halloween

At least I'm getting these photos up before the next holiday gets here...

Cole was Plankton (from SpongeBob Squarepants, if you're not hip to Nick) this year, and there were 2 big surprises related to his costume. The first surprise was that Cole kept his antennae on his head during all of his trick or treating. He cried when I took them off to put him the car. You would've thought I had stolen all of his candy from the way he reacted.

The second surprise was that no one at a 2-year-old's birthday party held the Saturday before Halloween knew who Plankton was. But then again, not a single person at the same celebration recognized his Charlie Brown costume last year. The best part of the party was the Moon Bounce. Cole loves to jump whether it be hopping on the ground or flying high in his crib. It was so much fun to see him just throw himself around and not worry about him getting hurt. If only I could pad his whole room...

2 years!

The hustle and bustle of moving is behind us and the drywall dust began to settle just in time for Cole's second birthday. We had 3 consecutive weekends of visitors and his birthday was celebrated 4 times with the last candles being blown out on October 28th with his little friends. I baked our traditional duckie cake again and then a mongo Halloween-themed cake for the kid party, a co-celebration with 2 other October babies. Cole's favorite word is "No" but that was replaced by "cake!" for the last few weeks.

Cole talks constantly now, although, it is not all in English. I'm fairly fluent in Colish though so we can communicate pretty well. He has a new joke where he points to his elbow and says "ELLLLLMMMMMMMMOO" and giggles. He CAN say elbow, he just doesn't want to. He'll also insist on calling something "CAAAAAAKKKE" just so you'll correct him and he can protest by saying "CAAAAAKKKEE" over and over again.

Cole is putting words together now too. "More cookie" is a favorite of his. The other night as I crawled into bed at 6 a.m. I was greeted with my favorite sentence "Hi Momma." I had no idea Tony had brought him into the bed until I heard his little voice. It was so cute that it ALMOST made no sleep okay.

Cole's love of music is now expressed through song as well as dance. We can perform a lovely duet of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or "Row, Row, Row your Boat" with Cole singing the last word of each line. He surprised me the other day by singing along to "Loco Man" from the Mighty Wind soundtrack which I guess I have played a lot in the car.

Cole's a helper, and he proudly helps with the laundry and grocery shopping. He'll take things out of the washer (love the front loader!) and hand them to me one-by-one. He'll also push the laundry basket full of clothes into my room for folding, which is where I take over. At the grocery store, Cole insists on putting the items in the cart for me which led to broken glass and embarrassment in Aisle 9 last week. He also helps unpack the groceries when we get home, but I've learned to move the breakables to the counter right away. We're always learning new things together.

naptime

Here's proof that I'm not the only one who's tired. Cole climbed up into Gram's lap on Monday and fell asleep within minutes. I left to go to the grocery store, but Tony told me that my mom fell asleep for a while too. Naps for everyone!

bubble bath

Once Cole was big enough to bathe in the big tub, Tony took over bath time. It's become a fun nightly routine for the two of them. Last week, Tony decided it was time for something new and slipped a bottle of Elmo bubble bath into the shopping cart during our trip to the store. That night, Cole had his first bubble bath and now every night he calls for bub-bo bub-bo. Tony covered his head and then Cole began to add side burns. Within minutes, he was covered with only his face peeking out from the mounds of suds. Cole had a blast, and we all had a good laugh. We've determined that the 3(!) capfuls Tony used the first time is definitely too much especially since the rinse cycle took longer than the bathing part.

I'm the bad guy because I won't let him have a bubble bath every night. Besides, he gets more excited if it's a once a week (or less) treat.

walkie talkie

Cole's vocabulary is growing rapidly now. Tony has been wishing for Cole to "really talk", and now I fear he is regretting that wish. Cole's 2 favorite words right now are "no" and "out". He's creative with his use of "out". He says it when he's done eating and wants to be released from his high chair, and he also uses it when he wants me to come out of my office and play with him. I guess in his mind, he wants me to be freed from my office. Funny thing is when he says it that way, I want out too.

Here's a pic from our big trip out, our vacation in Point Pleasant just a few short weeks ago. Sadly, it feels like it was a year ago already.

babysitting

Last Saturday night, Tony and I went out alone for the first time since Cole was born. We have left Cole briefly with our parents once or twice, but never for more than an hour or so. Our friends Mark, Elaine, and Nina came over to watch Cole, and Nina really deserves the most credit for making the evening successful. She's only a month and a half older than Cole and her presence kept him thoroughly entertained. He gave us big hugs when we left and was a little uneasy, but with 3 of his favorite playmates there he was ready for fun.

I called about 10 minutes after we had left to see how the transition went, and Elaine said he settled in immediately. [I did a lot of babysitting as a teen, and I remember the transition that takes place after the parents leave. Most kids put on a show for their folks before they leave, and then quickly settle down for fun with the babysitter.] They had popped in the Sponge Bob movie and everyone was fine. The only trouble they had was that he would not go to sleep for them. He cried and insisted on being picked up by Mark. I know Mark and Elaine would not fall for this trick with their own Nina, but they didn't have the heart to let Cole cry. Everyone was still awake when we got home at 12:30 a.m., although Elaine didn't look very perky. Cole passed out quickly, but he made us pay on Sunday. He woke up still tired and was fussy, squirmy, whiny mess, but at least we all had fun on Saturday night!

whistleblower

Cole recently learned how to blow a whistle. He has both a small lifeguard whistle and a slide/pennywhistle that he can now use to torture the neighbors. He does know how to make soft sounds and not-so-soft sounds, and he clearly has a preference.

A side effect of all the whistle blowing, is that Cole temporarily forgot how to use a straw. We were at the diner for dinner and Cole had a cup of milk that he absolutely could not drink. He kept blowing bubbles in his cup and he was clearly confused. It was funny to see him trying to work it out for himself. Luckily I had an empty sippy cup in the bag for him.

Cole quickly re-learned his straw skills with a Red, White and Blueberry smoothie at Wegmans Friday night. As I have said before, when properly motivated, he's a quick learner. He can feed himself dessert with a spoon, but anything else requires help (and coaxing).