Happy Birthday, Colton!

Colton is two years old today!!!

Unfortunately, his older brother has spent the morning throwing up, so it hasn't quite been the fun morning I was hoping for him.  But we've enjoyed snuggling on the couch watching TV together, and he got to eat a TON of Ritz crackers while I was mopping up the stairs (all. the. stairs).  So that's celebratory, right?  Right?

Yeah.  I'm hoping that things will get better tonight when we'll have presents and-- just to change things up a bit-- pudding!  That's fun, right?

Anyway, we did portraits of our kids a couple weeks ago, so I figured this was a perfect chance to share Colton's pictures and tell you a bit about him.  He was a little afraid of the process, though, so he's not really smiling for any of his pictures.  In fact, in most of them he's got marshmallows jammed into his cheeks because that was the only way Craig could keep him from crying.  So just remember he's normally a very smiley boy, despite whatever faces he's pulling here!

Anyway, the first thing you need to know about Colton is that he is an absolute sweetie.  I just told you how he loves to hold Camille and give her kisses.  He also likes to give each of his siblings hugs when we have our special morning prayer together before the big kids head off to school.  He also likes to fold his arms reverently during that prayer, and always looks very pleased with himself for doing so.  It's great.  And if someone-- usually Ryder-- gets hurt, Colton will come running to give him a hug.  He's a tender-hearted little thing.

He still has dreamy blue eyes, too.

That tender heart also comes into play when he doesn't get his way.  He will either cry hysterically (and not in a manipulative, whiny way, just in a "I am genuinely wounded that you don't love me enough to let this happen" sort of way) OR, what hurts me more, look straight ahead and refuse to acknowledge me.  He did this once when I made him share with Ryder and it nearly broke my heart.  Still water run deep with this one.

He's been talking up a storm these days.  It was funny, because he'd really just started talking quite a bit a couple months before Camille was born, but then the week of her birth, it was like he just stopped completely.  I think the shock of everything set him back a bit.  And then he realized that with all these strangers taking care of him (strangers who he quickly grew to love as Tici and Buba) he needed to try his hardest to communicate, and now his talking is unstoppable.  You might not be able to understand him, but he is game to try and say just about anything.  Now it's just a matter of him remembering all these new words he's saying.  It's pretty awesome to watch him growing in leaps and bounds in this department.

I love how Craig is in this picture trying to get him to smile

Just like any 2-year-old, Colton is also super active.  He loves running around trying to keep up with his older siblings (and often gets run over by them, resulting in a few tears shed).  He's still working on trying to jump, and will occasionally stomp around giving it his best effort.  One of these days he'll really get both feet off the ground at the same time!

He loves going to nursery and playing on the playground.  He loves to point out his and my facial features while he has his after-nap bottle of warm milk and we rock together.  He's especially particular about pointing out both ears and both eyes.  He likes it when I play This Little Piggy with him and I can always cheer him up by singing Old MacDonald to him.

Like any 2-year-old, he says, "No."  But he says it funny-- he draws the vowel out a bit so it sounds almost more like "now," or perhaps some weird hybrid of the two.  "Nao"?  Maybe.  I can't quite explain it.  But it's adorable.  And something I want to remember.  (And, it reminds me of how Bentley at this age used to say, "No, no, no," and he would sound like he was French or something.)

And because now seems like as good a time as any, here are some (pretty goofy) pictures from my phone:

Craig and I gave him THE WORST HAIRCUT EVER a couple months ago.  It was so bad I seriously considered telling people that Ryder had done this to him.  But it seemed mean to throw Ryder under the bus like that, so I didn't...

I need to kill whoever taught him to make this face for the camera

Oh, dear.

He looks quite fetching in my sunglasses

Recently we were driving with bales of straw tied to the top of the car.  Halfway home, Colton suddenly became hysterical.  I *think* that a bit of the twine hanging down scared him.  He proceeded to cower away from his window and cry the entire drive home.  It was that perfect combination of hilarious and sad all at he same time, probably made worse by the fact that after it was apparent that there was nothing I could do to console him, I took his picture...

And here he is copying Bentley exactly: book propped open so he can read and snack!

And this is my favorite: doesn't he look like he could be modeling for a catalog here?

Colton makes me so happy.  I'm so glad he's a part of our family!