First Easter Egg Hunt

The weekend before Easter, our neighborhood group hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos. This was really Coop's first year to be able to hunt for eggs...as much as an 18-month old can hunt...so, I was excited to see what he thought about it. The week before the hunt, I bought some plastic eggs, filled them with Goldfish crackers, and we had a couple of practice hunts around the house. Coop caught on pretty quickly, and it became clear that his favorite part was seeing what was hiding inside each egg. Even though all the eggs had the same thing--goldfish--each time he opened an egg, he would smile really big like he had just found another new treasure.

Before the neighborhood hunt began, Coop checked out the field of eggs. He was ready to go with bucket in hand! (Who needs a traditional Easter basket when you can have a big green bucket from your favorite hardware store? I did tie a blue ribbon on it to make it more festive.)

Ready...set...hunt!

Each egg that Coop picked up, he had to open it, see what was inside, and then throw everything into his bucket.

After the hunt, Coop played on the playground with some of his friends. And, honestly, I think he had more fun on the playground than hunting for eggs!

Time to go down the BIG slide with Daddy! Not sure who had more fun--Coop or Philip?

Brooms, Blueberries, and Balloons

Did you know that these three things--brooms, blueberries, and balloons--are the most exciting things at Central Market? Really, they are. Well, according to a little 18 month old boy they are. If you ask me, it's the chocolate, wine, and seafood. With these three things today, our trip to Central Market was glorious. Filled with smiles, giggles, wide eyes, and a belly full of blueberries.

The second we walked into the store, Cooper pointed over to the balloons and asked "ba ba?". After picking out a bright green balloon, I tied to it our basket and headed through the produce. But, not without stopping for the "bebes" first...that's "blueberries" in Cooper speak. Then, after a long time admiring the lobster tank, we rounded the corner and what did we see? A "boo boo"...yep, that's "broom"...leaning in a corner. Talk about excited!

I've realized recently that Cooper has an amazing broom radar. He is obsessed with them and can spot them anywhere. Sometimes it's as obvious as someone using the broom near us, but more often than not, he can spot them leaning in corners, poking out of doors, even through a swinging kitchen door in a restaurant. It's almost like he goes into a place thinking, "I wonder if they have a boo?!".

Like this broom, for example. It was sticking out of a door at the mall. Coop started smiling and waving his arms and kept trying to drag Philip and me back to this spot, and when we followed him, this is what we saw.
Cooper loves brooms so much, in fact, that I had been on the hunt for a small broom with a short handle because every time I opened the laundry room door at our house and Cooper saw our broom, he would get really sad when I wouldn't let him play with it. So, a small broom with a short handle was a must!

So, one Saturday recently Philip and Coop ventured out to Lowe's to search for a small broom. The second Philip turned the shopping cart on to the broom isle, it was like Cooper had hit the jackpot. His eyes got really wide, his arms were waving, and he tried to touch every broom! After picking out the perfect Cooper-sized broom, Coop insisted on getting out of the shopping cart. Why? Because he had a store to sweep.
And sweep. And sweep. And sweep. An hour later, Coop was ready to take his new broom home and continue the cleaning!

PS: Drake, keep your ball out of my dust pan.

Little Things

Every day I'm amazed more and more by little things that Cooper does. There are several from the last couple of days that I've written down, but here are a few I wanted to share.
The other night, I was getting Cooper ready for bed when Philip popped around the corner of Cooper's room, and Cooper said, "BOO!" Normally, it's the other way around.

He has been talking/babbling up a storm the last couple of days. He talks while riding in the car, playing in his bed, walking down the sidewalk, or just walking around the house. I hear, "babble babble babble BROOM babble babble DRAKE babble babble KEYS babble babble KITTY babble babble MAMA babble babble HOT babble babble GO GO." I'm trying to keep track of all his new words, but I know as the weeks go on it will be harder to keep up. He's got a pretty impressive list so far!

Tonight while Coop was eating dinner, I told him that after he finishes eating we are going to take a bath. And what did he do? He took his last bite, gave me the sign for "finished," and then asked, "bath?"

The last several days Cooper has started playing pretend. He will put his hand into an empty snack cup or tupperware container and then pretend to pick something out of it (like a small snack) and then feed it to me. And then he will proceed to feed me an entire cup full of "snacks."

And, of course, my favorite--today, I was holding Cooper just before his naptime, and when I asked Cooper for a hug, he put his hands on my cheeks and gave me a huge kiss! And not just one. I got kisses over and over and he thought it was the funniest thing. We were both giggling the entire time. Another moment that melted my heart.

Party in Cooper's Crib

Coop likes to play in his bed after he wakes up in the morning and at naptime before actually getting out of bed. He plays anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, enjoying his mobile and his Spanish-speaking star toy. He talks and sings and practices his words or claps his hands and stomps his feet.

One afternoon recently, when I went to get Cooper out of bed, I walked in to a party in Cooper's crib. His shirt was half off; he had about six stuffed animals in his bed; and his mobile and star toy were both playing full blast! I realized that he had reached his little hand through the slats of his bed and pulled all of his favorite stuffed animal friends out of a basket and into his crib (no one wants to party alone, right?).
Mr. Monkey quietly sitting in the corner while Bevo was covered with Cooper's sock.

Mr. Lion looks like he is taking a nap and the Cat in the Hat is cuddling with Coop's blankie!
If only I had been a fly on the wall.

Tired Baby

Tonight Philip and I were chatting in the kitchen while getting dinner ready and Cooper was in his highchair eating his dinner when suddenly Philip stopped talking and whispered, "Look at your son!" I turned around from the stove to see this...

Someone was SOUND asleep in his chair.

When I moved the highchair tray, I had to hold his head up so he wouldn't flop over!

And off to bed we go. Night night!