Smile for the Camera!

Great expectations for a lengthy blog entry over the weekend quickly dissipated as Monday rolled in much faster than expected. Really, where does the time go?? I know all that most of you really care about anyway are pictures of Gabe the Babe, so I'll at least throw a few of those there for entertainment purposes. These pictures are courtesy of Gabe's teacher, Miss Wendy.

Annika playing dress-up - the cutest little spider you ever did see!

Ben contemplating over a menagerie of plastic breakfast food.

Gabriel and Annika getting crafty!

Off to School

Friday was Gabriel's second official day of preschool, first day without mommy staying in the classroom with him. I wasn't sure how the drop off would go. He is often unpredictable - some days when I drop him off at Ethel's he cries and begs me not to go; others, he shuts her door in my face and orders me to go to work. Anyway, he seemed excited about going to school, and even more so about his new Spidey backpack... it's all about Spider-man these days. We got to school and he immediately ran to the classroom door and tried to open it. He peered through the glass and yelled, "Teacher?!?!? Miss Wendy?!?!?" Once in the room, it was as if I didn't even exist. I grabbed him, forced a kiss out of him, and then stepped back while Miss Wendy swept him off to the table and presented him with a chunk of Play-doh. I reluctantly left the room without drawing attention to myself, eyes filled with tears.

Two hours later I reappeared, not that Gabriel took notice. I spoke with Miss Wendy, inquiring as to how Gabriel coped with my disappearance. She said that he started looking for me after and hour of class had passed by, got a teensy-weensy bit upset, and then went back to playing. She may have made up that whole upset thing just to make me feel like I was somewhat missed, who knows... She then proceeded to inform me that Gabriel was, and had been for the past 45 minutes, playing with scissors. Relax, relax, they were safety scissors, but Gabe didn't know the difference. She said that Gabe had told her a hundred times that scissors were very, very dangerous. That being said, he was thrilled to be using them. I found him sitting at the craft table with a few mangled pieces of construction paper sitting in front of him. When I was finally able to get his attention he exclaimed, "I'm cutting, momma, I'm cutting!" Needless to say, it was like pulling teeth getting Gabriel out of the classroom, and even harder getting the scissors out of his hands.

First school craft - keepsake box time.

Trick-or-Treat

Of course you knew that I would have to post Halloween pictures. This year Gabe's costume is a product of me wanting to reuse the suit that I had to purchase for him to wear as the ring bearer in our friends' wedding. That, and the fact that he frequently walks around with this cute little dark ringlet of hair in the middle of his forehead. Those two factors combined, and Clark Kent is born.

Now, I do have to share that when I was getting him dressed, he protested vehemently. I told him that he was going to be Superman, and he replied, "I don't want to be Superman. I want to be Spiderman!" Maybe next year...

And four and a half months roll on by...

Wow, has it really been that long? I give total blame of my blog neglect to Facebook. That's where I spend all of my time uploading pics and posting family doings and such. So, while my Facebook addiction grows and grows, my blog goes unattended.

Let's try and do a quick catch-up:

- Of course, June got off to an excellent start with Gabriel's 2nd birthday party.

- The end of June, good times were had by all at the annual East Family reunion held at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tom's house in Montgomery County, MD. Alas, Jessie has the majority of the good photos from that event. They are posted on FB though... :)

- July brought our first real Colón Family vacation and Gabriel's first plane ride, all the way across the country to the beautiful city of San Diego. We did it all, the beach, the bay, the Zoo, Sea World, Old Town, Balboa Park... it was absolutely fan-freaking-tastic!

- In August I started training for the Philadelphia Marathon (with my devoted running bud, Megan Gallagher), which is just a few weeks away on November 22nd. Run, run, run!!!

- September brought trips to the local farm fairs to introduce Gabriel to all sorts of various farm critters and artery clogging foods. There were numerous photo-ops, but alas, the camera neglected to accompany us on these excursions. Besides, I've noticed when you are the one taking all the pics, you miss out on experiencing a majority of the fun.

- October, which is all but behind us, was very wet and rainy - not so much fun with a leaky roof. Gabriel was the ring-bearer in our dear friends Don and Keely's wedding. Professional pics are in the works and I'll post when I have access. Gabe was a doll, walked down the aisle holding the flower girl's hand, lollipop in mouth. He even sat through the entire Catholic wedding ceremony, that is until he didn't get a cracker at Communion. He turned to me longingly and said, "where's my cracker?" When I informed him that we don't get crackers, his lower lip began to tremble, his face turned red, and then the (very loud) waterworks began. That was my cue to take Gabe in my arms and exit stage left. The other significant happening this month occurred today. Today was Gabe's first day of preschool!! The Lancaster Cooperative School (see link located on the right) started a class just for two-year olds that meets for 2 hours once a week. Being a co-op school, there is a parent helper in the class each week, and this week was my week. Gabe was great and had a blast. Hopefully things go just as smoothly next week when mommy isn't in the classroom with him... :(

Perfection

"He's perfect". That's what our favorite pediatrician told us at Gabriel's 2 year check-up. Who are we to argue with the doctor??? For those of you that are always interested in the stats, Gabe weighed in at 30 lbs. and is 34 1/2" tall.

Overall, he finally had a good experience at the doctor's office. Don't get me wrong, the practice we go to is wonderful; Gabe just knows that when you walk through those doors, he usually gets stuck with some kind of needle. I thought I had remembered someone saying that there were no more vaccinations until kindergarten, so we told Gabe going in, "No boo-boos, honey". When the nurse told us that he needed his second Hep A vaccination, we were heart-broken. But, being the fast-thinking Daddy that Eser is, he suggested that we come back another time for the shot. So, Gabe had a positive, needle-free visit. He even gave the doctor a hug before we left. Now, with the exception of that one shot, there are no more scheduled visits until he turns 3, which I'm sure will be here before we know it... sigh.

ABC's

TWO!

Wow, it's been so long since I've updated the blog that I forgot my log-in credentials. Sad, very, very sad... What's even sadder is that my precious baby boy turned two over the weekend. Where in the world did the past 2 years go?? Somebody, anybody, please, please tell me. Two years ago I brought this tiny, helpless, beautiful baby boy home from the hospital. A baby boy who did nothing but sleep, eat, and snuggle. While he remains an expert at all of the above, now he walks, runs, talks, sings, climbs, counts, plays, dances... the list goes on and on. While we were shopping at Costco for party supplies on Friday, he started singing his ABC's... total surprise to me!! Apparently he's been practicing at Ethel's. The child never ceases to amaze me.

There have been so many amazing occurances and so many milestones since my last post that I have no clue where to begin, nor do I have the time to even attempt compiling a list. Gabriel is becoming more and more independent every day. He wants to put his own shoes on; he wants to put his pants on; he wants to zip his own jacket; he wants to buckle himself into the car seat. I really need to start setting my alarm a good 15 minutes earlier to allow for all of the extra time it now takes to get out the door in the morning... Every day is an adventure, but I wouldn't chage it for the world!

Let me end this short and sweet blog entry with an update on what the rest of us in the Colón household are doing. Mid-April we adopted two beautiful kitties from the Humane League of Lancaster County. Their names are Phoebe and Sophie. See pictures below. Eser is almost done with school for the summer. Tomorrow is the last day for the students, then he is done on Thursday. He plans to spend his summer playing with Gabe and playing golf - rough life, I know. Julian (and his LARGE, rambunctious dog, Samson) are home from college for the summer. Julian continues to caddy at Lancaster Country Club on the weekends, and is working for a roofing company during the week. Samson is now my morning running buddy, an effort I am making in order to keep our house in one piece. Along with Samson, I have also found another new running buddy, who is also named Megan. Together, we are getting ready to start training to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November. Yup, you heard it, the girl who couldn't run the mile in high school is going to train for a marathon - all 26.2 miles. On top of pushing my body to its physical limits, I am getting ready to put my brain to the test as well, preparing to take the first part of my professional registration exam in September. Never a dull moment in the Colón household...

The girls...

Gabriel's first pony ride.

My little speed demon.

Birthday festivities

Going for a Walk

“Hey, will you update your blog please!”

Wow, I am sitting here looking at the date of my last entry, wondering where the time has gone? Has it really been that long? I am going to partially blame the neglect on my relatively new found Facebook addiction. Whenever I have spare time while on the computer, that’s where I seem to gravitate to. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I often find myself wondering what great things I might accomplish if I could have back every minute that I’ve spent on Facebook. I guess we’ll never know, will we?

So here I sit, trying to come up with a clever way to summarize the past month or so of our lives. March came and went in a blur. I am still in denial regarding the fact that it’s now April. Two more months and Gabriel will be two. Where or where does the time go?? Someone, please tell me. Is there any way stop it for the time being? Please?

March started with an unplanned visit from Julian over his Spring Break. It was ‘unplanned’ because he was hoping to be competing at the NCAA National Wrestling Tournament. Unfortunately, only the first place finisher in each region was eligible to advance, and Julian placed second. Next year Jules, next year. Anyway, Gabriel was overjoyed to have his big brother and Samson (Julian’s dog) around for a week. They have big plans for lots of fun this summer.

Gabe and I took a Sunday afternoon and visited Aunt Marian, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Arthur (a.k.a. ‘Uncle Awful’ – I apparently had a hard time pronouncing ‘Arthur’ when I was little) just outside of York. While they only live about 40 minutes away, and have lived there for nearly 4 years, this is the first time we’ve been able to connect. We had a lovely visit. Gabe especially enjoyed sweeping Aunt Marian’s patio and watching the turtles sun themselves along the edge of Aunt Ellen's pool.

Last weekend was especially fun for Gabe (and me for that matter). We traveled down to the southern end of the county to celebrate not one, but four birthdays. My adopted childhood family, the Youngs, has grown exponentially over the years. My dear friend Joy, and three of her siblings, all have children with March birthdays, hence the group festivity. It was a ‘Birthday Roundup’, complete with cowboy hats, stick horses and bull riding. Gabriel had an absolute blast playing with all the kids while mommy caught up with old friends.

Gabe has become quite the little athlete, even at such a young age. We aren’t sure what sport he’s going to take up, but he's bound to excel at it. He has and incredible arm. I’m not sure which he throws farther, the ball or his food, it’s a toss up (no pun intended). The child is a natural as far as swinging a golf club is concerned. He is always playing with the Little Tykes golf set Julian got him for Christmas. He swings left-handed by the way. Since he loves to whack things with sticks, Eser went out and bought a croquet set for the back yard so we can all get in on the fun. (I used to love croquet because I wasn’t half bad. Let me tell ya, playing with a golfer takes a lot of the fun out of it for me – talking about Eser here, not Gabe, though it’s probably only a matter of time before he’s better than me too). Just in the past day or so, Gabriel has developed some amazing foot-eye coordination. He throws his beach ball up in the air, and then proceeds to kick it as it makes its way back to the ground, launching it clear across the room. Am I raising the future place kicker for the Washington Redskins? Won't Grandpa be proud!

Well, I think I have spent enough time rambling on for now. I will end this post with a few recent, and rather amusing, ‘Gabe-isms’:

• When Gabriel wants something, he points at the object of his desire and says,
  “Have it, have it”. Trying to instill proper manners in him at this early age, I
  look at him and ask him, “What do you say, Gabe?” His reply, “Thank you, thank you." He's putting the cart before the horse, but at least he's being polite, right?
• Hide and seek is a favorite game in the Colon household. When Gabriel is hiding,
  we will call out, “Gabriel, where are you?” Then, from behind the closet door we
  hear, “Hiding! Find me!” He takes all of the thrill out of the chase, but it’s really cute none the less.
• While tapping mommy in the butt the other day, Gabriel proclaims, "Big one". Nice.
• After spilling daddy’s beer on the couch while daddy was upstairs, Gabriel yells at the top of his lungs, “Eser!!!!” (in an angry tone, mind you), “Mess!!’

Some recent pics for your viewing pleasure:

Getting ready for a hike

Hiking

Decorating his bag for his pinata goodies at the Birthday Roundup

Lil' cowboy

Whack that pinata!

Wearing daddy's shirt

Playing for a Cause

Each and every day I look at Gabriel and thank all the powers that be that I am so lucky to have this beautiful, healthy child. Every moment I spend with him is a moment that I cherish and am thankful for. Eser and I are so blessed. Regrettably, not everybody is as fortunate as we are. This is the reason that I decided to start a 'family' team and walk for the March of Dimes last year, to do what we can to help every baby have a healthy start. The 'Circle of Friends' is back this year to March for Babies! (Our team's name inspiration came from a picture taken at a playdate/picnic at our house in September of '07 - see below.)

Eser, Gabriel and I attended a team kickoff meeting this past Saturday. This family-friendly event was held at The Little Gym in Lititz. I had never heard of Little Gym before, let alone been to one. The event was held there so that little ones could be entertained while the adults discussed Lancaster's walk, as well as fundraising strategies and the sort. Let me tell you, this place was great! It was full of scaled-down gymnastics apparatuses - parallel bars, uneven bars, balance beams, tons of mats... They hold dance, gymnastics, sports skills, and karate classes for babies as young as 4 months! They also offer a 'Parent Sanity' night once a month where, for a small fee, you can drop off your youngster to play and run around, supervised of course, while you and your significant other go out. How appropriate that this facility is located near several restaurants and a recently constructed movie theater!!!

Anyway, it would be putting it lightly to say that Gabe had an absolute blast!! He almost literally ran non-stop for an hour and a half! He danced, he jumped, he ran, he climbed. All of the fun was set to a soundtrack of classic, high-energy 80's tunes that were recorded with a slight twist for the kids. It was great. Gabe and Eser played with all of the other children, including a pair of 18 month old twin girls, while mommy attended to MOD business.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring our team, you can click the link to the right. If you would like to walk with us, we'd love to have you! Follow the link in our 'Links we Love' to the right, click on 'Join a Team' and search for 'Circle_of_Friends'. This year's 5 mile walk in on Sunday, April 26th at Greenfield Corporate Center. Thanks in advance for you support!

Circle of Friends

Hangin' around, makin' Grandpa's face



Climbin'

Still hangin'

Chillin' with the chicks

Gabe letting loose to 'Funkytown'. Though you can't hear it in the video, Gabe is yelling his version, 'Unkytown', as he's running.

(Please pay no attention to the loud, annoying person behind the camera/phone...)

Mr. Smarty-Pants

Whee!

The temperature went above 40 today for the first day in quite some time. Though still cold, Eser couldn't resist and took Gabe to the park for some playtime. While sitting at my computer in the office, working diligently, Eser sends me this video (via cell phone) of Gabe playing at the park barely a block from my office. So close... and yet so far... I want to go and play outside.

RUNNIN'

When it comes to running, Gabriel is my training partner. Weather (and time of day) permitting, we hit the streets of Lancaster - me in my Nike Air Pegasus running shoes and Gabe in his flashy yellow Bob Ironman running stroller. He absolutely loves to go. This morning I walked around the corner into the living room to find that Gabriel had pulled the stroller over backwards and climbed inside. I chuckled and asked, "what are you doing?" He looked at me longingly and replied, "Runnin'?" How I wished I could have called in sick and taken him for a run. It was oh so tempting...

Firsts...

Back in BIZNESS!!

Well, I will tell you this much, I LOVE high speed internet. I know my Verizon was supposedly high speed, but it didn't hold a candle to this Comcast gig. Now, my biggest problem is going to be finding the time upload all of the pictures that I've taken over the past few months, but haven't shared...

Gabe seems to mature, and grow, and get funnier every single day. Not a day goes by where he doesn't absolutely amaze me in some way shape or form. Take yesterday for instance. We went upstairs to start our bedtime routine. He ran into our bedroom and went straight to the nightstand where I had 2 bottles of water. He proceeded to pick up both bottles, and then he ran back to me saying "Agua. Two. Two agua." Let me remind you, he is only 20 months old, exactly. 20 months old today. Wow. Four little months and he'll be two... where in the world does the time go??? In the mornings I sometimes feel like I already have a teenager on my hands. Once in a while I have to wake him up to get him ready to go to Ethel's. He'll turn away from me, sometimes covering his head with my pillow, and protest, "Noooo. Noooo. Sleep." Dare I say like father, like son??

Here are a few images of recent 'activities'.

I heard Gabe in the kitchen taking all of the utensils out of the one drawer. Nothing unusual, so I went about my business in the living room. After another minute or two, things were way too quiet. When I peeked back into the kitchen, this is what I saw...

Sleepy guy passing time watching Toy Story. Gabe is a big fan of the Disney/Pixar flicks. At first, Finding Nemo was his favorite. Then, we moved on to Toy Story, both I and II. He'd wake up in the morning and say to me, "Downstairs. Buzz, Buzz on. Woody". Now, we mix it up a little more and add in The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc., on occasion. The Incredibles are the most fun to hear him request; it comes out something like 'Bed-bub-bles'.

Oh, and yes, he still has his vacuum obsession. Fortunately, that has worked out in my favor.

Soon, Very Soon...

...we will be ditching Verizon as our ISP at home and will, reluctantly, have Comcast highspeed internet. I hate doing it, giving money to the corporate monster, but oh well. Anyway, at that time, it will be soooo much easier/convenient to update the blog on a regular basis (i.e. - it won't take 15 minutes to upload 1 photo only to get disconnected and not have it post anyway). Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Oh, and Happy Happy Happy Day!!!! Isn't it nice to have an articulate President who doesn't say 'uhh' every few minutes!!!!!!! I only wish my paternal grandparents were alive today to witness this historical event!