Explosions of life

Word explosion
Last weekend Cole was sick with a bad cold. He had a fever, a nice cough, and lots of congestion. Since we stayed home the whole weekend we invited Keith's mom for dinner, and she acquiesced - she doesn't let a little cold stop her from seeing her grandson! Cole was all kisses and hugs that night and after she said good night, she followed it up with "I love you" and Cole said something that sounded like "I wu you" back. It was so sweet, it made me (and Carolyn) feel all gooey and happy inside. This past month or so we have seen a huge explosion of words for Cole. Not only is he mimicking us, but he's practicing this newly acquired language by communicating with us in a more understandable way. It is truly amazing to hear your child speak in a way that you can understand. I never thought I'd be able to understand "toddlerese" but - most of the time - I get what he's saying! Not only is he saying words, but he's building up and saying sentences more often. He says things like "I cook," "Shoes come off," "Come back," "I go." He is also more patient with me when I don't understand something he is saying. For instance, we were reading (for the 10th time) the song book "She'll be comin' round the mountan" and he kept saying "book!" and I kept going, "Yes, this is a book." Finally, he pointed to the fork in the illustration and said what then sounded like fork (more like fook) because I finally got what he was trying to identify.

Explosion of interests
Cole has become interested in several things: cooking, stacking blocks, stacking the wooden circles (what look like donuts), and reading books (oh - and the television - but I only let him watch Barney and Sesame Street in the a.m.).  We usually read the same few books for a few days to a week. Then Cole gets interested in new (already owned) books. And we read those for another week or so and the cycle continues. He absolutely dies laughing when I read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Five Monkeys Jumping in the Bed." He's very into turning pages, even if it means I'm speed reading or skipping. He doesn't care - he just loves having that power!

Space explosion
We also finally rearranged some furniture in the living room, dining room, and Cole's bedroom so that we'd use our space more efficiently. Cole now has two shelves of a bookcase in the living room where we put books and where he can stack his blocks. He also uses a semi-empty shelving unit we placed in the dining room, and he has another shelf in his bedroom. Funnily enough, the book case in there was Keith's when he was a baby. We are also trying to decorate our space with photos. I didn't post about it at the time but a few months ago, we finally got some prints made using this professional printing service Keith likes. We got some floating frames and some fake canvas wraparound frames. We even got one printed for Cole's room. It's a blog photo of him sleeping on a pillow when he was a few months old. It's above his crib.  We are currently waiting for more pictures to be printed that we ordered a few weeks ago. This time I asked Keith to print some of the nice landscape photos he has taken in addition to some family photos. I'm waiting for them with baited breath.

Arts Explosion? Not so much
We have tried crayons with Cole, but this is what he does when we give a crayon to him with a pad of paper: He draws on the paper for 5 seconds, then he walks around the house and draws on whatever else he can find. I decided to copy Randalin (I have no shame) and get a chalkboard for Cole in hopes that a wider surface would deter him from walking around with the chalk. No such luck. He drew a triangle on the board, then the next time a bunch of lines. But each time, he walked away from the chalkboard and over to some other object to draw (television hutch, the couch, the ottoman, etc). It seems that the world is his canvas.

Teeth explosion
He has so many teeth now we can't even count. We just end up saying things like "Holy Shit! He has so many teeth!" whenever he opens his mouth to laugh. He's still teething though because the molars keep insisting on coming all the way through. He's been nursing a lot more lately and chewing on anything he can get his hands on - including his hands, his arms, my iPhone, the remote control, and even the cat.

The reduction of the baby carrier force
We no longer have an explosion of baby carriers. I returned Heather's Ergo, sold the Beco Butterfly, and lent out my Zolowear ring sling. Keith uses the Beco Gemini when he's with Cole alone. I've since found the Balboa Ring sling useful in the hip hold and a few weeks ago, I finally purchased a new soft structured carrier - the Boba 3G. I love it because it's much more comfortable than the Ergo. Keith also likes the Boba because it doesn't hurt his back. He's also used it a few times. Cole is OK with it, but he doesn't love it as much as he loves the Ergo. I think he misses being able to lean back, which he really can't with the Boba. I had him on my back a week or so ago, and I said to Keith half-jokingly. "I should've probably just gotten the Ergo." He gave me an emphatic "No more baby carriers!" Then Cole said, "No more!" and we both cracked up.

Thrice Bitten; Once Removed
Cole has gotten bitten at day care more times than I wish to count (I think 3 or 4 and all by the same child). Two times it's been on his face. This last time he was bitten twice in one day. The bite on his face was pretty severe. He didn't bleed, but it did cause an abrasion and there is still a mark on his face . The director called me last Thursday (11/3) at work to tell me what happened. Thankfully, they've removed the child from the day care and the parents have to bring the child to a behaviorist who will be in direct contact with the day care director before he is permitted to return. I feel (just a little) for the parents - I'm sure that's not an easy situation to be in - but when I looked at my child's face those first few days when the bit mark was really obvious, I also felt anger that someone had hurt my child. Thankfully, the director understands my anger and apprehension about having Cole near this child when this child does eventually return to day care. She says she's working closely with the behaviorist and also said she'd keep me posted, which is reassuring.

The bite

Stacking the blocks 

What an adorable toothy smile! (Keith took this one)