22 months! Late! (naturally)

Colin turned 22 months old this past week. When I saw this picture that Mike took this week, I realized that there is really no baby left in Colin's face. What has Colin been up to as he approaches 2?

• He's talking so much and putting together two word phrases all the time. He likes to point out whose stuff is whose.. like "mommy shoe!" and "daddy cook!" (the grill). He's getting really good at repeating the alphabet one letter at a time and he comes up with new words every day. I can't believe I was ever worried he wouldn't talk! He seems to understand an alarming amount of what we say. We're really having to watch ourselves!



• He still loves cleaning. He's now obsessed with the washing machine. Every day he asks me to wash clothes, and he "helps" me gather clothes and throw them into the washing machine. Then he yells "up!" until I hold him so we can watch the washing machine go around. The upside is that we are all caught up on our laundry now. The downside is we spend a lot of time watching the washing machine go around and around on the weekends.



• His favorite things are lawnmowers, trucks, trains and airplanes. If he even thinks he hears a lawnmower, he will shout "lawmo!" and try to find where it is coming from (and if our neighbors are mowing, he pulls out his little lawnmower and pushes it around while beaming at the neighbor guy mowing. It's adorable). He also loves spotting trucks and airplanes when he hears them (luckily for him, we have a ton of small airplanes that go over our neighborhood from the Purdue airport). He's such a boy.



• He's moving even faster these days- running, trying to jump, climbing on everything, and he's figured out how to open door handles. We never rest.



• Even though he's always been daddy's boy, recently he's been sharing the love with me, giving lots of hugs and wanting to hold mommy's hand. I'm loving this stage, however brief it may be!

party animal

Colin helped celebrate his friend Sophia's 2nd birthday this weekend! He had a blast!

colin and the birthday girl!

someone loves cake! (or as he calls it, "pie.")

cake face

party animal (future SAE?)

he even took a turn at the pinata! (he didn't seem to believe we were actually encouraging him to hit something with a stick). I just can't believe all of our 2009 babies are turning 2!

more! trucks! vroom!

Colin has recently become obsessed with trucks and other things that go. If he sees a truck when we're out driving, he will go on for five minutes yelling "more! truck! vroom!" So when my friend Dorothy told us about a kids' event downtown this weekend featuring a whole parking lot full of trucks, busses, cars and more, I knew it would be a hit. Colin was in heaven.

The event was so cool.. a whole huge parking lot with tons and tons of different kinds of vehicles that kids could get in and play in/on... Colin spent several minutes yelling "HELLO" into this CB radio.

SO many trucks!

where to go next?

Colin got to "drive" some large CAT machinery.

as well as playing in the scooper itself....

Each vehicle's operator was there to answer questions about his truck (and probably keep the kids from throwing them in gear and killing themselves). A very tattooed, very nice tow truck man was very patient in letting Colin select exactly the balloon he wanted. I think the balloons were the highlight for Ellie and Colin. (and look! there's the wallheimer baby #2 bump in the shadows! :)

Mom and Colin and a big red semi truck!

Randomly, the chik-fil-a cow was there. Colin ran up to it and yelled MOOO.

Colin climbed in the back of the squad car. Probably won't be the last time.

He climbed around the back of an ambulance (hopefully the last time for that one)

and checked out a HUGE fire truck ladder

But his favorite (besides the humane society bus full of kitties -- that was mom's favorite) was the school bus. We came back to this one several times.

bus! bus!

I know, I took too many pictures.. there was just so much to see.

Colin had a great time seeing all the different trucks and vehicles. Afterwards, we went out for lunch with Ellie and her parents and both of them did great! It was a great Saturday morning!

nuts

Here's a random video of our little nut. This video has it all.. Nonsensical toddler laughs, self-medication, Colin calling his dad "nuts," and a baby toot with ensuing commentary (yes, I plan to save this and show it to Colin's first girlfriend).

a perfect sunday night...

gorgeous weather, dinner on the patio, colin ate a whole plate of food that wasn't waffles or yogurt.. and then gave us voluntary hugs... life is good.

aubrey!

So Colin has a little girlfriend in his class. Her name is Aubrey. He's a little obsessed with her. If I ask him if he wants to go to school, he says "Aubrey!" If I mention the word "friend," he says "Aubrey!" If he's "talking" on the phone and I ask who he's talking to? "Aubrey!" When I drop him off at school, he'll point out Aubrey (and then ignore her.. such a boy). He tells me that she's "messy" but I think that's a compliment? I personally think he likes her because she's the only girl in class with glasses. Here's a bad video of a conversation we have most mornings these days.

terrible twos (early edition)

At a party recently, a probably-well-meaning woman was telling me that the terrible twos aren't real, and that she never experienced anything like them, especially not with her boys. Well. Then we need another explanation for why we spent an hour and a half last night just driving around like we had a newborn to quiet Colin down.. and why mom and dad were mixing up drinks at 7:01 pm.

You are not imagining this surly face.

Colin even had his grandparents in town this weekend, who brought him his new new favorite thing, a picnic table! And they were nice enough to watch him all afternoon and evening Saturday so we could go to a wedding. Still, everything was Quite Dramatic and there were several Tantrums to be had all day.

I'm getting scared for the teenage years.