Aw, Nuts!

Today Cole was tested for allergies of the nut variety. He tested positive for both tree nuts and peanuts (poor kid) but he was fantastic throughout the entire experience. He was really upset by the crying, wailing, and screaming we heard of other little kids through the paper thin walls of the examination room. He kept asking about the baby and wanted to sit in my lap whenever the crying/screaming got really loud. He's always hated to hear or see other kid's in pain and I know he would've liked to have been able to offer them comfort but still I was worried that all of what he'd heard prior to his own test would make it that much worse. Nope. He sat on my lap and only flinched a bit on the last two skin pricks. What's more, he only tried to scratch his itchy areas once. There was no crying, no fussing. Cole handled it so much better than I anticipated. To pass the time he liked cuddling and then he seemed to get used to the itching so he went back to the chalkboard (which is what he'd found irresistible when we were waiting for the testing to begin). It was Cole's first time with chalk, a chalkboard, and the eraser. It was pretty cool watching him figure it all out. He had not hesitation over the chalk and started doodling away, er, I mean, writing away (he was reciting letters as he 'wrote'). The eraser surprised him at first I guess he must've expected it to put more chalk on the board rather than take it all away. Once he figured out it's function he really enjoyed filling up the board with as many markings as possible and then he'd wipe it all away with the eraser with a 'bye bye' for each mark along the way. We brought George along for moral support and Cole really liked introducing George to the chalk, board, and eraser as well.

Other than that, Cole kept wanting to wash his hands so he could get soap out of the cool dispenser. After we'd done this a few times I told him we were all done so he gave George some more chalk, a squeeze of the soap, and of course that meant we had to then wash George's hands as well. He's nothing if not quick.

Anyway, Cole is doing fine. We've got tons of info. on how to deal with his allergies and a couple EpiPen's as well. Hope this finds all of you well, too!

86 and Counting

Cole has a new speech therapist now (the other one went into labor en route to our house a few weeks ago) and they have really hit it off. Today, he added three more words to his vocabulary (fish, bear, and turn - as in take). We've been keeping a running list for a while now and the boy is up to nearly 90 words - 86 and counting. He has another evaluation in two weeks and it will be fun to see how much he has improved. We're grateful for the extra help from his therapists but truth be told - he started chatting up a storm right around his birthday, (when school was out), which means most of this great progress has come from Mister Man himself. Way to be, baby!

Timberwolves!

Yesterday Scott won tickets to the last Timberwolves game. Yay! So the three of us ventured out for our first NBA game. I can't recall if I've been to one before - but it was definitely Scott's first and, of course, Cole's as well. Cole really enjoyed the first three quarters. He quickly settled in and clapped for every shot taken. It was super cute. When the music or lights would change his eyes would just grow big - he kept the rest of himself in his usual 'cool' mode. Even when they set off some loud fireworks type stuff he only reflected his startled response in his eyes. 'Cuz you know, he's a big kid and big kids don't flinch.

It happened to be Fan Appreciation night so we got lots of fun stuff. First, for being among the first 5,000 fans we got Al Jefferson piggie banks. Scott took one for his cubicle and Coley has adopted Al as a new friend. He even kissed 'Al's' head last night and told him goodnight before going upstairs to bed. He's still just as sweet as he was at six months old only now he's got the modeling and language skills to really send us to the moon. We also got to spin a prize wheel and both Mommy and Daddy landed on the 'choose any prize you want' but by the time we had our turn the really good stuff was gone. So, I took the beads (blue and then green ones with a pendant that reads, "Let's Build It!"), while Scott took the yearbook full of great pics and stats.

I made sure to get out all my photo happiness at the beginning of the game and I'll load those up later tonight (hopefully) so stay tuned for those. We would've love to have stayed for the rest of the game (the players were even going to throw autographed memorabilia into the stands afterwards), but Cole got a notion for motion and once Scott took him on one walk he wasn't real interested in sitting down again.

For those of you interested, we were playing Wisconsin, leading at first, fell behind and were still behind when we left. BUT, the Timberwolves pulled it out in overtime and won 110-101. Yay!

Happy Birthday, Scott

It's Scott's birthday! Hooray! Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday dear Sccooottttyyyy Happy birthday tooooooo YYYYYYYOOOOOUUUUUUU! Love you!

P.S. Um, Coley's got your card...

A Sunny Day in March

So, a little while ago, we decided to take advantage of 30+ temps at our local nature center. We've been hearing about it for months. You know, "Oh, yeah, they live near the nature center," and stuff like that.

Yeah, we know, 'bout time! Cole has been battling a fever since Leap Year but once we set him loose on the ground there was no stopping the smiles and shrieks of glee.

Coley is even more agile on all the playground equipment so this spring and summer should bring lots of adventure to his life and ours!

I know it doesn't need to be said...but we took a bazillion shots that day. We hope the ones we've selected for this post make you smile as they do us.

The Auto Show

One Thursday back in March, :), we went out to the Twin Cities Auto Show with our friends, Sonja, Brandon, and Henna, who had extra tickets. As I tend to do always, I snapped away at completely random stuff to keep myself entertained. Luckily for you the novelty of most those shots have worn off now so I will only share some highlights. This is my favorite hood ornament shot, and the orange car had Coley transfixed for quite a while so I snagged that shot for him, the last one comes courtesy of Scott. Cole took the whole car-hopping thing rather seriously and didn't like us intruding on his space which meant Scott got sneaky and used his height to capture Cole through the moon roof. :)

Sonja, Henna, and I posed for a couple shots of me behind the wheel of a Porsche (though I had more fun in the red ZoomZoom later on).

Henna and Cole had great fun climbing in and out of cars too and provided lots of psuedo date pics for their moms. I especially like these from a grand convertible they couldn't get enough of. The first photo Scott and I ever took actually reminds me of this one - only instead of looking at the radio, Scott and I were trying to figure out the camera we decided to buy for our first-ever road trip together.

Oh, and after noticing that these gorgeous ladies were flirting with Cole I thought I'd preserve the memory of his first-ever auto show experience with a pic of three of Toyota's show ladies. I'll admit, I lost my nerve as we approached them (even though their oohing and ahhing over the boy as we passed by pretty much assured a green light on the idea) - so I made Scott ask. He was very embarrassed and said, "My wife wants to get a picture of all of you with our son. I swear it's not me, it's my wife that wants it." He stressed that last part a couple more times even though they agreed to the photo right away. Their older male counterpart (he had upper management written all over him so he seemed a bit out of place) came up to me as we were handing Cole over (he didn't mind at all of course!) and told me, "He'll treasure this when he gets older." Let's hope so because I have notions of framing it along with the show's program and the handwritten note from Jo-Jo (far left) which of course will be dragged out to show all future girlfriends. :)

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of our time at Cole's first-ever car show!

Briefly

Hi everyone,

Many days I think of updating the post but knowing I don't have photos ready to load keeps me from doing so. But since it has been a month or so since our last update I figured you'd like to hear some news on our little man Cole.

Highlights:

A few weeks ago, while at a mall play area, he hopped into a red convertible and kissed this cute little blonde girl. I couldn't believe it. And right after, he gave an excited kinda cheer while she smiled shyly as they leaned over the back of the car. Turns out my friend and I were sitting next to the little girl's mother so we all got to enjoy the shock and tickle of this moment. (That's her, with the blonde hair, in the background a little later.

A week later, Coley was at it again. We met up with his pal, Moddie, who is the cousin of his cousins, Molly and Finn, at the park by our house. The two of them were practically buzzing as they ran around the warming house and played a few rounds of bean bag toss, and then when they stopped to check in on the rents, Coley leaned in for his second big boy kiss.

Moddie, to our relief, seemed tickled by it much like the first girl, and also looked up at us with a shy smile. Cole? Well, Cole had a look on his face that boasted, "Yep, that's right - I kissed her." Now he doesn't just kiss any girl - she has to be friendly, fun, and well, uber cute. (This is a photo that Coley took of Moddie after the smooch.)

Then, this past Friday, he did it again. There's an older girl in his play group that is full of spunk and Coley loves to get a rise out of her. They were having a rare quiet moment when her mother turned to them with a great look of suprise on her face that drew all of the other mother's (including me) to look over as well. Wouldn't you know it, Cole had his arms wrapped around her and was just removing his lips from her face. I think he only kissed this darling on the cheek but she seemed all the sweeter for it. Her arms, too, were wrapped around him and once again, another girl greeted the room with a shy smile.

Cole has also really been booming with his language skills. For some time now we've known that he has a lot to say and has shared our impatience for him to be able to get it all out. Well, each day brings us closer to that. Oup! In fact, I hear him calling me now!