I can't believe how quickly the time has passed since I last wrote about Cole. I'm going to go ahead and officially adopt the same model for writing about Cole that I've adopted for Abbi. That being that the information I post will be accurate as of the day it was written (as opposed to writing about him today, but omitting events of the past 2 weeks, since he's been 1.3 Years old.)

That said, we've got big news on the Cole front. Little man is walking around like he owns the place. He spent quite a few weeks working on going from me to Jenn and back. He would hold onto things and walk 3-5 steps and then fall. Now he's walking pretty good distances (able to be measures in feet instead of inches).

Its been awesome watch another kid of ours figure out the whole walking thing. We of course realize "its all downhill from here", but its still incredible to see the little guy learning how to walk. He was at first motivated by coming to Jenn or I, but overtime we've been able to motivate him with other things, like going outside. He does well in shoes, barefoot, in socks, jammies, whatever it may be, he's doing great.

I haven't mentioned it in a long time (so far as I can remember), but Cole is an awesome sleeper. He goes down for bed between 8:15 and 8:30 each night, and sleeps through the night, with a rare wakeup, and then wakes up (often by pooping himself) around 6:30/7.

And since I mentioned him pooping, he's taken to the classic kid habit of going off alone while he poops. I can't wait until he can talk better, and I so desperately hope he repeats Abbi's habit of saying "pooooop" while he's doing it.

Cole is such an awesome good natured, happy little guy, and its a really incredible thing that Jenn and I get to raise both a boy and a girl. Especially such a happy little guy.

Cole 1.2 Year

The other night Jenn took Abbi to the dance studio for their official recital pictures. Abbi had to get dressed up in her recital outfit, and head on over for her pictures. They took individual pictures as well as a group picture. Jenn said that Abbi did really well, and listened to both the photographer and teacher as they gave instructions. This is a picture of Abbi practice posing at home before she left.

Recital Get Up

Cole seems to have mastered all cups. He loves to drink, and will take it in just about any form. Here he's enjoying a nice juice box. At home, when he sees Jenn and I use big cups he always wants some. He typically uses some for of sippy cup, but thats mostly to prevent the eventual spills that come from straw type cups.

Sippin'

Abbi loves the carousel. So she was of course elated to be able to ride it at Magic Kingdom. Of course because of lines and such she only rode it once, but she had a great time riding it.

Carousel Kids

Cole got one of his first rides on a carousel at Magic Kingdom. He seemed to like it well enough, and I'm sure Abbi's love it it will rub off on him as times goes by.

Carousel Kids

Yesterday (all weekend actually) with the nice weather the kids were outside playing together. I got this picture of them sitting together at the picnic table playing with Abbi's cash register toy.

Together

One day I might actually write some of these reflections kinda close to Abbi's actual day of birth. Not this month though.

I wrote last month about Abbi and her drawing. She's progressed even further in my mind, in that now she's taken to actually writing on the lines on a paper like we would. Yesterday she was walking around with a little notebook taking notes, pretending to be a doctor. She wrote/drew things all over the page, but they were all on a line of the notebook exactly as it should have been. Made me proud to see it.

Speaking of playing doctor, Abbi's imagination these days is off the hook. Last night she was playing doctor. Other times she's playing mom (where Jenn is our other kid). She's also very creative when it comes to making up songs and words. She very often sings her own songs, and sometimes they are to a recognizeable tune, and others, they are a complete Abbi originals.

Behavior wise, Abbi is about the same. Our recent trip to Disney was a bit exhausting, but we believe that to be more a product of the environment and circumstance, than an actual settled behavior. That said, she was demanding and moody while we were on our trip, but now that we're back home she's happier and a bit more easy going.

Just like always, I'm excited to be able to watch my little girl grow up. I'm so incredibly proud of her and all the things she can and does do. I tell her everyday how beautiful she is, just so she knows.

Abbi 3.8 Years

This is picture of the kids from yesterday. Not much to say. Abbi picked out her dress, and then we picked out a sweater for Cole that would coordinate well with it!

Easter Kids