Ready, Set, Skip!

One of the books that Dolly sent Coop is called Ready, Set, Skip! (by Jane O'Oconnor). It really has helped Coop embrace the joy of SKIPPING. It's a work in progress and he manages to get better and better everyday. Here's a video of Coop demonstrating his skipping in its early stage. We'll continue to give updates on his mad skipping skills as they improve. Skipping is fun!!!!!!!! Skip on Coop, skip on......................

Coop's mission~To spread the joy of skipping across the world. He dares you to skip a little bit after you read this to post to brighten your day. I think he's onto something here. Everyone should have a little skip in their get-along.

Time for Swinging

Someone decided that they needed to swing as soon as they woke up this morning. It very quickly became a swinging emergency. Is there ever a bad time for swinging? According to Cooper, the answer would be NO WAY MAN, IT'S ALWAYS TIME FOR SWINGING. Swee, Swee, Swee, Swee, Swee. Everyone Swee. So, at 7am (and 40 degree temps) I bundled him up and made it happen.........

How Swee-t it is!

Wouldn't the world be a much better place if all we needed was a good Swee to make us happy?

New Do

Since I started this blog, I've made several references to the state of poor little Coop's hair. Well, we couldn't hold out any longer. Coop's mop needed SERIOUS attention. The do-it-yourself-snippity-snip-when-you-could-sneak-a-snip haircuts just weren't cuttin' it (ha, ha) any longer. I even debated purchasing a FlowBee after talking to my sister in law. She uses it on Cooper's cousin Pete and his hair is darling. I just couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on the actual investment and finding a second hand deal on an As Seen on TV gadget is nearly impossible. I finally gave up on the Flowbee search but managed to keep on stalling on the task at hand; Cooper's poor hair. Here are some images I found that will help describe just how bad it was getting.......

Exhibit 1-The Billy Ray

We skirted around this by occasionally trimming the back when Coop would allow it. We couldn't keep the business on the side though. It was just too dangerous to try and trim the sides. So it was turning into a reverse mullet: business in the back and party on the sides.

Exhibit #2-The Donald

This one has been a tough one to avoid. Coop still has baby fine hair and it appears to be straight like his Mom's. As his hair grows on top, the temple region still hasn't quit filled in. Therefore, the girth on the top and center started to infiltrate the rest of his head giving him a serious comb over look. On a windy day, whoooooo watch out. It was bad news.

Exhibit #3-The Dumb and Dumber

This was another one that was getting almost impossible to avoid. Most of the attempts to fix Coop's hair were to avoid Exhibit #1 (#2 was pretty much getting unavoidable) but we were also getting into safety issues. Coop's poor bangs were becoming a hazard and unless we wanted to start investing in cute little hair clips, we had to start trimming the bangs. That left everything else pretty much all one length. The good old bowl cut was starting to form.

Exhibit #4-Really?

It was brought to my attention by my brother that my Dad actually compared sweet little Coop's hairdo to this guy's!!! If you haven't seen the movie No Country for Old Men, then I'll just tell you that this guy is a very, VERY mean man.

Apparently the conversation broke down a little something like this:

Dad - Have you seen Cooper's hair these days?

Ryan - Kind of I guess...just pictures though. Why, what's up?

Dad - They need to give that poor kid a haircut. He's kind of starting to look like a serial killer.

Of course, once Ryan spilled the beans, I immediately called my Dad and asked him if it was true. I love giving my Dad a hard time. I consider it pay back for all the years of putting up with his corniness. When asked, my dad said he didn't exactly say 'serial killer'....'I just said he kind of looks like that guy from NCFOM'. 'He did win the academy award didn't he?' 'That was a really good movie'....'Wasn't it a Coen brothers flick?' Nice try Dad. Way to back peddle.

That' s when I figured it was definitely time. So we took him to a "professional". He did great. We were anticipating tears, screaming and possibly having to quit mid cut. But none of that happened. He strutted right in with us, had a seat on my lap and let the nice lady make him look spiffy. She wasn't exactly Mrs. Personality but she seemed to know what she was doing and she got the job done. Yippee for a successful 1st REAL haircut.

Before Shot. Most resembling Exhibit #2-The Donald

After Shot. Looking spiffy.

This one's for you Grandpa Pat.
After Shot #2. Cat Walk
Work it. Work it.

Coop, you are just so darn cute and perfect no matter how your hair looks! Jeez, what's with all the drama about my hair? Can we just move on already?

Point taken. Moving on................

Pot Roast Anyone?....Anyone?

Ahhhhhh. Imagine the smell of savory pot roast slowly cooking in the oven while the family enjoys the beautiful fall day. Even better, an easy no watch recipe! Perhaps I shouldn't have taken the no watch part so literally? Poor, poor Cooper. There's nothing better than Mom's cooking. Right? Thank God Dad can cook and Mom can improvise and come up with last minute meals in a hurry. Your Dad obviously didn't marry me for my cooking. It must have been my sweet disposition. So much for having yummy leftovers...................

All about Dad...Mom who?

Mama is home! I’m happy to report that Coop survived a week without his Mommy. Actually, that should be reversed. Mom survived a week without her Coopy. I knew Coop would be just fine and enjoy his one on one time with his Dad, but I was worried how I would do. Luckily I was able to talk to Mark and Coop every day and get an update on their daily adventures. As much as I enjoyed spending a week working in paradise with great friends, it’s good to be home working my real job.

I went to San Juan Puerto Rico to help escort a group of 190 people. Translation: took care of 190 adults on a daily basis instead of 1 toddler. It was fun to laugh and giggle with my good friends and co-workers but I missed laughing and giggling with Cooper too. I think my friends were getting tired of hearing stories about Cooper. I've become that Mom that relates everything to her kid. 'Bacon, oh how I love bacon...that reminds me of a story about the first time Cooper tried bacon'. Or 'pen, you need me to pass you a pen? Did I mention how much Cooper loves pens'..'Those iguanas are sooo cool...Cooper would love them'. Sorry Brent and Jan. Thanks for listening to my Cooper ramblings :).

Puerto Rico is beautiful and we stayed at a fabulous resort. Over the years as I’ve traveled to far away places without Mark, I always imagine how wonderful it would be to share the experience together. Now I have another guy that I think about when I’m traveling.

I arrived home late in the evening and refrained from waking Coop up to smother him with kisses. The next morning I woke up to the sound of Coop calling for ‘Dad-EEE, Dad-EEE, Dad-EEE’ through the baby monitor. It’s funny how he knew that Dad was the one home to rescue him from his crib every morning. Then last night when I went to take Coop to his room for story and bedtime, he wanted Dad-EEE to do it, NOT Mom (and he was very adamant about it). It was bitter sweet but all in a good way. I won’t lie, it did pull at my heart strings a little bit, but it’s good to know that Coop loves his Dad-EEE and I don’t have to worry about leaving him again in January. Lesson learned~apparently Cooper needs a vacation away from Mom every once in awhile.

Miss You Already

Coop, your Mom is off to Puerto Rico tomorrow. I'm leaving you for 6 whole days! Yikes. This isn't the first time I've flown the Coop (sorry for the horrible pun) but this time is going to be much harder than the last. Don't get me wrong, I know you are going to be in excellent hands but I'm going to miss you thiiiiissss muuuuuucccchhh (stretching my arms out as far as I can) and then some. Have fun with Daddy and take good care of him. You two are going to have a blast hanging out together doing whatever it is you boys do when there aren't any girls around to cramp your style. I just know your Dad has tons of adventures planned for you this week.

I'll miss you little buddy and ditto to your Dad.

Love you more than ice cream,

Mom

Happy Halloween

Today was Halloweenerrific day. Although it rained most of the day, we had fun pumpkin carving while watching football and capped the day off with a Halloween Party. Most of the kids were teenagers and a couple of 6-8 years olds but despite the age difference, everyone was soooo nice to Cooper and he had fun mingling and hanging out. Cooper is normally shy and bashful with strangers but we walked in and it only took about 30 seconds before he was ready to partaaay. It was fun to watch him in action. I guess all it takes for Cooper to feel comfortable in a room full of strangers is to make certain everyone is dressed up as witches, monsters and goblins and for the room to be decorated with black lights, cobwebs, skeletons and spiders. He was particularly fond of two darling twin 8yr old girls dressed as witches. They were so sweet and wanted to stay right by his side. What guy wouldn't love to hang out with hot twin girls ?!! A very successful party as far as Coop was concerned.

Farmer Coop and his 'mum-kin'

Riding with his Farm-themed stuffed animals

There were tons of treats to be had and all Coop wanted were the "bobbing" apples

He's giving the 'don't even think about taking my apples' look

We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!!!!