Cole has been pulling up on everything lately. I've been encouraging him to walk by coaching him to inch his way along the sofa or holding his hands as he takes steps and praising him the entire time. You might be asking me WHY? WHY would you want him to be more mobile? The answer is; he's my first child and each new thing he does just makes me giddy.
Anyhow, for a few days Cole would try to walk behind one of those push toys but would fall after only a couple of steps. Yesterday he decided to walk a marathon around our living room. I was in shock and disbelief. I looked at him and asked him, "When did you learn how to do this? Yesterday you were only taking a couple of steps. Today, it's back and forth back and forth across the living room." He gave me a huge smile and a giggle and took off again. I was amazed.
Cole was showing off his new skill all day long. I couldn't get him to play with any other toys. And when his Daddy came home he wanted to show him what he'd been working on all day. It was great. Cole got lots of claps, hugs, words of encouragement and kisses for his new accomplishment by both Mama and Daddy.
Maybe this weekend Daddy will go with us and watch me (Cole) swing.
I just can't help but love my little buckaroo. I think he's the cutest.
Cole is crawling really well now but he loves trying to walk behind one of his toys that he can push. He actually took three steps by himself before falling, the other day. I was shocked and so proud of him for his efforts.
Since Cole is growing like a weed and has out grown his infant car seat, we bought him a new one. After much in-store looking and polling our friends as to which car seat they liked best; we ordered one online. It came in a couple of days ago and Cole couldn't wait to see what was inside this huge box in our hallway. He now has a box-fort and loves crawling in and out of it. Cole got to use the new car seat for the first time yesterday when we went to visit our friends Mrs. Anne and her son, John. He loved it. 
Cole's PawPaw had some work in our neck of the woods today so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity for Cole to get to visit with his PawPaw. He came in last night and brought some fresh fish with him. He caught the fish off of his pier the night before; now you just can't beat that kind of fresh fish. We cooked them on the grill with some vegetables in a foil packet. Oh, it was so yummy.
With his new tooth Cole is eating Cheerios, sliced fruit, chicken, veggies, cheese, basically anything and everything off the table. He is Mr. Independent and loves to eat things that he can pick up and feed himself. This morning after breakfast (I was washing up the dishes) I found Cole eating dog food out of April's bowl. Eeeeewwwhhaaa! I don't think he actually swallowed any but he had a piece in his mouth that I had to pry out of there with some force.
April and Cole have become quite the duo. They play like siblings and from my point of view it's kind of funny to watch. Cole's newest trick is to chase (crawl really fast) after April and take one of her toys. He will sit in the middle of the floor holding the toy (usually a ball) close to his chest and reaching out for April with the other hand. If she tries to get the toy, Cole gets her. He smiles the entire time knowing that she can't resist getting her toy back. The other day Cole had one of April's toys and he and April played tug-of-war with it until Cole let go. So cute.
Cole is learning the mechanics of everything right now. He is intrigued by how things work. For example, he will sit in the hallway where I keep his jogging stroller and roll the tires to him and away from him for several minutes. I even caught him rolling the wheel on top of his toes and then pushing the wheel off of his toes. He watched every inch as it moved.
We spent Saturday morning leisurely packing and preparing for our weekend get-away and left for the coast that afternoon. My Love, Cole, our dog April, and I arrived at our hotel late that afternoon. We checked in, unpacked the car and went for a short walk on the beach. Then we went to dinner at Fish Tales on the beach. It had the feel of Joe's Crab Shack and was a decent meal but I would not recommend it to anyone.
That night when it was time to put Cole to bed, he wasn't having any of it. He refused to sleep in his pack and play. I really don't understand why because he takes naps in the pack and play at home all of the time. There were two "queen" beds in our room (I really think they were double beds, not queen) so at a little past midnight My Love made himself comfortable in one bed and Cole and I slept in the other bed for what was left of the night. Oh yeah, and April joined Cole and me.
It was still early in the morning so not many beach bums were up yet and My Love found the perfect place for us to have some fun. We parked the car and headed for the sand and waves. Cole loved the beach. He let the sand squish between his toes and even ate a few hand fulls of sand. He was amazed with how the waves came and left every few seconds and loved to splash in the water when it was there. My Love took Cole into about a foot or so of water but Cole did not like the waves crashing that close to him and splashing his face. 
My Love found a hermit crab for me and showed it to Cole. Cole really didn't pay too much attention to it and I let it get washed away by the tide.
After attempting to take a nap at the hotel we went to dinner at Willie G's. The food there is fantastic and Cole was still in a pleasant mood (which was surprising because of his lack of sleep). That night we just relaxed at the hotel after dinner and didn't even bother with the pack and play. Prince Cole slept in the bed again.
