Pizza Pie!

We've been playing!

Sorry, I'm a little delayed in my postings. This is actually from last weekend. I found The Allergen-Free baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal at the library and spied a recipe for pizza dough that Colin could eat- yay! So I went to the health food store and picked out all of the special ingredients and we spent Saturday afternoon preparing our dough:

The dough turned out great! Colin ate a ton of it raw (no eggs, no worries) but wouldn't touch it once it was cooked. I think I got too carried away with the toppings! We will try it again soon with just a cheese topping to start with. I know he will love it! Very fun moment with the little guy. He's been trying to help out in the kitchen more and more. 

Off to gymnastics class for the first time today! I will post that later...

22 Month Update

Twenty-two months! Almost to 2 (hopefully we will avoid the terrible two's) and way past 1. My has time flown by! I have no idea how tall he is or how much he weighs at this point but he does seem to be getting taller so we will see at his next check-up. He's doing very well in school! We haven't had any notes lately which mean he has been on his best behavior (or he has learned how to get away with things). Nevertheless, he did get 'Superstar' ranking for his class this week:

"Colin is our Superstar. He loves to come to school and enjoys playing with all his friends."

Really that's what the newsletter said. I don't make those things up! This fall he will continue to be in Teacher Becky's room, which we are very excited about.

Anyway, here's a little update of our little guy:

New Foods

Quesadillas (with corn tortillas)

Any kind of cheese

New Words

"I want water" - this can mean both 'I want to water' or 'I want to drink water'. He is super helpful in the garden!

Bug

Pool

Car

Please & Thank You

Why? - yes, the madness has begun

Lately, Colin has been adding the 'ia' sound to a few words like puppy, 'puppia', or peepee, 'peepia'. We have no idea where he picked this up. But it works.

TV

For the longest time we could not get the kid interested in TV. Which, in a way, is a blessing. He did like baseball for awhile. He has now started to get interested in Sesame Street, particularly Elmo ("Melmo") and Blue's Clues. This has given us a little bit of quiet time!

Potty Training

We are making progress on this front. The other day, he came running into the bathroom naked while I was getting ready. He had stripped off his clothes and diaper and came in saying 'peepia!'. I immediately put him on the toilet and he sat there holding his wee for a bit but nothing happened :( Maybe soon!

Swimming

Colin LOVES the pool! If you aren't careful he will jump in without you. He's not afraid of the water and has done very well progressing. He has started using water wings in the past few weeks and can get around pretty quickly.

Bedtime

We are officially in the big boy bed! Sleeping through the night and going down fairly easily. We are very proud of him!

He has grown and changed so much over the past couples of months! It's fun to think about what is new with him because there is so much. Two more months and I will be updating for his 2nd birthday (baseball theme, of course)!

P.S. Thanks to Christine for the new Sea Turtle! He has added it to his nighttime companions. However, it still has no replaced his beloved Puppy!

Water Boy

This Saturday was my grandfather's (Colin's Great-Grandfather's) 80th birthday. All of my dad's brothers and sisters came in town with their families. Other than the intense heat, the party went off without a hitch and I think that Pap was pleasantly surprised to have us all there for his big day. 

For entertainment, we turned to Colin. He was running around the yard like a mad man paying no mind to the sun and heat. Finally, my uncle devised a 'ghetto' sprinkler for him:

My grandparents' neighbor, Ashley, has a six-year-old daughter. She took pity on poor Colin and set up a Little Mermaid slip-and-slide. After a bit of hesitation, Colin was shooting down the slide like a pro, knocking the girls out of his way:

Here is a video of him trying to keep the girls away from him with the hose (keep a close eye on his stance, this is serious business!):

It was our last trip for the summer! We are relieved to be home and relax a bit. But it was very nice to see the entire family again! 

Barker's Blackberry Hill

When I was growing up, I can remember going into the woods and picking wild blackberries in the sweltering, afternoon sun. We would drag our full pails to the neighbors' house and she would immediately whip up a blackberry pie from scratch. Delicious! Probably my favorite pie to this day. 

In an effort to MAKE similar memories with the little guy, we made a trip down to Barker's Blackberry Hill (Winery) in nearby Crittenden, Kentucky. We had a blast! We picked...

And we picked...

And Colin snuck a few...

Then he got mad because his hands were 'durdy'...

It was a lot of HARD work but in the end we gathered 13 pounds of fresh blackberries! And the pie was delicious! SUCCESS

Taking a picture with Mama, not so much

He's getting so big! Hope to make many more memories like these with him in the years to come. Love ya, Little Man!

The Fourth in Fort Wayne

We decided to spend our long weekend in Fort Wayne with Chris' family. Baby Evan joined the clan in February and Colin was very interested in him this trip. He loves 'baby's. We spent the weekend around the pool and ate a LOT of really good food. All sunshine and the running around helped Evan and Colin sleep through the entire fireworks display! 

Before we left town on Monday, we made a quick trip to the Fort Wayne Zoo with Colin. He has been a few times before but this time he seemed very interested in seeing the animals. His favorite exhibit was the aquarium! He could have stood there for hours watching the crazy-looking fish swim by him. 

Back home now for a full week! It's so nice to be back to a regular schedule. We've moved Colin to a big boy bed again- keep your fingers crossed that it works this time!

The Summer is Flying By...

So sorry! A LOT has been happening since I last blogged- Father's Day, a trip to North Carolina to visit some friends and now we are heading to Fort Wayne this weekend for the Fourth of July!  Here are a few pictures from the craziness:

Father's Day 2010 - Swimming at my parents' pool (Colin pooped in the pool and the next day, the pool was closed and empty. Coincidence? We hope.)

Enjoying (more) popcorn at the White House

Great smile, Dad! I really like this picture. Sorry for the short blog, I am pooped (no pun intended).

Mr. Clean

Chris and I will someday have the cleanest house on the block- and not because of either of us! Colin has become quite the helper around the house lately. He helps out with laundry...

And he can even sweep the floor...

A little side note on these pictures. My mom came over for dinner Monday night and brought Thai food over. Colin had a bowl of rice to himself and was running around, dropping little pieces of rice in his path. Once he realized what a mess he had made, he went over to the closet and pulled out the vacuum ON HIS OWN. The thing is like three times his size! To our surprise, he was able to pop off the "child-proof"outlet covers and attempted to plug it in himself! My mom stopped him, of course, and plugged it in for him. But he knew how to turn it on, how to put the handle down, and how to put the cord away. Very scary!

Here's to clean floors in our future!