Lazy Day At Home

Colton loves to watch movies in our bedroom. His favorites right now are Shrek, Cars and Toy Story.

(Please ignore the PJ's. They are like socks at our house, we never can find the matching pairs)

The Spilt!

Colton has mastered his middle spilt. Check it out!

Humpty Dumpty

Colton dressed up like Humpty Dumpty for Halloween Trick or Treating this year! He was so cute thanks to Nana for sewing the outfit together. (Mommy painted the outfit).

Daddy had to lead worship at a revival on Halloween night, so he missed the trick or treating this year. Colton and I though, went to visit Heath and LeAnn, Granny and Pawpaw, Big Daddy and Nana, Aunt Donna and the boys and Aunt Janice and her boys.

At Granny and Pawpaw's House

Arriving at Big Daddy and Nana's House

Playing drums with Carter.

Fireman @ School

For his school Halloween Party, Colton dressed up like a Northport Fireman. He wasn't too excited about dressing up, but he did have fun at the school Halloween Party.

Family Pumpkins

A few days before Halloween, Colton, Chris and I decided to paint some pumpkins and crave a pumpkin for the front of our house. Colton stayed busy painting his pumpkin, while Chris and I carved the big one.

He was so focused on painting his pumpkin!

The final result!

2 1/2 Years Old!!

2 Years, 6 Months Old

Highlights from the past month:

• His favorite toys this past month: Puzzles, Mr. Potato Head, Buzz & Woody, Plastic Animals
  
• His favorite cartoons this month: Dinosaur Train, Backyardigans


• His favorite foods this month: Tortilla Chips, Chips, Enchiladas (Taco Casa), Popsicles and Fruit Snacks, Cheeze It's, Gold Fish Crackers, Ritz Crackers, Pizza
  
• His favorite activities: Playing with his trucks and cars, putting puzzles together and reading books. Playing outside and playing on the computer.

• Favorite Books this Month: Picture Books

• Babbling ALL the time!!! He can now say the following words: "bye", "uice" (juice), "orsie" (Horsie), "duzz" (Buzz), chips, "nana" (Banana), ugg (bug), "dada". We also have been working on our ABC's in the car and he can say "A,B,C,D,E,F". He also says "tha one" (That one), ight ere (Right there)
  
• He can now point to almost every animal, truck, fruit, etc. on all of his puzzles. His teacher sent a letter home the other day saying that he was the first one in his class to pick out the number 6, the letter C and the heart on her bulletin board.
  
• He learned how to climb out of the crib this month and boy has it been a challenge getting him to stay in his bed. We switched his crib to a toddler bed and he loves it, however, he won't stay in there. He is a sneaky little boy and will sneak out of his room when we think he is sound asleep.
  
• Still taking speech and special instructions class and is doing great! We're hoping to start more speech classes soon.

• He loves the following songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's, If You're Happy and You Know It, Old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus
  
• Weighs Approximately 35 pounds
  
• Wears a size 6 Diaper.

• He wears 3T clothing and wears a size 7W shoe.

• His Daily Schedule: Wake up around 6:45am, Naptime at noon, Dinner around 6pm, Bath Time @ 7:30pm, and Bedtime @ 8:00pm.

Colton,
I can't believe you are already 2.5 years old!! You are growing up way too fast for mommy! However, this past month with you has been such a blessing watching you grow up more each and every day. You are sooo smart and you are the most independent 2.5 year old that I know. You love exploring everything and you can pretty much figure anything out within a few seconds. You still prefer not to talk as much and you only have a few words that you will say. (Bye, Dada and Mil for Millie are a few that we here all the time) But your daddy and I both serve a powerful God who is mighty and who has perfect timing, so we're trusting him that you will talk to us one day. In the mean time though, I'm loving that precious laugh of yours and your beautiful smile. This month, your daddy and I have been saying bedtime prayers with you and the blessing before meals and it's so precious to watch you bow your head and hold my hands when I'm praying. I pray that you will one day have a relationship with the Lord just like your mommy and daddy. Colton, you are a special little boy who is going to conquer the world one day!! I know without a doubt that God placed you in our lives for a reason and that he placed you on this earth for a reason as well. Know that your daddy and I will always be proud of you no matter what and that we will always love you! I love you so much and I'm forever blessed to have you as my son.

Love,
Mommy

A Day at the Park with Aunt Val

Colton and I went to spend the night with Aunt Valerie one Friday night while Uncle Rob was out of town. We had so much fun eating dinner (Jim & Nicks) and playing Friday night before heading to bed. Saturday morning, we all headed to the playground for a morning or running around, sliding down the slide sand swinging on the swings.

Mommy and Colton swinging on the swings.

Update on Colton

Chris and I took Colton to the University of Alabama Autism Clinic on Monday September 27th and Monday, October 4th for an Autism evaluation. We were advised to take him to the clinic because Colton has a delay in speech and has a few symptoms of Autism. (His symptoms include the following: flapping of the hands, repetitive behavior, speech delay and minimum eye contact). The first Monday went great and Colton enjoyed playing with all the toys and he performed all of the tasks very well. However the second Monday was a hard day for him. They pushed him really hard in speech and communication and he wanted nothing to do with either teacher that was in the room. It was a hard day for both Colton and mommy. (It’s so hard as a mommy to sit and watch your little one struggle with something as simple as talking and I wanted him so bad just to say one simple word). The evaluation lasted about 4 hours each day and we were all completely drained by the end of the second day. The worst part was that we had to wait there another hour so that the Autism Evaluation Team could discuss their opinions. After a long hour, we were all brought into a room where they informed us that Colton had a very mild case of Autism. At that very instant, I felt as if all of my dreams had been shattered. I’m so glad that Chris was sitting in that room with me because if he wasn’t there I probably would have crumbled to the ground. At a time when I could barely speak, Chris knew exactly what questions to ask and I could never thank God enough for bringing me such a strong Christian man into my life. When we left the clinic, Chris kept telling me that we would make it through this and that God would be walking with us each step of the way. Now 2 weeks later, I feel as though our family of 3 is stronger than ever! We are trusting God each step of the way and we are praising Him through it all! It’s not the outcome that we had hoped for, but we know that God has an Amazing plan for our family and we are looking forward to experiencing it together.

Since that Monday, Chris and I are doing lots of research, reading books about Autism, and we are hoping to help fight this disorder for Colton. We’re meeting Thursday with a new doctor in Tuscaloosa who actually has a son with Autism, so we’re hoping to walk away from the appointment with a little more knowledge about the disorder. We both know that we have a lot to learn and that it’s not going to be an easy road ahead of us but we are love our little boy so much that we are willing to do anything for him. Thank you all so much for your continuous prayers and support throughout the past few months. Colton is a very blessed boy to have so many people who love and adore him!

Pumpkin Day!!!

Colton and I had a Pumpkin day one Tuesday afternoon while I was off of work. We had a ton of crafts planned and Colton loved everything!!

We started off my painting pumpkins.

Colton's Masterpiece!

And then we put together our Pumpkin Dog.

After our pumpkin crafts, we made Pumpkin Sugar Cookies. Colton loved cutting the pumpkins out with a cookie cutter but his favorite part was putting the sprinkles on.

While our cookies baked, we read some books about pumpkins.

And when the cookies were done, we enjoyed our snack!

We then played a pumpkin game where Colton had to put the pumpkins on the dots. (Learning his numbers)

He surprising did very well and matched all of them.

All in all, the pumpkin day was a success and we can't wait till next years pumpkin day!

1st Boat Ride

Colton went on his first boat ride about 2 months ago when Uncle Rob and Aunt Val invited us for a ride around Lake Tuscaloosa.

He was so excited to see them, but he still wasn't sure what we were doing.

As soon as we pulled out, he was so still and so quiet. He loved riding and just took in everything that he saw.

Okay, doesn't he look like such a big boy with his baseball cap on??

Big Daddy and Colton win their sun shades on!

After a while, Colton fell sound asleep!!! He was so relaxed that he just passed out in Nana's lap.

All in all, the boat ride was great and Colton loved it!!! We can't wait to go back next year!