Purple Party

Cole was very specific with her third birthday requests: a purple party with all of her friends, a purple cake, and a big purple ball. Girlfriend is in her purple period! I went to Walmart and bought every purple decoration I could find. We ordered a purple cake from Sweet Melissa and they went wild with the idea of making the cake as purple as possible, inside and out. Cole was over the moon.

Cole had such a blast playing with her friends at our house. We put out some toys and I covered the kitchen table with paper so the guests could color. Our balloon decorations quickly became part of the party entertainment. The kids had a great time tearing them down, then running in circles with balloons in tow.

 

Singing, cake and candles were possible the highlight of Cole's day! She was so pumped to have her friends sing to her and then eat purple cake.

(When I play hostess I LOVE for someone else to take on camera duty. Nearly all of the pictures and the sweet video were taken by our friend. Major thanks to VTCarter! )

Cole :: 3 Years

Three. Three, three, three. This year is going to be good! Cole is a little girl and no longer a toddler. She is potty trained and sleeps in a big girl bed. She has opinions and a solid personality. She is a bit of pleaser who is fiercely loyalty and never at a loss to describe what she wants. She loves her friends and her family both near and far. 

At three, Cole is very affectionate, verbally and physically. She is a creature of habit. And is keen to hold you to your word. For the last two years she's insisted on dressing herself and has a distinct, increasingly monochromatic, sense of style. She loves our outings and wants to know our agenda everyday. She prides herself on being a "big helper," which she is. She is in the kitchen asking how she can help me prep before every meal. 

She has started to pray for her friends and she holds on to details. For months, she's been praying for God to give our family three more babies. Because she's a riot. She loves to make people laugh and that prayer gets a rise out of me every time. 

Meet Cole. Her arrival. 1 month. 2 months. 3 months. 4 months. 5 months. 

6 months. 7 months. 8 months. 9 months. 10 months. 11 months. 1 year. 2 years. 2.5 years.

Dinner Conversation

Momma: How was your day?
Cole: Good.
Momma: Who made it good? (Implying which friends.)
Cole: God.
Momma: That is true. Who did you play with?
Cole: Everyone.
Momma: Who is everyone?
Cole: Jesus.
Momma: You played with Jesus?
Cole: No. He in my heart.

So many heart eyes. 

The Opposite of Camera Shy

"Take my picture, momma!" 

Noon Year's Eve

Near Synonyms

Oh, language development, it just blows me away! Cole's vocabulary has exploded. She understands that some words have similar meanings. In an effort toward creatively [I think!], she's been substituting words and nearly always hits the marks. Sometimes she gets close, close enough for us to understand but far enough off base to make us laugh.

Recently, heard:

Meaning laughing | "What you funny about?"
Meaning eat | "Me like him. I lick him up."

Back to School

Cole :: 2.5 Years

Two and a half is so fun! Our little goat is a hoot. I wish I could adequately capture her zest for life through storytelling.  I've been recording more moments on video just to preserve the memory which I'm excited about.

In the last six months, Cole has unveiled more of her spunky and independent personality. She's been calling Peter by his first name, which we correct. She asks to drive the car, to stay home alone, and to ride a bus, train, and truck, all alone. She has suggested, on multiple occasions, that she could watch Ibbie while I go run errands. Our big girl has been opting out of bathes for showers and recently requested we dye her hair sky blue. Seriously. This kid is a trip!

She loves her friends, both near and far, so we discuss them often. She's picked up a few trademark phrases, like "Hey, I have a idea," "Lets talk about it," and "Me funny?" She's picking up new words every day and echoes much of what she hears in conversation, on the radio, and on television. She loves to talk about her memories. We talk about Memphis, trips, visitors we've hosted and our family. Cole often refers to herself in the third person, either with pronouns or "sister."

Her favorite shows are Curious George and Daniel Tiger. Her favorite movies are Toy Story 3, Frozen, and Mary Poppins. She loves to read and be read to. She also loves to sing and be sung to.

Cole's looking forward to starting school again in a few weeks and going back to gymnastics. I'm constantly blown away with how big she is. And her ability to comprehend time in event past, present, and future. Little Miss Independent is sure keeping us on our toes.

Meet Cole. Her arrival. 1 month. 2 months. 3 months. 4 months. 5 months. 

6 months. 7 months. 8 months. 9 months. 10 months. 11 months. 1 year. 2 years. 

Potty Trained

Two weeks ago today, potty training chose us. And now, Cole is wake-time potty trained.

Around 17 months old, Cole was showing many of the textbook potty training readiness signs. But I wasn't ready. I was very pregnant with Ibbie. I had come to peace with the idea of two in diapers.  I wasn't ready to have a newborn and newly potty trained toddler. So we waited. I got Cole a little potty seat and let her use it whenever she felt inclined, which was fairly often, actually. Peter and I agreed that we'd potty train Cole once she was asking for it. And I've always heard to wait until the child is ready. So we waited.

After 10 months of sporadic potty use and requests for diaper changes, we realized that the time had come. Driving home from a furniture pickup, Cole let us know she needed to use her diaper and immediately requested to be changed. Peter looked at me and said, "So, it's time."

We prepped for three day potty training (which in our case would be 3 days with 10 months of practice). I made a little sticker chart and let Cole determine her own rewards. We explained to Cole that she would need to use the potty when she felt the urge to go. Then we took the diapers away. 

She took to it right away! For the first two days, for whatever reason, after nap time she begged to be put back in her diaper. I obliged for two days but on the third day her request was denied. There was an epic meltdown, followed promptly by a trip to the potty and then to the store to pick out panties. 

We boldly left the house on the second full day in panties and she went 80 minutes between potty breaks! I was impressed. Apparently we waited to potty train until she was more than ready. Now we have a potty trained two-year on our hands, which means we have a potty in the car and stop all the time when we are out to make potty breaks. (I line the bowl of the car potty with dog waste bags and keep wipes and hand-sanitizer at the ready. It makes on-the-go clean up a breeze.)

Note: We're going to hold off on sleep-time potty training until she is a bit older. 

Brave

Growing Girls

How can I possibly have a daughter who willingly participates in dental cleanings? And another who is eyeing the stairs in hopes of domination? These girls are growing with every blink. 

Pictures of Flowers

Earlier this week, I asked Cole if she wanted to go see flowers and take pictures. She did. Enthusiastically. After nap time, we zipped up to Longwood Gardens for an afternoon photography walk. Cole took pictures of flowers and I, mostly, took pictures of Cole.

When we got home, I downloaded all of our pictures. I was surprised to find a number of Cole's pictures came out, albeit in her signature constant toddler movement style. 

I like to have Cole practice naming colors when we look at flowers so here we have purple, yellow, and blue flowers.

Cole went out of her way to get this photo. She took four pictures from this position shifting her hands a bit for each shot.

The main event was the blue poppies which only bloom for a few weeks each spring. Cole, as I suspected, loved the blue flowers. We looped back three times on our walk to get more pictures.

After our photography walk, Cole needed a rest so, as she's done before, she hit the floor and rested. Oh, the life of a hobbyist photog. It's exhausting.

Lest you think she was left behind, Ib chilled in the stroller. She's just a go-with-the-flow kind of gal.

Come On, Spring

This weekend we visited our local state park. Its close to the Pennsylvania line so it has a few hills, which is nice. We'll need to explore a bit more before we really have a handle of the place. While grays and browns are lovely tones, I cannot wait for this park to be littered with healthy, green foliage!

Cole's POV

We bought Cole a camera for her birthday. She became a photog in a matter of seconds. She doesn't specialize, she works as a nature photographer, product photographer, portrait photographer, and so on. If it strikes her, she takes a picture. Sometimes that means taking a picture of the wall or every.single.page in a book. Other times, it just means pictures of our family.

Here is some of her work: