Colin 15 month stats

Weight 25 lbs.   50%
Height 32” 75%
Head 18 3/4   60%

We Have a Walker!

 

Videos to come. I'm having some technical difficulties on the video posting!

Walking Timeline:

On Tuesday, August 28th Colin started walking around holding just one of our hands.

On Wednesday, August 29th he took a couple of steps from me to Taran.

On Saturday, September 1st he started taking up to 10 steps at a time.

On Wednesday, September 5th Colin starts walking by himself! The boys and I were reading books on the couch while Colin played on the floor. I looked over just as he pull up and then took off walking. In the past he'd only walked from one person to another or from an object to a person. This was the first time he was just doing it all on his own all by himself because he wanted to. Once he realized what he could do he was so excited and really wanted to walk everywhere.

First Day Of Preschool

Preschool starts today!


Both Lucas & Colin will be going to Kids First this year. Lucas will attend Pre-K on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Colin will attend on Tuesday and Thursdays.

  

I've had lots of mommy guilt about sending my baby off to school! Since he has a later birthday than his brothers he is starting a few months earlier than they did. Plus, he just seems so much younger to me. I just keep remind myself how much his brothers loved it and, frankly, so do I! So we are giving it a try and I can always pull him out if he doesn't seem to like it.

Lucas has the same teachers Tyler did last year, Ms. Jen & Ms. Amy. They are wonderful teachers so I am very excited for him.

Thankfully the inseparable Lucas and Andrew are once again in the same class.

For some reason Lucas was so thrilled to have a nap mat. 

 

I am so happy Colin and Emerson will be in class together. Their teachers are Ms. Brandy & Ms. Shametra. Ms. Brandy was also Tyler's very first teacher and she is amazing! She is loving, fun, creative and the kids learn so much.  The quality of this picture isn't great because I took it spying from outside the doorway but you can see Colin is smiling and seems off to a great start. No tears on day one! I thought it was sweet when Ms. Brandy showed me the bookplate of the book she was reading and it was one donated to the class from Tyler years ago.

Therapy Begins

Since this is the baby book-

Colin had his first therapy session today and did so well! He quickly started picking up new skills.

His physical therapist was impressed with how much progress he had made since his inital evaluation. If evaluated today his delay might not even be enough to qualify him for the program. Also, he is now able to bearing weight on straightened arms so arm cuffs won't be needed. He is sitting up great and can go from his back to side to sitting. He pulls up frequently now and at therapy he learned how to crawl up three stairs which a 12-14 month skill.

 Practicing new skills. More mobility means more work for Mommy!

 

13 months!

This month Colin had the most growth in the language department and has begun "talking" like crazy. He is so curious about everything right now. He points and asks, "that?" half of the day. Some of his new words are jack, milk, cup, star ('tar), yea, and ball. Sometimes his words are super clear but they often require some context clues to help translate what he is saying. Lately he is really trying to repeat sounds and words. He LOVES books so that is one of his most used words and he asks for them all of the time. He has just started to point to some of the pictures when you ask him to find things in the book.

Between his birthday and now I tried dropping his morning nap to give our schedule more flexibility and prep him for preschool in September. This caused him to be overtired so he didn't do very well with the transition and started fighting his naps and bedtimes. We had a rough 2 weeks of him standing up and screaming in his crib only to pop up again and start all over as we laid him back down. Our easy sleeper, whose normal 5 minute bedtime routine consisted of a quick kiss, sometimes a few books, and a simple little goodnight song was now taking 45 minutes to 3 hours to go down. Thankfully this phase didn't last too long and he is now back to his normal self. He usually sleeps from about 6:45 p.m.- 7:30 a.m. and naps from 12:00 until 2:30 or 3. He still sleeps with a lovey blanket and paci but those always stay in his crib. When he wakes up he plays quietly in is crib without crying to get out so you have to keep an eye on his monitor. We are pretty lucky since he can be awake playing for 15 minutes and still not cry to get out.

Colin's upper molars finally popped through. He had been working on them for quite awhile and he had even developed blood blisters there before they came in. He is also getting one of his lower molars.  He is still missing one of his lower incisor teeth.

Danielle's Wedding

Danielle's wedding day is finally here!

It was a hot but beautiful day and the bride was gorgeous.

I LOVED the boys in their little tuxes!

 

 Tyler (5), Lucas (4), Delaney (5) & Harper (3) with Danielle and Marc.

Love this one!

We got married the weekend before this one 10 years ago.
 

Colin looked so handsome too.

They did so great! I love how Lucas clung to Harper's arm.  You can see videos of them walking down the aisle on Jen's blog here.

After the kids walked down the aisle they came back to sit with us. They sat quietly enough with a mix of snacks, toys and crayons but Daddy & Colin ended up watching from outside since Colin wanted to babble through the ceremony.

A rare moment of Lucas and Harper quietly paying attention during the ceremony. Those two are such a perfect pair.

 

After the wedding the kids were asked hand out bubbles and were told to make sure everyone got one. They followed their instructions to the letter! They were hilarious to watch as they ran after anyone thought they missed the bubbles and Lucas frisked someone he thought had taken two.

The reception was lots of fun. Several friends and my parents were there. For dinner, we put all of the kids (except Colin) together at their own table next to us.

 

 

My boys had never been to a wedding or reception before. Danielle's brother caught the garter but gave it to Tyler. He calls it his slingshot because thankfully, at age 5, he doesn't yet know what a garter is.
 

It took some urging to get the kids on the dance floor but then they didn't want to leave; The wedding put Colin in an unusually amorous mood and he was full of kisses; The bride and I meet up at the bar.

The kids must have inherited Glam's dancing gene! Colin, Lucas and Tyler all had fun on the dance floor. Landon and Tyler had a bit of competition over Delaney but (for now at least) she told me she's marrying Tyler.

Two things I didn't think would last the whole night- my shoes & Colin but they were both still going strong when it was time to headed back to Edwardsville later that night.  

Colin's Early Intervention Eval

Showing off for the therapist. One of the things he needs to work on is supporting himself on his hands (rather than his forearms) at the activity table.

Today Colin had an early intervention evaluation for his gross motor delays. He continually makes progress but just seems to be a little behind where he should be at this age. For example, he army crawls but can't lift up to crawl over anything raised, even just an inch off the ground. We have been through this process with Lucas so I had an idea of what to expect and know his currently delay won’t affect him long term.

Almost as if he knew he was going to be tested, he worked really hard on his motor skills this week and has begun to get into a sitting position on his own. His new skill helped him to score a bit higher but he still showed a 34% gross motor delay, with the abilities of an average 8 month old. Some of the skills he is not currently able to do: push up to get his belly off the floor, get into or maintain all 4’s, reach while up on his arms and knees, seat scoot, go from back to side to sitting, stand without legs bouncing/wobbling, crawl with reciprocal arms and knees.

His delay qualified him for the early intervention program and he will be starting physical therapy once a week until he catches up. Both the developmental and physical therapist think he needs to build up his strength but neither found an physical limitations that will keep him from doing so! Yea! His immediate goals will be to work on his transitional movements and strengthening his upper body's ability to bear weight (she said he might need a contraption like this to keep him from collapsing his arms).

They also noted a slight oral motor delay and said we should work on building his muscle tone in his mouth. For now he just needs to eat more crunchy textures and drink from a straw more. Oddly, Lucas has always had issues with oral motor as well. I am not quite sure why both boys have had similar muscle tone issues.

Colin did great on all of the other areas of his evaluation. His language was on track at 12 months, his fine motor skills were at 13 months, his personal social skills were at 13 months and his cognitive skills were at 14 months. They noted he was “very smart”, "quick to catch on” and had “great attention”.

Florida Trip 2012

We took our 3rd trip to Destin with the Cochran family! We had such a perfect trip last time (weather, crowds, etc.) so I was worried this year might not live up to my expectations but it did not disapoint.

The boys were exceptionally good on the car ride. The older boys stayed busy with snacks, workbooks and toys and movies. Colin doesn't do TV yet, but every time he started fussing I would hand him a new toy or snack and it always worked. For his naps, we draped a king sized sheet over the headrests to make a big tent over his car seat and he slept better than I expected.

It was good to be back at "our" house. I can't tell you how much we love this place!

Colin's first time on the beach (at the sound behind the house).

After the long car ride the kids got out pent up energy running on the beach.

As always, a bulk of our trip was spent in the pool.

I was amazed at how well Tyler swam as soon as he put on a mask and snorkel. We realized when he didn't have to worry about coming up for a breath he would swim all over.

The hot tub was turned off during the day as the perfect kiddie pool and then was turned back on at night for the adults.

The kids playing in the sand without having to leave the house is such a nice perk.

Lucas makes sand ice cream cones, a pic of one of many kayaking trips, and a bocce ball game.

 Visiting the Navarre beach.

The Cochran family.

Tyler had so much fun collecting seashells; it was a highlight of his trip. 

 

On the other hand, Colin did not care for the big waves and spent most of his time playing on a blanket with the babysitters far away from the water.

In the lower right picture, you can see a tiny glimpse of one of the dolphins we saw at Navarre beach. We were lucky to see them swimming in the sound every day. Allan, Jen and I tried catching them in the kayaks but they were too fast for us. Brian and Lucas had better luck and got within feet of them.

 

We brought along babysitters to act as mother's helpers and give us time to go shopping and have several evenings out.
Deliberately not pictured- Jen and I taking our turn climbing the magnolia tree.  

 

The older boys walked Navarre bridge while I headed back to the house to read gossip magazines in the hammock while Colin napped.

 

Tyler is super sensitive to the sun so we kept him pretty slathered in sunscreen and picked up a wide brimmed hat on our trip.

 

Colin makes the funniest faces. I love his expressions in these two pictures.

 

We visited the butterfly house and park one day.

An unexpected perk of our house is we sometimes get to see military exercises in the sound behind our house. This year we were able to watch paratroopers from our backyard.

 

Our trip was a great balance between family time and adult time. At McGuire's Brian forgot about the deceptive bathroom doors and headed into the women's.

 

 

One of our kid free nights! 

 

 

 

Love these beautiful girls! You can see more great vacation pics of them on Jen's blog.

 

 

Our attempt at beach photos didn't turn out as I'd hoped.  A storm was coming in, Colin was fussy and my hair was flying everywhere.

 

 

 

Our best family shot. I just wish wrangling my hair in the wind didn't end up making me look like a news reporter listening through an ear piece.

 



 

All good things must come to an end. Good bye Florida house! Hope to see you next year.