Now I'm one and on the run!

I have been so busy this summer, I've hardly had time to pose for pictures (ha, ha) let alone post them here. So here is a Cole's Notes summary of my adventures over the past two months:

July 16th: I turned one year old! All four grandparents, Great-Grandma, Aunties Wendy and Nadine and Uncles Murray and Sean, and both my cousins, Tate and Garrett, all came to help me celebrate. We had a great day and all of us little boys even skipped our naps, not wanting to miss a moment of the action. I had my cake and ate it, too - banana cake with butterscotch filling and creamy frosting. Not bad, and good for smearing. Thanks to everyone for all the great gifts - I've been having a lot of fun with them!

August: Another busy month! The first week, I rode the waves in my water car (a birthday gift from Uncle T) at Candle Lake, and, as always, enjoyed my time on the beach with my sand toys. And I ate lots of peas from Grandma Newman's garden (yummm!) and tried watermelon and ice cream for the first time (both delicious and messy). On the 7th, while hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Melin's, I decided to start walking: so off I went, walking and falling and using the baby triangle to get back up and walking some more. I haven't looked back since (walking is so much easier than crawling, and I can get into trouble so much more quickly now - see "Acts of Rebellion" below). The next weekend I visited Tate and his folks and U.T. in the Hat and went to a wedding in Brooks. The reception was a blast- some nice older man let me borrow his cane and I walked around for a long time banging it on the floor. I didn't really need it for balance, but it made a nice accessory. Then the next weekend it was camping again, this time at Pike Lake with friends (and in a tent rather than G & G Newman's fancy camper). It was pretty cold at night, but I had a good time during the day playing with rocks and sticks and a broom (anything with a handle is sure to be entertaining). Grandpa Newman came up to visit the next week and we made friends - he's a lot of fun now that he's a little older! I have a new cousin now - another boy! - whose name is Justin. We went to visit him and his brother Garrett and their folks (and Grandma) at the end of the month at their new place in Regina. Now there are four of us boys - oh, what fun we'll have!

My (ever-expanding) vocabulary: "papa" or "papee" (Grandpa and puppy, same word for both, always said in a whisper as with all my other "p" words), "pee" (peach), "uh" and "da" (up and down), "khaki" (cracker or cookie or kitty), "balluh" (ball), "umm" (yummy, give me more or I want some of that), "eye" (and pointing to it).

Acts of Rebellion Against the Establishment: Throwing toys into the toilet, getting a clean shirt out of my drawer and throwing it into the toilet (these toilet manouevers have to be completed very quickly and cunningly as the door is only open when someone is in there, so I have to work fast before they realize what I'm up to), clearing my tray of food by "swishing" my arms back and forth across it sending food flying all over the room (this gets a bigger reaction than just signing and saying "all done"), hitting people and laughing about it, playing with the vertical blinds (good for getting attention).

Acts of Reconciliation: Giving kisses ("smacky" sound included), big smiles and being so happy to see Mom or Dad when they've been away or out of my sight, giving objects or pieces of paper that I find to Mom or Dad, letting them try on my hat, bringing Mommy her flip-flops to put on her feet, pointing out objects they've left lying around that I know I'm probably not supposed to touch, looking so adorable when I'm sleeping.

Time to go night-night!