Halloween Festivities

Colin and I kicked off our Halloween festivities by creating a special care package for Aunt Jen.  She was so excited when she received the box that she created this collage to show all her loot.

For the record, Colin did indeed color the pumpkin all by himself.  Way to go little buddy!

 

We visited the pumpkin patch with some of Mommy and Colin's friends. Colin had just woken up from a nap and was apparently still half asleep...He wasn't too interested in all of the fun activities.

 

Checking out the goat.

On the hayride with Mommy!  Turns out he wasn't too wild about it.

Colin just wanted to chill in his stroller so Mommy had to pick the pumpkin out alone.

Looks like Colin approved

We were so happy to have Mimi and Pappy visit us in mid October to take part in some Halloween activities.  Colin loved having Pappy at the house the last time and warmed up to him right away.  He was so into Pappy that when he would walk into a different room Colin would start crying. He is craving some male attention (poor Mimi wondered if she was chopped liver). A few times a day Colin would grab a book and toddle over to Pappy so he could read to him.  It was beyond adorable.

Note: I have tried to read this particular book to Colin a several of times and not once have I even made it half way through without him stopping me.  Pappy, of course, made it to the last page.

Colin is the man of the house.  "Don't worry Mimi, I've got the lawn, you just rest."

Mimi and Pappy visited the Air Force Base for the first time and joined us for the Squadron's Halloween Chili Cook-off.

Colin got to wear his giraffe costume for the first time.

He was totally excited to wear his outfit and as soon as it was on he was on the run.

Can't get over that adorable bottom.

Mommy and my little giraffe.

Such a trooper!  He kept his hood on for a good portion of our time.  I think he's going to like playing dress up.

Colin's eyes quickly narrowed in on the bounce house and he couldn't get in fast enough.

Wahoo!

All that bouncing sure did tire our little man out...

Trying to hang in there for a photo with Mimi and Pappy.

 I knew trying to carve a pumpkin by myself with Colin AND try to get photos would have been virtually impossible.  I was so thankful to have Pappy take over the project for me.

Pappy drawing his Jack-O-Lantern.  The same design his father did as a kid (two teeth on top and one on the bottom).

"Looks good Pappy!"

"So what am I supposed to do with this thing?"

"Hey Mom, give that back...I've got this."

Colin seemed very concerned and uneasy.  He just did not think he could do the job with one spoon and one bowl.  He kept going over to the cabinet until we opened it and let him decide what he needed.

Apparently another bowl was needed to do the job.

Colin was determined to figure out how to pour out all of the pumpkin guts into the bowl.  He was pretty adamant that there had to be an easier way than scooping it out with a spoon (or even worse, your hand!).

Turns out there isn't an easier way...

It took little time before our chef was cooking up some pumpkin seeds in his kitchen.

Time to carve the pumpkin!

All that work made Colin hungry for a snack.

Not so sure what he thinks about the jack-o-lantern....

Yep, definitely not a fan...

It's not that scarey, right?

We continued our festivities a few days before Halloween at a Trunk-or-Treat at the Navel Base where Colin was less than impressed. 

"Mom, I'm really not a fan of this trick-or-treating stuff."

Cutest giraffe ever.

Finally, the big night...Halloween!  We had a quiet night at home with several trick-or-treators. 

Colin dressed in his dinosaur sweatshirt to greet the trick-or-treators.  I tried to teach him to "ROOAARRR" when he answered the door but he didn't bite.

In fact, he wasn't even sure he wanted to answer the door at all.  He anxiously stared at the door waiting for the doorbell to go off again unsure whether to get excited or run away.

I gave Colin a piece of candy each time to hand out.  I think he only actually handed out about five pieces the whole night.  Considering no one ever rings our doorbell and we rarely have visitors Colin was totally confused.  Lilly, on the other hand, is a Halloween pro and is totally in love with this holiday.  I swear it is Lilly's favorite day of the year.  She eats up all of the attention.

Patiently waiting for the next round of kids....No Halloween costume this year for Lilly.  I couldn't decide which outfit I wanted to get so I ended up with nothing.

What a fun time we had celebrating Halloween/Fall this year!  We've missed Daddy for Halloween the past three years and are hopeful we'll have him home with us next year.

Colin is 15 months!

Wow! Where has the time gone?  I did such a great job keeping up with Colin's monthly updates until he turned one, since then I've definitely been slacking.  So, now I'm left with trying to recap the past several months...here goes...

Colin is now walking.

In August and the beginning of September, when we were up in Pennsylvania he was really getting the hang of it and could move from one piece of furniture to another, always with a close destination in mind. I had a feeling that as soon as we left our family and headed back home he'd start to actually walk...sure enough he started in the airport!

Alright, so this isn't actually a picture of him walking but he was having the grandest time at the airport.  He loved looking out the window at all the airplanes and workers.  He especially enjoyed all the people at the gate.  I'm pretty sure this is what prompted him to start walking.  It actually appeared as though he was showing off for the crowd and he was so proud of himself!  I wish I could have caught it on video, or at least a good picture but between trying to keep track of our luggage, watch Lilly, and chase after Colin all by myself there was no documentation to be had.

Colin is talking.

As I've mentioned before, Colin's first word was Lilly followed by Mom (not Mommy or Momma, just Mom) and Dadda.  Shortly after this he began saying "duck" which was one of the first animals he really seemed to take a liking to (well besides dog).  It probably helped that only a short walk from our house is a duck pond and Colin loves to go see the ducks.  Our neighbor, across the street, has a duck statue and every time Colin gets out of the car he points and says "duck".  It's quite a ways away and it really surprised me that he even noticed it in the first place.  Colin is one aware little boy.

After duck followed quack and a whole slew of animal names and sounds.  I think his favorite is making the "ssssss" sound for snake and whenever you say dinosaur or monster he will yell "Raaaaa!!!"  In addition to the car sounds which he did back before he turned one, he now makes the sound for a spaceship and an airplane.  I've been pushing the airplane quite a bit lately and trying to help him understand that Daddy flies planes.  Besides sounds, Colin has said a lot of other words but nothing too consistent.  He'll go to the back door, bang on it, and say "outside" and Mimi and I swear he said "Hi Mimi" on the phone the other day.  Mommy also swears that Colin said "That is Daddy" when pointing to Daddy's picture but I could have been hearing things.  By far the cutest thing is when Colin's giving Lilly a treat he will say "siiiiiit." He occassionally does this from his high chair before throwing down food he's decided he doesn't want...it's not so cute then but sure does give me a good laugh.  I'm so proud of Colin and how well he communicates with me.  He is an amazing listener and works hard to use his signing and words to tell me what he wants.

Colin is getting into everything...and I do mean everything!

This was actually taken back before Colin started walking.  He's become quit the climber and the dishwasher is one of his favorite things to climb.  He's broken a plate at our house and one at Mimi's....

One of Colin's favorite activities is pulling out all of the DVDs and looking at the covers very intently.  (I'm beginning to think I should pull some of the scary covers...)  He does this at least once a day and it keeps him entertained for at least a good 20 minutes so I say play on!  At least someone is making use of all the DVDs we don't watch.

Before Daddy left, I made sure he baby-proofed most of the house unfortunately there were a lot of places we missed!  With Colin getting into everything Mommy was beginning to go nuts.  Fortunately, I found these wonderful clips at Target for drawers which were perfect for our bathroom drawer and desk drawers.  I also purchased a new trashcan as I could not take Colin pulling one more piece out (and usually attempting to eat whatever it was...)  As you can see he wasn't too happy about the changes...

 

Luckily, he is now adjusted and is playing with his toys and reading books a lot more since there are much fewer distractions.  The new thing I have to start worrying about is the fact that he will push a kitchen chair all the way over against the stove.  His next step is going to be climbing onto the chair and doing god knows what else.  I think we are in the market for some oven baby-proofing tools!

Colin loves to read.

At any given time there are books all over the house.  Colin will often go into his bedroom and go through all of his books.  This is a pretty typical scene:

Colin is a chef.

If Colin isn't reading he is usually cooking.  Back in August, I picked up this wonderful little kitchen at the consignment shop for $8.  It's been the best $8 I've ever spent.  I found the perfect little spot to put it in the kitchen so Colin is able to play and make his own food right along with me.  At the time of this photo Colin wasn't even walking yet but was able to pull himself up on the kitchen to play.

Colin is always looking for new things to play with in his kitchen. Often stealing things out of the fridge or recycling bin.  Sometimes I wish I could just freeze him in place when I open these things so he can't wiggle his body in to take something.

Colin got ahold of this bottle one day and literally carried it around all day.  He loves to pretend to drink and eat.

Finally by bathtime he figured out how to open it... 

Mommy decided to put Colin's interest in cooking to good use and had him help make homemade banana bread.  He loved mashing the banana and putting all of the ingredients together.

Gotta stir real good!

All done and waiting for the bread to come out of the oven.  Colin had amazing self control and didn't try to eat any of the batter. He did, however, repeatedly say "mmmm" and smack his lips throughout the preparation.

 

 For our next cooking adventure we made peanut butter cookies. This time I decided to buy a tarp to cover the floor so I relax and not get stressed out as ingredients flew out of the bowl.

I love this...measuring cup and spatula in hand at the same time...

He ditched the measuring cup to get a better handle on the stirring.  (Good thing I bought that tarp, huh?)

 

A very small portion of the finished product...

Note to self:  Quarter or at least half recipes in the future. (over half or cookies ended up getting thrown out)

Since our cookies, Colin has also made his own quesadilla using our quesadilla maker (in an attempt to get him to actually eat the corn he put inside) and pumpkin bread.

Colin has become a picky eater.

Notice not only the adorable smile in this shot but the pears which have been pushed over to the side.

 

It turns out pears are actually one of his favorites, although there are still days where he decides, nope there's no way I'm eating that.  The only fruit he will always eat is bananas.  Occasionally, he will do a peach and that is pretty much it at this point.  He also refuses any canned or jarred fruit.

Fortunately, Colin will still eat out of the pouches and gets some fruit and veggies that way.  He'll usually have applesauce in a pouch once a day.  Sometimes I will try to spoon feed him some applesauce.  He refuses to let the spoon get anywhere near him and I end up just letting him play with the bowl....

 

As for veggies....its even worse.  There isn't a single vegetable Colin likes anymore. Coming from a kid who was an amazing eater for that first 6 months or so this has been very discouraging.  I've tried to get really creative with the way I disguise veggies in meals therefore Colin eats a lot of veggie pancakes.  I basically choose a veggie (cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli), mash it up, add a few eggs, bread crumbs, and cheese then bake or fry it.  Even these he sometimes refuses but usually I can eventually get him to eat it, even if its on the third day of trying.

I was really excited about this creation and really hoped he'd eat it...

apparently it was a lot more fun just to play with it.

So what does Colin like?  Any sort of cracker type snack, cereal, eggs, hot dogs, cheese sticks, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, and stuffed shells. Of course, if I can't get him to eat anything at all, there is always Chik-fil-a...

Colin is still a silly, social bug.

Our little boy LOVES people. I mean loooovvvesssssss them!  It can be difficult to fully meet this need to interact with Daddy gone and all of our family hundreds of miles away.  One of Colin's favorite pastimes is looking at all the photos we have around the house.  And yes, he even talks to them.

Wearing an appropriate shirt....Colin shows off his silly side by playing peek-a-boo with Lilly's blanket.

 

At least a few times a week, he'll drag the blanket out of Lilly's cage, carry it around the house, and randomly stop to play peek-a-boo. 

Colin is a future keyboardist.

This photo says it all:

He brought the small keyboard over so he could play them both at once.

Colin is Mommy's little helper.

Colin has 7 1/2 teeth! (and a mohawk)

Since he turned one Colin has gotten one more tooth on the top and one on the bottom.  His other incisor on the bottom is taking its good ole time to come in.  Colin had his first visit to the dentist and was a champ.  Since then, his molars have begun coming in (lots of teething fun!).

Love this smile.

 At his 15 month appointment Colin weighed in at 22 pounds 4 ounces (25th percentile) and 31 1/2 inches long (65th percentile).  Long and lean!  Finally, Colin's rather large head has become more proportional to the rest of his body since his head circumference is now in the 25th percentile.

The past few months, Colin has been transitioning from two naps to one. It's made for some long days and lots of passing out in the car.  We're looking forward to getting into a consistent nap routine sometime soon.

It is such a joy to spend each day with Colin.  He is growing up so fast!

When outside he likes to sit on his chair like Mommy sits on hers.

What a big boy our little Colin is becoming...