10. Cleaning
If you know Cooper, then you know he is a cleaning machine. His love for brooms developed quite awhile ago and he has only added to his cleaning gadget obsession. If it sweeps, mops, wipes, or vacuums, my little man is all over it! Coop will see something on the floor--a couple of crumbs, paper, something like that--and he'll say, while pointing, "Uh oh, Mama. Mess." And will then begin singing the Clean Up song. Coop's best bud, Jackson, also loves cleaning gadgets, so we often joke about the boys starting a cleaning company together. Sometimes...actually every time...Jackson comes over, I end up pulling out our vacuum for the boys to play with. (It can entertain them for quite some time!) And, to go along with the cleaning obsession, Jackson gave Cooper his very own play vacuum for his birthday!
Gorillas, ostriches, hippos, dogs, cats, bugs...if it's an animal, Cooper wants to look at, learn about, and hug. I started seeing Coop's love for animals at a really early age. I thought it might be a phase and he would move on to trucks or blocks or something. But, nope. His love for and interest in animals has only gotten bigger. We talk about animals all the time, we read animal books, we make animal noises, and we walk like animals. Cooper has a whole zoo of animals who have to sleep in his crib every night: Ooh-Ooh (the gorilla), Gus the Giraffe, Mr. Elephant, Dog, and Little Monkey. These are all stuffed animals. But he also has to have his little giraffe, gorilla, hippo, and baby drake figurines. If I try to sneak an animal or two out, Coop will find it and say, "Uh oh. Back bed." And then toss the animal over the rail. When I tuck Cooper in bed at night, he gathers all his figurines and tucks them in a corner, then looks around to make sure his stuffed animals are all there, and then he asks me to "night-night kiss" each animal before I leave. It's one of the cutest things in the world, if you ask me, so of course I oblige. When I go check on Coop at night, I often find him with one arm around Ooh-Ooh and using Gus like a pillow. I've tried to take a picture of this before, but they always end up too dark. Mental picture...click!
We read books several times a day, and I'm so thankful for this. I love reading and hope that this love of books continues for Cooper, too. Sometimes he will pick a book and ask me to read to him, but other times I'll find Cooper in his room sitting and reading on his own. At least once a day, he'll go into his room, turn on his music (I have a We Sing nursery rhymes CD in the player and he loves to turn on his own music), pick up a couple of books, and just sit on the floor and read or flip through pages of different books. When I know he is doing this, I don't disturb him; I just peak around the corner so that he doesn't see me and he'll keep playing on his own. I happened to catch him the other day reading, but then Hickory Dickory Dock started playing and he dropped his book, jumped up and danced around his room. Too cute! Some of his favorite books right now are Clifford's Good Deeds, Hippos Go Berserk, Goodnight Zoo, Airplanes, Are You Sleepy Yet Petey?, Jamberry, Wheels on the Bus...just to name a few.
Where in the world would we be without Jackson? He is Coop's best bud. His partner in crime. His cleaning buddy. They play, they laugh, they get a little rough with each other, but I can tell they love each other. When we don't see Jackson for a day or so, Coop will start asking, "Wi Jack? Play Jack?" And then answer himself with, "Jack home. (or nap or go night night)" Coop always spots Jackson's car in the parking lot when we go to meet them somewhere and gets so excited to find Jackson and run over to him. One of my favorite things recently that Coop said took place just as we arrived home from our beach vacation. Philip and I were unpacking the car and Cooper jumped in the driver's seat and said, "Go Jack house. Beach!" I think he was saying he needed to go pick up his buddy and take him back to the beach! Jackson and Coop have had a ton of fun over the last several months--zoo trips, Arboretum dates, airplane museum, lots of playing at each others houses, swimming, art "camp," swinging at the park. I can't imagine where we'd be without sweet Jackson!
"Play side? Play side? Please? Mama, play side?" This is what I hear everyday. All day. Every day. And, I love it. I love that he wants to be outside rain or shine. Hot or blazing hot. Doesn't matter. Cooper wants to play outside. He can be out there for hours creating his own fun, getting dirty, playing with toys or chasing Drake or following his Daddy around. It really doesn't matter what he is doing as long as he is outside.
Coop doesn't have much of an interest in TV (yea!), but I will occasionally turn on Clifford the Big Red Dog for background noise while he is playing and I'm working in the kitchen. (Plus, I loved Clifford growing up, so it's fun to see it still on.) He doesn't sit and watch the show, but he will glance over from time to time and point to Clifford or the other dogs playing and he'll say little things he sees on the TV, "dog play ball. splash water. Cliff Dog jump." As little as he watches, though, Coop has really developed a love for "Cliff Dog." He asks to "see Cliff Dog?" almost everyday, which I don't always turn on because I don't want Cooper to get used to watching TV. I recently bought Coop a Clifford book that we now have to read every night before bedtime. I've decided that if Cooper was going to become fond of a television cartoon character, I'm glad he chose a good classic character like Clifford.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
