December

December.. and the start of the holiday season. We had a few unseasonably warm days.. snow.. and we're back to warm-ish again!

Broke out the bugaboo sleeping bag for a bit. 

Shorts on December 1st. 

Colton is so into projects right now. Crafting a gingerbread house :)

Colton has gotten super into playing at the gym during my class - loves these three kiddos.. and their mama. 

Story time at the library - MSPCA comes 1 day/month

Trash Day? Lawn Day? Either way, he'll be glued to the windows.

So into books. I love it.

This is his fireman costume... his fire hat and my belt around his chest. Ha.

50 cent squirt bottle - still going strong years later.

morning reading

throwback aww :)

Colton and Riva have become very close.

catching snow flakes. loved it...

...and missed bedtime. so sweet. 

dirty! all the time. boy boy boy.

thanks for the jeep, big papi. he wants to be on it 24/7

cutest snow angel you ever did see!

these three - glued together.

train mania. 

visiting dad at work :) he was really interested in why dad had to wear a hat.

Lego Land

3

I still try and keep a running list of the funny things Colton says... Been saving some of these for a while, so here goes.

Colton tells some sort of poop joke (who knows what), looks at me, I don't laugh, and he says, 'Ma, Riva says she likes my poop jokes, so that's why'

'I have too much hair in my armpit - I can't eat my dinner.'

He says 'real play' instead of 'replay'

He says 'aminal' instead of 'animal'

'Tause' instead of pause

'Coffeeing me' instead of 'copying me'

When he's done something messy or bad, 'Ma, just don't look right now.'

'He's coo coo' or 'He's cray cray'

He points out ALL the donut signs (Dunkin') and they're EVERYWHERE. Of course he is obsessed with donuts and also usually asks for one too.

He just recently stopped talking about him, but for quite some time, he had a 'Mississippi friend.' He would tell stories about him and his 'Mississippi friend' and Ma and Da were never there. He also had a 'worker man.' We found out late he was meaning co-worker. He still refers to his imaginary worker man though :)

'I want to be a jet ski when I grow up'

'I'm out of breath. I need to brush my teeth.'

Walking down the street in Portugal with his mouth open. I asked him what he was doing. He said, 'letting the energy out!'

'How bout I love you and the mostest and you love me the mostest and that's more beeeeettttterrrrr.' -- he says this all the time and it's the cutest thing. I wish you could here his intonation.

There's a welcome sign in Centerville that has a pineapple on it. We drive by often and Colton always talks about the pineapple store - haha'

'This yard stick is for yarding bushes.'

'Essentially there's no cars.' -- Essentially?! Really?!

'I'm assuming...' --- just surprises me when he says things like that!

Before going somewhere one day, I had packed him snacks or lunch. We got in the car and of course he immediately asks for food. I said no.. we had JUST gotten in the car! He responds by saying, 'First of all, I'm hungry. Second of all, I saw you pack my lunch and put it in your bag.' HA! Touche, kid.

'Did you know....' and he goes on to tell you something random that may or may not be true. For instance, 'did you know turkeys float?'

'I want a baby so I can pet him.'

'I'm a big man, Ma. I don't do gentle.'

Puts his hands on his hips a lot. It's so funny.

Went through a stage recently where he added -ed on the end of everything. It's like he was trying to figure out how to do past tense. It was very cute. And very cool to see him try to figure it out.

With all the election commercials on.. He calls Trump, Obama. And he calls him our 'princess' instead of our president! HA!

 

Halloween 2016 -- Baltimore

We headed back to Baltimore so C could have Halloween for the fourth year in a row with his buddies. He was a fisherman and Jackson was a shark -- everyone was adorable. We got to celebrate two nights - one at the SoBo Riverside Halloween Bash (Sunday night) and then the annual Halloween party and trick-or-treating in Federal Hill on Monday.

 all four years!

 fishing in the city

 at the stoop in our old 'hood - making smores and loving his life

 the whole gang

fishing pole not pictured. oh well.

Colton takes Portugal

...and quite the travel companion he was. He far exceeded my expectations. He adapted to the time difference better than expected. Did wonderfully on both flights. I see more international travel in his future.

The flight over was only 5 hours and 45 minutes (overnight). The lights were only off 3.5 of those hours. He slept the entire 3.5 hours. I was also able to doze a bit during that time. We landed at 7am and he was FINE! Total trooper. For a kid who is used to 11 hours or sleep/night, I expected to have a bit of a bear on my hands. Not the case at all. We taxied to the train station and immediately trained to Porto (3 hours). He was awake and happy the entire time. When we arrived, he took a 3 hour nap and was pretty adjusted. That night he went to bed at 8p and I woke him up the next morning at 10:30am. Pretty solid.

These pictures are randomly out of order... Above, Lisbon (the last 4 days of our trip). In both cities, Colton and his BLONDE hair got SO VERY MUCH ATTENTION. It killed him. Everyone rubbed his head. Everyone spoke to him in Portuguese. It was hilarious and painful all at the same time. While he didn't even realize it, he also ate for free at many of the restaurants because they just loved him and his blonde hair that much. 

 

No surprise, Colton LOVED Sarah. LOVED her. She spent so much time with him. She played with him. She was great. He's in love. Here they are, racing in the streets after eating their weight in gelato

 Watching sunset at the water/playing with diggers. Two of the days, Colton requested time with JUST mama, no Nicole, no Sarah, no baby Jason. I happily obliged.

 He is entertained the same everywhere - ATMs, parking meters, and chasing birds.

 The tuk-tuk tour we took through the city. Colton loved it and begged the driver to drive faster and crazier. He threw his hands in the air shouting, NO HANDS, almost the entire time.

 Chocolate gelato every night. Whoops :)

 the whole gang

 4 o'clock coffee and pastries and diggers. heaven.

 tuk-tuk

Hard to believe if you know me at all, but we both slept peacefully in the same bed the entire trip. Maybe because we were both tired from the time difference. Whatever the case, it worked. The king euro-beds (two single side by side) probably  helped the siutation.

 We found the BEST coffee shop. Fabrica Lisboa. They had pretend telephones and nutella croissants and iberian ham croissants. Sold. Obviously.

 Random dance offs in the middle of the street with Sarah

 Poor kid had quite the accident in the middle of Plato Commercial - gravel got the best of him when chasing pigeons. It was ugly. His poor, poor chin.. Sarah was a trooper and wore a bandage with him :)

 Ate his weight in seafood. Surprise.

 

 Going up.

 More chocolate gelato at Mercado de Ribeira

 napping hard.

 checking out the famous bridges in Porto

 Port wine tasting - happily hanging out in the ergo

 'chooo chooo'

 best. traveler. ever.

 C loves cats. He also used 10 euro cents he found to buy himself a magnet (that was probably 5 euros).

 

More port tasting.