Cooper update

Is it possible Cooper has hit the terrible twos already? He is so dang stubborn! Whenever he gets frustrated he will do a pouty face, cross his arms and make a funny hrumph noise. It's super funny and really not at the same time. I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet but I will.


He also has started to like blankets, pillows and stuffed animals in the last few weeks. Just when I thought I was in the clear. He never took a pacifier, hated blankets and could care less about any stuffed animal. Now any time he gets out of bed he needs to have his blanket(s), panda (from aunt Jody), frog (from Angie) and pillow. When he gets tired he will grab one of them and cuddle with it. Last Monday we are at home because Cooper had pink eye and somehow we ended up with 4 blankets, his pillow and the stuffed animals. It's super funny because he tries to carry them by himself. He loaded them onto the chair and then had to be lifted on it.


Because the weather was so nice out last Monday we decided to go for a walk and even though it was 66 degrees out he had to wear his winter boots, carry his snow shovel and bring his blanket. This actually worked out well because we ran into some neighbor kids and he wouldn't put either of them down so I didn't have to worry about him spreading pink eye.

Another thing he has started doing is climbing. He loves to climb on the chairs and get up on the island. He always seems to find the one thing we don't want him to have. Yesterday he used the broiler drawer and the oven handle to try climb on the stove and another time he was standing on top of the seat of his Tonka truck and dancing. Today he used the Tonka truck to try and play in the sink.

This weekend he has also started shaking his head no instead of always yes. Thankfully he still uses yes as well.

Mexico

At the end of February we finally used our timeshare and took a family trip to Puerto Vallarta. We were even able to talk my parents into coming with us which was a lot of fun. I knew traveling with Cooper would be an interesting experience and it was. He was really good on the plane for the most part. It's hard to sit still for 4 hours as an adult let alone an active toddler that can't sit still ever. Because he is under 2 years old we didn't have to buy a seat for him, thankfully it wasn't a full plane so he was able to have his own seat on both trips. I do feel bad for the lady sitting in front of us on the way home though, she got a baby wipe thrown on her head. Especially after Cooper had been kicking the back of her seat for about 2 hours.

Cooper loved the water! The first time he saw the ocean he would laugh and laugh as the waves hit his feet. Unfortunately Rob and I missed this, we got tricked into a timeshare presentation, lucky us. Though it was really painful, we did get a great deal on two day trips for the five of us. We had an awesome deck on our room complete with a Jacuzzi tub which Cooper loved! It was covered so he could be out of the sun and still be in the water. He was fearless in the water which scared the crap out of me. He would walk right off the edge of the pool without a care. He even wanted to go on the water slide so we put him on at the bottom and he loved it. I went on it and I was a little scared, it was a steep slide.

One night we went to the Mexican fiesta at our resort. It was a blast! They had great food, open bar, a mariachi band, dancing and a great show. Cooper of course loved the music and was really good. There was a guy going around to each table making balloon hats for everyone and another person going around putting sombreros on people's heads and taking pictures.

One of the day trips was a whale watching adventure and adventure it was. We started it out by getting kissed by a sea lion (I will try and scan the picture to add it) then got on a boat for breakfast and headed out on the water. We did see a lot of whales which was exciting. Cooper had a minor freak out so we missed snorkeling but that is fine. We then stopped at this beach where we had the choice of sitting on the beach for three hours or staying on the boat to go to the next stop and go see a waterfall. It was a mile walk or you could ride a horse up, we opted to go horseback riding after being told it would be fine by one of the guides on the boat. Never again will we make that mistake again. What they failed to mention is we were going up a mountain on a crappy path! Cooper rode up with me and both of us were terrified! Thankfully the horse had made the journey a couple times because I wasn't able to hold the reins at all. I had Cooper in one arm and I had a death grip on the saddle with my other hand. We finally get up to the waterfall and we were so disappointed! The Minnehaha Falls are more interesting. We had a beverage at the snack shop and then started the journey back down. My horse must have drank the water because it was crazy. At one point it took this crazy path and I ended up screaming. Thankfully a cameraman came to my rescue and lead us down to where the path was "safer". The kicker? As he was helping me he asked if I had been carrying my son the whole time and I said yes. He looked at me like I was crazy at told me that was really dangerous. Really?!?

Most nights we would try and watch the sunset from our deck and Cooper would scare the crap out of me by climbing on the railing.

All and all it was a great trip and really nice to spend the time with my parents. Cooper didn't know what to do when we got back and he couldn't go see grandma and grandpa on our deck every morning and being completely spoiled by them.

Cooper and Kaylin playing piano

Kaylin spent the night on Friday and on Saturday we went to Rob's parents house to visit with Grandma Charlene and Aunt Diane. The kids loved the piano! Here is a video of them "playing".

Donna's Surgery

For some of you that don't know and for those of you who do; Rob's mom is having surgery today to remove some cancerous cells in her colon and on her kidney. While it's incredibly scary just to say the "C" word the prognosis is good. She has created a Caring Bridge site to keep everyone updated and for people to send her well wishes. Please say prayers for her speedy recovery and that everything goes well.

Cooper's Daily Chores (By Daddy)

So daddy has been getting help from Cooper in the morning getting out the door, here is a list of the tasks that he completes to help out.
* Get his shoes from the laundry room
* Points at his coat and screams until I get it down and put it on
* Yells at the dogs really loud (DAA) to try and get them into the laundry room
* Closes the laundry room door
* Points at the treats and usually yells until I grab them for him. Depending on the day and how he is feeling he will either throw the treats on the floor or nicely hand them to each dog, each dog has to come to him.
* Helps to close the closet
* Yells at me because I don’t let him touch the buttons on the alarm
* But then his big moment comes, pressing the big button to open the garage door (after trying to touch every other button within reach), every morning he just gets the biggest smile on his face, one of those heart warming, proud to be a parent smiles, that make everything else worth it!

PSA for all dog & cat owners

My parent's dog recently became seriously ill. Pepper lost the majority of her hair, had oozing sores and was completely miserable. After finally taking her to a pet dermatologist they found the cause of her problems. They tried this new flea and tick medicine called Promaris (also spelled Premeris) and she now has pemphigus foliaceus, a condition where the immune system attacks the skin causing blisters, pustules and crusting erosions. It can be deadly if left untreated. Thankfully they figured out what was wrong before it was too late, but Pepper will have to be on medicine for the rest of her life.

Coopers growing vocabulary

Cooper is learning so much every day, it's amazing to watch him. Here are some of his words:

• uh oh
• da-for dad or dog, used interchangeably
• mom/ma
• hot (he makes a really funny face when he says this)
• hi
• blabbering nonsense
• screaming when he is excited/hungry/mad

Cooper update

Cooper has changed so much lately, here are some highlights:


He loves vegetables! If we can't get him to eat anything a sure thing is peas or corn. This weekend he tried edamame and loved it. He had that and Cheerios for lunch yesterday.

He has now moved up to a booster seat. He wants nothing to do with his high chair anymore. If he is hungry he will either pull out the chair with his booster chair, sit at his picnic table or open "his" cupboard and bring something to us. He is also getting really good at using silverware, which is great except he doesn't want to use the baby silverware, he wants to use ours.

He loves to put on our shoes and try to walk around.

He enjoys drawing with pens or crayons. We are working really hard at keeping the crayons out of his mouth and off the carpet.

End of 2008 recap

Whew! The holidays and being busy at work sure took a toll on this blog, I don't know where to start. I guess start where I left off.

We had a great Halloween, the weather was so nice! We took Cooper around to a couple of our neighbors houses and then he spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Peterson so Rob and I could go out and have some Halloween fun.

At the beginning of November the Boie's, Peterson's and Duran's went up north to visit my grandma. It was so great to see her again! I hope we can make it up again soon. Cooper had his first bloody injury by hitting his mouth on the bedside table at the hotel. Needless to say all of us were pretty freaked out.

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents this year, it was fun to watch Cooper and Kaylin play. Friday Cooper and I spent a portion of the day at Rob's parents house since all of Donna's family was in town. After Rob got off work we went back to the Peterson's house for dinner to celebrate grandma turning 89! She is truly an amazing woman! I think she is in better shape than I am. She still shovels!

Once it started getting cold we bought Cooper a winter jacket, snowpants, hat and gloves. He hates them. We ended using another jacket and hat because it wasn't' worth the fight every morning. Still makes for a cute picture though..

We enjoyed watching the Vikings play this year. Cooper now does the sign for touchdown, super cute!

This Christmas we were really blessed. We saw a lot of our family and friends, continued our traditions going shopping Christmas Eve with my dad at 6 am, Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve and even snuck in a trip to Wisconsin to visit with Grandma Dittman. Now this is where the story gets interesting..

We had breakfast with Ron and Donna on Christmas morning and then jumped in the car and started south. About 20 miles south of Rochester our car died going 70 mph, it just stopped and wouldn't start again. Once we made it to the side of the road I called my dad and asked him if he had any ideas on what I could check. Nothing worked. We didn't know what to do, it's Christmas day and nothing is open. Then my dad called back with a plan. My brother in law was able to get a tow truck from work and they were going to tow my dad's car down so we could continue on to grandma's house. What a relief! But then we realized it would be at least 2 hours before we would see them. What to do? Thankfully we didn't have to think about it too long, a state trooper stopped and picked us up and dropped us off at a gas station. In case you are ever in this situation, they highly recommend you call 911, especially if you have kids with you. This was such a humbling experience! At the store we found a "home" in between some soda cases to sit and wait. We took turns chasing Cooper and preventing him from taking everything off every shelf. We even let him play with our cell phones for a while. Some how he managed to delete my contact information from Rob's phone and sign him up for ringback tones. The staff was so great to us, they kept offering us something to drink and gave us a free lunch. Dad and Adrian arrived a couple hours later, we switched cars and were on our way. We had a great visit with Grandma and the Petersons. Guess what happened on the way home? We had a flat tire on my dad's car in Rochester! Needless to say we were extremely glad when we finally made it home.

Election day

If you would have asked me 10 years ago would I be willing to get up at 5:30 to get ready for work, do my final candidate research and then go stand in line to vote my answer would have be no, more like hell no. Yet, I found myself up at 5:30 yesterday morning, standing in line at the neighborhood church watching the sun come up waiting to vote. I felt compelled to vote in this election more than I ever have and I have to say it was an incredible experience. It's not that I haven't voted in prior elections, but this one seemed special/different. By the time the polls opened at 7:00 there were about 200 people waiting to vote. Everyone was in a good mood, no one complained, one guy offered another a free cup of coffee, I even saw someone allow an elderly lady and her daughter access to the front of the line. After I voted, I couldn't wait to find out who the winners were going to be. Aside from popular the presidential and congress races, I was excited to find out if the Constitutional amendment and if the school referendums had passed. I have been trying to put into words how I felt last night after watching the election results and then I got this email from my friend Angie and once again I am in awe of her eloquent use of words. I asked her if I could post this email on my blog to document history, of course being the great friend that she is, she agreed. Here is the email she sent to a friend in Italy today:

I thought I’d shoot a quick note to my friend across the sea to paint the picture of what the election night was like in the US…. In a word, amazing. The pulse of the country was something that could be felt through the veins of nearly every American. Waiting, figuratively holding their breath in anticipation of what the next chapter would bring. Mostly with the understanding and realization that not only were we, the citizens of the United States, watching…. But the world was watching; Standing on the other side of the glass peering in like a fish tank and wondering what our next move would be. Would it be a woman Vice President for the first time in history, or would it be the very first African American to hold the highest position in office? Either way, it marked the end of the Bush era and the beginning of a long anticipated change. I can’t wait to see what the coming days, months, years bring in changing perceptions and repositioning the country: financially, politically & emotionally in the souls of people that have had a difficult time coming to terms with where their country was headed these past years. As I drove home last night the sky was dark, but streets were lit by houses with people gathering to witness the historic events… The contrast of the dark night and the lit houses I saw people glued to their TV sets. House, by house, by house…all watching history in the making.

I hope everyone enjoyed this historical election day as much as I did.