And this year, its the start of preschool for our little man. Since moving into our new house and ward, he'd been attending the sunbeam class. In our last ward there were 12 or so sunbeams, and Collin was one of two young-ins in the class. He got lots of attention, and the teachers knew how to work with him. (Seriously though, there were 4 kids born in January in that sunbeam class. They were pretty much experts at the whole sit and listen thing after a month.) This new sunbeam class only has 6 kids in it, and typically someone is absent, so we were excited that he'd still be able to get the help he needs to learn how to do a class setting. But this new class is full of kids with strong personalities, and the oldest was born late April, so they're not as mature as the last class either. Lets just say the first 4-6 weeks were rough. We were to a point where when Collin would get up Sunday morning he would be upset because he didn't want to go to church because he "can't be a good boy there!" (That's what he told us.) So sad! Totally broke my heart!
So we decided that to help him learn how to sit and listen, he needed more practice and that's why we enrolled him in preschool. He's been for two weeks, and has already learned so much! He's much better behaved and has actually had GOOD days at church! Hooray! Practice works! (I also think that his preschool teacher is helping immensely. She knows how to work with him, and is super patient!)
The weeks leading up to preschool we worked on going potty all by himself including wiping and getting dressed afterwards, and listening. I can up with a game where Collin could earn prizes like a toy from the dollar store or a trip to the Nickelcade if he filled up a row with stickers. I'd ask him to do something and if he listened and obeyed the first time I asked, he'd get a sticker. It was a huge motivation for him. I think it helped a ton. We also talked a lot about preschool and what he could expect. We focused on playing with new friends and learning new things. He was still a little nervous, but excited too. The first day on our way to preschool, he was SO excited. I snapped a pic outside the fence before taking him in.
That is a sincere smile! First time he's smiled for a picture and looked at the camera too. When I picked him up after that first day I asked him what happened that day. He told me that he played with friends, and got a time out. I asked why he got a time out, and he said, "I was running and not listening to Teacher, so I got a time out. But Mom, I'm sorry. I'll try again next time." I just smiled. I didn't get much else about his day. He's usually good for a couple of stories, but then he's ready to move on to the next thing. Love that little guy!
I'm due in about 2.5 weeks! These last two months have flown by; I can't believe we're that close! I'm feeling good, minus being tired. This last Sunday we were asked to give talks in church. I stress big time over talking in Sacrament Meeting. This time was no different. I struggled with the topic we were given as well because I felt like it was very basic. I didn't write my talk until Saturday afternoon which is super late for me. Usually I have it done a couple of days before so I can memorize it. I think that made me more stressed. And stress can give a pregnant woman contractions. Saturday night we watched the Michigan vs. Notre Dame game, and I had a few pretty hard contractions during the game. After we put Collin to bed, Greg and I stayed up and watched the end of the BYU game. Both were great games! During the BYU game, I was getting contractions about 6 minutes apart. They weren't intense though. We were both nervous that I was going to go into labor, but the contractions subsided after I went to bed.
We got to church about 10 minutes early so we could sit close to the front and corral Collin there, rather than on the stand. When we told Collin that Mom and Dad had to get up and speak, he said "Oh and me too!" He kept asking when it was going to be his turn, and told everyone that came to chat with us that he was going to talk "up there!" So we decided to let him. I told him to say "My name is Collin. I know Jesus loves me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He was so excited. When it was my turn to speak, I took him with me and he remembered the first thing, but then looked at me so I prompted him with the next two lines. People told us after they couldn't quite understand all of it, but go the idea. Then during my talk, I had 3 contractions. The first was pretty hard, and I had to pause a moment and breathe through it. The second was ok, and I talked right through it. The third was about 2 paragraphs from the end of my talk and it was also intense, but I was so close that I attempted to talk through it as well. Greg said it sounded more like I was caught up in the emotion. I had multiple people stop me after to ask if I was having contractions during my talk, and they all said "Wow! How crazy would it have been if you'd gone into labor! What a memorable meeting that would have been!" I guess I had everyone on the edge of their seats. It was quite a memorable Sacrament Meeting for our family, that's for sure!
