Having Fun

Cooper plays fireman nearly every day, but Monday he did something new; He "made" a firetruck out of the piano bench and some chairs, and every so often would play a note or two on the piano, which apparently were his sirens. Then he would crawl underneath the piano and drive the firetruck, and then get back up and sound the "sirens" and eventually climb out and fight an imaginary fire.  What will this kid think of next?  I love watching his imagination at work.

Last week we had a nice, sunny day, and went to the park one morning with Cooper's best friend, Ethan, and his sister, Adison.  Ethan's mom and I have become good friends, and so we'll often get the kids together to play at one of our houses, or the park, or something kinda spur of the moment.  It's so nice to have a friend I can just call up and say, "Hey, watcha doin?" without having to make scheduled plans days in advance.

Cooper and Ethan climbed this big boulder, and they were so proud of themselves.  This park has several playground sets for different ages.  They love to play on the 5-12 yr old equipment to climb, and to spin on the various spinning contraptions the park has.  They also love the merry-go-round and the dome jungle gym, which Coop loves to climb up to the top and then drop through one of the holes, hanging on to a bar (just like we used to as kids).  Gives me a heart attack just about every time, thinking he might bump his chin or break an arm, but I gotta let him be a kid and explore/play freely.

Cooper and Ethan also like to play on the 2-5 yr old equipment that is red and has a steering wheel and a telescope on the highest level, and some dials and such at ground level.  This apparently makes for the perfect fire truck.  Last time we were at this park, they made friends with two other little boys and a little girl, and they all played firetruck for probably 20 minutes or more before it was time for us to go.  The one other thing they LOVE to do is play/cross the monkey bars made for 2-5 yr olds.  I just have to give each of them a little boost to get them on, and then away they go.  Cooper can cross all 8 monkey bars, and drop off at the end.

 This was a few days later when it was raining, and we were out running errands.  Cooper saw some construction equipment across the street, and wanted to watch it working, so we went and got some lunch and came back and watched the construction equipment and all the cars and trucks driving by.  Having a "picnic in the car" is one of Cooper's favorite things to do on a rainy day, or even on a sunny one.  He loves to watch cars and trucks and such.