Corbin's Development

Corbin's First Campout: Day 1

2007-05-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's hard to know what a two year old will think of any new experience, so we had a lot of anticipatory conversations in the month leading up to our big camping trip. One weekend we even set up the tent in Corbin's room and let him sleep in it overnight. He was very excited about everything we told hime about: cooking on a fire, sleeping in a tent, trees and rocks to explore, and lots of friends from church would be there. He really latched on to the idea that there would be wild animals around, though I repeatedly tried to temper this expectation.

We had to deal with stop-and-go traffic for the first 45 minutes as we left town. Corbin threw up, which I think was his first bout of motion sickness because he was fine the rest of the weekend.

When we got to Lake Mineral Wells State Park we checked in at the gate then found our group's campsites. We ended up with six sites along a road, with each site having spaces for two tents, a campfire ring, a picnic table, a faucet, and an electrical outlet. The first thing we did (after putting on some bug spray) was to explore a little around our campsite. Corbin wanted to look for animals. There were lots of little overgrown footpaths that connected all the campsites through the woods and eventually led to the lake. We took off down one and I pointed out things to be careful of like thorns and prickly-pear cacti. Corbin liked finding big rocks to jump off and just seemed to enjoy soaking it all in. We ended up at another campsite in our group, two families with 5 girls and their bicycles, scooters, and hula hoops. We said hi then went back to the road to walk back to our camp.

Corbin helped me set up our tent. Well, Corbin lost and then found tent stakes and tried to avoid thorns, but we got it up. Next we found some dry leaves to put in the fire ring. The state park system has a rule against collecting firewood there, so we brought some from home. Corbin seemed really fascinated with the fire. He kept putting more sticks in when I wasn't looking, so I had to set him straight a couple of times. Later on he discovered that if he dropped his food on the ground Daddy wouldn't let him eat it and he would get to throw it on the fire. Since he didn't make it a game or habit, I continued to let him do that.

By that time it was about 5:00 and the Norrises arrived at the campsite across the road. We go to Lee and Jennifer's house for our small group, and Corbin loves playing with Ms. Kitty (Jennifer's mom) and the boys (20 month old twins, Lock and Harrison). All the boys had trouble recognizing that there was a road between our campsites, so they all ran into it multiple times. Thankfully, it was just a road to more campsites and not to the lake or something busier. It takes the Norrises a lot of time to do just about everything (for obvious reasons) so I lent a hand when I could and offered to let them use our fire when they were ready for dinner.

It was just about dusk when Mark, another guy Corbin knows from our small group, showed up. We helped him pitch his tent, which was a weird shape therefore not a straightforward process--especially in the dark!

Now we could finally get started roasting our hot dogs! It was already 7:30 or so, but Corbin was doing just fine. I showed him how we could put the hot dog on the hanger and then put it over the fire, not on the log or in the ashes! Then we put it in a bun with ketchup and he ate the whole thing! He dropped his second hot dog after a few bites, so he got to throw it on the fire. By this time the Norrises had arrived with their "organic" hot dogs and marshmellows and we all had a good time. Corbin was very social with all his friends.

Lee and Jennifer took the twins to bed, but Corbin was still doing fine even though it was well past his bedtime. I started my Dutch oven peach cobbler and homemade ice cream. Well, the ice cream never really froze, but after 45 minutes the cobbler was excellent. Kitty just poured some of the "ice" cream on top of her serving and loved it, so that's what Mark and I did as well. Mark then went and found a few more people to share our cobbler, since Lee and Jennifer never came back. Corbin never tried his, though he usually eats peaches fine.

By this time Corbin was starting to get really tired, so after I rinsed the ice cream maker off we walked about 150 yards to the bathroom to get ready for bed. We changed his diaper in the tent and then went to sleep relatively quickly.

Next, Day 2: Fun with Friends in the Great Outdoors

Church Picnic

2007-05-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Our church Easter picnic was the day after our excursion to see Thomas the Tank Engine. We had a picture perfect day for cooking out, hunting eggs, and just playing outside.

Corbin had lots of fun hunting Easter eggs. He'd had plenty of practice over the previous couple of weeks at home. Farland told all the kids (the under 4 group was separate from the big kids) to just get 12 to make sure everyone got plenty. I noticed Corbin counting his eggs midway through the hunt and realized he had actually listened to the instructions and was following them! He stopped at 12 all by himself. Once all the kids reached a dozen Farland told them to get them all, so we came home with plenty.

There was a bounce house again, and this time

Corbin got in. Mommy or Daddy had to hold his

hands through the doorway, but at least he jumped

this time. It does make me a little sad when 18-

month-olds will do something Corbin is too afraid

to try.

We also played on the playground a little and made plans to go to the zoo next weekend with some friends.

What a Weekend!

2007-04-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

A couple updates first:

Corbin seems to be giving up his naps. I think he slept a school once over the past week. Even last weekend he really didn't sleep. This of course leads to more crankiness and whining.

March and April are very busy and stressful as Angelique finishes out her last semester at seminary. It is my job to keep Corbin occupied, preferably out of the house, as much as possible. Good thing the weather has been so nice.

On Saturday, Corbin and I went over to Old Town Grapevine to the train depot. Thomas the Tank Engine was making an appearance and I thought it would be exciting for Corbin. Tickets to ride the train were $18 for anyone 2 and up. That was a bit steep, so we just went to see what we could do for free.

We had to park a couple blocks away, but Corbin held my hand as we walked back to the station. Right across the street was an old fashioned general store with a bunch of windmills in the front. Corbin was pretty impressed and wanted to climb them. I think this was actually his favorite part.

Next Corbin wanted to ride the miniature ponies. I paid and then let him pick which pony to ride. He wanted me to hold his hand the whole time, which wasn't very long. The guy at the gate commented that he didn't ride long, but didn't offer to give me any money back. Several of the other kids were Corbin's age and even younger, but none of them wanted off so soon and many didn't even need someone to hold them. We watched the older kids ride slightly larger ponies for awhile and I was able to sneak a few pictures. I think we'll wait until he's out of this clingy stage before trying to ride an animal again.

We went across the street to the rail yard area to see Thomas the Train and the big crowd of people. We crossed right on the tracks which would have given us a good picture opportunity with Thomas, but somebody told us we had to go 50 yards up the street to the main entrance. When we came in that way we found a table set up with lots of sticky bubble blowing paraphernalia. Then Corbin alternatively wanted to run around or be carried around. There were some old-fashioned craftsmen/shops set up (glass blowing, blacksmith, etc.) which we did not enter. We walked the entire length of the area to a little train that kids could pedal with their hands to go around a track. The attendant also pushed them along the track to make sure everyone kept up. We didn't want to wait in the long line for this, so Corbin got in an identical little car they had outside this ride to let me take some pictures.

Heading back to the front/Thomas, we walked past the line to take pictures with Sir Toppemhat. We stood in line to get temporary tattoos while Corbin drank his juice, but when he finished he decided he didn't want to wait in line any longer. Next we watched some kids in the bounce houses. It looked like a lot of fun, so Corbin got up the nerve to try it. Well, almost. I got his shoes off but when I lifted him in he whined and fought with me, so we tried to find Thomas again. We had to go around the other side of the station/ticketing area to get to the tracks. Again, someone blocked our way from taking pictures.

By this time Corbin was just a little cranky so we decided to leave. It was almost lunch time anyway and I only had $2 cash. It's so rare for someone to NOT take credit cards that I didn't realize I was down so low until I paid for the pony ride. What's wrong with the funnel cake vendor to not accept credit cards?

We got a picture of Thomas from across the street and then walked back to the car. Actually, I carried Corbin kicking and screaming.

Chick-fil-A for lunch, but since I didn't know/follow Corbin and Mommy's routine. this didn't go well either.

After we went home and got a nap, we went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. He wasn't there, but a couple of his animatronic friends let us take our own pictures and didn't charge $15.

Fun at the Park

2007-03-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Today Corbin and I went to the park. First we played in the sandbox. We brought a shovel and pail, but when we got there, there were already lots of other shovels and pails. So Corbin got to try them all out, little ones, big ones, yellow ones and blue ones. When some big kids started playing in the sandbox Corbin decided it was time for us to leave.

Next we got our kites and picnic and started looking for a big clear area. There was a softball tournament going on, so we had to walk a long way to find enough room. First we flew the Pooh kite. It's just a cheap little diamond shaped kite with a maybe 100 feet of string. If it wasn't so windy today, I'm not sure it would have stayed up at all. Corbin liked it ok, but it really didn't hold his attention for long.

Pretty soon he wanted to get out our picnic lunch. Corbin sat at the picnic table very well while eating his peanut butter sandwich and oranges. We watched joggers, bicycles, dogs, and ducks while we were eating.

After we cleaned up our lunch mess we got out the other kite. (Mommy bought two because they were so cheap she expected them to tear up easily.) Nemo flew just as high as Pooh. I let Corbin hold the string and he had some fun running back and forth. I was watching the kite and I noticed that the string seemed to be really slack, though it wasn't losing altitude as if the wind died down. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw the end of the string tumble past me headed toward the lake. I could hear Corbin crying behind me. I ran as fast as I could and finally caught up to it about 10 feet from the water's edge. Nemo was about 3 feet above the water's surface when I caught the line, and the kite amazingly shot upward instead of into the drink. Considering Nemo spent an entire movie trying to get back to the ocean, I thought that would have been an ironic way to lose a kite.

Corbin understandably was ready to put the kites away, so we went back to the playground. I checked the time on my phone and told him we could play for 15 minutes. We swang and watched some of the softball girls go really fast on the tire swing. I checked the time again and told him we had 5 minutes until we had to go home for naptime. We played on the equipment and Corbin did really well on the balance beam. Mommy called and asked if we were on our way home yet. Corbin didn't really want to leave yet, but he followed when I started walking toward the gate. He then asked for my phone, so I let him hold it. He opened it up, looked at it, then said "Not nap time, lunch time!" Pretty funny. It's amazing how much he picks up on. I reminded him we already ate a picnic lunch. Then he wanted to call Mommy, so we walked the rest of the way to the car holding the phone to his ear saying "Yeah...yes...by the water...in sandbox..."

It was a good morning, especially considering how difficult he's been the last week. He just hasn't wanted Daddy at all. Hopefully this will start us off on the right foot for this week.

Dr. Corbin and Mr. Hyde

2007-02-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

by Daddy

Over the last couple of months Corbin has been like two different kids. Sometimes, he is the sweetest, most polite 2-year-old you could imagine. Other times (seemingly the majority of the time) he is the epitome of willful disobedience and defiance. Since we don't give in to his tantrums, we're at a loss as to why he keeps throwing them so often and for so long. Shouldn't he have learned by now that it doesn't work? He's gotten lots of spankings and time-outs recently.

But today he was almost the perfect child (aside from waking up the first time at 6:30 on a weekend). He helped me make scrambled eggs like we do every Saturday. Then he quietly looked at his Valentine cards while I cleaned the breakfast dishes. Then we did puzzles and popped bubble-wrap (a new discovery!) until it was time to get Mommy up at 9:00. The rest of the morning he alternated between playing with Mommy and/or Daddy or by himself. He ate lunch well, then took his nap without a fuss.

After he woke up, we went to the zoo while Mommy went to the seminary library. He had lots of fun looking at all the different types of snakes, lizards, and turtles. When we went to the Texas animals exhibit, he laughed at the chickens, tried to pet a calf, tried to pet a pig (and avoided getting splashed by the urine), then finally got to pet a soft goat. Corbin let me take his picture on the stagecoach and in front of a huge alligator. Then he spent a long time looking at the coyotes, mountain lions, and jaguar. When it was time to go, we got on the train with only a little fear, then found Mommy's car waiting for us in the parking lot.

We ate dinner at a restaurant, and Corbin was very polite--telling the waitress thank you for bringing his high chair and ordering his own food. He flirted with a little girl at the next table, then made up a song about the yellow train at the zoo. Even though we got home late, he didn't fuss that his bath time was shortened or that he didn't get a story. We brushed his teeth, prayed, then went to bed without protest.

It's so rare that we get to see the good Corbin for a whole day. When we do, it makes me think that maybe we're not doing it all wrong, maybe he'll turn out alright. You never know what tomorrow may bring--especially when there's a two year old in your life.

Another prayer...

2007-01-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

Tonight while we were still sitting on the couch after brushing his teeth, we asked Corbin if he wanted to say a prayer. He said yes and it went something like this: "Thank you God for Elmo and Zoe, crayons, blocks, books, trains, cars, bed, 'tato head, couch, Elmo, Legos... Grandma and Grandpa and Papa and Nana and Uncle Steven...AMEN!"

I just about lost it when he said couch. But I'm thankful he got around to people and not just the things he could see.

For the past three weeks he's been going through his normal list of "Obey Mommy, obey Daddy, obey Grandma and Grandpa, obey Papa and Nana" and adding a new member, "obey Uncle Steven." I don't think anyone ever told him to obey uncle Steven, but I've been getting a kick out of it. I don't think he spent any more time with Steven than Louise or Bob or Karla. Somehow Uncle Steven made quite an impression over Christmas break.

Corbin's first prayer!

2007-01-20T16:04:00.000-08:00

Mommy spent most of the day reading books on child spiritual development for her seminary classes, so Corbin must have learned something by osmosis. He was playing by himself while his dinner was being made, and climbed up to sit in Daddy's chair where he started "reading" his Bible. His favorite story is when Jesus was lost in Jerusalem at the temple, so he started loudly calling out, "Jesus! Where are you?" It's very cute. But then for whatever reason, he bowed his head and prayed out loud, saying thank you for everything he could see. The Bible, the high chair, his Mommy. He interrupted himself to tell Mommy to be quiet (who had folded her hands), because "Corbin do it." Then he finished and said amen. Mommy clapped and cheered. Sadly, Daddy was out of the room, but he was very proud, too.

Corbin is 26 and a half months old. :-)

P.S. to Nana and Grandma: I added several books to Corbin's wish list today. I hope he doesn't have to wait until his birthday to get some. (But no rush, because I also ordered plenty on my own.)

Two months behind, yikes!

2007-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. It's been two months since our last post. Corbin's grown a lot in that time! Let's see... back in November we had Thanksgiving in Arkansas, spending the week at the Moses' house. Corbin had a great time, and we all miraculously survived the car rides to and from. Leaving first thing in the morning made a big difference; we arrived at our destination just in time to go down for a nap. Most recently, Corbin spent nearly four weeks in Arkansas over the Christmas break. Darrell and Robertta came and spent the weekend in Dallas and took him back with them on December 10th, because Mommy had finals the next week. He stayed with the Coles for a week before Mommy and Daddy came into town, then another week before spending one night in Harrison with Gran and Gramps. The last week was at the Moses' house before we all came home together on January 2nd (after the Razorback bowl game). Then two days later, Daddy left for an interview, followed by the arrival of Nana and Papa for a weekend conference. Corbin's been understandably confused, and still doesn't quite realize that seeing his grandparents so much isn't going to continue.

Corbin received lots of great toys for Christmas. (Fortunately, Mommy and Daddy returned to Dallas for a couple days alone and cleaned out all the ones he'd outgrown, making room for the new.) These days, he loves to play with his stacking alphabet blocks, new magnadoodle pad, driving steering wheel, electronic game pad, cash register, and new car mat with traffic signs. We've had almost half a dozen stay-at-home days now, and he's shown no sign of getting tired of anything. He also got several new books that we've been reading repeatedly before bedtime.

This past Friday, Nana and Mommy took Corbin to the zoo. It was fun, though exhausting. We tried to visit the monkeys first, but he was a little freaked out about something there. So we came back to them last, and that went over great. We got to see the male lion roar, and even the tiger. Corbin just kept looking for "more animals." Near the end of our visit, we rode the little train back to the other end. I asked him in several different ways if he was sure he wanted to, and he said yes until we actually got in line (even before the train arrived), when he started crying pretty hard. He was scared, but we didn't relent. After the train started moving, he was okay. Not exactly smiling, but no longer scared. We finally left the zoo at 2:00(!), and he fell asleep almost as soon as the car started moving.

So, what's changed in the last two months? Corbin's vocabulary and sentences are better, of course, and even his pronunciation is improving slightly. We still have to ask him often to repeat what he said, and don't always figure out what he means. He sings a lot now, making up songs just like his Mommy does. It's always a riot to listen to him talk to himself in his crib before or after sleeping.

He's been very affectionate, hugging all the relatives he barely knew (when prompted). A funny moment happened at the Johns' Christmas gathering when he handed out bells and proceeded to direct everyone in singing Jingle Bells, followed by the ABCs and a few other personal favorites. Mommy was almost laughing too hard to participate.

We've been working on un-spoiling him from all the grandparent time. That may be their perrogative, but it's our hard work afterward. He's back to saying "please" and "thank you," sometimes without reminders. But he's being very defiant, yelling "NO!" at us when we tell him to obey. Consequently, there has been an increase in spankings. What's cute is when he tries to negotiate everything. We'll tell him to eat 5 bites of broccoli before he can have more bread, and he'll immediately respond with, "Three." I'm not sure how much he's doing it on purpose, because he also argues when we tell him that Gymboree (or whatever) is in five days. Corbin would shake his head and say, "Six." Why would he want it to be longer? Maybe it's because at bedtime he "bargains" for more books or songs. I'll have barely started the last song before he starts demanding, "Two more songs. Three more songs. Four more songs." It would be funny if it wasn't so exasperting.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up better now that life is getting back into a routine. Corbin will go to school two days this week, then four thereafter.

Two Years Old!

2006-11-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, we all survived Corbin's second birthday. It was a long week, but Corbin had a great time. He was so excited when Grandma and Grandpa walked in the door on Monday (an hour before bedtime). They had fun walking outside and going to the park. He also loved his new basketball goal, though he liked his new Little People garage even better. Tuesday night we had a cake, and Corbin did a good job trying to blow out the candles. Corbin helped decorate it by telling Daddy what to draw. Wednesday was another play day. Then Nana and Papa came in on Thursday, so we all went to Macaroni Grill together for dinner. He opened one present that night, a book that he could read before bedtime. Grandma and Grandpa then went back to Arkansas. Nana and Papa took Corbin to Gymboree on Friday, which was immediately followed by a trip to the doctor's for three shots. Corbin has been cranky and irritable since then, probably due in some part to the soreness he must be feeling. He later opened a latch-board, a box of Wiggles books, a bath toy, and a tricycle. The latch-board was perfect timing; he can do some of them, but some are still a challege. For whatever reason, he LOVES the Wiggles books. The books themselves are nothing special, but he just loves that there's a set in the box. We haven't figured out all that his new bath toy will do, but that just leaves more for later. He's still figuring out the tricycle; it's taken him a day just to learn about steering. His feet just barely reach the pedals (with his shoes on), so that part will undoubtably take a while longer. Nana took him to the park on Saturday while Papa was at a local elders' conference. He sure was sad when they went home. Now we have to deal with the fallout; hopefully his behavior won't be too much of a battle. He was surprisingly agressive this week, using hitting much more often than usual. Hopefully he was just overly stimulated with all the attention, and will calm down this coming week. Unfortunately, he's going to have to go to daycare all five days, since Mommy has to work on Monday and do schoolwork on Friday. He should move up to a new class, too, which could either be great or just a hard transition.

One of the neatest parts of the week was his consistency with using the potty. He went peepee pretty much every time it was suggested to him. And once he even asked to use it before he needed to go! Wow! Hope the week of daycare doesn't slow down his progress.

We'll get pictures up soon!

October 31

2006-10-31T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well, Halloween 2006 gets filed under the lukewarm category. Corbin neither loved it nor hated it. This morning when I took him to daycare, he was extremely clingy and cried a lot after I left. Was it because some of the other kids and teachers were dressed up? He didn't seem bothered by that. Maybe it was because he had diarrhea all day and felt sick. We'll never know.

After school, we got home about 5:00 and ate supper. Mommy and Daddy got into their costumes first, which Corbin didn't seem to mind. Putting on his Murray costume was equally okay. Trying to take pictures was NOT. First he wanted to play with the camera, then he just got tired of standing against the wall. Understandable, I guess.

At the city Halloween carnival, I was surprised at how small it was. The Easter egg hunt was so overcrowded, I had assumed that this would be similar. There were probably ten booths with games for older children, all sponsored by local companies. They did have a nice little pumpkin patch set up, and Corbin enjoyed picking out a pumpkin for Daddy to decorate. We then got a balloon and cookies. The tractor taking people on a "hayride" really intrigued him, but twice when it was our turn Corbin freaked out and didn't want to get on after all. That was fine with us, since it was already cold.

So we went home and walked next door to knock on our neighbor Barbara's door. She gave Corbin a handful of nickels, which was great. Tomorrow he can wear his costume to school. It really turned out well, though I should have saved myself a ton of hours by just purchasing the $15 licenced shirts. Oh well.

ready for halloween!

2006-10-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

We had a super-busy day. First Mommy attempted to iron on the Wiggles logo for Corbin's Halloween costume, only to discover that the colors weren't bright enough. Then we took a bath right after breakfast and washed Corbin's hair. When it had air dryed a little, he sat on a stool in the middle of the living room and let Mommy cut it while he watched a video. For the most part, he was very tolerant, though I would have liked more time to work. The only part I cut was the back and straightened out the sides. So it's still all fluffy above his ears, to his Daddy's dismay. But I think that if we cut the sides shorter, they'd still flip up anyway. After that we had to vacuum the floor, which got Corbin all worked up. He really, really wants to use the vacuum cleaner by himself, but it's just too heavy. So he gets frustrated and cries a lot, nor does he want Mommy to put it away. Finally we got out of the house and went to four different stores looking for a replacement plain red long-sleeve shirt, plus Office Depot for different iron-on sheets. After lunch and a nap, we spent an hour and a half at the park. He played in the sandbox only after much coaxing, and didn't stay very long. But he did sit in his stroller for ten minutes while Mommy walked all the way around the lake. Corbin was very interested in the ducks, and kept quacking back at them. It was very cute. Then we tried three stores in the mall looking for red shirts again, and finally found one at the last store we tried. Figures! Then we came home and decided to try putting the new iron-on over the failed one, which seems to have turned out fine. It'll last through one night, at least. So now I get to take the red shirt back. :-/

Corbin was very good-natured about all the running around we did, but he was fairly clingy and defiant at times. Mostly just ignoring Mommy's instructions to come here or don't touch that or whatever. Maybe he didn't weather Daylight Savings Time as well as we thought.

using the potty!

2006-10-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Corbin has now used the potty once on each of the past four days! As long as we know when to suggest it to him, he's agreeable. Only peepee thus far, but still a great big step. :-)

He's still not really old enough to be completely potty-trained. For example, he can't pull his diapers up and down, nor can he even wash his hands in the sink (we need to find a bigger stepstool). But hopefully we can at least stop changing diapers six times a day. Save some money.

I hope it's not just a passing fad that he'll get tired of!

growing up at last

2006-10-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been struck by how much older Corbin seems. A large part of that is probably due to his increased verbal skills. He's generally talking more and we can understand almost all of it. His behavior has also dramatically improved, in line with Burton White's theory that consistent parenting between 18-22 months results in a cessasion of testing authority and consequences. It's about time! These days, he generally obeys, though we do have to remind him often to "do what Mommy says" or occasionally threaten spankings. But he's much less rebellious and defiant, although we've also learned to manipulate him better. It's easier to prevent incidents now that we know what they are likely to be, and thus vary our approaches to keep him from defaulting to a crying fit. The best example is when he first wakes up in the morning, and Mommy insists on changing his diaper before he gets down. That used to be a major ordeal every single day, but now he's resigned to the fact that this is inevitable, and we walk through the door ready to placate him with a bottle of milk or promise of playtime if he cooperates.

He also looks older, it seems. Maybe he's lost a little baby fat, or maybe he's just gained a couple inches. We've had to keep him in 24-month pants for this winter, simply because of the length. There's not much room in the waist, though, so I hope they last all season.

This past weekend Nana and Papa Cole came to visit. Corbin was very excited and acted a little hyper the entire time. I'm sure it's a rush to get so much attention. On Friday, they took him to the State Fair. They rode on one ride, but Corbin keeps talking about the animals and the waterfall. He lasted until about 1:30 before he crashed for a nap. Then on Saturday they went to Gymboree and the mall, two of Corbin's favorite things to do. Saying goodbye didn't seem too traumatic, but he kept asking about them from the moment he woke up the next day.

Corbin's been behaving extremely well at church the past few weeks. He sits quietly and mostly still, spending a lot of time in Mommy's lap just watching what's going on. It makes me glad that we're including him at this age, as hard as it's been at times. Now he knows what's expected of him and how to cope with it. We're still taking him out during the sermon, but I think he could probably handle the additional time.

His birthday is coming up fast, and I've been rather frustrated with the toy selection for this age. A lot of it is for younger toddlers and the rest is really for preschoolers. There's some great pretend-play stuff made for girls, but it's all very pink. We've updated his Amazon list, though, as best we can. Part of the problem may be that he's not obsessed with any one particular thing, like cars or even music. Not wanting any large floor-hogging toys also limits the selection.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: Corbin is a lot more fun now! :-)

finally gets in the carseat himself!

2006-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

I couldn't possibly count the number of times I've hit my head (or Corbin's!) while getting him into and out of his carseat. Those days are over at last! Now he can climb into the seat himself, and get out with only a hand to hold on to. It's great! I still have to buckle him, but that's okay.

Today we went to the mall so I could use our "Gymbucks" before they expired. When we renewed our Gymboree membership, they gave us a $25 coupon to their clothing store. I found a pair of warm pajamas, then let Corbin pick between two shirts. To my surprise, he didn't want the red one with a large fire truck on the front. Instead, he chose the plaid one. Odd. We also got a shirt at Children's Place and a nice vest that I paid full price for (normally I just wait for a sale, but I didn't want to gamble with his size being gone). Corbin was actually really good to shop with. He never ran out of a store, and generally did as he was told. :-)

Yesterday we had a picnic at the park. I was really impressed with myself for managing that, but Corbin didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Oh well, he still had fun on the playground.

He's been asking to be carried a lot in the past couple of days. I'm not sure if that's because he's been fighting the same cold as Greg and I, or if he's genuinely tired of walking, or just needing some affection. We don't mind, but he sure is getting heavy! I tried to convince him to ride piggyback, but he didn't try it for more than a minute.

Sunday we went to lunch with people from church, and the restaurant was so slow! It was probably 1:00 before we got our food, 2:30 before we left, and 3:00 before we got home and took a nap. Surprisingly, Corbin was the best-adjusted kid in attendance. He was rather lethargic during his normal naptime, but he still slept a full two hours after we got home. That night we had our first small group meeting, where he stayed up playing until 8:00, and wasn't in bed until 8:45. Again, he did very well with the change. We weren't happy about changing his routine, but Sundays have always been different anyway. Hopefully he can sleep in on Mondays if he needs to.

This morning it was raining, which still fascinates Corbin. He can sit at the backdoor and watch the rain for a long time. Unfortunately, that also means no playground time at school. But he did say goodbye to me this morning without crying, woohoo!

A Typical Evening Without Mommy, by Daddy

2006-10-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Corbin and Daddy are getting to spend a lot of time together the past few months because Angelique's seminary schedule and church responsibilities take so much of her time, and being a 4th year medical student is about the best job ever. We've settled into a routine for Wednesday and Thursdays when Mommy is late coming home.

Corbin's newest trick is climbing in and out of his car seat all by himself. He still needs help getting his seatbelt on and off, but he just keeps getting more and more independent. His teachers at school and church always tell me that Corbin is so smart, that he knows the words to songs and sings along, and he rarely has a bad day. Of course, that makes me so proud of him.

Today after school we went to Kroger to pick up milk and bananas. Corbin loves to ride in the race car shopping carts, but they were all taken when we got there. It's amazing to me how long a simple steering wheel will keep him occupied. After a brief protest, we were on our way in a regular cart. Corbin likes to pick out all kinds of fruits and veggies. I wish his mommy had such a healthy interest in produce. He also wants to help when we go through the self checkout line, but he's just not quite capable of scanning that gallon of milk no matter how hard he tries.

We went for a walk around the block after dinner. Corbin pointed out all the sprinklers that were running. We learned that some sprinklers make water go 'round and 'round, while others go back and forth. Then we had to go to Ms. Barbara's house next door to see if Sadie could come outside, but they weren't home. Ms. Barbara does have some pretty flowers though. We took this picture a couple of weeks ago.

Bedtime routine has shortened a little. Once he gets into bed he wants to go straight to sleep (usually), so all the books are read on the couch and we only pray and hug once he's in the crib. Lately we've been reading "Go Dog, Go", which Angelique thinks was the first book she read on her own. He has been protesting his toothbrush more and more lately, and I'm at a loss for what else to try. I mean, is it really possible for an almost two year old to be still? Oh well, we'll keep doing our best.

first card game

2006-10-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought a set of colors-and-shapes cards for Corbin to play with. I pulled out only the red and yellow ones, which have six shapes each. So we've been playing "Memory" with these 12 cards. Corbin is really quite taken with it, asking to play over and over. But he totally doesn't grasp that there are rules. :-) Although he lets Mommy and Daddy take their turns, can say whether two cards are the same or different, and remembers where the matching shape is more than half the time... he just doesn't understand why he can only turn over two cards. And when he's remembered approximately where a card is, he proceeds to turn over many cards until he finds the one he wanted. It's rather cute, if annoying that he doesn't always listen to instructions. Oh, well. I'm sure it's good for him anyway.

Today we spent probably 20 minutes pretending to put his Care Bears down for a nap. That's the first time I've seen him show any serious interest in this kind of social play. Of course, he had to get in on the action, too. Which was cute to see him lay down in his crib and close his eyes, but really kind of missed the point of "taking care" of the dolls. I tried to pretend to change the Care Bear's diaper, hoping that Corbin would learn to relax a little about his own diaper changes, but he didn't seem to understand that my mime motions were representative of changing a diaper.

He's had trouble falling asleep today. Probably because his Daddy let him sleep in. But what's cute is to listen to him talk to himself in his crib. He sings a lot, usually the ABCs, but today it was also the Wheels on the Bus. And counting, of course. But recently he's started calling out for "Mommy" and "Daddy" by name, which is harder to resist!

Oh, and someone has taught him to peepee into his bathwater before he gets out. Which I suppose is better than on the sheets before bed, but surely if he can intentionally go in his bathtub, he can choose to use the potty instead? Seems to me that it's defeating half the purpose of taking bath at all!

Where Did Baby Corbin Go?

2006-09-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

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. :-)

Following the leader (by Daddy)

2006-08-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Corbin and I got to spend a lot of time together this weekend while Angelique was at class. Nothing too exciting to report (trips to Babies R Us and Gymboree) or bad breakdowns.

A game we've started playing over the last couple of weeks is follow the leader, or maybe it would be better to call it monkey see, monkey do. It started a couple weekends ago when Corbin asked for help moving his stool into the middle of the floor. Then he wanted me to stand on it and jump off, and he followed right behind. There are only so many ways you can jump off a stool, so we started making animal sounds before jumping. Corbin does a pretty good monkey, and a great tiger! He never wants to go first, but he sure lets me know if I don't think of the next animal quick enough.

When I saw how well he is starting to imitate, I figured we should expand it to physical gestures to help burn off more energy. So now his favorite game is running circles around the table chasing/being chased by Mommy or preferably Daddy. We'll be airplanes, frogs, kitty cats, doggies, trains . . . We tried red light/green light once, but he seemed to have too much fun running into us after a stop.

He's also singing more and more. This morning on the way to church, we noticed he was mouthing the words to the songs without any prompting. A few he knows better, like Jesus Loves Me, he would join in a little more loudly. When we're at home he wants lots of active songs.

That's enough for a pretty tame weekend. It is fun to watch these new parts of his brain turn on. I just hope we can give him enough stimulation to develop them.

Seminary classes resume

2006-08-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

This morning, I had to get Corbin up at 7:30 so that we could walk out the door at 8:15. He was sound asleep, and I can't remember the last time he wasn't allowed to sleep as long as he wanted. When I opened the door and started talking to him, he rolled over onto his back and flung his arm over his head. Then he said, "No, Mommy." LOL! I asked him if he wanted more sleep, to which he said yes. That was certainly a first. I offered to go get him some milk, which he accepted as a reasonable compromise. It was really funny to see him acting just like a teenager! But he didn't seem cranky, and we'd put him to bed by 7:30 the night before. Hopefully we can keep on this new schedule, so Mommy will have more time to get things accomplished at night with an earlier bedtime.

He fussed in the car when we turned right to go to daycare, but after a few whimpers he asked if he could play outside. As long as the playground would be part of his day, Corbin thinks that school is tolerable. :-)

He did something else cute yesterday, but I can't remember what it was. Maybe I'll come back and edit this later.

shopping better than swimming?

2006-08-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

This afternoon when Corbin woke up from his nap, we went to the pool. Unfortunately, they no longer have the outdoor pool open. There's no notice of this on their website or their street signs, but in small print on the front door is a sign saying that they don't have enough staff except for Thursdays and Fridays after 4:00. I was pretty unhappy with them, and Corbin was pretty confused. There was no one else at all in the indoor pool, so I felt strange having the only lifeguard's sole attention. Corbin never really got into it, frequently getting out of the pool to look out the windows. We "swam" for about 45 minutes before another little girl came in and requested that the water fountains be turned on. Corbin had put up with that for about five minutes after we arrived before we had them turn it off. For whatever reason, all the water pouring and noise was too scary for him. He enjoyed watching it, but from a safe distance outside the pool.

So we went home and quickly changed shoes. Then we headed to Old Navy for "shopping." Corbin sounded unusally excited about going shopping, but I wasn't going to remind him how much he normally hates it. They have their Halloween costumes on their website now, but not in the store, we found. I was going to check out their monkey costume, but we'll have to go back in a few weeks. Corbin was extremely well-behaved, eating dried apple pieces out of a cup (without spilling any!) and even letting me try shoes on him.

Then we went to Barnes and Noble to play with the train set and read books. Corbin has a tendency to pull books off the shelf that he already has, so it's a challenge to get him to look at something new. We found a firetruck book with a steering wheel on the front that he played with for a long time. I bought him a magnets book to play with during church. I hope it's time-consuming. We also got a "quiet busy book" off e-bay earlier this week, since they were all $30 new. I hope he's content with the zipper, shape matching, etc, since there are more difficult pages like shoe-tying and buttoning that will be sure to frustrate him. Corbin tends to yell when he's frustrated, which won't go over well in church.

All on his own today, Corbin decided to sort his letter magnets by colors in a line (the right line is blue). It was pretty astonishing, although it shouldn't have surprised me. He's certainly thinking that letters are old hat by now!

Today we opened a puzzle I've been saving in his closet, that has real pieces to put together with each other, though it's still wood. I was surprised at how well he did. Not that he was very good at it, but neither was he completely confused by it. The corner pieces were pretty clear to him, even if the rest were jumbled a little. :-)

simple weekend

2006-08-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Friday we went on a playdate with Catherine and Dawson. The boys didn't interact with each other much either at the mall or lunch, but once we went back to their house, Corbin and Dawson became great friends. I imagine it was discovering a common love of running around in a circle over and over and over and over. :-) They went down for naps much later than usual, but that was okay. Catherine's baby is due within a month, and poor Dawson's going to have a tough transition.

Saturday, Daddy took Corbin to Gymboree again. It was our last twice-a-week chance, since my classes start this Thursday. They had a good time, and Corbin played extremely well for the rest of the day. Mommy and Daddy sat in the living room mostly doing their own things while he played with his train set. He's also playing with his stacking cups again, and I'm suprised to see that those are still interesting. But he's getting more creative with all of his toys, which we're thrilled to see. The different sets are getting intermingled.

Today he was extremely good during church and the entire rest of the day. Almost no whining, and lots of smiles. Daddy helped a lot with that, playing fun games like follow the leader or catch. All in all, a really great relaxing weekend!

doing better

2006-08-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The big news is that on Tuesday and Wednesday, Corbin didn't fuss so much when I dropped him off at daycare. He cried when we walked in the door, but calmed down pretty quickly. AND he just waved to me when I left, even smiling and blowing kisses. Wow!! What a change! I hope it sticks!

He's been talking a lot more lately, both in frequency and in longer sentences. His pronunciation still hasn't improved much, so it sounds a lot like the dog on Blue's Clues or the teacher in Charlie Brown. The intonation is right, but the sounds are meaningless. :-) It's cute, but I really would like to understand more.

Yesterday Corbin sang "Jesus Loves Me" with Daddy. And today he kept asking me to sing more, instead of telling me to stop like he had been for the past week. Gymboree days always help that.

Are we back to normal yet?

2006-08-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ever since Grandma left, Mommy and Daddy have been working overtime to convince Corbin that he has to stop whining. That he can't have everything he wants. That he can't have it immediately. That he can't have it just by making "unh, unh" noises. It's scary how hard it is to undo something he learned so quickly.

Other than that, he's doing great. Today while watching Blue's Clues, he was answering Joe's questions and speaking up in the appropriate places during the songs. I hope he's learning something, because he sits completely still and fixated for the entire 25 minutes. At least he's burning calories during The Wiggles, even if they're not very educational.

Tonight right before dinner it started raining (hooray!), but Corbin was scared of the thunder. I was surprised, because he's never reacted to it before, but then again it's not something he's experienced more than a handful of times this year. He also kept making the sign for "train" when he talked about the "rain," which I thought was quite funny. He certainly knows the difference, so I have no clue why he's put them together like that.

He's been reading his two big lift-the-flap books a lot lately. The Elmo one is his favorite, but the Little People book is also good for a 15 minute period. Mommy and Daddy can't wait until he's ready for books with a plot.

For the first time ever, Corbin told me yesterday that he didn't want a banana for breakfast. It wasn't a huge shock, since he didn't eat the one we peeled yesterday. But still, I was surprised. So he had a breakfast bar and yogurt instead (on Friday), and some eggs today.

Yesterday Mommy had a dinner event at church, so Daddy had Corbin all to himself. Apparently they listened to a lot of classical music. I'm surprised that Corbin is so interested in that, especially compared to all the other kid-targeted stuff he hears every day. He's lucky that we don't have the money for violin classes just yet; I'm sure Daddy would be all over that.

We also spent some time today making words with the letter magnets on the refrigerator. Thank goodness he's not ready to read just yet, but he does seem to find the whole thing completely fascinating. We also worked on pronouncing "Corbin," which saw a tiny bit of improvement.

It was Gymboree day (again), and Corbin is definitely Miss Brandi's teacher's pet. It sure is nice to see him being the model child at something. We just might have to do our two-year-old birthday party there.

Grandma Gets to Stay and Play

2006-08-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Grandma wanted to stay and play a few more days, so Grandpa said he would come back anytime, and Mommy and Daddy said that they would carpool so that she and Corbin could go places. Yea!!

Monday morning we went to our favorite place, the park. Corbin played outside the sandbox until a couple of four year olds came over. They climbed inside and took their shoes off. Corbin asked Grandma to do the same for him. Progress! He had them off approximately 3 minutes and was then "all done." A good start. The swings were full so we had to wait our turn. Corbin wanted to drive the boat or was it a train? Oh good, whatever it was, it was in the shade and Grandma could sit down. He was content to climb around on it for about 15 minutes, so I just sat back and enjoyed watching him. Corbin would always stop his play, long enough to watch, when a plane flew over. Living on an Air Force Base, his daddy would always do the same when he was a toddler. Airplane was one of Greg's first words. Next the swings and then a snack. Corbin climbed a few more minutes and decided it was time to leave. He walked through the exit and I thought he was just wandering around. When I asked him if he wanted to go "bye-bye", he headed for the car. Wow! I guess he was worn out. We made a brief stop at Kroger for fresh fruit, milk, juice, rice pilaf and a roasted chicken, then home for lunch.

After a two hour nap, it was time to go back outside. Just as we walked out the door it started raining, so back inside for 45 minutes of Wiggles. When the rain stopped we went outside to do some weeding and work some good soil into the clay soil. Corbin had his shovel and pail, all ready to help Grandma. I guess the shovel reminded him of a spoon because he put a bite into his mouth. He stuck out his tongue to show me, then with his little muddy hands, proceeded to wipe his tongue off. I wiped it off with his shirt then headed to the water faucet for a good rinsing. He wasn't the least bit upset by the episode and seemed excited to "discover" the faucet. That night, after Corbin's bath, there was a dirty ring around the tub.

At bedtime, Daddy read to Corbin from his favorite book. Corbin's baby book, complete with all the people who love him most.

The next morning, Tuesday, we went to Barnes and Noble to play with the choo-choo train and read. What fun! He climbed on my lap and we read some of the same books that belonged to Daddy when he was a little boy. Corbin was familiar with them from Grandma's house. We stayed there for about an hour, then on to do some "Grandma shopping." One shop owner of a store that we visit often, commented on how much Corbin had grown. We were last there in June. She has spools of chain for him to unwind and rewind while Grandma browses. Nearing lunch/nap time, we started home. While Grandma unloaded the car, Corbin headed to the newly discovered water faucet. I don't know why his daddy hadn't shown it to him before. ;-)

Wednesday morning we got up and fixed scrambled eggs again and also had banana and milk. This child loves scrambled eggs. Then we went outside to trim a shrub. Time and the heat didn't allow for us to do more. Ruth, the widow across the street, came over for a visit. She told me how much she has enjoyed watching Corbin and his Daddy walk up and down the sidewalk. She said, "I can tell how proud he is of him." She told me a little about her 4 children and her grandchildren as we watched Corbin play in the dirt. He seemed to have brightened her day. It was now time to go inside for juice and a snack. Corbin then ran the Roomba and chased the kitty cat around for awhile. Poor Chocolate.

When Corbin awoke from his nap, Grandpa was there, ready to play. We changed clothes and left for The Dallas World Aquarium. Arriving at 3:00, we went through at Corbin's pace. Sometimes really fast, over looking many things, and sometimes really slow. Everyone had a favorite exhibit. Grandpa liked the sharks, Grandma liked the penquins and Corbin liked the big kitty cat (black Jaguar). He stood and watched it for the longest. People around us enjoyed watching the cute little baby in the scrubs. Actually, he was my favorite too. Twenty-one months old today.

A little after 5:00, we walked to a nearby restaurant and met Daddy and Mommy for dinner. As the visit came to an end, Grandma, Grandpa and Corbin walked to where their car was parked and Daddy met them to retrieve the car seat and of course, Corbin. In the near empty parking lot, Corbin befriended many birds (pigeons). Daddy helped him to share his stars, and the birds walked in closer and closer. Oh, how exciting! They were so close, he could almost touch them. It didn't take long for a dozen pigeons to eat all the food Corbin had to offer.

Saying our final good-byes, Corbin was strapped in, hugs and kisses shared, and we went our separate ways. Until next time, may God Bless our family in Coppell.

The Wiggles Concert

2006-08-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

The concert started at 5:30, so we left the house at 4:30 and got to the Nokia Theatre in time to stand in line for souvineers. Corbin now has a new khaki hat that says "The Wiggles" on the front. There were lots of other things to buy, like t-shirts, toys, and CDs. It was very hard to get Corbin to be patient, because he wanted to run around and explore the whole lobby.

On every chair when we arrived inside was a sticker sheet and big picture of the stage. Corbin did really well putting all the Wiggles characters onto it. I didn't even know he could use stickers like that. He's still playing with it a day later, so the stickers must be intentionally removable. Henry is now missing most of his legs, though.

Since we were a little early, I was relieved to see that they were showing Wiggles episodes on the big screens to either side of the stage. Corbin enjoyed watching those until they interrupted for some logistics announcements. Stuff like, tie your balloons down low, and stay with your child at all times. Don't videotape the show. They did say not to use cameras, but absolutely everyone was taking pictures.

Most people seemed to be there with their entire families. I didn't notice any other single parents, although I also didn't notice any other children without at least one sibling in tow. The people beside us and in front of us both had babies who had to suffer through the loud concert. We had a great seat on the aisle, about halfway back and slightly to the right side.

Corbin was a little freaked out by the whole environment. He was fairly happy until the announcements were made loudly and the lights started flashing. Then he told me that he was "all done" and wanted to "go" now. When the Wiggles finally came out on stage, he was watching the screens instead of them. When Jeff came out into the aisles to wave at kids, he came right by our seat! Corbin did get excited about that and started to pay more attention. Their first song was "Big Red Car," but Corbin was still unsure whether he liked the loud music.

Mommy offered him a sandwich, which was treated like a security blanket. He was fairly content while he was eating it, even though he couldn't do any dance moves while holding it. On a couple of his favorite songs, he'd put it down so he could groove along, but he nibbled on it throughout most of the concert. Many times he wouldn't start dancing until the song was almost over, then he protested for "more."

During the second half of the show, he got very wiggly and cranky. I'm sure some of it was just about being confined to one spot, but he wanted to climb up and down Mommy's lap, into and out of his chair, on and off the floor. I was very glad I'd purchased two seats, even though he spent 80% of the time in my lap. Thankfully the show moved at a very fast pace, and there was constantly something new to distract him. The guys didn't do much dialogue between songs, and it was always kept short.

The show didn't actually start until 5:50, twenty minutes after we expected. So it was about 7:15 when it was over. I was suprised that so many families got up and walked out as soon as they announced the last song. Their kids must have been pretty upset with that decision. We were busy waving for a long time and gathering our stuff together. In the lobby we were going to get a balloon, but there was a very long line and the balloons were $3, which I thought was too high.

We knew all the songs, which I was concerned about. The whole thing was very similar to the Hot Potato concert video, with just a few older songs mixed in. Overall, it wasn't an awful experience, but it certainly wasn't worth $90. Of course, there was really no way to know ahead of time how he'd react. But in another year or so, we'll be looking forward to their next tour.

A Very Busy Day for Corbin

2006-08-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today, Saturday, was Corbin's Gymboree day. Grandma knew where it was located and asked if she could take him. Mommy and Daddy stayed home while Grandma, Grandpa and Corbin had all the fun. The "big people" were supposed to keep their "favorite little person" within a hugs reach. Yeah, right. I can't move as fast has he can. It was High/Low day so we were climbing, jumping, and reaching high, and lying, crawling and reaching low. We had so much fun! Afterwards, we met Mommy and Daddy at Jason's Deli, nearby. After lunch, Mommy and Corbin went home for a nap, while Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa went into Dallas to shop for stained glass.

With some play time around the house and a little time watching the Wiggles video, Corbin was ready to go to his first Wiggles concert.
Daddy and Grandma took Corbin and Mommy to the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie, TX, dropped them off and watched them disappear in a mass of parents and little people. A couple of hours later Grandma stood out front and waited for her favorite little wiggle, to direct them to Daddy's car. I saw many little ones screaming and crying, wanting to go back inside to watch more. I finally spotted Corbin's yellow t-shirt and he appeared quite content to be leaving.

Off to See Mommy and Daddy

2006-08-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Friday, we started getting ready to go home to see Mommy and Daddy. So many things to do, so little time. First things, first. Corbin and Grandma went outside to water the plants. A little water on the tomatoes, a little on Corbin, a little water on the fern, a little on Corbin, a little on the geranium, a little on Corbin...

In the mean time, Grandpa was getting the car ready. When he tried to start it to go get gas, it wouldn't start. He had just taken it Thursday afternoon to the Buick dealer to get a "special" $125.00 battery that the car "had" to have. So, back to the shop with the LeSabre. Everything now had to be crammed into the Prius. Grandpa told Grandma she had to scale back on things. When everything was stacked just right, there was plenty of room. Even for Corbin.

The trip wasn't too bad, but not one of our best. Corbin asked to get out of his car seat several times and had only a 30 minute nap. We finally made it to Coppell where Corbin had plenty of hugs and kisses for his parents. He played and wiggled a lot to make up for the 5 plus hours on the road.

Corbin Loves the Great Outdoors

2006-08-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Corbin woke this morning happy and full of energy. I told him we would go outside as soon as he finished his breakfast. He was so eager, we just decided to finish the milk in his swing. After about an hour, we went inside where Corbin walked on the treadmill with Grandpa. We stayed in the house as long as we could, then went outside to watch Grandpa mow the lawn. Sitting on the ramp of the storage building was a shady place to watch Grandpa and have his mid-morning snack of juice and string cheese.

For lunch we went to Chick-Fil-A and had 3 nuggets, milk and 1/2 cup of strawberries. Grandma smuggled in the berries because they never seem to give enough. Of course we spent some time in Play Land. Sharing doesn't seem to come easily for Corbin, but with a little encouragement, he always comes around.

As soon as we got home, Corbin was ready for a nap. Grandma finished 1 hour of "must do" chores then went to Corbin's room and napped on the daybed. After sleeping for 1 1/4 hours, he woke up and looked around. I told him to lay his head down and go to sleep, and he did. For the next hour, he slept, talked, played quitely and watched me, but never cried or asked to get out. He was so sweet to watch and listen to.

After a little floor time and dinner, it was time for the sprinkler. He noticed Grandpa with the rake and wheelbarrow and insisted on helping. What a sweet boy! He then helped Grandma fill a pot with dirt. He picked up 3 "Flowering Crab Apple" seeds and planted them. If they sprout, next year he can help me plant one in the ground. Then back to the sprinkler to rinse the dirt off. A neighbor, Angel, came over and asked if he wanted a sandbox that her boys had outgrown. It has a cover so that animals can't get into it, so we said yes. Next visit, he'll have one more outdoor thing to play with. He was so proud of it he showed his appreciation by "letting" her play in the sprinkler. When she started to leave he told her "thank you" and "bye-bye". Other neighbors, Gina and Bailey Williams, brought their little dog over for him to pet. Sammie Girl was very hyper, so Corbin visited with her while in my arms. He did manage to give her a couple of pats and then told them bye-bye.

After his bath we were reading a book and drinking milk. At 7:50 I asked him if he was ready for bed. He said "no." I asked, "What do you want to do?" He folded his tiny little hands and said "pay". I took him to his bedroom and said a prayer for his Mommy and Daddy, his Nana and Papa, and his Grandma and Grandpa. He grabbed me around the neck and said "Amen!". What a blessing this child is.

More Joys of Grandparenting

2006-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Corbin woke up this morning in such a pleasant mood. He helped Grandma make scrambled eggs with cheese. He and Grandpa shared a banana, although I think he could have finished a whole one by himself. As soon as we were all dressed, we headed for the library. Corbin worked a puzzle, "read" some books and then explored the children's area. It was okay for a short while but when Grandma asked him if he was ready to go to the park, he started looking for the door.

At Creekmore he swung for a while, then played on the Fort. A 24 month old girl named Anna wanted to be friends with Corbin, but she was a little too aggressive for him. Everywhere Corbin went, she followed. Everything he played with, she wanted to play with. It was obvious that she was annoying him. When it was time to leave, Corbin handed her his sunglasses and gave her a hug, so I guess she won him over. Her mother thanked him and put his glasses back on him. I love happy endings.

On our way to "Eunice's" we sang "Happy Birthday to Mommy" several times. That put a big smile on Corbin's face. We had lunch with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Waggoner. It's hard to eat with so many people fussing over you. He was a sweetie though. If he didn't have a hug for you, he gave a high-five.

Next stop Wal-Mart. We exchanged the case of size 4 Pampers for size 5's and Corbin selected a nice bunch of bananas. He is such a helper. I don't know what I'll do without him. Shortly after we returned home, he took an hour and a half nap. We played inside until time for Bible class.

Corbin picked up where he left off Sunday evening, playing with the toys that he had mastered. He answered all the questions Mrs. Nancy asked, right on cue and even answered for others if they didn't respond. She properly thanked him for being such a good student and helper and invited him to come back soon. Of course bedtime was a little late, but he was sound asleep by 8:45.

Yes, Mommy and Daddy, he has asked about you both, but I just tell him that you are at home, change the subject, and start having more fun. He's only asked a couple of times, but don't worry, I wouldn't let him cry for you.

day two

2006-08-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Corbin got up with a smile shortly after 8:00 and had a breakfast of a banana and milk. That is all he wanted. He was a little crankier than Sunday. I think his tummy was not quite right.

We got him dressed and played and watched some Sesame Street. Then we went outside for about 20 to 30 minutes and played in the shade blowing bubbles and looking for kitty cats. I think it was too hot for the cats. We soon came back in because it was too hot for us, too.

Corbin had a lunch of turkey and strawberry applesauce. He went right down for his nap.

We played pretty big with the Fisher Price Zoo, big ball, piano, and reading books. We also played some on the computer and looked as Corbin's photos on the web site while he drew on paper with a pencil today.

Shortly after his one and a half hour nap, we watched a Wiggles VHS that was taped from the morning. He enjoyed that.

Sad to say, we were having a great time listening and singing to a Fisher Price audio tape, singing along to a happy song to which he was moving along to, when he came happily running over to me and bit my leg hard! I am convinced he did not do it maliciously. I think he was just as surprised as I was. I remembered that you said he was bitten at his day care last week. I popped him on his bottom and sternly said, "NO!" He looked very remorseful and immediately began to sob. I let him cry for about 30 seconds and then couldn't take it any longer. I picked him up and cuddled him. We talked about it and he said it hurt and looked at my leg. Poor kid. My leg was still hurting over an hour later. We read a book to calm down and then played happily. We prayed about it when I put him to bed for the night.

Papa Cole came home and we went to Market Place for supper. Corbin ate chicken tenders, strawberries, some french fries and milk. Afterwards we went to the mall to play in their playground for about 20 minutes. There were a lot of big children there also trying to stay out of the heat. Corbin would prefer to have the place all to himself.

Afterwards we came home and had a good time in the bathtub and read some good books before bedtime at 8:00.

Maybe it's just me, but the whole biting thing isn't a big deal. I'm surprised he hasn't done it before, actually. Most toddlers go through this phase, and Corbin's not normally agressive. So long as he doesn't get results, I don't think he'll make it a habit. But I'm very proud of Nana for spanking him! :-) Maybe he'll only come home 95% spoiled.

Too much fun?

2006-08-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

I didn't think Corbin would ever get to our house, but finally, around 1:30 he arrived. Of course he had to run around the house and get reaquainted with everything, then it was nap time. At 2:00 he went to sleep and didn't wake until 3:30. We played in the house for a while then Grandpa had the bright idea of going outside. Corbin didn't have to be asked twice to go get his shoes.

He pulled his wagon out into the yard but as soon as he spotted his swing he was ready to be swung. More, more, higher, higher...

When I asked if he wanted to join Grandpa in the hammock, he thought he would give it a try. Hey, this is pretty cool! Swinging while lying down.

Grandma needed help picking the red tomatoes and fortunately Corbin knows his colors. He picked 9 red tomatoes and 1 green tomato for an even 10. After taking the tomatoes inside to be washed, Grandma and Corbin played follow the leader. We took turns being the leader. During this time, Grandpa watched a cheesy Sci-Fi and never said anything while we walked passed the TV. After a dinner of roasted chicken, peas, squash and strawberries, we all went back outside for more fun.

Corbin spotted the water sprinkler and wanted to play in it. He ran through about 100 times and pulled Grandma into it many times. Each time he ran through, he would sign "more" and then run back through. We were both soaked and just considered that our pre-bath.

The clock on the wall said it was time to go in, bathe, drink some milk, read books and brush teeth, so we did. Corbin sat on Grandma's lap while Grandpa brushed his teeth. He opened his mouth really big for Grandpa. After hugging and kissing us both, he said "bye-bye" and took off walking down the hall. I followed after him, got another big hug and laid him down. He never made a sound. What a great day!

day one in Arkansas

2006-07-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

From Nana:

Today was another successful day.

Corbin woke up with a smile about 8:20 when I opened his bedroom door. He ate a banana and drank his milk for breakfast. Then it was a nice pleasant morning as we got him changed for Church.

Corbin eagerly entered Church to greet his Moses grandparents and find his Papa Cole, but was a little overwhelmed by all the other people who wanted to ooh and ahh over him. I think he was glad to finally make it to class with his "Mamaw" Moses.

Corbin sat through worship service very quietly. However, he did wiggle quite a bit. He colored, ate his dried fruit and drank his apple juice, and played with his car and wiggled a lot more. He played with my necklace and smiled and wiggled in my lap some more. But he was quiet. He often "helped" the song leader direct songs from his pew. He sat through the whole sermon. Papa Cole took him out toward the very end of the service when we both feared he was just about to overflow with noise and great motion/comotion.

We had lunch with Great Granma and Great Granpa Cole and Uncle Steven and Aunt Louise at Outback. Corbin was very tired, but he ate some bread, chicken and a few vegetables with a fork.

We came back home and Corbin played with them until 1:40 when I finally got him down for his afternoon nap. He slept until 3:00. His company left around 4:00.

We tried a new book/video with a remote control. It needs a newer DVD player than we have in order to program successfully. Corbin caught the concept. He might enjoy this at home.

Corbin talked briefly to his Mommy this afternoon. He talked about it later while I was changing his diaper.

Corbin ate a good supper of ham and mandarin oranges around 5:15.

Corbin went to the nursery at Church tonight with Grandma Moses. He was happy when I picked him up, but ready to come home.

After playing briefly, Corbin drank his milk, read 4 books, brushed his teeth, said a prayer, and went peacefully to bed at 8:00.

And we're off...

2006-07-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Corbin's off to Arkansas. Mommy and Daddy are just off, as in on vacation. :-)

Like all truly spoiled brats, Corbin is happy as long as he has attention. From what we observed, Nana and Papa meet his requirements very well. They played all morning and had a good time at Gymboree together. He showed off dancing, and counting, and saying his ABCs over and over. I'm sure he'll have a great week away, even if he gets more and more demanding by the hour. We sure seemed to pack a lot of stuff for him, though the vast majority was functional rather than security blankets. No doubt he'll accumulate more things by the time we get him back.

We got this email from Nana at 8:20...

Your son successfully was in bed by 8:00 pm. :-)

Successful trip:
We sang out of Dallas, counted flags, big trucks, etc.
30 minute nap. The bumpy road as we left Texas woke him up or he would have slept longer...

We stopped twice. Walmart in Atoka for a 10-15 minute stretch.
Papa watched Wiggles video with him from there to I-40.

Switched drivers at Webbers Falls where we stretched, got gas, fig newton, put in the Einstein video.

We sang into Fort Smith until we met Grandparent Moses' at Chick Fil-a for nuggets and fruit & milk.

Came home and played.

He took a bath with NO FUSSING. Played for a long time in tub.

Read 3 books while drinking milk. Brushed teeth in bed.

Fussed minimally in the dark, but then laid quietly right down after I came in to tell him that Papa and I were still with him in the house and we would be there when he woke up in the morning...

Over all a good trip so far.

We'll see how he handles the crowd tomorrow...

Counting higher

2006-07-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

Today we heard Corbin count to 15! Wow! Who's teaching him this stuff??

He also got bit by another kid at school today. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before, since he's not exactly good at sharing. Apparently they were both wanting to read the same book. It figures that he was fighting over a book, LOL!

Corbin loves you

2006-07-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days, Corbin has been repeating "love you" when Mommy or Daddy said it first. But today he said "love you" to me all on his own a few times, usually when he'd come up and hug my legs (which happens at many random times during a day). It's really, really sweet. Tonight I tried to get him to say "love you, Mommy" but he said "love you, Daddy" instead! LOL!

We went to The Container Store this morning to get a replacement closet rod for his that broke. The kid has way too many clothes! He has tons that fit him right now (some that still have the tags on them), and probably half as many again that I've bought on sale for next year. We also went across the street to the Galleria and checked out their soft play area, which is fantastic...except that the glass ceiling keeps it constantly in the sun and thus a bit overheated. Corbin had a good time, though. This afternoon we went to the pool and playground, which must have completely worn him out: he went to bed really easy. We even laid on the floor in the living room just listening to some classical music for a few minutes. That was a super-rare still moment. I'm sure he was just very tired and it'll never happen again.

Ugh, longest battle ever

2006-07-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Corbin was so well behaved at church and lunch today, but it just couldn't last. He was SO whiny after we got home from running a couple errands mid-afternoon. First, he wanted milk, and he wanted it NOW. Even though we kept telling him to wait, he'd ask again just one minute later. Over and over. Finally we decided that 5:15 was early enough for milk and dinner, and asked him to say "please" in return for his milk. After about ten minutes of crying and repeated attempts to get him to say please (which he almost always does right away), he finally did the sign language and we put him in his high chair. The milk was drunk within a couple minutes, but he wouldn't touch his veggies (which he normally eats just fine). After several minutes of complaining, he asked Mommy to "help" him pick up the bowl (suction cupped to the tray). I told him no, he couldn't pick up the bowl. So as soon as I turned my back, he wrenched it up with brute force, dumping the entire contents out onto his tray. So we told him that he couldn't get down until he put them all back in the bowl. Again, not a new rule. He's done it many times before, though not with so many little veggies. He cried and cried, we were firm, and it just went on and on. At one point when he picked up one and put it in, we made a big deal out of it. That convinced him to do several more, but for some reason he quit and went back to crying. Eventually, he finally tried it again with the same result. So Mommy and Daddy cheered for every single veggie he dropped into the bowl. By the time he got out of the chair, it was 90 minutes after he'd gotten in. Aaaargh! Definitely not his finest moment. We also made him pick up the ones he'd accidently gotten on the floor before he could go play, which he did without hesitation. I guess it was just a test that he learned he couldn't win. He did put a few in his mouth along the way, but he's going to be a very hungry kid by the time breakfast gets here tomorrow.

Yesterday I found out about a neat site at www.LibraryThing.com where you can build a database of all the books you own and find recommendations from other people with similar books. You can put in 200 for free, so I'm making a separate list for Corbin. Then relatives can see what he already owns, and I could even look up the list on my mobile while we're at the bookstore to prevent any repeats from coming home. It's a pretty cool idea, if I can ever find the time to get it totally updated.

Nothing very new

2006-07-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

But we've had two stuck-at-home days in a row, and Corbin's done extremely well. He's been playing with his toys, and not fussing too much. He sings the alphabet song to himself, which is extremely cute. He still consistently skips M and N to go straight to O, also skipping T so he can say U sooner. It's pretty funny. He knows those letters, but he's excited about the O and U (I guess). He talked to Grandma today on the computer, though he kept asking where "Nana" was. I'm sure he'll ask vice versa, too. We usually don't talk about one of them without mentioning the other. He also asked to read his baby book tonight, which is the first time he's brought it up on his own. It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about! He still can't pronounce his own name well, though, which is hilarious. He points to "Mommy," "Daddy," and "Bah-bih." Weird, but oh well.

He's going to spend a week in Arkansas starting next Saturday. It's great timing because I've got a one-week seminary class. But he has to be back by the following Saturday so he can go to the Wiggles concert we shelled out $90 for. Robertta was disapointed that he couldn't stay longer, but hopefully they'll spend several days here with us instead.

Singing!

2006-07-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Corbin sang without prompting for the first time, and not only once, but three different times today! First was early this morning when we were playing his computer "game," and he sang the alphabet song. He joined in with the game at the letter "T" twice and even continued through the "now I know my ABCs" part. I was surprised and impressed. Then at Gymboree today he chimed in while we were singing Twinkle Twinkle, which Daddy sings to him most every night. Later we were driving in the car with The Wiggles CD in when Corbin sang nearly the entire "Where's Jeff" song! I was astonished that he even knew it so well that I could recognize his version of the correct lyrics. Hopefully the enthusiastic praise he received in each case will be remembered tomorrow. :-)

Also, he was really good today, hardly whining at all. We didn't spend much time at home, which always helps. But even when we went to the mall only to discover that the playground had been removed(!), he didn't throw at fit. He even let Mommy shop a little, wow! All in all, a nice break from his usual attitude.

slow-to-warm-up

2006-07-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had Ryan and Lesli over for dinner tonight, and Corbin had a tough time with that. He was very clingy and whiny the whole time. For the last 45 minutes or so, he played ball with Ryan and was generally more friendly, but overall it wasn't a great experience. I was kind of disappointed with him, but not particularly surprised. He's not used to sharing his space with other people, except for his grandparents. We need to have folks over more often to help him learn how to behave.

Funny Faces

2006-07-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Corbin is making his first pretend face. It's absoultely hilarious! He opens his mouth like an "O" and makes a gasping sound. I'm sure it's supposed to indicate surprise, but he seems to do it at the most random times. Mommy and Daddy crack up laughing, which just encourages him. We even got him to do it for the camera. Hopefully the next thing he'll learn is to smile on cue!

Today Mommy and Corbin had some playtime on the floor where we imitated each other. It's the first time I've really seen him do this for an extended period of time. We would take turns being the leader, too. This is supposed to be great for his development, so I was thrilled to go along. For the most part, we had a pretty good afternoon. Mommy was busy cleaning a lot, but Corbin didn't get really upset about it until it was time to eat.

Speaking of eating, lunch today was at Chili's with Daddy after church. Corbin sat in the booth with us instead of in a high chair. For the most part, that was okay. He could stand up and turn around instead of sitting straight for 45 minutes. But he didn't eat his food very well, though that could have just been because he wasn't hungry or didn't particularly like it. It was also a lot more work for Mommy, sitting next to him. But we were just impressed that he could manage it at all (meaning that he didn't slide down the floor and make a run for the door).

Staying Busy

2006-07-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we went to the pool at 10:00, followed by lunch at Chick-Fil-A. They had a guy in a cow suit, which Corbin was just fascinated by. Mommy was very impressed that he wasn't scared of the cow, who also gave Corbin a sticker. We went back home and had a good nap. Then we drove over to The Colony church to pick up some stuff for Mommy before driving on to Stonebriar Mall, where Corbin played on their kids' area. He also had his first carousel ride, which he really hated. By the very end of the two-minute ride, he had calmed down enough to count the horses in front of us, but we were both glad when it was over. What a waste of $1.50. Then we went back to the play area (after Mommy picked up some clothes for next summer at a 40% off sale) for a while longer. Before we knew it, it was after 5:00 and time to head home. Corbin ate all of his meal, plus a slice of bread, plus half of Mommy's pasta. We watched a Blue's Clues episode about bedtime, which was just perfect. Corbin played for the rest of the time before bed, and didn't put up a fuss. It was a full day of burning energy.

Saturday morning we went to Gymboree again. Corbin was absolutely perfect, since Mommy didn't ask him to do the couple of things that he finds scary. He also got very excited about getting a stamp on his hand at the end.

The most amazing thing was that he slept until 9:00 am on Saturday! That's a whole two hours later than normal! We were worried that maybe he was sick, but he seems to be doing just fine and ate a lot for lunch. I guess we'll see how the rest of the afternoon goes; he went down for a nap just 45 minutes later than usual.

Another day at home

2006-07-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

Corbin was pretty demanding, fussy, and whiny all day. Every time I think he's getting over that, he proves me wrong. He went to Gymboree and the mall playground today, but that wasn't enough to make up for the hours spent at home. The one cute thing he did today was sing along with Mommy and Daddy, featuring the tune of the alphabet sung to "la, la, la." It took some convincing, but once he got into it, it was really cute. Corbin and Mommy also danced to some classical music on the stereo, which he seemed to really enjoy. "Dancing" consisted mostly of walking around in a circle, with a few interludes of swaying.

I finally found some white frames for our kitchen and printed black and white photos of Corbin to go in them. There are four photos covering his first year, and I think they turned out pretty cute. I tried to pick some fun shots that we don't use very often. Hopefully Greg can get them on the wall tomorrow. Ryan and Lesli are coming for dinner on Monday, and we need to get the kitchen finished. She was going to inherit most everything of Corbin's, but since she found out that she's having a girl, we're going to have to sort through it all together.

Little Man (written by Daddy)

2006-07-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

Note about title: I know it's probably a little early for him to understand the concept of gender differences, but I also thought it was a little early for him to count to 10 and say the alphabet. He's absorbing everything right now, so want to make sure he gets some exposure to traditional masculine things. He's already around women probably 90% of the time.

We've been having some trouble with one of the bathroom toilets recently, so Corbin and I went to Lowes yesterday to find some answers. To avoid wandering the entire store with someone with a 12 inch stride, I asked directions of the first employee we came across. "Go down to aisle 11, then all the way to the back of the store." Corbin was pretty content to stay with me, pointing out the 10 gallon buckets and American flags on our way to aisle 11. Aisle 11 just happened to be home to all the drawer pulls, knobs, and handles, along with interesting hinges and bolts, displayed right where a 20 month old could pull on everything. Corbin was in heaven. After we slowly made our way back to plumbing, Corbin played with potty seats, faucets, and plungers while I figured out the parts I needed. He had a lot of fun and was very well behaved. He even held my hand all the way across the parking lot without trying to pull away. All in all a good trip to a guy's kind of store.

Today Angelique had both morning and evening meetings at work, so it was a Daddy Day (and some daycare too.) We went to Barnes and Nobles to play with the train set. Corbin loves trains, though we're not exactly sure where he's gotten much exposure to them. Unfortunately (in Corbin's opinion) other toddlers like trains too. There was one particular Asian boy, about 6 or 8 months older than Corbin, that was particularly scary. He kept running up to the train set, which Corbin thought was scream/cry-worthy. Maybe it was his spikey hair. The only English word I understood from him was "baby," and I repeatedly had to reassure his mother that he wasn't really tormenting Corbin. No, my son just freaks out at random things sometimes. Yes, really.

I was giving Corbin the freedom to explore the children's area on his own. He'd occasionally pull me over to a new corner, point out some stuffed animals, or bring me a book to flip through with him. One was a Thomas the Train book with buttons that played different tunes (I didn't recognize any of them). He also liked the elementary age science books, or at least the pictures on the covers. "That's my boy," I thought, "he likes trains, animals, science books, and hardware stores! He can already throw a ball better than some kids twice his age. Yeah!" Deciding to pull an ironic joke, Corbin next brought over a big, pink, Disney princesses book with lots of music buttons. Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Aaargh! Thankfully, the batteries were dead and he quickly lost interest. After a snack and some climbing on chairs, it was off to daycare for him so I could work on that toilet.

When I picked him up this afternoon he immediately said "Daddy!" and ran to hug my legs, which is a pretty good feeling. We came home and played a little while with cars, trains, and airplanes. Corbin also likes to climb up on Daddy's chair at the table. I think it makes him feel like a big boy, even though his chin barely comes above the table top. Very cute. When eating, though, I still insist on the high chair. He loved his meatballs at lunch and pork at dinner, so maybe we have a manly carnivore that just happens to like pink. (Three out of four 1st grade boys in my class Sunday said their favorite color is pink. Weird.)

During bathtime tonight Corbin started crying and saying "bap-per" (his word for diaper) so I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty. He said yes, so I got him out of the tub and put him on the little training potty. He started screaming and crying some more, so after trying to console him I just put him back in the tub. Much to my surprise, he had actually pee-peed in the potty. Wow! I was very impressed and told him as much. You don't have to cry because that's where you're supposed to pee-pee. After some ducks and bubbles we went back to Corbin's room. He immediately started saying "bap-per" again (which should have been a clue) but I just told him I was going to get one as I sat him down in his crib. He screamed and I turned around to see a new wet spot between his legs. That he just had to step on. And again. So I got Corbin in his pajamas and gave him some milk before putting new sheets on his mattress.

Going down for bed was relatively easy tonight, but he did cry out twice within the first half hour. He asked for Mommy both times.

Surviving Bible Class

2006-07-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Corbin made it through toddler Bible class today at church without Mommy or Daddy (who were both busy elsewhere). His teachers said he only cried a little, though he did sit in Beth's lap through most of the lesson.

After church we found out that Tim and Bethany Davidson were there, just passing through on their way to their new home in Califorina, where Tim's going to get an MBA from UCLA. So we had lunch with them and some other couples. Actually we all got take-out and brought it back to the Youth House where we watched the first half of the World Cup on their big screen. Corbin actually did very well, wandering around and playing/exploring until we left at 2:00. That was way past his naptime, but he didn't seem to notice. Until he fell asleep after ten minutes in the car.

He was pretty fussy the rest of the day, but I guess you can't have it all.

Really Talking Now

2006-07-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty good day. There were no major tantrums or meltdowns, hooray. Daddy even let Mommy sleep until 9:00! Corbin and I went to a make-up Gymboree class at 10:45, which went great. The Saturday teacher is fantastic, which is good because we'll probably switch to Saturdays after school starts next month. Daddy went to work after Corbin went down for his nap. Corbin played inside for most of the afternoon. Then we went to the carwash, Target, dinner, and finally the playground. Corbin actually played in the sandbox! He sat on the edge and had his toes in the sand, even if he still refused to stand up in it. We had a bucket and shovel with us, and he had fun playing with those, although what he liked best was to hold the full shovel up in the air and watch the sand fall out...all over him. Oh, well. He had a good time, and didn't get too terribly messy.

But what struck me today was the way he talked a lot to himself in what sounds like whole phrases, with words I recognize stuck in. He was also singing a couple of songs that we did at Gymboree that I could jump in and sing with him. I was really impressed with that, since he hasn't done any singing on his own before. It was so cute. He's really starting to sound like he can carry on a conversation, answering yes and no to questions he does and doesn't understand. That's pretty neat.

We went to Target to look for new water shoes, since he's outgrown the ones he was wearing. I paid twice as much ($12) for these new ones, but there's just no selection left this far into summer. We also bought him a Thomas train engine that makes choo-choo noices when you push it. I'm not sure why he's so into trains, or how he even recognizes a stand-alone engine as part of a train, but oh well. He tried to make a train yesterday by putting four of his cars in a line and pushing the last one. Which was just wonderful until they got out of alignment; then he really got upset. We may just have to make more trips to Barnes and Noble, which has a train set up in their children's area. That's great of them, but it would be more useful if it was next to the adult books! :-)

Fun Day of Play

2006-07-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

This morning Greg went with us to Gymboree class (his shift didn't start until 2:00) and took pictures of Corbin and me playing with everything. A few of them turned out well, but all of them have some strange color issues. Oh well. The teacher was out sick today, so it was just free play for 45 minutes. We'll go again Saturday to make up for it, I guess. Corbin had a lot of fun anyway. Here's the link.

The rest of the day was just indoor play, with a quick trip to Kroger. Corbin was relatively good. He finally ate somewhat well for the first time I've seen since he was sick last weekend. We read books a lot today, and also put in some classical music which Corbin must have liked since he kept asking for more. Not long before bedtime we looked at his photo album together, which was pretty neat. He looked at the page with his first trip to the pool (and pictures of Mommy and Daddy) for a really long time, and kept turning back to it when I tried to move on. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I printed out some 8x10s of him with each of us to hang in his room tomorrow.

The only new thing he did today was run around saying "be nigh" (be nice) over and over again. It was pretty cute.

I re-read the second half of the book, "Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child" by Burton White this afternoon. It all makes a lot of sense to read, but its main shortcoming is a complete lack of acknowledgement of personalities or temperments. The idea that Corbin is a whiny child simply because I've indulged his whines since he was born is really oversimplifying the issue (in Corbin's case because he was colicy until he was seven months old). But it brought up a theme I've been seeing a lot recently about how a secure attachment to the primary care giver is essential for developing social skills with anyone else. Basically that kids who get through the day by tormenting mom (to get attention) are going to try and torment other kids during playtime, which will in turn result in their being avoided or shunned by their peers. Makes sense, I guess, but I'm not really sure what to do about it. Corbin is neither well adjusted nor terribly adjusted, though of course this book says that kids are only one or the other. But even beyond being a perfect mother right now, what happens when I start my 18-hour fall semester? How is that going to mess things up? Guess I need to read some new books.

Yesterday I picked up and skimmed a book on Scott's shelf called "Scream Free Parenting" that looked really good. Its premise was basically that kids have only two choices when parents fuss at them: comply in order to get mom/dad to calm down or assert their own choice which makes mom/dad get worse. Not having read too much more, I think that it was advocating avoiding power play situations (child-proof the house, for example) and reacting coolly and evenly when kids misbehave (barring immediate safety concerns). It seemed really good, so I'll have to pick that one up sometime.

Fourth of July

2006-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today we took Corbin to the parade just down the street at 10:00. He seemed a little overwhealmed, but did very well. There were a few times when he wanted out of his stroller, but we managed to keep him distracted. He liked the firetruck, all the music, and of course each and every flag he saw. We had planned to go to the city picnic for dinner, but it rained for much of the afternoon. Once it quit raining so hard, we put Corbin's aqua shoes on and let him play in the backyard, which he really seemed to enjoy. Later tonight we'll get him out of bed to watch the fireworks. I hope they're not too scary!

He knows the whole alphabet!

2006-07-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

This morning not long after waking up, Corbin wanted to look out the front door window. He said "ah-bah?" several times, but I couldn't figure out what he was pointing to. Then he said "anna?" and I knew he was missing his grandparents and pointing to where their car had been. It was pretty cute how sad he looked. :-)

We read a book that my mother had bought him a couple months ago (that I had hidden away for later) with Elmo and lots of flaps to open. It came with a 15-minute DVD (what a great length!) of Sesame Street clips about the alphabet. On one of the final segments, it was going through the letters kind of slowly, and Corbin kept saying the next letter that was coming up. I had no idea he knew all of them!! Several were sounds he couldn't pronounce, so it wasn't until he was listing them in order that I could recognize that he knew them at all. The kid's speech has got to catch up to his brain soon, or I'm going to be constantly behind.

He spent a great amount of the day pushing the vacuum cleaner around. It's just half the length of the pole with the hardfloor attachment, so it's light and easy. But for whatever reason he finds it fascinating. I was thrilled for him to play so much on his own. He also learned today how to ride piggyback on Mommy and Daddy, but he didn't always remember to hold on with his hands, so we'll probably avoid doing that again for a while longer.

He's over the fever, although he still hasn't eaten much at all. Fortunately he's had plenty of milk to drink. I hope he's completely back to his normal energetic self tomorrow.

One-day Cole visit

2006-07-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

My parents came into town last night after Corbin's bedtime, and they played together today until after dinner. Of course, he came down with a fever yesterday afternoon. That seems to happen every time they come. He was fine, just more whiny than usual. And it's really all my fault, because just a couple days ago I was thinking about how it had been a long time since he'd been sick and that maybe he had built up some decent immunity. Ha!

The best part about the day was when he said "thank you" all on his own. We hadn't prompted him all day because he was sick, so it was pretty astonishing. I was very proud. He was also very good about giving hugs and kisses when asked to, which was perfect for visiting grandparents. He wasn't as good about showing off all the letters, numbers, and colors he knows, but that's okay.

They took him to the zoo this morning, and it sounded like an okay trip. He wasn't too fussy, which counts as a success in my book. Then he took a long nap when they got home, and we just played here at the house until it was time to go out for dinner. He did have a hard time sitting in the high chair at Macaroni Grill for an hour, but we made it through.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures today. :-( He's so fun to play with these days that it's hard to be behind the camera.

More counting

2006-06-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Corbin can count to ten! I heard it very clearly. We were putting pineapple into a bowl, and he just started counting each piece. After ten he started over at one, but that was okay. Pretty amazing!

At the pool this morning he jumped in over and over just like the last few visits. But he also went up and down the three steps leading to the children's play area . . . over and over again. Why steps in the water are even more fun than elsewhere, I have no idea.

Then we ate at Chick-Fil-A and almost finished four nuggetts. By the time we got home (around 12:15), he was ready to walk straight to his crib and lay down. Why naptime is always so much easier than bedtime, I haven't a clue. Maybe he knows that naptime is shorter and there's still more time to play? Maybe it's just because it's harder to say goodnight to Daddy. :-)

First Gymboree class

2006-06-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Gymboree Play & Music | 16-22 Months Overview

We just got back from our first Gymboree class! Monday and Wednesday Corbin goes to daycare; Tuesdays and Fridays we go to the pool. So we needed something to do on Thursdays, and I immediately thought of Kindermusik. But we've done that before, and I wanted to know what all our options were. There's a Gymboree right next to Babies R Us, about a mile from our house, so I looked up their info online and discovered we could try our first class free. I was afraid Corbin would be fussy, or clingy, or simply ignore any parts that were structured.

But it was nearly a perfect experience! After Corbin supprised me by pointing to all the different color mats and saying red, yellow, green, blue, and purple (I'm not sure if he knows orange or not, because he certainly can't pronounce it), he was ready to quit showing off and just play. Corbin loved all the different things to climb on during opening free play time, and he was totally content to let me redirect him to the various group activites. They sang a couple of opening songs, then the teacher talked briefly about red/green and stop/go (Corbin is a professional backseat driver and shouted out the answers accordingly). We even all played red light, green light -- which I would never have thought 1 year olds could grasp. Of course, the moms held the children's hands and guided them, but they all seemed to understand what was going on. Next came four different activity options in different stations, all matching the stop/go theme. Then she brought out this huge "air log" for the kids to straddle (see this picture) that Corbin really loved to bounce and roll on. There was some Kindermusik-like songs, then a little more activity choice time. At the end there was circle time around a parachute. They used bubbles to get the kids to come back over, and Corbin spent much of the remaining time finding all the bubbles on the floor that hadn't popped yet, but that was okay. He had a really, really great time and didn't want to leave. They had the cute trick of giving the kids a stamp on their hand as they went out the door that seemed to keep the others from getting upset, but Corbin wasn't fooled. :-) So I immediately signed us up for more. It's 12 weeks for $200, and in August when I start back to school we can change to the Saturday class.

After the class we went next door to Babies R Us and got a $10 potty. We've already bought one for him, but it's just a little too big for his short little legs. It's a good one that converts to go on top of the toilet while part of it becomes a stepstool, so we didn't want to take that one back. And so now he has two, but this little one we just bought is going to be perfect for now. We're not trying to actually potty train him yet, just get him introduced to the idea of sitting on it.

Well, now it's time for lunch. And after that, nap time! Yay!

Catching Up

2006-06-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Corbin is 19 months old right now, and the last two months have seen a lot of changes. The first amazing thing is that he's finally started saying words. He was doing sign language at 10 months old, but could only say two or three at 18 months. The first clear words were apple, juice, and moo. It was funny how he learned animal sounds so easily, but English took more effort. By eighteen months he knew lots and lots of animals. We could look at a picture of several different ones and ask him to find the giraffe, pig, tiger, etc. About that same time, he also got hooked on stars and pointed them out everywhere. "Sah, sah!" It was really cute. But the really big event was just before he turned 19 months old when we figured out that he knew several letters of the alphabet. We really had no idea until I found a cute program on the computer that went through the alphabet by hitting any key. He'd get excited by the ones he recognized, which was A, E, and O at first. Of course, half of his toys try to teach this stuff, but we just didn't realize that he was remembering any of it. Why he knows the vowels first, we still don't know. Today he knows A, C, E, F, G, I, O, T, U, and Y. It's certainly possible that he knows more, but these are the ones he can pronouce and point to consistently. A few days ago I used some of his magnets to show him how the letters spell words, and though he certainly didn't start putting together anything on his own, he had a look on his face of complete fascination. I'll have to rent some word-making DVDs to help him better understand the concept.

His favorite thing on TV is The Wiggles show, where four Australian guys sing and dance. He often does the motions along with them, which is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. His first favorite was Rock-A-Bye Your Bear, though he's never done the whole routine. Unlike Hot Potato, which he can perform in its entirety. We've shelled out $90 for he and I to attend their concert in early August. Other shows he likes include Sesame Street, although each episode is hit-or-miss. Some are on his level, but others are too heavy on plot and dialogue too hold his attention. We have one on our DVR with a fruit theme that he absolutely loves. He's seen it at least 50 times since we taped it back around 12 months. For the last couple of weeks we've been watching Blue's Clues, which seems to be a hit so far. I've been watching it with him and personally responding to Joe's questions in order to be an interactive example. Hopefully Corbin will join in soon. The show is geared to slightly older kids, probably age 3, but most of it is something Corbin can comprehend. There were a few Baby Einstein videos that he enjoyed earlier this year, but we haven't played any of them for him since he started counting to five before the narrator--about a month ago.

It's disconcerting to hear him count to five so clearly. Of course, three is actually "tee," but he still says them all in correct order. Even stranger is when he seems to count to ten, since we've never worked on that, but he doesn't do it consistently. Corbin really likes to count, perhaps because it's something he's good at. It's a great distraction anytime, anywhere. Don't want to eat your grapes? Let's count them! He'll usually eat one, and then we can count them again. When he turned 18 months, he couldn't count more than 5 things on a page without pointing to some of them twice and skipping over others. Now he's counting 7 or 8 perfectly. It's really neat to watch him learn and improve over such short periods of time.

Last month we bought him a slide and put it in the living room. It seemed a real challenge at first just to get up the steps, which are really just a set of rock-climbing protrusions on an incline. Now he's got it mastered, though he's still working on landing without crashing forward and picking up his feet when he's wearing shoes. It's been hard to keep him from getting too frustrated by not being able to climb up the slide! For the last couple of months, he's been climbing on everything everywhere. It's as if his motor coordination suddenly clicked and he's achieved complete confidence in his balance. He's gotten more than a few spankings from trying to climb on things like tables and treadmills, not to mention constantly standing on top of his toys. Thank goodness he doesn't weigh too much!

One of my favorite things is that he's learned how to give hugs on cue, and even seems to enjoy them for a short time. That affection-giving has been a great sustainer during difficult days. He's still not into cuddling, and the closest we come is reading a book in my lap. But I manage to get some physical love language in through tickling and kissing. We have a special song that we sing (to Frère Jaques): Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, little boy, little boy. Mommy loves to hug you, Mommy loves to kiss you, little boy, little boy. When he hears it he smiles big and sways with the beat, and giggles like crazy at the end when I tickle him. It's very cute, and I just love that it's obviously so special to him.

The parenting book I'm reading right now is about gifted children (IQs of over 130). It has nothing to say about toddlers, but it's a good road map for what probably lies ahead. With Corbin already learning his alphabet, we're having to constantly find new ways to challenge him. So far, learning seems to be lots of fun. And I hope that as parents we never become pushy about it. A couple weeks ago we bought a little potty for him to get used to, when he started informing us when his diaper is dirty. We certainly don't expect or want him to be toilet trained at this age, but we wanted to take advantage of his current level and introduce him to the next, giving him the opportunity to show us when he's ready to move forward. We have him sit on it and read a special book right before we get into the bathtub. No hassle, no pressure. But it's just another example of the rapid changes his brain development is going through right now. It's a fascinating time.

It's also an enfuriating time. Like all toddlers, he experiments with his power. Saying "no" to us happens many, many times a day. Sometimes we can change his mind or distract him with something else, but often we just head straight into a battle of wills. It's challenging to deal with this day in and day out. But it really helps that he's become old enough to understand a little of cause-and-effect. Such as, if you eat a pear, I'll give you a piece of cheese. Or I remember the first time I told him to pick something up (in another room) and then we'll watch a video, when he quickly complied and returned to point at the tv. That must have been around 14 months old. It was astonishing. Even now he's often able to follow complex directions given in ordinary adult language. Like, Go put your toy in the box and then find your shoes so we can go outside, followed by bringing me the shoes and saying "ow-sigh."

Well, that's all I want to write about for now. Hopefully I can manage to keep up!