Colin at 18 months

A year and a half with Colin! He is growing so fast and many people have recently commented that he looks like a little boy now.

This has been a fast, hectic month with school ending for Karen and kids' activities almost every weekend. Anna was back on the preschool birthday party circuit, and she has continued dance class in preparation for her first recital next week. The "carnival" came to our neighborhood - a celebration literally in our backyard with pony rides, a train, and entertainment. Colin LOVED the train, but was NOT a fan of the pony rides, as you can see:

Colin's ability to communicate continues to develop and we're hearing him use many more multiple-syllable words, like "yellow," "vitamin," "tractor," "Henry" (a character in a book), "Bennett" (a neighborhood boy). He has also begun finishing sentences in his favorite books, such as "Little Blue Truck," "Go,Go,Go," and "I Like It When." He has begun to start "reading" by himself, settling into his little blue chair and going through his alphabet books, shouting the words he knows:

Colin's also finishing lines in more songs that we sing together, which he loves to do while swinging at the playground. I've also heard him singing more at bedtime when he's trying to fall asleep, just like his sister did. Getting down to sleep for the night has gotten tougher with the sun out so late each night, but we are holding the line on 7pm bedtime and Colin is learning how to calm himself down. This process often involves three Curious George stuffed toys, of different sizes, and a baby doll of Anna's that Colin has grown to love. He wrestles and throws his toys around and eventually passes out from sheer exhaustion.

Colin's love of construction vehicles continues. Lucky for him there is a construction site down the road from our house that we have started walking to with some frequency. There are huge excavators and front loaders to look at as well as large pipes and huge piles of dirt. A boys' dream. His favorite book at the moment is "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site," and he loves to say "Shhhh... night night" to Crane Truck, Bulldozer, Cement Mixer, Excavator, and Dump Truck. While dressing Colin in the morning is not easy, it goes much better if you lure him with the promise of one of his two shirts with construction equipment on them. He also seems smitten with trains and dinosaurs. He loves to put together train tracks, and gets excited each time he hears a train whistle off in the distance, which is frequent around our neighborhood. His dinosaur obsession is affecting his knowledge of the A,B,Cs, as we are not allowed to sing the regular ABC song, only this version: "A,B,C,D, Dinosaur, that is what the D stands for. Some are big and some are small, some are short and some are tall...." He shouts like crazy for "dido"(dinosaur) if you try the song any other way!

Colin is still quite a daredevil on the playground and trying to keep up with his sister the best that he can. He seems interested in riding a bike or tricycle, but not quite able yet. He wants to wear a helmet like Anna so we let him try her balance bike out:

Anna and Colin play wonderfully together. It is so heartwarming to see them display affection for one another. We are in a great place where we can relax a bit while they entertain one another:

 Click on the photo below to see more of what we've been up to!

Colin at 18 months