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Clapping

We got back from camping with Matt’s folks in Pennsylvania today. We had a great time, although sad to say last night was probably one of the worst, if not worst, nights we’ve had with Colin and sleep. It was a bit hot and damp, I had a stomache ache, Matt had the beginnings of a cold and Colin had a runny nose and cough. When I went to bed at about 10:30 or so I had to move Colin to get in and unfortunately he woke up, and stayed up…

What proceeded was a great deal of fighting with Colin to go back to sleep. All he wanted to do was pull my hair and play. I gave up trying to get him to sleep and handed him Matt. He sat down on Matt’s belly and proceeded to do the most wonderful thing. He started clapping for the first time, at 12:45 in the morning!

Matt spent the next 75 minutes (yes, he timed it) trying to get Colin to sleep. Of course once he got Colin back to sleep he couldn’t get to sleep himself.

Today, when not catching up on his sleep (he took a 3 hour nap) Colin has been showing off his new found skill. Hopefully we will get it on camera at some point.

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I ran over a spoon because I’m cool

Maybe I’m tired, maybe the zeppolle’s from the street fair have gone to my head, but for some reason I found this pretty funny. Post your results in the comments!

Pick the month you were born:

January—I kicked
February—I loved
March—I smoked
April—I threw up
May—I choked on
June—I smacked
July—I did the Macarena with
August—I had lunch with
September—I danced with
October—I sang to
November—I yelled at
December—I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:

1—a birdbath
2—a monster
3—a phone
4—a fork
5—a Mexican
6—a gangster
7—my cell phone
8—my dog
9—my best friends’ boyfriend
10—my neighbor
11—my science teacher
12—a banana
13—a fireman
14—a stuffed animal
15—a goat
16—a pickle
17—your mom
18—a spoon
19—myself
20—a baseball bat
21—a ninja
22—Chuck Norris
23—a noodle
24—a squirrel
25—a football player
26—my sister
27—my brother
28—an iPod
29—a permanent marker
30—a llama
31—a homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:

White—because I’m cool like that.
Black—because that’s how I roll.
Pink—because I’m NOT a homosexual.
Red—because the voices told me to.
Blue—because I’m sexy and I do what I want.
Green—because I hate myself.
Purple—because I’m cool.
Gray—because I was lost.
Yellow—because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars.
Orange—because I hate my family.
Brown—because I was sick.
Other—because I’m a ninja.
None—because I can’t control myself.

Disclaimer: I selfishly stole this from another blog, however I did change a few of the choices here and here to try and keep it a bit more friendly for the current audience. Sorry if I missed anything and offended anyone.

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Telling It Like It Is

As you can see, Colin has no trouble telling it like it is. I hope it is something he never loses. I also hope he learns how to be sensitive as he tells “it” to people. I hope, for instance, that he never makes a student council presidential candidate cry at an assembly in the gym (ask his uncle)… At least unless she really deserved it.

And before any of you wiseguys say anything, YES—I finally remembered how to post video which is why the influx of 3 videos in one evening…

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Help Us Look

Colin is a big fan of books. Pretty much always has been. They taste good to him. Lately, though, he’s even begun to enjoy reading them. We got a list of the 15 best books to get for your baby from Parents magazine—and one one of them has captured Colin’s imagination! We can read it (Where is Baby’s Belly Button?) to him over and over and he just loves it. So I thought I’d videotape it…

I think Colin really likes the whole “flip-up” action of Karen Katz books. We picked up another one (What Does Baby Say?) and he likes that one, too.

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The Chase is On!

Colin has recently (maybe the last 10 days?) become extremely mobile. This is thrilling for mom and dad! Tundra, on the other hand, only sees this going downhill…

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Slobber Welcomes Colin to Iowa

Back in Earley July (yes, pun intended), Deb, Colin and I went out to Iowa to visit with Grandma Reed again and introduce Colin to some cousins, some grandparents, some great-grandparents, and one very interested dog. It seems Toby thought Colin smelled pretty good—and even wanted a taste. Colin has been around a big dog before, but not one as, errrr, “friendly” as Toby. I love the look on his face.

In any event, we had a lot of fun relaxing and visiting with family in Iowa. I’m going to split the trip up into a couple of different posts, bust one of the first things Uncle Matt had to do was clown around with his nephews (thanks, Grandpa Carl, for taking the fun picture!) on the way to play 6 or 7 holes of golf.

Despite growing up in Iowa inches from a corn field, and a father who works at John Deere, I’m (not-so-)secretly gratified to see that they are big gadget freaks like their Uncle. Here the twins are playing wtih Uncle Matt and Aunt Debra’s BlackBerries. (I was really impressed with the fact that they read all the directions to the card game they were playing. I’ve never even done that! In any case, I didn’t have to teach them how to play—they had it all figured out by the time I got around to asking if it was working out.)

ADDENDUM: Ooops. I missed this (per Aunt Suzy’s note). I like it. Not sure how it slipped through.

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Grandmas & Grandpas & Cousins—Oh My!

I was so excited for the Iowa trip knowing that we were going to get an honest-to-goodness 4-generation picture for Colin. I’m not sure why it seemed so important to me, though I suspect it has to do with my missing my grandparents (especially Grandpa Brown who lived with us for a while: he never met—and would have very much liked—Debra) and having never met my great-grandparents. If you can you should… Or something like that. In any event, we got the photo and enjoyed introducing him to family he hadn’t yet met.

In the picture above we have Mary Ann (the grandma), Onnolee (the great-grandma), Colin (the man himself), and Debra (the mom)… More pictures of family below.

(1) (2)

(3)

(4) (5)
(6) (7)

(1) Aunt Carol, Uncle Vance (wow, is he Great Great Uncle Vance?), Grandma (Mary Ann) Reed, Matt, Debra, Great-Grandpa Ed, Great-Grandma Onnolee and Colin
(2) Grandma Judie and Colin
(3) Aunt Carol, Grandma (Mary Ann) Reed, Great-Grandma Onnolee, Colin, Deb, Aunt Suzy, Cousin Amy, Will & Joe (possibly not in that order :grin:)
(4) Colin, Grandpa Carl and Grandma Judie
(5) Great-Grandma Onnolee and Colin
(6) Grandma (Mary Ann) Reed and Colin
(7) Uncle Mark and Colin

Hmm, do we think it was redundant to list Colin in each of those pictures?!?!

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Colin is a Lady(bug) Lover

I have to compliment Will & Joe on doing a good job all week of humoring Uncle Matt and Aunt Debra. Nowhere is it clearer than in this picture. I just love it. They’re being so good to “put their arms” around Colin like the photographer had requested. I think it is so funny, despite their probable disinterest in being photographed (yet again).

I think the disinterest in the whole affair was evident on both sides. Look at the series below—Colin liked his cousins well enough, but they moved around and made noises he wasn’t used to. But Aunt Suzy’s quilts were the same as always: beautiful, cozy, comfy, and interesting. He’s got a great one we blogged about earlier from Aunt Suzy, but this Ladybug quilt was another favorite. He loved looking at it and fingering the beads and buttons on it.

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