Goings On...

This week has been absolutely stunning...the temps have dropped into the 80's during the day and it is just about the best thing ever! It has even been cool in the mornings! I know our super hot days are not over, but we are on the downward slope now with the arrival of September. School has started and our daily activities have gone back to normal without the presence of big kids everywhere we go. It is amazing how much more peaceful the weekdays are when school is in session. I have jumped on the good weather and taken Colin out for park play after a solid three month break. Around here, you just don't want to play at the park in the middle of summer. Unless that park happens to be underwater....but I digress. He has been having a blast to be back on the swings and his climbing skills have far improved. He takes off up the rock walls at the playground and I find myself holding my breath and praying often. My hair gets more grey with each passing day as the mother of a fearless boy! His new favorite thing on earth is to collect rocks. Jer has taken Colin out to a tiny local airstrip on several occasions and Colin spends the whole time collecting various rocks from the gravel pavement. He loves to hunt for them at the park, too. He is so enamored with finding rocks (and insisting these rocks live in my house) that I am thinking about making a trip to Michael's to find some nice ones and letting him "find" them in the backyard. He is in love with all things "choo choo train" related and we find ourselves at the Train Depot at least once a week so that Colin can have a blast with all the Thomas tables and trains. I am keeping an eye on craigslist for a table that we can have at the house, but I am still wary about it. I don't want to buy such a large thing for our already packed little house and then Colin get bored after two weeks. I think it might keep his interest, however, because he seems to really be in love with those trains. He can easily play for a solid two hours at Train Depot with no signs of being ready to leave, which is impressive for Colin's personality. He generally bores of things in record time. I found another indoor play area called Safari Park that just opened down the street from us and he adores that place, too. The downside to this place is the price, $10 per child is pretty steep for Colin's age. We will probably limit ourselves to once every two weeks at that rate. Paradise Pond is still our favorite...you just can't beat $1 to play and the place is packed with fun for toddlers. With the low rate, Colin and I sometimes go two or three times a week. I am going to back off a bit now...I don't want him to burn out on the place before I need it during the cold weather days. You just can't beat fall weather in Texas and we will be taking full advantage this year and spending as much time as possible outdoors...picnics and parks, here we come!

Speaking of parks, my sister Alieson and I took Colin for a picnic at the park today with plans to play afterwards. We even packed his little personalized lunch box that he got for his birthday and he carried it all the way to the table while looking as adorable as humanly possible doing it. The picnic was a blast and it felt so refreshing! Colin started throwing things in the trash for us (one of his favorite pastimes...Mama! I go trash!) and things were going fine. Alie and I started walking toward the trails and Colin was standing in one place screaming and stomping his feet. I assumed we walked into a random tantrum and asked him to come on and we would go play. He still did not come to me and as we walked to him, we saw them...ANTS!! His little legs were covered in them! We snatched him up, yanked his shoes, socks and shorts off and went nuts getting them off. The whole thing scared the hell out of poor Colin, who I am pretty sure just experienced his first scarring memory of childhood. These damn ants were ANGRY and bit the hell out of him. He has probably 15 bites on one leg and 10 on the other. He was a little trouper, though, and managed to stop crying and calm down after only a few minutes. He spent the afternoon getting slathered in ointments and taking Benadryl. The bites are nasty, but he is doing well and on the road to recovery. He also scored an orange creamslush from Sonic out of the deal, so I think he is okay. :-) Still, moments like these are hard on a mommy...I did not even notice the ants around us and should have been looking out for that kind of thing. I don't like my little man getting hurt on my watch! It just happened so fast!

The rest of this week will be spent running errands, my yearly OB/GYN visit, playdates with Colin and the whole waiting game concerning my VERY pregnant sister. I have gotten to the point that hearing my cell phone ring makes me jump up with excitement, only to be disappointed. I swear this is like watching a kettle waiting for it to boil! :-)