMY! SHE HURT ME!"...yikes! In retrospect, I clearly should have explained what was coming rather than blindside him. He would not have been thrilled about getting a shot, but it probably would have gone a lot better if I had explained it to him first! OOPS! He cried for the rest of the time, despite being given a lollipop, three stickers and a coin for the toy machine. That nurse better hope Colin doesn't lay eyes on her again. ;-)

During the visit, Dr. Martin spent time with Colin and we were finally able to sit down and talk about a lot of things that have come up in the past couple of years. He thinks that Colin is probably dealing with sensory processing disorder, which goes hand in hand with ADD and being highly gifted, both of which he shows the major markers for. Now, this was not at all a surprise to me and was not upsetting in the least. It actually made me feel better! Colin has so many "quirks", a lot of which I have blogged about and many that I haven't. Dr. Martin was able to give me lots of help and good ideas, even in our relatively short discussion, and even shared his own personal story with me. It turns out that he shares Colin's exact diagnosis! I already felt blessed to have such a wonderful pediatrician and now it seems he really is the perfect person for the job! He talked to me about himself and shared a little about his own life as a highly gifted kid with sensory issues. It was wonderful and at the very least, I now assume that Colin will also be a doctor. ;-) Colin is now on a 5 month long waitlist to get into a wonderful therapy group, which our insurance covers, thank heavens. Once he gets in, he will be assigned his own therapist that will stay with him for as long as it is deemed necessary. I am so excited for this next stage. They will do extensive testing and we will find out exactly what we are dealing with and a lot more specifics about Colin. I have talked to their office at length and I have a great feeling about this. It will be so wonderful to have someone teach Colin (and ME!) how best to help regulate his responses to life and how to learn and grow going forward. Our family has a long road ahead of us and as time goes on, it becomes more and more evident that Colin's success in school (and childhood in general) depends largely on me being his advocate. I am more than ready to help him navigate the world and I know that he is going to do great things...we just have to take it one day at a time.

The 3rd Birthday Extravaganza!

Colin is 3. He is officially 3 years old. No turning back now. :-) Yesterday was the big day and we hosted a birthday party for him at the rainforest water park that we all love. It has been a big few days around here and I am absolutely exhausted now, but very happy!

The birthday fun started on Sunday with Jer's parents. They left yesterday for a trip to Italy, so we celebrated early with them. We had Colin's annual birthday brunch at Old West Cafe in Denton and then went back to their house for some fun with the slip and slide! I borrowed my mom's awesome camera for the festivities and got some really cute pictures!

My mom and sister Meredith came to town on Monday afternoon to spend the night and attend Colin's party. My sister Alieson came to the house when they arrived and we all had a great evening together. We had dinner together at Mi Familia in Roanoke and then came back home to play. Aunt Alieson, otherwise known as the most beloved aunt in history, took Colin and Jackson for a ride around the block with their scooter and tricycle. They were following her around all night like little shadows. It was absolutely precious! After all the fun, we set up the air mattress in Colin's playroom for Jackson to sleep on. It was around this time that Colin announced that he wanted Jackson to sleep with him in his bed! I was blown away...Colin is so rigid when it comes to how he likes to go to sleep and I never thought he would really go down with Jackson in bed. I decided to give it a try, fully expecting Colin to want Jackson to leave once it really came time to sleep. We got in Colin's bed together and I read both boys a few stories while they got cozy under the covers. That alone was just wonderful and I was soaking them up! After the stories, I turned the lights out to sing Colin his songs and Jackson was the perfect prince...he got quiet and still and listened right along with Colin. I actually think he enjoyed it too, even though he is 5 years old. :-) Both boys went to sleep!! Jackson was still just barely awake when I snuck out of the bed and I kissed him and told him good night. He told me he loved me and snuggled right up to Colin. And they SLEPT! It was one of the best moments EVER! I love that Colin loves his cousins so much!!

Colin and Jackson heading around the block with Aunt Alie

Jackson and Colin! They are pretty adorable firemen!

Colin making a GIANT blue mess with his new sand and water table. We won't be buying blue sand again. :-)

Loving his new present!

Colin's birthday dawned sunny and HOT! We left early for the party, which was scheduled to start at 11:00am. We went by Sam's to pick up the cake and food...and not without the usual comedy of errors that surround any event planned by yours truly. I got a phone call the night before the party from Sam's informing me that they were not going to have my sandwich trays that had long been ordered. After talking to every manager under the sun, we realized that we were basically completely out of luck. At that late hour, the only choice was to purchase meat and cheese trays and a couple of loaves of bread. Lovely. I tried my best to just let it go and not be upset, but I was so angry at them! I have the worst luck when it comes to party planning. The same company lost our big present for Colin and that was a mess, too. Unreal. Anyway, we picked up the modified food and headed over to the water park. The wind was blowing like crazy and we had to tape down all the cute parts of the firetruck table cloths, but at least things were coming together! :-) Colin requested a firetruck/police car theme, but we stuck with firetrucks only after realizing that police decorations are hard to come by! He was super excited about the whole event and talked about it non-stop. I had plastic fire hats and matchbox cars as favors for the kiddos and the cake turned out yummy and cute. Despite all my best efforts, Colin still managed to be pretty overwhelmed once the party got underway. There was a lot of fuss over him from lots of people and he started to retreat into his shell. The whole lead up had him very hyped up and by the time folks started arriving he was getting nervous. He only swam for a few minutes and then he wanted to hide out with Mimi at the picnic tables. He was not quite his usual smiling self for much of the party and even got under the table to hide when we sang happy birthday to him! OOPS! He did get excited to share lunch with his friends and really perked up when he got to cut his cake. Opening presents was interesting...he kept wanting to stop and play with each one and not open anymore! By that point, he was close to being done with the whole thing. He is definitely an interesting little man. I thought that picking a venue that he loves and knows well would help eliminate his tendency to get overwhelmed, but it happened anyway. He has stopped being nervous at most things and has had such a great time at all his friends parties, but when the spotlight turned to him, he got nervous. He did manage to have fun despite some rough moments and I am so thankful for all of my wonderful friends and family who know Colin so well and love him so much. He got the BEST presents EVER from his friends and once he got home, he took each one out and had been immersed ever since! He keeps saying, "My friends got me so many good presents, Mommy!". He wanted to know who gave him each present and why I thought they picked it out for him. :-) It was just a wonderful party!

We spent a wonderful evening together after the party. Colin spent all night playing with all of his amazing presents and the rest of his loot from Mommy and Daddy. We gave him his big present that was from our entire family...a Power Wheels Jeep!! He lost his mind over it just as we expected he would. :-) He also had all of his dreams come true by getting piles of fireman related things...he got a fire station, several firetrucks, firemen, boots and a real fire hat! He made them all go to bed with him last night! It was a very blessed birthday for my sweet little man...I am so excited for the coming year with my BIG 3 year old boy!