Family Fuller

Colin usually wakes up around 7 or 7:30 (except when daddy wakes him up “accidentally” before he goes to work :). We come downstairs, Colin insists that the radio be turned on by making the “more” sign (which to him now means “want” and is used non-stop all day - which I guess is better than crying) and saying “ball” - which I guess means the volume dial on the stereo because it looks a little like a ball. So he listens to NPR and reads a book while I make breakfast. I proceed to try to force feed him some fruit, he fights me and then eats a big bowl of oatmeal. Next course is either bagel, waffle or cheerios and if I am lucky strawberries.

After breakfast we move to the living room. Colin will give me about 5 minutes of peace, playing with his toys then it is into things he should not be playing with, e.g. the TV, Christmas tree lights, electrical outlets, the stairs, etc. So we play with toys for about an hour, we might watch a bit of Sesame Street, he taunts Sevi for awhile through the gate. Meanwhile constantly making the want sign - he wants whatever I might be drinking, wants the TV, wants the dog, wants me to get a book out, wants to go upstairs. I give in on the going upstairs, so he climbs up - goes to the office to look for da-da (who is as work). Crawls into the bathroom, opens the garbage, climbs up on the stool, tries to eat the soap. I pick him up and move him to his room where he dumps all the toys out, opens the dresser drawers, walks around holding on to things that are not stable, pulls the clock off the table, etc. Finally he calms down a bit and asks to read “ocks” - which is Dr. Seusses “Fox in Socks” - so I read it for the first time of probably 3 or 4 times during the day. I put him in his crib and he cries a bit/plays and if I am lucky falls asleep.

Generally his naps are about hour to and hour and a half and right now we are transitioning to one nap a day. So lets say he gets up at 11:30. Then it is lunch time - and we start over again

Colin has to chew on everything - he even has a shirt that confirms that fact. How do you possibly break kids of this habit? Apparently the experience of chewing on things that most people wouldn’t want to chew on hasn’t done the trick. He chews on his toys, he chews on his shoes, he chews on the side tables in our living room…and keeps on doing it over and over again.

I’m sure this is just one of those first-time parents things, and with a second child you just don’t care, but I’d love to move away from this. I just hate the thought of his gnawing on those shoes after he’s walked around for a while somewhere.

Another interesting habit I’m sure Colin doesn’t want me to blog about is a bathtime thing. Trying to get this guy to drink something during the day is always a chore, but as soon as he gets in the bath, if I’ve left a cup in there, he’ll start slurping down lukewarm bath water. Can’t quite figure that one out, but the cups are officially out of the bath for now.

Colin has been taking steps for a while now, but just when I think I know exactly what he’s going to do next and how long it will take, I’m usually wrong. I figured as soon as he knew how to take a step, he’d be zooming around the room, but he’s taking his time. He walks around things constantly, and he was very excited to get a little car designed for him to walk behind from his Nana (that’s Mary Ellen, Jess’ Mom). He loves to walk with that, unfortunately our house isn’t quite big enough to give him a lot of running room. Even if he runs it into the wall, he can still press one of the numerous buttons to start up a song (yeah, it’s a bells and whistles toy, but I’m letting it slide this time). The best part is when he gets to one of the four or five songs he really likes, then he does the Colin Dance, which is sort of a full body spasm - got to get it on video.

He has figured out how to get behind the table though, anything to get close to a dangerous electrical outlet or appliance of some sort (just to keep Jess on her toes):