The Best Dad

Chris truly is a wonderful dad. I always knew he would be. He got two paper rolls and he and Cooper sword fought. It's really cute. Cooper swings the roll and hits Daddy's sword. I love my boys.

We're all been sick the past two days and decided it was best we all stayed home today. We found out Cooper has an earache. Despite trying to keep a hat on him and him all bundled up, we couldn't prevent it. He's got a runny nose and a cough. You can tell by his sad little face, and the random crying, that he doesn't feel well. He has just wanted to be held and hasn't been sleeping well.

Gadget Guy

We have a feeling Cooper is going to be a gadget guy. He loves playing with my phone. He's been known to call and text people. He also loves the iPad. There is this game called Baby Finger that he really likes. Wherever he touches the screen a shape pops up and makes a noise. He knows if he touches it again it makes a noise and disappears. He's really good at it. He also likes one that makes animal sounds.

Let It Snow!

We've had a lot of snow this winter. I'm excited because it's going to kill all the bugs we had last year due to the lame winter the season before. I'll be honest though, I have spring fever! I can't wait to garden and plant flowers. I'm looking forward to playing in the yard with Cooper. I'm very excited! Cooper loves watching dad shovel while sitting in the window seat. Dad throws snowballs at him and waves at him and Cooper giggles. 

Our Little Walker

Cooper took his first steps last week. Yesterday he took 4. Today he began to do it more often. For some reason he doesn't like to do it at home, but he was doing it like crazy at my work today. It's bittersweet. So happy for him, but he's growing TOO FAST!

Reading

Cooper has always been fascinated with words on pages. He also loves being read to. He has this Halloween flap book that is his favorite. He is able to open every flap on his own and he already turns the pages of books, something many kids don't do until about 18 months. I sure hope he enjoys reading as he gets older because it's something I've never enjoyed much. I have always struggled with reading comprehension and I only like realistic fiction (for the most part). I hope Cooper finds a love for all books. I hope with my background as a teacher I will better be able to help him do well with reading comprehension. He also likes to take all of the books out of his book holder. He does it daily. Usually multiple times a day.

My mom made me a Hallmark Recordable book for my birthday when she lived in Tennessee. Now, it's Cooper's favorite. He's kind of taken it over. He loves to open it and hear Nana's voice. He gets frustrated if he can't open the book. He ends up opening it over and over again.

Some fun updates:

• Cooper started standing up from sitting, without grabbing onto anything, yesterday.
• He has started opening doors and drawers on his own. He gets upset when I close them.
• He makes all kinds of noises.
• He's started squinting when you squint at him.
• He's struggling with eating our food so we've gone back to stage 3 baby food at the direction of an occupational therapist and developmentalist.
• He loves chicken noodle soup, peas, and goldfish crackers. Whenever we eat, he wants some.
• Still not taking a sippy cup very well. We're still working on it!

Bath Time!

This kid LOVES being in the water. When he hears the water in the tub come on, he crawls as fast as he can to the tub and stands by it watching the water fill up. He gets so excited! He's even taken his own diaper off once. He didn't want to get out of the tub the other night. He ended up staying in for 45 minutes! Needless to say, he had cute little pruned feet.

Pruned feet!

He loves to chew on q-tips so we let him while we try to get him dressed in an attempt to keep him still.

Mommy taught him how to put bubbles on his face. My brother and I used to do this with the bubbles from dish water. He thought it was funny.

Loving his bath time!

It's a New Year!

The past year has been the best of our lives. I am super excited for a new year. There is something rejuvenating about it. I'm excited to watch Cooper grow and for all the fun things we will do together this year. We're hoping Chris will get to go full time and I'll get to be a stay-at-home mom. There is a chance we could get pregnant with our next child, but we aren't thinking about that until the end of the year. There are so many fun things to look forward to and enjoy this year. It's going to be hard to top this past year. Here's to 2013!