March 11, 2014- The first time colin ate oatmeal, I couldn't feed him fast enough. It made him giggle with joy.
March 12, 2014- I was feeding Colin food at dinner and we were eating steamed spinach with our dinner. I gave him the spinach by itself and he would promptly take it out of his mouth with his hands. I thought I might hide it under the other food but, every time, he found the spinach after digging around and took it out of his mouth.We will have to try spinach another time. The texture was probably very weird to him.
March 13, 2014- I was holding Colin as he was winding down to take a nap. He kept taking his head off my shoulder and looking up at my face and then leaning in to kiss my lips before proceeding to cuddle me. He did that about 5 times. It was too tender.
March 16, 2014 - I was flossing in the bathroom and Colin was playing by the tub. I start to hear smacking like he might be eating something. He had gotten ahold of one of the poopy diapers that I had not yet cleaned out! I found him with a handful of poop in one hand and a blueberry in his mouth with a bit of poop smeared on his face. I was screaming in disgust. Sick!!! I think I just kept saying, EW, EW, EWWW, EWWWWWW, WHY, WHY, WHY?!
March 18, 2014 - I took Colin's diaper off before getting in the bath. I had to go do something and when I returned, he had peed on the bathroom floor. I thought, there is a first for everything. After the bath I left him naked for just a moment in my bedroom. As I was in the other room, I thought that I should go put a diaper on him so we didn't have a repeat. As I returned, he had already peed on the floor again. I just had to laugh.
Same day, I decided to leave Colin's clothes on for lunch since I had just put them on. I usually feed him naked and hadn't yet thought of what he would eat but started off by giving him some safe sauerkraut. He ended up eating tomato soup and then decided that today he would endeavor to feed himself with a spoon. It got pretty crazy and I shot a picture of the beginning stages because by the end he was splashing it on the cloth covered chairs (who furnishes kitchen chairs with faux suede or whatever?) and I was trying to keep things from getting out of control.
March 21, 2014 - Sometimes Colin wakes up around 6 and I feed him in my bed because I am so tired. He ended up falling asleep again and so when he woke up in my arms he did something marvelous. He sat there and cuddled with me for 30 minutes instead of wriggling around trying to find something to play with. It was so sweet to just hold him and show him his stuffed animals and kiss him. It was such a lovely way to wake up. I hope it continues every once in a while.
Colin found his tongue today and kept grabbing it. He found mine too and grabbed it many times as well.
April 6, 2014 - Colin has been pretty scared to walk on his own. We wanted to practice letting him walk a short distance between us. He was just leaning into our arms and it wasn't working. Andrew walked away and then I let Colin try on his own. He took like 6 steps and then fell down. We both watched in shock and couldn't say anything for like 5 seconds. It was kinda surreal. He is still hesitant but we are practicing with Daddy every night.
Happy Birthday Jesus! Colin took his first steps for you I guess.
April 7, 2014- Colin is officially a toddler in my eyes. Even though he isn't walking independently yet, he turned on his "curious mode" and is getting into everything. It is like he jumped up a level and understands things he didn't previously understand. He is opening all the cupboards, taking the broom and trying to sweep, trying to put plugs in the sockets, and is carrying things around with him while walking. We don't have a belt with the high chair because it was bought second-hand. He has figured out that he can get out of it and stand up. No bueno!
April 9, 2014- Colin took some small bike chain keys and crawled to the front door. There is a lock near the bottom of the door and he continuously tries to put the keys in the lock. He always takes the keys there and has never tried to put them in anything else. How does he know the keys go in there? Crazy!
April 10, 2014- Colin said "yeah" and sometimes "yay". He has been saying "papa" too but i'm not quite sure he has associated it with Andrew. Here is a video.
April 16, 2014- Colin took a ton of steps unassisted. He is so cute stomping around. Here is a video of him the next day.
April 19, 2014- Colin saw me brushing my hair and then picked up the brush and started brushing his hair. Adorable. He watches everything I do. I have to be on my best behavior!
April 21, 2014- Colin is starting to get super vocal. Here he is making lots of noise and drumming on the high chair. I love when he kinda goes into a trance near the beginning and stops yelling for like 3 seconds and then sounds like he is casting a spell.
April 24, 2014- Colin started making an elephant noise. I showed him his stuffed elephant, Grégoire, and made an elephant noise and asked him what sound an elephant makes. He does it even when I don't show him his elephant and just ask the question out of the blue. That means that he understands me! Woah! I love seeing him slowly show comprehension.
April 28, 2014- Colin stopped holding our fingers and dragging us on what we like to call "Safaris" around the house. It was kind of annoying because we had to stop what we were doing to hunch over and walk with him and then if you wanted to let go, he would get upset. Now he can get up on his own, uses furniture, and is free to walk wherever and whenever. Ahhh! The terror begins.
May 5, 2014- He has found our belly buttons and likes to poke them. He always tries to lift up my shirt if I ask him where it is.
May 24, 2014- He says maman!
May 25, 2014- For the past month Colin knows when Andrew is coming home because he hears the keys in the door. Whatever we are doing, he stops and heads for the front door to greet his papa. We also have a tradition of saying "yeah, yeah" over and over once he is reunited. We keep saying it until we all jump on the bed and celebrate. Colin usually starts saying "yeah, yeah" right when he hears the keys. I love how excited he gets that Andrew is home.
May 26, 2014- Colin sticks out his tongue when I ask him where his tongue is.
May 27, 2014- I discovered that I can play hide and seek with Colin. I run out of the room and keep saying "Where is mommy" until he follows my voice and eventually finds me and giggles. Who am I kidding? He is always giggling. He is extremely joyful.
May 28th- He has started saying "uh-oh" which is weird because I hardly use that word. Here is a video. Don't mind the teething drool.
June 4, 2014- I finally caught his villain laugh. It is a forced laugh that he does pretty often and it cracks us up.
June 11, 2014- Colin started mimicking my animal noises. He now growls, smacks his mouth like a rabbit eating, meows, and does a baaa. These are in French but the sounds are pretty similar. He doesn't repeat all the time but that will come with time.
My favorite mimick is when he tries to do "Oh, là, là". It's really interesting because you don't hear all of the sounds very crisply when he repeats, but it sounds like he is trying to say the same thing. Fascinating! I don't know how he started saying "uh,oh" all the time so I have to now replace it with "houlà".
June 12, 2014- We always tell Colin we are going to pray and then put our hands together (an easier transition to folding arms someday) once he sits down at the table to eat. Last night he I told him we were going to pray and I didn't have to show him, he put his hands together right away. I was so excited! I'm not sure if it is an association with sitting in his high chair instead of hearing the word "prier" but all I know is that I'm doing something right.
June 17, 2014- Colin knows what his tongue is now.
June 28, 2014- Mémé Honeybee came to visit and within 24 hours she had him saying "thank you". He says it when he wants something. How can you not give it to him?
Colin is also so enamored with vespas. They drive around everywhere and he always stops to watch them. He also tries to climb on them whenever he comes across a parked one. EVERYTIME!
July 7, 2014- He can now point to his nose. He also mimics the sound of an ambulance by doing "Pin, pon." The ambulances sound very different in Europe so they actually do sound like the French word I teach him. He says it while playing with a wooden ambulance car.
Ever since turning 15 months old, he has changed. He has become so much more silly and engaging. His energy level and curiosity has risen, if that is even possible. He is talking so much more. Every 3 months really does bring a huge developmental leap and pretty much right on cue.
July 8, 2014- Colin has finally caught on to how fun a slide is. It was raining that day but we had to get out. I have started counting before he slides or goes down a hill or does anything thrilling. He now tries to count and does "wooh".
July 9, 2014- I got a video of Colin mimicking the ambulance sound.
July 25, 2014 - He holds phones to his ear (and other things as well) and says "Allo?"
July 26, 2014- He is really good at showing me where his nose, teeth, tongue, lips, head, ears, eyes, and feet and hands. We are still perfecting it but he is really catching on fast.
July 28, 2014 - Daddy plays the guitar often and Colin always points to the picture of it, recognizing it, in a certain book we have. Today he repeated "guitare".
Colin also started saying what I think is the cutest phrase ever! He says "Hi to you!" This comes from an inside joke from my high school days that I have carried into our marriage. We definitely say this sometimes.
I'd officially say that Colin has entered the stage I have been waiting for! He is talking and I can tell I am teaching him and he is learning. Every day is so fun because he shows me that he can understand and do something new. It is incredible to see this process!
September 25, 2014- In the past week, Colin has started saying "non" in a French accent. He also says "wow". When we pray, he is always shouting out "mena" which is "amen". He also mimics our fake cry inside joke between Andrew and me by saying "uh-waaaah-haaa". We sometimes watch a british t.v. show called "Peppa Pig" because it is in English and French. He mimics the theme song and tries to say Peppa Pig but it comes out "Baaaaaa Bada." "Bada" is his word for everything pretty much. I think he associates it with "Moto", but who knows if words even really have a meaning to him yet. Since Colin is absolutely obsessed with motorcycles and Vespas, Andrew kept the motorcycle magazine we got in the mail and Colin sat still flipping through the pages for like 10 minutes. I have never seen him interested in one thing for that long, especially reading material.
October 15, 2014-
- He has now mastered the word "moto" and says it completely correctly. He is obsessed with helmets and just says "ca" (casque) at the moment, while he pats his head.
- "datuh" for tracteur
- "Woah"
- He is catching on to "voilà"
- He has become enamored with flies
-Last but definitely not least, this week he has started to protest against everything I want him to do. Toddlerhood! I am learning that I am going to have to give everything more time and I have to explain more and help prepare him so that he can take time to come to terms with changes and come around to doing what he needs to do. I am thinking it is time to start choosing my battles. He is finding that he can be independent and do things on his own time and if he wants to. When he doesn't want to do something, I have success when I get on his level and immediately talk to him about what he is feeling and validate his needs. I try affirming to him, " You want the _______, don't you?!" and " The _________ is really fun and you like him because he is your friend, etc." I feel like I am finally
starting to use the tools that I have been gathering so that I can help Colin recognize and come to terms with his feelings. This is my major focus every day. I want him to be emotionally healthy and validated in his life. Let the journey and learning commence for everyone!
- That same day when I really felt this transition into toddlerhood coming, Colin gave me lots of kisses before I put him down to sleep. I didn't even have to prompt him this time. He has been doing it ever since. I felt like that was a tender mercy from God, reminding me why I am doing what I'm doing. Colin also said "do do" for the first time while I sang him his "do do" lullaby.
October 30, 2014-
New words: "encore" and "autre", "melodica" which comes out as "boca" and then "pancake" which is the MOST adorable sounding one. We just die every time he says it. Andrew says it to him like 20 times a day so that Colin will say it all cute-like.
- He has a new annoying habit of screaming when he loves stuff, which is cool, but then he just does it when he gets frustrated and at random times. It is really high pitched and usually right in my ear.
November 7, 2014-
The high pitched screaming has stopped, thank goodness.
-Colin did 2 really cute things this week. One morning he was sleeping with me for the last 2 hours. I left him in bed with Andrew to make breakfast and Colin stirred awake but was kinda still asleep. With his eyes closed, he started pulling down on Andrew's silky top (like mine) and started rooting for a boob. Andrew had to wake him up and tell him it was not mommy.
-Colin found a trash can that looked like this
He then proceeded to call it a helmet and take it off the trash can and putting it over his head. It was huge and tried to eat him. I'm pretty sure he fell over a bunch. I laughed pretty hard.
Ashley and Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is great! I love seeing little Colin grow! I don't know how this can be 'preserved' over time, but in years to come I guarantee that you will cherish these videos, as well as your recorded 'Colin Doings'. I really wish that I'd written more about my Girls when they were little. This is priceless.
Love you all,
Aunt Melora