Cautious Coop

Cautious. Tentative. Watchful. Vigilant. These words describe our little man to a tee. As we get to know our little guy more and more each day, it has become pretty obvious that he probably wont be a stunt double when he grows up. Coop likes to survey the scene and play it safe most of the time.

Now that the weather is officially fabulous, we usually try to go the the park as often as we can. It's also a great way for Coop to be around other kids since he doesn't have many opportunities to do so.

It's been interesting to observe (notice I used the word observe and not compare) him around other kids as they're playing. When Cooper approaches a curb, he stops about 3 feet (no joke) back and crawls to the edge to carefully dismount to the ground. Just last week Cooper finally started climbing up the stairs of the jungle gym. Before that, he would crawl his way up the stairs as other kids/babies would zip right past him. And sliding.......sliding was only comfortable to Cooper a couple of months ago.

Oh, and the bouncy bridge.......we had a little set back on this one a couple of weeks ago. Cooper who was already cautious on the bridge as it was, was bounced off by 2 older boys that ran past him as he was ever so cautiously trying to make his way across. I refrained from being Mother Hen and yelling at the other boys because Cooper wasn't hurt. It just scared him and he immediately asked to go home. I tried my best to comfort him and told him that's what big boys do sometimes and luckily he snapped out of it so we didn't have to go home on a sad/scary note. I will mention that for many days after the incident if I asked him about the park he would say "scaawwy". Talk about a dig to the heart.

Without making a huge deal out of our park drama....I think we're making progress. We have been alternating between going to the busy park so that Cooper will get used to all sorts of situations and the elementary school playground right by our house. Usually the school playground is empty so Cooper can practice his "skills".

As I read this, it really does sound like I'm making a big deal out of such a little thing. I'll probably look back at this some day and laugh that I would devote an entire post to going to the park and how it could impact the rest Coop's. I guess this is what Moms do???? As I try to figure out what makes our little man tick, I often find little aspects that really emphasize Coop's growing personality. Some of these facets roll right past me and others I tend to dwell on.

I think I need to sit back and let our park outings revert back to being about having fun rather than a prediction of what our little man will grow up to be. Plus, you can see in the pictures below that Coop is making HUGE strides.

Slide racing with Big Mama.

Helping Big Mama and brother up.

The real racing begins.

Tie.

I can't help but think that our next little man is going to be the complete opposite. He'll probably be balls to the wall at everything and I'll be wishing that he was cautious. Better yet, I hope our boys balance each other out. Cooper will be the rational one that thinks things through and little brother will be the one to let things just happen. Maybe little brother will help me let things "just happen" too. Yet another example of how I just know our next little man is going to spice things up a bit. OK a lot.