Around the House

Morning walks with Dad in jammies and shoes. Cole is getting pretty quick and likes to hold the decision making power on WHERE we go on walks.

Like this apartment building - he often decides he wants to go inside.

Practicing going down the stairs - he mastered going up pretty quickly but struggles a bit with going in reverse. Sometimes he gets going really fast and bangs into the wall. Good thing someone is always ready to catch him!

First time on the bike seat. The plan was to take a tiny ride down the sidewalk to see if Cole liked it...we couldn't even convince him to sit in the seat. So we try a bit each day.

Sneaky boy with the TV - guessing he was looking for Blues Clues or a Brewer game. The other day after a nap he grabbed a book and wanted to lay in bed and read/watch baseball.

This is what his crib looks like most mornings. He is happy to lay in there and slowly wake up and read books while Nick gets ready for work.

Nickname

When naming Cole, I thought we had a name that was pretty nickname proof. Obviously we have other names we call Cole; mostly Buggy and Peanut but I wouldn't call those "nicknames." I am not anti-nicknames but having a name like Nick I have definitely heard my fair share. (Luckily my guy friends don't read this blog, so I don't have to listen to their immature creativity). But I now know there's no such thing as a nickname proof name...

At daycare, the kids call Cole, Coco. Now he is only going once a week, and once his little brother arrives he won't go at all, so I figured we could grin and bear it until it faded away to a distant memory. However, it seems Coco feels differently. Lately his chatter has consisted of "Hi Coco, Bye Coco." Yes, not only is Cole sitting around the house saying hi and bye to himself, but the name is catching on. When he says goodbye to someone he preempts their "Bye Cole" and starts up with "Byeee Coco, byeee Coco" and waves. We will try to get some video soon of his self-chatter, it is pretty funny to hear him talking to himself.  Kristin and I have even caught ourselves calling him Coco a few times.

I guess it will make naming Boy #2 easier since I will not even try and guess what someone may come up with as a nickname. And I guess a name should be our focus at this point, not a nickname. Anyway, I am obviously not a huge fan of Coco. It sounds like a monkey or a prostitute. You decide. Maybe I'll just name Boy #2 Sally and be done with it.

Mailman or Ted Kaczynski?

I know I’ve been obsessed with figuring out Cole’s future career path (e.g. punter, Wal-Mart greeter) and I realize it may be a little early to predict based on his current behavior. However, with that said, I now predicting Mailman. I may move this up to a guaranty if he continues some certain behaviors. Cole is absolutely obsessed with the mail. Kristin and I (and anyone else around) have to listen to rants of “mail, mail, mail” anytime we go to someone’s house or when we arrive back home. He will change his pitch and tone as he goes; in his mind if he asks louder, the mail will certainly arrive.

Stamp and Sort Mailbox  - on Cole's Amazon wishlist

Poor Grandma Chris is going crazy because everyday Cole will grab his jacket, stand by her door and ask, "mail?" about 100 times. After they look in Grandma's mailbox Cole then wants to go look in everyone's mailbox on their street. Try explaining to Cole that messing with the mail is a Federal offense. Grandpa Gregg puts fake mail in the mailbox before Cole comes over, so when he gets there they can walk down and "get the mail." This is an especially good idea on Sundays and holidays when mail doesn’t come, since Cole refuses to grasp the Post Office schedule. And if you tell him there isn't any mail or that you won't take him outside to check the box? Well...he goes postal.

Looking at the mailbox

Our mail comes directly into our house through the door slot, so Cole loves to get home, gather it up and then try to throw it in the garbage. Luckily 90% of our mail is junk and the other 10% are bills that I don’t want anyway. So thus far that system works fine for me.

 Gathering the mail

Off to the garbage!

On Mother's Day I...

realized that Cole would be happy eating 24/7

was reminded how much teething sucks

made Cole some hillbilly jammies from his old baby clothes

let a certain someone get overtired and slap happy (note: he's shiny due to Aquaphor)

Thanks for a making my day Buggy!

Brushing teeth...only sucks a little bit these days

We are getting much better at remembering to brush Cole's teeth (thanks to an alarm I set on my phone at Cole's bedtime); although, I do question the quality of the actual brushing. Up until a few weeks ago Cole put up quite the fight when it was teeth brushing time. Lots of crying sobbing and screaming and he needed extra cuddles afterwards to calm down. After a few nights of that drama I decided I wanted to just skip it since his baby teeth are going to fall out anyways, but then I saw a commercial that showed some snaggle
toothed-kid. The commerical implied that the poor kid had such bad permanent teeth because he didn't brush his baby teeth well. The pictures of this kid's teeth are so bad we got scared straight and now brushing Cole's teeth is part of our bedtime routine. I'm not sure if it is true, but I really don't want to risk Cole's teeth going all Jewel. I imagine fixing a grill with a bunch of snaggle-teeth is pretty expensive. And lately it seems as if all our hard work is paying off. Now when it is time to brush his teeth Cole will actually open his mouth a little bit and sometimes we get a little smile. It certainly beats having to sit on him and pry open his mouth with both hands!

Snuggles to recover from above horror

New and Improved Teeth Brushing Time

Added bonuses of consistent toothbrushing include nice smelling baby breath and diminished feelings of guilt