First Cast and Catch all by himself!

Miraculously I happened to be video taping this.  Jonathan taught Cole to cast tonight.  Cole picked a frog as the lure and got a nice sized bass!
Listen for "Wow, the biggest one of all!"  and "I never knowed I could do this all by myself."  Makes one's heart swell with so many emotions!

First Day of School

Had Cole's 4 year checkup today so we took the day off of school.  He is in the 75th percentile for height and 90th for weight.  He's growing and he is a solid and apparently tall little boy!!!

First Baseball Glove

Cole Rides his Bicycle

 

On Easter Cole decided he really wanted to ride his bicycle.  He rode it all the way around the block.  Yesterday (4/12/12) he wanted to ride it again and this time I took a video.  I love how he's singing while riding!

Cole Reads?

Let me tell you the story.  Every time we go to a stop sign Cole says "S-T-O-P, STOP"!  Last week he was walking around with my one lip glass that says POP on it and we did a similar thing.  We have known he can recognize his name.  Well, today he was doodling on these really cool things he got for his birthday and I decided to experiment.  I wanted to know if he recognized the words when they weren't on a sign or a tube of lipgloss, or on the wall in his room.  So, I did this.  He knew what I was writing.  I video taped it the second time we went through it.  It was not rehearsed.  I was amazed!  I had him do it over the phone for Daddy who was also amazed!  Now, we don't think he can necessarily read yet, but these are definitely excellent building blocks for reading.

Cole Pedals

Cole's First Time Fishing and Happy 4th of July!

Friday we got Cole his first rod.  He picked it out and we surprised and delighted he went with one that was "real" and not a character covered rod (i.e. cars or spiderman or the like).

The Reel Cool Reel.

Daddy, I just want these bobbers.

Waiting on the bobbers!

Ah!  Bobbers!

Cool lures!

This morning, July 4th.  We took him fishing in the pond behind our neighborhood.  We originally were going to go on a fishing trip for Fri/Sat, but this ended up working out very well.

Casting.

Bobber is out there!

First fish!!!

Very excited, fish-loving, little boy!

Daddy's got the fish!

Cole loves fish.  This was an awesome experience for him.

Another several casts.

Another fish!

They caught 5 fish on this pink bait.  It worked very well.  Two turtles were also in heavy pursuit!

Baiting the hook!

Yay!  Another fishy!

Feeling the fish's teeth.

Mommy was there...just behind the camera the whole time enjoying watching her boys fish for the first time!

Happy 4th of July from the silliest boy ever!

The Open Cup

Cole drinking from a cup.  I gave him one yesterday because I just try it every once in a while.  He did it flawlessly.

Looking inside to check it out.

Look at the concentration on his face!

Playing at night.

Playing with Daddy.

Concentrating while making his fire truck noise.

I am not sure what the celebration is, but I liked this picture!

Cole's 2 Year Old Stats

Cole had his 2 year old checkup today.

He is 35.25 Inches tall (70th Percentile).

He is 27 lbs 10 Oz (50th Percentile).

No SHOTS!  YAY!

I think by looking at the vaccination schedule at Dr. Daley's office he won't get shots until he is 4, so that is nice, though I am sure he will hate the doctor after that visit...even if Dr. Daley is a very nice and warm person.  Actually, we have been very blessed by the doctors we have had for him except for the first one in Raleigh which was a total bust.

Cole is saying several words and seems to make new noises and words all the time.  Like, I had no idea he knew that horses said "neigh", until I asked him the other day and he broke out "nah, nah" so that was impressive.  He can do "roar", (pant like a dog), "meow", "ah, ah, ah (monkey)", and has different noises for trains ("choo choo"), cars ("vrrrm") and trucks, and airplanes "fshhh (complete with flying motion)".  He also has real words "juice", "boo", "mine", "two", "momma", "dadda", "du (duck)", "dah (dog)", he does a weird clicking of his tongue while waving one arm for any animal.  I am not sure what that is all about.  He mainly attributes the noise to birds, but any animal can bring it about.  He has also said "tweet", "i (hi)", "ba (bye)" but we will see if they consistently stick.

His main words are "choo choo", "momma", and "dadda".  He said "Dadda" as we were pulling into Jonathan's work today which was neat that he has that awareness of places he goes to (and we don't go to his office that often which makes it more remarkable).  I didn't even prompt him!

I think he has two teeth left to go, but I didn't ask Dr. Daley and he may not have been able to tell me since Cole is not a fan of the tongue depressor.

Cole is very active now.  Extremely.  He loves running and trying to jump, dancing, and playing games of motion.  He is still very good at focusing on toys, and sometimes on reading with us.  He goes to bed fairly willingly normally and is happy to play in his crib before and after his naps.

I don't have much to add.  I was most shocked at his amazing growth since his last checkup.  I think he was 50th for height and 15th for weight or something like that, so he has really grown and chunked up.

Cole is 2!

Cole, there are not words in human language to describe the incredible love we have for you and the incredible miracle God blessed us with 2 years ago today.  You are passing from babyhood into childhood swiftly and we are savoring each moment.  You are a special joy to us...truly our sunshine.  You have even shown us how much God loves us.  It seems impossible that God can love us more than we love you and that He loves you more than we do, but it is true.  We are looking forward to seeing who you grow into and helping you along the way.  Your smile lights up a room and your constant babble is music to our ears.  Oh the joy we have felt recently that you have begun calling us "Momma" and "Dadda".  We will cherish that in our hearts forever.

Even though you are very sick today, we hope you have as happy a birthday as possible!  We hope you feel better by Saturday so we can go see a big choo choo!
Love you so much,

Daddy and Mommy

More on Cole's development after his 2 year checkup on Monday!  I have the same cold as him, so hopefully by Monday I will have more energy!

Happy Father's Day!

There were two birthday parties yesterday.  Here's a nice Father's Day picture of Jonathan and Cole.  This was the first party of the day.  Cole loves swings.  It was so hot out we were both hoping he'd go for the splash park all the other kids were playing in about 20 feet from the swings.

Getting hydrated.  It was so hot.  The splash park looked like so much fun and he wasn't going in it at this point.

Cole LOVES balloons!  He was trying to get this one off the sign and I loved this picture because of his reflection.

I can't get the balloon off of here, so I am going to station myself with it.

Ok, it's too hot, so maybe I will try to get wet.

Feeling the water.  It must have felt good (we were jealous:).

A little wet.

A lot wet!  This bucket helped give him a task in the water so he felt more comfortable playing in it.

Loving the water!

Look!  Water!

More water collecting basins!

I am working here!

After party number 2 we got home late and Cole walked up to me like this.  I laughed very hard.  It is the first time he has tried to wear our shoes.  I consider it a milestone.  I loved trying on my parents shoes as a child.

Going to show Daddy his shoes.

One party was at 9:30 and the other at 4, so he got a good nap in between.  Bad news is that our digital SLR broke.  The good news is that we will have a working SLR again soon.  Luckily we have a point and shoot to document until then!  We are all pretty tired from the parties, though.  Cole was not in a good mood all morning this morning so I hope he is jovial after his nap!  After all, it is Father's Day!