Cole is one!

Cole turned one year old on October 12th!  Where did the year go??  I can't believe my little baby is now a toddler!  To celebrate his big day, the Slominski foursome headed to a local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for Halloween.  Cole was relieved that he was too big to fit inside a pumpkin this year.  He sure didn't like it last year...

On our walk to the pumpkin patch, we took a brief pit stop to look at the chickens, ducks, roosters and llama along the way...

In my effort to get us out of the bright sun and into the shade (pictures are always better without squinty eyes!), we had to walk to the very far end of the pumpkin patch.  Needless to say, the boys weren't excited about the walk.  Well, Owen and Cole didn't mind it, just the BIG boy wasn't too happy!

 

Finally we reached some shade!  We were getting ready to take a few pictures when all of the sudden, Owen thought he'd be funny and took off with the wagon for our pumpkins!  It took some convincing, but he reluctantly agreed to pose for some photos.

We got a couple fun pictures - of course Cole was looking at his silly big brother in ALL of them!

Afterwards, the boys got to pick whichever pumpkin they wanted in the field.  They each found the perfect pumpkin. 

Cole thought it was fun standing by his pumpkin, that is, until he took a tumble!  Down he went into the dirt!  Poor little guy!  His face was quickly covered in dust.  Luckily he was quick to recover.  After getting Cole cleaned up, we quickly loaded the pumpkins onto the wagon and off we went!

That evening, Cole had his very first big boy meal.  Mom made a hotdish of noodles, chicken and veggies.  Cole thought it was... well... different!  And with only 4 teeth, it took quite a bit of time and effort for him to chew it up.

After dinner came the cake.  I had purchased the cake with the intentions of having Cole destroy it.  I had visions of a frosting covered boy from head to toe!  But to the contrary, he wanted nothing to do with the sticky mess!  After touching the frosting and playing with it in between his fingers for a bit, he was done.  Needless to say, he was not thrilled when Pa put Cole's frosting covered fingers to his face!

Luckily, he is easily distracted and was soon back to his cheerful self laughing away...

Cole's big fiesta was held the following weekend.  The day started out with him receiving his very first set of wheels!  He thought it was pretty cool and loved honking the horn, turning the key and pushing all the other noisy buttons.

After a morning full of playing, it was time to get spiffed up for all his party guests.  Cole was a handsome little man dressed all in blue.  Blue is definitely his color!  With his big baby blue eyes, he looked adorable. 

"I'm looking pretty shnazy!"

He enjoyed opening his cards and gifts with the assistance of his ever so helpful big brother.  Owen was even kind enough to test out each toy to make sure it was to Cole's liking.

But the most intriguing "gift" Cole received wasn't even a toy...it was the tissue paper!  He loved crinkling it in his hands.  He was happy as a clam sitting in a pile of tissue paper and scrunching it up in his hands.

The theme of Cole's party was monkeys. Quite fitting for our 'Little Monkey' (as we like to call him!)  Mom went a little overboard with the decorations this year (at least that's what Pa said!)

The hardest part of planning the party was finding the right cake.  We had a local bakery in St. Paul make a monkey cake for the special occasion.  It was humongous!  Thank goodness it was delicious, so we didn't mind the leftovers!

Even though the cake was YUMMY, Cole still didn't want anything to do with it or the ice cream!  He was brave enough to take a bite, but it was much too sweet for his taste buds.  And boy, did we get a look from him when he bit into the ice cream.  I guess we should have warned him it was cold!

We wrapped up the party with a big monkey pinata!  Cole loved pulling the strings.  He thought the strings were much more interesting than the goodies that eventually fell out. 

Our little Cole is growing up before our eyes.  He is learning new things each day.  It is amazing how quickly he catches on.  He loves imitating actions and sounds.  Peek-a-boo is one of his favorites.  Although his only 2 official words are "mama" (which he calls everything, not just Mom!) and "ahhhh" (which translated means 'hi'), he is constantly chattering on and on in his very own language that only he can understand. Big brother Owen is always asking Cole "Who is this?" as he points to Mom.  And Cole's response is nearly always "Mama".  After hearing Cole's reply, Owen is quick to break out the applause and squeals exclaiming "He said 'Mama'!  Good job Cole!"

Cole is a very happy boy.  He loves laughing at Mom's silly antics.  I can usually get him laughing hysterically just by shaking my head (I guess I must look pretty silly!)  His belly laughs are infectious!  Once he gets going, the whole room is laughing.

He is very content to sit and play with any interesting object in front of him.  He is still not fond of being put on his tummy and much prefers to stand and walk (with assistance).  He will try to climb up on anything within reach (his favorite being Mom!)  These days his favorite toy is his activity table where he can stand and push all the fun buttons that play music and light up.  Playing catch is another favorite.  He loves grabbing the ball, slapping it a few times, and whisking it off (often in the wrong direction!) 

He has a never ending bottomless pit of a tummy and seems to be eating constantly.  Crackers and bananas are his all time favorite foods.   Cole loves listening to music (which he must get from his mom), but his dance moves are definitely from his big brother Owen.  He just can't help bouncing up and down when he hears a good beat.  Although his definition of good music is pretty broad since he even loves it when Mom sings!

Cole has grown and changed so much over the year, from a newborn who slept the majority of the time to a very active one year old.  I just can't wait to see what fun and exciting things he will learn over the next year!