Colt got wet "playing in rain" after church on Sunday with some other kids. He was trying to catch the rain dripping off the roof with a jar (sounds like a great past time for a 2 year old I know). Nevertheless, he came running in yelling, "MOMMY GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" I asked him what he wanted "off," to which he replied "the rain on my sweater!"

With this pregnancy I've been quite sick (again). One morning I was just crying because I felt so weak and couldn't quit vomiting. Colt came in and gave me a kiss, "It's going to be okay Mommy." Then I got sick again, and he just looked at me and said, "It's PROBABLY going to be okay. . ." Very reassuring. It is sweet to hear him pray for "mommy to feel better" though :-)

2 year olds say the funniest things!

1. On our travels up to WV we stopped for a bathroom break at McDonalds, while sitting in a booth enjoying our 3/$1 cookies ;-) Colt looked over at a table full of teenagers and yelled, "IS EVERYBODY OKAY OVER THERE?" That could possibly be my first embarrassing moment? He's so verbal!

2. At Mom and Dad's, while David was hunting, we were all sitting together finishing up breakfast. Mom asked Colt if he needed to go to the bathroom. Colt's response, "Well, that's a good question Nana!"

3. Today Colt asked me what I was eating. . . I told him I thought I might eat some cereal, or an apple, or orange, or banana. To which he replied, "THAT'S JUST CRAZY MAMA! You are soooo crazy!" hahahaha. I love it - all this talking (most of the time)!

"I don't know about that. . ."

This made me laugh out loud:

I was putting Colt to bed and he ALWAYS calls me back in to put socks on his feet. So, I thought I'd jump the gun and asked him if he wanted to go ahead and get his socks on when he got in bed. In his cute little voice with so much expression, he said, "I don't know about THAT Mommy." Wonder where he heard that phrase?

David took Colt to a new friends house last night. When they were getting ready to leave, David said, "Thank you and it was nice to meet you." Colt - who was more excited about their pet cats - ran across the room and landed right in front of the cat and yelled, "NICE TO EAT YOU!" Surprisingly the cat didn't even move? Go figure.

"MAMA! I HIT THE DECK!" was what was coming out of your mouth with much distress, all the while rubbing your little toe head. With some investigation I discovered you had bumped your head pretty hard on my DESK. We learned the difference afterwards :-)

Oh my happy boy. . .

We go to the park almost every day, and we always take Rosie. This morning you insisted on wearing your sunglasses, even though it's a perfect fall day and the park was 100% shaded. You were probably amusing to the other parents, but none of the little ones even seemed to notice (except maybe the 16 month old that you nearly plowed over possibly because your sunglasses made it too dark for you to see!) hahaha.

When we went to get Rosie to go to the park too, you said, "Hey Rosie Girl! So nice to see you! Mommy, I think Rosie needs sunglasses too." Maybe she did?

Before I forget (or you move on to another stage in life since you are growing up so quickly!), I want to write about this "hoarding" stage you are going through. Now, just for the record, this goes against my very nature. I like to keep things where they belong, and you used to be that way. You would go around and fix the rugs and close all of the doors, always pointing out messes - a boy after my own heart :-) haha.

Not that I made you that way though, maybe it was just in your genes? Because I LOVE for you to have fun and be 100% boy! I LOVE to see you get all of your books out and work your puzzles with 1000 pieces everywhere. I LOVE for you to be covered in dirt and smudge up my back door :-) Of course, you always clean up. . . but recently you are in this phase where you like to carry your Big Ole (stuffed animal you named), your teddy bear, your horse, your horse pillow, your night night (aka Baby Jack), and your blue blanket EVERYWHERE you go.

No, we don't take them out of the house because that would be a disaster, but you like to transfer them from room to room or just one side of your bed to the other and back all day. It takes you about 10 minutes to make it downstairs for breakfast because you have to make about 5 trips, if you know what I mean.

So, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Miles and I didn't take all of your things for packing sake. It didn't matter though because you found new things to transfer from place to place, namely a HUGE blanket, a bed pillow, a sheet (not sure where that came from), a doll, and some books. What fun to watch you do this :-) It really makes me laugh on the inside. . .

It's been raining nonstop for the past 3 days. This is a good thing because everything was dead and brown after the drought that we've been having. You don't understand that though and just miss playing outside all day and going to the park (which Rosie and I miss too)! So, this morning at breakfast you looked outside and our conversation went something like this:

Colt: "It's dark outside Mommy."
Me: "That's because it's raining so much right now."
Colt: "Can we turn off the rain for just a little bit Mommy?"
Me: "You'll have to talk to God about that Colt. Mommy can't control the rain."
Colt: "God turn off the rain and turn on the lights outside?"

My smile for the morning: You were playing and a little toot came out. . . you looked at me and said," Mommy, I got GRASS!" I think you meant "gas." Oh, the pleasantries of having a boy!

So, you now know your ABC's. I posted a video on my blog today. It had you saying your ABC's and playing with your imaginary Baby Jack. You sort of created him after you went to visit your new cousin, Jack. It's amusing none the less, so you can view it here too:



One other thing, when we lay you down to sleep we usually tell you that we love you "to the moon and back!" I just laid you down for your nap and said "I love you big mister." Not even thinking you said "I love you to the back of the moon!" That definitely brought a smile to my face.

2 things to add from tonight:

You were playing outside this evening while I was cleaning up after dinner when you flung open the door and yelled, "MOMMY! COME SEE THE RECTANGLE!" You were talking about the screen door for our back porch. . . must have been quite the find for you!

I just laid you down and you asked if you could sleep with your Bible. I told you no, because last time I tried it you wouldn't go to sleep because you were "reading" it. You said, "I can't sleep with my Bible because it will rot my teeth out?" hahahaha. That's what I told you about sleeping with drinks. HILARIOUS.

Today has been fun! We went to the park for hours this morning, and there were so many kids there. You were super friendly. . . practicing that verse that Papaw Curry taught you from Proverbs "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." You said "HI!" to everyone, followed by "I NAMED COLT!" Usually you just received a smile or blank stare from the other little ones. But it didn't stop you :-)

The greatest new thing is that you now go to the potty completely by yourself! No accidents and no help needed! I was cleaning the kitchen today when you descended the stairs so proud that you had just peed in the potty by yourself! I didn't know you could do that (because I usually lift you up there) so I was looking everywhere for wherever you "really" peed. But, you took me to the potty and sure enough. . .there was pee in it! No mess either. So, the next time you went I snuck around and watched how you did it. It was quite the balancing act, and I wouldn't be surprised if you fall in some day, but it's pretty cool that you take yourself to the bathroom. That's 100% potty trained in my book ;-)

Love you kiddo!

Potty Training -Day 4

ITS BEEN A GREAT DAY in the life of a Mommy with a 2 year old being potty trained! Whoo hoo!! I wish I could say the task is complete, but I don't want to jump the gun :-)

I kind of wanted to see if you would use the potty without any prompts from Mommy today, but then again I was nervous because I don't particularly like to clean up accidents of that nature. . . BUT I gave it a shot! And praise the Lord, you told Mommy when you needed to potty and would even pull your pants down on your own and go if you were outside, or I would take you to the bathroom if we were inside. We actually ventured to Daddy's school to hear an awesome speaker in chapel, and you told Mommy twice that you needed to potty! While I may have missed part of the message, you DID use the bathroom both times and we didn't have any messes to clean up.

Maybe you are wondering about any progress on the "#2" in the potty problem we were having yesterday. Well, I heard you wake up from your nap and say "MOMMY I NEED TO POTTY!" So, I ran in there because I didn't want a repeat of yesterday. . . you sat on the potty, had an expression of terror and started crying because you were actually pooping in the potty! That's a first. . . I was screaming and cheering while you were saying "big poo poo" and flushing the toilet as quickly as you could. . . you weren't quite fond of that experience, and you didn't actually smile until we were downstairs and I told you that you could have 5 M&Ms and some ice cream for that accomplishment. I had to laugh, because I said "Colt, Mommy is SO proud of you!!" To which you replied, "Thank you Mommy, now I get birthday cake!"

Potty Training - Day 3

We started off great with a pee in the potty as soon as you got up. You even slept in until 6:40 which was a gift from above I know. Unfortunately your diaper from last night was wet. I'll attribute that to a late dinner with "Ambuger" and "Jamesburger" though. We'll try to eat earlier and hold the fluids before bed time when we can.

You did great throughout the morning too! No accidents! You told me when you had to potty twice and the rest were prompted by Mommy and Daddy. Still, no accidents is great for me! But, I was helping Daddy outside for about 10 minutes while you were napping and came back in to hear you crying, which is unusual since you can now get out of bed when you wake up. I went in and you were standing in your bed very distraught about the wetness surrounding you. After assuring you that life was still good and that you could go on, I asked if you were awake or asleep when you peed. You said, "awake. I called for potty," and then started crying again. It must have been one of those times where you GOTTA GO when you gotta go :-) Especially considering you've woke up dry the past 2 days with big boy underwear.

THEN. . . it was dinner time and Daddy and I were discussing how you still hadn't pooped (great dinner convo), which was very unusual. We were waiting and watching. . . Well, you told me when you started pooping in your underwear. A bit late. I think I scared the rest of it back in by rushing you to the potty. Because you had accident #2 with the rest of the poop about an hour later.

You did great at church though. No other problems. We'll just have to work on pooping in the potty specifically. That sounds fun, huh?!

I guess we did have 1 other accident though. . . you were helping me wash our cars today. You did such a great job too, knocking the bucket over and sitting in the water. . . it was great :-) I don't know HOW you did it, but you got the car wash and poured the WHOLE gallon in my bucket. Yep. That was fabulous too. I'm just thankful the bucket was empty and I could pour it back in, and that you didn't try to drink it. That's what I get for washing the back of the Tahoe and letting you stay at the front. I should have definitely enlisted your help on the rear bumper, or specifically instructed you not to somehow find the carwash, take the cap off, and dump it in my empty bucket. Maybe I'll do that next time.

Potty Training- Day 2

Successes - 2 pees in the grass while playing outside this morning
1 pee in the potty before nap time
1 pee in the potty after nap time
1 pee in the grass before dinner
And just when I wasn't sure if you would do as well "inside" as you had done "outside" all day, you told Daddy you had to potty during dinner and did!! Yippee. . . another blue M&M :-)

Misses - You must have went to the potty 100 times telling me you had to poo poo. . . but never did. I left you outside for 2 minutes and what do I find? A Colt with poop on his legs that says he pooped in the sandbox and Rosie ate it!!! Now that is nasty. I almost gagged at the thought.

Just some funny things you said today too:

Standing in front of the refrigerator this morning: "Mommy, will you open the alligator please?"

I was fixing you a half of bagel and wondering out loud if you would like apple butter on it. You said "Yes sir, I like apple butter." For one, you called me sir. For two, you've never had apple butter . . .

Have I ever mentioned that you say "sandwich" "sambichich". . . you asked for a sambichich 57 times and talked about it the whole time you ate it. So it's forever ingrained in my memory.

Can't forget this one: We had some new friends over for dinner, James and Amber. You had James' name down, but Amber always came out "Amburger" and somehow James' name morphed into "Jamesburger" as well. I'm glad they thought it was funny too!

Potty Training - Day 1

So, today has been Day 1 of potty training for you Colt. Mommy is off this whole week, and I decided today was a good day to start! (Plus we have 1 pack of diapers left and don't want to buy anymore). You are a smart kiddo, and I have faith in you!

After your initial diaper change this morning came the "Big Boy Underwear" ceremony. I couldn't emphasize enough how BIG this was to you. . . hoping you would catch Mommy's enthusiasm. I set my alarm for every 20 minutes to ask you if you needed to go potty. You got annoyed with that quickly, so I changed it to every hour.

You used the potty before we left for the park (and got 1 M&M candy - a blue one per your request), peed in the grass AT the park (and got another blue M&M). . . you were doing great! It had been 5 hours and NO ACCIDENTS. Well, we noticed when we brought you in for lunch your big boy underwear was a little wet. It didn't seem like enough to constitute a pee though. . . then I found where you had taken off your socks and shoes (full of pee). Lovely. Accident #1.

Before your nap you used the potty and Mommy reminded you several times not use the bathroom in your bed. You had to get up and tell Mommy or Daddy that you needed to potty!! DO NOT USE THE BATHROOM IN YOUR BED. I don't know why I didn't want to put a diaper on your for your nap. . . but I didn't. Thankfully, you woke up clean and dry!

As soon as you woke up, I took you to the potty, but you said you didn't need to go. After your snack you told me you had to pee pee though!! And you did. . . in the potty of course. I was really getting pumped! This was going to be easier than I thought :-)

Then we went to our friends for dinner. Your buddy Kephas peed in the grass and you must of thought you had your pants down too, but you didn't. Accident #2. Then we walked to the ice cream shop. . .

ACCIDENT #3. You came up running and crying leaving a log in the floor and an inch long trail. Again, LOVELY. Daddy picked it right up before anyone noticed. Thankfully there weren't very many people there. We took you out and cleaned you up, and of course cleaned up inside. That was not my favorite accident.

Oh well, you have a diaper on for the night. Overall, your hits definitely outweigh the misses! We'll embark into Day 2 tomorrow. . . Keep your chin up kid.

Oh my. . . today was so much fun! I suppose because you were cracking me up AND obeying :-) That always makes the day more enjoyable.

At Kohl's you wanted to wear your rain boots. It's September and definitely NOT rainy. A lady told you she really liked your boots. To her you replied with MUCH enthusiasm,"Thank you. I like YOUR shoes." Where that came from, I'll never know. You amused us both.

We went outside to pet Rosie tonight, but we couldn't find her at first. Thankfully you were yelling, "ROSIE!! I NEED TO PET YOU!!"

I was cleaning upstairs this afternoon when I heard you let yourself in the back door. You came to tell me there were flies outside that came in. Wonder how that happened?

We love you too much. . . if there is such a thing.

Some funny things you do and say:

1. "Mommy, I pull the PLUB" when you are ready to get out of the bath and 'pull the plug.'

2. You have started climbing IN and OUT of your crib, and you are so proud of yourself! You even showed Mommy how to do it when I asked you how in the world you managed to do that so quietly :-) You climb out about 6:30 every morning and come in our room with our wake up call "MORNING! GET UP GET UP!"

3. Last night, when we laid you down for bed, I was explaining to you that instead of running into Mommy and Daddy's room when you got up in the morning and crawling all over us until we got moving . . .you could quietly come in and let us know you were awake, then just play quietly in your room with your books. Well, no sooner had I closed your door and walked into my room across the hall, than your bedroom door opened and you said "I'M AWAKE. YOU AWAKE?!" You were devastated when we told you that you had to go back to bed and try again in the morning :-)

4. Since your 2nd birthday 3 weeks ago you have learned your first 3 Bible verses:
(your version)
John 3:16 "God loved the world. Gave his Only Son. Whoever believe in Him. Not die. Live forEVER!"

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind to EVERYONE."

Genesis 1:1 "In beginning. God created heaven and EARTH!"

5. You love swimming "by yourself." You will not have anything to do with me or Daddy holding onto you. You just want your life jacket and go out into the deep waters kicking those little legs away (not actually swimming, but totally saying you are).

6. When we prayed before bed, you thanked God for the sand in the sandbox and the water at the beach.

7. You got in trouble today for dumping out Rosie's water and eating her dog food. Your new play place is in Rosie's dog house WITH Rosie.

Another day in the life. . loving every minute!

Dear Colt,

I had a revelation last night to start a blog JUST FOR YOU. . . to record all of the hilarious and adorable things you do that make us smile and laugh on a daily basis :-) The good news is that you are 2 and it is such a fun age! I'm glad I can start writing this stuff down now that you are talking and doing so many new things as you grow. The only bad thing is that I wish I would have started sooner! So, to compensate for that you'll have to check out Mommy's blog where I have countless pics from your first 2 years of life!

www.milesofpraise.blogspot.com