We are Just Right

We Are Just Right (orig. published 5.1.10)

Well, it’s been quite a long time since I last updated the world about Colson. So long in fact, that he is almost 3 now!

So much has happened this past 11 months since I last wrote, I will try not to make this into a novel.

In July, Colson became a BIG BROTHER! His little sister, Cayleigh Jean was born on July 20th at 8:12 am. 7 lbs, 11 oz and 21 inches long. She’s beautiful, and Colson loves her more than anything! He continues to be the most amazing big brother. If she is sad, he sings to her. If she is cranky, he makes her laugh. If she is fussy, he holds her hand and comforts her. When she was learning to roll over, Colson was her biggest fan. “Go Tea Go!” he would say, “You can do it!” When she gets a hold of something she shouldn’t, he says “No, Tea, put that down, THAT is not a toy!” He affectionately called her “Tea” during the first few months of her life, but now that his speech has quite improved, he refers to her as “Tea-wii”. Everyday I am so thrilled to see my two beautiful children interacting and playing together, Life is Good!

Colson started speaking 3 word sentences at 25 months old. And by 26 months, he was using 7 word sentences. His first couple of sentences were “Here Gramma Ball” and “More Water Please”. He could count to 10, knew all his colors, and could spell his first and last name by 25 months. He knows all his shapes, as well as his opposites, and his plurals. He is one smart boy! I asked him what the theory of cold fusion was and he said “Mmmm. Cheese!” Hehe.

He is very independent and his favorite saying besides of course, “No”, is “I want do it all by myself”. He received an iPod Touch for Christmas this year and he loves that thing so much! He knows how to use it better than his Mommy does! He can go right to his movies, or his music, or a game. He can color pictures on it and he can race cars. Colson is not potty trained yet, more so due to his total and complete stubbornness for all things not initiated by him than lack of effort on our part. We are prepping him to use the potty at age 3 next month. So fingers crossed!

Colson became a cousin again on August 19th, Baby Adam Jr. “A.J” was born to Uncle Adam and Aunt Paige and Cousin Ellie out in Virginia. They came to visit at Christmas time, and Colson just loved his new cousin! And of course, had tons of fun playing with Ellie as always!

Colson had surgery again on his left foot, as the club foot was regressing. The surgeon blamed the Orthotist, the Orthotist blamed the surgeon, either way, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again! The procedure was called a talectomy and they removed the talus bone in his left foot on Feb. 2nd 2010. Pins were removed on March 23rd, and Colson is doing great! He has a florescent orange cast on with a glow in the dark stripe. I’m so proud of my little guy, he’s so tough!

Colson has two new pets! He got frogs in September from his Nana, and he named them Bob and Ziggy (Marley). They live in his room in their little tank, and he is a big fan of them! He makes sure to feed them every other day like he’s supposed to. Good job being responsible Colson!

Colson was a giraffe for Halloween, and we went trick or treating for the first time. His little sister, the pumpkin, came along too. However, he refused to say Trick or Treat until AFTER he received the candy or when we were walking away. We visited the pumpkin patch again, Colson’s third time. He loved it even more this year, and he STILL talks about it! Can’t wait to take him again this year! He talked about it for days prior to going, calling it the “Pumpin Patch”.

In December, we went to Lexington, KY yet again to visit Dr. Burgess at Shriner’s. We drove for 2 days, for a 5 minute appointment to which he said “Keep doing what you’re doing”. We do not feel that we are benefiting any longer from visiting him and, as much as we love Lexington, will not be returning… to see the doctor anyways. We are now in a holding pattern to go see Dr. Kozin and Dr. Van Bosse at the Philadelphia Shriner’s. Appointments are tentatively scheduled for September 2010.

Christmas was lots of fun for us; Colson got way too many toys as usual, thanks Santa! He got a really cool dinosaur that moves and roars because he loves dinosaurs…. But when he saw it coming towards him and roaring he said “I don’t like dinosaurs anymore Mommy!” He is so funny! He enjoyed opening all his presents, and he sang in church, and we spent a lot of great time with family.

In February, Colson got to finally complete his wheelchair trials! He took to the chair like a fish to water. He knew exactly how to maneuver it, including backing up and turning. The only issue was a little bit of depth perception since he couldn’t see over the seat (it wasn’t fit exactly for him), so he would run us right over while trying to come in for a secret or a kiss. Insurance approval pending, Colson should receive his wheelchair sometime around his 3rd birthday in May.

Easter has brought us our very first Easter baskets and egg coloring. Boy did Colson have fun with that one! A few of the eggs came with stickers and of course, they were for Colson, and not the eggs. But that’s ok. He loved coloring them, and had to ensure that we were monitoring the colorizing at all times. “How ‘bout you check that one Mommy?” “K, that’s good”. “Now how ‘bout blue one?”. I also took him shopping for some new summer clothes recently, and upon showing him a t-shirt, he said, “No, that one is too crunchy”. Uhm. Ok. How about this one? “No, that one is too spicy”. Uh, sure Colson…. This one? “Yeah!!! (while bouncing up and down) That one is juuuuuuuuust right!”.

Here’s to hoping everything is just right for all of you,

Until then,

Much Love,

Nick, Jennifer, Colson, and “Tea-wi”

In Memory: On January 26th, after a lifetime of battling medical issues, we lost Colson’s little cousin Baby Gage who was only 10 months old. Colson adored his cousin, and still brings him up in everyday conversation. We are so so proud of you Gagey, you taught us so much, the true meaning of strength and determination, and we miss you incredibly, and we love you with all our hearts! You will always be our angel!

Please consider the Children’s Heart Foundation at http://www.chfn.org/ , the CDH Awareness program http://www.cdhawareness.com/ or the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, WI at http://www.uwhealth.org/ in memory of Baby Gage the next time you are making a donation to a cause.