Collin

Our Little Collin. I took him in on Wednesday for his 15 month well-child check and shared with the pediatrician my concerns that he isn't very verbal, only knows a few signs and I'm unsure of his receptive language-he laughs at "NO." (to a teacher that means one of two things-a language delay or a behavior disorder.) She wasn't concerned, said we'd keep an eye on it and sent us on our way. Of course in the 4 days since that visit he is now clearly saying a variety of words and added a number of signs. It was almost like "oh, you were concerned? you should have said something." I'm not sure if it would have freaked me out more to have him say that or sign it. I took this video of him today as I was teaching him to use a spoon. Clearly all is well with his verbal skills and receptive language.

That Was Awesome!

We've reached that point here in SE MN where we have gotten the right combination of snow, freezing rain and cold that the snow on the ground has frozen over. If you are light enough you can actually walk on top of it, which makes for great sledding on the hill in our backyard. Will had a friend from the neighborhood over this afternoon and they were taking turns going down the hill. I wanted to get a video because they were going so fast. Will's reaction at the end is priceless.

Merry Christmas-2009

Christmas Eve

Trying to get the boys together for a picture

Note to self: do not schedule immunizations for December 23 for a teething toddler.

Pictures with the Winters kids before church on Christmas Eve.

Trying to get the Christmas Eve PJ shot, again, Collin not really about it.

Christmas morning-checking out what Santa left.

Collin got his own phone so we're hoping he'll leave ours alone, at least for the next few days.

This picture looks like the pause before the fight.

Christmas night -exchanging gifts with the Winters.

Collin playing the drum from Aunt Bridget and Aunt Franny.

I feel like I should blog something cheesy about what a magical blessed day it was, but the truth is that this month has been a little bit crazy. I recently shared with a close friend who is struggling with infertility that this was the first Christmas season in quite a few years I was excited to see the decorations go up in the store. This is Collin's 2nd Christmas but I'm pretty sure I was too sleep deprived to notice last year. For some reason my renewed excitement about Christmas also came with pressure and expectations that didn't seem to mesh with a busy full-time job and two active boys. Then I factor in a few rookie mistakes like scheduling Collin's MMR vaccine for December 23. The shot combined with teething led to a LONG Christmas Eve night of Collin fussing and Will freaking out that Santa wasn't coming because Collin was awake and crying. And then Mike's recent rental of Food, Inc. which makes you never want to eat anything that isn't vegetarian and from scratch, adds a whole new dimension to holiday cooking. While it seems like Christmas is magical for kids and a whole lot of work for moms, the optimist in me hopes to find a better way. I'm just not sure if I should start shopping for next year tomorrow or plan a family vacation and skip the whole thing!

"Just so you know, Mom, I'm really good"

Will is suited up and ready to go. This was no small task, either. For a while I seriously thought we took the wrong boots with us and left the Will-sized ones back at Tyrol in Rochester!!

Will's first ski trip. Checking things out, getting excited, looking good...

Sliding down the hill, picking up speed, feeling the adrenaline!

And wiping out. No problem, the snow is soft and he's pretty padded.

But getting back up is a challenge. "Can't I just take my skis off?" Will asks. Umm, no it doesn't really work that way.

After a few hours and a couple trips to the chalet, Will really got excited about skiing! He asked if we could buy skis so he could go down the hill in our backyard. Maybe next year. So to get the full experience of the rentals, he wore his ski boots on the ride home and held the skis in his hands until he fell asleep in the car.

That kid.

In my five years of facilitating parent/teacher conferences I can say one thing for certain. Every year you have at least one conference where you spend 20 minutes raving about how fantastic you think their child is only to have the parents look at you cross-eyed and insist you have them mistaken for someone else's parents.

While I hate to impose anything on Collin prematurely, there is mounting evidence that this will be the case. This is the note that came home from school yesterday.

First, I didn't even know Collin knew the sign for "thank you." Second, I've never seen him sign unprompted. Our usual routine involves him screeching and us modeling a variety of signs until we get to the one that addresses the need that started the screeching in the first place.

I'm happy that he is happy and communicating with his teachers at school and that he is learning and growing! And as those parents always tell me at the end of those conferences, I'm glad it is this way and not the other way around!!

Collin's Tricks

Our dear, sweet 2nd child. I have to say we've lightened up a bit, okay, maybe a lot, since Will was our baby. One of the many things we've really slacked on is teaching Collin baby signs. As he began to use screeching as a form of communication we decided it may be time to buckle down.

Here are a few of his new tricks:

He now knows more, eat, drink, milk and all done.

and he blows kisses!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We made our annual trip to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Mike's sister Chris and her husband hosted us for dinner.

Repede Family self-timer shot!

Visiting Great Grandma Repede the day after Thanksgiving

New Reading Video for Grandma

If you haven't read this one (I Picked a Flower), you may not want to watch. I'd hate to give away the ending.

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween from Dash and Jack Jack!

Collin Walking and Talking?

This first video was a Grandma Sharpe request-she needed a video of Collin walking.

Of course, I never get Collin doing anything on the first take and as I was looking at the out-takes I *think* he is saying "Will" as he knocks on the bathroom door where Will is taking a bath, as you can hear!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

October 15

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

A few years ago I didn't even know this day existed and this year there were 18 families on my list to reach out to and let them know I was thinking of them and their angels. Please say a prayer for them.

Thanks Mrs. R-H!

I have to show off all that Will is learning! We are so glad he has a fantastic teacher and goes to a fantastic school!

Happy Birthday Will!

Our baby boy is six today!

We picked out a desk for Will for his birthday. Since the start of kindergarten and his 6th birthday are only 2 weeks apart we wanted to get something special to mark this milestone year. He was excited but did ask us how much the desk cost. He has had his eye on the Lego Death Star for some time which carries a $400 price tag. We keep telling him that is more than we spend on birthdays, Christmas (car payments!) and I think he is just checking up on us.

A Harry Potter shirt from Collin.

Eating his birthday donut at his new desk.

Proudly wearing his "6" shirt!

Here he is at school with his snack to share and lactose free milk ;) His teacher was nice enough to take my camera for the day!

Passing out his birthday snack to his classmates.

Will's class!

Will's birthday cake. I am so proud of him. He was supposed to have his BFFs Henry and Josh over for pizza and cake tonight but when I got Collin at daycare yesterday he had a fever and was banned for 24 hours. I talked with the other moms and we thought it was best to reschedule and not expose the other kids so Will's "party" was cancelled. He handled it SO well!

Collin is not in the family picture below because he was covered in pizza!

Our six year old boy!

Stats

Because the boys' birthdays are less than a month apart I had the *bright* idea to schedule their well-child checks back-to-back. Lessons were learned that morning. Mike and I both went to the appointment because I needed to take Will straight to school so Mike had to take Collin to Primrose. The four of us are crammed in the exam room, Collin in nothing but his diaper. All books and toys have been removed during flu season. One of us needs to hold Collin the entire time because he LOVES cords and of course the desk in the exam room has a computer with about a thousand cords coming out of it. So much fun. Thankfully, both boys are very healthy so the most interesting part to me is the boys' growth stats.

Will-(6 years)-height 73%ile, weight 89%ile (they don't measure heads at 6y so when the nurse stepped out I used the pediatric tape measure, but it only goes up to 22 inches...) Will is closing the gap! He used to be ~50%ile for height and 90%ile+ for weight!

Collin-(1 year)-height 58%ile, weight 7%ile, head 45%ile. SO the opposite of baby Will. The pictures show it and the numbers confirm it!

Collin at 1 year (19lbs 11oz, 30 1/4 in tall, Head circ 18 1/4 in)

Will at 1 year (25 lbs 15 oz, 30 in tall, Head Circ 19 3/4 in)

Pictures!

Check out some FABULOUS pictures of the boys:

www.fotobugz.com

under "clients" the password is "Repede"  

The First Day of Kindergarten!

He's got his lunch packed up...

Our kindergartner! 

Will and Collin

Will and Grandma (I'm not sure we'd survive these two weeks without her!)

Will and Dad

Will and Mom, aka Mrs. Repede.  My eyes aren't as red and puffy in B&W. 

Will in line! 

Mrs. RH is helping Will with his name tag, but I prefer to think she is saying "Listen pal, you step one toe,  ONE TOE! out of line and  I know where to find your mother" mostly because she would NEVER say anything like that! 

Will and his teacher, Mrs. Ruffalo-Hady

Will is ready! Much more ready than Mom or Grandma were for this day. 

The kindergartners head in for their first day!

Will putting his things away in his locker.  It took everything I had to be the teacher and not the mom and let him do it himself!  I knew that would be the challenge of bringing him to Riverside.  I want him to go to the best school in Rochester (in my opinion!) but have it still be school and not mom's work. 

Big Steps

It was a big day at the Repede house.  Mike and Will rode to school with me for Will's kindergarten orientation and Grandma took Collin to Primrose for an hour so he can start to adjust to his new daycare center.  Will did a great job practicing to be a kindergartner, I'm learning to be a colleague AND a parent, and Collin fit right in with his new "young toddler" friends.  He even decided that walking may be a helpful skill in his new environment.  Here he is taking a few steps in the kitchen tonight: 

Not that we should ever compare, but here is Will's first attempt at standing alone at 10 months.  They are so different.