Family Fuller

There are so many things that I think about recording here that I forget to add; I suppose that’s why I started actively using the blog in the first place, but I’m still missing some things.

The positive spin on that is that I’m enjoying every moment with Colin, and so stopping to type up a blog entry doesn’t really factor in - like when he got up at 5:30am on Sunday and decided he would not go back to sleep in his crib. He wanted to be rocked, or else.

Now that he’s learning and doing so many new things every day, I’ve come to expect it of him - Jess takes the opposite position, she can hardly believe half the things he picks up so quickly. He has managed to learn sign language to the point that he tells us when he’s hungry or thirsty, wants more of something, needs a new diaper, or is ready for his bath. The verbal communication is coming along as well, I can’t even catalog all of the sounds (word-like and otherwise) he uses, but he uses all of them quite a bit. To be fair, “da” still occupies the top spot as the most used sound, but he’s definitely branching out.

He’s a book fiend, which makes me happy, and wants to have Dr. Seuss’ Fox in Socks read to him at least four or five times a day - he repeatedly requests it by using his word for socks, which is something like “ga”.

Can’t wait to see how he reacts to various holiday activities - he didn’t have quite the “OH” moment we’d thought he would have when we put up the tree yesterday. He seems cautiously interested in it, but we’ll see how the rest of the month plays out leading up to his second Xmas.

Uncle Fletcher is in town for the Ohio State game - he hasn’t seen Colin since last Christmas, so needless to say the little man is somewhat more entertaining. It took him very little time to make Uncle Fle aware of his overwhelming interest in the bells and whistles on cell phones. Luckily Uncle Fle has a picture phone, and he managed to capture C in a classic “AH AH AH” pose asking to have the phone. Unfortunately for Uncle Fle, he gave Colin the phone, and Colin proceeded to figure out how to lock it. Uncle Fle didn’t know how to fix it. Good job buddy!

It is truly incredible to watch someone’s personality while it’s being created. Jess and I go back and forth about how much of a personality is nature vs. nurture, but whatever the source Colin’s unique aspect on things reveals itself every day. Not all aspects are as fun as others - I think he inherited a stubborn streak (wonder where that came from?), but it’s all fascinating.

We’re still working up to solo walking - steps have been taken, but not without some prodding, so I’m just waiting to come home from work and see that little guy walking to me on those wobbly legs.

Let’s just say Colin is a talker. The kid has things to say, and he says them, and we encourage it as much as possible. Some of the more recent words that he’s been throwing out there:

“ab’m”
“bug’m”
“bog’m”
“ducka”

The apostrophe M is really the only way to spell those words; there’s no discernible syllable between the first and the second. The ‘ducka’ just came into fashion yesterday, and he likes to repeat it over and over, so that he sounds like Dr. Evil when he did the macarena.

I feel the need to personally thank fisher-price for creating a set of four plastic fish cups of differing colors that stack - without this wondrous invention, I’m not sure Colin would take in enough food to sustain himself. Any time we run into food defiance, we stack up the cups, and the distraction is enough to get him to eat. So thanks F-P, not sure what we’d do without you.

Halloween, the cutest bear on the planet:

Sunday was quite the eventful day. Not only did Colin walk, but we had a star in our backyard. Woke up around 7:30am to the sound of Sevi barking - Sevi never barks unless someone is here that she doesn’t know.

I go downstairs, and she’s barking at the kitchen window (it’s about fifteen feet above the ground). I look down and there’s a guy standing there staring at the house, but not doing much else. So of course I’m freaking out, I mean I’ve got Jess and Colin in here and some guy lurking around my backyard. He proceeds up to the living room side of the house, and positions himself in front of the window, which happens to be where the heater vents. At that point I noticed he had leaves all through his hair, and a pretty glazed look on his face.

So I knock on the window and ask him what the hell he’s doing? Let’s just say this guy must have had a fun night, because he was close to incoherent. He mumbles out a few things about how cold it is, but generally can’t put thoughts and words together, thanks to being cold, stoned and drunk.

I suppose now that he’d made contact, he thought it was time to get inside and warm up - so he heads over to the side door to our house and starts trying the door. We have a window in the door, so I’m just standing there talking to the guy trying to get in. Our conversation moved forward a little bit at this point, after I repeated to tell him that I wasn’t going to let him in and he should just go home - to my telling him I don’t know who he is: “I’m Carter” (great, that explains it), followed by “I’m Lenny Kravitz” - to my asking him if he lived around here and that he should go home: “I’m not that country” (except for sleeping in my backyard I suppose) - reacting to the dawning realization that I wasn’t going to let him in: “I’m not trying to break into this chicken coop” (that’ll score you points).

In hindsight we figured out that the Lenny Kravitz comment referred to what was a somewhat subtle Halloween costume, and this guy must have had a hell of a time at a party the night before - so much so that he passed out in our backyard. Eventually the fact that he wasn’t going to get warm here penetrated the haze, and he took off (he was surprisingly nice about it, very careful when opening and shutting the gate).

You’ve got to love Halloween. The upshot was that a little later, after walking the dog, I walked into the backyard to see where this guy had settled down for the night, and saw that he’d left a Trojan (which is probably still there, haven’t checked since) and a $10 bill. Guess that was the rent for the accomodations, so he ended up buying us breakfast. Thanks Lenny!

Colin took his first steps a few days ago. He walked from Chuck to me (about 6 steps), then I turned him around and he walked back to Chuck. It was very exciting and we managed to capture it on video tape. He still hasn’t really ventured out on his own without our prodding though, I think he prefers to crawl right now.

He is also getting good at his sign language, he can ask for more, say he is hungry and “all done.” Plus Chuck taught him that trucks and cars make sounds when they drive, so now everything is “driven” around with a “vroom” sound - but really it is more like humming. He really does pick up on everything you say. I am constantly surprised that he understands me. For some reason I still think of Colin as a dog or something. Like I have to say things 5 times, very slowly and really loud. So when in causal conversation I tell Chuck that something is hot, Colin repeats hot right after me. Or Chuck says once “Can you splash the water?” Colin just does it, without having to be shown how or have it repeated.

I volunteered Colin for a study at U of M - simple study about how babies understand the human emotion of being surprised. He made $10 for about 15 minutes of playing. During the test, they researchers are playing with him asking him to imitate actions and it is being taped. Right in the middle of it one of them asked him if he liked the car and he burps super loud then hands the car over - it was so funny.