One day not long ago Cooper asked if I could replace the batteries in his remote control truck. The thing takes a total of 6 AA batteries, and goes through them quite often. So this time instead of just giving him the batteries, I told him he'd have to earn them. He had some school work to catch up on from being sick, so I told him if he did his homework, he could have batteries. For a kid who usually whines about sitting to learn anything, he sat right down and worked hard at it for about 20 minutes.
He sure earned those batteries! I may have to use batteries as an incentive more often!
On March 2nd: First thing Coop says to me this morning: Mom when I'm grown up, like 5, I'm gonna get a 30 ft Pogo stick that has buttons and super powers. But I'll have to wear my helmet." What does that kid dream about?!
On February 20th: Cooper is playing with his friends outside, and I overhear him saying "well I look fantastic all the time!" Yep--esp in his cammo rain boots with teal/ florescent orange soccer shorts/ shirt. at least he's confident!
Cute boy playing cars on February 14th: Coop says this car is the bad guys "because they all have been lying and cheating, and those are terrible things, so that makes them terrible bad guys." Guess the lessons about lying and cheating in the last week may have finally sunk in.
The other day we were watching a reality tv show called "Swamp People," as a family. Cooper likes to watch some of these shows about logging, gold mining, antique car restoration, homesteading in Alaska, etc., with Nathan and I. We try to be careful about what episodes he watches, but one day we were watching this one about alligator hunting, and one of the guys on the show said a swear word. Cooper turned to me and said, "Mommy, why did that guy say 'dammit?'" I took the opportunity right then to teach Cooper about curse words and why we don't use them, how he'll hear them in public places, etc., but how we don't say those words because they are offensive to the Spirit of the Lord, which we try to keep with us at all times, and especially in our homes. I told him those are like potty words. We just don't say them.
I could see him contemplating what I'd said, and then he said, "Well one day I left my jacket in the bathroom by the potty, and so then I said that's my dammit jacket." He crinkled his nose like he does when he's lying (the cutest thing, except that it means he's lying), but was dead serious. It was all I could do not to laugh at his innocence and interpretation of what "potty words" are.
Cooper received lots of valentines in the mail, which he LOVED. Thank you to all of you who send things to Cooper and Hudson in the mail! They love getting mail and packages. This one had a memory game (or match game, as Cooper calls it), and we played it several times. He likes playing games.
Other notable things about Cooper:
- Cooper can now dress himself, head to toe. He still struggles with buttons, but that is his only setback. Well, that and color coordination.
- Cooper does NOT like to go to school. Most school days he complains about going and asks to stay home with Hudson and I "because school is SO LONG and I just want to be with you!" Also "because when I go to school I don't get to play." He's even gone so far as to fake a stomach ache/ nausea (like dry heaving) at school to get them to call me to come get him. That day was their Valentine's Day party, and he waited until the party was over to complain about his stomach. He did start crying, but I think it was that he just wanted to come home. The minute he got in the car he was miraculously better and asked for a treat. I said, "I thought you were sick. Sick boys don't get treats." He was like, "Oh. Yeah. Well, I'm ALLLL better now." Ha! Been working with is teacher and he's getting much better about it. [I was also concerned there may be something going on at school that makes him not want to go. But after talking to him bluntly and repeatedly about all the possibilities, I do think it's just that he wants to be home with me. Sweet boy.] He does the same thing at church about going to Primary, and was crazy clingy at his first t-ball practice recently.
- Cooper has become more self aware in social settings. He still wants hugs and snuggles, but gets embarrassed. He will also begin to throw a tantrum, but then suddenly stop because he sees people watching him. It's one of those 4-year old milestones, and it's both a blessing and a curse.
Now for some real entertainment. Here are a few videos taken recently.
This first one is of him running around the house right after his bath, before bed, having put on his new t-ball cleats that had arrived in the mail that day. He was running in the nude with nothing but his cleats on, but I made him put on his bedtime pull-up before I took a video. So here he is, saying that his new cleats make him run SUPER FAST. I was trying to act like I was just looking at my phone, and not taking a video, so he wouldn't get embarrassed and stop.
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This next one is of Cooper dancing. He asked me to take a video of him dancing. He'd been dancing like this for about 10 minutes. He cracks me up!
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Coop does this silly thing on the floor that I call "the corkscrew." The first time he did this, he was throwing a fit on the floor, but turned into giggles when I started laughing and telling him that was a pretty cool move. It's toward the end of the video.
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