What's Mine is Yours

I love this little girl. I was so worried that when Cooper was born, she would take a back seat in my heart. However, I often found in those early newborn days that I loved her even more. Everything about my life changed when Little Man was placed in my arms, and although those changes were beautiful and precious, there were some hard adjustments (lack of sleep, feeling completely incompetent as a mom, breastfeeding around the clock, recovering from surgery). Sadie was my constant though. She was that one thing that was familiar and comforting. She was my security blanket in those early days as we adjusted to our new family.

From the moment she met Cooper, she has been wonderful with him. We have never had a problem with how she treats Cooper. She stays as close to him as she can, and she puts up with a lot from him, only to lick his face or hand when he's too rough. Cooper pulls her ears, pulls her legs, rolls over her, splashes in her water bowl, licks her food bowl (it's only happened once, I promise), plays with her toys, and the list could go on forever. What's hers is his. She shares very well.

So does he.

And I don't just mean his toys (I gave up a long time ago trying to keep them from playing with each other's toys).

Cooper shares his food with her. One night last week, we had poured some of his Puffs on the coffee table. Cooper would pick one up and eat it, and then he would pick one up and feed it to Sadie. Cooper ate one, Sadie ate one. It was simply hilarious.

Now Sadie sits patiently by Cooper's highchair, and not just so she can clean up any accidentally dropped crumbs (by the way, I LOVE that she cleans the floor for me after each meal). Cooper eats some food, and then kindly holds his hand out so Sadie can have some. If she takes too long, he'll just drop it for her. When he's done eating, he holds his hands out for her to clean them. OF COURSE, I clean them with soap and water after that though! This sharing is not something I'm encouraging, and they're learning it's not okay to do. However, it is very funny!

Last week Cooper found one of Sadie's toys under our dresser. He got it out and started chewing on it. This toy happens to be a favorite of Sadie's. After he would chew, he would then let Sadie chew on it for a minute, but not too long because he wanted to chew on it some more too. Cooper would chew, Sadie would chew. Sadie ended up taking her toy away and jumping on the bed with it where Cooper couldn't reach. Well, Little Man did NOT appreciate that, and he crawled right after her throwing a good ol' fashioned temper tantrum. Oh, goodness!

Yes, yes, yes, I know, that story is rather gross, and yes, I did take the toy away from both of them, and yes, as I type all this, I'm starting to see that maybe they're a little too good of friends and we need to get out more so Cooper can make friends with other children!

Groomed

Cooper's hair was getting out of control.

We kept having days where it looked like this.

Once his sideburns were almost level with his chin, Karl and I decided it was time to introduce Little Man to the barber shop. Of course, I brought the camera and camcorder. Karl told me pictures were fine, but if I whipped out the camcorder, I wasn't allowed to come with them again. I stuck it in my purse just in case.

Cooper sat in Daddy's lap and wore a super cool car cape.

He sat very still the whole time, and his expressions were priceless!

And afterwards, he looked much more like a big boy and much less like a baby. My throat got a little tight and my eyes a little misty at this realization; however, he was so handsome, I couldn't help but smile!

~Our Big Boy~

4th of July

We kept the 4th of July pretty simple this year. Karl and I were feeling sluggish, so we had a relaxing day and just enjoyed being free to do so!

As the day went on, Karl decided it would be un-American to not grill out or shoot off some of our own fireworks. Cooper "had" to see fireworks on his first 4th of July. Although I was a bit skeptical of how Little Man would react to the loud boom of the fireworks, I agreed with Karl that we would not be doing a good job as parents if we didn't introduce this tradition to our little boy on his 1st July 4th.

(Cooper practicing singing the national anthem)

His reaction to the fireworks was in complete Cooper-style! Just as with picking out pumpkins, decorating the Christmas tree, opening Christmas presents, looking in Easter eggs, etc., he could have cared less! The loud booms did not interest him; the bright colors and sparks only got a passing glance; he was more interested in the raindrops that would occasionally fall on him. No smile, no wide eyed look, no interest whatsoever.

Karl and I, however, thought they were beautiful and Cooper's reaction definitely brought a smile to our faces!

Coop's Scoop

Warning: The following is an OVERLOAD of information about Cooper. It's mostly just stuff his mommy wants to remember about this age and stage. In fact, if I wanted to make this short and sweet, I'm sure I could sum it all up quite concisely, but what's the fun in that when I can ramble on for ages?! So, here is the long version of every crazy detail about Cooper!

Here is the Coop's Scoop for 8-10 months:

Teething Bites-Cooper has two teeth on the bottom, 2 teeth on the top, and 2 more barely poking through on the top. When all 4 of those top teeth were preparing to make their debut, Little Man suffered. He tossed and turned while he slept, cried out during the night and naps, had bad diapers, was a little fussy, and just overall, not himself. Thank goodness for Baby Triaminic!

Criss Cross-This is just a little Cooper characteristic I think is cute. Cooper always crosses his feet. He crosses them in his carseat, highchair, when sitting in my lap, and even while he sleeps.

His feet were crossed, but then he un-crossed them as I took the picture. He falls asleep in this position a lot though. It cracks us up when we go in to check on him, and he's fast asleep with his legs propped up on the bumper!

Determination Face-Little Man is quite determined. When he sees what he wants, he crawls right after it, and he does so with a very determined look on his face AND makes a snorting sound. During those moments, he looks like he's part dog/part pig. :)

He wanted to the towel off the oven handle...

so he could chew on it while playing with his reflection in the oven.

No rock-a-bye baby-Cooper does not let me rock him. :( As soon as we sit down in his glider, he starts squirming, trying to put his paci in my mouth, crawling on me, and taking no part in this sweet time. I let him have his way, and I put him in his crib, where he plays for a little bit (and throws his pacis out of his crib and then yells for us to put them back in) before going to sleep. And then... I come back in his room after he falls asleep, and I take him out of his crib, and I rock him. It's a win/win for both of us.

Sometimes two is better than one.

Speaking of sleep-Cooper has weaned off his 3rd late afternoon nap and now takes a morning nap (from about 8:45-10:15) and an afternoon nap (from about 1:30-3:00). He goes to sleep at night between 7:30-8:00 and sleeps until 6:00. He plays in his crib until 6:30 when he starts yelling for us to come get him. He is normally standing up in his crib with an ear-to-ear smile on his face when we walk in. This is the sweetest moment of every day.

He drools like his daddy. :)

Energizer Bunny-I'm pretty sure Cooper could outlast that little guy these days. The child is always on the go. He is curious and adventurous and happier than ever before as he becomes more mobile. He is a fast crawler, pulls up on everything, walks along furniture, opens and closes all the doors and drawers he can get his hands on, can crawl up the stairs, etc. I am so happy we have a pool membership this summer because he loves the water, and it gives him a good way to use up some of that energy!

Trash is better than toys...

Even when you get caught!

Cooper climbed in the laundry basket one day as I was folding his laundry.

The first time Cooper pulled himself up to standing was in his crib.

He still likes to taste everything before playing with it. This reminds me so much of Sadie!

Pucker Up-Cooper gives kisses, and they are oh-so-sweet and slobbery! He even sticks out his tongue a little before he plants one on you!

Here Cooper admires his reflection in the trash can

and decides he is worthy of one of his own kisses.

Growing up-We haven't been to the pediatrician since his 8 month check up, so I don't know how much he weighs or what percentiles he's in, which I'm sure everyone would agree that me not knowing is probably best because of the way it stresses me out! However, Little Man is definitely still on the little side, but that's okay because he is growing. He is in size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes. Anything that is just a 12 months is wearable, though a little big. 9 months seems to be a perfect fit. His hair is getting blonder and is just about ready for a cut. I feel like he's starting to lose the "baby" look in his face, but I think he's more handsome than ever before, especially since he pretty much always has a smile on his face. Coop and I ran errands earlier today, and a saleslady at one store said, "He must look just like his daddy!" In other words, he looks nothing like me!

Cooper and Karl on Father's Day

PICKY-That is the kind of eater Cooper is. He is still very difficult to feed, and I am definitely ready for the baby food stage to be over. Now that he is getting more teeth, hopefully we'll be moving on to more real food and less baby food. I normally give him a bottle first (or else he doesn't drink it), a jar of baby food (stage 2), and then some type finger food (black eyed peas, lima beans, broccoli tops, cheese, toast, noodles, etc.). He still doesn't drink out of a sippy cup; however, I bought a new one yesterday, and he seems to like this one.

Cooper got to try one of his great-grandmother's special homemade waffles when we went for a visit at the beginning of June. He really loved it, just like his mama.

If any mamas are still reading this at this point, I have some questions:

Is this how I'm supposed to be feeding him at 10 months as far as what I'm feeding him and how much?

When is the baby food stage over?

He still likes his bottle warmed. How do I get him to drink it cold?

How do I wean to a sippy cup?

Thanks for any advice! :)

Blah, blah, blah-Cooper says "mama" all the time, and I just love it. He has other sounds he likes to make and repeats regularly, but "mama" is the only true word he says. My favorite of his sounds is his fake cough. If Karl or I do it, he does it back. It makes us laugh every time, especially when he initiates it. He thinks this is funny too. :)

Our favorites right now seem to be the pool, water of any kind (toilet, Sadie's water bowl, the sink, the bath, the pool, puddles outside, the hose, you get the point), Sadie and other dogs, going for walks, just being outside, chewing on everything, baths, ripping magazine pages (I guess he likes the sound or just the mess he makes?), opening and closing doors and drawers, and playing peek a boo in his crib.

Once Cooper started trying to crawl out of his baby tub, I decided we needed a new one. He loves the duck tub, especially when it starts quacking; however, he likes to try to crawl out of it too!

I would love to type more about what a wonderful age this is and how much joy Karl and I get out of being Cooper's parents, but I think I've gone on long enough and a certain little boy just woke up from his nap and is calling for his mama now.

10 Months

Almost two months ago, I sat down and made a list of things I wanted to document in my next Coop's Scoop, which I still haven't done. One of the things on my list was "This is the BEST age! I don't see how life could ever get sweeter than it is now." Funny thing, though, it did. Cooper is now 10 months old, and I would like to re-declare that this is the BEST age, and life is indeed even sweeter than it was two months ago! As Cooper becomes more and more mobile and his personality continues to shine, every day has become an adventure. A wonderful, thrilling, delightful adventure.

For our 10 month photo shoot, we didn't even manage to put on clothes. Little Man was especially wild, and clothes didn't seem to be a necessity at the moment, so we did without. I know doing his monthly photo shoot right before his nap when he is most hyper might not seem like a necessity either, but sometimes I just don't think things through! Karl was with us at this time, so since I had his help, I figured we could get this thing done. Two against one. No problemo.

Wrong. Coop won.

"Oh, Eli! Wait 'til you see what I got in store for them today!"

"They think they can get a good photo shoot when I wouldn't even let them dress me? Sleep deprivation really can make you crazy!"

"What would they do if I ripped off my diaper...

...and went streaking?!?!?!"

"Yes, Dad, I understand. Streaking at any age is not appropriate. I promise to keep my diaper on at all times."

The Day My Son Played in the Toilet

Great title, huh?! Sounds exciting, right?!

Playing in the toilet would have been bad enough. Eating the gel disc toilet cleaner in the toilet bowl takes it to a whole new level.

Yes, that's right. My son not only played in the toilet yesterday, he ate some toilet cleaner. Obviously, I'm going to be up for Mother of the Year for 2011.

Yesterday afternoon was a little rough. In fact, as I talked to Karl on my way home from Publix---where Cooper threw a major, loud fit and refused to sit in the cart, which meant I had to carry him with one arm while trying to maneuver the cart through the crowded store with the other, and the boy who bagged my groceries walked off when he was done instead of asking to walk them to my car like he normally offers (and I normally refuse, but I'd already made up my mind that today I would happily accept as my arms were now exhausted and it was 100 degrees outside)---I told him that I was on the verge of tears so not to fuss at me at that moment for not answering my cell phone that he had persistently kept calling while we were in the store. It had been a day. Obviously, this has nothing to do with the toilet, but I was tired and stressed before the toilet incident and feel it adds to the overall picture of our day.

Once home from the store, I unloaded the groceries and Coop and I went into his room to put up his laundry (already wrinkled from getting left in the basket in a pile after being tossed from the dryer before going to the store). Of course, my ADD kicked in about that time, and I decided I needed to clean out his drawers in his dresser. The whole time, Cooper is crawling around his room, unfolding the wrinkled laundry on the floor, opening and closing the door (our new favorite activity), opening and closing the drawers, banging on the door stop...you get the picture-he is right under my feet. However, suddenly, and I mean suddenly, he was not under my feet. He was in the hallway bathroom splashing in the toilet. I run in, pick him up, and then I notice he smells really nice, fresh, and maybe even a little minty. A few minutes before he smelled sweaty and in need of a bath. I look down in the toilet and see the gel disc is smeared in the toilet and the water in the bowl has some bubbles in it. I look at my son, who has a huge smile on his face, and his hands are quite soapy. So, in true Allison fashion, I PANIC! I run to the kitchen and start splashing his face with water, washing out his mouth, washing his hands, cursing, praying, crying, cursing some more, etc. Once again, just call me Mother of the Year 2011. I call Karl to ask him what the name of the stuff in the toilet is because Cooper just ate it, and I'm sure the doctors in the ER will want to know. He doesn't know and isn't helping, so I hang up on him. I then call Poison Control and immediately start sobbing. In my head, I've already convinced myself that DHR will be coming to take my child away from me that evening for being an unfit parent. The lady who answered, bless her sweet heart, was so nice to me. She told me not to worry, that my gel disc was pretty much just water and soap (and a waste of money, as it really doesn't keep your toilet clean), it could've been worse, Cooper is fine, despite my own feelings at the moment, I'm not the worst mother, etc. God bless this lady because she did calm me down. I gave Cooper some water, got him in the tub, fed him, and then talked to the sweet lady when she called back an hour later to make sure we were okay. As I told Karl last night, it doesn't matter how many things you do right; it's that one thing you do wrong that can make the biggest difference. What if he had instead fallen in the toilet? It was the sound of the splashing that caught my attention; if I hadn't heard that, another 2 minutes might have passed before I went to get him, and he could have drown. Perhaps that is a bit extreme and dramatic, but it is possible. I cried all last night when I thought of that. Then I cried more when I thought about when the lady at Poison Control said to just wait until he's two because then he truly will be into everything. Oh good grief! I'm going to need a bigger coffee pot to help me stay alert enough to keep up with this kid!

I guess I can now check "Calling Poison Control" off my to-do list as World's Worst Mom. And just fyi, Poison Control is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I asked.

A Spoken Word

As I try to catch up on the recent happenings with our little family, I just had a little reminder of a very important thing worthy of a post to itself.

I'm sitting at our computer, playing on the internet with the monitor beside me. Cooper is playing in his crib instead of going to sleep. I've been listening to him squeal, blow with his tongue, and play, but he just said it again--the sweet little word he started saying nearly two weeks ago.

"Mama."

There have been many precious sounds with my Little Man: each and every time I heard his heartbeat when I was pregnant, his first cry, his laughs, when he babbles, his sneezes, and now his first spoken word. Music to my ears.

As we all know, I'd be lying if I made this all sentimental and did not state the obvious fact that I was indeed gloating. So sorry, Karl! :)