After a Long Christmas Weekend...

A nap is in order. Unless of course, you're doing the driving, in which case you munch on sunflower seeds while listening to Monty Python albums on your MP3 player (and try to keep it between the lines whilst you point your digital camera into the backseat).

Book of the month - Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton

You know you've read a book one too many times when you can recite it by heart AT WORK. Great, now I can't get this outta my head...

Colter's new fave:

The moon is up
It’s getting late
Let’s get ready to celebrate!

It’s pajama time!

Pull on the bottoms
Put on the top
Get yourself set to pajama-de-bop

It’s pajama time!
Oooh yes, it’s pajama time!

Some are old
And some are new
Some are red
And some are blue

Some are fuzzy
Some are not

But we can all pajammy in whatever we’ve got
It’s pajama time!

Pajammy to the left
Pajammy to the right
(jamma, jamma, jamma, jamma, P.J.!)

Everybody’s wearing them for dancing tonight
It’s pajama time!

(jamma, jamma, jamma, jamma, P.J.!)

All around the room
In one big line
Wearing our pajamas and looking so fine

It’s pajama time!

Hop into bed
Turn out the light
You can have a party in your dreams tonight

It’s pajama time!
(Hush. Hush.)

It’s pajama time!
(Hush. Hush)

It’s pajama time!
(shhhhhh)

good night
sleep tight

Quote of the week

"It's like playing catch with a parapalegic"

-Brian playing catch with Colter (Colter has yet to realize if you put your arms out you can catch the ball)

Mime in Training

Communication is becoming a little easier for Colter these days, at least on his part. He knows what he wants to say, Mama and Dada just don't understand what it is he's trying to tell us. It all sounds like gibberish to us. Verbally, he's still stuck on "mama, dada, quack-quack, dis, dat" and the ever constant babbling. He'll look at us, babble as if he's reciting the Constitution and wait for a response. Fortunately for us he's figured out a backup method. He communicates via signs and expression. He's mastered "no," naturally, by furrowing his brow and shaking his head "no." He'll grab ahold of your shirt or miscellaneous body part and pull to indicate "take me here, I want it now" or "let me show you something." He also signs for brushing his teeth (circular motion by his mouth with his finger) and taking a bath (rubs his tummy).

Don't get me wrong, the signing is cute and all but Mommy and Daddy are anxious to hear our little man's voice. We still melt at the sound of "mama" and "da da da da da" but adding another word to the repitoire would help us out a lot.

Oh please don't let it be "why." I just know it's going to be "why."

John Lennon (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980)

John Lennon – Beautiful Boy(Darling Boy)

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Sean.

The Incredible In-Edible Egg

Daddy made his first egg for Colter today. No big deal, you say, right? WRONG. To you, it's as simple as putting the egg in a cup, pour in a little milk, lay it into a little butter in a frying pan and fry it up, right? WRONG. To me, it's about the same as taking a dog turd that's been sitting in the sun a few hours so it's still soft, putting some butter in a pan and frying it up. I HATES EGGS! God, I hope he doesn't remember that I know how to make this for him. To make matters worse, he spit out the first mouthful I gave him. I thought, "you'd better eat this unborn chicken, cuz it's damn sure the last time I fry one up for you!" But, happily, he did down almost all of it along with a small pancake for breakfast this morning.

What did we learn today?
FLAMING DOG TURD = FRIED EGG.

(Gramma Jane can appreciate what I'm saying)

Sixteenth Month

Sixteen months already. What did I ever do with my time before I had Colter? Everything is about him and 100% of my time revolves around him. I’m not complaining. As a matter of fact, I cannot imagine life without him.

Colter is at a really fun stage. He doesn’t talk much, Mama, Dada, car car, this, that and go is pretty much the extent of his vocabulary but he tells us what he wants or needs in different ways. He says “c’mon, let’s go” by tugging on my shirt and dragging me to where he wants me to go. Usually this is the kitchen to get raisins or his spoons. Yes, I said spoons. For some reason or another spoons are the most exciting toy at this stage. In the cup, out of the cup and in a very OCD kind of order. The spoon handle must be the part in the cup and the head must be sticking out of the cup. Each spoon must go in one at a time or all together, not two or three at a time. If more than one accidentally falls in the cup the whole process must start over.

He wants to know what every letter is. He’ll point to anything that has letters and will say, “dis.” He can distinguish differences between letters. For example, we’ll be reading a Dr. Seuss book and he’ll point to all of the “A’s” on the page. If you ask him to point to the “T,” he’ll scan the page and point to the “T.”

Colter’s down to maybe one nap a day which can be a challenge some days. Fortunately when he does sleep it’s usually at a 1-2 hour stretch. At night he’s usually in bed by 8:00 after bath time and “brushy, brushy the teeth” and up by 7:30 the next morning.

He understands comands; “let’s change your pants, time for a bath, can you pick your cup up?” What’s really cute is how he’ll give hugs and kisses and “snuggle up” when asked. The other day he came over to me while I was cleaning out the sink and yelled, “mama, mama” and put his arms up, signaling pick me up, and gave me a hug. I melted into the linoleum.

Favorite things:
Puzzles
Teletubbies
Jo Jo’s circus
Wiggles
Spoons
Bugs
Running

Can I Buy Your Magic Bus?

I want it,
I want it,
I want it,
I want it!

You can't have it!

Happy Halloween! (less gross version)

Colter's Gramma Jane sent a damn cute costume for him so we thought he ought to have an opportunity to show it off. What better venue than the Mall of America. We went to Camp Snoopy Friday night and Colter got his first taste of Trick or Treating. It took him a few stops on the "TorT" trail to figure out just what the hell those people were trying to do to his pumpkin bucket. Plus, I'm sure he was confused by his Daddy trailing along beside him saying "dibs" when the Salted Nut Roll and Double Bubble were dropped into the pail. Can't wait til he gets bigger and we can go to Valley Fair, he sure likes the rides. The only one he didn't seem to care about was the carousel. Not enough action!

Happy Halloween!

For those of you that have seen "The Grudge," you get the reference (the font is from the zombie movie "28 Days Later"). For anyone who hasn't this is just one damn creepy photo taken of our son earlier this evening.

(For the record, there was no Photoshop trickery done with this photo other than fiddling with the colors. His eyes truly are that huge adding to the frightening quality of the shot.)

Kiss Good Night, Colter

We have a book that Colter enjoys called "Kiss Good Night." It tells the story of a little bear named Sam who goes through his nightly rituals with his Mommy; book, blanket, friends, milk. Sam's nightly rituals are basically the same as Colter's; book, bath, milk, friends.

After Mommy bear has read a book, tucked Sam in, gathered his friends and drank warm milk, she asks "Are you ready now Sam?" He replies, "oh no, I'm waiting." This goes on for a while until Mommy bear realizes Sam is waiting for his kiss good night. I love reading this book to Colter. Not because of the story but because Colter does certain things when I read certain lines in the book. When Sam says "oh no, I'm waiting" Colter will shake his head no and smile. When Mommy bear finally realizes Sam is waiting for his kiss good night she "bends way down, kissing Sam once, then twice, then twice more." This is where Mommy (me Mommy) melts into a million pieces. Colter will bow his head and push it toward my mouth waiting for his kiss good night. I could read this book a hundred times just to freeze this moment.

Now I understand “no touch”

Mommy and Daddy are always saying “don’t touch the stove, hot, no touch.” But dearest Mother and Father there is a light switch on the stove that I must click on and off. I can’t help myself. And at night when I’m getting my jammies on and that darn Pooh light is calling my name at the end of the changing table I can’t help but look under the lamp shade and stare directly into the light. It facinates me. I try to grab the light but all I hear is “don’t touch the light, hot, no touch.” I beat Mommy to the punch last night and touched the light. Yeeeeeoooooow. What the heck just happened. Oh god, it hurts. I’m crying. Hold me. Why do my fingers hurt? Now I understand “no touch!” Evil lights. Oooooh, I love the cold water.

Mommy is happy to report all is well with Colter’s fingers.

And the fork ran away with the spoon

Today was quite a day. Colter stabbed his wild rice meatball (yes, I said wild rice) by himself and put it in his mouth. You would have thought he just scored the winning goal of the Stanley Cup. Mommy and Daddy cheered and clapped and Colter looked at us like, “What? It’s only a meatball and I’ve been feeding myself with this thing for a while now.”

(Almost) 3 Feet High and Rising, or Curious George goes to the vet.

Colter had his 15 month appointment on Wednesday, October 5th. For the first time he freaked out when we walked into the clinic. He saw the receptionist and grabbed onto me and climbed me like a monkey going up a tree. He then proceeded to cry the entire time he was being weighed and measured. It was a very unusual day. Once the nurse left the room it was business as usual. Colter started moving the chairs and tried to open all of the locked drawers. After a few rounds of “this-itis,” someone knocked on the door. It was the Nurse Practitioner (cue the lights and harp music) ready to assess our screaming monkey. I swear, Colter must think this lady is an angel from above because everytime he gets to see her he’s mezmorized by her calming voice. He just stood there and stared at her. After a few moments of poking and prodding and checking for “bunnies” in his ears the development portion of the program was about to begin.

“Colter, can you see the light (he looks up at the lights on the ceiling and points) on my hand?”

“Colter, can you sit (he squats to the ground) on Mommys lap while I check your ears (touches his ears)?”

This is where we had to explain he’s too smart for his own good and knows that “light” is up, “sit” means down and can point to various body parts when asked. She then asked us what else he can do. We told her he knows “up” and “down” (squats and stands when we say “up, down”), runs to the bathroom door and pounds on it when asked, “ready for a bath?”, can undress himself with help, feed himself with a fork, stack blocks (canned goods, actually), can point to animals (“where’s the duck”) or objects (“where’s the little boy”)in a book when asked and put the puzzle pieces in the puzzle. Apparently we have a two year old but no one bothered to tell us.

Stats from the Dr. visit:
33 ¼” tall
25 lbs

Who's your MAMA? That's right, me!

It's finally happened. I'm MAMA!!!! For about 15 minutes last night, while I was trying to eat, naturally, Colter walked around me shouting "MA MA MA MA MA MA." I replied, "MAMA? Who's MAMA?" And he pointed right to me. My heart just melted. I'm officially MAMA! I'm going to cherish this day because I know there will come a day when he's 13 or so and use the same word to tell me he hates me. I know he won't mean it but I better be prepared. I can hear it now, "but why? God Mom, I hate you." Ahhh, cherish today.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Colter,

Please, for the love of God and my sanity, stop touching...

the hot stove
touching and licking the garbage can lid
the dishwasher dial
the dvd's
the cd's
anything of Daddy's
any and all remote controls
unraveling and eating the toilet paper

I would appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Love,

Mommy

Seriously...

Where the hell are the rest of your teeth?!? You barely had one in April, and you still only have those same cute little four front teeth and two bottoms. You holdin' out on us? Let's see some more chiclets! It's already autumn!

Check, check, check...1, 2, 3

Now that you’ve accomplished walking, running and climbing and added “bat (bath)” to your repertoire, it’s time to conquer the fork. I’ve been giving you the fork to play with while you’re eating for some time now. You love the fact that I’ll say “stab,” then playfully stab the fruit or stabable object and hand you the fork to put said object in mouth. You’re actually quite good at aiming for your mouth. You still have both eyes after all.

Last night was a turning point for you. You actually wanted to stab the fruit yourself and put it in your mouth! Unfortunately the fruit was a bit slippery and hard to stab, thus the frustration set in. Don’t worry little man, we’ll try again.

Favorite foods this week:
Peas, peas, peas
Raisins, raisins, rasins

New skills:
Putting the puzzle pieces in and screaming at the decibel of an airplane
Putting shapes into the shape sorter

Katrina, that bitch...

(The picture on the left was stolen from USA Today. The Bay St. Louis area was where the largest recorded surge hit at 22 feet. The cursor I inserted just to the right is where Mom's house is. You can find the entire map here at USA Today. Click map to make it bigger.)


Katrina, that bitch...at least, that's how Mom refers to her. Mom and Jim's house sits near a bay on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. They bought it in April of 2005, looking for someplace to stay for half of the year. We visited her in April by flying into New Orleans, which is about 60 miles west of where Mom lives. She's in a little division called Diamond Head right off of I-10, just across from the bay where Katrina hit shore. The town of Bay St. Louis is said to be 100% gone. Not too far from Mom, a few miles. They're in Bismarck right now taking their time headed south. Not much to hurry home to, much less a home.

Mom's preference right now is to get back, find nothing but the concrete slab on the ground, have the insurance pay off the mortgage and turn around and start somewhere else. Of course, no matter where you go, you run into the chance of something like this happening again. Florida? Too many old people and more hurrincanes. Arizona? There's already one giant meteor crater there, who's to say another one won't strike? The pacific northwest? Volcanoes. How about Montana? Earthquakes here and here (Google Satellite map of Hebgen Lake Earthquake).

Here's what the house used to look like:

Bay St. Louis is behind the house, across I-10 and only a mile or two away. With all the reports of the surge hitting up to five miles inland, don't think there'll be much left whenever they're allowed back in.

Oh yeah, they were just down there the 14th through the 20th getting some new furniture for the bedroom. Great timing for the looters...

Hershey, Nov. 1989 - Aug. 2005

I'm trying as hard as I can not to make those one of those maudlin pet obits that women in the suburbs seem to love to write so much, especially ones who never had any family of their own and you just know that they'll be found on the couch amidst piles of cat filth...

I had to take Hershey to the vet today. He left us just short of 16 years. One way to think of how long he was with Jennfier and I is that she got him just before she joined me in Sidney, Montana in March of 1990. That means Hershey's been from Minneapolis, to Sidney, Bismarck, Bozeman and back to Minneapolis again. I took this picture of Hershey this morning. I tried to get him and Colter together, but it was no go. His kidneys were failing him and he never really got used to his new playmate, Colter. He started to take it out on Colter a little lately and took to not just peeing in his room, but on his books, shoes and a few other things that were left accidentally laying about. Already weird not having him here.

Hershey: November, 1989-August 2005

And God spoke...

A conversation from last night...

"Colter, no touch."

(the boy repeatedly grabs at the garbage can liner and wants to pull at it)

"Colter, Mommy said no touch."

(the boy runs around the kitchen, grabs the garbage can liner and puts it in his mouth)

"Colter, what did Mommy tell you? No touch. Ish."

(the boy runs around the kitchen and, once again, grabs at the liner with his mouth. Why doesn't this ever get old?)

"Colter, do you want a time-out?"

(the boy looks at me, pouts his lip and whines. He runs away as the angels descend from the sky and the chorus begins to sing "Halleluiah")

Daddy and I look at each other. "Did you see that? I think it works!"

And For My Third Wish...

You’re just over thirteen months old now and I’m probably a bad mother for not keeping up your baby book. I think the last entry was somewhere in the month of June. Truth be told, I’m too darn tired. You’re constantly going from the minute you get up (6:00 a.m.!) until the minute you go to bed (8:00 p.m.). You’re running, climbing, exploring everything.

You used to say “car car” like there was no tomorrow but now everything is (while pointing) “this” and “dat.” You want to know what everything is. You’ll pull up your shirt and find your belly button and then run to mama and pull up my shirt and shove your little finger in my belly button and say, “dat.”

You don’t quite understand the word “no” yet. Actually, I think you understand but you think that “no” means “this must be something really good if I can’t have it,” like ripping the nightlight out of the wall (my little moth), trying to take garbage out of the garbage can, shoving farm animals into the VCR and pulling dirty steak knives out of the dishwasher. * I’d like three wishes now…#1 make me an octopus, #2 put eyes in the back of my head, #3 turn me into Super Nanny; that woman is a genius * You earned your first official time-out; one minute for touching the hot stove door repeatedly. Never mind you would touch the stove, be told “no,” laugh and then wait until the very second we reach out to move you, you’d run away. How old are you? Is this normal?

Some of your favorite things:
Monkey
Eeyore
Little People Farm
Peas
String cheese
Wheat crackers
Water (won’t touch juice)

Cos You Were all "Yellow"

Yesterday we took a trip to the Doctor. You’ve kept us up the last three nights in a row and you’re a nice shade of yellow. I was thinking the crying could be teething but upon further review with Diane at work, maybe it’s an ear infection. I’m officially a bad mother. I didn’t even think of an ear infection. You’re not tugging at your ear and it only happens in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Don’t you know I’m already running on fumes at work? The yellow, I have no explanation. The only thing I can think of is it’s something to do with your liver and that scares me to death.

The diagnosis:

I’m officially an idiot.

You’re yellow because you eat too many yellow vegetables, mainly squash and carrots. I thought vegetables were a good thing. I guess we’ll just stick to the peas and green beans for now. No more squash/corn/chicken or peas/carrots or squash baby food for you little Mr. Now what are we supposed to feed you?

I asked about the temper tantrums; screaming, throwing yourself on the ground and chewing the carpet – normal.

I asked about not wanting to eat – normal.

My diagnosis:

We have a normal little Bart Man

A Little Boy, For Sure

Colter's a little boy, that's for certain. One the one hand, he did wait until his first birthday to get his first major scrape: a header into the patio door bottom edge.

side note: it was more "impressive" the next day

Happy Fourth!

The fourth of July conjures many happy memories for most of us, one of my favorites is the time between my junior and senior years in high school when my friend Bob Townsend and I were lighting bottle rockets off on a Missouri River sandbar by his house. The family's German Sheppard was chasing them and bringing them back. Yes, bringing them back before they exploded. No matter how hard we tried, she would manage to get ahold of at least two out of five rockets and we'd see them explode in Heide's mouth along with a mouthful of sand. *POOF!* was all we could hear. The first five or six times, we figured she'd give up, but no. That day Bob tossed a bottle rocket into the air that landed about 15 feet away from us...pointing up the sand hill. Bob wasn't fast enough to duck. But then again, Bob was never the fastest, if you know what I mean. The bottle rocket flew up the sand hill and smacked Bob right in the eye. I ducked. I got to go on vacation with my mom and dad (Bob was supposed to go with us) to Idaho and go whitewater rafting for the second time, and Bob got to go to the emergency room.

Not a happy memory if you think about from Bob's point of view. Ah hell, here's Colter trying to stuff his mouth full of as much watermelon as he can. Kinda like Heide and the bottlerockets and sand.

My Son...

Here's my birthday poirtrait of Colter.

Happy Birthday, Colter Jacob. I love you so much.

Daddy

Happy Birthday...though not a birthday suit.

I thought maybe I should post an actual picture of Colter from his first birthday. His treat that night was a carrot cake cupcake that the "What to Expect..." book assured us he would like. Turns out he didn't. Or maybe he just didn't like the cream cheese frosting, judging by the wince on his face when he tasted it. At least he had a good time destroying it on his plate.

Another Picture of Dawson

Here's a very good picture of my nephew, Dawson. This is from the Memorial Day weekend trip we took to Bismarck. Dawson, like his father, Kevin, likes a good smoked meat from Famous Dave's, but it looks like Dawson just discovered he has no idea how to order, since he's only a year old and thus, can't read.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Colter has officially been walking the earth for one whole year, now. He's actually been walking for about 3 1/2 months. We've had to totally refigure the living room since we couldn't block him into a small area where he could be loose. Now he's loose in the entire apartment! This has resulted in many new phrases being heard around the place such as, "Gah! Don't touch that! No no no no no! Put that down! Don't eat that! What are you eating? Get that out of your mouth!" and of course, "you're home, it's your turn to run after him."

Como Conservatory

We went to the Como Zoo and Conservatory on Sunday, and finally got some great pictures of Colter with his mommy.

Colter's Cousin Dawson

This is my brother Kevin and his wife, Paula's boy, Dawson. Dawson's little wings on his head are helping him to learn to walk. Dawson's six weeks older than Colter.

Colter After!

Here's the after picture. Colter's first haircut on May 22.
And he still has more hair than me!

Colter the Hippie - The Before Years

Colter the hippie...the before picture.

May Update

Oh my gosh! Sorry to delay the posts but I guess time flies when you're sleep depraved. Let's see, what has happened in a month? Well, Colter is...

Officially walking (not yet running but close). He got his first walking shoes. We went in to Stride Rite anticipating the early walker shoes. You know the kind, white, leather, up to the ankle. No go. His hooves were too big; size 6. The "pre-walkers" only go to size 4. So after picking up the toddler shoes, and the cute sandals that we just couldn't resist, we were off. He loves to walk on any surface that makes a lot of noise; wood floors, linoleum etc. He loves walking so much that it's his preferred method of mobility. When he crawls he can go a mile a minute now. It's frightening.

Pointing at things and saying "da!" He could point all day at light; sunlight, light bulbs, lamps. He also likes to point at Mommy's nose. I'm not sure if he's pointing out the zit on my nose or the fact that my nose is the furthest point from my face. Either way, thanks for pointing out my flaws son. It's still cute.

Saying his first official word! Is it "da da?" "Ma ma?" Nope. It's "car car." He loves the "car car's." He's also saying "go." Must be all of the "way to go" cheerleading we've been doing.

Shorn. He got his first haircut on May 22nd. Dad said he was looking like a hippie so off to the barber we went. He looks like a little "big" boy now.

Eating books like they're candy. I'm not talking nibbling or teething. I'm talking ingesting them! Pages, bindings, the whole lot. These are the thick books that are meant for teething but I'm sure they were'nt intended to be eaten as a meal. So far we've lost a "Stanley" book and a couple of number books. We decided to pull the reading selection from the toy chest for a week or two to see how it goes. We'll of course continue to read to him.

Other goings on: Colter visited cousin Dawsin, Aunt Paula, Uncle Kevin and the Grandma and Grandpa's in Bismarck over the Memorial weekend.

We went to the zoo on Sunday. Colter didn't quite get it but he got to get out in the fresh air, walk around and see people and "car car's" too. He was quite happy.

Until our next milestone,

Jenn

And He's Off...

It's the end of the world as we know it. Not only has Colter sprouted even more teeth (official count is 4 with another surfacing) he's taken his first steps. Last night it was 4 steps and Grandma called in with 2 steps today.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I made the mistake of walking him around the house. He'd grasp my index fingers as tight as he could and we'd go for "walkies." This week it turned into let's take Mommie for a walk. He'll crawl over to me, stand up and take my fingers with his hands as if to say "c'mon, butt off the couch, let's go."

April Showers Bring May Flowers

We waited patiently for the arrival of Colter's first tooth. When it finally arrived it was like a train wreck, we couldn't stop looking at it. It's just a tooth for crying out loud but alas, a huge event in our little guys' life.

Teething for the first two teeth (the bottom two) was a breeze; very little crying, just buckets of drool, BUCKETS. Now they're coming in like gangbusters. The top left has started to come in and all I can say is, teething is NOT a breeze. Last night he went on a crying jag from 1:00 to 2:30 a.m., A.M.! I'm a zombie today what with the lack of sleep and this cold that has taken over my entire sinus cavity. Today would not be a good day to ask how I'm enjoying Motherhood. Ask me after a dose of Sudafed and a Red Bull...

The Tooth Revealed!

Here's a first look at Colter's first tooth. Bottom, just right of center (Mommy and Daddy know where it is, but others may have to squint to see it.)

The Easter Bunny Brought Colter a Tooth!

It finally happened. Our little guy sprouted a tooth! Almost nine months in this world and here we thought his food pyramid would consist of mush and Cheerios forever. A tooth and he's testing out his ability to walk all in one week. I might as well be prepared, he'll be heading to college soon.

This is the End, the Only End, My Friend

Here's how 6 of 7 nights end in Huber Haus:
"Wake up, honey, it's time to go to bed."

Spelling with Flickr

Yes, I changed the font. Going with the default allows me to fit more.

Courtesy of one of my old teachers at MCTC (Ok, so Peter's not actually old, he's more of a former teacher), I present to you "Spelling with Flickr." Flickr is a way to post and share photos on the web. When I started this blog for Colter, it was a way to post pics for all the grandparents (isn't weird how nowadays you can have upwards of 6-8 grandparents? Cheaper by the dozen!), but because of the joy and ease of digital photography, we have not only way more pictures than we can print but more than I can post. So three months into this project, I've decided not only will I post updates on Colter and his progress of grasping this big wonderful world, now I'll add my own thoughts whether you want to hear them or not. Hah!

When I figure out how the hell to work with Flickr, I'll let you know the details of how to get to the pics, how to download them for desktop purposes (hi, pop!) and what else you can do with Flickr.

The first trick I learned from Peter was spelling with Flickr. All the details are in the link. If you want to change the look of the letters, just click on them. I'm not sure how this will turn out, but what the hell, some times you just have to roll the potato.

The first try didn't work. Go here.

Baby it's cold outside!

Colter has this annoying habit of acting like a suckerfish in an aquarium. I've been jawing about getting outside on the deck to try to get a photo of him doing his imitation. But, it's been...well, too damn cold! Today I ventured out because he was going at it full throttle. I got out there, just after he felt like he had done all he could do with this medium. An artist can take his art only so far! Froze my toes and only got these three shots.

So cute, so calm...it'll never last!

Ah, if only he'll sit this calm and quietly for four hours on two different planes, our trip to see Gramma Jane in Mississississippippi would go pretty darn smooth. You and I both know he's not going to. He's gonna be one of those babies that comedians make fun of in their routines. (see: "Jeffrey" on Bill Cosby's Himself video)

I'm gummin' it!

We're 8 months along baby boy and still no chompers. I do think you're envious of mama's teeth the way you paw at my mouth and touch each individual tooth with your finger and just stare; trying to figure out how they work. The way you can grab my shoulder with those gums and bite me like you have teeth worries me. Just what will it feel like when you actually do sprout teeth?

Mommy and Daddy have decided that everytime you cry or whine for no apparent reason it's got to be because you're teething. It's actually pretty funny considering there's no physical evidence that it's happening. Your gums are shiny and pink just as the day we brought you home. We're starting to think you'll be graduating college and still, no teeth.

There's No Denying the Power

There's no denying the Power of the Wiggles!
Greg, Anthony, Jeff and Murray...I will do thy bidding, masters...

You're Never Too Young For...

Bedhair. At least he has enough hair to mess up...

I'm Clean!

Well, Colter is, anyways, but as you can see, he did a pretty good job of soaking me. What you can't see is the front of my shirt is completely soaked. He's liking the water...see this example.

"My Name Is Jay"

My name is Jay, I haven't taken a shower since Tuesday. If I go to work tomorrow, can I please take a shower?

An Excerpt from Colter's Diary

My accomplishments this week...

1. Crawling on my hands and knees. Mom says I look like a baby giraffe. I'll still crawl on my elbows if I need to chase the kitty until I perfect my new technique.

2. Speaking of the kitty...I got close enough to grab that tail and put it in my mouth. ISH! It tasted like fuzzy.

3. "No, no, no" means "yes, yes, yes." Obviously there's something good to be had if Mom tells me "no." I just bat my big blue eyes; it gets her every time.

4. Pulled myself up to standing in the crib. Woo Hoo! Look out Tigger (on the mobile), you're mine. Shouldn't be long now before I'm out of this cage.

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone

Gimme a kiss, there, cutiepie. How can you resist such a face?

Styling Advice from Colter

Pear/Pineapple mousse! It tastes great and styles your 'do!

Gaaahhhhh!!! So fast...!!

It moves so fast!! Nothing can stop it!!

Fear Factor

Oh goodie, Mommy's going to feed me again! (happy face, swinging legs, opening mouth like a bird) What will it be today Mommy? Peaches? Peas? Ooh, ooh how about some of those yellow pear things?! Mmmmm, I sure love those. Here she comes...yum, yum (opening mouth big and wide). Chomp, chomp...hey! Wha? These aren't pears! Oh god, I'm gonna puke! This tastes like sawdust! What is this? Mom, what is this? Chicken. Chicken? I hate chicken (coughing and letting the drool along with the chicken spill out of mouth)!

I Just Want to Eat!!

I'm a good daddy, fed Colter his bananananas before I had lunch, but I'm
also a hungry daddy. So after I fed him I put him in the chair we bought for
taking him out to eat in (making a great high-chair substitute, right now!) and
sat across from him while I had my sandwich. Colter has a little toy shaped kind of like an abacus twisted into a circle that he plays with when he's at the table. Nice little suction cup on the bottom so it stays put. Or that's the theory:

Colter: Throw down the toy.
Daddy: Pick up the toy.
Colter: Throw down the toy.
Daddy: Pick up the toy.

That's the way it went the first few minutes. A couple of times he would even look at me and dangle it over the ground before he let go. I finally took his little letters and "tied" the toy to the letters that were connected to the chair. Here's his initial thought on that:



He examined it a little:


Then figured out there was definitely a way to get it back on the floor:




Too bad he doesn't remember he has no teeth yet!

P.S. - I got to eat.

Little Oaty O's, Oh So Good

Once Colter got back from Grandma and Grandpa's, there was no way in hell he was gonna go down easy. Jenn made supper and while she ate, I fed him Cheerios and took pictures. Basically, I made him my little performing monkey (guilty!). He digs the Cheerios, but they sure make a freaky noise in his mouth since he still has no teeth. Somewhere between a SCREEE! and a CRUNCCCHHH!

Is the first one called "Shall I eat more Cheerios?" or should it be "Yes, yes, Dr. Munson, I can see your point. If one flosses before one has teeth, nothing good can come of it."

"First Snowfall of the Year" or "Learn How to Drive, Dammit!"

January 21st...that's the first time we've had any significant snowfall in the Twin Cities. No, not just in 2005, since last year!

Where's Colter? Why isn't he in any of the pictures? Well since this is the first snowfall of the year, every idiot in the Twin Cities, whether they've lived here all their life or not, CAN'T REMEMBER HOW TO DRIVE!

Colter's on his way back from Grandma Sue's house. I imagine I'll see him sometime just before I go to work Saturday morning.

P.S. - it took Jennifer 2 hours to get home from her mothers. A trip that even with bad traffic is normally no worse than 30-40 minutes.

This last one is without the flash:

C'mon Now, That's Just Gross!

So last night as we're going through our daily ritual of Colter playing turtle and freaking out because he's on his back and whipping around on his stomach WHILE I'M TRYING TO CHANGE HIM and completely annoying me, I discovered what I think is diaper rash. Of course you can read every book possible on child care and while they'll tell you what to do for diaper rash no one actually explains what diaper rash looks like! Here comes the gross part....as I'm looking through the drawer to find the diaper rash ointment, one hand on the kid, one digging through the drawer, I hear what sounds like velcro ripping. In the millisecond it took to turn my head I see our beloved son smiling with the pee soaked diaper in his mouth as to say "hurry up, I'm really, really hungry. So hungry that, wow, this doesn't taste half bad." And so the tug of war battle began between Mommy, "gimme, gimme, gimme," and Colter (laughing hysterically).

Splish, Splash...

Yah! Yah! Yah! Get the floor wet! Get the floor wet! Give Mommy a bath! Give Mommy a bath! Yahhhhhh!

One More Idea for Free Time...

Well, ok, I did think of one other way to get some things done:

• take 1 boy + 1 laundry basket
• put boy in basket
• fill with his laundry fresh from the dryer
• ENJOY five minutes free time before he spits up on all the clean laundry

Works for me, anyway.
-- Jay

Today's Agenda

"Let's see, I've slept in til 8:00, given Daddy plenty of time to snooze. I think today I'll be the biggest pain in the butt I have ever been in my short existance! My agenda:

1. eat the plant in the living room
2. mess up the pile of DVDs and CDs daddy is trying to put away
3. ignore all my toys when placed in front of me for the chance to crawl into the kitchen
4. poop my pants when put into the bouncy chair...green beans, too! Big one!"

It all went according to Colter's schedule until I managed to find a way to get five minutes of peace to get something done:

Presenting...

Let's see if Colter will do his latest trick.

Me Tarzan, You Daddy

I've seen a few diffferent poses and looks when I've gone in to get Colter first thing in the morning. I knew the jammies he was put in last night were a little big...sometimes his arm is lost inside, (which is a dammned creepy look since it appears he's shed one of his limbs sometime during the night). Today's look was new, though. Straight from the jungles of Africa...aaaahhhh iiiiyaaaaaahhhhhaaaa ahhhhhhhhhh. One arm in, one arm out, just like Johnny Weismuller.

First post

This is the first post in my new Blog. I figure this is a much easier way to keep Grandpas and Grandmas to keep up to date with what's happening with our little man.

One thing that's not short is Colter. He had his six-month appointment last week (I know, a little late, but it was a followup to his ear infection appointment - which is cleared up, by the way). If you're planning on buying any clothes for the little guy, you might want to consult Mom and Dad about what size Colter's wearing this week. Right now he's at 29 inches and just a hair under 20 pounds. And this kid was born JUNE 30th!!