I Wanna Be Like Daddy

E.T. Phone Home

Coop has been figthing taking naps the whole month of August. I would hear him for an hour talking and playing and eventually falling asleep but then not waking up till after 5. So last week we made the transition and Cooper has given up his afternoon naps. This was his last nap when I was trying to wake him up and he had wrapped himself up in his blanket and all I could think of was E.T.

Coop's Figured It Out

As we continue this potty training saga our life continues to get more and more interesting. There are now adventurous stops on the side of the road to pull out the potty. It's really fun when you try to get him to use a real toilet at a store and he literally about climbs the wall (backwards) in fear trying to get away from it. It's even more interesting to carry the potty to the gym where all the mom's laugh knowingly with me.

Yesterday Coop was playing outside on the patio and I hear him yell, " Help me momma, gotta stinky momma, help me momma, help me momma, help me momma!!!" The word help as he says it is missing the 'L' so I just hear in his little twang "Hep me." I come running to meet him at the potty and he is doing a dance stomping his feet around. We get off his shorts and underwear and we have our very first success with taking the underwear off to go stinky!! We do a dance and he gets a treat all is well in our little world.

Until of course he's realized if he yells, "Hep me Momma, gotta go potty!" I come running. After the 4th or 5th time of this I realized I'm getting played here. He's doing the gotta go now dance but as soon as I arrive he's smirking at me and he is just fine and can hold it. Little stinker. What made me write about this was this morning. He's usually up a bit earlier than me and I leave him in the room for a few minutes as I get my morning started. I heard him call out for me to come give him a blanket and that didn't work so he yelled, "Hep me Momma, gotta go potty!!" So I know he has the overnight diaper on and it would be fine but I like that he doesn't want to use it when he's awake. So go get him and I just have this pit in my stomach that now he knows what to say to get me to come get him whenever he wants! I'm a goner. For 3.5 years old they really know how to work you over. If he's this good at 3.5 imagine when he's 5??

Play-Doh

Emphasis on the "Doh". Cooper directed and I obliged his little snowman creation!

What do you notice?

Olivia Visit

August was a busy month with visits! Olivia (and her mom Jamie) came down from upper Maryland by train and stayed with us for 4 days. It was actually a nice and relaxing time. Jamie got one of my headaches and was out of commission one day. Some event in town sucked up all the rental mini-vans except one that was going to cost us about $600 so we couldn't do much with everyone but we made do. We took a trip out to show Jamie where we were house hunting and she got to meet my teacher Wanda. It was really sad to see the train coming in to pick them back up. Olivia was such a dream baby and really held her own with the boys.

Emmy's Visit

Emily (and her mom Katie) came to visit in August for two days. The boys had such a good time taking her to the pool and playing. (Of course I had a blast hanging out with Katie too!)

Favorite Sayings

Coop's favorite sayings right now:
"No momma I can't, I quit." (We no longer watch NiHao Kilan anymore.)
"Super Cooper to the rescuuuuuue!"
"Turn around momma, spin me."
"No Bear, not a toy."
"You dance Momma."
"Look I'm doing the nanna dance."


Bear's favorite sayings right now:
"I'm sad."
"Dat you." i.e. thank- you.
"No."
"It's mine."

Hold On Tight

Super Cooper

Coop loves to don his cape and become "Super Cooper". What's even funnier is that now he has to have his hat and sunglasses to complete the outfit. I think he even went for a whole day with this outfit on telling everyone he saw, "Hey guys, I found a hat, cape & sunglasses!"

"You Got Me"

Notice that just the threat of being tickled brings on more hysteria than the actual tickle! I just adore listening to the pure joy and laughter Coop exudes. The other day at The Castle (aka Whole Foods) one of the employees followed us to our table and said she had heard his laughter around the store and it had made her day. I thanked her but really felt so lucky because I could hear that joy many times each and every day!

I Want You!

Come on throw a flag around him and he's Uncle Sam!!

Little Rituals

Most mornings as I listen to the monitor I hear Bear playfully calling out, “Moooommmma!”

Cooper very forcefully admonishes, “No Bear quiet, time to sleep!”

Bear responds, “Mommaa!” (A little louder!)

Cooper says, “Shhhhhhhh Bear that not a sleep.”

I go in to get them and Bear throws himself down and pulls a pillow over him with a big grin on his face and starts snoring loudly.

So I say, “Shhhh Cooper let’s be very quiet Bear is sleeping.” Snores continue. I get Coop out of the crib and we do our morning dance and say hi to GiGi (her pictures are on the wall) and then we go to Bear’s crib who is now grinning from ear to ear but his eyes are shut. I say, “Hmmmm I guess we need to leave and let Bear keep sleeping.”

Bear pops up with his arms open wide, “Momma!!!” Cooper and I yell, “There’s Bear yeahhhhh!!!” I grab him for him the morning Bear dance and then we can begin the morning!

Now after naps the boys love to eat their banana's. So it seems like the only thing to do is to have a "Nanna Dance." So the boys will both typically dance a jig for their banana's. (Not always though, sometimes they just want the banana and will scream but most of the time I get a dance out of them!)

It's Jamie

Coop picks up the phone at the Marbles Kid's Museum and says, "Hello?" He then listens for a second and then hands me the phone and says, "Hey look Momma it's Jamie!" Now every time he gets a phone he hands it to me and says that it's Jamie... so cute!

Marbles Kid's Museum

There is a local musuem here in Raleigh called Marbles Kid's Museum. They have kid versions of all things "adult" so they can learn about them. The boys learned how to grocery shop, garden, work the post office, use a phone booth, deal with horse stalls, dress up and put on theater shows, listen to sea shells, color, build and race a wooden car, and even steer a pirate ship. We had a blast and plan to go back often.