Life With a Toddler (18 months-ish) - Hudderbean

The boys keep me hopping.  Days that may otherwise be mundane, are usually far from it, thanks to their ever-growing ingenuity of how to make messes or get dirty, or both.  Hudson is no exception.

9/30/14: One potty break for mommy, 3 mischievous minutes for toddler.

...later that same day, after just having tidied up this room, I went back in to put away clean laundry, and found my little helper had been at it again.

10/3/14: Because one lovey is never enough, and apparently need neck snuggling to get the full effect. Paci is not optional.

10/29/14: Hudson's favorite phrase today: "Yay! I did it!" He's said it 3 times already today. Love that he's starting to talk. Getting so big.

If it involves a ball and a "bat" of some kind, Hudson is all in.

Hudson was so proud to show me this tinker toy creation he assembled all on his own.  The tinker toys are often strewn all over the place.  Those and all other game/puzzles in the game closet are splayed across the game room on almost a daily basis.

Climbing onto things he can jump off has become a favorite past time.

I'm often finding the house redecorated.  Candles are not meant to be merely displayed.  Apparently to Hudson they're for STACKING! (Not long after this picture was taken, after putting the candles back on the shelf one day no fewer than 5 times, I relocated them to a higher shelf in a different room.  Well, then that freed up the middle shelf on this three-tiered display table, which then must have appeared to be ladder, because I no sooner had removed said candles than he was trying to climb the "ladder."  The entire table was put in storage for future days when toddler-proofing is no longer a necessity.)

What? Washcloths in the bath aren't for sucking bath water for hydration?

Hudson's new "I'm awake, now come and get me" call is not to talk, or cry. No, my child sits and bangs his feet (or worse, his head) against the wall until I come to him.

The boy LOVES a shower

At 18 months old Hudson was finally old enough to enter the nursery class at church.  Hooray!!!  Did I say hooray?  No more chasing him around during Primary!

He was not timid at all about going to nursery.  I wasn't sure what to expect, because he hasn't been babysat or played with other children his age that much.

To this day, he still LOVES nursery.  On Sundays all I have to say is "Are you ready to go to nursery today?" and he gets excited and exclaims, "Nuh-see!!! Bubbahs (bubbles)! Pway (play)! Yes nuh-see!"  He is often disappointed that the first hour of church he doesn't get to go to nursery yet.  Sometimes there are tears involved because he wants to go to class, not to Sacrament meeting.  Such a big boy!

The winter consisted of many, many colds and illnesses for the boys and I, which meant lots of sleepless nights.  One day I fell asleep in the rocking chair, putting Hudson down for a nap.  Nate took this picture of Hudson and I snuggled together.  He loves the time before bed/nap when we snuggle for a few minutes.  He often gets this cute little smile, and shimmies down in my lap/arms, as if snuggling tighter.  I often wonder whether Hudson will be our last child the Lord blesses us with, and I try to cherish moments such as these, even the times when I'm exhausted.

He looks much cuter in these shoes than I do.

Adventures of Coop Scoop at Five Years Old

Cooper is quite the kid.  No matter what he's doing, he's doing it 100%, whether it's playing in the mud, doing chores, throwing a fit, trying to figure out how something works, or being his crazy/silly self.  He lives in the moment with his whole heart.

Occasionally Cooper and Mommy get some time alone.  This was a date with my Coop Scoop to dinner at a local burger joint (his choice), and a movie (also his activity of choice).  We often drive past the movie theater, and he asks when we're going to go on another date to the movies.  Sweet boy.  Last week (it's now June 2015), we spent time at our neighborhood pool on a Saturday morning for a few hours, just the two of us.  We both enjoy spending time together without the distractions of brother or Dad.

10/23/14: Coop came home from being gone for a bit with Nate. He comes to find me in bed reading, and says he wants to snuggle. I asked why he's so snuggly tonight, to which he looks up at me with a big smile and says, "Because I was born to snuggle you!" That boy can push my buttons and melt my heart all in one day.

One day Coop called, "Mom, come here for a second!"  I went in to the playroom, but didn't see him right off.  He was hiding in the stuffed animals bin, waiting to scare me with a "boo!"  It totally worked, and he giggled and giggled.

The week after General Conference (semi-annual world-wide broadcast conference of our church, where the church leaders sit on a stand), I went upstairs to find Cooper sitting in his chair, which he had moved on top of the tv stand.  When asked why he was up there, he said, "I'm playing General Conference!"  I couldn't even be mad that he was up there after that cuteness.

What do you do with an energetic kid on a cold, wintery day?  Make jell-o jigglers, and practice spelling!

Cooper loves the mud.  LOVES.  I cannot keep the boy out of it.  He and his friend, Elsie, played in the mud in our backyard one day for hours and hours.  I had been watching from the kitchen window, but did not realize just how muddy they were until I went out to call them in for lunch.  Elsie is a fun friend, who enjoys playing outdoors with Coop.  Good thing her mom doesn't care about her getting muddy in such cute clothes.  These two 5-year-olds sure are adventurous together.

Cooper is often trying to build a bike jump.  The jumps he builds are often quite precarious, made of random items stacked on top of one another.  He was so excited when Nate helped him make a safe jump to ride his bike off of, and asked me to take his picture.

Cooper's school pictures turned out so handsome.

Late in the fall we had a belated t-ball pizza party, where the team received their trophies.  Great season, Braves!

12/13/14: The mind of this child fascinates me. He's always trying to build/ invent something. Today: "biking coat" out of packing bubbles. "Bullet proof, everything proof! Well, except hot lava."
Then his sweetness shone through. "Mom, if I had enough of this, I could make one for our whole family. Then we'd ALL be protected!" Love him.

This was my boy after riding his bike through mud puddles, or "mud driving" as he calls it.

Never one to blend in with the crowd, Cooper assembled his reindeer hat for his preschool Christmas party according to his own interpretation of the directions, putting the "antlers" in the back. on the bottom.  He's very insistent and independent, not liking to be micromanaged with specific directions.  He's often one to look at a project, and then totally go his own way with it.  He's an "outside the box" kind of thinker.

Cooper's preschool Christmas party included a few songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."  Coop isn't much of a singer, but he did like singing "Jingle Bells."

Brothers

These two bring me so much joy.  Watching their relationship develop is so fun.  I hope they are close as they grow up, and when they're adults.  No one gets you quite like a sibling.

Hudson is most often mimicking Cooper, but sometimes the big brother wants to be like the little one.

Cooper is so good to take Hudson on lots of rides on the gator.

Hudson will sometimes sit in it in the garage, waiting for Cooper to come take him for a drive.

 This was an attempt to get a fall photo of the boys together at the park.  Ha!  They were less than cooperative.  You take what you can get with these two.

Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim visited us at church to watch Cooper in the annual children's program in November.  Denise took this picture of the boys in the foyer.

 I love it in good ol' black and white.

  The boys love to play in the dirt.  I was transplanting some daylilies in the fall, and the boys were my little helpers.

 They can often be found outside digging in the dirt together.

 And then there are moments like this, when I find Hudson inside a toy bin...

 ...or Cooper inside a Christmas storage bin.

 These two!  Gotta love the brotherly adventures.

Fall Camping at Cane Creek - Oct. 2014

Summers here are too hot, and have too many bugs to enjoy camping.  So we get to go camping in the spring and fall.  There's a place called Cane Creek that's great to camp with kids that's not far from our house.  Cooper and Nate slept the night there in a tent, while Hudson and I just went for the evening until bedtime.

The boys played so well together on the playground.  This was the first time I'd ever seen Cooper really trying to help his little brother, which seemed picture-worthy.

We played a round of mini-golf on what may be the most pathetic mini-golf course I've ever seen.  The boys had fun, though, and Coop got a hole in one TWICE!

If it involves hitting a ball, Hudson is all about it.

If it involves fire, Cooper is all about it.

I was not all about having our curious toddler near the fire, so he was sequestered to the stroller, where he was not as happy as he appears in this picture.

We tried our best to keep him smiling.

We roasted some hot dogs and smores on the awesome fire Nate built for us.

Then it was off to explore the lake.

The sunset was beautiful.

Coop wanted to go fishing.

With no fishing poles this trip, we skipped rocks instead.

It was a great night.