10 months

Holy moly, Cole is ten months old today. It's fitting that I do a proper round-up for posterity. I was inspired the other day by a friend's post and so now I present:

15 things about Cole

1. He's not walking on his own just yet, but we think he's close. He's happy to walk around the perimetre of his play area in the living room with one hand lightly touching the couch or chair as he moves. He walks holding our hands, and pushes his little ikea cart around too, when Jamie isn't giving him rides down the hallway anyway...



2. He is on a good eating kick again. He mostly eats food in pieces and can chow down with the best of them. He loves homemade pancakes and weirdo organic waffles, squash and yams, chicken and beef, kiwi, sometimes tofu, puffed rice, water from a regular cup or a sippy and tonight he had his first sandwich! Grilled cheese, but not the diner kind... He had the kind dipped in egg yolk with organic mozzarella inside wholegrain bread - he doesn't know what he's missing with the white bread and fake cheese... I was actually really excited to make him a sandwich - the first of thousands, I'm sure!

3. He loves to play the guitar with Jamie. He's already better than I am! ;-)

4. His favourite books this week have been "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "Ten Apples up on Top" and "Animal Sounds" (he consistently points out a few of the animals if we ask). He especially loves the taste of "There's a Wocket in my Pocket". Yummy.

5. Cole just recently learned how to wave! It's not quite Queen Elizabeth's style just yet, but he does it with gusto and on cue...



6. He also points! He pointed before, but now he points at everything. He can point to me or Jamie when we ask him "where's Mama?" or "where's Daddy?", he points at strangers on the Skytrain, he points at lights and lamps and the fire alarm and all kinds of stuff.

7. He is a huge flirt. If you are a pretty lady, he will play coy for a minute and then wow you with a grin. And then he'll point at you and grin some more. I think I have a heartbreaker on my hands...

8. He can kiss! Only me so far (aww). It's an open mouthed kiss, planted right on my mouth (ish area) and there is a lot of drool and some teeth involved, but it's so adorable I can't resist it.

9. He is wearing size 12-18 in shoes and pants now too, but they're a bit loose on the waist. He's longer than he is round. Maybe we should start saving up for basketball camp?

10. He's very silly, although he might say that it's Daddy who's the silly one:



11. He has just made a huge leap in understanding, it seems. Suddenly so many things are making sense for him, and he seems phenomenally excited about his world.

12. He is a bit of a ham. I was too, so maybe he gets that from me along with blue eyes and brittle toenails? When he's not mugging for the camera he is trying to eat parts of it.

13. He loves tunnels, climbing under things, up stairs and over obstacles. He'll scale you just to get on to the sofa if there is a delicious pen or cell phone just out of reach.

14. He loves to rip paper. He will grab a piece with both hands and pull it in opposite directions with all his might, looking like Bruce Lee the whole time. When he succeeds in ripping the paper he makes a lovely chortle and smiles like crazy. Then he tries to eat it.

15. He's a happy camper. Still not sleeping thorough the night and we have our moments of course, but he is such a cheery little guy and we love him to bits.

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.