Another 3 months...

Well, another three months have passed since the last blog post. Since Cole's 3 1/2 birthday, he's taken Spanish class at summer school for his awesome pre-school, has been on a road trip to Las Vegas, has been to Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alaska, and the Yukon and British Columbia in Canada. Plus he's grown another full inch since June.

In order to give you a quick glimpse of how our family has grown and changed in the last few years....here is a side by side view. In the left photo, we were on a cruise in the Mediterranean. (It was formal night, where we get all gussied up and then have

a fancy dinner and take formal pictures.) Cole was 10 months old, and this was September 2008. In the right photo, we were on a cruise in Alaska. This was last month. We all look a little different, but wow, hard to believe Cole has changed so much in 3 years.

Hope you all had a great summer, and happy fall!

3 1/2 years....the time is speeding by.

Well, since the advent of Facebook, it seems like we've been posting most of our updates through that and neglecting this blog! That doesn't mean that we haven't been busy with tons of things - and we know that Cole's been busy growing older, for sure.

Tuesday was our little boy's half-birthday, meaning he's closer to 4 than to his third birthday. Since three, he's grown to reach fully into Russia. Note his new rainbow pajamas - he's very proud of those, plus his pink shoes that managed to make their way into the top of the frame. Cole's grown a full 4 inches since his half-birthday last year....soon he'll be as tall as his mom!

Besides growing, Cole's also become fully toilet-trained (whoo-hoo!) and has also learned to write his name, as evidenced by his effort to sign for the check here:

Now if only we could get him his own credit card! We've also been busy travelling the world. First he spent some time in England proving that no balcony is too small for Cole-man... and yes, that the world is more fun with no pants....

Then it was off to Italy, to learn some futbol skills from his extended family:

Then to Hawai'i for a friend's wedding, where he hung with us on the beach in Kaua'i:

Plus got to try his first authentic shave ice.

After Hawai'i, it was back to Connecticut to surprise G.G., his Great Grandmother, for her 90th birthday.

While there he got to engage in deep conversation with his cousin Jonah, who lives in North Carolina. They'd never met before, so they had a lot to discuss over juice.

We also spent some time at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic - a place Brian spent tons of time at every summer. Our little city boy had fun exploring all the fun things to see in nature! Plus we climbed a big rock together and got a nice family shot:

No more travelling this summer, until we head to Vegas on a roadtrip in August, for Dad's work. It's nice to have a break and spend some time at home! Cole has some reading to catch up on.

And lastly, Cole went to the dentist last week and had some x-rays taken to be sure his adult teeth are developing well. Are they ever! Check out this x-ray....and how big those monster choppers are going to be once his baby teeth fall out:

Hopefully we have a chance to post again before his fourth birthday...but if not, happy summer (and fall) to all!

PS Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. They grow so fast!

3 years have just flown by!

Hard to believe it, but our little baby really can't be considered a baby anymore. Today marked three years that we've been a happy Ambrocente family....Happy 3rd Birthday to Cole!!

Since this year his birthday fell on a Tuesday, we had a low-key birthday party at our house on Sunday - just a few kids from the neighborhood who are really important in Cole's life. It was really a wonderful time!

While the party itself may have been low-key, the cake was not. This year we learned a valuable parenting lesson when we asked Cole what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday when he turned three, and he pondered, then exclaimed, "Strawberry!" When asked whether that meant strawberry flavor or strawberry shape, he settled on flavor. "So what do you want the cake to LOOK like?" we asked. More deep thought, then..."My BIKE!" Meaning his old-school Radio Flyer tricycle. Yeah. Um. Should have been more specific that we were looking for a cake concept that resembled the shape of, well, cake.

But, what the little boy wants, the little boy gets:

Thought the kid was going to pee his pants, he was so thrilled about his "bike cake." (Wait, he's still in diapers, so maybe he did.) The back section and front wheel were cake: poppy seed cake with white chocolate frosting and the very important strawberry layers. The back wheels, bike seat, and pedals were rice crispies treats. The handlebars and frame were PVC pipe, masterfully constructed by Brian before being covered in fondant......and the tassles and wheel decorations were licorice. Big thanks to Uncle Dale for spending the weekend with us, making the cake. It's become a nice tradition now, having him help us make Cole's birthday cake for 3 years running. Next year, we're going to come up with a few feasible options and let Cole pick from them. :)

Since his actual birthday was Tuesday, a preschool day, and Cole knew he would once again get sung Happy Birthday and have a (mini) birthday party, he announced at the end of Sunday's party that "his birthday party wasn't closed....it goes for three days!" So, according to him, Monday was just Day 2 of the major celebration. We had a nice relaxing day on Monday, with him being treated to some more TV than normal, and Brian making us some delicious homemade birthday pizza for dinner.

Today started off with a nice, mellow morning, where Cole declared he wanted "mac & cheese" for breakfast. Hey, it's your birthday, you get to do what you want, right? Then we went to preschool, where he had a great day. The kids made him a birthday book, he got to wear a Happy Birthday Crown, plus they sang to him and he got to blow out yet another candle. And, got the famous ECPC birthday chair raising, 3 times up and one for good luck.

Then after school we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants for dinner, to fulfill his proclaimed need for "guaca-lo-le and chips!" Plus we got some Mexican chocolate cake for dessert with...yes, you guessed it, three candles. Blowing out candles has become Cole's latest pasttime.

So all in all, Cole's celebration of three years on earth has gone by with much fanfare. We marked his height on the wall....

Cole gained 3 3/4 inches in the last year, making him 37 1/2 inches tall already. (Since Mom is only 63 1/2 inches, that's kind of mind-blowing. How can he be well past half his mother's adult height by his 3rd birthday???)

And for those of you who like geography, Cole now reaches well into Poland. He was only to France a year ago.

As always, if you want to see earlier pictures of Cole's growth across the planet, you can start the backwards trail here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

swim your heart out

Well, how embarrassing that the last time we posted on this blog was July. With an almost-3-year-old, 3 months is a long time and a lot has changed! In this rapid-fire world of Facebook, finding time to do longer (and better) updates of life in the Ambrocente household on this blog has become tougher and tougher (by the way, if you are a "Facebooker" and want more brief and timely updates of our crazy lives, friend us - 'Shelley Facente' and 'Brian Scott Ambrosch' - if you haven't already). But here we are, better late than never.

Since last time, one of the big events in our lives has been swim lessons - Cole's first. You may remember than when he was only 4 months old we took a trip to St. John, where he had his first experience with a pool. Of course, back then he was too young to even understand what was happening (plus the pool was refreshing no matter who you were, given the heat and humidity). 2 years later, we decided it was time for Cole to become reacquainted with pool life, to get some familiarity with water bigger than a bathtub (not to mention some survival skills).

Our fine city of Richmond, CA recently reopened the fabulous - and chemical-free! - Richmond Plunge, but our swim lessons came about a month too early. So, we went twice a week to the old city swim center behind John F. Kennedy High School. It was a bit chilly there - ok, downright cold - mostly because it was seasonably cold and foggy during our scheduled days, and they always kept all the windows open for the health benefit of pool staff, who spent their days breathing in pool chemicals. Little blue-lipped Cole was NOT a fan of the cold. In fact, for the first two weeks he cried every time we said it was time to go to the pool, and it took us that long to figure out his objection wasn't too the water, but the cold. A fun Sheriff Woody towel and some warm-parent bear hugs immediately before and after the pool dips helped with that, and then we had a blast.

Cole learned a lot, including how to kick his legs and arms to stay afloat (and maybe even move forward), and how to go underwater - which usually started like this:

Then went something like this:

And ended up like this:
Not his favorite activity, can you tell? He also quickly got the hang of climbing out of the pool on his own (a skill that made Mom and Dad quite happy):

And enjoyed running (with our pleading, walking very quickly) back along the pool edge to the stairs, where he could repeat the entire procedure:
And then there was his second-favorite activity, the kickboard. Despite the band-aid covering a pretty nasty boo-boo on his chin, Cole was happy (as usual) to pose for a few glamour shots.

All in all, a great time had by everyone - and we're planning on going for lessons Take 2 in just a few weeks, at the new Plunge. Surely more pics to follow then!

Sleeping like a baby

Most of you may already know that a few months ago, Cole gave up naps. Unless he happens to be in his car seat sometime between noon and 4pm with a moderately long drive, he's a 9am to 9pm kid. Or 8am to 10pm, depending on just how much fun he's having in life that day.

Every once in awhile, though, his schedule tuckers him out and he just falls asleep from exhaustion. Today was one of those days.

Around 2:30 today, Cole and I were walking back home from BART. He was trudging along quietly until about 4 blocks from our house, when he suddenly stopped and looked at me. "Mommy, up?" he asked sweetly.

So, despite the fact that I was already carrying leftovers from lunch, my shoulder bag, and his hot pink Dora the Explorer backpack, I couldn't help but oblige. If only I knew that 60 seconds later I'd be carrying dead weight, toddler-style, the whole rest of the way, I might have resisted a bit more.

Once I got home, I gently laid him (with his new exploding ice cream practical joke toy) on our couch. I laid some extra couch cushions on the floor in case he rolled off and went in the other room to get some stuff done in this rare moment of quiet:



About an hour later, I couldn't believe he was still sleeping so I went to check on him. Imagine my surprise when I found this!



ANOTHER hour went by, and I looked again:



Luckily, he woke up shortly before hour three or I think he might have been all the way under the couch!

A record day in the Ambrocente
household - Cole voluntarily took a 3 hour nap. Too bad he's so well rested for our red-eye flight tonight!!

Independence Day!

We had quite a wonderful 3-day weekend this 4th. Grandma is visiting and we've been having lots of fun.

It started with some dinner at the Macaroni Grill...with time for drawing before the food arrived...


Cole had a few calls to make on the way home:

Then on Saturday Cole and Grandma played together all day while we did a bunch of landscaping in the front yard. 8 bushes and a tree all came down in one (looooong) day!

Speaking of trees, after watching an older boy playing, Cole practiced his redwood-climbing skills at daddy's show at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont.


Between shows, we took an old-fashioned train ride and Cole and Daddy made sure to stay hydrated.


After the second show, Cole was a big helper assisting in bringing Daddy's case to the car.


Then we had a great BBQ dinner at our neighbor's house, hanging out on her beautiful new deck and looking down on our new, bush-free front yard.

Later that night, a little quiet reading...


Then Monday we spent the day at Aunt JoJo and Auntie Sandy's house in Elk Grove. It was a blast!

There was homemade ice cream...

And a little fun on the mini slip-and-slide they bought for our visit!

We finished up our celebration with some summer fruit (Cole has a unique method of peeling his own oranges, with his little hamster teeth)...


Delicious food and company. It was an all-around great time!

Happy 4th, everyone!!

A new era

Well, we've officially entered a new era. We just came back from Toy Story 3, which we decided to attempt for Father's Day.

Cole's first feature length film, and he was amazing. Totally impressed us - laughing with everyone, brave during the scary parts, and clapped at the end, asking for more. We were so proud!

A great father's day gift. Can't wait to bring him to more great kid's movies! We'll have to take out a second mortgage to pay for all the popcorn, though......