A Long Post About Cooper

I think Cooper grew up a little too much while I was on bed rest.  When I went down, he was still my baby.  Now he has so much more personality and a vocabulary to match.  There are just so many little things I want to write down so I don't forget.

After he coughs, he says, "achoo!".

He calls Ethan and Madeline "the kids" and when they call for him he looks up and yells, "yes?"  But it sounds more like, "Yah-ssssssss?".  It's so cute!

He LOVES hiding games and for hide-n-seek will count, "1, 6, 9, 10 coming!"  Sometimes he adds the 2 in after the 1.

If you ask him how old he is, he'll say, "SIX!!!"  He always says it with a twinkle in his eye because he knows he's being funny.

He is OBSESSED with diggers.  He knows the names to all of them and can "dig and dump" for HOURS and HOURS!  "Diggers working.  Dig and dump.  Digger dumping dirt!"  He always brings one to me and says, "Mommy's backhoe loader.  Mommy's working.  Dig dirt.  Mommy digging."  How can I say no?

 He says "dump cruck" for dump truck.

Lately, when he's getting into something he shouldn't, like Madeline's stickers for example, she'll start to holler, "No Cooper!" to which he will always starting crying, go to the nearest person and say, "Mom, Madeline says no!"  He says Madeline more like, "Ma-la-line".  And Ethan sounds a lot like "Zee-zee" though when he's really trying it sounds like "E-sen".  It's pretty cute and quite hilarious…"Mama, Zee-zee says no!" or "Zeezee, Mom says no!"  Followed by super cute-faced wailing.

The week before Christmas, he surprised me (understatement) when at breakfast time proclaimed while grabbing his diaper, "Ah Oh, waterfall coming!  Go potty now!"  I couldn't believe my ears, but took him to the bathroom where he performed quite easily.  He loves flushing the toilet and went five times that day.  He went several times for the following days and while he still does, it's slowed down a lot mostly because I've been much too overwhelmed to potty train right now.  But come spring, we'll be back in business and since I know he can do it, we're already halfway there.  My other kids didn't have a clue when they had to go until after they were 3.  He still hides to do his stinky business though and has recently decided the best way to go about that is to empty all his toys from his room into the hall and then close his bedroom door:

When I turn the corner and see this, I know I am not to bother him, because if you open his door he will SHOUT, "GO OUT! CLOSE DOOR!"  Give the kid his privacy!

He loves baby Oliver, or "baby Awe-ver" as he says, and says, "Baby Awe-ver crying!" about 20 times a day even when Oliver is sleeping peacefully.

He's at the stage where he talks CONSTANTLY and repeats himself over and over.  "Daddy at?" "Daddy's at work."  Zee-zee at?"  "Ethan's in his room".  "Ma-la-line doing?"  "Madeline is downstairs too."  "Baby Awe-ver crying?"  "No he's sleeping."  repeat.

He tries to get me to let him watch shows all day.
He still loves grapes the most.
And noodles.
He LOVES ice cream.

He is strangely terrified of the sound a computer makes when it's restarting.

He unzips his sleep sack, takes off his tray, climbs in and out of his highchair, sits on the toilet alone, but falls down on the middle of the floor and grunts and complains and says, "stuck stuck!  Mommy hold you!"

 I love how polite his is, always saying "peese" and "oh…scooze me" and "daint you".

I could go on and on.  But I'll stop now.

I love you Cooper!  Forever and always.