Call off the search

In case you were on the edge of your seats as to how we resolved our little Race Car conundrum, I thought I'd give you some closure so that you could move on with your lives. I was going to type up a little something before I went to bed last night but I was too tired. Well, it's a good thing I waited, because everything changed this morning.

On Wednesday, Cooper immediately realized his beloved Race Car wasn't in is crib. I could hear through the monitor, Oh No Race Car Go???? I retrieved him from his crib and explained that I don't know where Race Car is but we will buy him a new one after we went to the doctor. He seemed okay with that. I let him pick the one he wanted and he chose Lightning McQueen. Good choice Coop, that will be an easy one to replace in the event that we (Mom) loses it.

Actually, it was pretty anti-climactic. Cooper accepted his new Race Car with open arms and had moved on. He referred to his new Race Car as "nother one Race Car". Problem solved.

Fast Forward to first thing this morning....I had my back to Cooper as I was pouring him something to drink and he said "look Mommy, found Race Car". I thought ya, ya...I know you have a new Race Car that you have played with non stop for the past 3 days. But no, he meant he found Marlboro Man Race Car. It's a Christmas Miracle!!!! (Yes, I know it's June).

So now Ladies and Gents, we have a Showdown; Old vs. New, Hotwheels vs. Disney, Lightning McQueen vs. Marlboro Man, 1978 vs. 2010. Who will prevail? Only time with tell. Maybe they'll be the new Dynamic Duo on the Case De Cooper Super Speedway. Perhaps they'll "draft" off of one another. (Draft is a term I had to look up on Nascar's online Glossary of terms---yes, I take the documentation of my child's daily events VERY seriously).

Welcome home Marlboro Man!!!!!!!!!!

My sincerest apologies go out to Andrew (Weds. Night's employee at Subway). I'm so sorry I doubted your integrity. I truly thought you blew me off and didn't take our Hotwheel Emergency seriously. Being the crazy obsessed Mother that I am, I may have stopped by Subway on our way home from the Grocery story last night to see if they truly were on the hunt. The girl on shift knew exactly what I was talking about. She informed me that Sweet Andrew posted a note in the back with our phone number. She said the Red and White Hotwheel Car right????? I think Andrew must have warned them all that Mrs. Crazy Pants (myself) might be coming.

Lesson learned: Perhaps I was a little more heart broken about losing Marlboro Man than Cooper was.

30 weeks

Yesterday Coop and I ventured to Knoxville for my 30 week doc appointment. It was pretty routine but MAN the waterworks started flowing. I'm now visiting every 2 weeks and since Mark is out of town, Cooper had the pleasure of joining me. Lucky kid.

Cooper was quietly sitting in a nearby chair reading a book while the doctor was measuring my belly. This was a feat in itself because he's rarely sitting still when I visit the doctor’s office. When the doctor placed the heart monitor on my belly and we heard the little guy's heart go a thumpin' Cooper lit up with excitement. The Doc was so sweet and asked if he wanted to hear his brother's heart beat. Cooper leaped out of his chair and ran over to assist her. She picked him up and helped him place the monitor on my belly. She told him he could do it by himself. Oh Man, did he think that was cool. When he heard the heartbeat again, she asked if he could hear his brother and he answered TRAIN!!!!

Do I think Cooper had a clue that he was listening to his brother? Probably not. But he did realize something was going on. Well, I pretty much lost it. Not because my son thought I had a locomotive in my belly (yes, I'm that big) but because of his excitement. For me, I saw a connection and the realization that soon Cooper's world will be changed forever.

Are we going to let Cooper name his brother Thomas, Gordon, James or Percy (Thomas the Train reference in case you are confused). Most likely NO. I do hope that Coop loves his brother as much as he loves his trains.

Cooper, I promise your days of having to stand in a bathroom stall with your Mother while she pees in a cup are coming to a close. Man, he's a trooper. Talk about confusing your kid while you're trying to potty train. No Cooper, we don't need a cup when we go potty....Mommy is just giving a little something special to her doctor.

Karma?

Is it Karma? Did I jinx myself? Cooper's beloved Race Car is MIA. Yes, the very Race Car I just dedicated an entire post to. I feel HORRIBLE. Cooper went to grab his collection of things he likes to sleep with tonight and was searching and searching for his Race Car. This is the first night he has not slept with it since April 18th (his birthday). Luckily I was able to distract him with something else but I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to divert him.

I just tore the house apart trying to find it and no such luck. Then I remembered that we went to Subway after Coop’s haircut. Rookie Mom mistake #6,571: I let him bring the car into a public place (and out of the house for that matter). He was racing it around the chip shelf while I let him chose which bag of chips he wanted. I’m pretty sure he left it there.

I just called Subway and played the frantic Mom whose kid left his Hotwheel behind and had them look for it for me. The kid that I spoke with (9pm night shift) didn’t offer to look. I had to ask him to. Couldn’t he tell this was a HOTWHEEL EMERGENCY?!? The Hotwheel in question is probably old enough to be his Father!!!! I made the kid take down my number and call me if it happens to turn up. I imagined him holding the receiver on the counter while he pretended to look and then pretended to write down my number. Can you tell I’m a little pessimistic about it actually showing up? I hope Coop’s dear friend made its way into someone else’s loving care and that they appreciate Mr. Race Car as much as Coop does (did).

Now I must prepare myself for what I’m going to say when he asks for it tomorrow.
Option 1- Tell him Race Car is off at Talladega Raceway finally pursuing his dream of becoming a contender and making left hand turns forever.
Option 2-Search on eBay for a Marlboro Hotwheel from 1978. That should be a breeze to find (HA!). Piece of cake.
Option 3-Explain to him that we lost Mr. Race Car (don’t tell him where or we’ll never be able to walk into a Subway without searching for it) and take him to buy a replacement. Never mind that he has a plethora of cars already.

Answer: I’m pretty sure we’ll be going with Option 3. We’ll just have to see if he can find a suitable replacement.

Farewell Mr. Race Car…..We will miss you and you’ll forever be in our hearts.

And remember kids, just say no to smoking.

Hair

I'm not sure if there's a limit to how much one can blog/post about their kid's hair, but I'm going to say that there is not. I just had to capture Coop's salon adventure today because it just melted my heart how cute and well behaved he was. Coop's hair was getting rather helmety so I figured it was time to get a cut. Coop's do is still coming into it's own and not sure how it wants to grow. In the meantime we're just trying to work with what his Mama (and Daddy) gave him.

I asked him this morning if he wanted to get his haircut and he answered YAAAAAAA! Either the kid was channeling his inner Steel Magnolia moment or he has no clue what getting a haircut really means. Either way, he was excited. We waited for a few minutes and read hair magazines to keep us busy. Coop requested a Jeep magazine remembering we read one last weekend while we waited for an oil change. Funny that the salon didn't have any Jeep magazines....we had to settle on Haircut Glamour Magazines and looked for Jeeps amongst the pages.

He sat in the chair all by himself and wore a special BLUE cape that he thought was sooooo cool. He held his head still and did exactly what the stylist told him. Can you tell I'm a proud mama? The most precious part was any time a clump of hair fell within his reach, he would pick it up very delicately and hand it to the stylist like he was giving her a single rose. She was so cute and would thank him each time like it was the best gift anyone had ever given her.

Here are some before and after pics.

This morning's before shot.....................

And after...........................................

Race Car

Ladies and Gents, I'd like to introduce you to some of Coop's cars. These are just of few of many in his collection. Some of the cars pictured below are part of Mark's childhood collection that were given to Coop for his birthday. At first glance, one might refer to ALL of these as race cars. But that is not the case at all. There is only ONE true Race Car (staged at the front of the pack). The others are just cars to Cooper. He sleeps with his Race Car and if there is ever a need for speed on his race track, not just any old car will do. He must have his RACE CAR to race with.

I checked out the date printed on the undercarriage (do you like how I threw in a little car lingo?) of the vehicle. It was made in 1978. We are in SERIOUS trouble if we ever lose this beloved Race Car. As you can see by it's sponsor, I think it would be quite difficult to replace. Not exactly what you'd call a PC sponsor for a children's toy.

Holiday Weekend

What a fabulous Memorial Day Weekend. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have the family together for a holiday weekend. This has been kind of a rare occurrence as of late. The weather wasn't perfect with on and off thunderstorms and rain throughout the weekend. We made the most of it and hid out on the covered patio and garage (of course) when the rain tried to dampen our fun. Ahhhhhh, there's nothing better than sitting on the patio while listening to great music and bbq'ing. Thanks Boys for a wonderful weekend. Here are some highlights:

Train Ridin'

Home improvin'

Frolicking

Dog Lovin'

Airplane Flying

Train Conducting

Swimming

And beer drinking

Garage

In continuation of the topic of Cautious Coop, I figured I should probably introduce you to our Garage (aka. Coop’s safety zone). We spend quite a bit of time here. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Coop is a little leery of our front yard due to an incident I mentioned back in Feb. At the time Coop seemed unscathed, but it has become quite clear that he no longer feels the need for speed (or falling out of his vehicle) thanks to Mom. He wasn’t physically harmed by the incident, but I obviously created some reservations when it comes to driving on the open road. I kind of hope this apprehension sticks with him well into his teens and early twenties. Perhaps I’m onto to something here. Make certain your child is terrified of driving and you’ll save tons on auto insurance with teen drivers.

Once again, we’re taking baby steps here. No pressure. If Coop wants to drive “Cuckoo’s Car” in the garage and ONLY the garage, then so be it. We haven’t been pushing the issue and are learning to embrace the beauty of our cool/bug free cinder block haven. The front yard is strictly used for ball throwing, dirt digging and skipping.

Our Haven

Transporting some passengers.

Working at the Car Wash

Cruisin' with Dad

Wait a minute......maybe this isn't so bad after all.