Big Walk (Part II)

I know I already posted about this, but Jen shared her pictures of the day with me, and I couldn't resist passing them along to my adoring public.

In case you forgot I was pregnant, refer to bowling ball above. (That was a month ago...I've grown and inch a week since then...)

Much better action shot than I got of Justin and Colton running "fast like McQueen."

I'm pretty sure that Matt was trying to imitate Colton's run.  Either that or he was returning to his primate roots.  Kind of hard to tell which...

We made it to the "ba-ba ba"  (That is Colton's version of waterfall.  Now--a month later--it has at least developed to "wa-wa ba."  Progress.)

Pure happiness.

After playing in the water, his shorts were a little wet...so he got to enjoy Oreos in his undies at the end of the hike.  

Big Walk

Over Labor Day, we decided it was time to introduce Colton to hiking.  We were in the Shenandoahs with the fabulous Piersons, so it seemed like a good Sunday activity to get outside and enjoy the beauties of nature.  For some reason, rather than telling him that we were going on "a hike," we told him that we were going on a "big walk."  I'm not sure why we didn't just call it a hike.  But that is not the point here.  The point is that Colton was a super hiker, or big walker--whatever you want to call it.  He spent the first mile forcing Justin to jog with him "fast like McQueen" (or "bast mean" as this phrase would sound to the average human ear).  This picture doesn't really do justice to the fact that they were moving at quite a clip (especially compared to 7-months-pregnant me).

Despite how much Colton loves running, the highlight of this particular big walk was the little pool full of gravel at the bottom of the waterfall.  

Grab two handfuls of gravel.

Pull back...

Release!

Sheer delight to watch all those little rocks go plop, plop, plop in the water.

Then he realized it was fun to get in the water himself...

Smile! (He's figured out that he should make a face when we say to smile.  At least this time it wasn't his sour face.)

Sadly, getting his feet all wet led to some pretty nasty blisters--and that was the end of him going fast like McQueen.  On the other hand, it was the beginning of a great bicep workout for Justin who got to carry him the rest of the way...

Awesome new phrases

Colton is once again proving that (despite my worst fears) he actually will hit his developmental milestones.  I was convinced he'd never learn to crawl...or get teeth...or most recently, learn to talk.  Well, he may be unintelligible, but the boy's vocabulary is starting to take off.  (Today at the grocery store, he revealed that he knows how to say "want that."  It turns out that there are a lot of things that he wants at the grocery store.  None of them were on the vegetable aisle.)

Yesterday he decided to put two fantastic phrases on repeat: "Mommy pretty!"  "Mommy fun!"   I'll give Justin the credit for teaching him these phrases, but I'll tell you that nothing makes you feel better than hearing someone tell you over and over that you are pretty and fun.  Keep up the good work, Colton!

Blue Cup! Blue Cup!

Last night, as Justin and I were turning out the lights and heading to bed, we suddenly heard a wimper, then a seriously distressed cry.  I went into Colton's room to see what was going on, and I found him walking toward the door saying "Blue cup! Blue cup!"  At this point he'd been asleep for about three hours, so I tried to just send him back to bed, but he continued to insist that he needed a blue cup.  So Justin went to the cupboard and brought Colton a blue plastic Dixie cup.  Colton grabbed it, snuggled it, and settled right in to bed happily holding his blue cup.

We were on vacation last weekend, so we were using plastic cups rather than regular ones, but I had no idea that he'd developed such an attachment.  It made us laugh pretty hard.

Tool belts

Justin was in Colton's room (so that he could take apart the crib and spray paint it brown) with his tool belt.  Colton didn't want to be out-done by Dad, so he grabbed his tool belt as well.  Colton quickly discovered that a felt hammer is not as good of a tool as a real screw driver....

(And I will soon post the grand results of the spray painting and Colton (and baby's) new room...Get excited!)

Lucky Duck

The other day when Justin came home from work, Colton started shouting "lucky duck! lucky duck!"  We couldn't figure out what he meant--or where he would have learned that phrase (it's not one I use on a regular basis...).  Then, when Justin changed out of his work clothes--particularly taking off his socks and shoes--we realized that Colton was referring to Daddy's "yucky sock."  Colton has such a discerning nose...I suppose that's what a couple of months of heat and humidity will do.  Odor-eaters are on the shopping list.  (Sorry, Justin).

Flying

Colton really liked Ben and Camie's LoveSeat.  Especially when Justin threw him into it from across the room.