Colton-our very own parrot!

This was Colton's first lollipop. He is a big fan.

I have a million updates that are overdue, so I will try to cram them into a pre-Christmas post!

Colton is forever saying "Go that way?" in the car and pointing one direction or another. A couple months ago we were driving home from daycare and he asked this and I said, "No," to which he responded, "Wrong way!" and giggled. It was so funny because certainly I sometimes say that in response to make him understand why we can't go that way, but funny still to hear him use it in context. That same day I was putting him in the car seat and he pointed at the driver's seat and said, "I drive?" and I said, "No." He waited a second and then said, "Too tiny!," which is what I often say to him when he says he wants to drive. It was quite hilarious.

Of course, the remembering and repeating skill does have it's downside...as he hears and repeats everything so we have really had to watch what we are saying at all times so our little parrot doesn't repeat it! Not that we are big potty mouths or anything, but something not so good for a child to say might slip out when we are frustrated or hurt ourselves. We try to ignore it when he repeats something we don't want him to say and sometimes Justin tries to say something similar to what was said to confuse him, but he has repeated one statement in context recently that we would have preferred he did not. Reminds me of a story of my sweet niece Katy Grace who, when frustrated with her kiddie broom when she was 2 or 3, through it on the floor and used a very colorful adjective in context to describe the broom. :-) Little sponges....

Thanksgiving:


Colton got his Uncle "Edik" and Papa to climb under the dining room table/fort in October:


Good helper!
Colton loves to help most anywhere but he really enjoys helping bake or wash dishes. If he sees one of us doing it, he grabs a chair and drags it over to help.




Justin found a bug on the woodpile outside the door and Colton was so excited and wanted to hold it:



Hold, and wear it:



Under the coffee table (took a bit of wiggling to get OUT of here)


Crazy sleeping baby:




Loves some "hot" tea:


Fun with cousins! First at the playground and then later in October at the county fair:




Katy Grace-the photographer

He loves to run anywhere including the inside of the house. A few weeks ago we were playing this run around the house game and he pointed me forward and said, "Mummy go first," and "I go next." It seems odd to me that he understands what that means!

Recent trip to local animal rescue/wildlife rehab place with some friends:


Zay is 6 months younger than Colton and we get his hand me down clothes!! Lucky us! :-)

Colton prefers to count things as 1, 2, 3 and then start over, but he can count to 20 with minimal prompting if he wants (skipping eleven and eighteen usually). When we calm down in time out, we count to 20 before getting up and apologizing.

Speaking of Time out, he put himself in time out the other day for no reason. "I go time out, " and then sat in the living room where time out is observed. I told him he didn't have to be in time out because he was being nice and he only has to go to time out when he is not nice. He got up, came over to me on the couch and said, "I pull Mummy's hair. Not nice," and reached up to try to pull my hair and then bite me when I wouldn't let him pull my hair. Eventually, however, he ended up in time out like he wanted a bit later for another 'not nice' incident. We ask him why he is in time out and he usually can tell us why he was in time out, which is pretty amazing I think.

Over the past month or so, Colton seemed to have developed an imaginary dog/friend. He saw it a lot and was not always happy to 'see' it. If he is going to have an imaginary friend, I would prefer he likes it! Haven't 'seen' him lately, so maybe he has moved.



Apparently he is creating a masterpiece here he doesn't want anyone to see til he is finished:

"No want to!"

We have been having potty training issues as some days he can stay dry all day and "keen" as he says, but we are going back and forth on if he will say he has to go or if we just have to tell him to go to the bathroom. His current favorite saying is, "No want to," which is his normal response to the question about going to the bathroom. He was doing great at daycare too, but this started after he stayed home with me about 2 weeks ago when he was sick and he has been pretty much refusing to go at daycare, and of course they don't have time to wait on him to 'warm up' to the idea like I can at home and no one wants to force him to go. So...hoping we can get him steady before the end of the year! I would be happy to stop washing diapers!

It seems wild to me that Colton uses phrases like, "and Mummy too!" like he understands the concept of 'also' already. Every day is entertaining to see what he says!

Last week Justin and I were both tickling Colton and he told us, "That's enough guys!" Which cracked us up and seems to be the caption for the picture below: