2 and 1/2?!

Okay, I know it is February, but better late than never! We had a lovely Christmas and were all sick on and off and then busy since, thus the delayed posting. Too much to show and say and not enough time as usual!

Lordy Lordy Justin is 40! SURPRISE!


We had a surprise dinner party for him that he was totally oblivious too and his best friend Clark was able to come up for the week also, which was super!


Cute Camo Cousins!



Nana and Grandpoppa Y


Christmas Joy


This was the first year Colton was beginning to understand the holiday. I felt a little odd about the fact that I let him sit on a strangers lap (SANTA) when that stranger tried to bribe him with candy. :-) He saw Santa a few times and did pretty well. He liked to point out the picture of him and Santa in our kitchen an tell me that, "Santa Claus give me candy cane!" He LOVED helping decorate the Christmas tree and advised others not to touch the lights or the nativity on the table. "No touch!" We had a lot of clusters of ornaments near the bottom of the tree but that was fine because he had such a good time helping. He also did pretty good not touching the ornaments after they were on the tree, which was also great.


We all particpated in a local Christmas parade. Colton initially rode in the truck bed:


Then he wanted to walk and wave. He thinks everyone is there to see him as he waves like a pro!


Celebrating Christmas with the Y Family!
I didn't get a ton of pictures as it was kind of a madhouse with all the very active kids and all of them opening gifts at the same time. But they all had a good time so that is what was important!

Colton and his loot!



This picture is so fuzzy but you can see the excitement on his face which is so cute!




Playing in Nana Y's pantry


Charlotte gave me the funniest scowls every time I talked to her!




I couldn't get this picture to post the correct way, but was so cute of Katy Grace and Colton I had to leave it.


This is fun!!


Auntie Brigette gives good presents!



Dental Assistant Savannah demonstrates her dental playdough machine to the other cousins.


Glitter Nana Y


So cute!


We told the kids to go over to the tree for a group picture. The only one who listened was Colton and he just patiently stood there and waited and waited. :-)


Sweet Cousins!! (well, not everyone was happy about the pictures)


Much better!!


Loving on Uncle Ryan


Ha Ha Ha! Charlotte is not happy about me catching her pulling stuff out of Nana Y's drawers!


Awesome Moose Hat from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Celestia!


Christmas with the L Family!


Christmas Eve reading:


This is an audio Christmas book that Uncle Eric recorded. Colton still asks to read the Uncle Eric book:


Playing with the Christmas toys with Papa:



Using my new tools to 'fix' my bike:



Christmas baking of the Hooiser Goodies with Nana L and Mummy:



Opening presents was hard, snack time!


Who needs toys...?


Chilling with Uncle Eric


Using my new drill (apparently this bike has lots of issues)


This hat was intended for Colton, but I think he will be waiting a while to wear it. :-)


Colton loves to read!




During the holidays, we apparently took A LOT of pictures by Christmas trees. I figured this out after taking Colton to run by a store for one thing or another and he saw the store tree, ran over to it, backed up to it and said, "Take picture!!" There were two trees in the store so...


Colton's favorite present was his rain boots from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Celestia. He wore them every day for a week. Thankfully it was raining most of the time and worked out very well! He was in the car wearing them and told me, "I love my boots!"



Colton had tubes put in his ears in November and another surgery, but he was loving wearing his PJs waiting for his turn as we waited.


Imagination and fun

"Hear that?"


Colton calls spider webs 'spider string' which is just adorable. He also likes to pretend sometimes that there is a spider on him, near him, that is trying to 'get' us and sometimes he wants me to "Save me!" and other times he will 'get it' himself and say, "Got it!" Course that usually leads to "another one" or "spider again" and "got it again." I used a flashlight to look in his ears one night and then he had to check my ears and then told me, "There's a bug in there! I get it." He thought that was quite hilarious.

In addition to his imaginary dog that still is around (he proceeded to step OVER it at my mother's house one time; yes, it travels with him sometimes), he also likes to pretend there is a bear in the house. The bear, and/or sometimes a monster, is usually part of game of avoiding whatever we are doing or a fun, chase me around game. Watching him tiptoe down the hall to check if the bear is hiding in his room is pretty darn cute. He also sometimes finds imaginary kitty cats in the house, usually there are two, and he gently picks them up and carries them around fora few minutes.

Funny things Colton says about food, toys, shows, music: "I love it" "I like that one" "That's my favorite." We turn the TV music channels on some since we moved our stereo out of the living room and sometimes Colton and I will dance around as random exercise. It cracks me up that a song will start and Colton will say,"Not that song!" and wants me to change the channel for another song.

The side came down. In November we took the side off of Colton's crib. Mainly because he had recently been launching himself out of the crib to get out when we put him in for nap/bedtime and he cut his hand pretty good one night doing so. That led to 2 months or so of getiting in and out of the crib for at least 30 minutes or just refusing to take a nap. He'd be down for the night, then we'd settle into whatever we were doing and here comes Colton running across the house giggling hysterically and then 'hiding' in the kitchen. ITt was pretty tiring, but has mostly subsided since the novelty of getting out of the bed has worn off. Of course now in the morning he gets up, turns on hallway night light, then comes in our bedroom. This is fine if it is almost time for us to get up, not so much if it is 2 am or 4 am and he thinks it is moring for some reason and cries as we take him back to bed. We still get up with him a few times almost every night, though usually it is because he wants to be covered up or has smashed up against the side. We are often very tired in the morning.

We have also experienced several 'terrrible twos' tantrums in the past couple months. Screaming and crying, almost wearing himself out, for what reason, who knows? Not always clear what set it off, though usually he is overly tired. Can last 20 minutes or so but thankfully haven't happened too often.

Daily says things, statements, sentances that crack us up!
Interesting things Colton says: "Try again later" usually related to going to the bathroom, "Do another day" about anything we can't do right now, or something we just can't do (like touch the ceiling). Sometimes Colton will tell us, "I need something" or "I have to get something" and goes in the other room and may or may not come back with 'something.' Usually he adds, "be right back." When you ask Colton a question that he doesn't know the answer to or isn't sure (or doesn't really care) he will sometimes say "something" or "Nothing." What color is this Colton? "That's nothing."

We love to count anything and everything!

Colton gives good hugs and kisses and likes to make sure Justin and I give each other kisses/hugs when one of us is leaving and he really likes if we do a group hug. He thinks that is big fun, and so do we!

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: