It took 2 whole years, but Cole’s hair finally got to the point where he needed to get a cut so this morning we took him to the Pigtails and Crewcuts in Cedar Park where Linda gave him a spiffy new cut. P & C has a lot of fun toys for the kids to play with (which Cole took complete advantage of) and they have cool taxi, firetruck, and airplane chairs for the kids to sit in while they get their hair cut. Cole did awesome and didn’t cry at all (he was a little unsure at first, but with Mommy near by blowing bubbles he was a perfect gentleman). Mommy did well too . We have a lock of his curls for scrapbooking and a photo from P & C.

You can check out more photos on my Facebook page.

Watch out now… we have a 2 year old! It’s pretty amazing to think back over the past 2 years and realize how quickly they passed by. We’ve loved every second of the journey and get tremendous happiness from seeing how Cole is growing up. By this time next year we’ll be celebrating Cole’s 3rd birthday and he’ll have a 9 month old little brother. Crazy! Until then we’ll just love up on our little man. Happy Birthday Cole! We love you! (that was a lot of exclamation points from me)

Yesterday we celebrated Cole’s last day in his current room at school. On Monday he’ll be starting in a new room with a group of new kids (luckily for him he already has interacted with most of them… 3 from his current room, 3 from a previous room, and 2 from Gymboree). We celebrated with cookies, “diplomas”, toy buckets, and lots of laughs. We’re all going to miss his teachers, but we’re looking forward to seeing what this next year will bring (potty training among other things).

Here are some photos (taken with our iPhones) from the party.

For some reason he loved the taste of his diploma

There’s nothing like it…motherhood. Nevermind the workday and whatever happened during it and nevermind meeting hubby for lunch, though that was very nice. The most memorable parts of my day inevitably revolve around my role as a mommy. It is what it is. Some people find that dull or just not their cup of tea. I get it. I am sometimes surprised or amused myself when I think of my brand of exciting these days. Nevertheless, it is my life and life is good.

So, what was the most memorable part of my day? Hmm. Maybe it was Cole waking up chipper and making sure we all got “dowstairs” for “breffest”…”go Bella.” Or maybe it was him putting on his own shoes, saying “daddy bathroom” and running over to knock on the bathroom door to tell daddy “all done.” Could it have been the sweet morning kiss goodbye or his enjoyment tonight of some purple slushie or his sudden announcement that he wanted to see his penguins followed by his dash to the stairs to go upstairs for his bath? Or the minute when he ran into his room in the buff, turned on his twilight turtle and marveled at the stars that were decorating his little legs? Perhaps it was when he had us laughing till there were tears when his repeated request for a frog sounded more like he had some bad potty mouth. But then again, there was the time soon after when he hugged and kissed some of his toys and requested we do the same…ah, the nightly routine. It may or may not be the part where he woke up a bit scared from a nightmare and called out for mommy and daddy in a heartbreaking way or the part where we had a nice, reassuring family hug. All said though, I think it was the part where I rocked little man for a little bit longer, soothing him whilst his tiny brother or sister tried diligently to kick him from within. Yep, there’s nothing like it and I feel blessed.

Watermelon is pronounced “panama” for some reason and “blanket” is “beebee” but there are a good number of words Cole says pretty clearly. He also understands different concepts and says the words that go with them such as “up” and “down” and “inside” and “outside.” So, here are some of his latest favorite words:

Stars, moon, twinkle, lightning (Cars), Ramone (Cars), bear, monkey, all of the colors, one, two, three, helicopter, truck, car, bus, airplane, bike, hot, splash, water, hug, climb, Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Abby, Zoe, Eeyore, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, rabbit, light, itchy, basketball, bird, all animal sounds, puppy, mouse, cheese, fruit, pizza, bee, baby, help, outside, slide, crib, penis (yes, he knows that word), spin, swing, hop, and bye-bye

There are plenty more, but those are some of the more commonly used ones right now, including, of course, mommy, daddy, and Bella.

He gives high fives and “knucks.” He jumps up and down well. He sleeps really well and the bedtime routine is pretty pleasant these days. He strips on occasion and takes his shoes off plenty. He likes to scoop out Bella’s food for her (of course, he does about ten tiny scoops as opposed to our two regular ones). He is quite the fan of animated films/tv and he is quite the couch snuggler. He gives excellent hugs and kisses and he’s just a pretty joyful character to be around, certainly willful at times, but a lot of sweetness and fun overall.

Cole is getting to such a fun age. He’s talking up a storm (though we can’t understand half of it), he’s climbing on everything (both fun and nerve wracking), and is beginning to get interested in cartoons (Cars is his absolute favorite right now). He’s also at the age where he can understand a bit about the Easter bunny (it’s funny hearing him say “rabbit”) and he had a blast today looking for all of the eggs that we hid around the house. In fact, he had so much fun that we re-filled them and re-hid them during his nap so he could find them again. All-in-all it was a great Easter. We hope that you and your family had a happy one as well.

About a month ago we started taking Cole to a local Gymboree Play & Music as a way to get him used to playing around more kids (he gets a bunch at school, but we don’t get to play with him so this gives him socialization time as well as mommy/daddy time). So each Saturday morning we go over and play, dance, clap, sing, and learn and he is really beginning to understand what’s going on and participate. It’s a lot of fun to see him interacting with the other kids and playing along with the activities.

I brought my camera along with me today and grabbed some photos. I have to start taking more photos… he’s growing up so quickly.

I love this series… at the end of each class the kids can get Gymbo stamps and Cole loves getting a stamp on his belly

So, yes. I stink at blogging. But, I have meant to put something up about Cole’s latest progress for some time now. So, here it is. Cole is now pretty darn chatty. He’s still working on it, of course. There are kids his age that say more than he does and kids who say less, so we feel pretty good about where he’s at. We always knew he was going to throw himself headlong into physical activity, so talking wasn’t his big priority. But, now he says a slew of words and recognizes the meaning of those and a whole slew more. So, these are the ones I can think of right now that he says, and by says, I mean that he has said these things…some we hear over and over again and some of them we’ve heard once.

Ball, Beach Ball, Purple Ball, Big Ball, various versions of ball, mama, mommy, dada, daddy, Opa, Bella, dog, choo-choo, more (sounds more like meh though), baby, pig, shoe, balloon, whoa, uh-oh, wow, yes, fruit, food, drink, bless you, vroom, bark, fish, bee, cheese, bubbles, play, and playdough.

He runs around with such speed and ease now that watching the videos of when he first started walking is just funny and odd. He climbs on everything. He loves slides and he goes down the big, spiral ones up at the playground. He loves the Wheels on the Bus song and does the motions and such with it. He is in Gymboree now and loves that too. He’s a HUGE fan of My Friends Tigger and Pooh when he gets to see them. He loves baths. He loves books, blocks, and cars. He loves his little picnic table. He can open doors and drawers now, which is…fun. He can flubber/blow raspberries. He blows kisses and waves and he gives on the mouth kisses…well, to his mama at least. So, yep, that’s the latest with Cole. He turns 18 months old today.

Yeah, so I’m not starting off the year so well with New Year’s goal #4…

Here are a few photos of Cole playing on his new picnic table. We wanted to get him a small table that he can sit at and do crafts and eat snacks and so far he really likes it.

Oh, and Cole turned 17 months old yesterday (on my birthday). He’s getting to be such a big boy. Tonight we took him to a jungle gym at our community center and he had a blast climbing, crawling, and sliding.

Halloween is an interesting time when you have a very young child. They aren’t old enough to really enjoy the fun of Halloween, but you still feel some obligation to participate and get them dressed up. Officially this is Cole’s second Halloween (remember last year he was a puppy dog) and we chose a costume that was appropriate for his stage… always moving, picking things up, throwing things, and banging on everything… he was the Incredible Hulk (minus the green face paint and wig/headpiece). He doesn’t pull off the big, mean, scary Hulk very well, but he did enjoy helping us hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters on the 31st