State Fair

For the last two years our family has gone to the State Fair. Some people might be thinking "so what?". I normally avoid large crowds and heat like the plague if I can avoid it. Plus with a baby/toddler it's always a crap shoot. This year we decided to take the day off so we could arrive early and hopefully get home by nap time. We got a little later start than we had planned but we were there by 9:30.


My parents were also at the fair so we met up with them and headed to the barns.


Cooper loved seeing the cows, sheep, pigs and horses. He even got to pet a few:







As we were leaving the barn Cooper broke loose from the hand he was holding (I can't remember who's) and started running after a cow that was being lead down the street. Kind of scary. Now I know why parent's use those backpack/leashes on toddlers in crowds.

I don't know if you know this, but Rob loves seeing the big pig. For those of you who don't go to the fair it's an absolutely huge pig that lays in his pen. Just like last year, I took a picture of Cooper and daddy in front of this poor animal.



The Miracle of Life building is one of my favorite exhibits at the fair. Cooper got to pet a baby pig that was probably only days old. We watched chickens hatch from their eggs and got to see a baby calf.



Towards the end of the day we could tell nap time was quickly approaching. We put him in the stroller with hopes he would fall asleep and he finally did. Then on the way home so did Rob.

Almost two

With Cooper's second birthday quickly approaching I figured it was time for a Cooper update.

Cooper's growing spurts seemed to have finally slowed down, he has been able to wear the same size clothes for a while now. When we went to get the mail yesterday I noticed how much he seems to have thinned out and is looking less and less like a toddler. Although still with super cute chubby cheeks.

I noticed on Monday that Cooper no longer needs to hold my hand when walking down the stairs at daycare. He also can now walk down our stairs without holding on to the railing.

He now loves to sing and he does it often. If you ask him what song he wants to sing he will tell you. If you start a different song, he will definitely let you know. When singing the ABC song he will sing A, B, P and say me. The rest of the time he will sort of hum along. He also likes Row your boat, Old McDonald (especially when Rob does the animal noises) and Twinkle Twinkle.

He is getting much better at eating. For a long time it was a fight to get him into his booster chair and we dreaded meal time. We changed is milk to 2% last month and have started limiting when he can have it. When we would to get home he would instantly ask for milk and through out the night. I was so proud of him for actually asking for something and using his big boy words, I would give it to him. Now most of the time when he asks for milk we give him juice or water (which he loves) and most nights he actually eats without a fuss. He has even crawled up onto his chair and will say eat. Monday night we had stuffed green pepper soup and he loved it, he seems to eat more if he eats what we eat. We are still working on getting him to eat fruit, watermelon seems to be his favorite right now.

He also does animal sounds that crack me up. My favorite is the owl but he will also do cow, horse, sheep, cat, dog and lion.

He loves his trike or any ride on toy. For a couple weeks when I left the house in the morning I would have to lock the door behind me because Rob would find Cooper in the garage riding his trike. At National Night Out he kept "stealing" the other kids ride on toys. Rob commented that he hopes he doesn't continue to do that 15 years from now.

His vocabulary seems to be growing almost daily and we can tell he understands what we are saying. Whether or not he listens is another story.. Here is a list of his current words/phrases: I want more, I don't know, I want that one, boot, shoe, key, apple, purple, please (which sounds like peas), over, me, home, up. He also uses dada and momma ALL THE TIME. Last night when we went to bed he had woken up and was saying momma over and over again. It took a lot for me not to go in there.

He has also has started to be a daddy's boy which makes both Rob and I happy. Check out this picture of him on the golf course, Rob is already talking about him taking lessons.

Crib

Tonight we took a part Cooper's crib. Not because we are moving him to a big boy bed or changing his room but because there was a recall on his crib. Seriously people? It's been over two years since we bought it. How sad is it that a 8 month old baby had to die before they realized they shouldn't use plastic hinges? As a parent I can't imagine what I would do if I walked into Cooper's room and saw something like this: