To Be Continued!

This blog will be continued in the very near future. Keep checking back on occassion.
Collin and I have just been too swamped to post anything new!

Jamaica Pics

Here's a couple quick pics....

As I said, we did a bunch of Sesame Street stuff and it was cool that Collin was not scared of the characters. There were some kids there that freaked out any time the characters were around. Although he wasn't scared of them, Collin wasn't overly impressed either.






The sunsets were a highlight. Here's the little man on the beach (with Floppy of course). We did a couple of sunset photo shoots and picked out the shots we liked best.

Oh Jamaica!

So sorry about the lack of posts here for a while. We were on vacation in Jamaica for a week and had no easy access to computers. Actually, it was kind of nice to have no contact with the outside world. We didn't even turn our television on all week. We returned on Tuesday (a day later then planned....more on that later) and have been recovering ever since.

Here's the low down on the trip...

It's a gorgeous country...at least the parts of it we saw. The weather was awesome. Sunny and in the 80's the whole week. The water was toasty warm. We stayed at Beaches Resort, Negril. Negril is about an hour and a half from thr airport in Montego Bay. This was a big downer because taking that van ride with a 1 year old after corraling him the entire flight was exhausting. It did allow us to see some very lovely parts of the coast which was a good thing because we only left the resort once while we were there.

We picked this resort because of its particular emphasis on families with young children. In fact, it had a Sesame Street theme going and Collin "particpated" in many a Cookie Monster event throughout the week. There was a Kid Camp that included a nursery for Collin's age group. The staff were very well trained and completely competent. Some of them just weren't that nice to tell the truth. It kind of made it tough to appreciate the staff that were friendly and engaging....I just couldn't get past the attitude problem coming from some of them. I didn't expect this issue from the nursery staff!

As a whole though, the Jamaican people were lovely and friendly. It actually left me feeling a bit guilty because the poverty we witnessed driving into and out of the resort was awful. We knew it was there, but seeing it in person was a whole other issue. It made me sad to think of all the friendly staff probably going home to a little shack while we lounged on their beach!

As for the not so tiny tyrant's behavior...it was fickle all week long. On the good side, he slept fairly well for being in a strange crib (in the same room with us) most of the trip. On the not so good side, he was attached to our hips the whole week. He did not want to stay in the nursery one bit. I think we utilized it a grand total of 6 hours the whole week. We hired a private sitter twice. That helped a bit, but again, he was not very comfortable. Now I know he was not purposefully trying to put a downer on Mommy and Daddy's trip, but he did have that little gleam in the eye as if to say, " You will not be having any fun without me!" I think that we have entered a stage of limited travel with Collin for a while. It's simply exhausting trying to keep up with him on unfamiliar turf! Now that he is walking like a pro he wants to explore every nook and cranny. He loved going in the ocean and riding the lazy river with his Dad. The pool...not so much.

Anyway, there's a lot more to tell, including the trip home from hell. I'd love to post some pics, but blogger is NOT cooperating!

Laid Low

Our house is the sick house these days. Collin and I have been hit with a nasty cold and he is also suffering from a bit of an ear infection. The ear infection is a mild one and this is his first...we made it to about 13 months with no real illnesses. Not too shabby! The thing with Collin is that although he is sick, I don't think it has occured to him that he should be resting. How do you get a 1 year old to rest if he is not so inclined? I've pretty much determined that it can't be done. So, he is just bopping around from thing to thing leaving a trail of drool and snot behind him. The worst part of the whole thing has been getting him to submit to the saline spray up his nose. The physical strength and his capacity to squirm away continue to astound me! If I weren't sick too, it wouldn't be such a big deal ...but, I do want to rest! My wonderful husband is coming home early from work this afternoon to spend time with the boy while I try to get an extra snooze in. The plan is try and lay low for the weekend so were in better shape for the big family vacation next week. Jamaica here we come!

Watch Those Chompers!

Collin has developed a disturbing habit of late. He has taken to biting anything of interest that catches his fancy. I think it's related to the fact that we are now (thank you Jesus!) completely weaned. It was my goal to get there before our vacation at the end of the month and we just eliminated the evening breastfeeding session 4 nights ago. On a different note, I can't wait to go bra shopping ASAP. I have been up and down the bra size roller coaster for the last year and a half. My breasts (which were small to begin with) are now even smaller than their original size and I require a whole new wardrobe of undergarments. The cost is coming out of the family budget!

Anyway, since then the biting has escalated quite a bit. He'll bite anything....me, his father, the couch, the kitchen table, the storytime lady at the library. Yup...he went after her like a great white shark who just spotted a yummy looking seal swimming past. Collin couldn't really resist because she squatted down to pick something up and exposed a patch of flesh at the bottom of her shirt line. Collin just loves that little spot and he made a bee line for it. I managed to jump in and snatch him away before he actually made contact, but the storytime lady was a bit startled.

I asked the doctor about this at Collin's 1 year check up earlier in the week and the doctor assured us it was a normal behavior for this age. Still, it's disconcerting because Collin seems to really get a kick out of inflicting pain. We're just trying to be consistent about our response to Collin when he does it....obviously, that it's not ok. So far, he doesn't seem to care.

Activist Motherhood

I've always been one to cheer for the underdog, fight the power, fight the good fight, kind of woman. As a social worker I've dedicated my professional life to working with the underprivileged and disempowered members of our society. I'm big on the concept of social justice. For the vast majority of my career I've worked for women's organizations supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. As a matter of fact that's what I do part-time right now, counsel survivors of rape and incest. Let me tell you...there is not too much justice out there for these women (and men). It makes me so mad sometimes I could just spit.

All of that being said, motherhood has put a new spin on my thinking in regard to these matters. It's not that I didn't realize how important things were before, it's just that I feel like I have a bigger investment in them now. I'm raising a son who will be going out into the world and leaving his own mark on it. I want him to know that I did my little part to do something about all the crap that goes on. Before Collin was born it never occurred to me that I would become something of an activist mother, but here I am, definitely headed in that direction...if only in my own small ways.

Motherhood has also made me feel a sort of new and intense bond with all the other mothers of the world. Only with the arrival of Collin have I realized what the heartbreak of losing a child must be like. I can't imagine how I would go on without him...Especially if I lost him to a war not of my own making. I know everyone has their opinion on the Iraq war and what we've been doing over there, but it makes me sick to think of all those Iraqi mothers losing their babies to bombs. I also can't imagine being an American Mom with a son or daughter fighting in this war. How would I sleep at night to think of my kid in such harms way? So, with all of this being said and in the spirit of activist motherhood, I'm adding a couple of buttons to The Collin Chronicles introducing some grassroots organizations I support. Check them out if you're so inclined....

MomsRising.org

Code Pink-Women For Peace

Remind me again....What month is this?

I'm not exactly an expert on weather, but the kind of weather we have been experiencing here makes it kind of hard not to take global warming seriously. This is January, right? It was a very sunny 70 degrees here at the Jersey Shore (as we like to call it) today. It's downright bizarre to me. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but there's something not quite right about it. We took the boy out to the beach and walked the boardwalk for a while. There were tons of people out and about. Everyone was in a great mood. Is this what it's like to live in southern climes or do people just start to take the warm weather for granted?


Collin seemed to forget that we spent a good amount of time on the beach this past summer....He acted like he had never seen sand before! He did go a bit crazy for the slide though. His primary interest was in climbing back up the slide after his ride down. I was none too steady on the slide myself and almost went flying over tie side when I took a ride down with Collin. The boy looked so tiny amongst all those "big" kids on the playground, but he was in no way daunted. I think he forgets that he is all of one year old!

Collin's long lost Aunt Amanda visited us at the playground for a while too. Seems as though she is missing her little nephew since leaving him to go back to college! She had the audacity to hint that she might be considering taking another childcare position. I told her that Collin would never forgive her and that as it was he seems to be forgetting her more each day. I suppose it was obvious that I'm still a bit bitter over her departure.