The Goodins: Conversations with Collins

Collins has a Ghostbusters shirt he sleeps in, so of course I had to teach him the song. Except when I say, "Who ya gonna call?!" he says, "Haylee" every time.
Likes to tell Jake, "Daddy, be rough wif me!"
In the bathroom one morning he wanted to get a tissue and a wipe to 'clean' the mirror. I let him have the tissue, but not the wipe. I told him it would make the mirror dirtier. He thought for a second, let out a little sigh, held up his tissue, and said, "Put some water on dis." Smarty.
Jake was playing baseball with him one day in the back yard ("backkard") and told Collins he made a good catch. Under his breath Collins said, "Maybe I'll get an M&M for dat!"
"Das ooh fwiend Kuck?" meaning "That's your friend, Kirk?" We see my co-worker-from-another-office, Kirk, walking his dog some mornings. It took me a while to figure out who "Kuck" was. Collins thinks anyone on the street is " Ooh fwiend Kuck."
Grabbed my face one day, put his nose to mine, and said, "Do a snickanose!" He meant Eskimo kiss :))
Talks about "Engine Turtles" a good bit. Especially "Waffeale."
Knows the difference in east and west. I taught him that. I know...practically a Scout Leader. I have been telling him for months that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Now he'll just point that direction and refer to it. Only in the mornings or evenings, of course, but still!
Every time we say good-bye or good night...and I mean EVERY time, we have to give about 10 hugs, 20 kisses, say "I love you"/"see you when I wake up"/"have a good day"/etc., and make the I love you sign with our hand, stick our fingers to his fingers, and make a "ptssss" sound. Jake started that last part with him, but now everyone in the family is in on it.
I walked in the kitchen one morning before church wearing black pants and a cute (though probably too tight at this point) nude colored shirt. Before I could open my mouth to ask Jake if my shirt was too tight, Collins glanced up from his "floot floops" and said, "You're naked. Go change." So I did.
Talks about his daddy's "wiksers" on his face--about how he will have them one day too; and still refers to Jake's facial hair as "gold teef" instead of goatee!
Has become quite the little negotiator. About almost anything he'll say, "One more time and das all," and with such a look that you really believe him! Also still stalls big time at night and says, "Lay with me...jus fiiive minutes."
Last week he picked up a lotion bottle and told MawMaw: "I have sky drin." (dry skin)
"I'm gettin' a cramp in my leg." (That was learned from Mama!)
"I was jus kiddin.' He says that a lot :) or, "Daddy, ooh was jus kiddin'?"
"Square coe" (scare crow)
"Ook at dat buncha sun settin'!"
I told him the story about Haylee blowing out the candles on my cake when I turned four (or five). I told him I was mad at her because I wanted to blow out my own candles. He always feels sorry for me and says, "It's okay" as he pats me :)
Told him I had a dream I went to preschool to eat lunch with him. He told me to "talk about it" so I went into more detail. He said, "Why you dream dat?" I said, "I don't know! Was that a silly dream?!" He said, "No, it was a bad dream." Point taken.
Collins is very logical. He does not understand when he can do something one time and not another time. For instance, Jake let him use the tiller in the garden one day, but not another day because it had rained and the dirt was all muddy. Collins almost got a spanking for not minding because he didn't want to play in the front flower bed, he wanted to play in the garden. It wasn't just defiance; it was pure illogical to him!
He is also independent, which I know is pretty common among his age group. He has learned to open and close the car door himself. And he likes to get the trash can from the curb.
It amazes me that he has self-control (when he wants to) at this age. If we say he can either eat all his treat now or save some for tomorrow, he is pretty likely to save some. I hope he feels this way about money!
Collins doesn't sit in a high chair anymore! Now we have the new table, but even before then...he's been out of it for about a month I guess. This makes it easier and more desirable to play while eating.
We put notes in his lunch box pretty much the whole year he was in the 'Red Room' and I'm sure it'll continue. His teachers told us early on that he loved it. We neglected to follow up and see if he still cared or even knew we were writing notes, but we kept on doing it! He always gets a short note and a sticker of some sort.
Amy gave me a DVD set of the Smurfs for my 30th birthday because they were popular when we were little. Turns out Collins LOVES the Smurfs. Actually, he is more interested in Gargamel and that's what he calls the show: "I wanna watch Gah-ga-mill." He has watched way more tv in the past month than ever before. But his mama is tired and big so he he's allowed. I already bought him Sesame Street and Curious George DVDs for his birthday, but I have a feeling they won't measure up. He says, "I'm not tired of dis yet." I don't mind the Smurfs too badly, but Grouchy Smurf says "hate" a lot, and there's the occasional "stupid" and "idiot." It's just not worth the battle right now, so we simply talk about how those are bad words and hope they don't make their way into his everyday language. Mom of the Year.
It rained and stormed one Wednesday night and the power went off for maybe one minute. Collins was in his bed, but not asleep yet; still crying and talking and such. It scared him :( He has always either been asleep already or it's been daylight when we've lost power before. He said he was afraid of it being so dark. Luckily, he went back to sleep pretty well and hasn't talked much about it since. He did wake up later that night/morning having a bad dream, but it was more Smurf related than weather.
"He's a baby; I'm a big people; I still can't cook." Welcome to my world, kid.
When he talks about God he'll say, "He can't see us..." and I say, "He can see us..." and he finishes for me, "We can't see Him." I say, "Right. We can't see Him, but we know He's there! And He can see us all the time and He loves us so much!" It's a hard concept!
Has started asking Jake and me, "Daddy, ooh love me so much?" "Mommy, ooh like me?" We always say, "Of course!" and reassure him. Now he'll even confirm, "Mommy, even when you're mad you always love me?" :)
The Bible verse at preschool this month is Colossians 3:20 - Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Every time Collins replaces "parents" with "grandparents." Nice try, buddy!