Cooper's School Field Trips, Part 2

April 2013

Cooper's third field trip for the year was to Owen's Farm.  We've been here several times, actually.  Usually we visit during the fall when they have their big pumpkin patch.  I was hoping this visit would be a little more behind-the-scenes of the farm, but really, it was just like any other visit.  Fun, don't get me wrong, but we didn't walk away learning anything new about farms or running a "farm."  But still, feeding goats, hay rides and running around outside, pretty cool school trip.

 Coop's sweet school friends.

Cooper's School Field Trips, Part 1

February 2013

Cooper's very first school field trip was to a hospital.  He loves all things having to do with doctors and nurses, so he was super excited to visit a hospital and see first hand these people in action.  I think it has to do with the whole rescue/helping people aspect (like firefighters).  I was really bummed that I wasn't able to go, but the mom assigned to be his chaperone sent me frequent text messages so I was up-to-date on how things were going.  (I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about this first field trip, just from the safety stand point.)  Several people told me he did great--he was very well behaved, was a good listener and was respectful.  Yea!  I also heard that he was really interested in the x-ray machine and the wheelchair ride.  When he got in the car that day, after the field trip, he was so excited to tell me all about the hospital, what he learned and show me the great goodie bag that he got.

April 2013

Cooper's second field trip could not have been more perfect for him--a trip to a local fire station.  And not just any fire station, it was one with a fireman pole!  My little firefighter was so excited about this school outing and looked forward to it for days.  Luckily, I was able to arrange things to make this one!  All of the moms in Cooper's classroom knew how excited Cooper was and what a big deal this was going to be for him, too.  The morning of the field trip, Coop couldn't wait to get dressed in his fireman gear.  However, he didn't want to wear his fireman hat or his fireman coat.  He wanted to wear his DFD hat and t-shirt from Fireman Paul because "that's what real fireman wear, Mom." 

I'll never forget when we got to the station, the kids gathered in the fire station kitchen.  Coop walked in after everyone was sitting down and he took off his jacket and handed it me, then turned toward where the fire fighters were standing, put his hands in his jean pockets, and put his little chin down toward his shoulder (his serious, workin man stance).  The firefighters all commented on how Cooper's shirt and hat matched theirs, and Coop's eyes lit up.  I know in his little head he was thinking, "Alright guys, I'm one of you now.  Let's get to work!"  So perfectly Cooper.

This is where he is happiest: in the driver's seat of a pumper truck.

 

 

I kept smiling at Cooper and his reaction to all the firefighters and their questions and conversation with the kids.  Coop knew every single answer the firefighters asked, but he never once raised his hand or spoke up.  I saw his lips move like he would answer the question to himself or he would smile when he knew the answer, but he never answered out loud.  I hope that changes a little as he gets older.  I was always one who never spoke up in class when I knew the answer, but I always wished I had or did.  It was usually out of insecurity, so I hope it's different for him.  Anyway...back to firetrucks!

 Love in the picture below how Cooper is all smiles at the guy in full gear!  (Coop is toward the right, on the back row.)

 Watching the firefighter come down the pole!  Super duper awesome.

  

 We have a fireman pole attached to the fort in our backyard.  Up until this trip, Cooper would only go down with a lot of encouragement and me sitting at the top, holding and helping him down.  BUT, after this fire station visit and after Coop saw those brave fireman slide down the pole, he was super pumped to FINALLY go down his own fireman pole all by himself.  And that's exactly what he did!  That next morning, as we were leaving for school, Coop ran over to his fort, climbed to the top and after a quiet, "You can do it, Cooper" to himself, he slid down that pole all by himself!!  I could not have been more proud of him and loved seeing how proud of himself he was!  So maybe we were a bit late to school that morning because Coop then proceeded to slide down over and over and over again, but it was totally worth it to see Coop finally conquer this feat!

Summer is Here

It's summertime.  And I know Team Lamb will be doing a lot of this over the summer.  And, we'll have a little one hanging out in a bouncy chair, enjoying being splashed by his TWO big brothers.

Austin was so funny today.  We've pulled the pool out a couple of times and so far, he hasn't wanted to get in.  Same went for today.  He was perfectly content standing on the side and playing with toys, watching Coop jump in and out of the pool.  After awhile, we decided to move the pool over to the fort, under the slide.  It turns the slide into a water slide...awesome.  Coop went down the slide, landing with a huge splash into the pool at least 50 times, all while Austin watched and played on the second level of the fort.  He'd walk over to the slide, check it out, but then when Coop or I asked if he wanted to go down, we kept getting a sweet little, "no" from Austin Boo.  After about an hour, Austin was ready to get down from the fort, and reached out to me through the slide opening area.  Instead of just lifting him down, I picked him up and placed him about halfway down the slide, then helped him very slowly slide down and land in the pool.  The water baby awoke!  After that, he was ALL OVER the slide and jumping and splashing in the pool.  For the next hour, Austin was Mr. Fearless and had so much fun!  Coop and I loved watching him and hearing his squeals and giggles and funny little sayings..."All right!"  "Here go!"  "Whoa!"  "Weeeee!"  "Jump!  Big Jump!"  "Splash splash!"  So darn cute!  (I don't have any pics from our fort time.  I was helping Coop not go too fast down the slide and was then way too entertained by Austin to stop and grab my camera.  I got a cute couple of videos, at least, with my phone.)

 

 

 

 Popsicle time!!

Dressed by Big Brother

Coop picked out Austin's clothes on this particular day, and he was so excited and proud of his "farmer baby brother" that he actually asked me to take a picture of them together.  (And why does Austin look a little bit like a clown?  Because he took a big, huge tumble on the sidewalk and scraped his mouth and nose up quite a bit.  Poor little guy!)

Late Night Date with Austin

Oh, my little Austin Buddy.  Some weeks he's a great sleeper at night.  Sleeping 12-14 hours at night.  But other weeks, he can't go more than four hours without getting restless, fussy, and waking up.  Philip and I have struggled with going in to comfort him and rock him versus letting him work it out on his own, which risks a loud stretch during the night in which no one gets any sleep.  Ugh.  Super tough.  This particular night was during a two-week stretch when Austin was struggling at night.  He woke up just as Philip and I were heading to bed, maybe around midnight, and I couldn't seem to calm him down in his room.  He kept asking for milk, so I decided to go to the kitchen and we would just regroup.  So, that in turn led to our late date night with Austin Boo.  

We saw this face a lot (with awesome bedhead, by the way).

 We did a lot of this...

And we'd see this face again.

 And we cuddled a lot.

 And then...climbing on the couch.

 And playing with our favorite toys.

 

 And then this face again.

 And then he found some clothes to dress up in.

 

Several crackers, some milk and over an hour later, I finally got Boo settled and asleep back in bed.  Little Turkey.

04.20.2013