Let's Zip 'Er Up!

Yeah! Thanks to the fine folks at both Walmart and Gap, I am now fully outfitted with footless pjs to zip onto Colin backwards. And I recently discovered that Carter's has a few similarly-styled pairs available on Kohls.com, so for anyone else out there in need of a backwards pj fix, your options are growing! The Gap jammies are my favorites, as a snap covers the zipper, so he would have to be super Houdini to first figure out the snap and then get a hold of the zipper.

As you can see from the pictures, he protested the first time we put them on (or maybe he was protesting the camera -- which is quite possible), but now it's just become a mini routine to get suited up for naptime.

And yes, we do have 2 occurrences where we feel 99.9% certain these jammies have saved the day and have averted a possible clean-up disaster. Thanks, Lord, for the gift of footless, one piece zipper jammies!

Mr Walmart.com Can't Drive Fast Enough!

If you see the Walmart.com driver who has my order of footless zipper pj's, tell him to drive a little faster! On Wednesday, we had another "fingerpainting"accident. Again. And I almost had the heart to pull out my scissors and start cutting away on the feet of Colin's footed Carter's pj's. Almost. I just couldn't do it.

Yes, this fits in the parenting category of "this too shall pass." And until then, I will continue to self medicate with a post clean-up trip to Starbucks.

Promised Land

Last year I did the "Believing God" Beth Moore Bible study. In our first week of the study, we discussed the concept of a promised land as a New Testament believer, where we may apply this concept spiritually. Our own promised land is a place of God's unapologetic blessing to the obedient. A place where we are abiding in Christ's love and a place where God brings forth great harvest.

I reflect upon this because yesterday Colin was so excited to sing along to one of his Veggie Tales songs where they sing, "We're going to the promised land!" This song had him so tickled that he was just laughing and banging his hands on the kitchen counter with pure joy.

Dear Colin, I hope some day you have this kind of pure joy when you find God's promised land for you.

Dodge Ball

I had some flash backs to fourth grade today:

It's PE period and it's Friday. We did crab soccer last week, so we all know what today is: Dodge Ball day! I cringe as we select teams -- Please don't put me opposite of Rhonda or Johanna! They pack a killer punch and always win!

So why did I have this flash back? My dear hubby is playing dodge ball at a work function right now. And I wonder if he's getting pegged by the Rhonda of the workplace, or if he's the Johanna that's doing the pummeling. Hmmmmm; I've never played dodgeball with my own husband.

Their "elementary" workplace fun (a competition between rival divisions) will end with appetizers and wine. Somehow it was never that good when I was in 4th grade.

Just plant your feet and catch the ball, honey!

Day 2 of Preschool

Today was the second day of preschool and you'd think Colin had been going forever. Once he saw where he was going, he gleefully hit the door running to the toys and didn't even care to stop and say goodbye.

This week is a fish theme, so on Wednesday he'll be taking his fish puppet to class for share time. And yes, hippo made it to class for share time today. He was so happy to have hippo in class with him.

Speaking of his class, there are 8 kiddos, and only 2 are girls. This will make for a busy year for his teachers. In general, boys are just busier & a little more rowdy, so it will keep them on their toes!

Getting a Little Too Creative

Messes. They're a part of everyday life when you have kids. It's just part of growing up. But I had always heard stories from my other mommy friends about "the one" which I considered to be the worst kind, and I was so glad that I had managed to avoid it so far for the most part. Until this weekend.

Over the past 2 days nap time has turned into an incredibly smelly and awful finger painting adventure, and we're not talking about the nice finger paints made by Crayola. Yah, that kind. The wall, which has a gorgeous scene of a mountainous beach island was greatly enhanced today, and we had to use various forms of scrubbing bubbles and scrubby wipes and over 45 minutes worth of muscle power to clean the mess. The floor. The crib. Some books. The carpet, even across the room. Pooh bear. Bedding. The walls (worst of all!) Oh, and not the mention the child! Yep, he got a good scrubbin' and a brisk shower, too.

So I found and ordered something which should be a helpful solution, which we may have to consider using during the daytime nap as well: footless zipper one piece pj's. Hanna Andersson and Gymboree don't make them in a large enough size (just up to 3T, not big enough!), but leave it to our friends at the Gap and at Wal-Mart online to save the day. Those folks down in Bentonville are smart folks, ya know, selling a 2 pack for less than $10. Footless one piece pj's can be zipped up backwards to save the day. A little Colin Houdini will have 100% blocked access to 1) strip and to 2) access any finger painting supplies. Because. That's. Gross.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Colin's first Day of preschool. He was a bit apprehensive when I dropped him off.

And here is a picture of Colin when I came and picked him up. Happy because Mom came back, and happy because he had lots of fun at school.

Here is Colin's "share bag." We received this today and each day of class he will bring an item from home to share at the group share time at the end of each class.

And this is who we think will be going off to class with Colin next time. For perspective, this plastic hippo is maybe 10 inches long...He's a current favorite animal.