It feels like a faster paced summer, more exhausting. I attribute this to several factors:
1. Summer was literally shorter than other years with our June/early July "winter."
2. Collin's energy level. Half the time it's like living with someone whose manic depressive and off their meds. Ups and downs, screams and cuteness. And he's the Energizer Bunny at the same time.
3. Both Mike and I have been working a lot, the house is a never-ending project, and we've done a fair amount of traveling.
We haven't gotten in touch with nature as much as I would've liked but I have to remind myself Collin is at an age where he's just as happy throwing bark chips at the park than he would be at a picturesque mountain that's a two hour car ride and involves lots of planning. And as mentioned previously Collin does not do the best on hikes. I am looking forward to the days we can do more exploring but two year olds are just exhausting little people. For now, we've had lots of fun going to local playgrounds, swimming and visits to the zoo, the Children's Museum and OMSI. He's also at an age where he actually plays with his friends instead of just co-existing. But sharing is a hard concept...
Collin's also officially moved up to preschool! His teachers felt he was ready to transition even though he's not quite two and a half. We were told Collin is bright (pat on the back for good genes) and very much a visual learner. He knows his numbers, letters and shapes and is extremely focused. Apparently Collin asks to be excused, cleans up his messes and is an all around angel. Now if we could just get him to bring the same level of politeness to home that would be awesome. His teacher Jen also told us two and a half year olds usually enter the "Pesky Pete" phase where dumping toys and other items out is fun and boundaries are constantly meant to be tested (and it gets worse as vocabulary progresses).
Now that he's in a slightly more structured environment, we are also trying to pay closer attention to his unilateral hearing loss. Circle time, talking with his friends, taking direction from teachers, all of those involve more careful listening and with a busy environment with lots of noise and conversation, sometimes kids with auditory neuropothy get frustrated and shut down. Still it's pretty hard to tell Collin has any kind of hearing issue. His audiologist and early intervention specialist both say he's doing great. The only times we've noticed something is off is when he seems unsure of where sound is coming from and he covers up his left ear when we put headphones on him. Chances are when he doesn't respond to us, it's not because he doesn't hear us, he's just being a preschooler.
And now some pictures that demonstrate why we don't eat our young:
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