The other day I smelled something and thought Colin was working on a diaper but after checking realized it must have just been gas. So I said to Colin "Colin do you have gas?" Colin got a really serious look on his face, looked at Brent and proudly yelled, "DADA!" I guess we can't blame Colin anymore. (By the way, Colin dressed himself this day)

Our little handyman

Anyone need any jobs done around the house?

Hokie Bird Part-ay!

It was a very eventful weekend in Blacksburg for us all. Especially Colin. We usually make our annual Virginia Tech football game, but this year was extra special. It was the Hokie Bird's birthday party!!! Colin was invited and given special priviledges that well.... hundreds of other kids were given as the line was about as long as a U2 concert! As much as he enjoyed the birthday party and seeing Hokie bird, his favorite part of the weekend was seeing all the bikes on campus.

IKE IKE...AAT AAT he would say. The first time he saw some bikes he got really excited and then as we turned the corner we heard this big gasp from Colin as there were MORE bikes! It didnt get much better than that! Now the first part makes sense, but the "AAT AAT" we have no idea. We knew what he was talking about and I guess that is all that matters. Okay, news flash.... Abigail just told me what AAT means. It actually stands for "HAT" which Colin is referring to a helmet which you are supposed to wear when riding a bike. His grandpa always wears a helmet when riding his bike and Colin loves to put it on. Now it all makes sense!!!! What a smart boy!

Colin loved watching the game and got really serious when the opening "enter sandman" song came on that he usually listens to on the house computer. But at home he jumps up and down to the song - we think he was overwhelmed by all the people. The whole game (other than when he was sleeping - he slept for most of the first half) He would yell, "ball...ball" and point to the players and football as the action moved on the field. He would cheer and clap along with the crowd. He even did the Hokie Pokie with his aunt angela and aunt sarah.

Time for some ACTION!

Well, whether Colin knows it or not, he is falling in love with his dad's favorite sports already! I'm sure I have nothing to do with it... although I am already counting on a scholarship of some kind! One of his favorite things to do is to watch football on tv, point to the screen and yell "ball!" It would be unfair of me to be a blogger and not mention the fact that REDSKINS season has begun. I love the fact that his Santana Moss jersey from last year still fits too. I taught him to clap right along with me as the Redskins would score and of course they eventually WON!!!!!

Colin also loves his basketball. He has watched his dad play a bunch of times, and recently at the school across the street he has begun practicing dunking. I'm teaching him to hang on the rim, let his tongue hang out, let one hand go, and just hang there on one arm! He loves it.. well his dad really loves it! I think he dunked about 15 times today..... all with a little bit of help.

cookie making

Sometimes the good things in life don't come as fast as we want them to.

Here is a typical Colin expression. He is growing up so fast and looks like such a big boy in this picture.

our little climber

A few weeks ago I bought a little tykes climber off craigs list and Brent picked it up after work. Colin couldnt wait for us to put it together and started climbing on it right from the start. Its so cute to see him run out to it first thing and start playing on it. He loves to climb up the slide and also slide down backwards (we're going to have to teach him the correct playground safety rules one day) Colin also likes to pick the peppers from grandpa's garden and then run over to his playground, crawl under it and eat his veggies!

our beautiful family

A rare picture with all three of us looking right at the camera. And Colin is even smiling a little!

chocolate and trash cans

Colin's Aunt Mary has been getting ready to go off to college which means Colin has gotten to play with some pretty cool stuff. Mary has been storing her things in the living room as they are bought/packed up. His favorite thing to play with was her trash can. At first it was great to throw his toys in but then he figured if toys had that much fun it in - why not try it himself. The good thing about having all mary's things in the living room is that they are blocking Colin from the candy dish that grandma and grandpa keep stocked just for Colin. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to climb the mountain of things to get to the chocolate.

beach bum

A few weeks ago I took Colin to the beach and then met Brent and our friend Mike for dinner. Colin loved the sand and when I wasn't looking he kept trying to get his sandy hand in my mouth. Sand is not so fun and is sticky and gross when you eat it. Colin loved watching the kids dig for crabs and would go up to them and try to take their toys when they weren't looking. (we have since bought Colin his own set of sand toys) Colin's favorite part of the day was the little spout on the boardwalk where you wash your feet off. He loved playing in the water and thought it was great watching everyone get sand off them. Afterwards we were sitting on a bench watching the people walk by when a policeman on a bike stopped by. Colin was eating his goldfish crackers and immediately put the bag behind his back (I guess so the policeman wouldnt take them) but the policeman asked if Colin was hiding dope in his diaper! I wasn't sure if that was a joke or not but I don't think we look like the kind of people who would do that. And really who jokes about that? I thought Va beach was a family friendly place. At least he didn't look in Colin's diaper and Colin didnt have to share his goldfish!

Mommy May I?

So Colin has become attached to the neighbors dogs. They have two Shih Tzu's who have recently become parents. All the puppies have been sold but 2 and they are SO CUTE! We have come to love these puppies and they also love Colin. Colin visits them at least 12 times a day. The minute we go outside he's over to see the dogs. He goes over to the fence and tries to grab them. At first it was poking out their eyes (which we had to stop), but then it was petting them and hoping they would lick his hands! He now sticks his feet between the fence so they can tickle his toes. Once they start licking him, he laughs and laughs. And of course goes back for more! The whole doggie family comes running when they see Colin and he has fun running back and forth and seeing them follow him. On Sunday we walked outside and to Colin's delight the puppies had gotten out! He had fun running around with them until we put the dogs back in their yard. It was so cute seeing them jump up to kiss him. And then to Colins joy he discovered the hole where they were escaping through so he would go and stand in front of the hole, slap his hands to his stomach and they would come out and play. Unfortunately we told the owners and they quickly fixed the hole. But Colin still goes over there and tries to get them to come out and cries when they dont. Petting them through the fence isnt as good as having them jump all over them. Every day we talk about buying one of them, but then realize how much they cost. Pure bred these puppies are expensive. I'm hoping the owners give one to us since we've rescued them from the dangers of cars several times! We hope to get a dog one day soon though. If you would like to contribute to Colins doggie fund he would be eternally grateful.

Fierce Face

You know the saying "When you have kids I hope you get one just like you".... well Colin is turning into his mother already. Colin and I make the same "fierce" face as my parents call it. Colin makes this face all the time now - only he's not so fierce when he does it. He's down right adorable! Lets hope he picks up all the other great qualities of his mother.

So smart!

Colin can play Connect Four and loves it! Now the rules are a little different since he is only 13 months old but that hand eye coordination is amazing!

A few weeks ago we decided to take Colin to the local swimming pool. He has loved his swimming class and we thought he would enjoy this pool just as much. As you can see in the picture they have a kids mini water park too. And that was the problem. We didnt think that in Colin's swim class there were only babies who were held and maybe splashed a little bit here and there. Plus the water was heated and it was generally calm and quiet with music playing in the background. Flash forward to the public pool where its noisy and kids are running and splashing everywhere. Plus this kids area has all these sprinkler type things where water is going everywhere. A little scary for our little boy.

We met some friends at the pool who have a 10 month old and their baby was swimming around and loved it. Colin clung to us for dear life in the beginning and eventually warmed up to it. Until we put him down the slide and since then we can't get him to take a bath. We made progress a few nights ago when he sat down in the bath for a few minutes. Hopefully our next trip to the pool will be less scary and he'll enjoy it.

Ball

Besides saying mama, dada, and dog Colin has learned a new word - BALL. We were walking in the store the other day and passed the bin with all the bouncy balls and he pointed and clearly said ball. He was so proud of himself I had to buy him one and he told everyone in the store that it was a "ball." He LOVES balls and likes to pick one up out of the bin outside, take a few steps and throw it off the deck. Then he goes back and gets another ball and continues until all the balls are in the yard. Its funny because some of the balls are as big as he is! Today he was making unusual noises in his crib as he was suppossedly taking a nap and when I peaked in on him he was straining to get a little ball that was on his bookshelf. He kept repeating ball as he tried to make his arm longer. Apparently the grunting was suppossed to make him able to reach it. I couldn't resist and went in and gave him the ball. He is now napping with one of his balls.

Growing up

Yes, its true. Kids grow up. I mean, we all have right? Well, maybe physically, but we all love the days when we were kids. Abigail and I are loving the fact that we get to act like kids again. Lets see..... we've taught Colin how to give "rasberries," we have built forts with him, we play hide and seek, and we took him to the pool for the first time! The water was too cold for him, but it didn't stop us from giving it a try.

The funniest part was that we went to buy him new swimmers (they are diapers designed for swimming for those of you who don't know), and later figured out they were pink with Dora all over them! So I have been embarrassed for him, but its a good thing he has swim trunks on over top or we would be getting some funny looks.

Another thing Colin loves to do is "water the plants" with his daddy and use a shovel. We went out and bought him a kids shovel, so he likes to follow his dad outside and help. Problem is, all he likes to do is pick and pull on the plants!

Day in the yard

So the weather has gotten warm, and we've been living most of our days outside. Our deck is by far our favorite part of the house as we eat dinner out there nightly. It always allows Colin to have some time to walk/waddle around in the yard and have some fun learning things. The last couple days he has been learning what a hose is, and how water "sometimes" comes out of it. Little does he know that we control it! At times he tries to drink out of it, and others he tries to water the plants like his dad. Today he was wearing jeans, and as he became annoyed he tried to "wiggle" out of them. Well, as you can see in this picture he succeeded!

the birthday cake

This was Colins chance to eat sugar (real sugar and not the "cookies" mommy pretends to give him) We were so excited to see Colin smear cake all over himself. he was very tired from all the excitement of the day.. His aunts and uncle were home and we not only played at the playground all afternoon but there were DOGS! (colins favorite) Angela and James brought their dog AJ while Angela's mom Debbie brought her dog Lizzie. All that excitement made it hard at first to get into the whole cake eating but Colin figured it out and loved it.

Colin is 1 year old!

So Colin is now a year old. We can hardly believe it, but it just gets better every day. He makes us laugh more than ever now as his personality is really coming out. He is such a little helper and likes to give things to us to carry for him. He also likes to pass us the telephone to tell us we have a "call" to answer!

He has been crawling for months now, and is just about ready to walk on his own. He walks pretty well and takes about as many steps as we can convince him to take. Most of the time he walks us around grabbing our hands and taking us somewhere. It ends with us picking him up and taking him where WE want him to go!

Here he is at the playground on his birthday stylin with his "birthday mohawk!" His aunts came down the stairs with big smiles on their faces followed by Colin not having a clue. I think it will toughen him up a bit, you know, make kids think twice about messing with him! The mohawk lasted only a day, but I think his self confidence has remained high.

uh - oh