2 Year Stats

I forgot to update Cooper's stats for his 2 year check-up.
Head circumference is 18 1/4 in - 5th percentile
Length is 35 in. - 68th percentile
Weight is 24 lbs. - 8th percentile

Lia said that she is no longer worried about his weight - Hooray!. He is following the same curve visit after visit so she thinks he is just going to be tall and skinny - that's just how he is.

He is definitely saying two word sentences which is a milestone that he should have reached, saying at least 50 words (yep!), and throwing and kicking a ball (yep!) to name a few milestones. In other words, he's right on target.

Some cute things that he does now:
-Has always been a blankie kid but never attached to just one. Instead, he wants them ALL in his bed or to go places with him now.

-Tells me stories about things he remembers in his little few-word sentences.... eating potatoes at Aaron and Rachel's house (did he do this, y'all?), getting flowers at the farm (yes, we actually did this), and seeing Thomas at the park (our park has a real live engine that the kids can explore) He calls it "Amas Choo Train" as in Thomas the choo choo train or "Hercy Choo Train" as in Percy the choo choo train for those of you familiar with Thomas.

- He calls himself alternating Hooper and Pooper. Lovely. A nickname that we didn't even think about. Praying for other kids to never think of this one.

-Is very social and talks constantly. Our house is um... lively...and loud... and we wouldn't have it any other way!

-Is fairly neat. He is a great help putting his toys away. Eating though, not so much. Of course, I did find my sunglasses in Sean's shoes yesterday...

- He sings Jesus Loves Me with us at night and is so, so, so cute.

- He can correctly identify all but 9 of his letters. This is way early and honestly we haven't really worked on it that much. We have the Leap Frog fridge magnets and it sings the ABC song and says the letter every time he puts one in. It has been one of his favorite toys for a while - gets played with at least daily and we just piggy back off of this to point out letters where ever we go (The "E" on the Fed Ex truck, All of the letters on the "Waffle House" sign at the restaurant down the road, etc.)

-Colors are another story. He knows pink for sure and everything used to be blue but now everything is green, so we're still working on it.

-He can count to 10 pretty consistently. Not sure that he can associate the number 1 with one actual object but he likes to count. Hooray for number awareness, I say.

-Sean taught him to say, "You da man!" and thinks that it is his greatest trick ever. My dad thought it pretty much rocked too.

-He explores everything - has to check out every last square inch - over, under, around - wants to see it all. Curiosity is a great skill to have so we're going with it, but it sure keeps us on our toes.

-When you ask him how old he is, he proudly replies, "two"

-Can say, "Wove you" or "I you" ... Awww... melt my heart - I love you too, son.

Trippin'

In early April, Sean had a conference at the Grove Park Inn for work. It's close to home so we got some great extended time with our families and got to enjoy a place that where had always wanted to stay. Both of our parents chipped in and kept Cooper some so that we could have some time together, which was great. We only managed one picture the entire time we were there so see the first picture below of Cooper in front of the gigantic fire place.

We also visited Baa Moo Farm last week with our Trips for Tots group and had a fabulous hands-on time with the animals and just all around the farm. Such a great place to visit - highly recommend it! The way that they provide so many hands on experiences for kids from feeding a calf a bottle, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs from the hens, milking a cow, petting anything and everything, and taking a hay ride, were all totally appropriate for kids Cooper's age and he loved every minute of it!

Cooper Turns 2!

Firetrucks were the theme for the party this year. In our town the fire truck will come to a birthday party, etc. as part of their public service. Cooper LOVES fire trucks - well, any trucks really - so he was elated that a fire truck pulled up to his party.

We held the party at our church fellowship hall so we had access to the playground. Playground + Fire Truck = A Happy Boy. I think it was a near perfect day in his book!

I took some cues from these girls and had coordinating theme food with little sign descriptions:
Hot Dogs - The firehouse dogs
Chili - Fire Alarm Chili
Cheetos and Pretzels - Flames and Twisted Hoses
Fruits and Veggies - Fireman Treats
Drinks - Fire Extinguishers

We kept the decorations simple with balloons and streamers accented throughout the room and party favors of a balloon, fire hat, and a sticker fire station design sheet from Oriental Trading. The fire fighters also brought a coloring book and sticker badge for everyone. Sean's mom made a great fire truck cake and we all had a wonderful day. Happy 2nd Birthday, Cooper!!

Happy Belated Easter 2010

Family Time

We have had some sweet family time lately. A few weeks ago, we spent some time together at the Natural Science Center in Greensboro and had a great morning exploring together.