Go Forth and Sing No More

Since the night Cole was born, I have sung to him...I have never ever had a very good voice, but for the past 2.5 years, my significantly off-key style suited my little guy just fine. It was the ONLY thing that calmed him during 4 months of colic, restless nursing sessions, during emotional meltdowns, at bedtime as he turned and tossed to settle down, through sicknesses, while in the hospital, and in the recovery room after his surgery. My belting a tune also made him smile during happier everyday occasions like while running errands, driving to and from school, or puttering around the house...I have 80 or so songs on my IPOD that are varying versions of children's classics, ones I know every verse to and that have more playtime than my workout mixes (LOL).

The fact that my inner songstress made my kiddo feel good did wonders for my motherly ego especially when none of my other maternal tools would work. It was a blast when he began singing with me as we belted out DOWN BY THE STATION together.

However, recently Cole has issued me a cease and desist order...anytime I begin singing now, he firmly says, "No Mommy, no singing, Stop...". If I defy his request, he vehemently covers his ears and begins repeating "stop it, stop singing" and runs from the room (if he can).

Another phase, one I cherished for the past 1035 days or so has been shelved. In my life pre-Cole I was extremely reticent about singing in public even in college after imbibing too much and I have never been talked into joining a group at a party when the karaoke machine came out as I knew then I'd never be in tune but motherhood gave me bravado and an opportunity to see if the sound of my voice (out of tune or not) could provide a state of calm for my little guy. Obviously I have not improved my abilities over the course of his life and he is able to now tell me so...This mothering thing is hard on one's ego...I can't wait until he points out the "lines" around my eyes...

The "power" of a pre-schooler....

Cole has a dislike of the wind...he always has...he would squirm in his stroller as an infant/toddler if a strong breeze blew his way and contort his face as if he was being tortured...more recently over the past 5 months he has balked at having the windows open in the car because the wind ruffles his hair which makes him agitated instead of relaxing him as it does the rest of us especially since our season of having open windows is so brief...so we are out walking Tucker tonight with a brisk wind stirring up what is left of the swirling leaves, Cole had been complaining for the 15 minutes we had been walking about the wind and thus walking backwards to avoid it (smart kid but it was slowing us down immensely) and finally he had had enough, he began yelling loudly...NO MORE, STOP WIND...as if a switch had been flipped, the wind ceased...it gave me goose bumps...it was as if a higher order granted the request of my son if only for a short time...without missing a beat, Cole said "thank you wind"...as we turned the corner, the winds picked back up and gusted back to their aforementioned speed and the whining began again but my goose bumps remained the entire rest of our walk...

Why oh Why oh Why

The title of my post could cover many a scenario...like why oh why oh why am I so behind in blogging, or why oh why oh why do I have a child who doesn't need sleep like his mother does, or why oh why oh why when Cole asks WHY for the umpteenth time today does my brain short-circuit as it tends to do with monotonous repetitive activity.

I am going nuts with this stage of toddlerdom. I try to be witty and thoughtful with my replies but one can only be respectful of WHY when attributed to true questions not to every nitpicking thing one does during the course of a day...granted this stage of inquisitiveness is balanced with my absolutely entertaining verbal little boy who graces me with renditions of all his favorite songs now or his description of his day when I pick him from school. He comes running full tilt into my arms and bursts out with his memories of the past few hours as if he has been formulating what he was going to tell me all day...that gives my frazzled self a shot of happiness like no other...I just hope that this WHY phase fades as quickly his interest in couch jumping...

First Day of Montessori 2009-2010

Where does the time go? I remember the very first day I dropped Cole off at Orono Montessori in 2008, I barely contained my tears as I left him in the hands of almost complete strangers. At the time, I second guessed our decision to enroll him since drop offs were so heart wrenching (for both of us) but I have watched him thrive with his peers and learn so much from his teachers and Montessori environment.

I love to watch him in the playground when I pull into the parking lot to pick him up. I never know where I'll find him, one day pushing a truck, the next a grocery cart, one day digging in the sandbox, the next making dinner with mulch chips in the playhouse. On rainy days, I glance around the corner and watch him raptly listening to storytime, singing or dancing, laughing and playing. My heart skips a beat as it remembers not so long ago, the sobs and the "mommy don't go". We've come a long way.

Wasn't it just Memorial Day???

I truly am aghast that it is mid-August. The only reason that I figure I cannot explain how the past two months have snuck on by is that in direct opposition to our winters here where time creeps by hour by hour as the frigid winds blow and cabin fever is easily acquired, Minnesota summer days are less scheduled and we spend every possible waking (and not working) hours outside. This is also my reasoning for having a blog absent of entries since I have been spending far fewer of my "me" hours actually sitting at the computer. We eat alfresco almost every night and I have kept to my word about watching less TV this summer and reading more. Cole helps me water the flowers and Dave with the garden after dinner. It is amazing when the sun doesn't set until almost 10pm how much more TIME you feel you have. From November through April (at least here in the tundra), the days seem to end at 5pm and everyone hunkers down for hours vegging out before bedtime, hence my more prolific winter postings.

Anyway, Cole and I have made use of the long days and have explored so many new playgrounds and parks this summer in attempt to make use of the wonderful weather we have had since May. It has not been a hot summer and though it has been fine to run around and play outside, it has not been a great pool/beach summer. So we have taken to coordinating playdates with our friends at some great outdoor venues this year! Compared to even last fall, Cole is leaps and bounds a far more adept climber and confidently scales the ladders and jungle gym bars with ease. He has little fear (which is good and bad I guess) and I try to let him play without too much of my motherly caution ringing out.

Dave built a cool sandbox for Cole in June and not one day goes by when Cole doesn't ask us to "come play in the sandbox with me" with those Coca-Cola eyes and lilting voice just begging for us to come and get sandy. He gets quite bossy though once you have joined him, indicating what he wants you to do and build so maybe he'll be a CEO or architect someday!

Cole also has become quite the Pele with the soccer ball. He has a straight shot kick that is direct and on target 9/10 times. His ability to aim and shoot with such strength has amazed Dave and I. We both played well during our days on soccer teams so Cole must have our combined DNA with this skill. He also has quite an arm as exhibited both outside where we are allowed to throw balls to Tucker as well as inside where we are still learning that we roll the ball as explaining to him that outside we throw and inside we roll is like expecting him to understand the difference between inside voice and outside voice. This is what I frequently see on his angelic face as he is told once again, "Cole, please stop shrieking, we are inside, we need to use our inside voice"...blank stare....processing processing...does not compute.

I DO IT!!

Cole could be a great Nike spokesperson since just about everything he responds to with "I DO IT". This reply is standard for opening & closing doors, buckling his carseat strap, getting into and out of the Volvo, retrieving his sippy cups from the refrigerator, pushing play on the DVD player, putting toothpaste on his toothbrush, wiping his face with a washcloth, entering and exiting the bathtub, sliding on his shoes, pulling the mail from the mailbox, holding Tucker's leash and the list continues...of course, he shrieks like a wet hen when he doesn't get to do it and I cringe when I hear myself state "Cole, you can't always do everything yourself, sometimes Mommy or Daddy has to do for the sake of time (or more truthfully for lack of patience) knowing that a meltdown of grand proportions will take center stage. Of course he has his moments when he rather "Mommy DO IT" which typically is when he makes a mess and wants me to clean it up, wants me to carry his truck and/or him after he gets tired with 20 minutes more to go of our walk with Tucker or when I'm driving and can't pick up whatever he has dropped.

I love his independence as the apple hasn't fallen far from the proverbial tree however, the foot stomping whining that ensues when he can't do it himself sometimes has me wanting to say "FINE YOU DO IT, YOU DO IT ALL" in a adult version of a tantrum. As a parent I have these thoughts daily but I remain calm, cool and collected (most times) and let him have his momentary lapse of composure. Like a switch he shuts off the tirade as quick as it starts on most occasions as his distraction tendency is high which is lucky for me.

I just wish "I DO IT" would be attributable to going potty on the potty *sigh*...but I guess he isn't ready for that amount of responsibility quite yet!

Montana Adventure continued...

So after 15 hours in the truck, we unpacked in our room (we had to share two twin bed mattresses placed on the floor with Cole but it was FREE lodging so we certainly would just figure it out) and began the process of unwinding. That wasn't easy to do with so many people around, kids running to and fro in someone else's home and about 250 animal heads peering down at you...no joke, Larry and Matt are prolific ,and I mean that with a capital P, hunters. They eat everything they kill, hence we were in for a menu of elk, buffalo and antelope. Good thing I am adventurous and our meal discussions didn't go into detail about what we were eating, so we just ate. Game is actually very healthy and lean and the reality is that though they actually shot their prey, it is probably a more humane death than the slaughterhouses that the chicken and beef that grace our plates often comes from.

Lion's Ledge sits on a beautiful parcel of land...the backside looked out over Tom Miner Creek which gushed plentiful from all the summer rains, it was a steady hum that relaxed us as we had some drinks and caught up with our friends that first night. The laughs and conversation flowed but we were bone tired so retreated before midnight. The cool night air wafted in and we fell asleep with a full moon shining in the big picture window in our bedroom.

Cole was up early as usual, so we were up with him and before everyone else. I think the most difficult part about vacationing with others is trying to keep a toddler quiet at the crack of dawn in consideration of the others still asleep. He wanted to play with the girls who were still in la-la land. He wanted to be outside running around which we weren't ready for quite yet as we stretched our stiff bodies. Luckily we had a 7:00 am departure for Yellowstone National Park. With 7 adults and 5 kids we managed to get on the road by 7:20 which we were proud of. With a Suburban and Dave's truck we all fit in, carseats included!

The sun was shining when we turned South on Route 89 and followed the Yellowstone River (which is one of just a few rivers that flows north). By the time we got to the town of Gardner which was 20 miles away, the clouds swirled angrily overhead and thunderheads loomed over the mountains. We entered the park about 8:00 with Matt our tour guide. He is Kelly's brother who is a professional outfitter/guide for a living and lives at Lion's Ledge year round. Matt had mapped out our itinerary knowing which "tourist" spots to forgo and those that were worth the time (or energy) to see. He also knew the less visited but spectacular pull over points that were slightly off the beaten track. We drove into the park about 45 minutes before we reached our first sighting of buffalo. It had rained the first 30 minutes of the drive so our timing was perfect as we began to see herds of the buffalo right off the road. It was early enough too that we had beaten the crowds and pretty much had the park road to ourselves. We stopped for some beautiful vista shots of the hot springs up on the mountain side, the steam pouring off as the sun broke through the clouds. We continued on and saw more and more and more buffalo, some males were as large as our truck. They were shedding their coats and thus many of them had no coat on the back half of their bodies but the coat on the front half remained, it was a strange sight on an already strange looking creature.

We parked our cars to visit Upper and Lower Springs and the tremendous waterfalls. We had a steep hike up and down on a zig-zag trail. Cole was put in the backpack which he fought but there was no way he would have been safe any other way. You could hear the roar of the water but to turn the corner and see the water rushing at such an intense pace was absolutely breathtaking. There was still snow on the north side of the rocks and the water sparkled an almost blue/green in the sunlight. You could see the water cascade and pound the rocks below. It was nature in one of its most powerful forms.

Cole had taken a liking to Morgan, the 10 year old daughter of the Mershons and wanted to hold her hand anytime he was able to be walking rather than in the pack. We stopped to take the walking loop around the Mud Volcano and some of the hot springs and he held her hand the entire 20 minutes. The buffalo lounge around these hot springs and were literally within striking distance should they decide they were irritated by the human gawkers. One had risen as we strolled by and we calmly but hurriedly continued on our way. Of course there are always the tourists who remain behind to snap pictures as the 2 ton creature eyeballs them. Oh, and I wouldn't want to be remiss in mentioning the man and his dog (which was the size of a large cat) who was straining to run after the aforementioned buffalo, barking wildly at it. Its owner was like "oh isn't that cute, he just wants to play, allowing the dog to inch closer and closer". Seriously?? Now we know why signs were posted warning of people being gouged to death every year. Stupid people are a pet peeve of mine, seriously!!

We stopped to take group photos of the kids with Yellowstone Lake and the snowcapped mountains as the backdrop. It reminded me of being in Lake Tahoe without all the development. Thousands of fir trees rimmed the lake and the color of the water was an amazing blue. There were HUGE piles of buffalo dung everywhere which we attempted to keep ourselves and the kids from stepping in. Ed picked some dried dung up and threw it in my direction as I shrieked. Cole thought that was the funniest thing and his giggle became infectious as we all dodged the dung minefield.

Our lunch time stop was Yellowstone Lodge and the infamous Old Faithful geyser. Cole had fallen asleep in the car so Dave stayed with him as the rest of us went to buy lunch and find out the schedule for the next "blow" of Old Faithful. Dave was smart to bring walkie talkies which kept our two cars communicado the entire day. The kids and guys got us seats by the geyser and the gals went to fetch eats/drinks. Yellowstone Lodge was immense. A huge log cabin with a lobby that was four stories high with huge stone fireplaces. It was something out of a movie. You could actually stay there during the summer months (the interior sections of the park are closed from late October-late April because of the snow). Dave and Cole met up with us just as Old Faithful gave us her show. In all honesty, as beautiful as it was, it didn't go as high as I had expected it to. We all expressed the same thought afterwards but it was still an experience that was a MUST SEE!

At this point, the kids had had enough so we decided to begin the trek back. Once the young ones have reached this point, it can be touch and go, so Matt was told to take the rapid route OUT of the park. Of course as fate would have it, traffic came to a standstill about 10 minutes after we left the Lodge. Wildlife has free reign and if they block the road, you wait. So we waited and waited and waited. People had gotten out of their cars and slowly down the line of cars came word. Brown Bear, Brown Bear!! People were freaking out and whispering as we inched past. The bear was up on the left hand side of the road but cars had stopped to take photos.

We snapped our requisite shot and continued on as the kids couldn't have cared less plus now the Kawashiri girls had to pee and we were nowhere near a rest stop. So we pulled off the road and the ladies ventured down the slope a bit where they promptly got stage fright as they have never before had to go potty in nature with a bunch of strangers (us) essentially watching. Needless to say, it was a rough ride home. Cole was a trooper and nodded off a few times. As long as he has snacks and water, he is good. Remember, he was used to be in the car for hours on end.

Two more posts to come on our Montana adventure...

Denhams Big Sky Adventure-Part 1

This month is escaping and I feel like I am constantly playing catch up without success. The To-Do list seems to multiple in direct correlation to the quicker and quicker pace of life. Can it really be the end of July already????

That said, here is Part 1 of our recent trip to Montana...Oh boy, did we LOVE our Big Sky Adventure over the 4th of July. The Denhams were in need of a road trip adventure. Going more than six months without a journey in the car causes us to go into withdrawal. Our destination was Emigrant, MT. Friends of Dave's from ASU have family with a ranch there. The travel time was approximately 14 hours without stops through North Dakota and Eastern and Central Montana, places neither Dave or I had ever been.

We left at the crack of dawn on July 1 (6 am)since Cole gets up before then it made it easy. Our goal was to drive 6 hours and have lunch and playtime. North of the Twin Cities is farmland, vast fields and dairy barns. We made it to the Fargo/Moorhead area in about 3 hours and saw some of the destruction the floods of this past spring had caused. The roads were awful and rutted and there were still "lakes" of water where there shouldn't have been any. Sandbags still sat in parking lots and on the side of the road. We made it just outside of Bismarck for lunch at a nearby playground. Back in the truck for another 6 hours of driving. North Dakota is pretty flat and other than farms there is not much to look at. As we headed west towards the ND/MT border, the terrain literally transitioned from neatly planted rows of corn to jutted mesas and deep canyons. It was liked we went the wrong way and ended up in Arizona. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a mini-Grand Canyon, no joke. It was crazy how long ago the tetonic plates shifted and caused this upheaval of earth and rock. It was beautiful and so drastically different than what we had been driving through for the past 600 miles.

We soon found ourselves in the land of the cow. Bovines speckled the landscape and little baby calves wobbled behind their mommies to keep up. Around dinnertime, we stopped in Billings, MT...Cole was just about DONE with being in the car but we still had a few hours to go. So we did a lot of singing and distractions to fill the time. Once we got off the main highway in Livingston, the WOW factor caught our breaths. After hours of rolling farm lands, our jaws dropped as we headed south on Route 89. The snow capped mountains (Rocky and Teton I believe) were our vista for the next hour. The valley was lush and green from an above average rainy spring/summer. We played a little Ray Lamontagne which seemed fitting for the view. The air felt fresh and clean and pure...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We arrived at Lion's Ledge (their ranch) at 8:30 MST. 15 hours in the car (remember the speed limit through 800/1000 miles was 75mph and who drives the speed limit so going 80 or so gets you to your destination more quickly than expected even with several pit stops and two meals)!! The welcoming committee of our friends who were in from New Mexico (Mershons) and California (Kawashiris) and Kelly's parents and brother made for rapid unpacking of the truck (yes, we brought too much but can one really ever bring too much with a 2.5 year old in tow!?)

Otay...

The past week or so, our little guy has just become Mr. Conversation. It is so fascinating to listen to him actually carry on a back and forth discussion. Every day he tosses out a new and complicated word that I have NEVER heard him use before (skyaper = skyscraper...this was while I had the TODAY show on and they showed the Plaza with all the tall buildings...my jaw dropped!!) or while we are reading, he will point to a object on a page from a book we just got out of the library (hence no familiarity with the content) and successfully identify it (in this case it was the number 72 on a firetruck (he knows his numbers 1-15 and can define them out of order so it made perfect sense for him to say 7 2...still to hear him say it without my prompting was amazing.

But what has us cracking up as of late is his perfect rendition of Buckwheat's "OTAY". Cole says it after just about every sentence (that is if he isn't using his #2 word which is "NO" which is closely followed by "I DO IT". His intonation is perfect as he typically uses it not as a question but as an adverb. He elongates the "O" and emphasizes the "TAY". We haven't been able to get it on video yet because he also dislikes being asked to do anything on cue anymore but I am determined because it is so freaking funny to hear.

Wacky Wild June...

What a Wacky wild June, what a ride...here is the spin...

Cole started the month off with a runny nose, followed in close succession with a rapidly growing fever and a full body rash of what to me looked like measles. He has been vaccinated but I was obviously more than concerned. The rash didn't itch but got worse and worse over 72 hours, the fever peaked at 104.1 (of course on a weekend) so I took him to the pediatric urgent care. The doctor there wasn't sure what the heck it was since it wasn't presenting as some childhood viruses do (roseola or Fifths). Cole was miserable and not himself and he looked awful with this head to toe speckling. That Monday we followed up with our pediatrician who asked two other doctors to come in for a look see. Cole has had his fair share of hospitals/doctors (pokings and prodding) so he isn't the easiest patient. None of the doctors could definitively diagnose him. Six days he ran a high fever...6 days!!!. I was a mess worrying that something was lurking in his little system of an unknown origin. The fever finally subsided but the rash has come and gone at varying levels for almost a month. It is gone and then it is back on his legs, it disappears and then shows up on his right arm, gone again, only to show its face on his belly. *sigh*, everyone probably wonders why I have aged in the past 2.5 years (serious lack of sleep and episodes such as the one previously mentioned).

So onward march, last Wednesday, I'm getting Cole dressed in the morning and I see what looks like a mosquito bite on his arm (red and raised) and fairly significant as most of his mosquito bites get. I do my best to douse him in organic products (the only kind his skin will tolerate) but he is bound to get them regardless. Anyhow, off to school he goes. Cole is so long/tall he is wearing 4T shirts which cover his torso but also are long on his arms (hence his arms are covered all day). I pick him up as usual, let him climb into his car seat, I buckle him in, head home, unbuckle, he climbs out on his own, we play outside for 25 minutes or so until I smell poop. He refuses to come inside, so I am forced to pick him up. As I do so, my hand touches his arm which is literally red hot. Before I even go any further, my mom panic button goes off. I push up his sleeve to find his little lean arm the size of Pop-Eye proportions, all red, hot and hard. The "mosquito" bite I saw earlier that day is now shiny and prominent. I quickly change him, take his temp (low grade) and call the pediatrician's office, but of course 5 minutes after they close so I have to go through the after hours service. Luckily, everyone was still at the office, so I got a call right back, the nurse after listening to my description immediately puts a doctor on who within 1 minute of my describing once again, sends us to Children's Hospital. He warns me to pack an overnight bag because it thinks Cole has cellulitis. Dave had just flown in from Las Vegas, he hustles home in rush hour traffic as I find someone to walk Tucker, back Cole's bag and my bag and try not to throw up.

We get to the hospital and check in. The triage nurse takes one glance at him and says "yep, that is cellulitis". I then say, "okay, so what are next steps". She says, "oh that is pretty bad so we'll be admitting him to go on IV antibiotics and to monitor the infection". *GULP* *HOLD BACK TEARS* *GLANCE AT MY HUSBAND* *GULP* *HOLD BACK TEARS*...we get moved to a holding room, where the pediatric ER doctor comes in and says the same thing...takes a sharpie to Cole's arm to outline the redness as he says it will expand *GREAT*. It takes two nurses and Dave and I to hold Cole down to get his IV in. *SWALLOWING HARD*. I leave the room after that to have my moment. We get admitted upstairs, Cole wants freedom but is now tethered to the IV which tangles like Christmas tree lights just by a quick turn on Cole's part. He doesn't want anything to do with anyone, all these strangers entering his room, trying to take his temperature, blood pressure, oxygen level...he finally crashes, it takes me 2 hours to drift off as I share a bed with him...nurses come in every four hours during the night for vitals check... residents come in to outline the growing redness. They think his bite is actually a spider bite as upon better inspection (now that he is asleep and not writhing around) they can see two holes not one (as a mosquito would be). The hardness gets better overnight which is a good sign. His blood work comes back much better. The swelling and redness continue. They determine that he is also having an allergic reaction to the bite. So they give Cole IV benadryl which is supposed to knock kids out...yeah, not my kid. It makes him feistier than all get out. He sets off the alarms with his restlessness it seems every 15 minutes. I'm sure the nurses station was cursing at the constant attention that Room 6120 needed.

By mid-morning, the infection was subsiding and they were going to send us home in the afternoon with oral meds. I was so relieved because I couldn't imagine another evening spent there (though our room did have a view of downtown) with my little scared energetic son who just wanted to go home. The swelling lasted another few days and the redness dissipated too but now everytime he gets a bite, I'm going to worry as they say he is prone to this because of his skin sensitivity. I refuse to keep him in a bubble as he so loves the outdoors but I will do my best to protect him as I can. He runs away everytime I try to slather him in lemongrass oil or cover the bites he has so he won't scratch at them. When the bites swell and get red as I know they will do I will be like a solider on watch, waiting for a signal that we have moved into the danger zone.

Magic of Mother Nature...

Cole and I walk Tucker everyday, and just like the postman, regardless of the weather. Our city dog refuses to relieve himself in our yard since he was trained as a pup on the streets of Washington, DC to "get busy" when he was walked in the city parks. He knows no other way despite our efforts to try when we experienced our first sub zero winter. The upside is that we have a beautiful lawn free of yellow spots and we get lots of exercise. We have walked in downpours, in pelting snow, through blustery winds and blinding heat as well as on dewy mornings, with refreshing breezes and warm sunshine. Just as Tucker gets excited at the mere mention of the word "walk" so does Cole. Both of them teach me that the same old daily walk isn't the same old daily walk at all. Each day (and walk) holds potential for experiencing new things.

We typically take one of five familiar trails. Since our winter snows melted this past spring Cole's favorite trek NOW is the one that takes us on the dirt path in the woods. Our walk begins on the asphalt footpath that winds through the trees and connects the two parks that are blinking distance from our front door.

Before the leafy foliage grew back in late May, the dirt path off the walking trail was easily found and one day on our normal loop, Cole darted off towards it pointing and saying "Go this way?" I had never taken him on the dirt path before because last fall it would have been above his skill level with roots to trip over, trees to climb over and branches to maneuver around, however six months later, I knew he was ready for the challenge. I whistled for Tucker who had continued down our normal route and he looked back at me with an expression (I swear) that said "oh boy, this should be interesting".

Cole hesitated initially as I stepped forward and said "come on, let's go". Despite the fact that he had initiated this adventure he now dropped his head taking a second thought about it. After some prodding, he cautiously forged ahead. As always I wanted to foster his independence and curiosity so I let him go at his own pace, keeping a healthy distance behind him. I could see him absorbing the difference a narrow path made of dirt felt to him as he carefully stepped along. He was wide eyed at this new perspective & I felt a thrill as he obviously was in wonderment of what was now surrounding him. He kept looking back to ensure I was within sight and I reassured him with a smile and a "I'm here". At this point, Tucker came bounding up and Cole seemed to lose some of his inhibitions. He followed Tucker who was more than glad to act as the lead, checking back occasionally with a wag of his tail as if to say "follow me kid, the woods are great".

We winded our way past the huge walnut trees still stark and bare (remember this was late April). Twigs and fallen branches snapped under our weight. As Cole got comfortable, he got excited at finding rocks, rotting trees and he kept pointing at the birds who had come back a wee early but were chirping loudly at our invasion into their woods. Ice clung to some of the lower spots and as any boy would do, he ran to step on them to hear the crunch under his feet. When Tucker would get too far ahead, he would yell "Ucker Come" in the same firm voice he has heard me use to get our canine's attention.

The trail works its way back to the paved road not far from the open fields. As he touched the macadam, he yelled "I did it" with such a beaming smile on his face, that it brought tears to my eyes. He was so proud and cognizant that he had done something new!

It is now near impossible, unless I avoid this area altogether, to get Cole to take anything but the wooded path. He now cruises along, running most of the time, tripping occasionally in his haste to reach the mid point which is the biggest walnut tree of all, in a V-shape that he hides behind waiting to "scare" me as I catch up. The ferns and bushes have grown way above his waist now and though the trail is apparent it isn't used often enough to not have quite a bit of new growth to meander through. It doesn't seem to faze him that cobwebs tangle in his hair, I see him paw at his face haphazardly and I know this because I feel their silky strands brush my skin. Inch worms dangle from the trees and drop onto us (he does get a little freaked out about this) but I take the time to hold them in my hand and let him watch them inch about. We carefully put them in the grass and move on.

He stops to look at the wild "urple" flowers and wild berries. He stops cold when he hears the squirrels, chipmunks, and bunnies scurry away from his pounding feet, looks at me and says "what that?" Tucker darts into the thick of the woods sometimes and Cole gets concerned when he can't see him and then says "YEAH" when he returns back with leafy remnants stuck to his wet nose. The sunlight filters through the towering trees creating streaming rays, other places remain in the dark shadows. You can feel the pockets of warm dense air penetrated by a rush of cool damp air. So many sensory stimuli that I am reminded of as I slow down and watch my son experience the magic of mother nature.

My cheerful chatterbox...

I swear one day a few weeks back as he slept, some vocabulary fairy came and filled my son's brain with the dictionary because honestly Cole woke up one morning and started coherently chattering in almost complete sentences, speaking words I had never heard him use before.

He has been such a physical child that his language development has been playing catch up. Cole crawled, walked, climbed, ran, jumped, and mastered just about every other active movement way ahead of schedule. People routinely think he is older than he is by the way he adeptly maneuvers around the playground. It wasn't until they would ask him "how old are you?" or "what is your name", that either no response came or a garbled, babbled, only a mother could decipher reply issued from his lips.

Now, my little chatterbox can't seem to get enough of conversation. In previous weeks, he would just say the last word in a phrase of a song, or particular letters of the alphabet, he now in tune and on pitch with the melody sings a vast array of his favorite songs. He counts from 1-10 clearly without hesitation, can state the alphabet with only a few omissions, neatly parrots back everything he hears and thoroughly enjoys baffling his mother by remarking "fire trucks are taking a nap in their house" as we pass the fire station with their doors closed...WHAT? Just a month ago, it was simply "FIRETRUCKS FIRETRUCKS" shouted excitedly.

It is fascinating to watch and listen to him as he realizes his own increased communication abilities. However, not all is peachy with this greater word acquisition, his new power has also created a bit of a feistier personality so now time outs are a daily part of the routine when he gets himself in a pickle for being sassy after declaring "No Mommy, you go away over there" along with his hand out in stop fashion to my face.