As a warning…I’m not going down the deep reflective path here. However, since finding out baby #3 is a girl I’ve looked at Colin a bit differently knowing that he will be the only son. I wanted to share a few things I enjoy about him followed by a few brief dialogues I’ve had with him recently that capture a little bit of the Father-Son Dynamic. I think this is a post worth reading the whole way through, but of course I’m biased 
I love Colin’s personality. He’s a riot. He’s extraverted, loves attention, has high inclusion needs, likes to entertain and be in the mix – pretty much in direct contrast to my nature.- I love that he loves people. It took him 2 1/2 years of physical and social development to surpass my social ability and make more friends than me. Some people have the “it” factor – Colin seems like he’s got the it factor. I take him to Morgan’s preschool to get Morgan and he’s like Norm from Cheers.
- I love that ever since he was able to stand, he and I do a NFL or NBA style chest bump every time after I change his diaper. Not sure how it started, but it’s a tradition.
- I love that any time any sports event is on tv, he starts cheering, “Go Cubbies!”
- I love that his favorite song is “Go, Cubs, Go” and asks for me to put it on in the car every time I have to drive him somewhere. Same song has also been known to completely calm and pacify him during middle of the night meltdowns. At some point the Cubs are going to start keeping him up at night rather than soothing him to sleep, but that reality won’t set in for a while.
- I love that every night since he was put in the crib pretty much he spends on average about 45 min to an hour just partying by himself in his bed – yelling, jumping, and talking. Most common phrases heard by Colin at night are “Go, Cubs, Go!”, “Hey Chicago!”, “ALVIN!!!” (yelling it like in the Chipmunks movie), “Woo-Hoo!!”, and “It not working!” (Meaning, he can’t fall asleep).
- I love how he adores his sister and is a huge encouraging presence in her life.
- I love how he always tries to get on my weight machine (for the last 9 mos) and bench press. He at least as the hard core weigh-lifting face down!
- I love how he’s so sweet with his new baby cousins. He’s grieving the redirection of attention I’m sure, but he’s very cute to watch.
Here’s a few recent dialogues and quotes from Colin that give more insight into who he is:
- During my sister’s pregnancy with twins this past year he picked up a phrase from her that he uses now on a daily basis. In the morning or whenever he’s hungry he starts rubbing his stomach with both hands and says, “My babies are hungry!” That’s now his way of expressing when he’s hungry.
- Here’s a brief conversation between us a couple days ago. I’m censoring out words so that the wrong people don’t come to this blog. I’m sure you can figure it out if you have a basic understanding of male anatomy. I have an arsenal of these stories, but not all need to be shared
Colin: “Dada, do you have a p—–?”Me: “Yes. We’re both boys.”Colin: “Where is it?Me: “It’s in the same place as yours.”Colin: “Hi-five Dada!” (as he extends his arm for a hi-five)
- At dinner a few days ago he asked me, “Dada, let’s go watch some Kobe!” The playoffs were over, but he became a Kobe fan.
- Colin is our official facilitator of family dinner conversation. When we’re together he always asks all of us at the table, “How was your day?” He’ll ask each person, Morgan and Mom about five times each. He’s hysterical.
- I woke him up a couple days ago and he’s usually happy in the mornings, but the first thing he says is “What’s that smell? What’s that smell?” and eventually he puts his nose up to my mouth and points his finger at me. Little man fully called me out for morning breath.
I’m going to leave it at that today, though there’s many more. I also have a list of habits we need to work on with him. He half-mooned me today while we were at a mall (thank the Lord he’s still in diapers and couldn’t totally pull it off), he sings “Shake your booty” while wiggling his backside at almost every public meal we have, and he spends a lot of time in his sister’s dress-up clothes (and proudly).To wrap this up I’ll include one of my favorite pictures of him properly edited. One night I checked on him in the middle of the night and found him butt naked in his Bears jersey. He had ripped off his shorts and diaper and thrown them to the other side of the room and passed out.
We love this little guy and I love that he’s my son!!
