a week of firsts

We had so many "firsts" this week that I don't know where to begin!

We had a fantastic few days at the beach. Cole and I went up on Monday and stayed through Wednesday and then Bill joined us Thursday night until this afternoon (Saturday). The weather was great, the fried clams were yummy and there was plenty of room on the beach as schools started this week. Perfect time to go and we had a great time. We got to see Uncle Jack and Aunt Colette for a night and Uncle Marc and Aunt Tracy for a few nights, too.

Cole was gnawing on me on Monday night (per usual) and I felt a tooth! His first tooth. . .at the beach! Under closer inspection we figured out that he actually has two teeth coming in. . .on the bottom in the front. Almost as soon as we "found" the teeth - Cole started getting very fussy about them. He's been fussing every evening. . .biting on everything and anything he can. . .and chewing his tongue, too! There's a lot going on in that little mouth.

On Tuesday, Uncle Marc and Aunt Tracy and I went to walk the boardwalk for about a half hour. While I was gone I got a phone call from Nana and Pops telling me to come home quickly because Cole was crawling! In a half hour? When I'm gone? He was scooting around the cottage by the time I got back. . .he was so proud to be able to go where he wanted. I wouldn't really call it 'crawling', either. . .we're doing more of a 'scootch'. Either way. . .I need to vacuum more!

And then. . .if all of that wasn't enough for the week. . .he started to say "Ba-ba" and a few other things! Up until now his language skills have been mostly variations of yelling just to hear his voice. But this week he started making actual words. . .sort of.

I've been told this time in baby's life is the most exciting and that everyday is a new one. . .and I believe it! We've had so much fun with Cole this week. . .from listening to him, to watching his face when he had new foods (pears last week and carrots this week!), to chasing him around the floor when he gets going. Here are a few pictures of our mini-vacation:

Playing around with Uncle Jack.

The boys. . .lying around!

Cole's glad Beckett is off the disabled list.

"Scootching" around his sun tent on the beach.

With Dad on the beach.

And. . .a close up of the piggies. . .again. ;-)