Life and Times of Coleman Plaster

We all had the best spring break. We spent six days with Pop and Madi, and during that time we celebrated Gabby’s third birthday with family and close friends. When Pop and Madi left, we flew to Reno to spend three days with the Vickerys.
On the morning of Gabby’s birthday, Coleman helped her set up her dollhouse. I think he had as much fun as she did.

Pop and Coleman spent some quality time together during the party.

Coleman loves hamming it up with Gigi.

We took the good camera to the Bellagio. Coleman rarely complains about taking pictures. I plan to use this to my advantage! He took a great pic with Madi.

Not sure why I didn’t get flowers in the background for this shot. It’s a good one nonetheless.

Coleman got a chokehold on Gabby by the Bellagio Fountains. I always feel like she’s on the verge of running away, but I think she just wants to be chased. I always appreciate it when Coleman keeps (or tries to keep) her in check.

Later on Brian dyed Easter eggs with the kids at the house. Such a good Daddy!

We couldn’t let Pop and Madi visit without taking them to our favorite sushi joint - The Sushi on Lake Mead near Charleston. As we were getting out of the car, Cole thought it’d be okay to run across a lane to the front door of the restaurant. A car was hauling ass down the lane, and Pop shouted at Cole to stop. If Pop hadn’t been aware of what was happening, I’m certain Cole would have ended up in the hospital or worse. The car must have been going at least 10 mph. Cole was so embarrassed by his mistake (he’s always so careful about holding hands in a parking lot), that he wouldn’t go in the restaurant for 15 minutes. This picture was taken after our meal. You can see he gets over things quickly.

After lunch we went to Calico for some rock scrambling. It made me incredibly nervous to supervise Gabby climbing rocks.

They love scrambling rocks. We should take them to Calico more often.

This is Coleman’s rock star pose. Or maybe it’s his goofy pose. I can’t tell.

After Pop and Madi left for their drive back to Meridian, we went to Tahoe to spend time with Sewanee friends - Morgan, Tappan and Raymond Vickery. It was a blast watching the kids interact. Cole played the parent helper role. At one point, Gabby and Raymond were trying to sneak out the front door, and Cole alerted us to their shenanigans.

Cole spent one day taking a ski lesson at Heavenly. Brian thought it was a great use of money since Cole knew how to put on his own boots and skis when the day was over. Cole decided that one day was enough, so the next day he hung out with the Moms. We all took the gondola up together. Here Cole is with Daddy and Morgan Vickery.

It’s likely Cole wanted to hang with Tappan and me because he knew we’d be making sugar cookies and frosting them. The kids really loved cutting bunnies and carrots out of the dough. Great idea, Tappan!

We spent Easter at Tahoe, and the Easter bunny did figure out we were on vacation. Watch the video of Cole’s reaction to his Easter basket.

The kid loves loves loves to color. We seriously need to get him some art instruction this summer.

The house we rented in Zephyr Cove had a perfect backyard for egg hunting. Watch the video of Cole and Gabby going to town finding eggs. 

Cole was pretty happy with his loot. The night before I read him a free download on the iPad about what Easter is really about. I’m surprised he wasn’t seriously confused on Easter morning.

The trip ended with a really good family photo. This was the first time we took a vacation with friends with kids. It was a great time, and something we want to do more of.

After the Vickerys departed, we drove around Lake Tahoe and then back to Reno. The kids had two opportunities to play on the beach. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I can’t wait to take them back to Tahoe, especially while they are young. They entertained themselves on the beach for at least a half hour by using sticks and driftwood to build a “castle.”Talk about a cheap date. And note that they’ve finally figured out how to take a cute picture together!

Two weeks before spring break, Coleman was in his Got Green school program. He did a great job, and his speaking was very clear.

Two days later I got to chaperone a field trip to Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary. Here is Coleman on the bus with his best buddy Daniel.

Here we are in the goat pen. Besides snack time in a nice shady grove, the highlight of the field trip was feeding the ducks.

Here is Coleman’s class. They are called the Butterflies. Gabby will have the same teachers (Mrs. Gross and Mrs. Turner) next session and will be a Caterpillar. Coleman really loves his teachers and is glad Gabby will get to be in their class too.

The next day we attended another birthday part at Lifetime Fitness. After swimming, Coleman enjoyed pizza with his buddies Daniel and Lorenzo.

Coleman is such a sweet child. I just asked him to identify his most favorite thing to do, and he said “hang out with my family.” He really loves his sister and definitely wants to play with her more than she wants to play with him. He often thinks of her when she’s not around, especially when someone is buying him something. Grandma Wendy recently took him to Color Me Mine, and Cole had been talking about painting Spider-Man. Once he got there, he decided it’d be better to paint a Mickey Mouse for Gabby for her birthday. When she was in the hospital, he painted a beautiful rainbow for her, and we taped it to the end of her bed. The only downside of being so considerate and aware of others’ feelings is that Coleman is pretty hard on himself. When he is reprimanded or does something he knows isn’t right, he’ll beat himself up (verbally), call himself a “jerk,” and often sends himself to his room. I can only imagine how he’s going to take it when he gets a B on a test!

Coleman’s spring program is this Wednesday. He has four lines that he’s been practicing for over a month. Watch the video.

Coleman has been skiing a few times this winter. Here he is in his new ski suit, which looks a lot like his old ski suit.

Here he is enjoying the company of his Daddy and Gabby.

Coleman had a great time at Jack Newby’s second birthday party.

He always loves playing with Gabby in the backyard.

Cousin Raven came for a visit last Friday night. She was impressed that Cole is learning to play the violin. I hope the next time she sees him he can actually play a song!

Cole received his mid-year report card last week. We are very proud of him. He scored “exceeds expectations” on the following:

• Draws a person with 6 parts
• Prints first name
• Prints last name
• Listens, follows plans and directions
• Adequate attention span - pays attention
• Can put puzzle of 12-15 pieces together

We need to work on the following:

• Decodes printed words
• Knows sight words (Brian and I have gotten lazy on practicing with Cole)
• Knows right and left hands

We threw Coleman a big party at a neighborhood park for his 5th birthday. Lots of friends showed up, which is amazing considering there were 25 mph winds. We could hardly keep anything on the picnic tables, including taped down tablecloths! Luckily, the kids had a great time getting their faces painted, jumping in the Spider-Man bounce house, playing on the playground and whacking a pinata.

The face painter, Candace from Balloons with a Twist, has to be one of the best in town. She can do some really detailed stuff. Not sure why Coleman wanted a red bird, but it looked cool nonetheless.

Coleman enjoying the company of friends.

Here he is waiting his turn to hit the pinata. He actually ran off right after the candy hit the ground because he didn’t think he had a chance to collect a bunch of stuff. He did much better at his next pinata as you’ll see below.

Daddy finally got the candle lit so Coleman could blow it out. I thought he should just “pretend” to blow it out, but he didn’t like that idea.

He was able to enjoy his cake and forget about the junk he didn’t collect from the pinata!

The bounce house was a nice refuge from the wind.

Jillian came back to the house with us to watch him open presents.

And boy, did the kid get some presents! I felt pretty conflicted about how many presents he received because I don’t want him to be spoiled rotten. We didn’t let him open all of them that day. One month later, he is still getting to open one every now and then.

On his real birthday, I remembered why you aren’t supposed to put candles on a kid’s cake when he started spitting on his fourth try to blow them out. Oops!

Thanks for bringing me into existence, Daddy!

A few weeks later we went to Jayna’s birthday part at Lifetime Fitness. Cole wouldn’t even try climbing on the rock wall until another mother convinced him to.

Gabby was thrilled to get to go to the party too. They ran all over a basketball court for an hour, and she easily kept up with kids 2 years older than her. Check out Coleman’s loot from Jayna’s pinata. Mission accomplished!

I had the day off for MLK Day, so we went down to the Bellagio to take some  pictures. The year of the dragon created a really cool backdrop (sweater courtesy of Pop and Madi). The kids are always talking about dragons, especially Gabby.

Coleman began taking violin lessons two weeks ago. He won’t actually get a lesson on the violin for another two weeks. They are currently focused on rhythm and bowing. I hope he likes it! At the very least, I’ll practice with him. My skills level is in sync with his since I haven’t played in almost 20 years!

Coleman’s favorite thing about this Christmas season was our elf, Sparkle. Every morning he’d come down and look to see where Sparkle would be sitting. A few times, Sparkle didn’t change spots overnight. We told Coleman that Sparkle did fly back to the North Pole, but that he really liked that spot in our house.

Coleman was allowed to open one present on the morning of December 24. Check out his reaction.Thank you Pop and Madi!

As you can tell from this picture with Granny Gigi, Coleman is really a happy boy.

He loves his Aunt Jillian too! We joke around about how Aunt Jillian might be Coleman’s employer in 10 years.

Cole received several Lego sets from Santa.

We all love putting Lego sets together, and the instructions are really easy to follow unlike a lot of non-Lego toys like Transformers! I actually gave up on figuring out how to transform the Transformer and made Brian do it.

Coleman loves his Daddy.

On Christmas morning, we listened to the 90s channel while building Lego sets. Cole really got into Baby Got Back. Check it out. Coleman loves talking about butts.

Grandma Wendy made us dinner on December 27 to celebrate the Bermans being in town. We wish we could hang out with them more often.

It has been really busy the last few weeks. Uncle Paul came out for Thanksgiving, and we had a great time hanging out with him. Coleman went to a Yo Gabba Gabba show that we all thoroughly enjoyed. He’s been to four birthday parties, parties at school and the Nutcracker. This kid is ENTERTAINED. Luckily for us, he does a great job of entertaining himself too. He and Gabby have been playing very well together for the past few weeks, which makes me happy.
Uncle Paul came bearing gifts, one of which was Spider-Man on blue ray. I enjoyed watching it the first two times . . .

I missed the Yo Gabba Gabba show last year, and I’m really glad I went this year. It was fun watching kids dance around, and the music was decent. Cole and Gabby pose before the show.

Confetti and streamers fell from the ceiling onto the people in floor seats. Brian made sure he was in the good seats for his 2nd show. Coleman gathered a lot of the paper and put it into his Plex hat. He is currently storing it in his room.

Kid shows can actually be fun!

Drunk on junk food and Yo Gabba Gabba.

Coleman and Gabby helped me decorate for Christmas. For a while, there was one lone present under the tree. I told Coleman that it was something he really wanted (a Transformer from Pop and Madi, but he doesn’t know that yet). I wish I had taken a video of his reaction. Then Brian told him it was a puppy, and he actually clapped his hands over and over and jumped up and down. I can’t recall ever seeing him that excited. Luckily he didn’t freak out when we told him there’s no way we’d wrap up a puppy and leave him in a box for weeks without food and water. I assured him that he’d still be very happy when he opened his gift.

We had a great time at Alex Saltman’s third birthday party. Brian didn’t come because it was during the Bears game.

The next weekend we went to Opportunity Village’s Magical Forest. We got there before it opened and were able to get on all the rides without waiting in line. The place was mobbed when we left after having been there an hour. Cole posed in Terry Fator’s puppet wall while we waited to get in.

He’s finally cool riding Merry Go Rounds. When he was 2, there were times when we’d try to get him on a horse in Santa Monica, and he would only feel safe riding the bench.

He had no qualms about getting in the spinning dinosaurs. This is an action shot. They laughed the entire time. We also went through a fun house and rode the train through the magical forest.

We had to take a picture in front of the Nutcracker.

Trucker turned five years old on December 15, and we went to the Dog House to celebrate with him. Gabby passed out on the way there, which is why she’s not in the picture. Aunt Jillian let Coleman keep the birthday hats for his birthday party.

On Saturday we went to our first birthday party at the Mini Grand Prix, and it was a blast. Here we are in another spinning ride. I felt nauseous immediately, but was able to keep it together. Brian had to take a minute after we got off the ride. Luckily, he didn’t puke!

Cole attended his second Nutcracker ballet on Sunday. He said his favorite part was buying the nutcracker before the show. I let him know that this would be a tradition that we’d do every year. The Sugar Plum Party following the performance motivates him to make it to the end.

Coleman met Clara at the Sugar Plum Party. He got a plate full of sweets, but only ate a small portion. I’m so glad that he understands when he’s full. I hope he always has that ability.

Yea for Grandma Wendy!

Coleman was Spider-Man for Halloween, a holiday that Las Vegans like to celebrate over several days. On Sunday, we visited Aunt Jillian’s store in Tivoli where they had a free event for kids. Although it was mobbed, the kids seemed to have fun. The next day Cole visited Signature to show off his costume. Then he had a Halloween performance and parade at school. After work, we went trick or treating in Jillian’s neighborhood and then spent some time at a friend’s house eating chili and hotdogs.

Coleman posed with Super-Girl (Aunt Mari). Mari came to Cole’s school and was a hit in her costume.

Coleman always loves visiting Gigi at work.

It’s always nice when they look like they actually like each other. Or maybe they are happy because they scored a handful of candy.

He sang/recited at least 10 different poems in the school production. It was really cute.

I wish I could remember what they were saying when this picture was taken.

When they do the parade, they have them walk through the Lower School too, probably because 3 and 4 year olds in costume are so darn cute.

Catching a ride while trick or treating. James, take me to the next house!

I took them to Stone Cold Creamery recently because I had a Groupon I needed to use. Needless to say, they were thrilled!

Video of Coleman singing about how much he loves to eat ice cream. Do we have a performer in our midst?

Video of Coleman playing soccer.  As you can see from the video, he is pretty hard on himself when he doesn’t score. Brian and his coaches think he’s improved a lot since he started two months ago.

Later that day, we went to a nearby park for my office party. Coleman and Gabby had a great time running around for three hours. They went to bed early, which is always a treat.

Video of Coleman playing with leftover ice from the party.

Here he is with his new friend, Tony Olivas. Cole filled the cup with ice and requested that I not throw it away so he could drink it the next morning. Once it was water, you could see all of the dirt in it. He didn’t insist on drinking it. The amazing thing for me was how much fun he had playing with ice. He was entertained for at least 30 minutes.

Coleman helps Gabby with a puzzle before leaving for school.

At Crystals Mall next to Aria.

We were at a park, and Cole was bummed that no kids were there to play with. This is his “I’m not having fun” face.

Cole had a lot of energy at his soccer game on November 5. The weather is finally decent so he can run without sweating. He practically melts in the heat if he’s not in a pool.

Good game, good game.

We checked out the 10th annual Vegas Valley Book Festival sponsored by the City of Las Vegas. Coleman got a free hotdog, a free snow cone, and a free face painting. It was pretty awesome. We also bought a bunch of books at half price.

See how happy they are about those books being half price? Or maybe it the snow cone sugar injection.

This morning we went to the new Nevada State Museum, which may be my favorite museum in Las Vegas. They had lots of cool stuff on the history of Nevada, including huge fossils. Afterward, we checked out the playground at the Springs Preserve.

Coleman has now played in five official soccer games, only two of which Brian and I attended. We acknowledge that we are awful parents in this regard. Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Richard took him to his first game where he scored two goals. Since it’s pee-wee soccer, they don’t really keep count and both teams win (or no one wins in my book) when the game is over. Grandpa Richard took him to his second game. Brian and I took him to his third game, and Jenica took him to his fourth. At that game, Cole got the ball, dribbled it all the way down the field and scored. Jenica was pretty excited about it. When Cole gets the ball and has room to move, he gets the biggest smile on his face. Brian and I really hope that he’ll continue to like the sport, especially as he gets older and realizes how fun it is to play on a team (right now, it’s each boy out for his own!). It’s also a good workout, as you can see in this post-game picture!

The day he picked out the number on his jersey, Brian called me and said “Guess which number he picked?” I thought about it for a second and said “1″? I was right! Yes (with fist pump)! I can tell the kid is going to be competitive, just like his mother. Or, he just couldn’t think of any other number.
Cole on his last day of swimming in Jaime’s pool until next year. Thank you Jaime for unlimited access!

It was pretty darn cold, and he enjoyed warming up in the Vegas sun. If Cole saw that last sentence, he’d say “Is ‘darn’ an adult word?” And I’d tell him that he can say darn. We’ve had the discussion about certain words only being okay for adults to say, and Cole seemed pretty open to the idea. It sounded reasonable to him, like how you have to be 16 to drive a car.

The Dixons came over for another play date, and Brian thought it’d be funny to get the kids to drink from the slip and slide.

Cole and Gabby, post brunch.

Cole got to see Lion King for the second time yesterday because the show will close in December. He was the perfect theater goer. Gabby, on the other hand . . .

Coleman has been watching a bunch of princess stuff lately because Gabby is really into it. When Brian and I were talking about the day we got married, Cole asked us if that was the first time we kissed. Pretty funny how these ideas get into his head! Here he is with his princess sister in his Halloween costume.

This morning, I interviewed Cole and asked him about being Spider-Man for Halloween. Check out the video.

I am in Toastmasters, and last week I had to give a roast. I pretended it was Coleman’s fifth birthday. Cole produces a lot of material to work with, so it was quite easy to write this 4 minute speech. I doubt I’ll actually do this on his birthday, so I thought it’d be nice to post it here.

To my beautiful, talented son Coleman Bresnahan Plaster. Just five years ago, you and I spent our first night together at Summerlin Hospital, and it goes without saying that you have changed a lot since Day One. You arrived looking just like your Daddy, but as most of us have figured out, your personality is actually a lot like mine. We’ll leave it up to Gabby to be the crazy one.

Coleman, when people have children, one of the things they most often hear is how it will change your life. This is what we call a cliché. You have changed my life in the most remarkable way. It has made me so happy to spend 2 years with just you and then watch you get to know your baby sister Gabby.

Coleman, on your fifth birthday, I’d like to extol your various talents and abilities.

Let’s start with your dancing abilities. About six months ago, I was worried that your little sister was already outdancing you, but I think you caught on to that and stepped it up a notch. Watching So You Think You Can Dance when Granny Gigi comes to babysit has certainly helped. Uncle Paul saw your video on You Tube recently dancing to Michael Jackson’s PYT (YouTube video), and said it’s his favorite video yet. He said it reminded him of himself as a kid, and that he was a goober too. Your goofy dance style is just one of the things I love about you.

Let’s move on to your relationship with your Grandma Wendy. At a young age – around 2 years old – you intuitively knew that this was the most important person in your life to get on her good side. What have you gained from your winning smile and attitude around Grandma Wendy? Candy! Clothes! Toys galore! Trips to the condo in LA! Way to go for picking up on this at such an early age. All kidding aside, I’m really proud of you for being sweet to your grandparents and treating them with respect. Grandma Wendy recently told you that you were too adorable and that you shouldn’t get any cuter. She said “Don’t get any cuter!” After she returned from a long vacation, she told you how adorable you were, and you said “Grandma, you told me not to get any cuter, but I got cuter!” I can’t even fathom how many people she’s told that story to.

You’ve also become quite the philosopher. I’ve been quite amused by your philosophy that having dogs or kids is very important. I was recently talking about a new friend, and you asked – Do they have kids? I said no. Then you asked – Do they have dogs? I said no. You said, “Then you shouldn’t be friends with her because she’s not a good person.” I’m not sure where that came from, but I think you have strong beliefs that taking care of kids and pets is very important. And I’m happy to hear that you want to “get three kids” when you grow up. I can’t wait!

And finally, your relationship with your little sister Gabby, who adores you but also loves to antagonize you. At first, you were pretty cool with her when she didn’t move around much and get in your way. Then as she got older but wasn’t yet talking, you were often annoyed when she’d snatch your toy right out of your hand. I’ll never forget the day I told you how to deal with her when she took your toys. We both learned a valuable lesson that day about how to treat others. When something didn’t go your way, you would yell at her and command her “Gabby, GIVE THAT BACK!” I suggested you talk in a high pitched baby voice – “Gabby, would you please give me my toy back.” And it worked! We looked at each other in amazement. You regularly use that tone of voice with her now, and it almost always works. I’m so glad we discovered that technique together. I’m also glad that you now treat Gabby as your friend.

Coleman, on your birthday, I want to thank you for being such a sweet, loving child to your family and friends and thank you for the joy you bring to my life. Happy Birthday.

We had family over for dinner a few weeks ago. Video of Coleman perfecting his racing in the house and getting some good advice on being #1.

Coleman loves pretending he’s a pilot when visiting the Children’s Museum.

The Children’s Museum brings out Cole and Gabby’s goofy side.

Speaking of goofy, Coleman recently completed two weeks at creative dance camp with Star Arts. Here’s his silly shot with his class.

Here’s a video from his second week: Da La Soul’s Me Myself and I

Cole is multi-talented. He can hold a pencil with his left foot!

He’s had a lot of fun with the Spider-Man costume we bought  him at Costco.

We took a kid vacation to San Diego, and we stayed at TJ and Blake’s the first night. Here Cole and Gabby are relaxing on TJ’s father’s leather chair.

Then we went biking around Mission Bay. Video of Cole’s biking abilities.

Cole built a sand castle at a nearby park, and a group of kids walked right in front of him and stomped on it. Cole almost cried, but did a great job of holding it together. The moms of the kids saw what happened and made them apologize and help Cole get more wet sand to rebuild it. I was thankful that the other moms were paying attention, because I would have made Cole deal with it himself.

On the bay at our resort, Paradise Point.

Enjoying breakfast by the water.

We checked out jet ski rental prices, but never found time to do it.

We spent the better part of the day poolside. Cole wanted to go home after two hours (he was “hot” in 85 degree weather), but he persevered.  They loved playing in the sand right next to the pool.

Cole and Gabby had dinner with 9 adults at Baleen and were very well behaved. Too bad we can’t say the same for our server!

Cole got a miniature golf lesson from his daddy the day we left.

The part that was most memorable for him was playing in the waves for 10 minutes, right before we left to go back to Las Vegas. We’ll have to spend more time in the ocean next time.

Coleman has a new theory. You are only a good person if you have kids and/or dogs. He came up with this all by himself. When Coleman grows up, he wants to “get” three kids.

He has also decided he wants to be a developer. There are a few unfinished buildings in Vegas. Coleman has noticed these buildings and would like to finish them. He initially said he’d be the actual construction worker, but I suggested it’d be better to put the plans and financing together and oversee the project rather than do the labor himself. He liked the sound of that.
So far, he has had a very good summer. He and Gabby are spending a lot of time together and getting along better than ever. Cole also misses school. Last week he got to see a few of his friends when he attended a Jr Mad Science camp in Summerlin. He did lots of arts and crafts projects around dinosaurs.

Cole, Gigi and Brian were looking at all of the pictures and videos on Brian’s phone.

We had a play date with the Dixons and fun was had by all. The gluten free coffee cake Yindra made was a hit.

Here is proof that Cole and Gabby can get along. The iPad has brought them together, which is a good reason to only have one. Then they have to share.

We went hiking at Mount Charleston a few weekends ago. Coleman hiked about two miles. Even though it was a lot cooler than Vegas, he still complained about being hot.

He was pretty happy about stopping for snack time as was Gabby.

We spent our first Fourth at the Las Vegas Country Club and will probably make this a tradition. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Check out this video of Cole and Gabby dancing to Lady Gaga. I think they’ve heard this song before!

Aunt Jillian was happy that Cole let her hold him during the fireworks. It was a great display over the golf course.

Brian took the kids to Rainbow Park for the first time. This might be our new favorite City of Las Vegas park. It was clean and desolate. Check out the video of Cole playing in the water feature.

We broke out the new slip and slide today. Cole and Gabby battled it out to see who could “win the race.” They are already competitive with each other.