Cooper the Great Entertainer

I have a couple of pictures but quite a few videos (above) to add from the last few days. Cooper is really starting to take to the camera so he will totally ham it up when he sees I'm taking his picture. He's also become really good at making up his own fun games and by fun I mean fun for him and slightly frightening for me.....have a look....

A penny for your thoughts

Is this face an indication of a miserable morning in the Bedilion household? Surprisingly no! In our quest to find sleep Cooper has managed to obtain a full size grown up bed all to himself. Yep, he went from crib to toddler bed to big boy/grown up bed all in about 5 weeks time. After some scientific research (aka Steve sleeping on Cooper's floor for a few nights) we came to the conclusion that some of the lack of sleep could be attributed to Coop's crazy/violent sleeping habits. 1. He routinely falls out of his toddler bed 2. this could be from the fact that he is constantly turning and stretching and rolling and kicking and walking and talking in his sleep. For those of you who have said "wow, he really never stops moving" when they are graced with his presence you now know that it continues while he sleeps too! Amazing? Yes! Surprising? No! So Cooper is now sleeping a little bit better in a big bed now that he can turn and roll as much as he would like without falling out (kind of). But in the same weekend we welcomed the new bed we also welcomed our first double ear infection of the season and of course some more teething. He was actually pushing on his ears so hard from the pain of his teeth and the fluid in his ears that his ears bruised on both sides!

So back to the picture. This morning Coop was his normal self but in the car he just got really quiet, didn't bother watching his elmo dvd and wanted nothing to do with his bottle. When I looked back at him, this was the only face he was making the entire trip to daycare. For a while I was a little concerned but when I went to take him out of his seat I realized that he must be getting another tooth because he was gnawing on the pads on his seat straps! As soon as we got into daycare he jammed a fake plastic donut into his mouth. Hungry? Well probably but the way he crammed it onto the one side just confirmed to me that he's got something coming through his gums. Here we go again.........

In a developmental note: Cooper can now identify pretty much all of his body parts (will try to get on video). He is particularly fascinated by "eye" which he enjoys saying while trying to gouge mine and his out with his finger. He has extended is vocabulary to "don't" and clearly says "no" when before he would just shake his head no. Here is a list of words that he says well that I can remember:

Pappy

Daddy

Mama

Nana

nana (banana) sometimes gets a little confusing

eye

doggy

donkey

kitty

ball (also used to describe most fruit)

baby

apple

Buddy (the dog)

truck

book

side (means outside)

hot

shoe (current obsession with putting shoes and socks on so far, unsuccessful)

sock

Uh oh

ow-y

bubble (this word will stop a temper tantrum in its tracks)

Who Needs Teeth?

Our struggle with teeth continues sleepless night after sleepless night. Cooper hand is chapped and split from him chewing on his finger constantly and on top of that it seems he might have a touch of a cold. He may have shared the cold with me as well or we are both suffering from allergies, either way he's miserable and I'm miserable. The misery definitely appears in the evenings so during the day we are graced with a mostly pleasant Cooper. He's vocabulary and skills are continuing to grow by leaps and bounds and he pretty much gabs non stop even if it is a little bit of jibberish. Here are some pictures from his Friday with Daddy:

Something in the water?

I found this picture on my phone and thought it was pretty hilarious. I don't know exactly what was happening at that moment but based on the expression on Steve's face I think there was a chance that Coop had just farted in the water! Classy!

A two post day.....

Finally the blog is updated and there are pictures!!!! Enjoy the two new posts....

Labor Day!

Cooper waving to his fans......

It was very much a laboring kind of weekend for me. Steve and Coop went to Seven Springs to watch the 24 hour mountain bike race for most of Saturday and Sunday and I stayed home to try to finish getting the house settled. I painted (with the help of my mom) and put curtains up, finished Coop's room and put pictures on the wall. I think that for the most part it's kind of done. I just have a few minor finishing touches that shouldn't take up too much time. But with the house to myself for 24+ hours I worked and worked and cleaned and cleaned and now I'm thoroughly exhausted! At least I accomplished something though.

Cooper and Steve had a great time camping together. Apparently camping makes little boys hate their Mommy's though. I thought Coop would be super happy to see me when he got home on Sunday, especially since we seem to be in a major "mommy" phase but he pretty much completely ignored me and threw a huge fit when he saw he was home. My child lives and breathes for the outdoors. He slept through the night in his tent and was happy as a lark eating dirt, throwing rocks, standing on the podium and cheering on the crazy bastards that think riding a bike on a mountain for 24 hours is a good time. We have pictures of our future Tour de France champion and/or the next Bear Grylls.......and you wonder why he'll probably be our only child?!

Catch Up

I'm going to try to fit as much in as I can but it's been a little tough especially since it's only 9:45 and Cooper has already been up 3 times since he fell asleep at 8:30. The new house is wonderful. It's close to everything but it feels secluded and private. We have neighbors all around us but other than the sound of crickets and the central air unit from our neighbors we don't hear a thing. Cooper has a play room now that he really seems to enjoy. I love it just b/c the toys don't clutter up our living room and I don't have to constantly clean them up or step on them or over them. The only downside to all the transition has been his sleeping. Especially since he went camping with Steve this weekend he doesn't want to sleep in his bed at all. I'm not sure if it's his bed, his room, or just the age but I am feeling a bit of stress from it all.

In the midst of our move we also managed to go on a great, big family vacation. I think that this vacation was probably the most successful one we've had as a Lemmon family. No major castastrophes, blow ups, or even a minor fight (that I know of). The house seemed to fit a little bit of everyone's personalities and it was really a good time. Cooper thoroughly enjoyed his first vacation. He may have been a fish in another life b/c getting him out of the water/pool/sink/hot tub/and even a hose was quite a job. I packed plenty of clothes for him but he was pretty much only in his swim trunks, swim diaper, diaper or just naked the entire week. Since there were 15 of us there, someone was always willing to entertain him or vice versa and it was quite lovely for his mom and dad :). I'm trying to think of all the new things he has picked up but everyday its really something and he's just growing so fast. He did discover ducks while we were on vacation so now all things with wings are ducks and he'll even quack a little for you if you ask. He also likes to jump into the pool from the side and he seems to have the knack of kicking down and will even hang onto the side of the pool on his own and work his way around to where he wants to go. I'm looking forward to opening our pool at the house next summer b/c it was something we will all definitely enjoy. One surprising bit of our vacation, on the way down we were stuck in the worst traffic imaginable and what was supposed to be a 5 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive and who wants to be stuck in the car for 12 hours with a 16 month old? We do! We do! Cooper Jay was a total rock star on the way down and didn't throw a single major fit the entire time! Here are pictures!!!