Mr. Helpful

What a great evening we had today! Corin was SO good! This afternoon we went to Costco as a family because we needed to go and I never go to it during the week so we went on a Saturday and I have this personal "rule" that I don't go to Costco by myself on Saturdays because it is just too crazy, guess I need moral support through the craziness. While we were there we got some NesQuik which Corin was excited for mostly because the container had a bunny on it and we told him chocolate was inside so he called it "Chocolate Bunny" the whole time and now that is the official name of it. He has actually never had chocolate milk before. We've had NesQuik around, which I love, but never gave it to him. Partly because I never thought of it, Corin never knew about it, so he never asked for it and also because I didn't think it was a necessity.
I told Corin that if he ate a good dinner that he could have Chocolate Bunny and he ate GREAT without a fit, a Mother's dream come true! The best part of it was that a made a beef and broccoli stir-fry with snow peas and he ate snow peas and some broccoli and not just one bite, but multiples, who could ask for anything better! So, as promised we made Chocolate Bunny together which he really enjoyed. I usually take pictures of EVERYTHING, even simple things like this and I didn't even think to get the camera, so no pictures for this post. Corin is such a great kid when it comes to sweets, because after he finished the chocolate milk he was given he was fine with not getting more.
What made the evening even better was that he was such a great listener and so helpful in the tasks that needed to get done. He helped Shane change the sheets on our bed, which he loves to do because he can make a pile of sheets and jump in it and also he loves throwing them down the stairs, even if he can only get a king size sheet down a few stairs. He nicely and easily picked up his toys. He wanted to and was great at helping get the dishes done by carefully unloading the dishes and giving them to Shane to put away.
So far, the 3s have been alright. I feel that he is listening more and actually responding to what I ask him to do, we have our moments of not listening, but don't all kids?

Mine, Mine, Mine

Corin sometimes reminds me of the sea gulls on Finding Nemo who keep saying "Mine, Mine, Mine."

As we were playing with Play-Doh yesterday compliments of his Auntie April for his birthday we saw a frog on the box and wanted to make one, well of course I ended up making it for him (or at least trying to make it look like a frog) and afterwards he said "My frog, I make it" and asked him, "Who made it?" "I did, my frog" was his reply.

The frog looked a bit better than in his picture when I first finished it and gave it to Corin. Than Corin did his own working on it, maybe that is what made it officially his frog.

New Toy Fun

Who doesn't like to get new toys??

When I get something new, I want to use it continuously and the same thing is with Corin. He has been playing with all his new toys that he got for his birthday. Corin got quite a few new toys for his birthday and we had fun playing with them all day long.

Auntie Allison got Corin this shirt for his birthday. She does such a great job at picking out clothes. He LOVES it and kept talking about his tractor shirt.

Lightning McQueen was a big hit right away. He started playing with it at his party and hasn't stopped. He received this from his friend Emily who now lives in Greeley, we miss her, but were so glad they were able to make the drive up here for Corin's party.

Auntie April gave him a 10 pack of Play-Doh. He loves to cut it! He had to try out almost every color.

His friend Hannah (Hannah-Boo as he calls her) that he has known since she was born gave him this game along with her parents. We had such a great time playing it and a family and as you can tell he LOVED it as well. He had to try out every hippo.

Party Time!

Today we had a small birthday party for Corin, just family and a few close friends. I decided not to do anything big because I didn't want to deal with it being pregnant. February to me is a hard month to have a birthday in because it is limited in what you can do since the weather isn't great, as of course, it is currently. It started snowing last night, it was pretty much melted by the time people arrived, but I was hoping to let the kids outside to play with the bubble machine, which didn't happen. It wasn't all adults, he did have 2 friends come, girls at that. They seemed to have a good time playing with the new toys Corin recieved and of course eating cake. No, I didn't do anything do any games, not really into that, but maybe when Corin gets older I'll have to do more entertaining, or take the kids to a place.

We did a Lightening McQueen themed party, KA-CHOW!!

This picture is a little dark and fuzzy, but I LOVED it! Corin was SO excited to have a bunch of balloons, he was caring and running all round with them before the party.

Party Blowers are SO much fun!

He thought it was great that everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him.

Blowing out his candle! Happy 3rd Birthday!

Mmmmm cake!

Beater Licking

Who doesn't love to lick the beaters??

I started doing some prep work (I'm all for preping, less stressful the day of) for a small party we are having for Corin's 3rd Birthday tomorrow (I can't handle anything big being pregnant) and was making fruit dip. I gave Corin the beaters to lick and he had so much fun! He thought it was so funny that he could lick them! He also sat on the kitchen floor so he could see his reflection in the oven and watched himself licking the beaters. He didn't get them clean, but it was fun for him and fun for me to take pictures and watch him.

Birthday Treat!

After dinner, which I made stuffed peppers and Corin did pretty good at eating them, mostly he ate the filling, but we cut up some the the pepper small and mixed it into the filling and he ate some of them (sometimes just have to use a little trickery), but caught some of them too and pulled them out of his mouth, we went to Cold Stone Creamery for a special birthday treat! Corin was so excited to get a birthday treat that he talked about it all day and I kept telling him when Daddy got home and we ate dinner that we would go. So when Shane did get home Corin told him "go get birthday treat" and threw a bit of a fit because we weren't going right then, that we had to eat dinner, but he ended up eating well, which made me happy. Corin chose chocolate ice cream, he is definitely our child since Shane and I both love chocolate. They have an ice cream made with Ghirardelli chocolate, which is SO good, that what I got since it is dark. Shane and Corin just got the regular chocolate ice cream. Corin ate his ice cream fairly quickly and even got a headache from it then proceeded to want more and ate some of Shane's.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is Corin's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it!

So I thought to honor his day I'd post some pictures.

Newborn

First Birthday

Second Birthday

His birthday party is on Saturday, so I'll post more pictures then. He'll probably have the same messy cake face as he has in these pictures.

The time on this post is just a few minutes after he was born, I didn't do that on purpose

Parenting/No Cookies

Since Corin was sick we weren't able to make Valentine's Day cookies on Saturday and also because he chose not to eat his green beans. He usually loves green beans, but he was being opinionated and stubborn and wouldn't eat them, so we missed out on making cookies. Sunday, Shane had a Stake Priesthood meeting in the evening, so we couldn't do it then and of course Corin ate great that night. We were going to do them tonight, but again Corin decided not to eat his dinner. I've been concerned that he isn't trying enough different kinds of foods, so I asked him to eat one small piece of cooked carrot from the casserole that I made and he wouldn't. Stubbornness again! So, we missed out on cookies. He was upset, but still wouldn't eat it, guess he was holding his ground and standing up for himself about the injustice of eating a carrot. I wouldn't say Corin is a terribly picky eater, he is selective and eats only the things he knows he likes and I'd say what he is in the mood for, but he wouldn't even eat the green beans! It was truly a bummer for me not to make cookies together as a family since we have kind of made it our family tradition of making and decorating sugar cookies for the various holidays, but I didn't want to reward him for not at least trying his carrot or eating one bite of green beans. The cookies were a treat. Parenting can be hard.

Family Date Cancelled

Today were were going to go Bowling together as a family, however we had to cancel because Corin has an ear infection. I was saddened because I was looking forward to us all going and also because Corin was sick. I was so upset that when I called Shane to tell him after he got out of school I started crying, which I completely blame on being pregnant. Shane took Thursday and today off to paint the room that will be Declan's as well as the computer room. Since, he was going to be off and working so hard we thought it would be fun to go out and do something together as a family. We thought bowling would be fun and a different activity for Corin to try and also on the weekdays it is much cheaper, so it was going to work out well. Corin has been having some congestion for the past week and in the middle of it developed a cough, but it was seeming to get better..until today, when he woke up whinny, clingly and all together not feeling good. I knew it was bad when he started telling me his ear was "ouchy" and needed kisses. Then he started to get sleepy, and was in and out of sleep all morning, as he ended up napping on the couch. When Shane got home from school he tried twice to take Corin up to his bed, but Corin insisted, with crying involved, that he wanted to sleep on the couch. The crazy thing is that Corin just went to the doctor's on Wednesday for his 3 yr check up and everything was fine. I told Dr. Suzie that he had a cold symptoms, but was seeming to get over them. I was reassured today when I saw her that ear infections can come on suddenly. So, we have meds and Corin is taking them well, which is nice because I know he is getting the proper and full dose so he can start feeling better and the infection can clear up. Hopefully, he is feeling better by tomorrow so we can at least make Valentine's cookies together as a family.

Reading

Corin loves to be read to, which Shane and I are both grateful for and love that he is into reading. Today, he went through his Curious George books to find a specific one he wanted me to read, none other would do. (Curious George goes to the Movies). He knows the titles of all his Curious George books. I love to watch him get a book and read it to himself. He is getting to understand the pictures and the story when he goes through them, which is great, the start of learning to read. Also, repetition is key to this, we have read many of his books so often to him that he knows the story, again a stepping stone to learning to read later on. I am grateful that he loves to do to a quiet activity as active as he is, now if only rest time could be quiet, as I hear lots of noises coming from upstairs.

He is reading Curious George's Dream in the pictures, but I was to read Curious George goes to the Movies to him today.

Imagination/Innovation

Thought I would share some pictures of Corin's silliness and imagination!

He had dripped water on his shirt, so he took the towel to clean it off and just decided to tuck it into his shirt and wear it around. Maybe just in case he was to drip again, it would get on the towel instead of his shirt. (1/22)

Inside our pants is a good place to store the spatula he was using to "make soup" in the pots. He didn't have a pocket, so guess this was the next best place. (1/28)


Milk boxes make GREAT shoes! (1/30)

What fun it is to have a child around to constantly entertain!