Life Lately

Lots going on around here lately, and here's a quick update of it all, as seen through photos from my phone.

Even constipation didn't keep Cole from loving play time.  (The last two weeks started with Cole experiencing some major constipation, requiring an early pick-up from school one day and a doctor's appointment another day.  But the poop issues didn't end there.  Roxy pooped in the house several times out of the blue (ugh!), and then the weekend ended with Jackson having diarrhea. Poor kiddos and bad doggie!)

I took last Friday off, for another Jackson/Mommy day.  It started with a trip to Starbucks, where he thoroughly enjoyed his bagel and cream cheese, with raisins from my oatmeal on top.

Then we hit up a park in Klahanie that we hadn't been to, where Jackson showed up his swinging skills. Thanks to the swings outside his current class at school, he's learned to get and keep himself going on the swings.

For our main event, he'd decided he wanted to visit a farm again, so we headed to Fox Hollow Farm and my goodness, what a difference a year makes. Last summer, the train scared him, he wasn't super interested in petting the animals and he didn't want anything to do with the inflatable toys.  This year though, he almost started crying when, after petting the bunnies, goats and pigs, the ducks kept running away, not wanting him to pet them.  He enjoyed the train, and loved the inflatable toys and went down the slide many many times after asking me to go with him the first time.  (When you're sitting at the top, it's even higher than it looks - I was impressed with out brave he was.)

We wrapped up our farm visit with a pony ride on April the pony, and headed to Red Robin for some mac & cheese, oranges and milk (his go to meal there).

Cole had a few rough nights in a row last week, requiring frequent trips into his room. (Luckily for all of us, he would go right back to sleep after we gave him his pacifier.) We finally realized on Saturday morning that it was likely because he had his first tooth (bottom front right)!  He's been drooling for months, and has always loved chewing on his hands, toys or anything that ends up near his mouth, so we hadn't put two and two together prior, especially since at his 6 month check-up the week before, the doctor felt around and said he didn't think his teeth were coming anytime soon.  (Jackson didn't get his first tooth until nearly 8 months, so we also still figured we had some time.)  To top it off, his bottom front left tooth is coming in as well.  Poor kiddo!

We love seeing Cole sitting up and playing, and I know he enjoys this newer vantage point as well.

Cole's tried more and more solids in the past few weeks, and seems to really enjoy feeding himself and so far (knock on wood) has seemed to like everything he's tried, including vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, lentils), tofu, pancakes, mashed potatoes, prunes (thank goodness, since they're helpig with the constipation!), and the list goes on.  After he's (un)successfully managed to eat (or drop on the floor) everything in front of him he'll fuss until we give him more food.  I had forgotten what a big mess a baby can make when they're learning to eat though!  I swear more ends up on the ground than in his mouth, but Roxy doesn't seem to mind.  

Jackson and Romi, his friend from school, had a play date at one of his favorite parks in Issaquah last weekend. They had a blast playing on all the toys and then running around the grass together, and hugging trees (literally).  Even though we were there close to an hour and a half, they were not ready to go home when us moms decided it was time to get them out of the sun/heat.  It was so cute to see them enjoying each other's company so much.

Cole loves reading/books. He gets such a cute smile when I read to him before bed (his favorite seem to be a few $1 Sesame Street books I bought at Target a few years ago) - he looks at each page quietly and patiently in awe. He also enjoyed some new books (to him) with Daddy last weekend.  This is Cole's look of irritation for interrupting them.

That's it for now. We're headed to Yakima this weekend for the first time in almost a year, so I'm sure I'll have lots more pictures and stories to post soon.