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!!