Where's Waldo, I mean, Cooper?

Can you find Cooper in his favorite play spot in Momma and Dad's closet?

9 Months

Cooper - 9 months old

Doesn't he look so grown up? I took this picture last Sunday, and couldn't believe how big he looked. Coop turned 9 months old a week ago today. My how time flies. Cooper has grown up so much in the last month. Here are some of the things he's done in the last month. [Sorry this is such a long post, but there are so many things I don't want to forget about him at this age, so good for you if you make it all the way to the end.]

• First words - I was delighted when Cooper started saying "Mama" consistently. Ok, he doesn't quite say it like that. His version of "Mama" is "Mmmmmmmmmmmmah" or sometimes just "Mmmmmmm, Mmmmmmm." It melts my heart to hear him call for me. The other morning I had just finished feeding him. He always give me a big smile when he's done nursing. This particular time, he pulled himself up, said "Ohhhh. Mmmmmmmuh," then took my face in his hands and gave me a big slobbery "kiss." Then he pulled back, smiled, and clapped "yay." It was the sweetest thing ever. What a kid.
• Coop has also learned Dada, and baba (bottle). He seems to comprehend much more when we speak to him too, at least simple things like bath, snuggle (blanket), and splash (which he loves to do in the bath).
• Cooper has develolped a love for all things he can bang together. When he finds two objects he can bang together, he bangs 'til his heart's content, and smiles his snaggle tooth grin.
• Speaking of teeth, tooth #8 finally made its debut. The bugger took SO long to break through, and was so hard on Coop. I think it was his worst so far. Now it seems he's getting ready to get a few more as the drool, chewing, stuffy nose, watery eyes, etc. have all returned with a vengance. It seems hard to tell where one teething episode ends and another begins. Cooper is a great baby in many aspects, but teething is not one of them.
• Cooper has discovered he can feed himself. His favorite food are these little "Cheetos" type things made by Gerber. They're pretty much rice puffs that dissolve easily. Coop LOVES the Garden Tomato flavor. He eats them by the handfuls, albeit not many make it to his mouth yet.
• Along those same lines, Cooper has finally learned how to use a sippy cup. Up until now to drink anything but formula, Coop refused to use anything but a real cup. He was pretty good at it, but it had to be held for him. Now he gets excited to use his sippy cup and has started "asking" for drinks when I'm feeding him.
• Cooper continues to be fearless and adventureous, which are not necessarily a good combination. Last night he got his first "swell out of his head" goose egg. It scared me to death because he hit the back of his head, and the side as well. The goose egg was on the side. Nate reminded me that is probably the beginning of injuries with this little fearless guy. I dread the future trips to the ER, broken arms, etc.
• Cooper is getting closer to walking. Part of his fearlessness is just letting go of things when he's hanging on to walk around. He's getting brave and letting go to play with something, or to get from one thing to another that he can't quite reach. He's also starting to try to stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything. The most fun thing is walking him back and forth between two people and letting go. His record is four quick unaided steps. There have been a couple times where he's been standing looking at something and I'll let go of him, and he'll stay standing until he realizes I've let go, at which time he'll promptly plop down on his bottom. The record standing alone like that is about 10 seconds, which seemed a lot longer than it actually was.
• Cooper has also learned to clap with his hands open instead of with fists. When he does something he likes or that he thinks was a good thing, he'll stop and clap "yay" and then look to see if I'm looking, and give me a toothy grin, and then he'll clap some more. He loves to play pat-a-cake, and really gets giggling if you do it super speedy.
• Cooper has developed quite a sense of humor. He will giggle uncontrollably at the weirdest things. Recently he giggles every time I make funny faces. We play a game where I close my eyes and go expressionless. Then I'll pop my eyes open suddenly and pull a silly face. This gets him giggling every time.
• Cooper LOVES to read books. He'll even go get a book and then crawl to sit on my lap. Sometimes he'll listen to the story, most times not. What he's really interested in is turning the page. He loves to turn the page, and even seems to know what, "Ok, turn the page," means. His favorite books are Beddy Bye Goodnight and I Love You Through and Through. He also likes the Slient Cricket book by Eric Carle because when you open the last page, it makes a cricket chirping sound. He'll do it over and over.
• Cooper continues to love to sing. In the last month or so he's started singing to himself when he's really tired and having a hard time falling asleep. His singing is more like single-tone humming or moaning, but it's cute. Sometimes when he does that, I'll try to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, which he loves, and he'll get mad and then start singing to himself again. That cracks me up. The other bedtime song he loves the most is Stay Awake from Mary Poppins. He still loves singing Do as I'm Doing and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.

Cooper continues to be a great baby. Everywhere we go, people always comment on how happy and friendly he is. He smiles a lot, and hardly fusses unless something is wrong or he needs something. The one area that could be improved is his nighttime sleeping. He wakes up sometimes several times a night and wants to eat, or wants to be held. I swear letting him cry it out just makes him more clingy for the next few days. That is my downfall with him. He used to sleep through the night until teething really got bad, and then that threw a wrench in it. But with such a great kid, I can't really complain too much.

Cooper loves having his cousin, Ellie, around every day (they play together or get babysat together), and I am so happy that he's taken so well to my sister, Chelsey, who moved out here to nanny for us. He loves her, and the other day when I said, "Cooper! Want to go find Chelsey?" He said, "Cee?" I swear he was saying her name.

Which reminds me, the other day Nathan said OK to something, and Cooper said it back. He really is getting to be rather vocal. The other night he was being so loud, playing with his toys and walking/crawling around stuff. He was squealing and squawking, and saying all sorts of gibber-jabber, as usual, but REALLY loudly. Nathan and I could hardly talk over him. Nate stopped and said, "Yeah, Coop. That's your problem; you're not verbal enough." So funny.

Ok. That's enough about my adorable little boy who is the highlight of my life. I love you, Coopsta!

Nathan's First Father's Day

Walk a Little Slower Daddy

Walk a little slower, Daddy,

Said a little child so small.

I'm following in your footsteps

And I don't want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,

Sometimes they are hard to see:

So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

For you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up,

You're what I want to be;

Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,

And know that I was true,

So walk a little slower, Daddy,

For I must follow you.

Cooper was so excited to give Daddy presents on Father's Day, as you can tell from this picture. The day before I had helped Cooper make a finger painted cover to go around the pen holder for Daddy's desk. It turned out so cute. He gave that to his Dad along with the poem above

with painted prints of his feet that the daycare in Atlanta had made before we moved. Here is Coop giving Daddy presents.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

A Quick Visit

My parents helped my brother move in June, the same weekend we were in Columbia, SC visiting Nate's family, which meant they were only a little over an hour away. Even though it added 3 hours to our driving time, and we only got to see them for a few hours, I begged, and Nate gave in, so Coop got to see his Grammie, Grandpa, and Aunt Cassady for the 2nd time (along with other family members, who live in Charlotte now too, so we get to see them all the time). It was too short of a visit, but so nice to see family, which I can never seem to get enough of.

Cooper Meets Family for First Time

The weekend of June 4-6th we traveled to Columbia, SC to visit Nathan's family for his cousin's graduation from high school. Most of the extended family in Boston travelled for the occasion as well, so Cooper was able to meet his Great-Grandparents, many Great-Aunts and Great-Uncles, 2nd Cousins, Great-Great Uncle, and such. It was SO fun to see them all, even if for such a short period of time. I was so worried that Coop would have stranger anxiety, which never makes family feel good, and I was also worried he would be over-stimulated by all the people, noise, and contstant goings-on. Quite the contrary! The little guy never fails to surprise me. He took right to everyone, smiling and being himself. He behaved so well all weekend. I was so proud of him, and so happy that we had such a good time.

It was like Christmas for Cooper. The family showered him with gifts of toys and clothes. He had a lot of fun exploring all his new toys. Thank you especially to Aunt Denise, Uncle Jim, Allison (for letting us use your room!), and Lyndsey, for letting us crash at your house. It was so nice to have the comforts of home for the baby.

We had such a great time seeing everyone and just hated to leave.

Memorial Day 2010--Creating Memories

Memorial Day this year was not so fun, but it was "memorial" in that we created some memories. We spent most of the day packing since we'd be out of town the next weekend and then moving the next. At least that night we got to have some friends over for a little bar-b-q. Roberta and Jared brought some ridiculously good food along with Cooper's playmate, Tessa. Too bad we all became friends just a month or so before we moved!!! I was so sad to leave when I finally found a good friend in Smyrna.

Here's Coop checking things out from the floor of the kitchen.

Coop and Tessa playing.
Cooper "taught" Tessa how to sit up on her own while they were over. She did it for the first time while they were playing together. Yay for Tessa!

Friends & Firsts

The last two weeks have been full of fun with Cooper. One night before bed he had crawled to the office to play with the computer cords. I beat him to it and shut the doors. He was a bit upset, and I like to give him positive diversions instead of just telling him, "No." So I let him play with by headband. With no hair, I could probably dress the kid in pink and pass him off as a cute little girl! But nah, I love my little rough and tumble boy.

Last Sunday afternoon was hot and muggy, so we headed to the pool. It was Cooper's first time swimming in a pool. Our pool isn't heated, so he was pretty unsure at first in the water until his body got used to the temp. After a bit he had a good time, but just wanted to watch the other kids rather than "swim." Should've timed it better too. About 30 mins into it, it was nap time. Better luck next time, but we had a little fun anyway.

Cooper LOVES all the push/walker toys at the daycare, so last weekend off to Babies 'R Us we went to get one for Coop at home. We got home too late Saturday night for him to play with it before bed, but Daddy put it together and Sunday was like Christmas morning. Cooper loves his shopping cart and pushes it around the house, nearly running with it sometimes.

Fun with plastic bags and Dad. Need I say more?

First pizza. He was so tired one night this week as I had a late night at work. Since I was too tired to cook, we ordered pizza, and I gave Coop a slice to appease him while I tried to gulp down some dinner before putting him to bed. He could hardly keep his eyes open.

Lots of the kids at daycare in Cooper's class have been leaving/moving. Took my camera Friday to try to get some photos of his friends, but most were already gone since lots of parents came early Friday. Here is Cooper with Ms. Karen, his primary caregiver at the daycare. He really does love her, and loves her more than the other caregivers. But he is crying here because I had just arrived and put him down to snap a picture. He thought I was leaving again, poor bubba.

Here is Cooper with is "girlfriend," Valika, at daycare. There is also one other little friend in the clique, Mitchell. Mitchell is a bit Chris Farley-ish; a big clumsy oaf. Valika and Mitchell are both 10 months old, Coop is 8. The three of them have great times together and play games they make up. Their favorite game to play is what we call "chase." They crawl around and chase each other, stop and giggle and squeal, and chase some more. They also like to hide behind things and play peek-a-boo with each other.

Every morning when we get in the car, Cooper gets upset because he knows we're going to daycare. Of course, he doesn't want to go. I coax him by saying, "Coop! We're going to school to play with Ms. Karen, and Valika, and Mitchell, and Riley (a little girl just days apart from Cooper in age). He usually gets a little grin on his face at the mention of their names.

Today was our last day at church in Smyrna Ward since we'll be out of town next weekend, and then move the next. Today also happened to be the last week at church for Cooper's previous in-home babysitter, Brandalyn, and her daughter Lauren. Cooper still loves to see Brandalyn, even though it's been 2 months since he stopped going to her on a daily basis. He also loves Lauren. We tease Cooper that Lauren was his first love, and that he likes going for the older ladies. Lauren is 4, well maybe just turned 5.
Cooper is quite the social butterfly. Sunday school and Relief Society (the last 2 hours of church), we usualy sit by our friends who have a baby girl about 6 weeks younger than Cooper. Tessa is such a cutie with her big brown eyes, cute hair, and little tongue that she's always sticking out. Coop and Tessa love to sit and jibber-jabber, smile and giggle with each other. Coop also likes to grab Tessa's hair and cute hair barrettes. She's very patient with him.

Speaking of hair...Cooper is starting to finally get some and you can see a little halo in this picture. Yep--it's going to be red!
I couldn't pass up posting this shot. Cooper was ready for a nap, but the face is just too cute. Cooper is such a good baby. If he cries or fusses, it's because he needs something.

This afternoon we went to visit our friends, Mike and Megan Armstrong and their son Matthew for the last time before we move. Matthew is 2 months and 1 day older than Cooper. It's such a shame we weren't able to get together with them more since the boys have gotten a bit bigger. They had a blast playing together while us adults visited. Matthew had lots of cool toys Cooper loved checking out, and he liked pulling Matt's hair. The boys were a bit rough with each other, each of us moms freaking out a little when our child was the agressor, but boys will be boys. They were none the worse for the wear. I just love Matthew's cheesy camera grin.

We are sure going to miss our friends in Atlanta!