The Moa

Cooper's fascination with lawn equipment continues to grow.  We spend a considerable amount of time each day looking at Daddy's mower, blower, shop vac, and weed eater.  And shovels.  And clippers.  And all tools.  We point and talk about each of them and the parts on them.  He admires them and pets them gently.  He is obsessed.  

The other day Coop and I were leisurely strolling through the toy aisles at Target, when what to his wandering eyes should appear but a...

Mower!

Immediately, he stood up, started pointing, and yelling, "Moa, moa, moa!" (mower)  Cooper was so excited that I was afraid he was about to fall out of the cart trying to get the box!  I've never seen him get that excited over a toy.  So, being the wonderful pushover-of-a-mom that I am, I put the box in the cart and let Coop sit beside it.  He pulled on the string part to "start" it, which was pretty loud, again and again and again.  We were by far and away the most annoying people in the store.  The whole reason we went to Target that day was for swimsuits, not toys, though, so we made our way over to the clothes section (pulling the lawn mower string the whole time).  I needed to try on my swimsuit, which meant Coop and I needed to go in a dressing room, minus the cart... and mower.  Wow!  You would have thought I was amputating his arm when I took him out of that cart and away from his newest love.  Once in the dressing room, he calmed down, but he kept trying to crawl under the dressing room door to escape.  Yes, he was laying flat on a public dressing room floor, army crawling out of the dressing room, all while his mama was trying on bikini bottoms.  It was gross and embarrassing and stressful!  Once he was back in the cart and reunited with the mower, all was well with the world again until it was time to check out.  In case we hadn't caused enough of a scene during our shopping trip, we were about to take things to a whole new level.

When I took the mower out of the cart for the cashier to ring up, Coop threw a tantrum.  It was an Oscar worthy performance.  He had been standing, so he dropped down to his knees, threw his upper body backwards, and screamed.  Arms were outstretched, head back, back arched.  Of course, the mower rang up a different price than what it was on the shelf.  After a quick mental debate, I decided $6.00 was worth fighting for, so I apologized to the sweet cashier as she nicely handed my tyrant his mower back and told her I thought it was supposed to be $18.99, not $24.99.  After a quick mental debate in her head, she decided it wasn't worth fighting for and so kindly changed the price without getting someone to go verify the shelf price, which would have kept us in her line even longer.  And yes, Coop was still squalling at this point.  I thanked her profusely.  My frustrations with my tantrum-throwing child acting like a spoiled you-know-what were reaching a high point, and I looked at him and said, "Are you really acting this way in public?!?!"  For whatever reason, that made him stop crying.  Whew!  However, just when I thought things were all better, the sweet cashier said something to Cooper about how cool his mower was.  Well, my sweet, precious, adorable son decided to throw a cherry on our sundae and roared/growled at her.  Like a tiger/dog.  That's one of those moments when you just drop your head in defeat.  I looked at him with a look of disbelief/humiliation/frustration, smiled as kindly and humbly as I could at her, apologized to everyone around us, and booked it out of there.
Cooper insisted on holding his mower, which in the box was about as tall as him, in his car seat with him the whole way home.  And he pulled the dang starter string the whole way home too.

He sure does love that "moa!"

There's nothing like...

...laid back Saturday mornings when you linger in your pajamas, lounge on the couch, read a good book, and enjoy being a family...

And anything is better than rainy, yucky Wednesdays with the threat of severe weather in the afternoon!

I wasn't done yet...

I know what you're thinking... 

"How could she possibly have anything else to say about that child after that ridiculously long post yesterday???"

I'm not one of few words, I know.  Amazingly enough, I did leave out one of my favorite things about Cooper at this age and a little story about him!

My Mr. Fix-It doesn't just like to fix things that are out of place or broken; he likes to fix things when we're sad too.  Sometimes I put my head down, cover my face with my hands, and pretend to cry.  Cooper will stop what he's doing, normally laugh/smirk at me a little, and then come over, lift my head up (by pushing on my forehead), move my hands away, and give me one of his sweet kisses.  Sometimes he'll throw in a hug and pat my back if he's feeling really sweet.  I immediately smile real big, and say, "Yea!  All better!"  And then Cooper gets excited and will dance a little!  I LOVE this!  Also, sometimes, he'll pretend to cry by putting his hands up to his face and making a crying sound.  He thinks this is really funny too. My favorite part about this of all...  This is mostly just reserved for me.  Daddy doesn't get the same reaction.  Whereas I might get a little laugh and smirk before my loving, all Karl gets is laughed at when he tries!  Sometimes, he'll get a kiss, but most of the time, Cooper notices, laughs, and then carries on with his playing or comes over and starts trying to roughhouse with Karl.  My boy takes care of his mama.  

One more story, and then I promise to be done for a week or so.

Last week Cooper and I were about to go outside and play.  It was one of those days when I never got a chance to shower, so it was a hat day to cover up my lovely hair.  Coop had been playing with my hat earlier.  Before we went outside, I said, "Cooper, mommy needs to tinkle.  Go get my hat for me please."  While I was in the bathroom, Cooper threw open the door and ran in with my hat on his hat, crooked nonetheless.  He was rushing around so we could get outside faster, but it was so cute, I had to get the camera and snap a couple pictures of him.  My sweetheart, for sure!

Once outside, he needed to do a little test driving...

One and A HALF

My Little Man is one and a half!  Last night I read an article about what 18 months are supposed to be able to do and generally what they are like at this age.  I laughed and read it to Karl because it was like I was reading an article about Cooper!  He is curious and independent and full of energy (these are actually the exact words I would have used to describe him, and they were the first words the article used to describe this age).  He can throw some serious temper tantrums.  He is "toddler talking" ("car" and "boa"-blower-are his most commonly spoken words these days).  He can run, walk upstairs while holding someone's hand, kick a ball, throw a ball, pretend to be using household items (telephone is a favorite), understand simple directions, point to body parts correctly (belly button is still the favorite), imitate a crayon stroke on paper, hold and love on stuffed animals, and take interest and turn pages of a book.  He is also still incredibly picky, which is apparently a common 18 month old trait (somewhat relieved that it's not just my child).  And, just as the article said, sleep has become a bit of an issue again.  He won't take two naps anymore, yet one nap isn't quite cutting it.  He favors the morning nap, but then late afternoon is terrible because he's so tired.  I try to keep him up him until 11:30 or noon, but some days he can't stay awake until 10, as is the case this morning.  Because he's getting overtired during the day, he's not sleeping well at night, thus becoming more overtired.  Oh, this vicious cycle!!!  We have many days when he's either running wild like a crazy man or is as ill as a hornet, both showing he's tired. We'll get back on track though...hopefully very soon!  He is doing better at night, thankfully, and some nights when he naps early in the day, I just put him to bed at 7:00.  I've found that no matter what time he goes to bed, he wakes up at just about the same time, which is between 6:00 and 6:30; however, we did have a couple mornings two weeks ago when he seemed to enjoy waking up around 4:45.  Whew!  Sunrises are pretty, but I don't prefer to see them!  I think all this will get much better when the time changes in a few weeks.  That'll put us at much better times.  Until then, coffee is my best friend!  Anyway, it was a good article, and it was nice to see how "normal" my child is.  Based on that article, he could be the poster child for 18 month olds!

Karl and I made a list of things we want to remember about Coop at this age, as this might be our new favorite age!  It does have its challenges, like with the temper tantrums and picky eating, but it is so fun to see him take interest in things around him and become more capable of doing things.  He amazes us daily.  We sure do love this little boy more than we ever could have imagined possible!
Cooper's Favorites:
~LOVES outdoor equipment and tools.  He would be very happy to spend all day in the garage playing with the lawn mower and blower (both of which he calls "boa", and he seriously says "boa" constantly all day long!).  He has his own little drill and hammer, and he favors them over all his other toys.  My little man is going to be a handy tool man!
~LOVES to be chased!  We spend many afternoons running through the house or around the yard.  Cooper gets so tickled and squeals and laughs with pure delight as we chase him!
~LOVES Karl's truck.  He pretty much loves anything that deals with Karl these days.  He likes when we let him sit in the driver's seat and he pretends to drive.  Karl said it's always interesting to get in after Cooper and start the truck because all kinds of things will be moved or blinking or making noises!
~LOVES to watch me cook, which I LOVE too!  I have sweet thoughts of Cooper sitting on the counter when he's older helping me measure and pour and mix!
~LOVES music and dancing!  He dances anywhere and to anything!  My favorite though is watching him in my rearview mirror when he's in his car seat and a song comes on that he likes.  He'll immediately start waving those arms and kicking his legs!
~LOVES bath time and water!  Lately, he's been laying on his stomach in the bath, and he'll occasionally dip his face in the water and then look at us and smile.  It's really cute when it's a bubble bath and he comes up with bubbles all over his face!
~LOVES his crib.  I've never seen a child who loves his crib so much.  Sometimes when I need a moment's break or Cooper needs a little time to just chill, I put him in there, and he is as happy as can be!
~LOVES to be outside.  He never gets tired of being outdoors!  I've learned not to put his shoes on him inside if I don't intend on taking him outside at that time because he associates those shoes with being out of the house, and he gets really upset if I keep him in the house!
~LOVES to help.  He likes to be involved in whatever Karl and I are doing.  The other night Karl was going to build us a fire and asked Cooper if he wanted to help.  Coop went out on the deck with him, went over and picked up a piece of wood, brought it in, and put it in the fireplace-all before Karl did.  He obviously watches us closely and is picking up on what and how to do things.  If I ask him to put him clothes in the hamper, he will.  If he sees me cleaning up his toys, he comes over and helps.  He loves to be with us and do what we do.  Karl and I really love that too!
~LOVES his Sadie dog!  He plays with and picks on her ALL day long!  The sweet girl stays right by him too.
~LOVES his daddy.  When he hears the garage door go up, he goes CRAZY!  He runs to the door with his arms flailing and squeals all the way.  He tries with all his might to get the door open.  He'll stand there stomping, dancing, and squealing until Karl opens the door or I take him out there to him.

Also...
~He can show you where his head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, belly, belly button, toes, and some other body parts are.  If you ask him where God lives, he points to his chest (his heart).

~We have a little book with different animals on each page.  When we get to the dog page, I say, "What does a dog say?"  Cooper will try to bark like a dog, and it cracks me up!  Karl's parents have a cat who is not friendly.  She always hisses at us.  If you show Cooper a picture of a cat, he will hiss instead of meow!

~Mr. Independent likes to have you close by, so he leads us around by our finger from room to room.  I love when he comes over, takes my finger in his sweet little hand, and guides me to a new room or toy.

~If I had to guess what I thought Cooper would be when he's grown up, I'd guess an engineer.  He seems to have that mind.  He loves seeing how things work, taking things apart, putting them together, and "working" on things.  He reminds a lot of Karl with how he is with things.  However, personality wise, he's all me!  He is tidy, likes things clean, and is a busy body!  He isn't one to sit and play with a toy; he likes to be doing something.  No matter what he grows up to be, he will be a hard worker.  I like that about him.

~He's a country boy.  Outside of loving Karl's truck, wanting to be outdoors all the time, and looking adorable in overalls, he hates to wear socks and shoes.  He prefers to be barefooted all the time.

Now that I've rambled on like an obsessed mama for way too long, here are pictures from our 18 month photo shoot!

 "Wait just a second.  This all seems kind of familiar!"

"Mom, you're crazy with these silly photo shoots!"

 "Remember all the fun we used to have, Eli?"

"Mom always loves when I try to make a quick escape during these things!"

"I love this guy! We should do this more often!"

Sweet Tooth

We have been struck by the sugar bug again!  The other night I was craving something sweet after dinner.  The best I could find in our pantry was a bag of stale Oreos.  I figured if I dipped them in milk, the staleness wouldn't matter.  This was my favorite dessert as a little girl, and I decided Cooper should be introduced to this special treat.  Well, Little Man immediately took an interest in my cookies and snatched one for himself!  

It's amazing how at such a young age, he already knows how to eat an Oreo!  That's my boy!

The stale Oreos didn't really satisfy my sweet tooth, so today Cooper and I made a cake.  We made a yellow cake (box mix) but decided to fancy up the icing and make a homemade chocolate icing.  I pulled my box of Hershey's cocoa out and saw their recipe for "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting. 

They do not lie.  It is perfect!  I have had a lot of chocolate icings, and this is the BEST I have ever tasted.  

As I iced the cake, I let the little baker lick the spoon.  He approved as well, even though he's crying in this picture.  I think he was afraid I was trying to take his spoon away!  I would cry too if I were him!

We Cleaned

Since January is normally unpleasant with rainy and cold weather, I do all my deep house cleaning during it since being warm and cozy inside is normally the only place to be.  I clean the windows and blinds, the doors and door frames, the baseboards and all woodwork, the cabinets and ceiling fans, etc.  I even clean the living room furniture since it gets lived on so much.  January is my month to get my little house shining.  Although I don't enjoy the work that goes into deep cleaning, I sure do love a clean house!

Although my goal is to be done with my "spring cleaning" by February 1st, I'm running a little behind this year.  My little helper often helps me by creating new messes for me to clean in the midst of whatever deep cleaning I'm trying to do at that time. 

This morning he helped me mop the kitchen floor after I vacuumed it.  He used Sadie's water from her water bowl.  He splashed and played and then dumped out what was left.  

Then he splashed and played in that.  He stood in it and once the little feeties in his pajamas had soaked up all they could, he walked around the house "mopping" the floor.  Once he was done playing with his wet footprints, he sprawled out on the floor in the leftover water and made water angels on the tile (unfortunately, I didn't get a picture in time).  

I sigh as I write this.  My little "helper."  Doing something he knows good and well he's not supposed to be doing.  Again.  This seems to be becoming too common in our days.  Discipline is hard work.  Hard.  Especially when you're dealing with a 17 month old.  I know he knows better, yet he does it anyway.

  

Normally I redirect or even give him a little pop on the back of the leg or a time out in the crib.  But this morning I felt a little defeated in my discipline attempts, so I grabbed the camera and photographed his disobedience.  Not the best way to get him to learn to obey, but since he hasn't gotten it all the many other times I've tried, I figured this one time of ignoring wouldn't create too much of a future problem.  At least I'm hoping it doesn't.

I drew the line, however, when he started trying to lick the water up off the floor like Sadie.

 In the meantime, Sadie just sat and watched her beloved food and water bowls being pounded on like drums and all her fresh water running down the cracks of the tile.  I wonder if she ever wonders what she did to deserve the treatment of her little brother.

 

Don't let this innocent look fool you though; she's pretty disobedient herself!

A Boy with Many Hats

Little Man is a boy, and boys wear hats.  It's a must.  

Before Cooper was born, he already had a little hat collection going.  However, shortly after he was born, we learned he HATED hats.  He wouldn't wear them.  He screamed and cried.  Even with the precious crocheted little bear cap I had made for him.  

We didn't give up hope though.  As he grew, we kept trying.  He kept refusing.  Even with the fisherman's hat that made his Halloween costume extra cute.  It was a no-go.  

 

With a little perseverance, he has learned that boys wear hats.  I think he's even starting to love them.  The other morning, I pulled out two of his hats and asked him which one he wanted that day.  He chose both.  At Lowe's yesterday, he tried to put the outdoor faucet cover we were buying on his head like a hat.  If Karl or I (yes, sometimes girls wear hats too, especially moms of little boys who wake up too early in the morning, thus preventing the mom from getting a shower that day) have on a hat, he likes to pull off our hat and wear it.  Backwards.  As long as he wears it, we're happy!

Yes, boys wear hats.  They make them look so big.  And they hide the fact that you haven't taken your son to get a much-needed hair cut!