I'm raising him right!

I've always said that I don't believe in the typical gender roles in the household between husband and wife and this goes for Cooper, too.  He's such a little homemaker and this makes me smile.  He loves to "cook" me food out of play kitchen and will even feed me with his little spoon.  He loves baby dolls (when we do playgroups at a little girl's house) and he rocks them and tries to give them a bottle.  He's going to be a wonderful husband and father one day and some girl is going to owe me big!  ;)

His new favorite thing to do is wash the dishes!  All.day.long, he'll point to the sink and do his sign for "more" and when I'm feeling particularly patient, I'll get the step stool so that he can get busy...

Once upon a time...

there lived a little boy that loved goats.  It drove his mommy crazy because it took forever to get him out of the petting zoo!  

This poor goat's name is Sage and according to the young lady that was working at the petting zoo, "Sage is really, really old".  I'm sure Sage loved Cooper's obsession in some sort of animal way...He loves her!

I don't know what these other goat's names are, lol...just nameless victims of Cooper's goat love...(I was going to say "fetish" but is that inappropriate when the subject matter is a 2 year old and goats?)

I feel I need to tell all of you that the clothes that he's wearing were changed immediately...He's 2 and I still carry a change of outfit, these clothes are normally used in diaper emegencies, but that dat they were used in a goat germ emergency ;)

A big day!

Saturday was a big day for Cooper because we turned his carseat from rear-facing to forward-facing!  Coop will be 31 months on Friday so I feel comfortable with our decision to turn him around.  Everyone told me that he would love it and go crazy with enjoyment but really he's been very indifferent!  We decided to turn him because he's been getting very upset/throwing tantrums for the last week or so when my hubby and I would have talks in the car because he couldn't see us or participate and my bag of toys that I rotate back to him was no longer working.  I'm still a huge extended rear-facing advocate and I think 2 should be people's bare mininums for forward-facing in a car (just MY opinion which I'm entitled to!).  

Here is my big boy forward facing!  He's not allowed to eat in the car but he wanted to hold them so whatever! 

(The goat story is coming, LOL)

A fun day!

We go to the zoo a lot (like every other week) but I did get some really cute pics the other day on our solo visit.  A new and exciting part of our zoo visits is that Coop doesn't want to ride in the stroller anymore and walks the entire length of the zoo!  Put, this aspect also makes me understand why some parents resort to using "leashes" on their kids, lol...

Coopie and Willie B

The tiger cub was so close to the window so, of course, all the kids were mesmerized!

Coop loves the train!  He usually would want to sit on my lap but now he's a big boy and wants to sit on his own...(I'm still on the bench with him...)

He also now wants to ride on the animals that go up and down on the carousel...

The playground at the zoo is by far his favorite playground on the entire planet so I try to let him spend tons of time playing...mostly on this duck which he does the signs for "more please" over and over again...

I have a funny story to share about Cooper falling in love with a goat...but, that's for tomorrow!  :)

White Water

We went to White Water on Sunday with my sister and her 3 girls and had a day FULL of water and sun.  We decided to rent a cabana for the day and it was perfect!  It was a great area to take a sun break all the while with a ceiling fan to cool you off!  We will be doing this every time now!  

We have season passes so let me know if any of local friends ever want to meet us up there...I won't make you rent a cabana with me ;)

Me and my superhero :)

Gosh, he's just too cute!

He loved this raft!  

The price of the cabana was worth it to have a nice spot for Coop to take a nap!  

Block Party!

My hubby's company had their annual block party last Saturday and we all had a wonderful time.  My sis and her girls came up for the weekend so they came with us.  It was a weekend of first for the kids and they now want to come every year...

I'm still getting used to this sight :)  He just walks and walks these days!  So proud!

Cooper's first sucker...he threw it away a few seconds after this pic.  I don't think he liked that it was so hard!  2 year olds don't have the patience to lick/suck their way to the tootsie roll center...

He loved this game!

"Hi mommy!"

He really, really wanted to go inside this airplane!  It's retired in the museum but that didn't matter to him, lol...

Watertable fun

I bought this little water table at Wal.green's for $25 and I'm getting every pennies worth out of it.  I decided the other day that I would make colored ice cubes and throw them into the water to see what Cooper would think and do.  He enjoyed them but the water was kinda scary after the ice cubes melted!  

"hmmm, what is this?"

In typical boy fashion, let's splash and make a mess :) 

Superhero room!

A few weeks ago, we decided to redecorate Cooper's room to a big boy room.  He's 2 and a half and was still partying in his turtles and frogs nursery so we figured it was about time!  Most people that know him in real-life call him Super Cooper so we thought it would be fun to convert his room to a superhero lair.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out!  

I got this fun sign at a local fair a few weeks ago and I think it's hilarious :)

This pic of Cooper was drawn at a local St. Patty's celebration in 2011.  I thought it would fit perfectly in his  superhero room!

I found this magnetic board at Ikea for $12.99 and Cooper loves it!  

My walker!

Today, our  Coop's physical therapist stated that he is officially an independent walker!   These are sweet words to my ears!  It's just a joy and a blessing to be able to enjoy this milestone with him!  It truly bothers me to hear people announce that their child is walking and they act as if it's a nuisance...I'm stoked and no one will ever hear me complain!

Here's a quick video of him walking the other day at a local park.  I'm going to throw his walking party in the big white house that you see in the background :)

Overwhelmed

About 8 months ago, Cooper's speech therapists and I were talking about preschools and she mentioned to me that she thought I should look into a special education preschool in the public school system.  Initially, I was like "hell no, he's not going to be in special education!" but then realized that this is not about me and my preconceived notions on a. the public school system (our plan since before getting pregnant was that our kids would go to a local Christian private school) and b.  special education in general.

I called the special ed department last week and I received the application to get things rolling last week.  Seriously, this packet is overwhelming.  Maybe, it's an emotional thing but my anxiety starts to rise anytime that I pick up the thing.  It's so lengthy with all these very detailed questions.  I have to get all this paperwork together.  Yes, I know this is what grown-ups do but I never thought in a million years that I would ever be filling out one of these applications.  The poem "Welcome to Holland" keeps drifting in and out of my mind...

My goal is that he can do this special ed preschool for a couple of years (he's a November baby so will be starting kindergarten late) and that he'll progress so much that he'll be able to attend mainstream kindergarten.  I know that all this anxiety is a "me" thing and I've heard so many wonderful things about this program and that I'm just being silly.  He's going to do great and I have until November to get my head together.  I'm a master at never showing my anxiety to Cooper (or, so I hope!) and he'll never know ever that this process freaked me out...

Overall, my heart and mind are just in weird places.  I'm having bitterness recently bubbling to the surface about never being able to be pregnant again.  I'm having anxiety about this preschool business.  Last week, I went to pick Cooper up from his mommy's morning out and when I arrived one of my girlfriends said to me "I thought you had already picked Cooper up from school because I didn't see him in the room" so I hurried to the room and look through the little window and he's nowhere to be seen.  I flung the door open and say (in a very panicked voice!) "where is Cooper!?"  Yeah, they didn't know where he was and he was actually in the bathroom playing in the toilet and drinking out of a pink sippy cup.  You have to understand that the only time that Cooper is away from me is this mmo program and it takes a lot for me to leave him there.  I'm anxious and he screams every.single.time that I've left him there.  Now, I don't feel like I can truly trust them.  Also, he's now very sick and I would put money on it that he's sick from that pink sippy cup and who ever it belonged to...

I'm just in a weird place emotionally right now.  Prayers and good vibes would greatly be appreciated!

Little drummer boy

Future Top Chef

Coop loves playing in my kitchen and his play kitchen :) I keep debating on buying one of those learning towers so that he can safely start helping me prepare meals. He's such a great little helper! His favorite kitchen chore is washing dishes buts a different post for a different day :)

Tech support...

I have the cutest tech support guy around!  

30 month wellness check

Coop has the worst doctor phobia so I just dread going to his Ped for any reason. I mean his phobia is well grounded if you consider that he's been through 2 MRIs, a CT scan, several chest x-rays, countless blood draws for genetic testing and a week in the hospital (3 of these in ICU) last winter and you have a kid that freaks out just getting his head measured...

So, my 2.5 year old weighs 28.9 lbs and is 36 inches tall! I kinda laugh at the developmental questions that they ask because of his Hypotonia and Apraxia. I know he's delayed and I know why. He's seen by 3 different professionals EVERY week so I just went through the motions of it all. I do need to take him to the dentist because he's never been...yeah, I'm going to need a Xanax that day because that appointment is going to suck, lol...

I took him to the park and then a slice of pizza for lunch afterwards. His bad morning at the Ped office was all but forgotten :)

March for Babies 2012

We participated in the March for Babies walk last Saturday and it was a beautiful walk!   This was our 4th year participating and I will say that I think this was the most family friendly environment than previous walks.  They did a moment of silence followed by a moment of hope and concluded with a moment of joy.  It was really quite touching and I did cry a little...

Our team raised a total of $2,649 and Northside Hospital matches what we raise so our total right now is $5, 298!  We can still collect donations until May 31st so there's still time to donate if you would like to :)

Team Lily Angeline~

He doesn't look thrilled in this pic but I want to show his t-shirt.  It says "Lily's little brother" and brother is done in different colors to signify that he's my rainbow baby...

Yep, he fell asleep being pulled in a wagon so daddy carried him the last mile..

I could never put into words about how grateful that I am to have this little boy.  I love him with everything in me...

30 months old!

Or, as a (non-mommy) friend of mine told me today, Cooper is 2 and half years old today!

Cooper is doing awesome these days and is so, so close to be an independent walker!  He walks all over the house these days and loves being out of the stroller to explore!  My heart is so proud because this independence for him (and, my back) has been a long time in coming! 

Cooper burrito :)