First Haircut

Colbie LOVED the entire haircut experience.  She sat very still watching herself in the mirror and bragging "look cousin Ryder."  She especially enjoyed getting to use the blow dryer like Mommy does each morning.  She hasn't stopped talking about Sarah (my sisters good friend who cut her hair) and how next she wants to get her "eyebrows cut like Mommy does".  Such a big girl.

Before and After

Nichole, Ryder and Wynn came with us, so fun!

Crash

Colbie had a busy week at Grandma's house.  It's hard work keeping up with all the big kids.  She took many tumbles, one of which left a large mark.  She accidentally rode down the driveway on a little car.  When she hit the street she went over the steering wheel and landed on her face.  Poor girl.

She handled it quite well.

Fathers Day

We had a low key Fathers Day per Jon's request.  He wanted crepes for breakfast, to spend the day at Green Lake, watch sports in the afternoon and have snacks for dinner.  This made the day easy on me!  Colbie has been very into Daddy lately and its so cute to see them together.  Every morning she asks to go upstairs to see Daddy, if I tell her he's at work she says "daddy will be home for dinner, then we will play."  She loves going to the little park by our house and playing downstairs with Daddy.  She prefers Daddy to push her stroller and lights up when we go anywhere as a family. 

Jon has been working a lot of hours lately and still manages to give Colbie his complete attention and energy when he arrives home each night.  We are so lucky to have such a dedicated family man in our lives! 

Magnetic hand print frame, she was very proud of this:) 

Colbie watching and waiting for Daddy to get home from work

Coffee mug with pics of Daddy and Colbie

 

Butterflies

We got a "bug basket" from the auction which we thought Colbie would enjoy because of her recent love for caterpillars.  Inside the basket was a Butterfly Kit.  We received live caterpillars in the mail which grew rapidly, changed into cocoons and eventually butterflies.  It was really fun to watch and Colbie absolutely LOVED every part of having them!  She would sing and rock the caterpillars (in their cup) and was super excited when they turned into tiny cocoons and eventually pretty butterflies.  We kept the butterflies for a few days and she would check on them constantly and make sure they were well fed.  It makes me feel a little guilty that I never want a pet.  Maybe we will get her a fish:)

Admiring the Caterpillars

Transferring the cocoons into their new home

Feeding the butterflies once they arrived.  (they needed fresh flowers sprinkled with sugar water and/or oranges)

Releasing the butterflies

Watching the butterflies fly away

Waving bye bye

Happy to see one butterfly wanted to stay a little longer

Nora and Colbie

Love this picture of Nora and Colbie (thanks Katie)!  This was taken at Nora and Finn's Birthday Party at Wiggles Works.  Wish I had more pics of the party, but I spent most of my time chasing Colbie around and attempting to chat with friends:)

Happy Birthday Finn (4) and Nora (2), we had a blast at your Birthday Party!

Terrible Twos??

Colbie has definitely pushed the limits recently and has been showing us a glimpse of the terrible twos you hear so much about.  About a month ago Colbie realized she didn't necessarily have to do what she was asked.  She started off politely refusing with "no thank you mommy" then tried to stall with "one more minute mommy."  Then it got worse and she was refusing to do simple tasks like get her diaper changed, enter the house when arriving home, or come upstairs when asked.  She has also become terrible at sharing.  At school they made her a sticker chart to be a "Good Friend."

This was all very sad and emotional for me.  I felt guilty.  I felt like I was doing something wrong.  Everyone told me "she's just being a two year old" but for me it was very hard to handle.  Although Jon was unconcerned we discussed some parenting techniques we thought might help and really stuck to it.  Whenever Colbie refuses to do a simple task, I count to three and if she still refuses I help/force her.  For more destructive behaviors such as dumping water all over the floor, milk all over the couch, coloring on the table, hitting (all things she did).  We would catch the behavior as quickly as possible, give one warning, then a time out.  The first few days involved LOTS of time outs, which were followed by Colbie crying for up to an hour.  It was emotionally and physically exhausting for both of us!  I may have cried more than her.

After only one week she improved greatly.  She is now doing so much better!  She often asks me to count for her and often places her babies in time out when they're not listening.  She is still terrible at sharing and we will continue to work on this.  But I am so proud of her and love her more than I can express.

I have thought very hard about what makes her minor acting out so emotional; for me and still I'm not real sure.  I guess it just made me realize that she may never be her teachers favorite student or the most popular girl at school, but it doesn't matter.  Because to me she is the greatest thing ever created and I will love her to pieces no matter what.

A few of the adorable things about this girl, which outweigh the difficult things by far:

-Shouts "welcome home daddy" as soon as Jon gets home and asks "how was your day?"
-Sits perfectly through any story or music time.
-Can recently get herself dressed in the morning with little help.
-Uses an open cup for all meals and is eating great!
-She sings made up songs in the car, which always make me smile.
-Every time we pass McDonald's she shouts "M for mommy" and whenever we hit up the Dollar Tree she shouts "D for Daddy."
-When she really wants something, she asks in a very high pitch voice and ends the sentence with "OK Mommy?"
-Her language amazes me every day.  A few of her recent comments:
"Daddy next time at school I'm going to have new teachers and a new room, but some kids will stay the same.  Charlotte, Indi, and Reese" 
"Mommy that's a kind of bird called Eagle."
"Cars go on the road, airplanes go way up high in the sky, boats go in the water."



Party dress for Finn and Nora's Birthday Party

Watching the squirrels

Happy Girl

Sweet face

Lots of teeth in her smile finally:)

Big girl with long hair

True Personality:)

Cousins

Nichole, Ryder and Wynn came to visit us this weekend, and other than Colbie not sharing her toys well, it was so fun to have them.  Ryder and Colbie really do adore each other and I loved snuggling my new baby niece and chatting with my fabulous sister.  Colbie also loved having a baby around, she asked constantly to wash her hands so she could hold baby Wynn and tickle her toes.


The weather was good.  So we played outside lots and even enjoyed the pools.

Bath time in swimsuits

True Buddies

After bath snuggles

Wynn 10 weeks old

Cheeeeeese!

 

Could she be any cuter??


 

Ferry Boat

On Memorial Day we took Colbie on her first Ferry Boat ride.  We went to Bainbridge Island and other than the nonstop rain, we had a great time.  We went to the Children's Museum which was great, but really we could have just gotten right back on the ferry and Colbie would have loved it.  She talked abut the "ferry boat" for days after.  Lined up her bugs on the bath tub and said "they are waiting in line for a ferry boat ride." and pulled her babies around in a box to take them on a ferry boat ride.  We will definitely go again and Colbie says "next time we should bring Beth, Charlotte, and Ryder on the ferry boat too."  Sounds like a good plan to me.