Bike

Check out Coop's new ride. For some time now (before Coop could even walk), Mark has been wanting to buy a Balance Bike for Cooper. A friend of his purchased one for his son who has been riding a bike (without training wheels) since he was 2 1/2 years old. Mark thought that was soooooo cool. I told him that we might be a little premature to purchase one before Cooper was even a year old. About a month ago, I found an awesome deal on one and decided to buy one for Cooper (Mark).

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Cooper is rather cautious. So what does any rational parent of an overly guarded 2yr old do? Put him on a bike without any sense of security at all! Actually, I'm quite surprised at how well he has done so far. The concept of these bikes is to:

"Develop a child’s balance and coordination by simply allowing the child to sit and walk or run with the bike by pushing with their feet. If the bike starts to fall, kids instinctively regain their balance using their feet. Once they’ve gained some momentum and balance control they can lift their feet up as they feel comfortable and start cruising! "

Coop has definitely figured out the balance and walking part. He mostly rides in our front room (thanks to our hardwood floors) and patio but has recently ventured to the garage and basement. He hasn't made it outside to the driveway just yet but considering that he hasn't driven any of his cars on the open road, I don't see that happening any time soon. Who knows, maybe the bike will be the push he needs to feel comfortable riding on the open road again. Click here to see a video clip demo I found on YouTube. Hopefully we'll have a video of Cooper riding soon. Until then, we will remain in heavy training mode (one step at a time).

Basement

The nesting process has officially begun. My idea of "nesting" for our new arrival is to wash and sort through all of Cooper's baby clothes, blankets and various other baby gadgets that have been buried in boxes. Laundry, laundry, laundry! Fun times. I have been washing tons of stuff and getting quite sentimental sorting through all of Cooper's outfits and remembering when he was once that size. I've tried to bring Cooper into my nostalgia by showing him all the cute outfits and telling him that he wore them when he was a little baby and he could pretty much care less. Whatever Mom....a tiny little onesie that I once wore...yada, yada, yada. I get it. I was once a baby and now I'm not. Movin' on.

I think Mark is going through some "Man Nesting". Do guys actually go through this? His idea of nesting is a little more labor intensive than mine. He's decided to finish the basement. I think it's a fantastic idea so that the boys will have a place to move back to in about 25years (ha, ha). I'm not laughing at the fact that our boys might move back in with us after completing their masters degrees, med school or perhaps their first NASA space mission. I laugh at the idea of living here in 25 years. That to me seems less plausible. Regardless, it will be fabulous to have more room!

Mark has been working his butt off and Cooper and I are doing our best to stay out of his way. We have given him a little bit of "help" (I use this term very loosely) here and there just because it has been driving Cooper nuts to hear all the action right below his feet. Every once in awhile Coop has demanded to go "hammer Daddy". So as I supervise Mark's Supervisor, Mark has been teaching Coop the ropes of Basement Building 101.

Before Shot

Not quite After shot. Progress is being made.
Safety First

What's the deal Mom? Are you working or taking pictures? Why don't you make yourself useful?

Coop the Supe.

Again Mom....we could REALLY use some help here. Enough with the paparazzi.

Lady Bug Tent

Roughing it. Surviving the elements. Exploring the great outdoors. Some might refer to it as camping. Whatever you want to call it, Cooper had his first taste of it the other night. Yes, Coop and his Dad took a little camping trip………………to our screened-in porch.

One of Cooper’s favorite tv shows; Ni Hao Kai-Lan, has a campout episode with a Lady Bug Tent. Cooper loves this episode so we thought we’d bring it to life. Yes, once again I’m drawing attention to the fact that our son’s life tends to revolve around Nick Jr cartoons. I will say that it has given Coop quite the imagination. Cooper LOVES his ‘Lady Bug Tent’.

We started off the Camping Adventure with our normal bedtime routine of bath, story and then bed. The only difference was bed was in the tent. It took Coop awhile to comprehend that bed was actually going to take place IN the Lady Bug Tent. The campout began with story time then Mom tucked Coop and Dad in and said good night. Notice how Mom didn’t volunteer to participate in Coop’s 1st Campout. I decided it was a perfect Daddy-Son bonding moment. (Translation: Big Mama values her sleep waaaaaay too much these days and selfishly wasn’t willing to sacrifice a good night’s sleep).

It did take a couple of hours for Cooper to settle down and realize that people actually SLEEP in tents. Dad had the pleasure of spending these hours trying to convince Cooper that sleeping was a good thing. I must admit that I had Cooper’s room prepared for a middle of the night early return from camping and doubted that he’d actually last through the night. Much to my surprise, Cooper MADE IT. He survived the elements of our screened in porch thanks to his Lady Bug Tent. Do I think he’s ready to re-enact an episode of Survivor Man? Not just yet. But he’s well on his way.

The Campsite and Cooper's Lady Bug Tent

Kokanee was excited to campout too. Sadly, she got the boot because she wasn't helping in the going to sleep department one bit.

I can’t wait for our future family camping adventures. Who knows, maybe we’ll even explore beyond our front porch. I also think a bigger tent is in order.

Tractor Pull

Mark is home from Colorado! Coop and I thought we'd do it up right and celebrate Dad's homecoming in a big way. We went out for burgers and then hit the County Tractor Pull. The perfect Saturday night if I don't say so myself. It was Coop and my first tractor pull experience and I guarantee it won't be our last. Who knew a tractor pull could be so exciting? Watching the tractors, biiiiiig trucks, and PEOPLE made the night AMAZING (one of Cooper's new favorite words). Cooper wasn't sure about the noise at first, but he/we managed to cover his ears during the LOUD parts. Poor Cooper was stuck wearing fuzzy, winter ear muffs (he didn't look so cool) because we didn't have any professional tractor pull hearing protection but we made do with what we had. Doesn't every mom have a spare pair of winter ear muffs in her purse in the middle of July? That's what I call preparation.

We were able to walk around and check out all the tractors, trucks and trailers before the event began and even had the opportunity to buy some pork rinds. Too bad we were still full from dinner because I have never been to an event where pork rinds were the hot menu item. Cinnamon Flavor even---yum, yum. Next time maybe.

Scoop up the Coop

Smoke. This is NOT why the area is referred to as the Smoky Mountains.

It was difficult to pick a favorite tractor but Coop and I decided we liked Dusty Deere the best. His driver was the cutest little teenage boy that was smiling ear to ear and not trying to look all macho and cool. That and his tractor was "pullin' for Jesus". How could you not fall in love with a tractor that was pullin' for Jesus?

Honorable mention goes to Dixie Deere, Green Fever and Harvesting Hooker.

Dinosaurs

Coop digs dinosaurs. Not quite as much as he loves cars and trucks but they're right up there with his top favorite things. Surprisingly, he also knows the names of different types of dinosaurs. The other day he referred to one of his dinosaurs as a Stegosaurus. It was actually a Brontosaurus (had to look it up) but I'm not going to get too technical on the kid just yet. He also knows which one is a Triceratops (again, not totally accurate) and his favorite is referred to as My Dinosaur.

Does this mean we have a budding palaeontologist? I'm not sure. What I do know is that this is proof that Cooper also digs TV as I've mentioned in previous posts. I couldn't figure out where he learned the different types of dinosaurs because most of the dinosaur books we are reading right now are all about manners and sharing. We're not quite to the nerdy dinosaur level just yet. Then it donned on me. The Wonder Pets (Nick Jr. show) saved a Triceratops stuck in a rock and Team Umizoomi (also Nick Jr.) saved a Stegosaurus at the dinosaur museum. Ah, ha!! See.....TV does more than turn our kid into a complete zombie while giving me time to get some things done (aka Mommy time). It's also turning our kid into a genius!!!! Genius I tell ya.

Dinosaur Land

Dinosaur Parade

Contemplating where Dinosaurs come from.

Ridin' the Range

Cooper had his first pony riding experience the yesterday. There's a tent set up about 5 minutes from our house that offers pony riding and goat petting. We drive by it all the time and usually make an effort to wave to the horsies as we zip by. Well, the tent moved a block down the road to a better location. They moved right next door to the farmers market. HeeHaw!!! I decided we'd check out the farmers market and Coop noticed the pony tent right away. I asked him if he wanted to say hi to the ponies and he pretty much took off right towards them. Enough of just saying hello to the ponies!!!! Let's RIDE 'EM (or so I thought).

As we approached the mini coral, Cooper announced his arrival in his normal fashion...."Hi Horsies, I Cuckoo". Of course, I smiled and looked at the guys running the show hoping they didn't notice my kid announcing to the horsies that he was cuckoo. That's not exactly the way you want to approach an animal before you hop on their back for a ride. No one seemed to notice.

There were two young teenage Twin Brothers running the show. Let's refer to them as Hee and Haw. They were so sweet and I had to refrain from calling them cowboys like the cowboys in some of Coop's books. They were obliged to take my money and then helped Cooper into the coral to meet the ponies. They introduced Cooper to his little black beauty named, Cody. I tried to play it cool like I knew what I was doing and that it was no big whoop to hop on a horse. Cooper wanted me to hop on first and I told him Big Mama was waaaaay too big and might hurt poor Cody's back (an understatement). I even caught a glimpse of Hee and Haw's expression as they worried that maybe I truly was going to hop on poor innocent Cody. No worries boys, Big Mama doesn't want to break your horse.

To cut to the chase, Cooper was all about looking at the horsies, petting the horsies and talking to the horsies, but our lilhillbilly wanted nothing to do with riding them. So I thought we'd just hang back and watch the them walk in a circle for awhile. What does a Mom who knows nothing about horsies do when she wants to act cool in front of two teenage cowboys? Draw attention to the horsies going poop of course. Ohhhhhh was that a mistake. Cooper became obsessed with the horsies going poop. Look Mommy, Horsie go poop! And the best part?????? Hee would holler to Haw, to tell him anytime there was a clean up on Horsie #6. Haw would scatter over with his shovel and scoop the poop. Fun times!

I decided we'd taken enough of Hee and Haw's time and thanked them for the "ride". Sweet little Haw (or maybe it was Hee) immediately gave me my money back. I told him to keep it, but he wouldn't have it. He told me we had to get this kid hooked first....so sweet. I decided that we'd at least buy some goat food and feed and pet his goats for awhile.

As we (I) fed the goats, Hee and Haw's Dad pulled up on a covered wagon pulled by 2 Biiiiig Horsies. He couldn't have been nicer and asked how the pony ride was. I told him it didn't happen and he backed off a bit. We then hung out for awhile, talked about how sweet Hee and Haw were to Cooper and let Coop run around a bit. Just to express how genuine and "cowboy-like" (totally stereotyping I'll admit) here's an actual quote from Hee and Haw's Dad after watching Cooper run around:

"Sweetheart, I'm going to have to learn you to lasso so that you can keep up with that 'lil feller".

Well, that pretty much sold me on the guy. I had to become his friend. We talked a little while longer because that's what any mother does when she's starving for adult conversation. Before I knew it, he asked me if Cooper was comfortable with strangers and asked if he could give it a go at getting Cooper to ride Cody. I said sure. Giddy Up.

Without dragging this story out any longer, Hee and Haw's Dad had no problem getting Coop to ride. Of course, I had to take some pictures. In these shots it really doesn't look like Coop is enjoying it at all, but I assure you he did.

Thank-you to our new friends for introducing us to pony riding. I'm sure we'll be back.

When I tucked Cooper into bed last night, I asked him if he had fun riding the pony. He said "I ride Cody and Cody pooped.........pick up poop". Yes son, Cody pooped and I'm glad you had fun riding him. Something tells me we're going to have to buy Cooper a bigger shovel to play with.

Trucks, Falling and Jumping

Coop and I thought we'd post a video for Dad (and maybe the grand parents too). Enter at your own risk.....there's nearly 5 whole minutes of truck reading, falling down and jumping on the bed. Everything a proud Daddy would want to see while he's missing his little boy.

HI Daddy!