Man, I’ve really been slack on here - I switched jobs after the new year and it’s been a bit crazy. Not to mention the fact that Colin is really getting mobile. He had his December walking, but that was primarily just us standing him up and him barreling forward into one of us, while laughing.
These days he’s been taking it to the next level. For about a month there it was mostly walking around holding on to things, but in the past week or so he’s been walking all over the place with no assistance. It really makes you sit back and take a breath, because it’s shocking how quickly he’s turned from a helpless little guy to this walking machine. I love it though, he gets so much joy from walking between the living room and the side door! Talk about appreciating things!
Last week while playing with phone Colin called 911. Just randomly hit the number and the next thing I know I hear “911 - what is your emergency?” In a panic I hung up - I realize I should have told her what happened, but I got the chance when she called back a few minutes later. Needless to say Colin isn’t allowed to play with the phone anymore.
Lately Colin has learned “on” and “off” - so he wants to turn everything on and off, which includes the TV, light switches or taking his hat on and off. It still amazes me how fast he picks up on words and concepts. He also says “nose” a lot - but more like “nooooossse.” It is so cute, makes me laugh all the time (even when he won’t sleep at 3 AM).
We are trying to get him to sleep through the night now. The first couple of nights he cried got up and talked for an hour then cried for another 1 1/2 - that was rough. Really hard, but things have gotten better since then. He will still wake up and sometimes cries for awhile, but has also learned how to go back to bed. And for me it is sweet freedom from having to get up multiple times a night to feed him or being required to rock him to sleep all the time (although I do kind of miss that 
It’s surprising how varied development is in kids. Jess took Colin to his first playgroup at the Y yesterday, and while he was the youngest, there was a girl only a week older than him who was walking everywhere, stooping…generally a pretty mobile kid from the sound of it.
Colin walks all the time, but most of it is holding on to things, and when he ventures to walk solo it’s usually for short distances and it’s pretty wobbly. Seems like it could be so many things; boys vs. girls, single child vs. those with siblings, access to playmates, who knows. By the same token he seems to be well ahead of other kids his age in the number of words he uses, and we are constantly surprised at how perceptive he seems to be. I know the physical will happen, but first-time parents are hardest on themselves I think. “We must be failing if he’s not running everywhere!!!” - you know you haven’t failed, but it’s inescapable.