Getting into trouble!

Now that Cole can confidently walk, he loves to explore all aspects of the house.  One of his favorite areas to find trouble in is the recycling.  He takes out containers and paper and plays with them.  We find yogurt containers and plastic tops in his toy box all the time.

Here he is trying to sit in a pizza box.

He showed off his daredevil skills last weekend when we visited the grandparents in CT.

He loves to climb on things.  Here he is standing on a little rocking chair.  It’s a good thing Grammy is there!

“Look, no hands!”

Cole and Grampy bang on the door while waiting for Greta to come back in.

It’s so much more fun to throw all of the toys out of the box and climb in it!

Daddy, Cole, and Greta wrestle at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Oh, and I completely forgot to document that Cole is now 13 months old. Hopefully I’ll remember better next month.

Apple Picking

Brian, Cole, and I went apple picking today.  It was a beautiful fall day, just perfect to be outside.  Unfortunately since it is late in the season, most of the apples were on the ground.  We still managed to pick a peck and I plan on making some apple sauce and possibly an apple pie this week.

In his overalls, ready for the farm!

His first time eating an actual apple.  He liked it, but had a hard time getting anything, but a little juice.

Brian did most of the picking.

Cole was not content to stay in the sling, he need to get down and stumble around!

“Hmmm, this one looks good.”

Cole and Brian checking out the “cheese pumpkins”.  Cole liked their bumpy skin.

Cole eats with a fork

Cole mostly uses his hands when eating, but lately he’s been interested in the fork.  I usually use the fork to cut up whatever is for dinner and occasionally will feed him when he starts to slow down.  The other night though, he took the fork himself and with help ate with the fork.  I put the food on it and would then guide it towards his mouth.

I was able to get some video of Cole walking Monday night before he went to bed.  He’s been walking well for a few weeks now.  He still does some crawling, but is choosing to walk more and more.  He sticks his arms straight out and we call it the “zombie walk” which is very appropriate considering Halloween is right around the corner.  Enjoy!

Ready for the Playoffs

Cole and I are ready to cheer on our Red Sox in the ALDS.  Today was Red Sox spirit day at school so we wore our matching jerseys!  I asked the teachers at daycare though to take his off before lunch.  I figured he would get jelly (from his cream cheese and jelly sandwich) on it.  We’re looking forward to the series coming back to Boston, because these late night games are tough.  Go Sox!

Cole was way more interested in his car than looking at the camera.

Cole's Big Party

On Sunday, September 20th, we celebrated Cole’s birthday.  It was a great day and we had a fun time with our families and a few close friends.  Unfortunately, Cole was still feeling under the weather and wasn’t his usual happy self.  Of course we took tons of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites!

Sitting with Auntie Erin and checking out the balloons before we put them on our front porch.

Rocking in the chair Grammy and Grampy gave him.  It belonged to my grandfather and my dad cleaned it up and painted it (with non toxic paint, of course)!

Opening up the Elmo doll from Auntie Erin.

Having fun with the wagon from Grandma and Grandpa.

Cole really got into opening the presents. It was nice that he could help open them, not like at Christmas where we opened them for him!

Riding on the rocket Auntie Meg gave him.  It’s cute, makes lots of noise, and lights up.  Unfortunately, there’s no off switch so it can get a little loud in our house when he’s riding it!

Grampy and Cole playing with the toys that came with the rocket.

Time for cake and Cole could care less.

Even though we cleaned him up, he still smelled like frosting all day!

Logan takes Cole for a ride while Abby shows off her crawling skills.

Grandpa, Cole and Grandma

Grammy, Grampy, and Cole

Cole and Auntie Meg

Big birthday hugs from Logan!

Here we are almost exactly a year ago on the same couch!

Cole is growing up!

There are two things I need to mark down in my “baby book blog”.  One is that Cole is now actually walking.  He has walked across the living room a few times and today he walked from the living room into the kitchen to greet me when I came home from the store!  We’re hoping to get a video of it soon.

Cole’s most recent milestone is a little sad for me because he is now weaned.  I’ve been working on weaning him since mid July.  We took it slow and gradually worked down to only 2 nursing sessions by the time he started at daycare.  Over the last month I’ve been supplementing his morning and evening nursing sessions with a bottle since my supply had dropped.  Over the last week or so I’ve noticed Cole isn’t as interested in nursing before bed and I decided to stop trying.  It has been 3 days and he seems to be fine with no nursing.  Though I am sad, I know it is the right time.  I’m proud of the fact that I was able to exclusively breastfeed (with a few bottles of formula here and there) for 10 months and continue to nurse through a year.

Cole is now eating real (non baby) food for all of his meals.  He continues to love yogurt, cheerios, puffs, crackers, toast, edamame, and cheese.  Some new favorites are chicken nuggets, tortilla chips, hummus, waffles, and whole milk.  He used to love most fruits and vegetables, but now that they’re not pureed, he’s getting a bit picky.  I still try and offer them to him but it’s hard.  Luckily he likes to do what the other kids at daycare do and prefers finger foods.  He eats much better for his teachers than he does for me!

Cole is also clapping and waving like mad.  He started to do both months ago, but not consistently.  He claps along with music, claps blocks together, and generally just likes to make noise.  His dad (the drummer) is so proud!  He waves good bye to Daddy and Greta when we leave for school, he waves to his friends at school, and basically anytime anyone walks into the room.  Cole has also discovered that he can climb on pretty much anything.  A favorite is the dishwasher, not cool.

My baby isn’t a baby any longer, he’s now a toddler.  I can’t wait to see what new and exciting things are in store for the next year!

Cole turns 1! (the pictures)

Birthday boy!

First taste of whole milk!

Cupcake time!

Yum!

Exploring the presents!

Who needs toys when there’s a box to play with?

Cole turns 1!

As most of you know, my baby celebrated his first birthday today.  I got as far as downloading the pictures from my camera, but am just too tired to upload them and put them in the blog.  It was a busy afternoon/evening and I think Cole enjoyed himself.  We all had dinner together as a family (doesn’t happen very often, Cole usually eats first), we had video chats with Grandma/Grandpa C. and Grammy and Auntie Meg (Grampy was at choir practice), and Cole ate a cupcake.  He loved it, of course!  I sang (very poorly) Happy Birthday and we showed him the candle and I blew it out.  He opened up some presents and played a bit before going to bed.  Cole also tried whole milk for the first time and seemed to like it.  He didn’t drink a ton, but didn’t refuse it either.  I’ll be putting pictures up to go with this post tomorrow so if you subscribe via email, just check back if you want to see the pictures.  Also, you may have noticed that some pictures in my old posts aren’t showing up.  We are having some issues with some changes I made to my flickr account and hope to have it fixed in a few days.

Cole plays with trucks

Cole has played with trucks for the past few months but he usually just chews on them.  He is now actually playing with them and “driving” them around.

He also had fun playing with his new light-up caterpillar that he got as a birthday gift from my friend Erin.

Daddy and Greta also joined in the fun!

Labor Day weekend in CT

We spent time at both of our parents’ houses this past Labor Day weekend.

Cole played with Daddy’s old horse again.  He was actually able to use his feet to move a little this time.

He also discovered that he can climb the stairs.  He had so much fun climbing up and down the stairs.  Of course he needed constant supervision.  I don’t think those railings are up to code :)

Cole loves to take Greta for a walk…

Cole also was able to play with his “new” cozy coupe at Grammy and Grampy’s.  It’s a used car, but Grampy did a great job cleaning it up.

He looks so cool riding with one hand on the wheel and the other on the door!

Cole and Grampy had a lot of fun!

Since it was so beautiful out, we made sure to spend some time outside.  Of course, Greta spent most of the day running around the yard.

This weekend was a big one in terms of Cole’s eating.  We decided not to bring any baby food and to have him just eat whatever we were eating.  Some new foods he tried were pizza, pancakes, pasta salad, turkey burgers, and buffalo chicken dip…Brian’s idea of course!