Colin's Christmas Show and The Northpark Trains!

When I gave birth, there was a moment when Colin's life flashed before my eyes. Or maybe it was the life I imagined he would have. Regardless, in the matter of a heartbeat, I saw thousands of moments...his first day of school, his first dance, giving a corsage to his prom date, graduations, watching his bride walk down the aisle...it was as though a giant master list of precious moments downloaded itself into my brain and I began a lifetime worth of countdowns until all of these things happened. On Tuesday, one of those milestones occurred in real life and I knew as I was watching it that I would never forget it as long as I lived. Colin performed in his first school Christmas program. It was his first performance of any kind and the first time that I found myself sitting in a giant audience, clutching a program and reading it to find out when Colin would arrive on stage. It was the first time that I charged the video camera, put Jer in charge of still shots and perched nervously in my seat waiting for the lights to dim and the show to start. It was the first time that I felt my heart literally swell out of my chest with pride as I watched my son perform. It was the most magical moment and there are not enough words to explain how much I will cherish the memory.

I have never been so proud of my sweet boy. He was so brave, despite being nervous around big crowds. He was clearly in his element and I shouldn't have been surprised. It has seemed from the very beginning that Colin is more comfortable "performing" for people than anything else. His shyness seems to drop away when he does anything in his performance mode. He genuinely enjoyed himself during the whole show and he was on stage performing for about 15 minutes! It was amazing. I cried, of course, and spent the whole show marveling at how big and strong and beautiful and talented my baby is. It was truly one of the best moments of my life. He has come so far since he started school in September. It is hard to believe this is the same boy who wouldn't get out of the car to go in the building just a few short months ago. Here is one of the video snippets...my peanut is in the brown and white stripes.

Here are some of the still shots...I have decided that there is nothing more adorable than a preschool Christmas program!

Colin knew all the dance moves! :-)

This is one of my favorite pictures ever...Colin looks so sweet and his little friend in the red was not exactly pleased. :-) I also ADORE Arthur, the little boy on the very end in the suit. Oh my gosh, he was SO CUTE! *more about Arthur at the end of the post*

Wednesday we woke up and got ready for another big day...a trip to Northpark Mall in Dallas to see the model trains. This is a big event every year and I had been dying to take Colin. We met our friend Kayrene and her sons Ryan and Jake. Colin loved it, since he loves all things train related. He was especially in love with the conductor hat they had for sale, so we picked one up for him. I will say that he is not the biggest fan of displays that he can't destroy are not interactive, so he was rather unimpressed that he couldn't touch any of the trains. After we finished up there, we headed out to eat lunch at the food court and saw a high school orchestra getting ready to play Christmas music in the atrium. Colin was so excited! He is very serious about music and instruments and immediately asked to go down and watch them up close. We were on the 2nd level at the time and we told him he would probably have a better view from above, but he was not having it. He wanted to be right there in front of them. Kayrene stayed up on level 2 with her stroller and baby Jake and I took Colin and Ryan downstairs to watch the music. It was wonderful and Colin was absolutely mesmerized. It was blowing my mind...he was utterly still and just staring with his eyes like saucers. After each song he would burst into applause! He even pointed out to me at one point that the trumpets were playing and he loved those the most. I didn't even know he knew what trumpets were! I had a great time watching him and immediately began wondering what instrument he might play when he gets bigger. We had a great afternoon all the way around!

Here is Colin at the train gift shop...this was his kind of store! ALL TRAINS! It should also be noted that I got in trouble for letting Colin sit on that blue train. Now, the signs did clearly say "Do Not Ride", but I wanted a picture and so I fudged the rules a bit. An older man who clearly ran the place came up and told Colin to get out and then told me that I needed to do my job and keep him off the train and "make him mind". YIKES!!! I am not easily angered or confrontational in the least bit, but I came close to beating him up. I stopped myself when I realized that a) I had my child watching me and b) I technically did totally ignore his sign and let Colin climb on it. ;-) He was still a huge jerk about it, so I contented myself with imagining myself beating him up. LOL!

Here is a shot of Ryan and Colin watching the orchestra play. SO SWEET!


Finally, we have Colin back home and playing with his Thomas while rocking his awesome new conductor hat. We have been having the absolute best build up to Christmas!

*on Arthur...he is a new little boy who just joined Colin's class about a month ago. He has been VERY upset about being dropped off at school. Miss Gina pulled me aside last week to tell me that Colin took him aside that morning and put his arm around him. She snuck up to listen and she said that Colin said, "Arthur, it's okay. I used to cry a lot, too. I will be your friend. Let's go look at all the books!". Miss Gina even got teary telling me about it. She said that Colin went and got his best friend Keaton and took him over to play with Arthur, too. I just love how sweet and caring he is and I am so proud that God choose me to be the mother of such a special soul. I LOVE HIM!