Category: Cole

Day at the Goat Farm

We live near a goat farm, which produces cheese. They offer tours a few days during the week, so last week, Ryan, Cole, and I met some friends to tour the farm, and see the new baby goats.

Ryan and I went last year in April too, and I was nine months pregnant with Cole, it was really warm, and Ryan was pretty scared of the goats. Not this year! He ran right up to the wheelbarrow they had out with greens to feed the goats, and he didn’t want to leave. He thought it was really funny when the goats would try to eat his coat. Cole was a little scared at first, but he quickly snapped out of it, and liked standing up, holding on the goat’s pen. What a difference a year makes!

Here are some pictures of the outing:

Cole Fun Stuff Mothering Ryan

It’s Slinky, It’s Slinky

Ryan got his first Slinky for Easter. He wasn’t that thrilled with it, but the other day, I needed something to keep him occupied for a few minutes, and tried to get him interested in the slinky again, to no avail.

Cole, on the other hand, came right over to it and was very interested. I don’t know where or how my brain remembered the Slinky song from the commercial when I was a little girl, but I just started singing it, without missing a word, like I had heard the song yesterday. How’s that for a good advertising jingle?

Ryan laughed, and LOVED the song. All of a sudden he wanted to play with Slinky, and now he had to wait until Cole was done. As soon as Cole was finished playing with it, Ryan went over and picked it up, and insisted that I keep singing the Slinky song. So I obliged, and now he loves the Slinky, and sings the song too, while he is playing with it.

I swear, I haven’t heard the song since I was probably about 10, but tonight I looked it up on good old You Tube, and found the Slinky commercial and the song that I remember from the 70’s. It was pretty funny to see it again after all these years. Check it out if you have a minute.

It is pretty amazing the things that get stored away in your brain. Sadly for me, it isn’t some deep thought, or mathamatical equation- It’s Slinky, It’s Slinky.

Cole Mothering Parenting Ryan

Small Miracles and other Triumphs

Post author By A Mama's Blog
Post date April 12, 2007
4 Comments on Small Miracles and other Triumphs

Everything in the universe must be aligned right today, because in addition to Maelin finally starting to nurse, I had two other triumphs today.

The first one was after dinner, I was cleaning up, and Joe was on the computer trying to do some car research (no, we still haven’t bought a replacement car yet), and Cole kept crawling in the kitchen, tugging on my leg. I just wanted to clean up quickly, so I carried Cole into the living room, and asked Ryan to play nicely with Cole. I went back to the kitchen, and after a few minutes, I realized I hadn’t heard any crying, screaming, whining, or, “Mommy, Cole is bugging me-make him STOP!”

I popped my head around the corner, and Ryan and Cole were at their play kitchen, with Ryan showing Cole how the oven door opened, the sink worked, and giving him play pots and pans to hold. Cole was delighted his brother was playing with him! I about fainted. I called Joe over, and we both stood there in awe for a few moments watching our two little boys, actually being brothers, and enjoying each other.

I would have gladly settled for just that one, but I guess the “God of Small Miracles” was smiling on me today! After having 10 1/2 months of sleep issues with Cole, I was nursing him to sleep tonight, like I always do, and after about five minutes, he started squirming and trying to roll over like he does when he is in his crib. Normally, when I place him in his crib, he squirms, and usually fusses for a while, and I have to pat him on the back, and hold his hand until he finally falls asleep. So with him squirming in my arms, I wondered what would happen if I put him in his crib? I had to find out!

I set him down in the crib, still awake, he rolled over, and WENT TO SLEEP! No crying, fussing, or screaming, or having me pat him to sleep. I am not so naive to think this will be the norm now, but I’ll take it when I can.

These small triumphs are like little gifts- after months and months, of doing the same thing over and over and over, and saying the same things, over and over, and over, it is like something has clicked and makes me realize my boys are responding to what I tell them and what I do for them. It is like a paycheck- a paycheck in mothering, that all your efforts are starting to pay off. I see a glimpse of the future in these moments, and it helps me to gear up for another day, which no doubt will have plenty of crying, screaming, whining, and, “Mommy, Cole is bugging me-make him STOP,” but until then, I’ll savor these small miracles.

Cole Fun Stuff Ryan

First Pair of Crocs and Sandals

Post author By A Mama's Blog
Post date April 4, 2007
3 Comments on First Pair of Crocs and Sandals

I love Crocs! I bought my first pair a few years ago, and I would wear them all the time if I could. They are so comfortable. They were the only pair of shoes I could wear towards the end of my pregnancy with Cole, when my feet started to swell.

I have wanted to get Ryan a pair since last year, but his feet were too small, and at that time the smallest size kid Crocs that was made was size 8/9. Now they the smallest size is 4/5, but I knew Ryan would be able to wear a pair this spring. He likes trying mine on, and in the summer, when Joe has his pair out, he likes to wear Dad’s Crocs.

Last week Ryan had gone about 4 days, of not having any potty accidents, and was doing so well, with stopping what he was doing, to go potty. I told him for a special treat, we would go pick out his first pair of Crocs.

He was really excited, and the store we went to, didn’t have the color I wanted for him- sea blue. We tried on a navy pair, and Ryan said he didn’t like that color. I asked him what color he liked, and after looking around, he took a fuchsia pink pair off the rack.

As much as we try to not do the boy and girl stereotypes, I was not going to let him run around in a pair of hot pink shoes all summer. So I told him that color was more for girls, and asked him if he liked a different color. He then picked out lime green ones, and that was that. Here are a couple of pictures of him showing off his new shoes.

He really likes them, and can put them on, and take them off himself. He likes wearing them around the house too.

Not to be left out, we tried a pair of the 4/5 size on Cole, but they just fell off his foot. He is too little for them yet, but next year, he will have his first pair of Crocs too. I did order him these soft-soled sandals from Shoo Shoos, since he is probably just weeks away from walking, and will need something to protect his little feet this summer. He wore them for the first time out yesterday, and did really well with them. He even got a compliment on how cute they looked. (I forgot to take a picture of Cole in his sandals, but I am sure I’ll have lots of pictures of him in the near future with them on.) So now my little boys are all set for their summer shoes. 🙂

Activities Cole Parenting Ryan

Sunshine at Last

The weather is finally warming up around here, and it has been SO nice. Last week we met a friend, her daughter is six months younger than Ryan, and her son is two months older than Cole, for a walk and picnic at a park. Ryan and H. had a lot of fun running around and playing in the warm weather, and we enjoyed the sunshine as well.

We have discovered that Cole doesn’t like the grass. Every time we try to put him on it, he cries, and gets a really freaked out look on his face. So I have resorted to putting him in a cardboard box, so he can be outside too. He won’t crawl off of it.

Today he sat in his box, while Ryan played, and I went in and out of the house, doing laundry. I managed to snap this picture of him in the box- 🙂

A few minutes later it dawned on me that I could put his exerciser out, and he really liked that. I heard Ryan singing to him, after Cole had been outside for about 10 minutes, and I walked by the door and saw this:

That really touched my heart. Sometimes it seems like all I do all day is tell Ryan, “no,” and “be nice to Cole.” It was nice to see that Ryan can be sweet to Cole as well, and makes me wonder how many other tender moments like this I have missed seeing.

In other news, we are really busy, trying to figure out what kind of car we want, and then we have to narrow it down and go do some test drives.

We finally got our taxes done yesterday (doing a happy dance,) AND we get a pretty good refund back. (doing another happy dance.) BUT now we will probably end up spending it on the replacement car- (no more happy dances.)

I also have a lot of work, from my job that I am trying to organize, so if I don’t blog that much this week, that is why, or else I am trying to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.