Another cabin trip

We are off to a cabin again today. This time we are heading north to stay with Pat's family. Cole is beyond excited. We've been preparing him as much as possible. He woke up this morning and was so excited to see his "new picture schedule" which shows him exactly what is going to happen over the next 4-5 days. He hopped in the Care Cab van this morning and excitedly told the driver what was on tap for him today. "First I ride with Jan. Then I work at MAC. Then Daddy comes to get me (visualize excited flappy arms here). Then we get the boat. And then we drive to cabin!!" Wow- all of that language. Even though I hear it from him every day, it still amazes me when I think back to where he was a few years back. Cole is incredible, in so many ways.

As you can tell, it's been a while since my last posting. We've been busy enjoying the nice weather (now that it finally arrived!). Things have been going well, with the exception of Pat's birthday on August 8th.

I was out of town that weekend on my annual girl's weekend in Lanesboro. I had two staff lined up to help with Cole on the 8th so Pat could take Connor and do something fun on his birthday. Only Cole flat out refused to go. Pat tried everything he could but it wasn't going to happen. Cole refused both staff. He wanted to be with Pat and Connor. As much as Cole loves to be at home, the days without help get long for us all. Cole is very hard to keep entertained for 13 hours. It requires constant supervision, the activity skills of a cruise director and tons of patience. Pat said Cole had roughly 20 stand up, sit downs for aggressive behavior. That is a lot for one day. To top it off, tornado sirens went off at 9:30 that night and Cole is petrified of storms. Poor Pat, not the way I was hoping his birthday would go. Thank God he's incredibly laid back and it didn't bother him a bit. He is such an amazing Daddy to our boys.

I'm posting a few different pictures. Some are of Cole doing some fun things around the house. On Sunday I was thrilled to see him join a sword fight that Connor and his friend were having. Cole played along so well and enjoyed many laughs and imaginary play. That was a huge deal, as last summer Cole would get so aggressive when friends were here and we had no choice but to end the play date.

I'm also showing you a great picture of Cole in the new "Craftsman Rocks" t-shirt I made for him. He loves it and was so happy to pose for me while I took pictures of him. I seriously think it is the first time in 8+ years that Cole has ever stopped, looked at the camera AND smiled. YEAH!! He made my day.

Finally I had to add a picture of Connor- as you know, he's the best brother on this planet. He truly amazes me at how well he helps and loves Cole. It comes naturally to him and we Cole's life would not be the same without Connor. They love one another (and adoringly tell each other). They are best buds.

Wish us luck at the cabin. New environments can be really difficult on Cole. We hope he does well. I know one thing, he's looking forward to "Sword fights with Zack and fast boat rides with Daddy."

Hello there pretty girl

Things have been going quite well since Cole returned home from the respite house. He was thrilled to see us and even more happy to get back into his normal routine. The number of stand up, sit downs have dropped a lot. There were a few days a week or so ago when he had 20+ in a day. Now there have only been a few each day and sometimes none at all.

For those of you who know Cole, he tends to focus on things for a given amount of time and then move on to something else. For instance, he might be really interested in watching Nemo for a month and just when you think you know it's what he wants to watch, he gets angry when you put it in the DVD player. The same thing happens with his speech. There are things you can tell he's working on at therapy and certain grammatical things he's trying to master. Right now he's learning a lot about adjectives that describe males verses females an d the correct pronouns to use when referring to them. He'll tell us that he is handsome (and nice) and now he greets me often by saying, "Well hello pretty girl." He will snuggle in, kiss my neck and tell me I'm pretty. Isn't that sweet! That is one thing for sure, Cole loves to shower us with affection. We are incredibly lucky in that way. He is constantly snuggling, hugging, kissing, and tickling us.

I have to admit that Cole does have another crush besides me. He has a few, in fact. Alli, his PCA and Brittany, my brother's girlfriend. It's so cute to see Cole around them. He is used to going on "dates" with Alli. But to see him around Brittany is so funny. He gets so shy and coy with her. There are sometimes his emotion gets the best of him and his feelings give him anxiety. He doesn't know how to show or express his emotions so he instead might want to leave. It's interesting to see him navigate his way.

Cole found another crush a few weeks ago when we got our family pictures taken. We had a friend of mine, Mandy, take our pictures. Check out her work at mandybirdwellphotography.com. Her work is amazing! The photo session took place on an old abandoned farm in Blaine. It was the perfect setting for Cole. He got to explore all kinds of neat things. He was in heaven. He asks all the time to go to Mandy's Farm. But it's not just to see the farm, he wants to see Mandy, too. Cole has told us numerous times that "Mandy is pretty. Want to touch Mandy's neck. Go see Mandy at her farm. Where's Mandy?" He talks about her all the time and I do believe she is his latest crush.

I love to see Cole express his emotions. He has feelings just like we all do. He thinks girls are cute and gets the same butterflies we do. We're so lucky he can share those feelings with us and tell us what he's feeling. I can't imagine not knowing about his little crushes and more importantly, how he feels about me. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind just how deeply he loves me and how much he enjoys being around me. After all, I am his "sweetie".

Here are some pictures from time we've spent on our boat over the past few days. Cole has thoroughly enjoying jumping into the lake, playing on his tube and even fishing (Pat is SO proud). Like I said, he loves these things just like we do. To see his experience them is so rewarding.

Love you Cole, you're my guy.