fall fun, fall bugs

last weekend kelvin helped ted, ben and dad set up deer hunting camp- we went to mom and dad's friday after kelvin got home from work. while i was busy running around, trying to get everything packed, cole took the opportunity to sneak some of daddy's gum from off the table. he ever-so-quietly unwrapped two pieces and chewed them. i had no idea he was doing this until he ran up to me with what looked like powdered sugar around his mouth, babbled something unintelligible and i caught a whiff of something minty.

yup... daddy's gum!

he was so proud of himself, chewing gum like mommy and daddy...

... and there's the proof!!
he was SO good (he's never been given gum before) and chewed it for a good two hours. in fact, the only reason he swallowed it was because he threw his head back in the middle of a mini-tantrum!

grampa and his princess!

saturday was gorgeous so we couldn't keep cole inside.
he started the day by helping daddy and grampa rake leaves!

he and gramma watched daddy and grampa on their fourwheelers (uncle tedly and his dirt bike might've been in there too, i don't remember...)

he got to ride on the "wheeee-wher" with grampa!

and when daddy and grampa disappeared to go set up camp, he wanted to find them.

so, cole and i had a little one-on-one time. we walked to the cattlepond where i played with the camera... we also checked out the cornfield and saw the windsock (he called it a "sock-ok")

my inquisitive, challenging, smart, sweet, funny, endearing little man

since cole's impromptu shoot went pretty well, i thought maybe i could do madison's photos as well (i have NOT been able to keep up on them). this is about the only good one... i managed to take 6 shots and in at least three of them she was crying.

oh well- we tried!

cole got to wear his bapa's hat!

or as he says:

"bapa! haht!"

whups!

oh yes... madison can clap! we've been showing her how for months and she's just watched us with a slightly amused look on her face, so when i got her up one recent morning and she burst into excited clapping, i about freaked! finally, my baby girl can clap! she even knows the word... if we tell her to clap, more often than not she'll do it. she waved, too- tuesday when i was in hobby lobby, i looked down at her in the stroller and she just waved her little fingers, all pleased with herself!

sadly, the end of our week is not as fun as the first...

cole DOES have pinkeye and a double ear infection.

he seemed to look better last evening, but this morning, he was a fright! i called the clinic right away, and got him in this morning.

armed with amoxicillin and eye ointment, we will be fighting this round of yuckies with a vengance.

i will never forget this trip to the clinic. we didn't have dr h- i took the first available appointment with no regards as to who it was with. usually, cole is pretty friendly, but the minute the dr made a move toward him, he got pretty feisty. he wouldn't even tolerate the stethoscope! when it came time to check his ears, things got bad. his one ear had so much drainage built up that they had to irrigate it to get a look... it took three nurses, the doctor and myself to hold him down enough for the doc to irrigate and examine his ear. by the time it was done and she'd determined that his ear infection was indeed in both ears, cole was crying, i was crying, madison was crying (more because she was stuck in her carseat) and we were exhausted. i've never, ever seen my son like that- i know he was scared and hurting, but his "fight" response kicked in, in over-drive. he was to the point where he wasn't hearing or seeing anyone or anything, he was just consumed with trying to escape. i had to carry him out of the clinic because his face was so swollen from screaming and crying that his eyes were reduced to tiny little slits. his face looked like a ball with a nose sticking out. i was scared... not because i thought he was dying (although the thought had crossed my mind that he might work himself into a coronary) but because i've never seen him react like that. even now, i start tearing up thinking about it. anyway, we have eye meds and an antibiotic... what a weekend for kelvin to be gone; giving eye meds to a toddler is NOT a one-person job. hopefully when his daddy gets home on sunday, cole will be feeling MUCH better!