Cooper Lately

I haven't done one of my monthly posts on Cooper in a while and he has been changing so much lately. He is just growing more and more into his own little person and we are loving getting to know his little personality.

Lately:

Cooper can build block towers! He can stack three blocks and then cries and throws a fit when he can't get the fourth block to stay up. I'm so proud of his block towers.

Cooper loves to clean. Whenever his sippy cup drips water onto his high chair he grabs the dish towel and cleans it up. Sometimes he spills water on purpose just so he can clean it up. And it's not a quick, sloppy wipe either, he really scrubs that high chair down.

He also LOVES helping with the laundry. So much so that he routinely goes into the laundry room and screams at the dryer in hopes that we will start doing laundry. He loves to transfer clothes from the dryer to the basket and back again. He also loves the vacuum and all of the cleaning supplies (don't worry I don't let him play with them) but what is with this cleaning obsession? I'm thinking of just getting him toy cleaning supplies for Christmas.

Cooper has become very empathetic. The other day he threw a tennis ball at my face (I realize that doesn't sound very empathetic) but when he saw that it hurt me his little face fell and he ran over to shower me with kisses. He would kiss me and then take a look at my face to see if it worked and then give me another kiss. I got like 20 kisses, it was totally worth a tennis ball to the face.

The other day I was trying to coerce Cooper into snuggling me for ten seconds and I started pretend crying when he jumped out of my lap to run away. He turned around, stared at me, and then walked back over to pat me on the back a couple times. Sweet buddy.

Cooper isn't talking too much but it does make the times he decides to talk pretty exciting and surprising. We've even had a few conversations-
Me: you don't throw balls at mama. (can you tell this is a recurring problem?)
Cooper: oh no mama! (And then he stomped away)

(Cooper was crying when Josh left for work)
Me: I'm sorry buddy but dada has to go to work. Do you want to play with mama?
Cooper looked up at me, said "no", and then went and played by himself.

Me: Daddy's coming home!
Cooper: Hide!
And then he went and hid behind the door and jumped out to scare Josh when he came inside.

After worrying that Cooper was possibly devoid of affection, he finally started snuggling his stuffed animals! He particularly loves his stuffed kangaroo and now sleeps with it (someone needs to tell me how to disinfect non-washable stuffed animals...) He is so sweet with it, he hugs it, kisses it, rocks it, and when I go peak at him in the mornings he always sitting in his crib talking to it. I'm so glad he doesn't sleep with his knife cover anymore, phew.

Cooper has a weird fascination with the toilet. Probably because on a couple of occasions we've accidentally left the lid up and he got to have a ten minute splash party before we realized what he was doing. Now he runs in the bathroom all the time to check on it and tries to shove his toys into the toilet whenever I'm sitting on it. It's great fun.

Cooper has become a very good helper. He helps with getting dressed and undressed- he sticks his arms and legs out at all the right times. He responds to commands-
Milk- he goes and stands by the fridge
Breakfast/lunch/dinner- he goes and stands by his high chair
Brusha brusha- he goes and stands by the bathroom sink with his mouth open for toothbrushing
Stories- he goes and picks out a book for me to read and climbs into my lap
Garbage- he walks whatever garbage he picked up over to the trash can and throws it away
Bye bye- he brings me his shoes and my diaper bag
Diaper change- he runs away and hides (hey, he can't be perfect right?)

"Helping" load his bottle into the dishwasher.

Cooper has become a little thief. I am currently missing a debit card, ALL of my tablespoon/teaspoon measurements, one of his shoes, and probably a million other things too. And I cannot understand for the life of me how a grown adult can search the entire house countless times and still be outsmarted by a one-year-old. Where did he hide them?! Though I did find a door stop from the church behind his car seat the other day so I did find one hidden thing...

I've been trying desperately to teach Cooper his body parts. We read books, we sing songs, we drill body parts at every meal time and whenever I ask where something is, his head, or his eyes, or his belly button, he points to his chest. It's the funniest thing. And then I correct him and ask him again and he points to his chest again. He is just really convinced that all of his body parts are in the exact same spot on his chest.

Cooper loves playing in front of the mirror. Sometimes Josh and I peak at him when he doesn't think we're watching and he does little dances for himself and then laughs and then kisses himself. Cooper has excellent self-esteem and I hope that never changes.

Cooper has also been making up his own games which is really sweet to watch. I forgot about the little games you make up with household objects when you're little. He likes to bounce his ball across the ottoman, he likes to take some toys and play with them under the end table, he likes to run back and forth between two certain spots he picks out like a heater vent and the couch.

Cooper has a habit of putting his hand up for a high five whenever he burps. Hahaha. I find it hilarious and I have been trying so hard not to indulge him.

Cooper is an eating machine. He frequently eats adult portions and eats the weirdest foods for a little kid. He loves mushrooms, avocadoes, and Indian food. And of course, goldfish crackers.

Basically this kid is a blast and we love the dickens out of him.

How To Talk To Women By: Joshua Beach

Oh my sweet husband... He has many many talents, but saying sensitive things is not one of them. Luckily my feelings are not easily hurt and I'm not as sensitive as some people are, otherwise this would have never worked out. After years of offensive comments that he genuinely meant in a kind way, I finally told Josh he needed to write all of these pearls of wisdom down so others too can learn the fine art of talking to women. I thought I would help him get started...

There could be a whole chapter of what to say to your wife after she cooks a loving meal for you.

My personal favorite-
"This doesn't taste like my mom makes it."

"Oh it's great baby." (A promising start...)
"But it would be much better with different ingredients."

After several miserable hours and a kitchen completely covered in flour, I produced my first loaf of bread-
"Well if we don't eat it all, we can use the rest as a door stop."

Describing the dinner I had prepared to our dinner guests-
"It's a curry dish." Pause...
"But not like authentic curry...."

Before even tasting it-
"It looks wonderful baby. But maybe next time you can make it differently."

-----

There could also be a chapter dedicated to finessing your pregnant wife which Josh has a lot of pointers on.

One night I was literally in tears crying about how big I was and I told Josh I looked like a walrus.
"Oh baby you don't look like a walrus!" (Another promising start)
"You don't have any tusks."
I patiently waited for more reasons but that was the end of the list.

After complaining to Josh that no one had given me the compliment that I was "glowing" when I was pregnant-
"You were glowing honey." Pause...
"Actually you were more like glazed. Like a doughnut."

After asking Josh for food in the middle of the night, he sleepily responded-
"No, but tomorrow I'll buy you a reaching stick and lay some food out on the floor by your bed."

After asking Josh if another pregnant woman with the same due date was skinner than I was-
"Well.... Um.... Well, she's probably just not as hungry as you are."

One day I stopped at KFC on the way home from work because I constantly craved their potato wedges and used to order the family size for just me. I called Josh to tell him I was going to be late.
Me: I had to park and wait because they had to cook more wedges.
Josh: Well they probably didn't know you were coming, next time you should call and let them know ahead of time.

One time Josh and I were at a burger place and I had finished my french fries and desperately wanted to order another order but I was embarrassed and I wanted him to tell me it was ok.
Me: Do you think anyone ever orders two things of french fries?
Josh: Maybe people that are on documentaries about obesity.

-----

I have a floral patterned shirt that I like to wear, I've had it for years and Josh had never said anything about it until one day-
Me: Have you seen my floral shirt anywhere?
Josh: You mean Mildred?
Me: What?
Josh: That's what I named your old lady shirt.

One day I located the nearest drive-in movie theater and excitedly asked Josh if he wanted to go-
Josh: Oh ummm.... With just you or with other people too?
Me: Just me.
Josh: No thanks.

One day I was bummed about something and I told Josh that I felt like everyone hated me-
"What are you talking about? No one hates you!" Pause...
"Except this person and this person and this person, oh and all of our neighbors...."
He literally named like ten people and then didn't understand why I wasn't cheered up.

Josh really loves to comment on how much I can eat. What woman doesn't love that?

One day we went to Five Guys and I ordered a double cheeseburger and the cashier asked me if I was sure I wanted that (what kind of a jerk says that by the way) but before I could say anything Josh responded-
"Don't worry, she can really put it away."

One day we were driving along in silence and I asked Josh what he was thinking about.
Josh: I think I'm going to buy stock in Frito-Lay.
Me: How come?
Josh: Because you alone are always going to keep them in business.

A Photo Tour of my Yellow House

Four years, four states, and lots and lots of noisy neighbors later... We finally have our own home! I have been looking forward to this for a really long time and am still walking around in awe of my wonderful home. I love everything about it. It turned out to be perfect timing to get Cooper some extra space and a yard to play in just when he's really getting big enough to enjoy it. It even has a treehouse and swings. And a chicken coop but I think I'll pass on that....

Since most of my friends don't live here and can't come over for a housewarming party, I took some pictures for you instead.

When you first walk in the front door

Our living room/toy storage

Our fireplace on the other end of the living room which we need to start using but I'm worried Cooper is going to burn his hand off.

Our entryway is to the left, I'm currently working on some art and a coat rack for it. We've been throwing our coats into that empty bedroom when we walk in.

I love the view out of this window.

The kitchen (I don't know why I feel like I have to label these pictures, you probably know what a kitchen is.)

Did you know the Barefoot Contessa and I have the same flour/sugar canisters? It's very exciting.

My FAVORITE. A built-in computer desk with drawers and cabinets for all of the paper piles that Josh seems to breed.

Our orange dining room, my favorite room in the house.

Our nice built-in hutch that is completely empty because I don't have anything nice to display. Ha.

The sliding glass door out to our deck.

The dining room has glass doors that can close it off. For our fancy chicken nugget dinners I guess.

Josh and I's bathroom. I'm not good at decorating bathrooms, it's kind of sparce right now. I'm up for suggestions!

Our laundry room/craft room/pet door that Cooper tries to fit his head through every day. This is the first time we have a had a laundry room and our washer and dryer have been in something other than a closet. It's amazing. Plus I can put off ironing longer because I just toss the clothes in some of these drawers and I don't have to look at them!

Cooper's bathroom. We can't have a rug in there because it gets soaked during bathtime, as do Josh and I.

The little foyer into Cooper's bedroom.

Coop's room!

I'm working on ordering some grey and white fabric to sew curtains for him. It will probably take me a solid weekend to cut and sew eight straight lines. Maybe longer...

Our bedroom. It's currently bright pink and we haven't hung up anything. Once we paint it I think it will be a lot better.

There are two other bedrooms but neither one of them have anything in it so I didn't bother to take pictures. This house has a lot of room and a lot of storage and we hardly have any stuff because we usually haven't had storage space and you tend to de-junk a lot when you have to cram your stuff into a u-haul bunch of times. Most of our drawers have nothing in them, it's pretty funny. So there's my house! We ususally have deer in our yard chowing down on something and we have a rural mailman. It's awesome.