Who is Colton? Barring an epiphany within the next 20 weeks, Colton David Duke will be the name of our little boy. I know I'm strange for wanting to pick out a name so early, but for me this is actually late. Dylan was named before I was pregnant. I thought this little one would be the same way, but that was when I was convinced this one was going to be a girl and didn't know my mother's intuition was broken. I actually asked Dr. White, "Are you sure?" when he gave the news at 15 1/2 weeks. But he was sure. Then I immediately read an entire baby name book on the way to New Mexico.
Here is Colton's 1st video, taken at my 20 week appointment. It shows Colton's heartbeat, measuring 149 bpm. He weighs .8 lb, even though I have gained 15 lbs already. I couldn't figure out how to easily download it directly from the DVD the doctor gave me onto the blog, so I just took a video of the DVD as it played on my laptop. Ghetto, but it works. I actually like that you can see Dylan's reflection as he quietly stares at it. Dylan asks me all the time to watch baby Colton again and to kiss baby Colton (he doesn't say baby Ava anymore). Makes my heart smile.
Now to play catch up with Dylan. I haven't done a monthly update since he turned 2. Here goes...
25 Months:
*Flew to Salt Lake day after his birthday for Thanksgiving. 1st time he wasn't a freebie. Also 1st trip we discovered he is too big to sleep in a pack-n-play crib.
*He LOVES to line up his cars in straight lines and rows. Could do it all day long all by himself.
*Maggie was playing "I Spy" and Dylan joined in saying, "I spy a Papa."
* I was teaching Maggie what a pedestrian is. Dylan repeated "pedestrian" clear as day.
*Dylan, Tommy, and Maggie have so much fun together, even though Dylan calls Maggie "Ashlyn." Autrey also taught him to call Joey "Gorilla Joe."
*At restauants he loves chicken nuggets, french fries, and "cloclate"(chocolate) milk. As soon as we walk in he tells his order to the nearest employee. And he'll never turn down a sucker, ever.
*Dylan has what I call "Anchor Man prayers" because he looks around and prays for objects he can see, just like the "I love...lamp" part of the movie. Example: Thank you for the windows. Thank you for lights. Thank you for trucks...
*He said "What you talkin' about?" to Aunt B when she was here and he didn't understand her. She and Aunt Elaine couldn't find a word he couldn't repeat so they tried to teach him supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. He can say "supercalifragi" "listic" "expialidocious" in 3 parts, but not all at once.
*He learned to plug in the big and little Christmas trees by himself.
*He cuddles with his singing elephant and his blue bear under a blanket when he goes to bed. He likes to burrow into the corner of his crib.
*He will repeat "Mama, mama, mama" or "Dad, dad, dad" to get our attention.
*He will say "How fun" or "How cute" when it's appropriate.
*He did his 1st finger painting. I gave him his 1st pair of safety scissors, which he tries to use with 2 hands.
*He'll say "I don't know that song" if he doesn't know one. That's because I will say that to him when he will request to sing songs I'm sure I know, but he will call them by his own nicknames and sometimes it takes a while to figure out which one he means. Examples: "The Mary Song" = Mary Had a Little Lamb, "The Dada Song" = George Strait's "A Father's Love" that Autrey sings to Dylan, "One for the Dame" = Baa Baa Black Sheep, "Glub, Glub" = 5 Green Speckled Frogs.
*He 'starts' his vacuum popper toy with his foot and vacuums next to me while I am cleaning.
*We could hear him from our room putting himself to sleep talking about Santa Clause and "the big nutcracker." He woke up saying "Feliz Navidad" over and over that next morning.
*He built a tower of 12 blocks multiple times.
26 Months:
*He said, "I have a question for G-ma in my room" like it was an object. haha.
*He sings the ABC song with only 3 mistakes: 1) He says "O" for "U" 2) He says "S" for "X" 3) He ends the song by saying "Now I know my ABCs" twice.
*Dylan LOVED the snow in Ruidoso. He was not happy when we had to drag him inside. He also really loved Nana's matchbox cars at her house...and Uncle TayTay (Terry).
*He holds up binoculars and pretends to take pictures.
*He has entered the "This is MINE!" stage. Yay... :(
*His 'special' drinks are "lemnade," "appa juice," and "choclate milk." He will say, "I want some ______" to request drinks, food, toys, etc.
*Me: "Can I have a kiss?" Dylan: (playfully) "No. Make mama sad." He knows it will get him tickled. We do that dialogue over and over while I pretend to get my feelings hurt when he refuses me and tickle him until he yells "No tickling!" He thinks it's so funny.
*Almost a month after Christmas he still sings them sometimes.
*He said, "I made some magic" the other day. I have no idea why.
*He loved G-ma's cinnamon rolls I made with her while she was here.
*G-ma gave Dylan his 1st haircut ever! He looks so grown up.
*Autrey asked him what his stuffed puppy's name is. Dylan said, "Diyan Duke Puppy."
*At the park he said, "I want to see the tree." He ran over to the closest one and hugged it.
*We made a matching game on 3 x 5 notecards with 2 bikes, 2 cars, and 2 puppies. He is pretty good at it.
*When I ask Dylan what color something is, he usually responds with "It's a blue one". Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. That will be the 1st color we work on. Although he did see a blue Tahoe and called it a "blue Mimi's truck." I was impressed.
*Last week he got good at singing Happy Birthday. We practiced singing to GG, G-ma, and Tommy.
*We went to Chuck E. Cheese's with Tommy. Since then Dylan will periodically say, "Chuck E. went bye-bye. Oh, no! Where is Chuck E?"
*I think it's funny the way he says, "How now bwown (brown) cow."
*As I'm typing this, Dylan is watching out the window for Autrey to come home. He just unlocked the door and opened it for the 1st time. Stinker. That's my cue...
Cute Photo Op:
Playing with the machines in the beans:
Dylan still won't go in Mimi's bounce house they had set up, but at least he didn't cry this year. He enjoyed the vehicles instead:
He loved hammering the "nails" (golf tees) in the "wood" (foam):
Allyson had some great construction themed food, and I loved these cone cups:
After the official party was over and the 2 girls left we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Dylan's favorite part is still riding the various vehicles, the police motorcycle being the one he kept going back to repeatedly:
He is quite fond of Chuck E. and keeps talking about him randomly:
Maybe a little too fond:
On the way home we stopped at a truck stop with a really nice playground. However, I couldn't totally relax after reading the top sign. Yeah, the one in huge letters as if there had been a recent child-eating or pet-eating incident:
Glad we could celebrate with you, Tommy!
Life's just better when you're naked. ;) 
Posing:
After they sat for 1 1/2 hours and now ready to bake:
With my taste testers:
Perfection:
After, mission complete! He looks so grown up now:
Lounging on the stairs Sunday morning. He is almost as long as the width of the stairs:
My little stud with his new haircut in his new suit G-ma brought before church:
A bunch of videos:
