Ok ok already...

Sorry,... I've been much busier lately with not a whole lot of time to sit around and blog all day, sheesh give a girl a break.
So, some cute Zane-isms lately:
On the phone with Grandma one day, Zane said "grandma, come see me" and grandma said " I can't, I would like to but I can't right now" (she is 6 1/2 hours away) and Zane says "Because you are too old and sick". HAHA. Where does he come up with this stuff? I promise we have NEVER EVER said that.
Zane is in preschool. But don't ever talk about preschool. He insists "No, that's not my preschool, that's my CLASS". Whatever dude!
Last month, we went to Kohl's and were shopping around. He was planning on being "Tuck" (from Wonderpets) for Halloween this year, but I saw a cute Pablo (from Backyardigans) costume and asked him if he would rather be that. He told me no, he wanted to be Tuck. Flash forward a month later to last night. He comes into my room and says, "Mom, where is my Pablo?" I said "What?" He said "My blue Pablo". Me again, "What?" "My blue Pablo costume". Seriously I can not believe the memory on this kid.

moving over to myspace...

decided to get with it and get a myspace. i will probably keep this, but blog over there as well. love you all.

Smart kid!

We attended Madison's (my niece/Zane's cousin) baptism this past weekend. We let Zane sit up front with all the kids so that he could get a good view. He got so excited when it was Madison's turn. After she was done, he belts out "She went under!" Everyone laughed. Then, he squeals a great big "MY TURN!" Everyone heard him that time, and of course loud laughter. What a cute story to remember for HIS baptism. Too cute.

I Happy

Ok, so if you know me and you know Zane, you know about "meltdowns." Zane is very sensitive, persistent, determined, energetic, extremely intelligent, easily frustrated, etc. When you combine all of those, you get a great smart fun-loving crazy kid - most of the time. But when Zane has had enough, you know it. And so does everyone else within a 10 mile radius. Fortunately for us, at 3 years old now, we have figured out how and when to prevent most of the meltdowns and "losing it". We protect those "meltdown tip-offs" with our lives. Unfortunately, there are times, when you just can't avoid it. Today was one of those days.

We had to run some errands today, which on a good day for Zane, he can handle going to about 3 places a day. Today was NOT a good day. We went to 4 stores. Add to that a birthday party at the swimming pool (his favorite place) to go to this evening. Of course, we didn't want to keep him from that. He was tired, he had had enough today, we knew we would be lucky if we escaped the meltdown. At least the meltdown came after the birthday party - when we were leaving. Add to that, the fact that we were already about 30 min. late for bedtime (NEVER A GOOD IDEA-one of those meltdown tip-offs).

Breakdown of the hour immediately following the birthday party:
-10 min. to get him in the car
-10 min. of a screaming, yelling, kicking, mommy holding zane's seatbelt so he can't get out of his seat, ride home.
-10 min. to get him in the house from the car/garage.
-30 min. of "mommy rage", some "daddy rage", struggle to get in PJ's, destructo man in the bedroom (that's Zane throwing every single thing he can get his hands on at the wall or on the floor- mainly every book in his bookcase), a whole bag of pretzels on the kitchen floor, MELTDOWN.

Immediately Post-Meltdown (A very "touchy" place-not a good time to try to get him to do anything yet):

Zane calmed down enough to sit on my lap, and I was able to talk to him about what was going on. I told him to look at me (which he wouldn't of course) and asked him if he thought I looked or sounded happy. He said "no, you happy". I said , "No, I'm not happy, I'm very sad and very very angry. I'm so angry that I want to scream and yell at the top of my lungs. Why do you think I'm so angry? It makes me so angry when you throw pretzels on the floor. What do you think you could do so that I'm not angry anymore?" He said "Pick up the pretzels." And proceeded to pick up the pretzels. Yes, he really really did that. All on his own. When he came back, I said "Thank you, that's making me feel a little better but I'm still angry. It makes me really angry when you don't get on your pajamas when I ask you to. What do you think you could do so that I wouldn't be angry about that anymore?" He went straight into his room, and brought me the PJ's he had on just a moment ago, taken off and thrown in his room. Can you believe this is my 3 year old? Anyways, that same conversation went on a couple more times, and he was able to get right into his bed, and fell asleep within minutes. He got lots of loves and kisses from us tonight!

I am stunned, amazed, joyous, but most of all, as Zane would say, "I happy."

We have poop!!

After three weeks of potty training, numerous accidents, we have a poop in the potty! Zane did it all by himself, without telling me he needed to go. He ran out of the bathroom, I POOPED. Sure enough, yippee!! Aren't we pathetic to be so excited about poop! =)Zane got a new train to go with his GeoTrax trainset for his "big special prize." Way to go!

Ok so you really want to know about my day?

Today -- got up, went walking. That was nice, and probably the highlight of my day. About 9 am, took a shower, and noticed the toilet was "bubbling". Weird, oh well. Went to get a pair of pants out of the dryer....OH MY GOSH! Yes, the return of the raw sewage backing up through the laundry room drain, only this time there was a bonus! A whole pile of un-washed laundry on the floor to SOAK it all up! At least they weren't clean.

Go to get John from work to deal with the plumber. Left John to deal with the mess for a minute while we picked up Chardell and Sage to go to the park. Spent about 20 minutes at the park before Zane peed his pants. Struggled to get him home in his car seat. Hurried and picked up the house -- couldn't let the plumber think we live in filth. Nevermind the fact he was coming over to wade through our crap. Now about 1:30, still haven't eaten lunch. Chased Zane around the house and various yards while the plumber was "trying" to work on the drains -- all the while trying to avoid the putrescent (sp?) rotting nasty disgusting raw sewage smell infiltrating my entire house.

After two snaked drains, all to show for the $350 bucks -- a dirty cleaning rag the previous owner had flushed down the toilet who knows how long ago. Oh, but at least it's not roots! Now about 4:00 -- the cleanup of the LITERAL crap begins. Oh yeah, still haven't eaten lunch. Something about the smell just doesn't lend itself to cooking up a burrito! Once we hosed out the laundry room, of course Zane had to play with the hose. Sent him outside to get as dirty as he wants. Did I mention yet that I was heading to enrichment meeting tonight and planned on not having to change my clothes?

After a long struggle with John hooking up the dryer and now getting sick to my stomach, I go out to retrieve Zane from the muddy mess outside. Have you ever heard of red mud? Oh yes, red mud. Picked Zane up by the armpits, careful to not let a single bit of him touch me or my clothes. Made it all the way to the bathtub, red mud free, and BLAM he arches his back getting into the tub. RED MUD all down my khaki pants. Lovely.

Run to get some food. It's about 5:30. Didn't kill my son. Didn't kill my husband. House smells like poo. It's a good day -- but it's not over yet.

How can you be mad when they are so cute?!

Today, Zane and I had it out. I had said "no" to him having the keys to the car (for obvious reasons!). He went into his rampage and began with knocking over the garbage can. After he wouldn't pick up the garbage he knocked over, I told him he would have to go to his room. So of course he ran off to hit the living room blinds. At that point, I was screaming that he had to go to his room, and I physically picked him up and took him there. After standing outside the door for a minute (mostly so I could calm down), I went in and yelled (over his screams of course - NOT effective, I know) about how he is not to knock over the garbage can or hit the blinds. Of course, this led to him physically pummelling my head by his hands. So, after going back out of the room for another minute, I came back in and was sufficiently calm to hug him and talk to him some more. After our short talk about his behavior, I told him I was sorry for yelling. A minute went by. Then he says "I sorry I cried at you." How cute. So of course, I said "I love you very much." He said "me too." That just made me cry, he never really responds well to stuff we say to him (almost never in fact!). I told him "I love you Zane, thank you for making me feel better." He said "I love you too mommy," then looked at me and said "mama you sad?". I said, "No, I'm happy now, you told me you were sorry, and made me feel better." He said "I get you kleenex blow your nose." What a sweet kid. Maybe we are doing something right.

My do it...

We are going through a serious case of the "my do its". Zane wants to do everything from make his own peanut butter sandwich to drive the car. It is a serious deal to try to get him to understand that he is not big enough to drive a car. He can unlock the doors (even by putting the key IN it - no keyless for him!), put the key in the ignition and start it up. Don't ever let him get your keys if he is anywhere close to your car! Today we visited Sara & Cory and the kids. Although there was an inch of snow outside, he was determined to ride on the lawnmower. He loves to play at his cousins and has a lot of fun. A couple of his favorites right now: his favorite movie is Lady and the Tramp (doggie movie). He loves to point out what is going to happen next. His favorite drink is "peach juice" (white grape and peach - still watered down!). He loves to just "feel things" (mud, water, and especially the flour in the jar on the countertop!). I don't care for that last one! We love our zaney Zane.

Quite a gash!

Zane got a good cut on his head today which required a quick trip to the pediatrician. I was vacuuming and Zane tripped over the cord right into the corner of the cedar chest in the family room. I freaked out. I didn't know if I should rush him to the hospital, call 911, or what! I decided on calling John and he was able to come home and keep me under control. While I was cleaning Zane up, he wanted to look at his "broken" head so he headed off into the bathroom. I think it scared him a little to see that big cut because he came out crying. At the Dr.'s office, he told the receptionists that he had an owie bump. Pretty cute. Although it was quite bloody, the Dr. was able to glue it and put some steri-strips on it. Who knew that all it takes is a little super glue? He was a very brave kid. Zane is doing just fine, back to running around as soon as we got home.

hey howdy hey we are lookin' good

Welcome to our blog. We are the Collins Crew: John, Abi, & Zane. I (Abi) started this blog to keep track and share all those funny things that happen to us as parents of a toddler. enjoy!