The Boy will be 17 months old tomorrow and I thought it was high time for a Colt Update. I have let life and work and other whatnot get in the way of my blogging lately, but the little guy has been having a great few weeks.
He continues to have an enviable amount of energy - running everywhere he goes and climbing everything from the couch to stairs to playground equipment. He loves music, whether it's the radio, clapping along to Mongo and endless rounds of "If You're Happy and You Know It", or just my singing. And his dancing might be the cutest thing I've ever seen.
A few weekends ago, we had company for the weekend and we decided to let out some of his energy during the Pep Rally at the mall before the South Carolina game.
We introduced the little guy to Big Red and taught him to call the Hogs, but - as you can see in the photo - he spent a lot of time running up and down the mall. LOTS of open space at the mall. Valerie and Louis drove down from Illinois again this year - and brought their kiddos to the game. They had a blast at the pep rally and the game, and Debra met us after the game on Saturday, too. Debra even volunteered to stay with all three kids (Val and Lou's two, Molly and Will, plus Colt) while the four of us went out for an honest-to-goodness double date Saturday night. We had a great time. And Debra - you're a saint!
At home, we keep things in a pretty regular routine which seems to work well. Colt knows when it's time to eat, when it's time to take a shower, when it's time to get his jammies on, brush his teeth, and head for bed. Weekends are a little different, but we stay in the general routine and he knows just what to do. The routine backfires sometimes - when we have to do something different or out of order. He looks around, a little nervous that he might be going to the doctor or that one of us is leaving! Poor guy. But the routine has allowed him to get comfortable "helping" with things like getting dressed and undressed, brushing his teeth, putting on his shoes and getting in and out of the car. Here he is "helping" me dump crackers on the floor...
Sleeping has been great - in bed around 7:30, up at 6 for a bottle and back to bed until 7. We can't seem to get him to sleep past 6 - but he does go back to sleep for a bit and has been known to sleep past 8:30 on weekends! He is his Mama's child!
We did have one little incident this weekend that interrupted our fabulous sleeping schedule and threatened the sanity of everyone in the house... Saturday night we went to Outback for dinner and he ate some dinner before we left the house, so he was kinda snacking on bread and veggies at the table with us. I had broccoli with my chicken and thought he might like some. He LOVED it. He gobbled up MOST of the broccoli on my plate and I thought nothing of it. Until about 3am. When I awoke to my poor, pitiful, gassy baby and his screaming, crying belly-ache. OH. MY. GOSH. I take it back! I am so sorry I fed you hideous, horrible, butter-soaked broccoli! I promise to never ever do that again! Nothing is worth that. I felt so terrible for the little guy - he just couldn't get comfortable. I fed him practically an entire bottle of Mylicon, patted his back, rubbed his tummy, and sang lullabies until I was annoying MYSELF. He had himself so worked up and the crying seemed to make it worse... so around 5am we decided to just let him play, let him be, and see if he would calm down. It finally worked. He plopped himself down in the corner of our bedroom with the stereo and decided to play the "How Many CDs Will Fit In The CD Player?" Game. He settled down, seemed to feel better, drank some milk and went back to bed. Around 6am. Stupid, stupid broccoli.
This week we attended our first Parent-Teacher Conference. For our 1 year old. I thought it was about 80/20 adorable/unnecessary, but it was good to talk with his teacher and hear some stories about things he's been doing at school. She walked us through 6 areas of child development: self-concept, emotional, social, language, physical and cognitive. He's doing really well, and though Ms. Julie gave us a few examples of words he's (allegedly) said at school - we know he's a little behind the curve in his language. We've actually never heard him say any discernible words at home, but he's been babbling a lot more clearly - if that makes sense - and pointing/waving/gesturing with a vengeance. He waves at EVERYONE we see. And when I put veggies and crackers on his tray during supper he directs me with his finger as to where he wants them.
Ms. Julie also told us he has classic toddler tendencies to hoard (which I gather is a polite word for "steal") toys and not interact a whole lot with the other kids when he plays. We were only half joking when we explained to her that his quiet nature and lack of social interaction are probably genetic... he's a Hood. He comes by it honestly!
Oh! And I got his school pictures back last week! Jeff tells me I'm a sucker for buying these and I probably am - hell, we have so few pictures of him... And worse, I couldn't decide! They gave me five proofs, which was a bad idea. So I ordered two. One set of the generic background and one set of the cheesy, fall background that screams School Picture Day!
I think they are beyond adorable. AND! Ms. Julie tells me that they do a class picture in the spring. I can hardly stand it!
If you recall, we had some challenges with our fall pictures this year. Nancy to the rescue! She brought her daughter Abby to help wrangle The Boy, and everyone agreed that he's a tricky little guy to photograph! We snapped a few good ones and I am still trying to pick a photo for our Christmas card so I won't post them all, but here's a sneak peek.
That should catch you up on all things Colt. I leave in a few days and I'll be gone through the holiday so keep my little family in your thoughts as we'll be apart for the longest we've ever been. Happy 17 months, Buddy!
