Happy three quarters birthday, Cole!

Yesterday was Cole's 9 month birthday. Three quarters of a whole year - amazing! I was thinking that 9 months sounded familiar, and of course this marks the point where his time outside the womb is equal to his time inside.

We spent the day doing a mix of the familiar and the new. We played as we do in the morning, before naptime and after lunch. Cole has figured out how to climb into his toy baskets after pulling everything out and seemed to really enjoy the experience.

He was treated to a free show as workmen came into our place during our 11 am lunchtime to inspect, and then rip out a few pieces of, our severely warped flooring. (A pipe burst three floors up a few weeks ago and hilarity has ensued.) They responded to my tales about the floor driving me crazy by ripping out a section of floorboards for now and chucking it on the deck. Apparently it will take several more weeks to get started on actual repairs. For now, this is a far sight better than walking on flooring that buckles with each step. Cole promptly learned how to pull painting tape off the spot they left.

Then we took a trip to my office. Cole was resourceful and found ways to amuse himself endlessly. Aside from beaming at everyone, he found out just how much fun you can have with a rolling step-stool and a bottle of water. Especially the step-stool - he pushed it around (thank you, low-pile sensible carpeting) and had a grand time walking behind it. And it was only a matter of time before he realized that he could climb on it too. Everything seemed very exciting for him, albeit beige.

I tend to be very protective of Cole's naptimes. We left the office armed with a travel mug of free coffee and he conked out in the car right away, so I figured we'd better keep rolling. I was hungry (after eating lunch at 11 am) and figured we'd come across a drive-thru along the way... Cole doesn't generally awaken and then go back to sleep for naps - you only get one shot each in the morning and afternoon. As it happened, it was a great, somewhat meditative, drive. Our car battery died a week ago (I left the ceiling light on and then parked the car for a week) and now our radio won't work without a special code that no one can give me over the phone. So I had an hour and a half to drive around without any music or talk, and it was really quite lovely. On a whim, we drove to Porteau Cove, halfway between Vancouver and Squamish. It was so beautiful out - the fog was rolling over the water and above it the sky was gloriously clear. Never did end up finding a drive-thru and instead resorted to eating one of Cole's teething cookies. Not bad, actually...

We must really start getting up to the mountains more often, or out of the city in general. I love it, but sometimes just a breath of that fresh woodsy aroma and an open stretch of road really hits the spot.