Christmas

This year we got to spend 12 days is Utah with my mom and stepdad. It was nice to have a white Christmas and Colton got to play in the snow, although is was obvious he was a California boy with his Vans shoes!

Before we left Colton was saying about 5 words which were "No!", "Uh-oh", "mama", "dada", and "bye-bye". During our trip his vocabulary has expanded to include:

Hello? (he holds the phone to his ear and repeats it. He also says it when he hears any phone ring, or even repetitive beeping.)
Hi! (usually follows 'hello", but now he says it when appropriate. So cute!)
Shoe (repeats it when you are putting on his shoes)
poo-poo? (says it like a question and pulls on his diaper)
WOW (started saying it when both Jason and I said "wow" after he burped while sitting in his high chair. Now he only says it if someone burps. It's more like "Woooooow")
Woof-woof (when he sees a dog)
meow-meow (when he sees a cat)
Nana (for banana)
More
Up
Down
Ok
All done
Yeah
Baby (more like "bebe")
Emma (we have a picture of Colton and his friend Emma on the fridge. He points to is and says her name)

Colton continues to surprise us with everything he is learning, as well as pushing our limits. For instance, this morning as I started this blog post, he was happily playing with his toys when I noticed he had gone over to the trash can, pulled out the coffee grounds and threw them on the floor. I went into the garage to get the broom (takes 5 seconds) and in that time he had gone outside and was running across the wet grass in his pajamas. I had to chase him down (let the kicking and screaming begin) and I was also in my pajamas.

Welcome to Toddlerhood, Mommy

A couple of days ago Colton turned 15 months old. He is now officially walking and I had heard and read that in this transition a shift happens from a typical easy-going, calm, passive type child (if you are lucky enough to have one of those like mine, I suppose) to a fidgety, I-want-to-do-it-myself, get-me-out-of-this-stroller-before-I-lose-it, type child. Today I took Colton shopping to try to get some early Christmas shopping done. Now, keep in mind, I think either I haven't yet seen the worst of it, or my son is just being nice, but today was no picnic. If he did not have something to either eat or entertain him, he was trying to climb out of the stroller and/or grab all the nicely stacked and folded items and pull them off the shelves.

But, on the other hand, it's so cute to watch him toddle around and explore everything. He says several words which include: "ma ma", "da da", "bye-bye", "uh-oh", "NO" (more like "nnnnnnO!") and lately he says "Bye-bye, ti-ti" but we don't know who or what "ti-ti" is. Jason thinks Colton is referring to the fact that he is no longer breastfeeding anymore, but I disagree. I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure he says "Oh yeah" too.

Puppy

I felt compelled to write about Colton's puppy because he loves him so dearly. It started around 8 months old when I introduced it to him at night in his crib. Quickly he took to him and I made a rule that Puppy would stay in his crib so we wouldn't risk losing him. Then we made the exception that he could have him in the car. Now he pretty much takes Puppy everywhere. Jason found an identical one online and I didn't hesitate to order it. Now we have two that are in rotation.
I had puppy with me when I had Colton's professional pictures taken and used him to make him smile and laugh. In every picture that he is squealing with delight it's because I was entertaining him....with his Puppy.

Fourteen Months old!

So, it's been over 2 months since my last post, and mostly it's simply because I've been swamped, not because nothing has been going on with Colton. As I type this, he is pulling the food processor out of the cabinet and yelling at it.

He is about 75% walking, but he gets there faster if he crawls, so he chooses to more often than not. He started going to daycare part time when I started school 2 months ago, and that was a hrder adjustment on me than it was for him. Luckily, it has worked out well, there are other kids there for him to play with, lots of toys and even a dog!

Right now one of my favorite things to do with Colton is to share food. He knows if I sit down with a bowl or a plate of anything he stops whatever he's doing to quickly come over to me so we can eat. He loves pretty much anything, shredded wheat cereal, spicy foods, pretty much the only thing he has rejected is avocado. And he's not shy about shoving food in his mouth either. I went to the Wild Animal Park with my friend Annamaria and her son Brayden, who is 2 months older than Colton and I gave Brayden one of Colton's favorite snacks, a mini Nilla Wafer. Brayden politely took little bites out of the cookie to eat it. I gave Colton two cookies and he shoved both in his mouth at the same time.

His first word a couple of months ago was "NO!" He said it to me with emphasis when I asked him to give me a kiss. It was also the day I decided to stop nursing, so it was a sad day.

Happy First Birthday Colton!

Dear Colton,

Today is your first birthday! I didn't think I would be so excited about it, but today I wanted to shout it from the rooftops how happy I am that you are 1 and what an awesome year we have had with you. It went by so quickly...sometimes I look at you, especially now that you are almost walking and I think you look SO big! But then other times, especially when you sleep, you still look like such a fragile little baby.

Today you woke up from your nap and I went upstairs to get you out of your crib. Sometimes you are grumpy when you wake up (just like mommy) and it takes a while for you to wake up. So, I sit with you in the rocking chair and rock you for a few minutes and let you rub your eyes and rest your head on my chest until you are ready to go downstairs and play. Today as I rocked you, you fell back to sleep. I made sure to remember everything about you. You smelled like baby sweat and sunscreen. Your little mouth was all puckered up. I thought about how wonderful it was just to hold you in my arms and that someday you would be too big to sit in my lap. I also thought that no matter what happens, I will always be your mommy and I will always love you. And that is the best thing I have ever had happen to me. One year ago today my water broke and a nurse said, "Looks like you're going to have a baby today!" I thought I wasn't ready, you were more than 3 weeks early...But I never knew just how ready I was to have you in my life.

I love you more than I can ever tell you. Happy Birthday my beautiful, beautiful boy!

Love,
Mom

Water baby!

We took Colton to the beach today, I think this was his 3rd trip, but it was the first time I let him crawl around in the sand and do whatever he wanted. He LOVED it! I actually felt guilty for not doing it sooner!

Happy First Father's Day!

When toothpaste smeared the counter and wet towels lay upon the floor, she thought about her family life and loved him even more.

When dinner was a hurried rush to just get out the door, with errands, meetings, things to do, she loved him even more.

When they dropped into bed at night and finally closed the door, she counted herself one lucky wife and loved him even more.

You're such a good man, a wonderful father, and a great husband. I'm so lucky to have you, our family and our life together.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!