xmas and new year...

well cole had a great christmas. so great in fact that he still has a couple presents that are unopened. i decided that he had way too much stuff and would wait to give them to him when he was really bored or i needed him to behave. speaking of which, my latest thing with cole is bribing him to get his diaper changed with a chocolate chip. he is really getting to be a tough age. my toddler 411 book is my new bible. it says the terrible twos are from age 15 months - 3 or 4 years. so i have a long way to go and apparently this is just the beginning...

in the last month...

• cole spent 2 weeks not napping until almost 3 p.m. and would then sleep for 20 minutes. he is finally back on schedule this week.
• cole has decided he doesn't eat dinner.
• cole has decided that he doesn't listen to mommy and it's funny. he's been in time out a lot lately and now, doesn't always mind it so much.

on the flip side, he has been doing some really cute things...

• he loves to dance. when a show comes on that he likes the theme song of, he will run and get me so i can dance with him.
• he has started to say "ma"... i think...
• he says "hi" all the time.
• he is stll wrestling every day with that darn gorilla.

Here are some pics and video...

moonlight beach xmas eve. we've been having some great weather!

vere says cole likes the rough housing because he's a boy. i don't know, what do you think?...

the cozy truck from tutu and grandpa. cole was SO excited about this truck. he had the biggest smile on his face and walked around the entire truck touching it like it was a brand new maserati.

 

cars book set from auntie kc and crew.



car carrier from tommy, bobby, chelsey, cr and kimber. thanks guys! he loves it!

 

legoland xmas day...



..with us and tutu and grandpa.



new years day at the beach with all the kids. here is vere, hugh, cole and lucy.



hugh riding the body board. it's been nice but that water is still cold!

 

lucy's turn



cole throwing the ball.

this was weird. cole just fell asleep in the living room watching tv. he has NEVER done that before.

 cole screaming and yelling and running around as usual. nobody ever sees him like this because he's usually mellow for the general public.  

cole is pretty brave when it comes to slides. he'll go down just about any of them by himself.

hanging out with his buddy, gorilla.

 

Big Brother Cole!

So Cole is going to be a big brother to a baby sister! Who is gonna have to be very tough with Cole as her big bro. We are super excited! She's due April 22, 2012. Cole has no idea. Everytime I say baby and point to my stomach, he just thinks it's funny. Here are some of the first pics of baby girl...



8 weeks



12+ weeks

Here's a funny video of Cole with his other brother and sisters... he loves to dance!

Thanksgiving

Cole had a great time in Maui for Thanksgiving. He had so much fun with his cousins, Kalia and Maya who smothered him with love :) It was fun to see them all playing together. And Kalia and Maya had so many fun toys that he doesn't have at home, including a lot of trucks! And it was nice for us to spend time with family, relax and eat lots of yummy food. Here are some pics from the trip...

The cozy coupe. Cole could not get enough of this thing! When it was outside, he wanted to be the one driving. When it was raining and the car was inside, he watched TV and ate snacks inside the car. It was pretty funny.

 

Sidewalk chalk with Kalia.



Family photos in Napili



Laughing at Auntie KC's monkey impression!



They didn't want to miss anything. 



The cozy coupe again...



Snow White AKA Maya



Kalia and Maya at Dukes for Henry Kapono



Sitting nicely for a split second.



Us watching Henry Kapono (in the background with the white shirt)

Lots of fun running around the grass at Dukes.



Cole getting lots of love! That's him in the red... do you see him?



There he is!

Cole's first big hole experience at the Baby Beach. Cole played while the girls dedicated themselves to filling the hole with water.



Enjoying the big hole after a long day of work (well the girls at least).



First boogie board ride! He did not want to lay on his stomach.

Follow the leader.

 

Wild hair! Cole was all sweaty after refusing to take a nap and crying in the crib for 20 minutes.



Another hole at a beach near mile marker 14 (I think)



At Baby Beach again.

 

Being brave and going in deep with daddy!



There was hardly anyone at the beach this day.

Some other pics of Cole...


Cole's first pocky stick. I have no idea what I was thinking giving this to him in the car. He just would not hold on to the part WITHOUT the chocolate.



On the train at the mall.



All ready for bed. Vere had his Holiday Party at work so this was the first time Cole's babysitter got him ready for bed and he was happy as can be. Somehow she was able to wash his hair without him crying... something we are not able to accomplish.



18 months...

Cole had his 18 month check up this earlier this month. He weighed 31 lbs, 11 oz (96 percentile) and was 35 inches long (99 percentile). I don't know how accurate the measurements were since he was kicking and screaming more than usual but I think it's pretty close. He is just so big!

Cole has really been doing some funny things lately. I never child proofed the top drawers in the kitchen because at the time, Cole couldn't reach. But now it's a total jackpot for him. He is constantly going into the drawers and grabbing handfuls of spoons or pens and pencils, cooking utensils - anything he can get his hands on. Before he would run away into the bathroom and close the door behind him but now he just runs and hides behind the curtains where he can safely take a look at his loot. He is so sneaky!!

He also has more words in his vocabulary. The most popular right now is "Oh no!" Anytime Cole doesn't like something, throws something on the ground, drops something on the ground, falls, etc., it's "oh no!" We're hearing it a lot lately. In addition to his other word "truck" he can now say "bus" which sounds more like "us", "choo" for train, "ish" for "fish", "bA" for "ball" and "da" for "daddy". He actually has quite a few of them now. And he can point out all sorts of things in his books like animals, airplanes, helicopters, different types of automobiles. But still no "ma ma" :(

I've also started to implement time outs. Not all the time, but when he repeatedly does something I ask him not to do. Like pulling my hair, hitting or throwing hard objects at people, etc. And I think it may be working! I'm sure there have been a few times when he had no idea why he was being punished but there have definitely been some improvements. For instance, when Cole throws his food/snacks all over the floor (which is everyday), he will actually help pick it up when I ask him to! I had to threaten a time out several times but now, he just helps when I ask :) He also comes to me sometimes when I need to change his diaper...and when I threaten a time out. They have to be used in conjunction with each other. He is still pulling my hair and hitting though...

This gorilla was the first thing Vere ever brought home for Cole (before he was even born). We always thought it would scare the crap out of him. But the gorilla has turned out to be no match for our big brute!

Here are some latest pics of Cole...

At the pumpkin patch



Cole really wanted to get one of the big ones!



But we ended up taking 2 small ones home.



Handing pumkins off to Daddy.



Cole's first shiner. I'm not exactly sure what happened. He was running his shopping cart into the back door over and over again. The next thing I know there was a crash and this nice bruise. Of course the next day was Cole's dr. appointment. Luckily he was crying so much his whole face was red.



On the Legoland train with Daddy!



Spraying the Legoland frogs.

 

Showing Lucy what he did to the gorilla!



Hanging out with big sister Lucy.



Me and Cole. A rare moment of calm after a 2+ hour nap...which is also rare...

Planes, trains and automobiles...

So Cole is in love with anything that has wheels or flies. It's funny how boys are just hardwired that way. Last month we went to Legoland and the Poway-Midland Railroad. Here are some pics...



Legoland: Cole had to sit in every vehicle we passed.



Ambulance



Go cart



Police car

Poway-Midland Railroad: The steam engine train we went on.



Waiting for the train to move.



And we're off..



Cole held my hand and Thomas in the other for the entire train ride. It did go a little faster than I was expecting.



Train robbery reenactment.



So Vere got Cole a Cars Racetrack with Lightening McQueen and Francesco Bernou that race when you shake them. Cole likes to sit right in the middle of the track to play.  

Cole really needed another toy...



I also took Cole to Sunset Park where they have a splashground. It wasn't super warm that day so I didn't bring his swimsuit or towel or anything.

  

But Cole didn't care!