Family Fuller

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks – and one quick story with no pics.

Last night we went over to a friends house for dinner. Colin had a rough night – fell on a step, got knocked into a wall, and then slipped and fell backwards in the living room. He was fine – bouts of crying but no harm done. Once we were home we talked about it and I said “it’s OK, your tough right? so it didn’t hurt you…” and Colin said to me “no mama, not tough, just happy.” I thought it was so cute.

So on to the pictures – This is Colin’s friend Sierra. We baby sat for her while her parents went to the football game a couple weeks ago. Colin had a good time entertaining Sierra and by the end of the day I had totally run out of things for them to do so they spent lots of time getting in and out of Colin’s new IKEA chair.

Colin also got a very nice present from his grandma and grandpa – a new train table. We currently have it in the living room and he has had a great time with it. Chuck and I spent a lot of time setting it all up, but that didn’t last long. The track usually doesn’t stay together for more than 5 minutes. While he naps I rebuild and then he gets up, smashes all the tracks apart and says “ah, better”. Right now he prefers to drive his trains off raised tracks and off the table all together.

Here is a picture of Colin about to start his “music” – while I was making dinner he got out all the bowls, lined them up just so and then requested “two spoons please.” You cannot believe how loud it gets when he starts banging away. All this is also accompanied by the Jack Johnson Curious George CD (which I actually love). Colin knows how to turn on the stereo, choose the right CD and press play. I have to say that all of this is hands down better than listening to the Sesame Street CD in the car – which he requests non-stop – I have no idea why I ever bought it.

Chopsticks – one day Colin was playing with two straws and told me they were chopsticks. They weren’t working that well and we just happen to have a pair of “training” chopsticks from our friends who lived in Japan (thank you Nate and Kristin). I got the chopsticks out and Colin proceed to eat his lunch with them – the fake Chicken nugs worked well – but he got extremely frustrated trying to eat slimy peaches. He just kept cutting them in half with the chopsticks.

Halloween is tomorrow – Colin and Chuck are going to be Hans and Franz – should be some good pictures from that.

I think Chuck mentioned how we got a toddler bed for Colin. It is currently set up in his room, but we still have the crib in there as well. Which is a good thing. I did get him to sleep in his bed one time for a nap by rocking him a bit and then laying down with him until he fell asleep – however we don’t want to get into that habit.

The next nap I stayed in the rocking chair and told him he couldn’t get out of bed and if he did he was going in the crib. He starts out well, laying down talking, then he kind of moves around a bit, tries to engage me in conversation “Mommy – new bed, Daddy made it, etc” – I ignore him. Then he says he has to use the bathroom (potty training is a whole other story – well basically a non-story right now). He knows I can’t refuse him on the off chance he is actually going to use the toilet. So he gets out, goes to the bathroom, of course doesn’t use it – so back in bed we go. I am sitting in the rocking chair and he is slowly migrating towards the end of the bed. Then he is dangling his feet over the edge and then he is sitting on the edge. To which I say “if you get out of the bed, you are going in the crib” and he replies “I not out, I sitting”. I can’t argue with that – he hasn’t broken the rules – but since when does my little 2 year old understand the technicalities of the rules. I just can’t believe he understands them well enough to know his is just at the edge, but not quite breaking them yet. Eventually his little toes start to touch the ground and then temptation is too much and he jumps out. I grab him and into the crib he goes – falls asleep in about 2 minutes.

That is pretty much the story of bed time right now. Oh, Chuck tried the sitting in the room the other night and it didn’t go well. Colin kept talking and eventually Chuck fell asleep in the chair. Finally Colin seems calm, Chuck wakes up, comes into our bedroom and we are talking. About 5 minutes later I look in Colin’s room and who is sitting in the rocking chair? Colin of course – rocking away sucking his thumb and then smiling at me. We didn’t hear him get out of bed at all – anyway, it was in to the crib again.

I guess we are going to have to get a gate soon and remove the crib all together – the thing is I think we are all happy with the crib right now. I know Chuck and I are and I know Colin still prefers to sleep in his crib…ah, the things having a second baby make you do

I think I might have mentioned how dangerous I’m finding it to have a camera phone, but there are some real benefits, like having a camera handy to capture this shot. We’ve got a ton of great pics we need to get up here — coming soon!

I know all parents already know this, but your kids really are a reflection of you. With every phrase Colin utters I think to myself “Where did he hear that?” Then I realize I have said it to him.

These days Colin likes to say “Sure” – if tells me he wants to go outside, then I say “You want to go outside?” he says “Sure” – as if I am the person who suggested it in the first place. Or I will say to him “Can you put this back?” – he says “Ok, mommy I try it” – imagine it real sing-songy. I guess it is because I am always saying “Sure, we can do that” or “just try it”

You cannot say anything you do not want him to repeat. For example, something happened right before his bath and Chuck says “Damn it” – I go “Chuck” – with the look of watch it – and immediately Colin starts running around saying “Damn it, Damn it”

We have also decided we have to stop drinking pop. It really isn’t fair to say “Sorry, this is only for mommy” Of course the same thing happens with beer and I don’t think we (well only Chuck right now) plan on totally giving that up soon.

Speaking of beer I have 2 funny stories…yesterday Colin and I returned the cans to Krogers and he LOVED putting them in the machine. So here I am with my 2 year old throwing Bud Light cans into the can collector – squealing with delight, while old stale beer runs down his arm…such a lovely image right? Then this morning he goes to the refrigerator to see what he wants for breakfast. He is standing there with the door open and goes “I got it…Beer!” and proceeds to carry a Bud Light out of the frig. To which I say “Ah, I don’t think so” and he goes “Oh, da-da’s beer” and puts it back.

Needless to say, we aren’t drinking beers at 8 AM – but we really have to watch what we say and do in the future

Not sure what’s happened to October, somehow a couple of weeks got past us without any blogs – and we were doing so well for a while there! Sorry to our fan base of three (yes, I think it has grown, by about 300%!).

Colin has been as busy as ever, finding new ways to amaze us on a daily basis. The latest saga is the crib-to-bed transfer, a work in progress. We made our way over to the nearly new IKEA in Canton on Friday, where we ate horrible food and found none of the furniture Jess wanted to buy…but we did manage to find a bed, a chair, and a toy chest for Colin.

With the imminent arrival of baby #2, we need to start working Colin out of the crib in time for the late February arrival, and we (rightly) anticipate a long transition. We’re 2 nights into it, and so far he’s lasted about a half hour each night before he gets up and starts wandering around the upstairs (recently learned how to open the door, great timing for that).

I’m sure this will be fits and starts. But compared to the next big milestone – potty training – it should be a breeze.

Here’s some recent pics of little C and from Uncle Fletcher’s trip to Motown, where we watched the Yankees get embarrassed by the now American League Champion Tigers.

I guess Colin always asks to ride this at the grocery store, only Dada is a sucker and lets him do it.

This is from a Michigan football game day, hence the full Michigan gear – and wouldn’t you know Colin managed to find a Michigan dog – I’m going to go broke now that I have a camera phone.

Colin pretends this emergency booth is a rocket ship – likes to get inside and count ‘1,2,3,blast off!’

Ah playoff baseball…

Bearded Uncle Fletch gets to check off Comerica Park from the list of baseball stadiums to visit – too bad the game’s result was less than he and I had hoped for.