CRAZY Month!

So things have been a little crazy/hectic around here. Nothing major- just things that have kept me from being able to post.


Mostly it is the out of control, curious, rambunctious, and overall crazy 3 foot tall being that resides in my home. He still will not take naps, goes to bed late, wakes up early, and just keeps me constantly on guard. Although, if I take him to playgroup in the morning, he will occasionally crash- but its usually in my arms. And I'm sorry, but while my only child still wants to sleep cuddled up in my arms, by golly, I'm going to let him- and take full advantage of it, rather than spending that precious time blogging/cleaning/doing laundry, etc. Selfish, I know, but I want to truly enjoy every moment with this little person as much as I can.

I also have a lot going on with my MOMS Club right now- mostly me prepping the group for my imminent departure. I have been planning/prepping/executing the annual Open House (where we try to sucker in new members) and preparing/corresponding/and still need to execute the election process for next year's board. Its been pretty time consuming and I can't even begin to say how relieved I am that it is almost over. I have even made arrangements to get rid of the numerous file folders and containers of junk that have been cluttering up my home for the last 11 months! YEA!!!

Cole and I have also spent a few weekends in Phoenix, and Cole spent a weekend in Carefree. We have spent every other weekend touring Prescott in search of a new home. Yes, that's right, a new home. We are going to rent for at least another year (our current lease is up at the end of the month), and the owners of our current house have their house back east on the market, meaning they could be ready to move here at anytime (though they said they would give us three months notice). I however am ready to get out of this house. As much as I will miss the view and the overall size of the house, that is it! I am so ready to move on! I think Abe is a little more hesitant since moving is so much work, but we NEED a new house. We have our eyes on one right now- 1/2 acre, middle of town-and walking distance to Cole's school, fully fenced yard, basically everything we want in a house (minus being in the middle of the forest, of course- but that will come) and I am stoked! Both Cole and the dog need a yard they can run around in, I love the overall feel of it so much better than our current home, and we will have plenty of room for all our stuff- inside and out.

During one of our "touring" weekends, we visited the Wild Fire Safety Expo that was held downtown (for when we do, ultimately, end up in the woods.) Cole enjoyed all the firemen and trucks and there was a really cool Game and Fish booth with all kinds of wildlife (though it was kind of sad, because they were mostly animals that had fallen victim to wildfires.) We even ran into a friend- though we didn't know it.

That's our friend, Damian, in that suit. Damian is the son of Abe's dear friend, Bob, who passed away a while back. It was pretty funny cause the giant fireman leaned over to his handler, who then said to us, "he says to tell you that its Damian in here" We laughed for a good while and Cole got a tattoo of the giant fireman (which he was so proud of, and then devastated over as it faded away from his arm)
That was Cole after the expo. So funny! He was using the balloon as a kind of pillow. One plus, he did take naps as we all drove around town together!

On one of our Phoenix trips, my parents treated Cole and I to a movie- his first one. We saw "How To Train Your Dragon." Cole did pretty well, though his attention span shorted out {shock!} and he spent the last half hour or so climbing all over the bars (thanks to seeing his grandpa and uncle do it-we were in the front row where the rails are.) I can honestly say, I think he did pretty well for a 2 1/2 year old, and since he is under 3 and free- who cares?!

I also made an attempt at some Strawberry Freezer jam. Cole helped by building a "housh" (aka house) with the strawberries. I haven't tried the jam yet, since I had an opened jar I want to use up, and the homemade stuff only has a shelf life of 3 weeks in the fridge. I figured I can wait- but it looked and smelled super yummy...I'll let you know.

I also have been knee deep in crafts. I don't know if I mentioned, but I started a craft group in my MOMS Club, and being that I'm in charge, I have to force myself to be creative- which I LOVE (and is the only thing I will truly miss about the club, which is why I'm going to continue it with a select group! haha) Here's the latest project (I can't share others, since they will gifts!)- its a dry erase board made from a frame and some fabric. Super simple, cheap, but oh so cute! (Not my idea- I got it from a crafting blog I read, but so simple and useful- and SOOO much cuter than a store bought board!)

I also have other Cole issues going on, including a new evaluation from a developmental specialist this week- but I'll talk about that once I know if anything is truly going on.

Until then, I think that's a good summation of what we've been up to. I will update once I know what's going on with Cole, but that might be it for a while, since HOPEFULLY we'll be MOVING!!!

Bowling

Tuesday I took Cole bowling with our MOMS Club. He really enjoyed it the first 3 frames, and then had a total two year old melt down, including SCREAMING, running for the fire alarm door, playing in the water fountain, playing with the cups and water cooler they had set out, slamming locker doors, you get the picture.

I think, ultimately, he had a good time, and was actually quite the little bowler (he got 103 the first game and was at 60 something the second game before he flat out refused to bowl anymore!)

How stinkin' cute are his little bowling shoes?

Patiently (yeah right!) waiting his turn.

For those of you who have never been bowling with a two year old, this is how they do it.
(Watch the video for a better idea. Cole is OBSESSED with this video, which is the reason I assume that he enjoyed himself!)

I'm back

So- I've been away for a while, and oh the amount of things that happen when one takes a break. I won't bore you with all of them. Cole and I took a trip to Utah with my family (I may post pictures of that later), I started a blog for my MOMS Club (sorry, its private), Abe took a trip to Alaska, I have been dealing with endless amounts of drama (boring to talk about), and helping with my upcoming 10 year reunion. Cole and I also took cookies to the firemen on September 11, as part of a MOMS Club function, where Cole made friends with the firemen and got his very own (plastic) helmet! He was in heaven and now yells hi at the station (which is down the street from our house) all 4+ times a day that we drive by. That's just what I can think of right now, though I know there was so much more!

Cole has started saying several more words including but not limited to, MA- FINALLY!!!, "hops"- for when he's showing off his awesome hops, and "housh"- house. He sings the "oompa loompa" song from Willy Wonka- his new obsession (he doesn't sing it well, but he gets the gist of it), and he has become an expert eye roller- which is so hard to not laugh at! He has also been consistently saying "plis" which is so hard to turn down, though he still won't say please when you ask him to. He is definitely quite the entertainer, and makes me laugh most of the day!

We also went on a MOMS Club "camping" trip this past weekend. We stayed at a KOA, hence the quotes around camping. We'd never been to a KOA before, and it was interesting. I think it would have been ultimately enjoyable if it hadn't been for the I-40 within throwing distance, and the railway, not far beyond that, keeping us up most of the night. We did have a good time though, and really enjoyed getting to hang out as a family, too.

Cole had fun. In an effort to try and "pack light' I neglected to bring toys- I know, WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!?? I guess I figured there would be stuff for him to do, and kids to play with, so carting toys was unnecessary. Abe ended up pulling out his tool kit and letting Cole play with his tools- he enjoyed it way more than he would have his toys, so it all worked out.

Dozer taking a break on the cooler.

Cole still playing with the tools- notice the "tongue of concentration"

This is one of Cole's friends from playgroup. He's a bit bigger than Cole, so I had to assist with the teeter totter momentum.

These next few are from our MOMS Club potluck dinner. We sure had quite the turn out!

Cole kept running up the ramp at the Kabin next door, and jiggling the door knob (a cabin which I believed was occupied. Poor people, dealing with my obnoxious kid playing with their door and running around on their porch, not to mention the gathering that formed just outside their door!)

We finally gained control by doing this...

Shortly after, Cole came up, told me bye bye, shook my hand (which he picked up from a TV show) signaling he was ready for bed. Really, he was ready for this...

Dozer taking a break on the luggage.

Breakfast in bed.

(This really wasn't his breakfast, more of a morning snack. We went and had real breakfast at a cute little diner in Williams. Notice he pulled the DVD player into bed with him,too!)

We needed to get the camper packed up, and needed Cole wrangled. This was what we came up with, and as you can see, it was pretty devastating!

Thinking about making a break for it...

Before the other MOMS Club people began arriving, we broke down and bought Cole some toys at the little KOA convenience store. Here he is playing with Dad.

Station 71

Yesterday, I took Cole to tour the fire station with my MOMS Club.

We started out in the lobby, with all their antiques (just like everywhere else in this town- tons of antiques! It's kind of cool though.)

This is fireman Conrad. He had the foresight to dress is in his garb in front of the kids. He said he had made the mistake once of dressing in the hall and then walking in the room with a group like ours, and swore he would never do it again. Even as it was, the kids were all still pretty freaked out (Cole wouldn't let go of my leg!)
After touring the rest of the station (it was pretty small) we went to the garage to check out the truck, with lights ablaze (sirens, again, wouldn't really have worked well with our group of youngins)
Needless to say, Cole finally became impressed.
But then he found something more intriguing...
...a helmet he may be able to snatch for his own!(He didn't, of course.)

They let the kids walk through the truck, and I was surprised that Cole actually did it and actually enjoyed it!
Although he wasn't too sure about fireman Conrad helping him out.

Photo Op!

Again, something more interesting (according to Cole). He also wandered around and found the basketball hoop, the forest service tanker, the FD's quad used on trails (there's a lot of remote stuff up here), and everything else that he really shouldn't have.

The firemen pulled out the fire hose, and inadvertently had water leak out the bottom of truck. Of course, all the little boys went running and splashing.

Cole just thought they were hilarious!

At the end, each kid got a "Firefighter badge." Cole was pretty proud.

And then he went and took his own turn splashing and running through the puddle.
Cole and a great time and was super mad at me when we left, making sure to emphasise the fact he didn't have a helmet (by motion, not words, obviously). He cried practically the entire way home! What was really funny though, was last night, before bed, we read one of his books about fire trucks, and he instantly started signalling about the helmet again. I couldn't believe he remembered! I think I take for granted his comprehension level, since his expressive level is so lacking. Cole has picked up a few new words, though. He started saying "plis" for please on Saturday (of course he said "plis" about 50 times Saturday, and has hardly said it since, especially when prompted to), and then Monday evening, started saying "up." He has been using that word more, and even said "up" when seeing the ladder on the side of the fire truck.

Abe and I swear we hear him saying other things on occasion, but then never hear them again. Andrew, his speech therapist, thinks Cole seems to be making some progress, though. He is definitely jibber-jabbering, the precursor to talking (better late than never, I suppose) and is making movements with his mouth that he wasn't in the beginning. We'll see (though I still have my fingers crossed to have preschool taken care of for him through the AzEIP)