Happy 9 months Cooper!

Happy 9 month birthday to my lil brother, "Coopsters!" He was supposed to have his 9-month check-up yesterday but due to a conflict with the doctor's schedule, we had to reschedule it for Monday. We will update you next blog post with his stat.'s.

By the look on Cooper's face, he must have known that Mommy forgot to put on his 9-month old t-shirt on his actual 9 month birthday. It wasn't that she didn't remember the important day, she just forgot to put the shirt on him. No one will know, except all of our faithful blog followers :) People have always warned Mommy about "those parents" who do not take photos of the second baby and don't spoil them as much. My parents make a conscious effort to not fall into that category. Which is why Mommy just ordered 150 photos online for her scrapbook weekend coming up. She is determined to START Cooper's scrapbook. Mine is all up-to-date, which just goes to show how extra special the first borns really are~ Sorry Cooper.

At 9 months, this is what Cooper is up to... he army crawls all over our house. He will do a few steps on all 4's but then does his army crawl. He is quite fast and determined as you can tell by the photo, tongue out and all.

Cooper pulls himself up on everything! It is almost a definite that he has a bruise on his face somewhere. This is where the helmet came in handy for me... head protection! He creeps along furniture once he is standing. He is doing better with pushing his walker while taking steps. He can stand, let go and transfer to something nearby. My parents are really hoping that he doesn't walk until he is at least 11 months.

Cooper can say, "mamamamama," "dadadaddadadada," and "bababababa;" in translation this means "mama," "dada," and "bye-bye." These are the three words he knows. He makes lots of other silly babbles and sounds. He has an elephant toy that he now imitates with a high-pitch whine. It is very cute.

What do we love most about Cooper??? He is adorable, funny, smart, emotional and decisive (knows EXACTLY what he wants), and loving. He is going through a bit of separation right now. He prefers Mommy when he is tired or sad; he wakes up a few times at night just to be sure Mom or Dad are around. My parents are hoping this phase passes quickly. On top of his separation, he is sprouting 4 teeth on top and 2 more on the bottom all at the same time. This has caused fussy spells, lots of ibuprofen, and plenty of nasty diapers. Before you know it, he will be smiling with a full grill.

How am I doing you might ask? I am doing fantastic. I am such a silly boy. I like to wear sunglasses a lot (even upside down), I declare what I am up to ("I am passing gas!"), and I keep everyone laughing at my silly Cadenisms. Some of my sayings these days are, "Oh gracious!" "SERIOUSLY!!!!" and I continue to finish many words with "sters" for comic relief, "Momsters, Libsters, Grampsters."

On Monday evening, we headed to the mall for some shopping and a quick bite. Mommy was on spring break this week, although I would call it winter break... Monday was the only nice day before we received a massive ice and snow storm. Luckily, we were safe at home this week and found ways to stay busy with projects and toys (PS Fingerpaint belongs outside on the patio table). Back to the mall....as usual, I insisted on stopping at the play area in the mall for the mechanical rides. Each ride is 75 cents each, so I usually go on 2 or 3 before my parents cut me off. The hot dog bus is the only one I allow Cooper to join me on. I take my driving role very seriously and Cooper loves being my passenger.

On Monday morning, we went to Laurie Jo's for a playdate after we went to the library. Laura joined us with her boys. Here she is juggling all three babies while my Mommy and Laurie Jo made lunch for the toddlers. Mommy thinks it is always nice to connect with other Mommy friends who are dealing with the craziness of toddler and baby life!

Lily, Ethan and I had fun playing together and we even were allowed to sit at the kid's table for lunch that day. Don't you love my pink bib compliments of Lily!?!?

The library is a favorite activity for us. We used to go to storytime weekly, but with the gas prices going up and the 30 minutes it takes for us to drive there, we decided to make it a bi-monthly to monthly event. Library storytime ends next week until summertime; we plan to go so that I can have one more time sitting on the rug with all of the stuffed animal friends along with my buddies. I am a good listener during storytime and sometimes participate during music and movement. I am pretty shy in public, but Mommy is thankful that I am well-behaved when we are out and about.

We went to Govin's Farm for their annual lambing event. We went to Govin's last year to see the baby animals but this year was a lot more fun as I interacted more and knew what was happening. As you can guess, the tractor ride to the farm was one of my favorite events. I think I could ride a tractor all day long!

It was a muddy mess (this was prior to the ice and snow storm this week). The snow was melting and we had a beautiful day of weather to go to the farm. My parents asked if I wanted to ride the pony around the circle. I told them I did which surprised them both. I loved the pony ride!!! I told my pony to "giddy up" four times while we were riding around the circle. Daddy was a trooper as he walked in the slop just to be sure I didn't get scared.

Cooper and I were allowed to hold a lamb. At first I wasn't so sure about the lamb. In the picture below, the lamb began to run in my lap. Luckily, a farm volunteer got him to settle down so that we could pet it. Cooper was most excited about the animals as he laughed and squealed, just like the pigs.

The chicks were my favorite animal in the barn. I love how fuzzy they are. I was able to touch their soft feathers/down. Mommy had flashbacks to the days in Kindergarten where she would hatch 20 or so chicks in an incubator. Those days are long gone thanks to salmonella fears. Anyhow, we touched the chicks and no one in our family got dangerously ill, thank the Lord!

Thanks to Heather for taking a few photos several weeks ago. Kerri, Mommy's friend who is a music teacher, is leading a toddler music class. We get together once a month to sing and move to music. There are lots of toddlers and babies in our class. Kerri is very patient with all of us! I like the songs we sing in class especially, "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and "Ring Around the Rosies." We probably sing 25 songs a day in our house.; it sure helps that Mommy knows many songs as a teacher. My daily requests include, "Paddy Whack" (This Old Man), "Farmer in the Dell," and Uncle Kracker (that is not toddler music but Daddy's CD which I love and Mom hates).

Leave it to my Mom to have an idea in her head... she felt she was "called" to implement Toddler Sunday School at our church. We go to a Lutheran Church that offers Sunday School for kids ages 4 and up. Maybe it was due to the fact that I sit in church for an hour with my parents while eating treats non-stop, talking and distracting the poor people next to us, coloring on the offering envelopes, asking loudly to go play in the nursery, etc... Mommy finally had enough of me and she asked if she could start a toddler ministry for 2 and 3 year olds. There are 10 toddlers or so that come each week. There are two Sunday School sessions and Mommy teaches the first one and found a second teacher to lead the second one. She absolutely loves it and is having a great time finding ideas that are enjoyable for our class. Many members in our church have complimented Mommy on the program and the kids are very excited to come each week. She hopes she will find the energy and time to continue this ministry for a few more months before summer break!

Each child will have a scrapbook with pictures of them in various places in our church. Here is a photo of Ivy and me in the chapel. We are practicing sitting in a chair and greeting each other with a handshake. In the photo below, we listened to a story about Jesus calming the sea and as part of the lesson, Mommy brought boats and a tub of water for us to play in. She can't imagine teaching toddlers on a regular basis. What a huge change from Kindergarten it is for her, surprising as that might sound.

With this crazy weather, I think I have spring on my mind. While playing one morning, I called Mommy into my bedroom and asked her when we were going to Borda (Florida). I had my swim trunks on and my santa PJ's all tucked in ready to go. We are heading to Florida in a few weeks and look forward to the hot and sunny weather. We can't wait to ask, "Should we go to the beach or pool today?" Until then, we can only hope March goes out like a lamb!

Sorry, BUTT we have been busy!

As the title states, "Sorry, BUTT we have been busy!" We had high hopes to post an update weeks ago, but it has been, well, busy! Where did February go? More importantly, who is going to burn this photo of Cooper and me? If I were Cooper, I would try to eat this picture as fast as possible.

Daddy went on his annual snowmobiling trip with 7 others to northern MN. While he was away, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the cities. We had lots of fun weekend plans and one of the highlights was meeting our friends, Meggen, Lauren and Abby at the Children's Museum. The first stop was to a toddler area; this was a great place to run up and down ramps, go down slides and pretend to ice fish.

We tried and tried, but couldn't get the walleye to come out of the plexi-glass fishing hole. Cooper and I made a great team. I am sure we will be great ice fishermen someday.

The Children's Museum has a new Lego exhibit. This area was a major zoo and we didn't spend a lot of time in it. I was more determined to put the Lego's back in the containers vs. playing with them. I think I have some of my Mom's OCD in me.

My favorite exhibit at the Children's Museum was the "places in our neighborhood" area. I was fascinated by the city bus and wanted to sit on the seat as a passenger and I loved having turns being the bus driver. Mommy is glad I didn't have a meltdown when it was time to leave.

This picture could be titled, "HANDS OFF!" I was happily pushing my grocery cart in the pretend grocery store when other toddlers decided it was their turn. I took my cart duties very seriously and was careful not to nail anyone. I do "OK" with sharing and often will state the expectation aloud, "WAIT MY TURN." This is something I am capable of doing for approx. 10 seconds. The Children's Museum was a fun place to go. It was crazy busy but we had fun with Meggen, Lauren and Abby.

As most grandmas do, our grandma spoils us with yummy treats, baked goods and virtually anything that my parents view as off-limits. Grandma had lots of wonderful Valentine's treats for us when we visited her for the weekend. She takes pride in knowing she is the one who gives her grandchildren their first sucker, first sip of Diet Coke, first taste of coffee, etc... My parents have learned to turn their heads and let it go.

As expected, Cooper LOVED his cherry flavored, Mickey Mouse sucker. Mommy let him indulge for a few minutes but then took his sucker away in fear of what it could do to his hair and his digestive system.

The day after Matt and Jill's reception (pictures below), we had a MAJOR snowstorm. Luckily, we didn't have to travel anywhere for the reception since it was near our house. Many of the wedding guests had terrible roads to travel back home on. Uncle Ben, Auntie Erin, Kyra and Bennett were one of five flights that made it out of MPLS, all other flights were cancelled. Daddy's new truck got stuck in our own driveway so he had to park in our neighbor's driveway. I attempted to help shovel the driveway and decided it would be more fun to shovel snow into my pick-up truck. This stuff sure was heavy and I'm glad I am only 2 years old, otherwise I am sure I would have been stuck with this job.

Potty Training Update: Some of you problem cringe hearing about potty and poop, but it is part of our everyday life. One of the many bribes my parents have made included letting me have "mixer time" if I pooped in the toilet. For 3 days, I decided it would be cool to poop in the potty. I loved playing with Mommy's mixer and she even ran out to Toys R Us to buy me my own mixer and coffee pot. Both of the toys actually work! Sadly, I am back to being inconsistent, so the toys are taken away from me (sniff, sniff) when I don' t use the potty. When my parents plop me in my underwear, I don't have any accidents. I think they have me figured out.

As I mentioned above, Uncle Ben, Auntie Erin, Kyra and Bennett flew from Georgia "back home" for Uncle Matt and Auntie Jill's wedding reception. We were so glad we were able to visit and play with them all weekend!

Papa and Grandma Sharon gave Cooper and I this bouncy house for Christmas. I can't remember if I have posted pictures of it yet. We set it up in our basement (it is an outdoor toy) so it officially looks like a carnival/circus in our home. Bennett, Kyra and I had fun bouncing together and fortunately, no one got hurt!!

As usual, it is near impossible to get the four of us to smile and look at the camera at the same time. Grammy was hoping for an updated photo for her office. I think we will be emailing cousin Kristin some photos for her to photo-shop :)

The most exciting event in the past several weeks was the big wedding reception. As you know, Matt and Jill's wedding was in Jamaica. The reception was a lot of fun; over 200 guests came and for the entertainment, they hired dueling pianists from Madison. The entertainment did not start until 9:00, so Cooper and I missed out on that part. We were picked up by our babysitter before 7:00 as we were already exhausted from the busy day.

I am sure if you saw the front of us, you would see two screaming boys and two parents who were smiling knowing we were getting picked up.

Auntie Erin, Kyra and Mommy posed for a photo together. Black and white must have been the color theme for the night! The girls spoiled themselves earlier in the day with mani/pedi's. Mommy wishes Erin and Kyra were closer so they could do this monthly.

Since Bennett is a year older than me, he got to stay up and dance away the night (well, for a few hours or so). My parents look forward to the day when I can actually stay awake and be manageable beyond 8:00 p.m.

The beautiful bride, Auntie Jill, wore her gorgeous wedding dress and had fun dancing the night away with family and friends

Apparently, Daddy and his brothers were re-living Jamaica by drinking from their vacation mugs, dancing, and having a "grand ole time."

The night was growing longer and Daddy was about pickled. From the looks of it, I definitely missed out on some fun and good entertainment.

Valentine's Day~ The last time we posted, it was the day before Valentine's Day. In preschool, I made this beautiful heart shaped finger painting for my parents. They absolutely love it and Mommy plans to scrapbook it. I love to paint and I bring home a painting of some sort every week from school.

Cooper and I are not only spoiled by love, but we are spoiled by gifts from loved ones. We received lots of candy, treats, books, and toys from grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and our parents. For Valentine's Day, Mommy and Daddy found us shirts that say, "Loads of Love." They thought these were perfect for us.


We met up with Laurie Jo, Lily, Lucy, and Laura, Ethan and Spencer at the library. It was nice of Laurie Jo to take a picture of the three of us... that rarely happens since Mommy is the paparazzi in the family. We attempt to go to the library a few times a month for storytime. I am starting to sing and participate more in class. I am still very shy around others but seem to be branching out more.
Cooper and I made Daddy a Valentine's Day gift... a handprint page that he can put in his office or in our scrapbooks. My hand left the page as I insisted on moving my fingers all about. Mommy says that is OK since it goes to show how wiggly I was at 2.

Other news: A lot of exciting developments have been made lately with Cooper. He is saying, "Ma, ma, ma, ma" and he waves "bye bye" now. He talks a ton (baby talk) but understands basic instructions. Cooper is able to do "so big" and he shakes his head yes and no when we say the words and bob our heads. He claps his hands when we do Patty Cake or when we just say, "YEAH!" Cooper gets around in his walker, by scooting and pivoting on his tummy or his bum. He can rock on all 4's but hasn't officially crawled yet. He loves to stand and can let go and stand for a good 5 seconds. Maybe he will walk before he crawls!?!?

I also have a lot of new commands. For example, tonight while Dady was reading my bedtime story, he wanted to discuss what was on each page. I finally said, "Just read it!" I am becoming a bit more demanding as I know what I want. I asked my parents to read the "audience" book which is a Marley story we read at night. Mommy couldn't believe her ears... a 2 year old that says, "audience." They sometimes wonder what planet I came from. My new word play is to add "sters" to the end of words. Grandpa has become "Grandpsters" and Cooper is "Coopsters." When Mommy drove threw a flock of birds on the road I exclaimed, "Watch out birdsters." You get the idea. It has made for some good laughs in our famsters (family).

Grandma Carla, Mommy's Mom, broke her ankle in two spots this week. The parking lot at her work became a skating rink and Grandma apparently forgot to bring her skates to work. Since she is a lawyer, her partners joke that she might sue for worker's compensation and never return. Of course this is not going to happen and she will bounce back in a few months... good news is that it was her left ankle (she can drive with her right once she gets off of her "goofy med.'s). Grandma had immediate surgery and has plates, pins, and screws in her ankle, OUCH! She will forever have to show ID when going through airport security checkpoints. We love you Grandma and hope you heal quickly!

Well, that is about it. We hope you enjoyed reading our latest update. We are sorry it has been longer than usual. Stay tuned....