2006 – THROUGH THE EYES OF COLTON LUKE

The following entry will hopefully give Colton Luke a little of the description and background information that he so justifiably deserves. That being said, I will be attempting to summarize events from the last 11 months, and since lunch yesterday is barely a foggy rumble in my digestive tract and memory banks, I will undeniably skip too much and gloss past some details.

The first few months of Colt’s life were a pink baby blur filled with napping, nursing, cooing and occasionally crying. Thankfully this period was void of traumatic events, and gave our family time to adjust to its newest member. He spent quite a bit of his time relaxing in a ‘Moses’ basket that Rhiannon would drag with her throughout the house. We didn’t use a basket for Landon, but in hindsight it proved an invaluable tool for our early care of Colt, allowing us a portable bed that could be taken virtually anywhere, and at the end of the day fit snuggly into his bassinet. We could, and at times did, swing it through the air to not-so-gently rock Colt to sleep when he was fussy. The combination of the basket and a stuffed animal that played water sounds (rivers, rain, etc) and Colt spent many peaceful hours resting and cooing. I often found myself jealous of his plush accommodations.

I also want to take a sentence or two to describe Colton’s nickname selection, as I often refer to him as Colt rather than Colton. Rhiannon and I both selected the name Colton Luke because of the uniquely American, somewhat rugged image it elicited, similar to his brother’s moniker, Landon Wyatt. As inevitably happens with names, shorter versions evolve and Rhiannon and I squared off somewhat between Colt and Cole as developing nicknames for our new son. Rhiannon had always been a proponent of Cole, even as a unique name all unto itself, whereas I preferred Colt, again for its unique imagery (there was also the problem that ‘Cole Buhr’ sounded a little too much like ‘Colby’, an ex girlfriend that now lives happily in the back woods somewhere as a married lesbian – no joke). Over time I recruited Landon to the Colt nickname team, and between the two of us, Colton is often referred to as Colt, but rarely if ever as Cole. I guess if he wants he can always run with the Cole handle when he’s older if he prefers.

After a few months, Colt quickly adopted a snuggle buddy that would exist as his drool depository, milk absorbent pad, comfort blanket and midnight pal. He selected a small blanket with the pattern of a giraffe, complete with a little giraffe head and tail emerging from opposite ends of the blanket. We had originally tried to introduce this blanket to Landon during his infancy, but a frightening experience where he wrapped his head up in the material left us fearing suffocation, and instead Landon grew up holding tight to a smaller, orange, rabbit shaped blanket named Gully. Maybe the second time around as parents we were a little less cautious, anyway Colt and Raffi got along well right from the start. Of course it also wasn’t long before Colt would have trouble falling asleep unless Raffi was placed squarely over his face. This was unnerving for quite some time, but it did help get him settled in at night, perhaps from lack of oxygen, but regardless, after a few weeks without any deleterious reactions we grew accustomed to his habit and he has stuck with it ever since. Today Raffi still accompanies Colt around everywhere, although his yarn mane has been completely plucked clean by his owner and friend, and one of his nostrils is a little unraveled, his horns still complete their function as a chewing oasis, and his worn cotton keeps Colt warm at night.

A description of Colt physically is probably also warranted. Colt is slightly shorter and stockier than his older brother was, a little more of a butterball, probably due to his eating habits which I will need to discuss later. He has large, bright blue eyes, with a slight puppy dog slant at their corners similar to his mother’s. His hair is straight and straw-blond, until just recently it would stick straight up in a natural mohawk – we recorded several instance of this on the photographic record as it was undeniably adorable – our own mini punk. Currently, Colt has four, big, white chompers, and by the proliferation of drool flooding from his mouth, signs point to more teeth arriving soon. Recently he has begun sticking his tongue out, with or without provocation, and upon its extension I always laugh at how big it is. He has been sitting up for several months now, and started aggressively crawling just before Christmas. Before that he would propel himself by implementing a backwards scoot on his belly and then spinning to orient his face in the proper direction after he either reached his destination or crashed into something along the way. He also implemented a soldier style crawl for a short period of time. When so inclined he will pull himself up to his feet while holding onto adjacent furniture, but no attempts at walking or standing have been witnessed. He claps excitedly when happy, and will wave, and occasionally even extend a slow motion high five. His hands rise up in the air when he wants to be picked up and he giggles uncontrollably when his belly is tickled.

I know that most if not all parents think that their children are the absolute cutest things on the planet. And I also know that it’s probably not politically correct to make comparisons but I’m going to go ahead anyway. Colt really is downright adorable - cutest baby I have ever seen. There I said it, and I’ll stand behind it, and that previous statement even includes his older brother who was/is incredibly adorable in his own right. I’m speaking from a position of experience here, I was after all voted the “cutest baby in Poway” in 1975, and Colt blows my baby pictures out of the water.

Colt’s language skills continue to entertain him. He is a very vocal baby, although 99% of his current evocations are comprised of babble, he most definitely seems to understand the dialogue flowing from his lips. Following in his brother’s footsteps, his first word was “Dada”, a fact that we tried to keep hidden from his mom until the evidence was simply to omnipresent. Shortly thereafter he introduced, “Mama” to his vocabulary, and I’m convinced I have heard his emit some derivative of, “Andon” as well.

It is apparent and openly welcomed that Colton loves his parents. That being said, his love for his older brother far surpasses his affection for anyone or anything else he has come into contact with to date. When Landon enters a room, Colt’s face lights up with glee, and he immediately crawls over to investigate what adventure Landon is currently involved in. His infatuation is endearing and more often than not it is returned in varying degrees by his older sibling. Unfortunately this worship also can evolve into a source of tension in the house. Landon has toys that he has identified as exclusively his; most of these are trains, but a few other possessions also fall into this category. Colt never has seemed to pick up on this distinction though, which often results in a confrontation where Landon either rips a toy away from his little brother or simply pushes/blocks him out of the way. This often Leaves Colt frustrated and upset. Conversely, there are situations where Colt will discover a toy, or a spoon, or stimulating object that will provoke giggles and smiles from Colt’s exploration of said discovery. This often is followed by Landon coming over to investigate, and if his interest is peaked, he will simply tear the object away from his little friend, which is consistently followed by wailing tears and disbelief. To try to alleviate this situation we have tried to enact a ‘trading rule’ where if Landon wants to take a toy away from Colt he must replace it with one of his trains. This occasionally works, although often Landon will drop by a different, forgotten toy to complete the transaction that he has no desire to play with.

I am often asked what are some of the more glaring differences between Colt and Landon when he was his age. I guess comparisons between siblings are unavoidable, although I imagine detested by those involved in the side by side investigation. That being said, the answer I most often deliver, is that one primary difference between the boys at this age is their independence. Colt will entertain himself independently for long periods of time, often crawling away from those around him, setting off on his own investigation of the world around him. He has learned already who to pull open draws, and makes a bee line for the refrigerator when he views its open door. Conversely Landon was always in need of attention, and would rarely stray out of sight. I’m sure to some extent Colton’s independence has evolved out of necessity due to his inability to compete with his larger and more actively coordinated brother. It probably also has something to do his own unique version of reality – he has never really experienced a world devoid of other competing distractions, so he has developed accordingly. That being said he has been becoming more aware that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and has become more insistent with his attention grabbing wails.

Colt has maintained a steady growth rate throughout his development; characteristically he falls into the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. He is an extraordinary eater, at no time has he ever been fussy or refused food except for the few weeks following his bout with the stomach flu last December. Initially he would grub on baby food, repeatedly voicing his disappointment when the spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl. We began fortifying his food with rice cereal or oatmeal, and eventually began to offer him two jars of food per feeding. In the past few months he has drifted away from baby food and has begun to incorporate more solid food into his diet. Whatever meal is being served, small morsels are distributed around the tray of his hi-chair where they are scavenged up by his little fingers and shoved excitedly into his mouth. Although sometimes a messy event, Colt always enjoys mealtime. He has yet to incorporate utensils into his feeding regime although I’m sure that event waits eminently on the horizon.

Most evenings the boys take a bath, in the past few months they have begun spending their time in the tub together. Landon often refuses to take a bath without Colt. Both boys love the water. Colt splashing and drinking the water, while Landon devises various games involving bath toys and occasionally trains. Landon also incorporates his brother into his adventures, a recently recurring installment involves Landon pretending he’s a shark, and then informing Colt that he is a sea otter, the shark then swims over and carefully begins to attack his prey carefully with the teeth. On most occasions this game resolves itself nonviolently, albeit with constant reminders from dad to be gentle. It should be interesting this summer when we take the kids to the local lagoon.

Colt was introduced to his first trout stream in July. We went on a family vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho for “Nunle” Justin’s 30th birthday celebration. The trip their also involved Colt’s first airplane ride, followed immediately by his first propeller plane ride which he seemed to enjoy much more than his grandmother. On the prop plane, seating was limited to 14 people, and the children were required to sit in our laps, with no more than one child per row. This meant that Rhiannon and Colt were scattered away from Landon and I during the flight and made all of us a little more uncomfortable than otherwise might have been expected, especially after Colt decided to poop one minute into the take-off. Once we arrived in Sun Valley we had a great time. Several friends also made the trip which involved plenty of relaxing, fly fishing, and catching up. Colt was introduced to the Big Wood River and Silver Creek, and cooed appropriately for both. Unfortunately he was not successfully introduced to a trout at either location, that meeting will have to wait for a later date. We caught plenty of fish on the trip, just none when Colt was around; hopefully he isn’t some sort of trout deterrent.

Other adventures that Colt has been party to in the past year include the following, presented in no particular order or significance. We have taken several trips to the beach and at least one tide pool expedition, most excursions have been to Laguna, and most trips also involve wiping sand out of Colt’s mouth at some point. We have also introduced Colt to fish via the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, he appears to thoroughly enjoy following the swimming fish around the tanks, which always warms his dad’s heart. Colt has also been to a number of local zoos including the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the Santa Ana Zoo, and the Orange County Zoo. In the past year we have also made numerous trips to Disneyland and Colt willingly or not has been subject to a number of rides all of which he seemed to enjoy except for perhaps Pirates of the Caribbean. He has also survived his first holiday season complete with gnawing on a turkey leg and drooling on Christmas wrapping paper. This past New Year’s we visited the Reynolds and Slater clans in Brighton, Utah complete with Colton and Landon’s first introduction to the silent wonder of falling snow.

So there in a few paragraphs is a completely inadequate description of Colton Luke and his adventures and development in 2006. There is so much more to add surrounding this incredible little person, hopefully the future will provide the opportunity to do so. He is a joy, and already I feel honored to have him as a son.