Let's Make Stuff, Shall We?

Doesn't this look delicious?

I need to stay away from Pinterest.  It is killing me.  I only thought Facebook was the greatest sucker of one's time...Pinterest is far worse.  I will put Colin to bed with the full intention of quickly checking my email and then heading into the living room to watch shows on the DVR and relax with Jer.  Then I look up and it is 11pm and I am knee deep in chocolate cakes, soap scum removal and debating the merits of making my own headboard out of old doors and a glue gun.  Or something.  I am clearly out of control.  As I type this, I am eating a corndog mini muffin.  That's right, CORNDOG MINI MUFFINS.  I saw the recipe and made them for Colin.  And he loves them.  He ate 3.  I have had 47.  I am going to have to run for an extra hour tonight after this debacle.  And then there was the great Nutella dip disaster of yesterday - I saw Nutella fruit dip front and center when I logged into Pinterest and since Colin lives for Nutella, I decided it must be made.  While he was at school, I whipped up a batch (which is just Nutella and Greek yogurt - so simple!  so easy! why didn't I think of that?) and presented it with a flourish when the little man got home.  He was super excited for chocolate fruit dip and even posed happily for the above photo.  Then he tasted it and spit it out all down the front of his shirt.  That was awesome.  As it turns out, my child does not appreciate the quality tang that accompanies Greek yogurt, despite the cup of Nutella added to it.  I then proceeded to eat a pint of strawberries dipped in it because, oddly enough, I happen to think it was fan-freaking-tastic.  I had to pour out the rest of the batch because there is only so much that my skinny jeans can handle.  I hate Pinterest.

I was a busy bee while Colin was at school yesterday!  On top of eating my weight in chocolate fruit dip, I finished up a couple of projects for the kiddo.  I extended his bulletin board around the corner in his room so that he would have more room to hang his awesome school work and he LOVES it!  After seeing the way it turned out, I plan to extend it to the floor.  Bulletin boards are so cheap and Colin adores hanging up his art.  I added the string of lights on a whim and Colin thinks it is just about the coolest thing ever.  It's rather rigged at this point, but it's pretty cute regardless.

How did I know that Star Wars would be the first poster taped to his closet door?  ;-)

I really love Colin's room.  When I found out that I was having a boy, I wandered into a little shop in Southlake Town Center that was full of custom baby rooms.  Everything was ornate and beautiful and thousands of dollars.  I was just piddling around and thinking about buying a frame (about all I could afford in this shop) when I stumbled onto a cabin/lodge themed boys room.  I knew instantly that it would be the room for Colin.  I wanted something different and special and this was so perfect.  I spent months collecting things from all over the place to make the room come to life.  My mom even made a "fishing" chandelier to hang from the ceiling!  Anyway, it has morphed over the last few years into a little boys room rather than a nursery, but I still love it so much.  Everything about his room is cozy and warm and I hope he remembers it always as being a place to feel happy and safe and loved.  It's a great room. 

A shot from New Year's Eve - we rarely get this side of his room in pictures

The view of his new bulletin board from the door

And now for the most important news - I have Colin's space/Star Wars/science themed playroom well underway!  We painted it an awesome grey color before we had new carpeting installed in December.  I got his name on the wall using cool iron signs from Hobby Lobby and yesterday, I found the Star Wars posters!!  I bought 3 and framed them with cheap poster frames from Hobby Lobby.  Colin LOVES it.  I should really get a trophy for this one - that child almost cried from joy when he saw it!  While my dreams of a shabby pink room full of ballet slippers has indeed been forever crushed, this is still pretty awesome.  ;-)  I was struck by how much this looks like a boy's room, a BIG boy, rather than a baby or toddler.  His playroom doubles as our office space, but it is clearly decorated entirely for a space loving little man.  I have a lot more to go; I want to get rid of the plastic bins for toys and put in shelves, etc - but we are well on our way! 

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away

there lived a woman without any girl stuff...  ;-)

On the other wall, I hung a GIANT map of the world.  We decided that with a pilot for a daddy, Colin should get to track where he goes.  We have started pinning all the locations that Jer flies to and it has been so much fun for Colin and a fabulous learning tool.  We look at his flight route and then check out details about whatever country he has gone to.  Jer is going to China next month, so that will be a fun one to mark down!

cutest baby EVER

In closing, Colin actually fell asleep on the couch this week - which is totally unheard of in this house.  It was so stinking adorable that I had no choice but to take a picture.  Look at those precious little feet!!  Sometimes I think that I love him so much that it's going to break me in two.  :-)  However, I quickly realized why naps aren't a good thing - it took about 4 years to get him to bed that night.  I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star about 350 times.  But that wasn't so bad, either. 

This Week

Evidence that Colin is brilliant.

The above picture is disgusting not exactly attractive, I know.  Yes, that is a bath rug and yes, that is playdough stuck to it in various locations.  But that is beside the point (if you are able to pretend you don't see the playdough).  We usually eat dinner while sitting at the kitchen counter, where I have bar stools arranged for seating.  Colin has never been comfortable sitting in the stools and recently he began pulling up toy bins and ottomans in order to reach the counter and stand up to eat.  He actually eats much better if he can stand, so I haven't minded the switch...with the small exception of how easily he can slip off his makeshift step stools.  None of them are designed to hold his weight and our ottoman even has wheels!  I told him that I would be on the lookout for a more acceptable solution and saw this little cheapo stool at Hobby Lobby yesterday for the lofty price of $4.99.  I gave it a shot and Colin quickly pointed out to me that he didn't feel safe and that it was "too slippery".  We stuck the stool in his playroom and went about our business.  When I called Colin to the table tonight, he headed for his bathroom.  I wasn't paying much attention as I was plating food and when I went to serve Colin, he was standing there with a huge grin on his face.  I looked down to see the giant bathmat with his stool on top.  He said, "Look, Mom!  It won't slip at all anymore!  We can just use it this way."  I do not have a CLUE how he thought of this on his own.  He must have noticed that the stool was more stable on the carpet in his playroom and then decided to try out the bath rug variation.  All I know is that we never said a word about it and he figured it out on his own.  Hence the ultra classy picture.  I love Colin.   Here are more lovely shots from our week:

Colin and his kitties

Colin on top of his "mountain".  The view from the top is always best.

DJ Jazzy Colin

This week has been all about Pinterest - I am on one of my kicks again.  I have so many projects that I want to take on and I knocked out this easy one first.  I made custom dry erase boards for the kitchen using two cheap frames and some scrapbook paper.  It's awesome!  I have to write myself big visual notes constantly and I usually use a sheet of note paper and stick it on the counter where I can see it.  I have come close to hanging dry erase boards in the past, but they are so ugly and my kitchen is right in the middle of things.  This is already working perfectly!  The frames just happened to fit nicely under our family picture and I think they look super cute.  It will be fun to switch the paper our for holidays!  I think they are a bit plain as of yet, but now that I see them hanging, I am planning to add some cute lettering inside the frame.  Stay tuned!  It's an easy start - I have a bunch of cool projects planned for the playroom that are going to be much more work, but I am excited to hone some new skills.  I am even planning to tackle some sewing - like with a machine - but I am nervous about it.  I have never considered myself crafty in the least bit.  The only exception would be my odd ability to write pretty letters, but I don't think that counts.  I have talked myself into giving this crafty thing a try because 1) my mom is excellent at making her own awesome decorations and 2) I never thought I would be a good cook and now it is my passion.  So I suppose even an old dog can learn some new tricks.  :-)

Chalna actually crafts. 

 

January Stuff

A very well mannered lunch date at La Madeline

A random update of random things on a random Thursday seems to be in order.  January is it's usual self...totally lacking in Christmas cheer, but here nonetheless.  I have been feeling rather blah for the last couple of weeks, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I have never been a big fan of this month.  :-)  The good news is that it's almost over!  I am feeling a burst of energy at the moment while I contemplate how much glitter I can use for Colin's class Valentine party and gearing up for a vacation to the cabins in Oklahoma with literally every single one of our best friends.  AWESOME! 

This guy is the best lunch date ever!



A handsome boy at school

Colin is blowing me away at the moment in all sorts of ways.  It seems like he has changed overnight again and that he is much older and wiser right now than he was even last month at this time.  We have the most amazing conversations and I wish almost daily that someone was over my shoulder with a video camera to document the unbelievable things he says.  We added a third day on to his school week when we got back from Christmas break and it was the best thing we have ever done.  Only 6 children attend school in his class on Fridays, so we added that day to his schedule.  His teacher reported back after only his second Friday that he is a completely different child.  He loves the tiny group and the back and forth that he gets to have with his teacher and the other students.  He has 23 kids in class on the other two days, so this is a huge difference and one that is suiting him extremely well.  He told me that "Fridays are peaceful" and "I wish it could be Friday every day!".  Bless his heart.  Any child on earth would do better with a small teacher to student ratio like that, but Colin REALLY thrives in that environment.  It makes me long for a giant trust fun so that I could send him to private school forever. 

After Mrs. Courtney reported to me that Colin was not interacting with the other children at recess and only wanted to play with her, I told Colin's therapist about the situation.  Courtney was giving Colin obstacle course like things to do (run to that fence and then gather up 5 rocks and then run back to me) in an effort to get him moving during their outdoor time and not just talking to her.  When I mentioned this to his therapist, she popped right in with the idea of Courtney taking another child of similar temperament and asking that kiddo to do the tasks with Colin.  Sheri thought that teaming him up with another child would help him create a relationship that he was struggling to do on his own.  Well, she is brilliant because it worked perfectly!!!  I feel so blessed that we have a teacher who is willing to try new things and had no problem implementing Sheri's advice.  She tried it immediately and asked Gabriella (who Colin already clearly liked) to join in.  They played that whole recess and have been best buddies ever since!  Courtney was excited to tell me about the success and has reported back that they play together all the time now.  And - the BEST part - Colin told me on Monday that when they went outside to play,  Presley asked Gabriella to play with her.  Presley is one of those girls who doesn't want to play with boys and won't include Colin.  (Girls will be girls, after all!)  Gabriella said, "No, thanks.  I am going to play with Colin."  Oh, melt my heart and soul right there!!  I could just kiss that girl!!!  Colin was puffed up and grinning from ear to ear when he told me this and I had to hide my face because I teared up right on the spot.  That precious girl has no idea what that moment did for Colin, but it certainly did a lot.  He talks about her constantly and refers to her as his best friend, which he has never done with a school friend before.  He has already informed me that he is making her "a special Valentine that is not Star Wars and has extra hearts and stickers" and also told me that, "We have to stick the stickers on carefully because Gabriella might cry if they came off and I DO NOT want to make Gabriella cry!".  I hope she doesn't break his heart right away.  ;-) 

Colin and his best girl, Evi

This month has also arrived with another big change for Colin - reading and writing.  He has always struggled with his grasp, ambidextrous issues (switching back and forth constantly without favoring a hand) and low tone in his arms.  We still go to bi-weekly OT for this, but he has never been interested in writing and is very awkward with his grip.  He is a perfectionist and never likes doing something he isn't automatically good at.  Therapy is clearly working all the way around because out of the blue, his skills have jumped leaps and bounds.  He writes his name on everything now and practices all the time.  It looks great!!  He is clearly proud of this accomplishment and is constantly asking to play with his markers and workbooks, which is new and amazing.  He used to throw his markers across the room when the "C" in his name didn't look right to him and now he sits and happily writes the whole thing.  He doesn't even get upset when part of it doesn't go right - like running out of room and not spacing properly to complete a word.  He just shrugs it off now, which is a huge step for the little man.  He also loves to sound out words around the house and figure out how they are spelled and can get the first letter of almost any word figured out on his own by sounding it out.  Today's exception was "knob".  He was pretty mad when I told him there was a such thing as a silent K.  ;-)  This interest in letters and words is brand spanking new and brings me so much joy.  As the only "literary/artistic/math sucks" leaning member of this family, it gave me a sigh of relief.  Ha!  I think he is going to be reading soon, honestly! 

My son, the genius baker.

Also going in full force this month is Colin's intense obsession with all things Star Wars.  He now owns all 6 films on Blu-Ray, as well as Star Wars underwear, pajamas, shirts and shoes.  He has the light saber (thanks, Mimi!) and tons of the Lego stuff, too.  He loooooves it.  His favorite of all the films is "The New Hope" and he watches it from start to finish constantly.  He loves the Storm Troopers, Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi (which is Oki-One-Benobi when he says it).  I can't get over how he isn't scared during any of the movies...you just never know with this kiddo!  Jer is loving this turn of events, let me tell you.  :-)  Here are a few more snapshots from our month...

Super cool dude and a dog

Colin in his fort with Enzo and Evi (the black heap on the chair)  :-)

Fine fort workmanship for a January day.  Colin dictated the sign to me.  ;-)

My latest creation - polenta with garlicky swiss chard and olive oil fried eggs! 

Lastly, as a note that actually does not involve my son, I am heavy into my cooking these days.  I have been trying to branch out and try new techniques and push my skill level and I am having the BEST time.  That is a whole other post, but suffice it to say that I am still in love with all things food related.  :-)  And there is your random January update post! 

My Shadow

Colin.  He is gifted.  He is brilliant.  He is funny (if you like knock jokes that don't make sense, like I do).  He is having a hard time making friends at school, although he doesn't know it yet.  The teachers can't get him to play with the other kids at recess...he only wants to play with the conglomeration of adults trying, no doubt in vain, to get a moment of peace in the Texas sunshine.  I like to think this is because he is way too smart for a bunch of 4 year olds.  :-)  Colin is hard to explain, although I have been muddling through it on this blog since he was 6 months old.  He sees an awesome therapist who is doing a great job with him.  He loves school.  He makes the most hysterical faces and comes up with the most brilliant things to play.  He is loving in the extreme and he is my shadow.  Literally.

Sometimes, I forget that he is different.  I keep deleting the word "different" because everyone is different and I just hate that word, but for the sake of making sense, I will leave it.  To say he is smart is too cliche...he knows all the same letters and numbers as every other four year old and he can't read yet and when he writes his name you can only just now actually read it.  In these ways, he is so normal.  It's something all together different with my Colin...his observations on the world are what remind you that he is gifted.  He lives in a special space where everything is just more.  He sees more, hears more, tastes more, gives more.  His latest teacher mentioned his giftedness to me this morning.  If you are around him for any length of time, you see it.  He says things often out of the blue that are so profound, they bring tears to my eyes.  Sometimes they are so funny that I find myself crying tears of laughter.  And sometimes I ache for him.  Sometimes I want to turn it off for him, let him be normal, let him be four.  But really, when it comes right down to it, I don't want to change him.  I just want him to be happy.  I want to give him every single opportunity to be whatever he wants to be.  I want to eliminate his fears and pain, but what mother on earth doesn't want that?  As my husband loves to say, "We all have stuff".  And we do. 

Colin had his very first night with a babysitter in December and it went swimmingly.  Her name is Rachael and she is just right for Colin...a college student who is about to graduate in early childhood education, a quiet and respectful person, and clearly more responsible that I was at age 21.  Everything about her is calming and she came over to get to know Colin before the big night, which was awesome.  When she arrived to babysit, she brought crafts to make puppets and stamps and Colin was sold immediately.  We had absolutely no problem leaving the house and he was perfect while we were gone.  The telling moment came as we spoke to her at the end of the night.  She was telling me about how fun and interesting Colin is and how he questioned everything she said and shot down some of her anecdotes.  She tried to tell him about Santa Paws, a dog that Santa has....Colin was not having it.  He explained to her that he sees Santa everywhere and has lots of books about him and nowhere does it show a dog.  Therefore, she is obviously mistaken about the existence of said dog.  She told us several other examples and said, "I quickly figured out that you guys must be realists that tell Colin exactly how it and don't encourage whimsical things...he seems so grown-up and takes apart everything that I say to him!"  I couldn't help laughing while I explained that we are absolutely NOT those kind of parents.  We encourage whimsy and make-believe and childhood joys constantly, but Colin was born too smart for his own good.  I am about the farthest thing on the planet from a realist.  LOL!  We plan to have her back soon and I am so glad that Colin enjoys adults so much. 

The picture at the beginning of this post is the perfect way to describe my days with Colin without using a single word.  I grabbed my camera before I sat down so that I could get the shot.  We are literally inseparable.  He does not do a single thing without me.  If I am cooking, he sets up a palate on the kitchen floor and moves all his toys there.  He doesn't like to play alone and enlists me in all kinds of games that always involve me playing the part of student or child and him the part of grown-up.  The only way I get to cook is by telling him that I am the cafeteria worker at whatever place he is currently running.  Last night, he was the tour guide at Legoland and I was the child on the tour.  Or he runs the grocery store and I am the patron.  Or he is the waiter or hotel worker or teacher or life guard.  I spend hours huddled in homemade forts, tucked in beside at least two of our pets and a mountain of books.  We play puppets endlessly and Lego's in heavy rotation.  We sit together at the computer while he asks long laundry lists of questions he wants to me look up the answer to.  We watch his favorite music videos and often we move the living room furniture while he leads me in dances.  From the moment he opens his eyes until the moment he shuts them, I am actively engaged with him and ensconced in his world.  He is simply not one of those children who will run off and do his own thing.  If he wants to watch a "Colin show", he wants me to be on the couch with him.  And he doesn't sit beside me, he sits in my lap.  As he is getting bigger, his lanky little legs stretch almost all the way to my feet and that is my constant view...his precious little toes floating above mine, television running in the background.  He usually begins his chant of, "Mommy, sit on the couch with me!  PLEASE!" right as I am finishing up dinner prep.  I will always hurry to get things into the oven and then run off to grab my Nook, a pad of paper and pen and whatever cookbook I am currently scouring.  I spend our time in front of the television with my head cocked to one side, using one arm to hold Colin in my lap and one arm to flip the pages in my reader or cookbook.  Sometimes my neck gets a crick in it from looking over one shoulder for too long and I switch sides.  He lays his head back against my chest and my face is always resting on his sweet smelling head as I read.  We do this all the time, this little scene on the couch.  Every morning that we don't have school, every late afternoon and sometimes in between.  He likes lots of blankets, his mama and Enzo to be with him at all times.  There are those moments when I wish that he would let me have a spare second to myself...I am human, after all.  But I think it is a gift that my sweet boy wants to do nothing but be near me, hold my hand, play with me, sit in my lap, cuddle into my arms.  He can do it forever as far as I'm concerned. 

The Post that Almost Was

I wrote a LONG post about the first weekend in December. A LONG POST. A beautifully written, carefully spell-checked masterpiece about the start of the Christmas season. My parents came and spent several amazing days with us, my mom and I shopped ourselves silly and I even got to turn into Cinderella and get all dressed up for a fancy party.  I spent a couple of hours writing all about it.  And then I deleted the whole damn thing.  I was SO mad.  So angry, in fact, that I didn't write at all over the next three weeks.  I am admittedly a bit of a weirdo when it comes to my writing.  Pouring out my heart and soul only to have it disappear with the click of a mouse did something to my brain.  I just could not bring myself to start over on that post and then I didn't want to write anything.  I can be a 3 year old like that.  :-)  So now, I am going back in and finishing all of these stories about the last few weeks because it was AH-MAZING.  We had the PERFECT Christmas season!  And it all started with this party on the first Saturday in December.  But I refuse to re-write my post.  So just trust me, it was great.  The rest of the posts are going to be back dated because I started them all, but didn't finish them.
  
Our friend Bryan invited us to his parents big Christmas shindig and it was an absolute blast!  We attended it with the Turners and Roberts and we gave those parents a run for their money!  Bryan and Eren are two of our very best friends and their parents are so wonderful.  We have gotten to know them all pretty well and even more so after we drank the better part of their collection of wine.  ;-)  It was a fantastic night and I really did feel like a princess to be all dressed up like that.  It is very rare and I won't forget that night any time soon! 

Happy Bejeweled Mama

I still can't believe I got to wear this out!

Colin LOVES it when we leave.  Can't you tell?

We clean up good!  I love Jer's tie...I wonder who picked it out?  ;-)

The Last Picture of 2011

The Last Picture of 2011

There are no words for how much I LOVE that a tradition started in 2008 is still going strong!  Tonight we celebrated New Years Eve with our usual Shaffer family celebration of delicious food and then I made the boys take our last picture.  Colin had SO much fun with it this year and I really don't know how we will ever top the above shot.  :-)  I have so many posts that are in production right now and I have certainly learned my lesson about procrastinating when it comes to the blog during Christmas.  There will be lots of December posts published over the next day or so, but I wanted to post our official last picture right on time.  I am beyond happy that we started doing this and I love the collection that I am gathering!  I am so blessed!  Here are the rest of the shots...Colin took some of his parents and we had LOTS of hysterical outtakes.  Colin was having so much fun that he wanted to set the timer and take shots all night...Jer finally gave up, which accounts for the lovely one of me and the peanut.  Have I mentioned how much I adore this boy?  :-)  Goodbye, 2011!   

  

Mom and Dad looking stunning!  ;-)

The first try and I LOVE Colin in this!  Too blurry to be "official"...

The attempt to get Enzo in the shot

Loves the camera...don't know where he gets that!  ;-)

I super love this one, too!  We had so much fun!

The Last Picture of Two Fruitcakes, 2011

It's Christmas, Ya'll!

FINALLY! CHRISTMAS! THE BIG DAY! HERE! Let me tell you, we had the most fantastic, blessed, amazing and wonderful Christmas possible! Colin woke up at about 6:30am and then went back to sleep when I got in bed with him! I still can't believe it! He woke up and called for me, but was clearly not totally awake and didn't realize what day it actually was yet. ;-) He fell right back to sleep when I got in bed and we slept until almost 8am!! WOW!! That was my Christmas present right there! When he woke up the second time, he jumped up and was beside himself to check out the spread.  He is such a special little boy.  Have I mentioned that lately?  Where most children (me included!) would run out and begin tearing into everything, Colin was very slow and thoughtful.  He carefully checked out all the wrapped presents and then would slowly decide which one he wanted to open.  He immediately asked us to save all the ribbons!  GOOD GRACIOUS!  I almost cried over that one, it was so cute.  My grandmother used to do that, so it was adorable and hilarious at the same time.  ;-)  He made sure that each and every bow was accounted for as he opened all the presents.  He loved the trampoline from Santa and was especially excited that Santa remembered his Cabela's truck and red vacuum.  He got two big Lego kits from us and literally jumped into our arms to say thank you when he saw them.  That just made my year.  Colin was so leisurely that it took quite awhile to open everything!  Once he finished, he and Jer immediately started putting things together while I got breakfast underway.  (We kept our pajamas on all day, I might add)  I used like 12 eggs to make our stuff and tried to put them all down the garbage disposal at once, which apparently is too many.  LOL!  Jer ended up under the sink to fix the back-up and it was so funny!  He is such a wonderful husband...first because he knows how to fix everything and second because he never gets upset and always takes me doing ridiculous things in stride!  I feel so lucky to have a husband that treats me so wonderfully!  He is a keeper, that one!  :-) 

Jer's parents came over soon after I got breakfast out of the oven and that was such a GIANT treat!  We have never gotten to see them on Christmas day (since we moved back to Texas) and I loved having everyone over, relaxing and eating and playing!  What a perfect morning!  I just can't say enough...we are so very blessed!!

Checking out the spread for the first time!

Look at that sweet boy showing off his loot!

 

The vacuum!  Yea!

 

Cabela's Truck! Thank goodness!

He was SO excited!

 

Glowy Christmas Morning...and an Easy Bake Oven!

 

Lucky Boy!

Joy

 

LEGO'S!

Making "Wuggle Pets" with Mom Mom!

 

Pop Pop carefully reading the Wuggle Pet Instructions!  ;-)

 

PERFECT Christmas Morning!

 

My AMAZING husband under the sink...with antlers.  I LOVE HIM.