Christmas 2010

Christmas with the Lambs
We kicked off Christmas celebrations with the Lamb family over at our house. They were all heading to Atlanta for Christmas, so we did a little early celebrating. Auntie Boo loved Cooper's handmade Christmas ornament. :)
A new barn from Nana and BaBob=Happy Cooper! He has played with that barn every single day since.

Nana was ready to say "cheese" but Cooper was not ready to take his eyes off his new farmer and tractor.
Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Mom and Dad's house for a scrumptious dinner and to have some fun family time. My mom is one of the best cooks I know, and her Christmas Eve meal of flank steak wrapped in basil leaves and prosciutto didn't disappoint.

After dinner, this is where I found Coop and Philip.
Which totally reminded me of this picture taken in December 2008 when Coop was only three months old.
Cooper loved this little wooden Santa at Gammi and Poppi's house. Every time we'd go over there during the holidays, he would run in and excitedly say "hello, Santa!" As we were leaving on Christmas Eve, Coop had several games going with Santa: hide-and-seek, peak-a-boo, and high five with Santa.

And a quick hug and kiss before walking out the door!

After we got home from Gammi and Poppi's house, Coop helped put cookies out for Santa. We made gingerbread cookies earlier in the day and Philip said he thought Santa might like some chocolate on those cookies...great idea! So, we added some chocolate chips to a few. I told Coop we should put out two or three cookies for Santa, but he decided that Santa needed an entire plate full!

When we put the plate of cookies by the tree, Cooper quickly went in for the taste test. Had to make sure those cookies were safe for the big guy! Love the first picture of him. It looks like he's thinking...are you going to stop me from doing this??

In the end, I don't think Santa minded that three of the cookies had bites taken out of them.

Christmas Day
Looks like Santa came!!We had been asking Cooper what he wanted for Christmas and what he wanted Santa to bring. New books and music were often the answers, but one day, out of nowhere, he told me he wanted Santa to bring him a robot! So glad Santa got that message.Coop loved opening his stocking and discovering more and more goodies the deeper he put his little hand in the stocking. We heard over and over, "Ohh, what this? Oh wow! What this?".

And then, he was anxious to jump on his new bike!! I was so, so excited for Coop to get this bike. It's a glider-type bike where he can learn to push with his feet and then pick them up and glide along. Jackson has a bike similar to this, too. Can't wait for them to go ride bikes together!

Cooper loved the superhero-looking helmet just as much as his bike!

Checking out all of his new toys--tools from Gammi and Poppi, dinosaurs, and new books.

Ho ho ho! Christmas 2010

Flashback to Christmas 2008

Quite possibly the favorite toy of the day, the Handy Manny guitar from Gammi and Poppi! He was so excited and ready to jam.

It's tough being a two-year-old rocker.

A quick jam session with Daddy before bedtime. Cooper kept going back and forth between the guitar and the xylophone. "I play this. My turn, your turn." Philip smoked the most delicious beef tenderloin...yummy!Why is it so difficult to get a family picture?

And finally, a great one!

Tea Time
My Christmas gift to Mom and Ann was tea at the Arboretum. I've always wanted to go to one of their teas, so I thought this would be a great opportunity. Tea, petite sandwiches, scones, and Christmas cookies...yum! We had a great time and decided we need to make this an annual event.

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!

Cooper's Treasures

Every single day, I find little piles of things "neatly" tucked in areas throughout the house. Now, really, these items might be "things" to me, but to a certain two-year-old, they are his special treasures for the day. Things he won't let go of or out of his sight for anything! I love to see what he decides to gather up for his special collection and where he decides to stash his goodies.

Whenever he piles up his treasures like this, it's like he has a plan. He picks each item out and places it in the chosen spot. And, I quickly learned that when he has these little piles of things going, I shouldn't even attempt to put things away. He will notice, and he will call me out on it, "Uh oh, Mama!" And, he will immediately go around and create his little treasure pile again. So now, I just smile when I see these little piles and enjoy watching him work to create them.

In his little wagon: fire truck, legos, towel, stick horse
In his red car: dirt and a pumpkin
In my coffee maker: a sippy cup
In Philip's chair: a cable cord, leaf blower, truck book, lid to an old coffee pot, a set of keys, a toothbrush container, and a wooden stick
In a bucket: blankie, a flashlight, stegosaurus, two frogs, and an octopus

Art Class

After eight weeks in art class with Cooper, I learned several things:

• Cooper doesn't really love to paint, but does love using clay and textures in his artwork
  
• Washable paint is genius
• A patient Mommy is just as important as washable paint
• Sometimes washing hands and music time were the best parts of art class

I was really excited about this class after hearing about it and couldn't wait to jump in and help Cooper explore art projects. We definitely had our difficult weeks where Cooper wanted nothing to do with the art project we were creating and everything to do with playing in the tent or just doing his own thing. But, week by week, I learned how to handle the situation (for the most part!) and what to say to help encourage him to want to participate in the art project. It was a learning process for both of us! Luckily, Sarah and Jackson joined us for the session, and Sarah used to be an elementary art teacher, so I followed her lead on a lot...ok...almost everything!
The session focused on food, so each week we created an artistic food item--ice cream cone, gingerbread man, turkey, cracker, gumball machine. We also used food sometimes to paint with, like an apple or potato as a stamp. The first couple of weeks, Cooper wanted nothing to do with touching that cold, sticky paint. The last couple of weeks, however, he got a little more brave and adventurous and started putting his hands in the paint and then swirling them around on his paper (and sometimes the table or his shirt or my pants). Huge progress, if you ask me!

It was amazing to me to see how many parents ended up doing the artwork for their child. My rule was always that Cooper does the art--I'll show him what we are doing and how to do it, but he is the one who is going to create the finished masterpiece. Now, that did mean that our turkey had eyes that were a little caddywhompused or our gingerbread man's mouth was on his arm or our ice cream cone was up-side-down, but the point is, that's how Cooper created it. The masterpiece of a two-year-old! And I thought they were absolutely perfect!!

I always made a really, really big deal about the art and went on and on about how proud I was and how I couldn't wait to show Daddy or Poppi his art, and that really seemed to help Cooper get excited about the art, too, and he realized that he really did create something special.
Best buds!
Class always ended with a little jam session.

Every week after class, we would take the boys to play in the Children's Museum. Our last week, Cooper discovered that you could actually milk the cow in the farm section. He kept calling the cow Bevo and he thought he was helping Bevo go potty. I just left that one alone.

Coop loved playing in the fire truck and watching the big dinos move and growl.

I'm not sure if I have the next Picasso, but I sure love to see Coop's creative side!!