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8/06/2016

Colton Turns 2


We celebrated the little big guy's birthday a few days early in light of Uncle Sky and Aunt Clarah's wedding being on the actual day. I was going to do more of a party for him but Aunt Cole was in town and it was craziness before the wedding and I just could not swing it!
I did want it to be special though, so we did a little family Elmo party!
We had Pizza and Elmo cupcakes and Colton got some cool dude sunglasses and a singing Elmo toy for his presents. Also when we were in Vegas my parents and little brother got him some presents too.





At his 2 year check up Colton weighed 29 lbs (60th Percentile) and was 34" tall (44th Percentile) He is healthy and thriving and was impressing the doctor with his color skills.

This boy has his own agenda. It is so crazy that I was JUST writing his 18 month post, wondering what a new baby would do to him. he has adjusted so well and is usually an awesome big brother.
He is in quite a repeater stage right now. He has a word for just about everything, and will ask for things, but if I ask "Do you want your water?" he responds with "water" instead of  "yes". He gets in this repeat mode especially when we are putting him to bed.
"are you gonna be a big boy?" "Big Boy"
"You stay in your bed?" "bed"
"Love you buddy" "ah buddy"
It is pretty darn cute, but I do think it contributes to the frustrations he has with his lack of communication. It is still hard to understand what he wants a lot of the time. This of course contributes to some pretty intense whining and tantrums, but we are working through it!
Colton will do anything to make anyone laugh. He is an absolute whiz on the kindle or any phone. He is stubborn and so so helpful and is wary of most new people. 

The other day I was having a tough time and was crying on the couch. Colton climbed on the table, grabbed a napkin, them got up on the couch next to me and tried to wipe my nose saying "tissue?"

Today Jax fell asleep in his carseat on the way home from a playdate so I brought him inside first, then went back for Colton, as we came out of the garage and I told him to run to the door, he said "no, Jaxo?" and went around the other side of the truck to make sure I didn't forget his little brother.

Colton knows all his basic colors like a CHAMP, and is counting everything he can, granted his counting goes "two three four nine ten eleven twelve thirteen!" but we will take it.
He is still so so incredibly picky with his food. Every day is a battle. I finally got him to start taking his vitamin every day, so I can count that as a win right? He is JUST getting to the point where he is sort of understanding the concept of "If...then" so he is starting to grasp "IF you eat your yogurt THEN you can have more toast". I figure once he starts to understand that better I can negotiate some better food in there.

Colton loves: music, singing, dancing, building towers, putting things in order, watching snippets of shows (the parts with the music he likes) facetiming (mostly with Grandpa), snapchatting, telling me the color of everything he comes across, going to the park, nursery (HOOORRAAAY!!! FINALLY!), reading stories, being sung to, brushing his teeth, when dada comes home, wrestling with dada, cooking with mama, giving Jaxo snuggles, being the center of attention, wearing other people's shoes, hats
Colton dislikes: any food that is squishy or wet, when his food breaks into smaller pieces without his consent, getting water dumped on his head during bath, waking up from naps (that he barely takes honestly), being in the car for too long, being told no, taking pictures
 Honestly it has been a rocky few months. We have been so much in survival mode still, I feel like I've missed Colton turning two, it's been such a whirlwind. But most days Colton is my little light, my helper. and a reminder that things get better, even when he's throwing himself on the floor. We love our Colton Wolton!

7/06/2016

4th of July Weekend

What a great weekend we had as a family! We needed it!
Friday night we got both kids to bed, and sat at the end of our driveway to enjoy the West Bountiful fireworks show. It was right at the park down the street, but we definitely preferred avoiding the crowds and holding hands, eating orange floats, and talking under the fireworks. We thought for about 2 seconds about waking Colton up, but no bones. That kid was asleep and that mattered way more haha.
Saturday morning was the West Bountiful parade. The route comes right in front of our house! So while the whole neighborhood hauled kids, chairs, snacks, umbrellas, etc. out to get good seats early, we meandered to the front yard about 10 minutes before it started and set up shop. That was so so cool. The parade was so fun. They threw taffy and other candy, and even ice cream sandwiches (like thousands of them). Colton's favorite "float" was the truck advertising the Bountiful Doulas. The slogan was "support through your pregnancy until you pop" and they had a bubble machine in the back. Jared liked the bagpipe band, and I liked the horse painted like the American Flag. What an awesome tradition to sit in our yard and watch the huge parade every year!








Saturday afternoon we all drove down to Provo, and we got a new car! It's a black 2014 Jetta and holding the key fob in my hand brought back all my memories of my little green jetta I drove in high school. The fobs have keys that flip out, like a switchblade, and I would play with my keys ALL THE TIME. As soon as I held the key for the new car muscle memory took over and I started flipping the key in and out and I had to laugh. I loved that car!

We came home in the late afternoon and played in the pools in our back yard.
Monday the 4th we had a neighborhood kid's parade with a bunch of people from our ward, and then a brunch potluck. We hung out for 3 hours just talking with friends and getting to know people better. We love our ward so much and have made so many friends in the short time we've been here. We were definitely led to live in such an awesome area.
Somehow the only 4th of July outfit picture I got was of my face haha. But Colton had the cutest tank! And he played so awesome with all the kids after the parade!

That afternoon we were discussing what we would do Tuesday, since Jared took that day off too. The idea was thrown out there drive the hour to Logan, stay the night, and spend Tuesday at Bear Lake. Before we knew it we hit the road! This was the first time we had done anything like this since we had kids and it was so awesome! Colton thought the hotel was the coolest place in the world, and had a whole queen bed to himself!
We got to the lake in the morning and had a blast. Bear Lake is known as the "carribbean of the rockies" because of the turquoise water. The pictures just don't do it justice! It is so beautiful, and we had a blast swimming, splashing, playing in the sand, and laughing together.




We left Bear Lake at about 3 (not before getting famous raspberry shakes though!!) and had to drive all the way down to Provo to pick up our car, of course hitting rush hour traffic on the way down. That was the longest either of our boys had been in the car (about 6 hours) and they did surprisingly well!
We had so much fun as a little family this weekend, we are sad to have to go back to normal life today. We can't wait until both our boys can run around the sandy beach at Bear Lake next year!

6/30/2016

Colton's Summer So far (23 months)

We have been trying to have lots of fun this summer, but sometimes it is hard with a little 2 month old. So Colton and I get our outside fix when little man is sleeping. Colton has been such a big boy. He stopped using a binky back in May, and He moved out of his crib on June 9th (22 months old), and has been doing AWESOME sleeping in his "big boy bed" with his special Elmo Pillow and bed set. He can count to 13 perfectly, and counts everything he can find. His favorite is counting numbers on license plates.
He says so many words I cannot even keep track anymore! My favorites though are "Shoom" (spoon), "Shay Shoo" (thank you) and "ruh roo" (love you). His new thing now is asking for things, and answering his questions in the affirmative. For example he will say "Bar? Bar? ok. bar." and apparently he has decided he is getting a bar. He does it with people he wants to see as well. "Grandpa? Grandpa? Ok. Grandpa." it is hilarious.
Colton is an awesome big brother and adores Jax-o. He gives good snuggles and kisses and always says "Ruh roo Jax". 
He isn't a big tantrum thrower, but he is super demanding, and becomes a royal pill when he decides he isn't getting enough attention. He likes to throw toys at mom's head, and pinch her skin with his fingernails to receive such attention. Church is still kind of a nightmare but he is FINALLY going to nursery without mom sitting in there with him! We have had 3 successful weeks and it has been so awesome!! (only took 5 months...jeeze lousie.)
He is the most musical kid I have ever met. He is always singing, he loves to play the piano, and clapping to the beat of songs. And man he is a dancing FIEND. He knows most words to pretty much all the songs on the radio, and will sing along, in tune. it is really amazing. 
He is also great at stacking towers, and identifying colors. His favorite is purple (thanks Barney), and blue. He knows yellow, green, and red too. 
He is a big challenge for me. He has so much energy, but still isn't quite old enough to do a whole lot. I try to keep him as busy as possible, but sometimes I just cannot keep up with him and his demands. He brings me so much joy though. He is incredibly sweet, and as considerate as an almost 2 year old can be. I love my little oldest so much. I'm grateful to be Colton's mama!
indoor activities...
our home made water table

kicking to the beat of the train table
fort building

playing with friends
using Jax as a tv stand
taking picnic lunches to dad on Fridays
pool fun

First wasp sting :( I had to give him benadryl and his lips swelled up!