Christmas 2011

Well Christmas 2011 came and went. I blinked and it was over. In fact I didn't even take very many pictures, I sat my camera down and embraced the moments of Christmas. It was a fun filled day spent with lots of family that included lots of presents, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hubs and me got Cole an adorable white vintage kitchen, Christmas morning he went right over to it and said "Cooking" and picked up the phone and said "Hello". As I expected he was very spoiled by both families and his playroom now looks like Toys R Us vomited all over it. Way to many toys! Hubs did an awesome job per the usual on my big gift,a shiny new white IPad2! Oh how I'm in love maybe even slightly obsessed with it, especially Words With Friends! Christmas Rocks and the older Cole gets it's only going to get better!

 Here are a few pictures from our Christmas day! Enjoy Checking out his new Kitchen Cole and his Grandma Cole and Aunt CoCo
 
  He spotted the Dog... These last two pictures crack me up..I did attempt to take a few pictures of Cole with some family throughout the day... Can you tell he's not interested?!?  

18 Months

 

Well another milestone has come for my little man he is now 18 months old. Sob. I really can't believe how fast things are changing. I have really taken this Holiday season and my 2 weeks off to soak up every second with  him.

Things Cole is up to these days ;

Word explosion. My mom suggested I write down all the words Cole has said about a month ago, after I got to over a 100 words I stopped counting. Let's just say he is talking a whole LOT. These past 2 weeks he is putting two to three words together on a normal basis. "More Please" and "Chase Me" are two of my favorites.

He can sing parts of the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle little star. What he can't say he makes up for with clapping.

He can repeat any color you say but when you ask him "What Color is this?" Most of the time he says Blue.

He loves Animals. He knows and can say almost all his farm animals and a few jungle ones. I can't get enough of him attempting to make all the animal sounds. It's to cute.

Loves to "help" sweep and vacuum. Brushing his teeth is an obsession of his. He asks to "Brush" anytime we pass he's bathroom. I hope this dedication to his dental hygiene continues as he gets older! Ha.

One Nap a day. Usually around between 2 to 3hrs. Bedtime is around 730. Wake up time 7:30. Kid loves some sleep.

Runs more then he walks. Why walk if you can run?!

Not sure how tall he is or how much he weighs. He's doctor doesn't do an 18 month checkup but a 20 month one. But he seems to have gotten taller over the last month. He's in 24month clothing now because the 18month pants were to short.

Dislikes having on his head. It's a constant struggle to get him to wear a hat outside.

Hates to put a jacket on. He cries out "Off" or "Stuck" while pulling on the jacket. My usual response.. Sorry kid your not "stuck" you have to wear it.

Has a sweet tooth. Christmas sweets didn't help.

Loves Milk. Probably drinks to much. But I have a hard time telling him no. When he says please over and over.

Awhile back I was teaching Cole the word water and he was having a hard time saying the W sound so I told him the Spanish word for it. Agua. Well wouldn't you know it that's what he calls water now. Whenever he see's water he yells Agua. When I ask him if he would like some water, he says Agua. My whole family gets a kick out of it.

Time is ticking down to saying goodbye to his "Pass" which is his pacifier. He is very dependent on it for naptime and bedtime. And he has started asking for it other times. This is major Trouble. I foresee lots of crying when we are sans pacifiers.

Loves the movie Rio. The first two minutes of that movie means an all out dance party for Cole. I need to video tape it one of these days.  He just loves  all Music and Dancing.

Trains,Trucks and Cars are his favorite toys. He is all boy.

OK I can't seem to think of anything else. I love this age. I'm blessed with a bright, energetic, curious little boy who makes my life so fulfilling. He's almost always happy temperament reminds me so much of Daddy.  Oh how I love him. 

Kinda Wordless Wednesday

We went shopping a few weeks ago and happened to walk through Bass Pro Shop, it's become a must these days since Cole is a bit obsessed with the elaborate stuffed animals on display. They also have a huge fresh water tank with tons of fish. So anyway, while walking through we came across Santa. There was no line and they give you a picture for free. I wasn't sure what to expect but little man handled it pretty darn well. This picture is pretty ghetto, notice the stuffed Reindeer beside Santa..umm yea.. but what can I say it was FREE.



Over this Holiday season, Cole has learned many new words like Snowman, Reindeer and Santa. The best part is he points them out everywhere and shouts Snowman or Santa. He's even picked up a new trick , when I ask him "What does Santa say?" He says "HoHoHo", then gives me a huge grin. Adorable! Crazy how much he has changed since last year.



 

Homestead Gardens

OK so before it gets to late I wanted to write about our visit to Homestead Gardens this season. They really do an amazing job to get you in the Christmas Spirit. With over 100's of different tree's decorated, some very traditional and others a bit more unique it has a little something for everyone. I seemed to be drawn to the more unique ones. Cole loved walking around looking and of course touching everything.











And of course the main attraction the enormous holiday train display that any train lover would drool over. Heck I kinda drooled over it. There is such amazing detail and love put into the display it's hard not to be in awe.











I plan on taking Cole back over the next week to see the trains again. And of course hear him say "Choo Choo" like 523 times.

He has Moves

First I have to say my son doesn’t always run around in just his diaper. But for some reason every time I video tape him he’s seriouly lacking some clothes. Ha. In this case we had just finished dinner and most of Cole’s dinner was on him rather than in his belly. So we stripped him down. He loves music and dances on a regular occasion. He now says “moic” which means music. He says it and points to the radio for when he wants to hear something.

Last Night’s song of choice was a Cuban version of Coldplay’s Clocks. Nice little gem if I don’t say so myself.

Wordless Wednesday

My son is in LOVE with Trains or as he likes to call them Choo-Choo's. So like any good Mama, I took him to see possibly the largest train display ever seen. If your looking to get into the Holiday Season and live anywhere near Annapolis, MD run don't walk to Homestead Gardens.



More on this Fantastic Place Later.

Christmas Cards

All my Christmas Cards have been stamped & mailed out as of early last week! I love getting the mail this time of year. Everyday there seems to be a lovely new card waiting for me. Here is the Shinaberry Family Christmas Card we sent this year. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Ornament

This is another Christmas Craft found via Pinterst that I just had to try. It was super simple and makes a great gift for the grandparents!

First you need large plastic clear ornaments. I picked mine up from Michaels for $1.75 each. Second, some decorative berry’s or beads. I used some leftover green berry’s I had sitting around and some red berry’s that I got from the Dollar store.



Third, you need to scale down a picture so it will fit in your ornament. I decided to use the Christmas card picture of Cole to help mark the year. I suppose you could add the year on the photo but really I just don't have the skills for that. When placing your picture in the ornament, gently fold the picture but make sure not to make a crease in the photo. Once the picture is in grab a pair of tweezers to move the picture around to the desired place.





And lastly you will need some pretty ribbon to hang your new beautiful ornament on your Christmas tree!



This is a one tradition we will be doing every year. I just love the idea of looking back years from now at these ornaments. It’s just what my sappy sentimental Christmas spirit loves!

Wordless Wednesday

The perfect size tree for our family room. Just love it. And so does the toddler who won't leave it alone!

Tantrum

Cole had his first tantrum yesterday. I mean the kid has had a few out bursts of course. Like not wanting to be strapped down in his car seat, having to walk at all times no matter where we are or wanting to go outside when it’s time for dinner but all in all distraction has worked wonders and these out bursts last less than a minute. And we both move on. I like to think we have been pretty lucky considering he is 17 months old to have made it this long before experiencing a tantrum. I account this to Cole being very verbal and able to express himself with words. However yesterday no amount of words said from him or me was stopping his emotional tantrum over a cookie. Yep a damn cookie.

Cole was in the kitchen trying to get into the pantry and whining. I walk over to see what the issue could be.

Me: “Cole are you hungry do you want some gold fish?”
Cole: “No“ then more whining
Me: “What do you want Cole” as I sit down at his level on the ground.
Cole: “ Cookie”
Me: “ Ok” I proceed to get him a cookie and close the pantry door.

All is fine in the world again and he starts running around devouring his cookie. Then he’s all done. And were back to square one, he’s at the pantry door but this time crying and saying cookie. I explain to him there will be no more cookies. This my friends is the worst thing Cole could have heard. He is now flailing his arms on the pantry door saying “no cookie” over and over.
I try to distract him but it seems my kids sweet tooth has kicked in and no amount of distraction is going to stop this tantrum. He is emotionally invested now. He wants this cookie more than anything else in his life. But I’m not giving in on this one.

So hubs and me retreat to the family room trying to ignore the crying toddler. But it just gets worse. He’s walking around the house now crying so load it’s hard to think. Hubs asks me “what is going on with him?” I tell him “I believe we are experiencing his first tantrum”. After what feels like an hour but actually 10minutes I have reached my threshold of “ignoring” and take Cole up to his crib. It’s time to calm down I tell him.

And thank goodness that’s exactly what he did. He sat there in this crib silent. After five minutes I went back into get him and I was greeted by a huge smiling 17month old who had forgotten the whole ordeal.

I’m fairly certain this is not the last time we will be experiencing this, it’s around this age they start to emotional mature and understand they have likes and dislikes. For me I try to remind myself to stay calm. The last thing we need is two screaming people. Picking your battles is also important. Sure giving him the cookie would have been easy but most likely we would have been revisiting this cookie issue if not that day but the next.

So I guess we have entered the big bad world of discipline in toddler hood. I’m scared someone hold me.

Wordless Wednesday

Yea I'm that mom that put's her son in Santa diapers. I blame babies r us for having them on sale. Way to freaking cute.

So Very Thankful!

Thanksgiving consisted of lots of food and football. We spent the day with both our families which meant 2 turkey dinners. Like I said lots of food. I consumed so many mashed potatoes I could barely button my pants that night. Sad but true.

Cole with his GG

Is it me or does he look like he's 3 in this picture?

Cam and his Dad...all ready for the game!


It was unseasonably warm this year so we ventured outside to burn some of that food off.

We played some football with the little guy. He loved slamming the football to the ground and doing a dance. Future football player?!?







Cole got to spend some much needed time with his Aunt Brooke who lives out west. I love this picture of the two of them.

It was a great day that was topped off with a wonderful night spent watching are Ravens win!



I really think I could get use to going to football games on Thanksgiving. Makes Thanksgiving that much more awesome.