Coopers Last Day At Daycare

Cheryl and Cooper

Hanna and Cooper

About three weeks after Sullivan was born, Cooper had his last day at daycare (Yes, that was almost two weeks ago...sue me, we hadn't gotten this blog up yet). Feels like it was yesterday.

For me, it was slightly emotional. Not boo-hoo emotional, but more like "it's graduation time" emotional. A feeling that something is going to end. Something that has been a part of our lives for some time (in this case, about a year). Cooper developed friendships with all the boys that Cheryl watched, and especially with the other toddler, Hanna. She would cry every day he came to daycare, upset that there was another baby there to take away her attention. It wasn't until the last month that I took Coop to daycare that she stopped crying, and instead would come over to Coop to say "hi", and then to me to say "hi". I believe it was Hanna that taught Cooper how to climb stairs, and it was Cooper that taught her how to walk.

With Cheryl, we got a daycare provider that was a perfect fit for Cooper. When we first met her, we immediately could tell she was a disciplinarian, but in the right way. We walked out of our first meeting with her so long ago saying she was the right person. She did right by us and Cooper 99% of the time (there was a graham cracker incident that caused Abbie to be livid). She gave me a great outside opinion on how to handle Cooper and many of the trials and tribulations we faced and were going to face with Cooper (and now Sully). And of course, she introduced us to Freedom Rocks. I spent a lot of extra time talking with her about FR when I would drop Cooper off.

We're happy to have Cooper and Sully at home with Abbie, but it was nice to have Cheryl there.

It's Early, and I'm Feeling Like Ranting

Yeah, its about 6:30 AM right now. Not early, per se, but not late. Probably early to some of you readers out there. Only early to me b/c I've not been getting to sleep as early as I used to...so I'm a bit tired. On top of that, Sully tends to fuss from 3AM to 5AM straight (and I'm not the one that's awake with him that entire time, Abbie is...which explains why she sleeps in once I get up to get Cooper).

So, I get Cooper each morning and take him downstairs to get him breakfast and to keep him from just simply screaming in his crib.

Unfortunately, the only thing that really keeps him from continuing his screaming and fussing is TV.

First off, save the "TV is bad for your toddler" emails. I don't wanna hear it. Second off, we'll deal with his addiction to the boob tube when he gets a bit older and can understand WHY we turn it off or don't let him watch it at all. But, I digress...this isn't a post about the merits or demerits of TV with your toddler.

Well, while he watches these shows, I sit here with him and end up watching them too (Abbie will regale you with stories of me stopping what I'm doing and just watching one of Coop's kid shows, drool coming down my chin, me oblivious to anything around me). Never did I think I would be able to tell you who Thomas the Tank Engine is, what a Boobah is, what color shoes Baby Bok wears, how Barney actually thinks he's purple b/c he's just one of several shades of purple, what the names of the Teletubbies are or what a Doodlebop is. But I can.

Sometimes as I watch these shows, I start to wonder why the creators of the show did it the way they did. Let's take this Disney Channel staple, Little Einsteins. It's a closet politically incorrect show that tries to be politically correct. It's a show created by the Baby Einstein folks (after they sold out to Disney, of course) with a cast of four kids that are trying to find a solution to a problem and along the way, they have clues that are mixed with classical music and classic art pieces. I like classical music, so I like the show (they have a really catchy opening tune).

Well, let's look at the cast. There's four kids. Two boys, two girls. One boy is white, one is black. One girl is white, one is Asian-American (her English has no hint of an accent). Politically correct? Check! Who's in charge? The black boy? No. One of the girls? No. It's the little white boy. See the subliminal message? I can only imagine the creators sitting around the negotiating table and saying, "But, we included the Asian chick." Heaven forbid if this group of kids gets into a real trouble spot...I feel bad for the black boy. It harkens back to the cinematic classic method of sacrificing the black guy first. Even cartoons can't get a break. Thank God he's not wearing a red shirt (Trekkies rejoice at my reference), then his ass would be toast without a doubt.

That's my rant for the day. Just interesting observations of one the children's shows out there.

HAAAARRRRF!

Ah, the joys of fatherhood.

With Abbie taking care of Sullivan in the evening (she is, after all, nothing but a milk jug to the boy every hour or so), I get the fun of giving Cooper a bath. I'm not sure that Cooper has yet fully discovered the fun of a bath, particularly with the splashing part of it. He did, however, discover the joy of one of his little bath toys that can suck up water and "spit" at dad. My shirt was soaked from it. But hey, that's part of being a dad. It was in my job description.

Let's talk about what wasn't in my job description when Cooper came along.

Let's give some background. Recently, we've seen a tremendous increase in Cooper's appetite. He has a tendency to scream at us alot, and when we found out that he was merely just hungry, we started to give him smaller, more frequent meals. And he's been quite a bit more pleasant since then.

Tonight, he ate a lot in his two evening meals plus a small snack.

Tonight, he threw it all up..........right on my chest and stomach.

After his bath, I went through our regular routine of moisturizing his skin, putting gloves on his hands so he won't scratch his legs while I'm getting him dressed, putting on his pajamas, etc. We turned off the light and sat down on the glider, and proceeded to slowly rock. Cooper was pleasant and ready to sleep. He moved his head from my left shoulder to my right, and just looked like he was going to sleep.

BURP!

He burped and coughed up a little bit of phlegm on my shoulder. I'm like, "Don't worry, Coop, it's just a little bit."

He sits up and looks at the loogie on my shirt...

...looks at me...

...and proceeds to spew this thick stream of vomit onto my chest.

I'm so in shock that I don't know what to do when the second wave of vomit flows out of his mouth and onto my stomach. So now I get my wits about me. Keep the crap on me and my shirt and don't let it spill onto the chair or floor (eases clean up that way). This prompted me to lift my shirt to try and form a "bib" for Cooper to catch his third spray of upchuck. I see the look on Cooper's face as he looks into my eyes with his "what's happening to me" puppy dog eyes. That's when I realize its going to be bad.

"ABBIEEEEE!!!"

Fourth spew of vomit gets caught in Coop's mouth so I have to slap him on the back to get him to spit it out onto my shirt.

"ABBIEEEEE!!!"

Fifth spray of vomit hits me.

Abbie comes storming into the room. She came through the door like a SWAT team busting in to save the victim.

She looks at me with a look like, "THIS is what you were bellowing for me like someone's life was in danger?"

Sixth spew hits my stomach. Slap him on the back to get a couple of chunks out.

I thought Abbie was going to walk out and go back downstairs. Thankfully, she stayed to help me out. Got Cooper new PJs and took him off me. Helped clean up what little vomit got onto him while I went to change my clothes.

He was a limp noodle after that and just wanted to go to bed. Poor boy.

All Pooped Out

It started off a normal day. (6/8/06) As normal as any can be these days. I went to change Sullivan’s diaper on my lap and while I was getting his new diaper ready he was making his little chipmunk noises and just as I noticed his legs go stiff I made a mad dash to get the diaper under him but I was too late. He pooed on me! It really wasn’t so bad, I was able to clean it up with a few wipes. I got him down in the living room bassinet and was going to change when I smelled a poo of Coopers. I tossed him up on the couch and went to make quick work of his diaper. Oh my goodness- when I say it was a big poo- let me clarify that this was the monster of all poos! It was seeping out of his diaper onto his onesie and all over his legs. I was able to get the diaper off but I was having a hard time keeping Cooper from scratching and getting his hands into the poo.

After a whole lot of effort and about 20 wipes I was still fighting my gag reflex with poo all over the couch and his outfit. I had him mostly cleaned up but I needed to get his onesie off. I stretched it out the best I could to get it over his head but it didn’t work, there was now poo all over his hair! I admit it I lost it. I started squealing and jumping up and down! Unfortunately this freaked Cooper out and he reached out to me. It was instinct, I felt bad for freaking him out, and automatically picked him up. If you get the drift of this post then yes you know that now I HAD POO ALL IN MY HAIR! So what is a girl to do? I called Jim and left him a voice mail squealing that there was poo everywhere! I took Cooper upstairs threw on the shower and we both jumped in. He thought it was fun at least. Jim showed up in time to get a good laugh and to help me clean up!

Sullivan is only 3 weeks old but we’ve already gone through 250 diapers. I had stocked up with three super packs and we’ve already had to go out and get more! Almost all of those diapers were poo diapers! We’ve now set up diaper changing bins all over the house so we can change diapers everywhere! All I have to say is I am all pooed out!!

~Abbie

Happy Father's Day

A little boy needs Daddy

For many, many things:

Like holding him high off the ground

Where the sunlight sings!
Like being the deep music

That tells him all is right

When he awakens frantic with

The terrors of the night.
Like being the great mountain

That rises in his heart

And shows him how he might get home

When all else falls apart.
Like giving him the love

That is his sea and air,

So diving deep or soaring high

He'll always find him there.

Katie and Dawn For a Visit

Dawn and Katie came by to visit Sullivan and Cooper bearing gifts. As you can see Cooper enjoyed the gift part! Thanks Katie and Dawn!

Grandpa Gene

Our Little Boxer

Sully likes to make all these odd chipmunk like noises when he's sleeping. He even makes them when he's awake but he adds all these arm motions like he's a little boxing champ!

Adjusting To The New Baby

GiGi, Sullivan, Cooper and Popi. Cooper was able to tolerate Sullivan as long as his GiGi was there. Luckily GiGi stayed with us for a few days to help with the adjustment. When Coop first met Sully he smiled and then all of a sudden it was like an awareness came over him that life was no longer going to be the same and he started to cry! For about a week he refused to deal with me. He used to feed me and now he would take the food out of my mouth! Poor guy.

Abbie