Hoppy Spring!

Enjoying the spring bunnies at Tractor Supply!


"Go Go Go!!"
Running with his little shoulders up and his arms up high, so cute! Colton runs full force everywhere and goes way faster than he can control. Poor child is constantly covered in bumps and bruises on his head, face, legs, arms. Here is a CLOSE up after he ran as fast as he could to me and knocked me over, laughing hysterically (you can actually see his upper teeth here, as they are usually hidden when he smiles):


Here are a few pics of him running around the house, doing one of his favorite things. "KICK!!" He loves to kick, loves balls "BahLL!" and even likes to say and practice kicking, just anywhere: walking around the house, in the highchair...



We're on our third turn trying to get rid of a nasty ear infection. Keep your fingers crossed that this does it and that he doesnt' have to get surgery to put tubes in his ears!

Books
We read read read at our house and Colton loves it! One of my favorite joys of Colton at this age is that he will walk in front of you (if you are sitting on the floor) and then back up to you so he can sit in your lap. Sometimes he backs up from quite a bit off. It is SO ADORABLE and one of my favorite things for the past 6 months or so. He likes to do certain things with certain books, his own little spin on some of the classics:

The Little Engine that Could: He looks at you crazy when you change your voice with characters and about 1/2 through there is a toy that is in the pictures that looks like Humpty Dumpty and he starts wiggling his arms up and down and wants you to sing the rhyme. Right then in the middle of the regular story. Humpty is on about 4 pages and he wants you to sing it each time.

Just one more swim: twice during the reading he will take the book and turn it over on certain pages, apparently he does not like the provided visual perspective on those pages!

Brushing Teeth
When we first started brushing with the actual tooth brush, he thought it was super cool. These days he hates it. Refusing to open his mouth, turning away, biting the brush, almost in tears. He got this stupid book about getting clean with Elmo that he LOVES and they talk about brushing their teeth and he correlates the two, and I try to use that as why he should like it, but alas, he does not agree and mostly fights us every time. Wouldn't take so long if he would just give in! Poor child, the torture! Still has 3 teeth in the middle on the bottom, which is funny, but the matching tooth on the right side is finally peeking out (more teething fun at night).

BBQ Sauce, It's what's for breakfast...



More pudding please!


Takes after Nana L with his multiple drinks!


Tearful bedtimes


So far this year we have had a really good time getting Colton to bed at night. Read stories, several, and drink some water, cuddle/kisses, and off to bed awake but ready for bed and not a peep out of him. Almost twice this past month we ended up having to put him in bed crying hysterically til he finally calmed down and feel asleep. Without any stories or cuddling, made me so sad! But he was all hugs and giggles in the morning and all was forgiven. The "almost" other time of nighttime tears involved a library book of mine that I would not let Colton hold on his own (wouldn't sit with me while I held the book). I had to go hide it from him and he sobbed and cried hysterically, running up and down the hall to our bedroom (where it was hidden), calling out, "Boook! Boook!" Such a mean parent, denying my child a book! :-)


Didn't quite finish his nap in his crib so he wrapped it up with me on the couch. I was mostly faking it. Please ignore the hair frizzies!!


Cuteness!



Circus


Colton was able to go to the circus with all his cousins last month. I haven't been since the week before Justin and I had our blind date over 10 years ago and Justin hadn't been since maybe middle school, so we all had a fun time. I wasn't sure how Colton would do, trapped on our laps, in semi-dark for TWO HOURS but...he did great and really seemed to have a good time.

Raising a Tree Hugger! This picture was actually taken after he was running off a little steam after the circus. He was following around two little girls who were running around and doing little antics, including hugging the trees and he wanted to play along! Too cute.

Date night
Justin and I got to enjoy a fun night 'on the town' in March. We went to a fabulous Bryan Adams' concert in Atlanta (Christmas present from Justin) and had an adventurous dinner downtown Atlanta. I'll leave out the details of the adventure but it involves crazy public transit and a reminder to be sure which way you need to travel on a street if you are walking. Here we are tired on the train ride back:

Quality play time with Poppa:


Colton, the tourist!


There are all these pictures of him in this cute outfit because it was a rainy day and he was just too adorable not to photograph. Here he is going in the bathroom, shutting the door, and just hanging out in the dark hiding from me. I got a hilarious video of him slamming the door shut every time I would push it open and ask him if he was coming out. Too silly!!

Hope your spring has started off well!! We have had colds, allergies and weird HOT/COLD weather but hopefully it will all even out soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

He's a Heart breaker!!

18 and 19 months!!

As I write this there is currently snow on the ground in Georgia AGAIN! We had about 1.5-2 inches at our house, but the roads were clear so no snow day for us this time. LAST month, however, was not the same. We got SIX inches of snow at our home and were out of work for about 3 1/2 days! And there was snow on the ground for about 10 days in some places around my office, which was SO weird! As you may know, Georgian's cannot function in the snow and have nothing in place to deal with the rare snowstorms. It took Justin over 2 hours to get my car out of the driveway so I could finally make it to work that week! The most unfortunate thing about the snow was that Colton did not get to play in it. At out house the snow accumulated overnight and by mid morning it sleeted and covered the lovely fluffy snow in a hard and very thick layer of ice, making it glass-like and impossible to walk on, let alone play in. :-) We did go for fun hike out of the neighborhood in it, which was fun and Colton enjoyed looking at all the things covered in "no" although sometimes the "s" came out and he did say "snow."

All decked out for the weather


Hiking down our street!


The driveway was so slick with ice, dragging Colton down was the safest way and he thought it was hilarious!


I swear he had fun too!


Friends

Over New Year's we visited our dear friend Leslie and her family and met her new little man!

All a boy needs: a big stick and a dog to look at!


We got to go to a nearby wildlife reserve and we had a lot of fun and Colton of course loved every second of it!

Getting ready to feed the animals


Here they come!


Colton enjoyed spying the animals through the sides of the trailer.


Mummy, I think this Bison is getting a little too close...


Colton enjoyed petting the deer...


...until the deer wanted to check him out a little too closely!


Cuteness!


"Wow! That is one cute boy!"


Video of feeding the animals.


So many new and fun things!!

Talking all the time!
Little man is talking more and more and says a ton of words pretty consistenly, though often with requests, such as: Hi, Heado (hello), Dog, ball, bubble, wow, dark, duck, More, Mummy, Poppi/Poppa (not always the same), Papa, Nana, Steek (stick), eat eat! (must be repeated), all done!, meatball, peanut butter (I cannot even begin to spell that the way he says it, but it is funny), no no no (must be repeated), book, to name a few. :-) He can also repeat a lot of words and enjoys telling you what certain animals "say": Dog, cow, horse, duck, donkey, train (well, not an animal but it says "choo choo!), mouse ("week week" he says, CRACKS me up!!), bear, tiger/lion and he KNOWS a ton of other animals and can point them out when asked. He also can show you that he is 1, with his finger, and how big he is. I have a cute video of that which I will try to post this week.

One of the funny things he says/does now is to tell you to Move. Like, get out of my way, I want to get over there or I want you to go over there. It is hard not to laugh! He doesn't respond "No" very often to requests yet (thought he might just not do what you say) but he can repeat it in context. One of the stories we read, The Little Red Hen, has a part at the end where the Hen says, "Oh no! We will eat the bread." When we read it together, Colton shakes his hand with his finger pointed out and says, "No, no, no." A couple weeks ago he was reading to himself (with his woobie-more on that later) and had this book and turned all the way to the back to that page and did this. It was too cute!! He LOVES to read and we read books all day and have to limit the ones at night or we would never go to bed! He choses to read them in a certain order and can say the names of some, "Dack Dill" (Jack and Jill, which is one of 3 weird $1 Mother Goose books I got at Target that have some poems in them that I'm going to stop reading because they are super odd/violent/funky!).

He likes to talk about things being "All gone?" while shrugging his shoulders and with his hands turned up. He enjoys hiding things under his legs, especially in the bath tub and saying, "All gone?" then producing it for you and giggling. He knows most of his body parts and can point to them from his hair to his belly button to his piggy toes (and can also show you his 'other one' if he is pointing to his feet or knees, etc.), including the correct word for his boy bits. :-) He can say eye, nose, ear, knee and enjoys pointing to those parts on you too, which is especially fun when he is poking you in the eye in the morning.

He likes for you to chase him around the house at any time, especially with his push mower like you are going to mow him down. Nice, huh? He enjoys pushing you over if you are sitting down so he can 'get' you and crawl all over you. He gives great hugs and sometimes kisses, but usually turns his cheek to you if you ask him for a kiss (so HE can get a kiss). We have been doing a lot of boundary testing, including throwing things into the fire...

A couple of weeks ago he wanted me to put one of my socks that I was folding on his hand and then proceeded to hold it up to me and say, "Heado!" (aka Hello). Sock puppet!!

Colton loves to dance and it cracks us all up! We listen to the radio a lot at home and he has some fridge magnets that play music he plays with in the kitchen. He always wants me to turn the radio on in the car and dances in his car seat. We have a video we need to send into AFV from our trip to FL where he is dancing with my aunt's stuffed frog. Where do they learn some of these moves?!

Colton's 'woobie'
Over the past few weeks, Colton has finally developed a special relationship with a blanket. He has never really had a 'lovie' special stuffed animal or toy that he really loves or drags around everywhere. He has, however, just recently decided he loves a certain blanket. Of course, this blanket happens to be the full sized, thick, fleece blanket we have on the couch for covering up on the rare occasion WE take a nap or something! It is HUGE compared to Colton and he can hardly move it, though that does not stop him from trying to drag it around the living room to lay on it or cover himself up with it. We have to cover up with it when we read stories before bedtime, then snuggle a little right before bed. We have also had a few semi-tearful tug of wars with it as he tries to drag it back to his bedroom when he goes to bed, though thankfully he has another, toddler sized cozy blanket (thanks to Auntie Celestia and Uncle Ryan) in his crib that can serve as a subsitute.


Nursing
We ending our nursing sessions the first week of 2011. We had been down to just the night session, then ended it all together. Colton seemed to do fine, though recently I took a bath with him and he seemed to be want a sample. :-) It was harder on me, just that special bonding time we had for SO long (18 MONTHS) ending, but I am happy now that it is not something I have to think about anymore.

Eating
On the list of things that drive Brigette batty, spitting out food or throwing it on the floor are up there pretty high (since I will then have to clean it up). I try not to show my annoyance too much so Colton doesn't think that it is a game but sometimes we have to tag team meal times so I don't lose my mind over nonsense. "Do you want more X?" (Head nodding)..then pppttt..out it comes or gets shot across the floor on a spoon. He wants to have everything on his tray but some things are just too messy (normally we have already had a bath and are in PJs at dinner time) for him to be in control. Some days he is a BIG eater: 2 scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, then somedays he seems to eat hardly anything. The exception being: "If Poppa is eating it, I MUST have it. Right now." Regardless of whether he just ate a huge meal (I mean, their stomachs are supposed to be the size of their fists!) or if we offered him his own version of whatever Poppa is eating, if Poppa is eating it now, Colton needs to 'help' him eat it. If Justin is having a snack in the living room, Colton seeks a bite, then runs away gleefully around the room, then returns for the next bite, then off he runs again. It is really pretty funny, like he can't beleive he actually got a bite and is celebrating his luck.

Two fisting the graham crackers


A great fun mess!


He refused to take the hat off for dinner


Crazy child! Ran around with this bag on his head just cracking up!


How does one get into such a sleeping position?


Colton has been sleeping pretty well generally. We had several months of fighting sleep at night (though he does great napping at school but not at home still, sleep peer pressure I guess) but now he usually goes down for the night by 7:45-8:30 pm and stays asleep til between 7-8. Some days, when we have to actually get out the door early, he sleeps after 8 though usually he won't do that on weekends when WE can sleep in! Little weasel! He has been teething lately (though nothing has broken the surface yet) and we have had a few rough nights of getting up numerous times and crying hysterically.

Speaking of teeth...would love for him to fill in the area between the bottom two front teeth and the bottom molars! The bottom two teeth are still really the only ones you see when he smiles, still, so cute!

And yes, we know he could use a hair cut!

White Christmas in Georgia!!

Sorry for the super posting delay...been busy lately but here it is for anyone that is still checking on us!

It's been 128 years but Georgia finally got a White Christmas!!

It snowed late afternoon and night on Christmas and it was so pretty! We got about an inch at Brigette's parents' house and got about 2 inches at our house. Snow stayed on the ground for several days, but didn't cause too many problems, so that was nice. We got MORE snow at the start of 2011...but more about that in another post!

Christmas Fun:




Santa:
Colton visited Santa twice this year. I wonder when they start noticing that Santa is in multiple places and doesn't look the same? The first visit was a lovely Santa at a Christmas Tree farm. He was very nice and was available for free pictures, which was even better! We asked Colton all day if he wanted to go see Santa, and he nodded yes (as he does usually whenever you ask him if he wants to do anything), so that was cute and he did very well sitting with Santa.


This poor Santa, he apparently doesn't know how to smile...he didn't smile last year either. Perhaps it was due to being at the daycare with so many kids? Colton obviously is concerned about sitting with this non-jolly Santa (though Colton actually did better in the photo shoot than any of his classmates!).


We cut down our first Christmas tree this year!! We had a great time playing outside and this farm also had a small animal area, which Colton loved and we got to hear him say GOBBLE GOBBLE again with the turkeys there!! :-)




This is the one!


Poppa gets some help to make sure he is doing it right!



The Y men carrying our Christmas tree! Colton is a good helper!


Hmm, maybe you should do this by yourself Poppa.


Colton really loved the Christmas tree and here he was laying down on the tree skirt and looking up and the pretty lights before we decorated. He did pretty good with not touching the tree for the most part, although the day we decorated it with ornaments he was sleeping and when he woke up it was decorated and he went to touch one and I nicely said, no we don't touch, just look and he cried so hard you would have thought someone hit the poor child!


He LOVED when we turned the lights on and would softly say, "WOW!" when we turned them on. That is one of his new things to say and it is SO cute! He enjoyed looking at the lights in the neighborhood at night on the houses and would be grinning ear to ear and saying, "WOW!" in amazement. Adoorable!


Celebrating Christmas with the Y family




There was mass hysteria with all the kids opening gifts at the same time. Colton spent a lot of time tearing up tissue paper. :-)




Why did we get toys when it was such fun to tear paper and get inside empty boxes?


He also enjoyed playing with the toys the other children got, thought not everyone wanted to share their new toys! This is little Charlotte's toy, she is too tiny to protest on Colton taking it!

Cousin Charlotte's First Christmas!!

Christmas with the L family!

The annual reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas:

Toys? Who needs toys when I can wear Papa's shoes?

Colton's pile of loot, which he did play with in addition to the boxes!


Just hanging out...



Dance with me Uncle Eric!


Christmas Cuteness!!



Uncle Eric gave Colton this cool fishing boat for the bathtub. Colton enjoyed playing with it but also enjoy its use as...


...a drinking device? He has done this numerous times since then...crazy kid!!


New wheels!!


Again with the boxes!!


Colton thinks he is hiding here


Cold day in Athens at Christmas concert!
Colton LOVED the concert and did great for the first HOUR but then it was too much to sit on someone's lap. He seemed amazed by the music and singing, pointing excitedly and then clapping with joy. He thought it was super cool when the other people around us would also clap and would laugh out loud with his sweet toddler joy.


Styling!!


Tubing fun!!


No, we didn't get that much snow. :-) Justin, Brigette and Brigette's brother, Eric, went snow tubing at Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain Park. It was great and going early in the morning allowed us to get in more runs than the lazy folks that came later in the day. :-) We'll take Colton next year so he can play in the kids' snow area.



Hope you are all having a great start to your New Year!!