Cole is almost walking! Mom and Dad spent Saturday skiing at Lutsen with Grandpa Sharrow while Grandma Sharrow (unable to ski due to her broken toe) baby-sat. The three of us drove down to Hinckley on Sunday night to meet Grandpa and Grandma Iverson for dinner at Tobies. Cole took a few steps on his own this week, and is able to walk very well while pushing this wheeled toy thing. He may be walking by his birthday after all! Time will tell...with only two weeks to go until the big ONE, the pressure is on!! Cole and I have been working hard on the walking this week since school has been closed for two days due to the insane windchill. No rest for us, we are working hard!
Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun? Go figure. We spent all this time at Toys R Us Christmas shopping for the perfect, most developmentally appropriate toys for Cole, and he is more fascinated by the wrapping paper, boxes, and....a laundry basket? As you can see, our growing boy is getting ready for a haircut...does that mean he's not a baby anymore? Or is it the mouth nearly full of teeth that indicates that?
Anyway, the tubes in his ears seem to be working. The surgery went well on Thursday, and Cole got to spend the whole day at home with Daddy. He is starting to return to the happy-go-lucky boy he was before these terrible ear infections started, and is starting to (allow us) to sleep better at night too, now that his pain seems to have subsided. We were starting to turn into zombies walking around at work with the frequent late-nite crying/screaming episodes....we were starting to think we were parents of a newborn again! Thank goodness, our little guy is feeling better. And he has some hip blue earplugs to wear in the bathtub too!
We are trying to encourage Cole to take his first steps without holding on to anything. He is standing for short periods now (like a minute), but seems to find little interest in walking. Crawling is working great, and since it has become so efficient and second-nature, he seems to prefer it to attempting to walk.
Also, Cole has recently tried to win over Bailey's affection by throwing his dog toys for him. Bailey has been rather indifferent toward Cole since he came along, seeming to view him primarily as a competitor for attention. We are hoping that the new throwing-the-dog-toy trick, along with the dropping-food-from-the-highchair trick, will allow Bailey to grow more fond of Cole....since we're planning on keeping him.
Cole turned 11 months on Sunday, and he seems to be growing up before our very eyes. He has made a new ritual of climbing the stairs (with a spotter) after taking his bath. Sunday night he headed right for the stairs before we even got a diaper on him.....extremely daring on our part. Note the remains of the "Teletubbies" tattoo on his belly. I am afraid we are going to get a run for our money with this kid. Anyone who knew Ryan as a kid and believes in karma knows that we are likely doomed. He has attempted to climb the baby gate at the top of the stairs, has attempted many dives off the couch and bed (a couple have been successful), and climbed up his Daddy to reach his blanket and pull it through the crib slats. His crawling has become much faster, sometimes frantic, and keeps us on our toes. Cole had his pre-op physical today to prep him for anesthesia for his tubes to be put into his ears on Thursday. We are hesitant to have to put him "under," but know it is the only way to relieve the pain and pressure in his ears at this point. Happy 11 month birthday big boy! One month to the big ONE!!!
Here are a few more pictures that we were able to get from Ryan's parents and Aunt Sandy from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at the Sharrow's house. Unfortunately, our New Years Eve and week has mostly consisted of Em laying in bed recovering from surgery. Whoopie!! She had to have her gall bladder removed after the ER docs found stones in there one LATE night a couple of weeks ago. She is on the mend now, although still moving a little slow. She has gotten out of lots of diaper changes this week! Also, poor Colio now has to have tubes put in his ears! After three rounds of antibiotics, his double ear infection is going strong. We are eager to have the procedure done, as he seems to be in quite a bit of pain, particularly at night. Poor thing! 2008 seems to be rivaling 2007 for medical bills in the Sharrow household....thank goodness for health insurance!!
Baby Cole made three on February 13, 2007 and we welcomed Baby Grant to our family on April 9, 2009. Ryan works as a physical therapist, and Emily teaches 5th grade. The four of us live in Duluth with our dog Bailey.
