Tenacious Twos with a Precocious Preschooler

I was thinking of saying I delayed posting beyond Colin's 2nd birthday because I was waiting for him to reach his recent speech milestones such as saying of his own volition "I'm sorry Mommy", and "I love you, see you later".  Truth is, I don't have an excuse. 

The montessori preschool that Colin attends has been great and he's learning lots.  He know many letter sounds and can count to fourteen, as long as you don't care about the number 8.  Who needs 8 anyway?

 


Colin on numbers:
L:  How old are you?
C: two!
L: and how old do you think Mommy is?
C:   hmmmm.....seven!






He is also learning concepts like First , After, and Not Safe . These things are immensely helpful in preventing tantrums and communicating with him.  When he is upset, he can tell us why and have us kiss the appropriate body part that is hurt.  His fine motor skills are coming along too- he is pretty accurate with a little hammer and can cut soft things with a knife.  Now if he could only pull up his own pants...

The preschool has 4 chickens and a little garden to take care of.  A farmer has been visiting once a week, bringing different animals for the kids to meet.  Apparently last week the farmer brought a turkey- great timing on that one ;) 

Colin has been heard singing at home and his first school concert this week.  His class will be singing Jingle Bells and Little Snowflake.  Kudos to the music teacher for taking on the task of getting 2-4 years olds standing together and doing anything simultaneously!  Colin asks to hear the Little Snowflake song almost as much as he asks to hear "Let it Go" from Frozen.  I've taken to adding lyrics to "Let it Go" anytime I need Colin to get his hands off something.  Other songs Colin can (somewhat) sing are ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, as well as some lesser-known songs that are part of the school music curriculum- (Apples and Cherries, I've got the rhythm...)

We got our Christmas tree up this weekend and Colin often looks at it and says "soo prettty!"  He recognizes pictures of Santa claus and is going to be asking for some train stuff for Christmas.  He is really into Thomas the Tank Engine now.  He knows the names of most of the characters.  I think Robert is hoping Colin will pick up a British accent from the show.

It's entering the busy time of the year for us.  I don't really have any interesting things to say about Robert and myself but everything is going fine.  This will be our first holiday season without visiting our family and friends in Alabama, so that tough, but it also gives us a chance to make our own holiday traditions and decorate our own Christmas tree.  Merry Christmas Y'all!

almost 2

Colin will be 2 in a little over a month so I thought I'd give an update on his skills.  We can actually communicate with him pretty well.  He strings words together to make concepts and categories such as "dark-moon-stars-night night".  He has a big vocabulary, even if it is a little challenging for a non-parent to dicipher some things.  Eg. Pronunciation of some favorite foods:
Faffle = waffle

Aig= egg
Muk = milk
Bish= fish (goldfish crackers)
Meeyos= tomatoes
Nudenells= noodles
Hofoo= tofu
Keeny= zucchini
Kayetts= carrots
Wobble= water bottle


I realized today that Colin has an imagination.  He frequently lines his toy cars and trucks up into a traffic jam, but toy cars are fun on their own without having to pretend they are real cars.  Today, he pretend-fed a wooden horse some "hay" which was really playground mulch.  He has a great memory and can recognize several letters and their phonetic sounds.  He says "C- Colin" and "R- Rawr!". 

He loves helping make dinner-mainly so he can snack on the ingredients.  He can peel cilantro leaves from the stem, mix things, and pour things.  I like having him "help" because it means he isn't getting into something somewhere else in the house.

Colin likes to watch "Doege" (Curious George) and "Tiger" (Daniel Tiger's neighborhood), and the movie Planes.  He likes to go outside to watch the Airplanes and "Hopters".

Colin is learning to put his toys away when he is done and often does it without being reminded.  They do this at his montessori preschool too.  A few weeks ago I put a lot of toys away so that he only has one puzzle or toy (or group of similar toys) on each shelf in his room.  I haven't stepped on a lego or hot wheels ever since!  I do switch out toys occasionally so he doesn't get bored- but the hot wheels "truck bucket" is his favorite.

He can identify a cello, a guitar, and a violin and asks for "songs" on instruments.  He likes to sing along with 'row row row your boat" and "head, shoulders, knees and toes".  He has started singing rhythms on the syllable "ba".  He likes it when I repeat his "song". 

Sometimes I don't like that Colin spends so much time in preschool/daycare but he seems to enjoy it and get a lot out of it.  Also, I love it when he runs and hugs me when I pick him up from school. Then he grabs his backpack and says "bye bye!" to the room as he drags me out the door.

End of Summer

 

We just got back from our 3-week vacation in Alabama.  It was great to see our family and friends there.  It's also great to be back in my own bed at night and to have our Murphy dog back.  In two weeks I'll be going back to teaching and Colin will be starting Montessori preschool.  I'm excited about that.  He's at the point in his development where his language skills are exploding.  He will put two or even three words together sometimes to make a thought and says words that we never explicitly taught him on a daily basis.  Words like coffee. lol.  He can say cello and calls any stringed instrument a cello.  We are working on guitar but he calls it a tea-car.  He loves to imitate and identify farm animals and point out parts of the body.  Colors are still hazy...starting to wonder whether he is color blind or just likes arguing with me.

 This summer has gone very fast but it'll be good to get back into the swing of things.  I'm going to take a few private cello students and audition for a local symphony.  Robert is starting a new coffee-house style gathering as part of his ministry on campus.  Colin will be learning to take turns, clean up after himself, and feed the chickens at school.  Peace out!

18 Months

Colin is 18 months old...or just old enough for me to stop counting months and say he's a year and a half.  He's 50th percentile in length, weight, and head size.  Perfectly average.  His vocabulary is expanding bit by bit.  It's not all clear yet but here's the list: 
Dog
Cat
Duck
Uh-oh
Shoe
Sock
Eyes
Apple
Bubbles
Outside
Yeah
Yep
Hey
Bye bye
Da Da
Block
Ball
Puppy
Up
Baby
Lights
Potty
Water
Balloon
Yes
and as of today...No.

 I had not been looking forward to "No" entering his lexicon.  I'm still not quite sure he knows how to use it.  Whenever you ask him a question, the answer is almost always "yeah" or "yep".  But then, I tend to ask him questions that I already know the answer to.  For example:  Are you hungry?  Do you want to go outside?  Do you want to take a bath?

Today I was loading the dishwasher and Colin grabbed a butter knife.  I took his hand in mine and said "no", placing it back in the dishwasher.  He smirked and immediately did it again.  This time I said "no", placed the knife back, and...he hit me.  I said "No hitting" and carted him over to the "time out corner" where I sat down behind him.  He looked over his shoulder at me, looking sad, and said, "No!"  I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

 Colin seems to eat nonstop.  He almost always finishes every meal I prepare for him, and asks for one or two snacks between meals.  He's not picky as far as flavor goes, but he doesn't seem to like fresh vegetables.  Too crunchy I guess, but he'll eat most things cooked.  He can drink out of regular cups quite well but enjoys making a mess as soon as his thirst is quenched.  He can also drink out of straws but tends to tip the cup up even when using the straw.

Colin often asks to go to the potty these days, but its mostly fun and just for show.  Actually eliminating into the potty is rare.   He says "uh oh" after he wets himself sometimes.  I got him some training pants but he's not quite ready yet since he doesn't really care whether he's wet most of the time.

The big improvement in the last few weeks has been in his sleeping habits.  Over spring break we transitioned him into his own crib.  Not long after, he started going to sleep without fussing or crying at all.  No, we didn't let him cry it out- he's just more confident now.  He still wakes in the night but usually only once or twice...meaning I am getting as much as 7 hours of sleep in one chunk!  Until a few weeks ago I hadn't slept more than 4 hours at a time since he was born.  No wonder I've been so scatterbrained, huh?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  Colin just turned 15 months.  He picked up a lot of new skills over the holidays while we were in Alabama.  He now says "Hey" and "Bye Bye" at mostly appropriate times and waves his hand.  He is able to communicate through pointing and using American Sign Language to sign "milk" and "more".  "More" means exclusively food to him, and Colin has developed plenty of food preferences.  Grapes are a favorite, as is ham, pork, green peas, sweet potatoes, and most fruits.  He'll eat ethnic foods as long as they aren't extremely spicy.  Tonight he had a plate full of Balti Beef & green beans, a Pakistani dish.

Serious foodie

Yesterday was Colin's first day at daycare without mommy milk and my first day at school without toting along the breast pump.  I'm glad not to have to spend that time every day and worry about how to store breastmilk on the move, but it is a little sad to know that he is another little step away from needing me so completely.  He isn't completely weaned but nursing is just for comfort now and that is fine with me.

Christmas Elf

Colin asleep on an airplane with Robert

Some of his favorite things these days are stuffing peas and beans into his sippy cup straw, hide and seek (he's always it), and telling us what things are over and over.  His words are Block(bah), ball (baw), dog(daw), cat (tat), duck (dut), airplane (erp), and Daddy (dada).  He's very good-natured but still a handful.  Also, he slept through the night last night, 8:30 to 6:30 or so...First night to do that in a long while but I don't want to get my hopes up.
School's going fine.  I'm glad to be starting new pieces with my students.  School isn't back for ASU yet but Robert is busy getting dental work done, and then he'll be going off to Isreal for almost two weeks.  Exciting times!

Thankful

Hi all!  Happy Thanksgiving!  This year I am thankful for a growing boy who is silly and smart.  Today he brought me his shoes and said "sheh", I put the shoes on him and he promptly took them off again.  I didn't know he was able to say "shoe", let alone work the velcro.  Over the last few days, he has also been excitedly waving his hand and saying "hi" over and over.  He can wave and say "bye" too, but generally does it after we've already left whoever he was supposed to be saying it to.  He says Daddy too.  And blows raspberries on your belly or leg when you aren't expecting it.

I am thankful to be going back to Alabama for Christmas so Colin can see the grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousin.  I am thankful for friends and family.  I am thankful for my students and helpful teachers.  I am thankful for my husband and his love and support, especially when he helps me fix my mistakes without judgement.  Love to all and Happy Holidays!

1 Year Later

 Colin is one year old!  He is very mobile, into everything, and likes walking outside.  I'm surprised at how tough he is.  Although he tumbles into things several times a day, he rarely cries about it.  Colin is eating mostly table food now and he generally eats what we eat.  He walks around with his snack container of cheerios, eating and sharing with Murphy.  He's still a happy kid most of the time, though his eighth tooth has been a painful one to come in.  He babbles alot and can be loud.  New words are "dada" and "ball" but more impressive is his skill in imitating us.  He can wave hello or goodbye and laughs when other people laugh as if he gets the joke!  He often makes a questioning sound as he points to things.  "Boouh?"  I guess he's trying to figure out what everything is.






Work has made me busy.  I have a lot of good students and I like my job, but man I'm I tired of being a "first year teacher" all over again.  There is a good bit of pessimism over the state of educational funding and the impact, particularly in our district, of the lack of funds.  First concerts are just over a month away, so its about time to get the nose to the grindstone for these kids.

 Here- have a sleepy baby picture!