@ 1 year old.

@ 1 year old

Colton is full of life, energy, and love.

He loves to explore new things--he'll study them in great detail.

Colton doesn't stop moving all day long!

Our little man loves his Mommy and Daddy...and he brings such a light to our lives!

weight: 21.7 pounds

height: 30 inches

(he's gained 2 inches and 2 pounds since his last well-check at 9 months)

Colton calls everything : "da"
Colton loves dogs. He will hear a dog bark and he'll give a little "arf". It's so sweet!
(and no, we are not getting a dog! So, don't ask Wesley.)

he points out everything (new to him or something he's seen before) and says  "da-da".
He still talks all day in his own little language.

We removed the bumper because our son liked to stand on it and we were getting nervous he'd crawl out because he is so strong

aren't his little feet so sweet!!

Colton sleeps from 8pm to 7am.
He naps from 9:30 to 11:00am and 2:00 to 4:00pm.

Just a few weeks ago he was here...holding onto our hands as we did laps around the house.

He was funny about this, though.
It was only a few weeks before he turned 1 that he'd even allow us to hold onto him as he toddled around.
He usually was cruising along the side of the couch, around the ottoman or recliner, or he'd have a hand along the wall as he went down the hallway.

look at those little fingers!

Kristi taught Colton to take a drink and then say "ahhhh!" after. It's adorable!!

inquisitive. thoughtful. smart!!

Walking!!! (see walking post)

 

Colton still has 7 teeth.

He is eating more and more and we've started including table food. (and he's thoroughly enjoying it!)

He is so smart!! He will figure out a new toy or he'll copy how we do something when we show him where a shape goes or how to put the shape on the peg.

Last month brought about a change in our babysitting situation. We now have the sweetest lady coming to our house to watch Colton 22 hours a week. It is the most perfect set up and we love it!

{photo booth}

{photo booth}

of our super sweet,

super silly,

totally funny,

little human.

Colton had pulled his pants off...don't even ask me how--I turned around and he had them on one minute, off the next... and was carrying them around the house.

He ended up here and I quickly grabbed the camera and kept snapping the pictures cuz he was being his normal cute self and i knew i needed to capture it forever.

enjoy.

i love balloons!

It's hard to believe that the balloons from Colton's birthday party on Feb. 4th are still floating!

(i wanted to deflate them this weekend and Wes reminded me that we are getting our money's worth out of them...still!!)

The balloons bring so much joy to our little guy. It's so sweet how excited he gets!

Colton just love balloons.

Valentine's Day

Colton's hand.

this is my hand...February of 1980.
When my mom brought a box of my baby keepsakes down at Christmas I knew I had to re-create this Valentine using our son's hand. Isn't she so creative? It's just adorable!

this is our little Valentine!
squishing his peas, of course!

Julie is soo talented! this is my table topper from last year.

Valentine dog from Grandma Jules, Grandpa Mark, and Auntie Syd.

this was the Valentine craft my students made for their families...so I made some for my family, too!

my Valentine present from Julie this year. So pretty!

talented Julie!
(remember beanie babies?? these make an appearance on Valentine's Day)

candy from students. I gave all if it away.
 (well...except that yummy box of mini candy bars in the upper right hand corner!)

being a teacher on Valentine's Day is so much fun!
the students are so sweet and excited. they do kind things for each other and for you. it's full of sweetness!

look who's WALKING!!!

Colton walked

@ 12 months

on

February 17th, 2012

He's so proud of himself for walking!
and so are Mommy and Daddy!

Colton has been taking 2 to 4 steps at a time for the past month.

As of late last week he was taking more and more steps at a time.

Standing at the couch and walking to the recliner.

From the recliner to the tv console.

TV console to the accent chair.

 Accent chair to the couch.

Then...he was up to 7 steps at a time.

As of Friday night, we decided to call it "walking" officially vs. "taking steps".

He will still crawl, but he is quickly prefering to walk over crawl.

He'll pull himself to a standing position

(he must be while holding onto something stationary),

then off he goes on 2 feet!

His waddle walk is the sweetest.