Germs, Coughs and Fevers

Finally, I have found the right format on my new camera for posting videos. It takes HD but they don't work on here. I have videos of Colby singing, saying his name, holding up 2 fingers to show he is two but unfortunately they are all unable to be posted on here. Guess I will have to try and recreate those.

First week of school, and I am already run down and sick with a sore throat, aches, and fever. Colby's day-care called Jason on Friday to say he wasn't acting himself. He was very fussy, wouldn't eat or nap. So Jason went to pick him at 12:30. I left at dismissal and got home by 4:00. I called the pediatrician on my way home and described his symptoms. He had had diarrhea the day before and a runny nose all week along with white gooey matter that continuously would collect in the corners of his eyes. He would also get these blotchy red patches on his face and trunk that would come and go. They said they could see him that afternoon at 5:40.

Here is a picture of sick Colby before leaving to see the doctor.
Turns out he had his first ear infection. She prescribed an antibiotic to take for twice a day for the next 10 days along with this powdered stuff (Flostar) to mix into his food to help with the loose bowels since the antibiotic may cause diarrhea and it does! Jason is also under the weather.

Here is Colby on Sunday. He loves to play with his train. He hooks the cars together and pushes them around. He also sits on it and says "choo-choo." We layed low this weekend and tried to get as much rest as we could. But by Sunday evening we had cabin fever, so Colby and I went for a bike ride.
Testing out the video feature, VGA format.

Ele-Fun: New Toy

Last week, my friend Cathy and her daughter visited at work and stopped by to drop off a birthday girft for Colby since they were out of town on during his birthday party. She said this toy was her girl's new favorite thing to play with.

While I was giving Colby his bath, Jason put the new toy together. It is an elephant with a 4 foot trunk that blows air and shoots out little butterflies. You use a net and try to catch them as they float down.
At first, Colby raised his net in the air and jumped up and down. Then, he squatted to pick up all the butterflies off of the floor and completely missed the shower. After several rounds we called it quits so he could go to bed. He was begging for more flies. This might be our new bedtime routine to get out the last bits of energy.

(Click picture to view bigger)

I had several videos, but they are set in a format that is not compatiable to view. I'm still learning how to use my new HD Digital camera. I will try again latter.

2nd week of work - Pre-planning

I have survived another week of work, pre-planning. Boy was it a long week. By Tuesday afternoon it felt like the next day should be Friday.

This busy week included a welcome back breakfast, a very looooong staff meeting, an off-campus staff development, meet the teacher, training, filling in as the tech since our TC quit 2 weeks before school, laminating over a thousand feet of items for the classroom teachers, and setting up the library for a new school year.

Colby has finally gotten used to daddy dropping him off and no longer has his meltdowns that he did the first week. He still is not napping as long as he used to and some days not at all. He seems to be eating well and enjoying a variety of healthy foods. On Thursday we swapped roles since Jason had someone coming out to inspect the new solar hot water heater. I got to experience the heart wrenching ordeal of dropping him off and Jason enjoyed being the hero and picking him up. I'm glad that I don't have to go through that every morning. Not only did it take me 45 minutes to get to work instead of my normal 20, but it kicked off my morning on a sad note.

Below are the daily reports from this week.
Monday:

Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:

Next week it looks like they are starting a real curriculum and have sent a letter asking for some items to be brought in. I have a zip lock back filled with round caps for Colby's circles. We tore a picture of a tractor out of the Northern Tools catalog for his picture of 1 item and for the letter C, he is bringing in his birthday crown that he loves to wear around the house.
The Menu from this week:

Next week's menu: http://www.kidsrkidsorlando.com/Parent-Area/Menu.php

This weekend he has had nose that won't stop running green snot. We've laid low and and gotten in lots of rest. I'm dreading having to use my sick days to keep him home when he is sick this year. Our pediatrician told us September 1st they will have the flu shots available. After last year, you bet we are all getting them this year!

Colby Videos

Here are some video I cleaned off of my camera. I could not get them to load directly onto here. (My new camera takes video in HD and takes forever to upload). So it was quicker to upload them onto Smilebox, and then post the Smilebox on here.

There are 4 in all.
One of him dancing while waiting for the Elmo show at Sea World.
Making Chocolate Chip GOOKIES.
Saying his name, Colby.
Singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and doing the hand motions.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First Day of School

Colby's first day at school was today. He is in the 2 year old class. I worried about him since he has such a hard time adjusting when he went for 3 days in June. We went by to visit on Friday to drop off supplies, pay, and meet the teacher. He began crying as soon as we hit the parking lot. I had to drag him out of the car and carry him in and we were only visiting!

Jason got him there by 9:00 this morning so he could join his friends on the playground. He clung to Jason and boo-hoo'd. The new friends swarmed to Colby which overwhelmed him. We each kept tabs on him throughout the day on the web cam. Jason noticed after the playground he sat at table by himself while others played. I was surprised he did not nap at all!

When I came to pick him up, he was watching for me through the glass window and began yelling "mommy, mommy" as soon as he saw me. Instead of wanting me to pick him up like last time, he was excited to show me a toy grocery cart he had been pushing around. Jason noted that he had been playing with it for over an hour.

I could not believe all that he ate today. The teacher said they start out with the vegetable, (today it was green beans) when they eat all of that they get the entree (chicken and rice), then the fruit (pineapple). He set the bar high today, hope tomorrow goes as well!

The best was when we got home, we climbed into bed and read books and cuddled. Every time I turned the page, Colby when lean over and kiss me.

2 Year Well Check-Up

We went to the pediatrician on Friday for the 2 year check-up.

Here are the 2 year stats.
28 lbs. - 50th%
34.5" tall - 75th%
19 3/4" head circumference 90th%
He continues to be my thin, tall boy with a big head!

The doctor wanted to know if Colby could climb up and down stairs – yes!
Can run, and jump – yes and yes!
Sleep through the night – yes 12-13 hours!
One nap – yes 2-3 hours!
Speaks 25-50 words. Hmmm, I hadn’t counted but if this was average, I’d say yes since I haven’t been worried.
Engages in pretend play – yes, feeds Elmo cheerios and gives him a paci, and kisses him!
Imitates behavior, yes! Catch him talking on his phone all the time.
Says any 2 word sentences, yes and has started to string 3 words together to communicate ideas.


2 Year Old Well Child Check
http://www.intpeds.com/index.php/id-2-year-old-well-child-check.html

The 25 – 50 words intrigued me so that night Jason and I began brainstorming and writing down all the words Colby says. I was impressed that our list quickly grew to well over 100 words! Here are the words we could think of that Colby regularly uses. I’m sure we are missing some.

Colby, mommy, daddy, papa, Bebe, Tucker, help, ball, hat, fast, boat, fall, car, water, tractor, cat, dog, puppy, monkey, dinosaur, cereal, milk, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, eat, tongue, teeth, hair, chair, hands, fingers, belly, pee-pee, poo-poo, feet, legs, armpit, butt, stuck, burp, toot, night-night, paci, Elmo, pool, more, juice, cheese, crocs, balloons, house, mine, mower, home, Hi, bye, please, thank you, Bath, stairs, hurt, bird, plane, rain, two, nine, one, glasses, cookie, shirt, shorts, Diaper, blanket, sigh, potty, moon, sun, swing, shower, slide, no, yes, necklace, book, hide, fan, yogurt, waffles, raisins, fruit, banana, ho-ho (santa), Bike, fish, eggs, mole, pig, flower, lizard, bar, snore, phone, corn, hammer, goat, powder, medicine, hot, truck, Woo-woo (firetruck), Bus, chocolate, pen, Marker, doll, foam(marshmallow), kiss

There are more words that he knows but doesn't say. He knows shapes, some colors and some letters (A, C, O, Q, L)

Tonight I was encouraging pretend play. Here are some pictures of Colby taking Elmo for a bike ride. Elmo kept falling out of the bike seat. Colby would stop and go "uh-oh." I'd ask him is Elmo okay? He'd tell me, "Elmo boo-boo" and then kiss Elmo and place him back onto the bike.

August 6th - Colby is 2!

Even though we already celebrated with a mo-mo party, I tried to capture some pictures throughout the day of Colby's official 2nd birthday.

Good morning birthday boy! Rise and shine Mr. Sunshine!

Watching some TV while mommy makes banana pancakes.

Playing a game of memory with mommy.

Making some chocolate chip "gookies."

Watercolor painting the number 2.

Telling Colby that he was to start school on Monday!

Randoms

Here are some random pictures taken over the past few weeks.

Trying out the new blow-up pool and slide before the birthday party.

Hanging out with his friends, Justin and Jacob.
Feeding himself spaghetti.
Getting into some trouble in the home office.
Pretending to be me at the computer.

Happy 2nd Birthday Colby

We celebrated Colby's birthday early so PaPa and BeBe could come and so I could enjoy my last week of summer, stress free before returning back to work.

I had asked Colby the previous month what kind of birthday party he wanted. I suggested firetrucks, mowers, dinosaurs, trains...but when I said Elmo, he yelled "mo-mo pa-tee!" So an Elmo party it was.

I had a lot of fun planning and making things for it. I'm also very thankful for all the help we had from my parents. Don't think I could have enjoyed the party nearly as much if it hadn't been for my mom serving all the food and my dad helping with the clean-up.

Here's a slide show of the Mo-Mo Party!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's a comparison of 1st and 2nd birthdays:

Daytona Beach 2009

We made out annual voyage over to Daytona Beach. This was year number 27 for me. I believe our headcount by the end of the week totaled 40 people.

This year's highlight was a surprise visit from mom and dad. We were not expecting them this year as they had to suddenly return to Kentucky after my Aunt Anne's passing. However, after the funeral, they secretly drove the 800 mile trip again (second time in less than a week). I walked into what I thought was my sister's room and found mom and dad sitting on the bed. What a surprise! They also were able to stay and celebrate Colby's 2nd birthday.

Below is a Smilebox of our vacation.

Make a Smilebox slideshow