Where Did Baby Corbin Go?

by Grandma

I returned yesterday from a few fun filled days with Corbin. I arrived Thursday evening and called Greg to let him know I was a few blocks away. I parked the car, got the wagon out of the trunk and was putting the sideboards on when Corbin and Daddy appeared at the door. Corbin ran down the sidewalk so fast, with his curls flying, I just knew he would fall and plow up the sidewalk. He stopped when he landed in my arms for a big hug. What JOY! He was now ready for a walk in the neighborhood in his wagon. As we approached one house, he saw the water sprinklers on. I asked if he wanted to go through it and he said, "yeah". I ran through, pulling the wagon, as fast as I could, with him laughing all the way. We walked for about 10 minutes then turned around to go home. Unfortunately, the water was off on the return trip. Bedtime came much too soon.

Friday morning we got up and fixed scrambled eggs and oatmeal with fresh blueberries for breakfast and then went for a walk in the neighborhood so that Mommy could get some sleep. She was up past 5:00 am working on a paper. We visited with a couple of the neighbors and their dogs. Then we went inside for a snack and to get ready for Gymboree. Corbin was not his usual self during class. Playing some but clinging to Mommy a lot. After Gymboree, Mommy left for her class, so Corbin and I went to the Home Depot Garden Center and picked out some flowers. Blue Pansies. Then on to Wal-Mart for milk and strawberries. Corbin was walking beside me with his arms stretched out in front of him. When I looked at him, his eyes were tightly closed. He looked so cute :-) I told him to open his eyes so that he wouldn't run into things and get hurt. He opened them, then closed them again and continued walking. This went on for about 20 feet or so. We then went home and had strawberries for our afternoon snack. I washed and capped one strawberry and handed it to him. He would pick out another one for me to wash before he was finished with that one. This went on for seven or eight berries. He actually wanted more but I told him he could have more tomorrow so he closed the lid and put them in the refrigerator.


Then it was time to start planting the flowers. Grandma dug all the holes and Corbin stuck the plants in. We had to move some wiggly worms so that they wouldn't get chopped. Corbin examined the root ball, the leaves and the flower before setting them into the hole. Yes, he managed to take a bite but Grandma had a wet paper towel handy to wipe his tongue. After all eighteen pansies were in the ground, we took Corbin's pail and carried water from the faucet so that every plant could have a good drink of water. He insisted on carrying and watering every plant all by himself.


Saturday we took our morning walk, waking all the dogs in the neighborhood. Then back home so that Grandma could make Daddy some pancakes. After everyone was dressed we headed to the Farmers Market in Old Coppell. We dropped Daddy off at the Family Practice clinic that he had worked at the past month so that he could help them pack and move to their new location. Corbin and Grandma went to the market and picked out all sorts of produce. Zucchini, new potatoes, okra, watermelon, honey, etc... The neatest thing there was the ditch. It was as deep as Corbin was tall, but he refused to let me help him. Up and down, up and down, mostly on his bottom, but oh what fun! Others around us enjoyed watching the little boy "conquer" the ditch. I put the produce in my trunk and let him play until it started to rain. By that time, Daddy called from the new clinic and told us to pick him up there. When we got home Daddy asked us if we wanted to go for a walk in the rain. Well, of course we did. Who would pass up the opportunity of splashing in the rain? By lunch time Corbin was running out of stream and was ready for his nap. So was Grandma.


After the nap, we went back outside to explore. Corbin mowed the sidewalk while carefully examining everything he came to. Things that we have passed many times before were suddenly new and exciting. You can just see his mind working. Here, he stops for a break, and discovers insects. Cool! One day he'll squish anything that crawls into the house for Mommy. :-)






Back home there was yard work waiting for us. A few of the shrub were trimmed and we all worked until every branch was picked up. Corbin worked to the very end without slowing down. Everytime he brought me a branch, he would ask, "More?" and I would tell him "Yes, bring Grandma more".



"Hey, Daddy, did you know you have a black box by your front door with wires coming out of the bottom?" Hum? "What could that be?" "Why is it there?" "What does it do?" "What will happen if I pull this?" The questions are building, get ready!

Sunday, I received one last hug from my grandson as we said our good-byes. It is getting so hard to leave, but until next time, Grandma loves you.

pretty good weekend

Yesterday, Sunday, it rained most of the day. Fortunately the thunder didn't wake Corbin up at 6:00 am. In the late afternoon, Corbin wanted to go outside in the rain. So we put on his pool shoes and green rain jacket and walked up and down the street. He had a good time, and played well indoors the rest of the day. We also watched a little bit of football on tv, which seemed to interest him. Every time someone got tackled, he'd yell "uh oh!" Pretty cute! He had a good day in church that morning, except for crying the whole way there in the car because Mommy wouldn't put on the Wiggles music. We've always listened to Bible songs on Sundays, and he sang with them all the way home, no problem.

Saturday, Mommy got to see the Razorback game at the local watch party during Corbin's nap. The timing worked out really well, and the game ended with a win. After coming back home, Mommy and Corbin went to the mall. We're looking for plain t-shirts and black pants for Corbin, Mommy, and Daddy, so we can all dress up like the Wiggles for Halloween. Since Corbin just threw a big fit when we tried on the animal costumes, it seems safer to find something that's more like regular clothes. We'll print off their logo as a sticker to put on the shirts. Then they'll work for more than just one day. But we had no luck at the mall, so we'll probably have to order shirts online.

Monday, we spent the morning running errands. Then we had a great afternoon with lots of pretend play using Corbin's train set and Noah's ark animals. Daddy came home a little early and went outside to play football and walk around the street. Since last week's Gymboree was about making pizza, Mommy and Corbin made a pizza together. He was a little unsure of the sticky dough at first, but really loved using the rolling pin. Mommy didn't let him help put the sauce on, but Corbin did most of the cheese himself. It turned out surprisingly well, and Corbin even enjoyed chewing the hard crust with his two newly-broken top canine teeth.

taking the stairs

I think that it was two weeks ago when we realized that Corbin was walking up and down stairs upright and without assistance. Didn't remember to mention it at the time. It's quite surprising to see, still. He refuses to hold on to the handrail or anyone's hand. Today he kept asking for "more stairs?"

This morning he was really good in church. His class teacher said that he was just perfect, which absolutely shocked me. Then he sat quietly through almost all of the worship service. Wow!

Greg and I were a bit worried that he might not want to go to church at all today, since we spent eight hours there yesterday. He and I were helping set up for the new children's programs that started today, so Corbin was babysat in his classroom with about a dozen older boys and girls. It was a little overwhelming for him yesterday, so we weren't sure he'd want to go back. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be a problem. Nor did getting in bed an hour late seem to faze him this morning.

Daddy just left for Houston. He has to take some test for the boards or something, and won't be back until late tomorrow night. Corbin and I will hopefully survive. We're planning to visit the carnival up the street this afternoon, then hit the grocery store. After all, we've been without bananas for--gasp!--two whole days.

not at his best

The past two days with Corbin have been very, very long. It started Thursday night after he'd gone to sleep. He kept waking up to cry for short periods of time. Finally I went in to check on him, determined nothing was wrong, and convinced him to go back to sleep. This happened a couple more times before I finally left him to cry. Sad, but he stayed asleep. Then Friday morning he was whining a lot, being extremely defiant, and then crying stubbornly for long periods of time. For example, when I tried to give him a choice of fruit for lunch, he wouldn't pick one. So I put the oranges in a bowl, and he cried for at least ten minutes in protest after being physically wrestled into his highchair. But once he had to admit that nothing was going to change, he happily ate them all. It sure is tiring to deal with that kind of thing over and over and over. So that afternoon we went to the Grapevine mall, which doesn't have a play area, but there were lots of other things to keep his attention. The new Children's Place store has a big kids' area, we watched the carousel, and checked out the baby turtles/hampsters for sale. One of the gals at their Kiddie Kandids came out of her store to ask us for a free 8x10, so we tried to get a good shot. Corbin wasn't fooled, though. He was nice about it, but just wanted "down" from the platform. It's been months since I took him, so I have no idea how he's remembered that photography is scary. She tried to get him to smile for probably 10 minutes before we gave up. Oh well. We had a good dinner at Macaroni Grill with Daddy.

Today we watched Daddy mow the lawn, did Gymboree, and went to the pool after naptime. It was threatening rain, so the clouds made it almost chilly. He wasn't quite excited about swimming, probably because we haven't been in a few weeks. But it wasn't too crowded, and we stayed for about an hour and a half. He got a little more independent than he has in the past, jumping off the ledge (about 6") into the water on his own. He also discovered that he could jump off the second step of the play tower over the first step and onto the floor. I was impressed that he could jump so far, even with a little assistance from Mommy. There were three other little kids there just a couple months older than Corbin, and he paid a lot of attention to them, copying a lot of what they were doing. It's good to see him developing more social awareness. After we left, we went to the playground for a while, where Corbin went up and down all the different steps easily. He didn't really want on the swings, for whatever reason. That was a surprise.

So even though he's been quite a brat lately, we're managing to be consistent about not responding to such behavior. I don't know if it's a reaction to his increased hours in daycare, some sort of expression of whatever's causing his runny nose, or just a normal part of being almost 22 months old. Hopefully he can adjust to sharing Mommy's at-home time with all the books she now has to read. :-)