One Long Week!

This has been quite a week in our little household! Wednesday was Colin's actual birthday and we had a very busy day. We met our friends to play at The Ark and Colin had a great time, for the most part. He got hit and shoved HARD and on purpose for the first time in his life, which did not go over well. There was a bigger kid there who was a pretty big bully. I happened to look up and catch him beating up on Colin and I felt fire wash over me. It is so strange to experience such a visceral response...my first instinct was to snatch that kid up and hit him back. Of course, I refrained. ;-) Being Colin's mom has taught me not to judge a book by it's cover and he could have been a nice kiddo who has his own set of problems, but man was that hard to watch and deal with calmly! The moment passed quickly when I told Colin that we were heading to his next surprise, Chuck E. Cheese. It is amazing how much he loves that silly place. We had lunch together and spent a good deal of time playing. Then, we just happened to run into Colin's best friend Keaton from school last year! Colin was beside himself with excitement to see him and we plan to have a playdate soon. It was such a blessing to run into them. Colin has been asking about Keaton all summer and I had stupidly forgotten to get his contact info before the school year finished. Now they are reunited!

Here is a pile of Ryan, Jack and Colin at The Ark. They are such wonderful boys!

Colin is all smiles at his birthday lunch!

Showing off some considerable dance moves at Chuck E. Cheese. He clearly takes after me. ;-)
Among all the other loot that he raked in for his 4th birthday, he got his first bike from us as his big present. He was a little nervous at first when he saw it, but he warmed up quick and took it right outside. We didn't stay out there long since it is roughly 300 degrees outside at the moment, but he LOVED IT! We just took it to the pool tonight and I got a little choked up over it. There is Colin, on a bike and wearing a helmet, riding down the sidewalk in front of me. It made him seem so old!

Colin woke up with a horrible cough on Thursday morning at 2:00am...and proceeded to stay awake all night. It was brutal! I was like a walking zombie all day on Thursday and then Friday morning he was up at 4:30 with the same cough, but this time he threw up. Gracious! Oddly enough, he seemed much better after that and has been doing fine ever since...even the cough is gone for the most part. Very strange. Needless to say, I am worn out!

In one last update, we had a very bad experience at the pool tonight. A teenage girl had a major seizure right in front of us. Literally right beside us. She dropped to the pavement and went into the full deal and it seemed to go on forever. I have never seen anything so scary in real life. Her eyes were rolled back and she was seizing so hard and I felt completely powerless. I wished I could help her so much. Now, Colin was right there with us and I didn't know what to do. I tried to get him away, but he was not having it. And here is yet another example of how Colin surprises me constantly. My first thought was, "Oh, no...he is going to lose it over this". Honestly, it scared the fire out of me and I am 34 years old. All the other children at the pool started screaming and crying...each one feeding off the others and everyone getting upset. Colin, however, went calm and stoic. He watched the girl intently and asked me what she was doing. I told him that she was having a seizure and he asked me without taking his eyes off her what that was and how it happens. I didn't have a lot of answers for him, but briefly explained that some illnesses cause seizures. He asked me if she would be okay and I told him she would. People were running around calling 911 and Colin didn't move. He sat on the pool steps and watched everything, asking quiet questions about the police, fire truck and ambulance. He fired off lots of questions about the causes of seizures and wanted to know what the paramedics could do to help her. He informed me that they probably had a shot of something that would help her. :-) I made him get out of the pool in order to avoid being gawkers at the scene of an accident, but Colin was adamant that he stay until the ambulance arrived. He asked me to wrap his towel around him and he perched silently on a chair watching everything happen. I have never seen him so calm. He did ask me if he could ever get a seizure, but once I assured him that he wouldn't have one, he let it go with no fuss. He was all business. It's hard to describe...I expected something like that to scare him, but he wasn't upset in the least. He watched everything the way a scientist would...as though he was absorbing what the process was for this and making mental notes about it. His whole being focused calmly on the situation and again, I pictured him making an excellent doctor. Maybe the ER is his calling. :-)

Obviously, it was an interesting night and I am glad to report that Colin is now sleeping and I am about to be, too! I will be saying an extra prayer for that family tonight.