Swimming Lessons

We started swim lessons with Cole last week at the community pool. We went for a couple days and he had fun in the pool but wasn't quite sure he wanted to float on his back and when we tried blowing bubbles all he wanted to do was blow kisses. We'll have to work on that distinction...it was adorable either way though. Cole's been sick the past several days so we weren't able to go again, but hopefully this week will be better. 

 

Another one of Cole's favorite things to do recently is get all of my mixing spoons and spatulas out of the drawer and put them in his mixing bowls. He was so proud of himself here.

We are both going a bit stir crazy being inside all the time, so we ventured a trip out to the aquarium last week as well. Cole was pretty entertained by the fish for a while but the other little kids running around quickly became the feature attraction for him. I think when he's a little bit older he'll appreciate the sharks more. 

Congratulations Dave!

I'm so proud of my sweet husband! Yesterday we went to his residency graduation dinner to celebrate his completion of his internal medicine residency. I can't believe it's already been three years. Now only 3 more of Cardiology fellowship before the real world. Congratulations Dave!

Cutie Cole

It has been down right hot here this past month, so I didn't feel bad at all letting Cole run around in his overalls after his shirt got dirty at lunch time. Isn't he the cutest little hill-billy you've ever seen?

One of the only things that Cole will sit down and hold still for are his Baby Einstein movies on animals. Here he's snuggling up with Daddy watching his show while Dave studies for his boards. 

Cole had a little bit of a runny nose this last month and I tried to teach him how to blow his nose into a tissue. When I wasn't looking somehow he got the tissue box off the kitchen counter and was blowing his nose as hard as he could in every single tissue that he took out of the box. It was quite a funny little scene to stumble upon. After he blew his nose in all of the tissues he proceeded to put them all back in the box so he could use them again later. ;-)



It's hard to vacuum in our house without getting a lot of help from our little guy...to his credit, Cole is actually really good at putting away all of his toys so we can vacuum.

 Another chore he likes to help with is cleaning up the floor after meals. When he's done eating and there is still food on his tray he proceeds to throw it all on the floor to let me know that he doesn't want any more (to my chagrin), but once I get him down he goes around and picks up all the food and wants to throw it away in the garbage can. Here is stole the rage from me and is wiping up something under the table. What a good helper!

My Grandma and Grandpa Crockett were visiting from Idaho and spent an evening with us in May - Cole loved having a new audience to show-off for. Look how high his tower is! 



Recently Cole has decided that each toy has its own spot in a particular basket and it has to be put away that way. Unfortunately, he decided that all of these toys went in the same basket and was extremely upset when he couldn't fit the basket in the cubby hole. I tried to help him organize them into different baskets, but he wouldn't have it. I think rearraging all of his toys and dumping them from one basket to another keeps him more entertained than actually playing with them.

 We had our own little miracle today - Cole made it through his first day in nursery with no problems whatsoever! He's only 17 months old, but the leaders told us we could go in with him for a month prior to his 18 month mark to get him used to it. I went in with him for a while but he was doing so well that the leaders told me to just leave him and they'd come get me if he needed me. To my total surprise I was able to sit through Sunday School and Relief Society for the first time in a long time! What a blessing nursery is! Dave took this picture from the door window with his phone, so it's a little fuzzy, but isn't Cole so cute in the little chairs?!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

While Jan was here watching Cole we were able to get away for a few days to Sedona, and we used the time to celebrate our upcoming 3rd anniversary.

One of the places that we visited was slide rock - a natural water slide tucked back in the mountains. It was less steep than I expected, but the current was still pretty strong and it swept me away pretty fast. It barely pushed Dave along on the other hand. :p

For our anniversary dinner we went to a cute little Thai restaurant in Sedona, and had these beautiful rolls for appetizers. They were so stunning and yummy that I couldn't help but include a picture.

We also took a scenic trolley tour of the Sedona area and saw a real Jackalope!

Visit from Grandma Beutler

We were so happy to have Jan come and visit us this past month! She came for my East Valley Mormon Choral Organization concert and then stayed for a few days while Dave and I were in Sedona.

Despite the heat, we had a fun morning at the zoo with Grandma.

Of course Cole's favorite animals to go see are the goats in the petting zoo. I think of them more as bumps on a log because they just sit there and take all of the abuse that Cole (and I'm sure many other giddy little kids) dishes out. It's pretty awesome. Hopefully someday we can find a dog that does the same thing. :)

One of our last stops was the cows near the farm part of the zoo. Cole was feeding this guy some veggie straws when he licked Cole's hand, and I think the roughness of his tongue really scared him. He went from being intrigued to screaming almost instantly.

Cole's First Professional Haircut

It was a team effort, but he did great!

Beutler Family Pictures - April 2012

Thanks Dad for being our photographer! I don't think anyone but you could take good pictures while trying to entertain Cole. It was sure fun having you in town for the day. :)

We went and fed the ducks after pictures, and we found a cute little family with lots of ducklings. Perfect for Easter time.

When Cole is being really difficult at dinner time one of the best ways to get him to focus is to let him give you a bite at the same time you're giving him a bite. He thinks it's so fun to feed daddy. :)

I have no idea how having your head crammed in the corner and your bum in the air can be comfortable, but it's one of Cole's favorite sleeping positions. I couldn't resist the urge to snap a picture after he was asleep.

Cole and I spend at least an hour every day at the park, and most of the time he's either running around the grassy field chasing birds (and running away from mommy) or digging in the sand with his shovel and bucket.

Cole was in a silly mood one morning and discovered that he loves to bend down and play peek-a-boo with me while looking between his legs. Every now and again he'll just stop what he's doing and bend down like this - so cute!

Another one of Cole's favorite things to do is play with Sid, our neighbor's cat. Cole is getting much better at petting animals and not hurting them, and this cat always comes over to him and says hi. They're good friends.

An Easter Miracle

Happy Easter! Today we had our own little Easter miracle. It's not often that I can say this, but we had a great day at church with Cole. He actually stayed in the chapel and was happy and mostly quiet for the entire sacrament meeting! To give some context to that remark, two weeks ago he didn't even make it through the opening prayer before I had to take him out, and we barely made it through the end of the passing of the sacrament in the foyer. We tried to stay and listen to the talks in the foyer, but Cole decided that he wanted to socialize with everyone in the chapel and kept darting away from me and running through the aisles in the chapel saying hi to everyone along the way. Twice I had to chase him down rows of people to catch him, and when I took him back out in the foyer he screamed so loud that we were still disturbing the meeting, so that was enough.

Anyway, Cole was definitely the best dressed little 15-month old at church. Thanks Grandma Beutler for the adorable suit! Check out our little model.



This is what happens when Cole wants to play with the camera and we don't give it to him...