Love Letter to Cooper

Dear Cooper,

First off, let me say, you are so flippin' cute. I can't even stand it. I want to bite you (and sometimes I do, but not hard). Okay, now that that is out of the way...

I can't believe you are a one-year-old! Where did the last year go? When I see newborn babies out and about I always say to your dad, "Look at that baby! He/She is so itty bitty! I don't think Cooper was ever that small." But you were. You were tiny and helpless and needed to be held and swaddled and fed all the time. And I loved you. But now you are big toddler and HATE being confined and can feed yourself. And even though I don't know how it's possible, I love you even more..

You went from a blob (a cute, yummy smelling blob, but just a little blob) to a little mobile monster in the blink of an eye. You can walk (for the most part). I mean, you have shoes for crying out loud -- only big kids have shoes! You talk...speaking of which, remember when you used to say "moooooooooom, mooooom, moooooooom," over and over? Why now is it "dada, dada, dada" all day long? You even call me "dada." I think you and your dad have a secret pact or something. Whatever.

You are funny and make car noises, monkey noises, duck quacking noises and have a great vampire laugh. You like to feed me mushy bananas and crackers and I happily eat them.

You bang your forehead against my mouth when you want kisses (LOVE THIS).

You love to read...or love to listen to us read to you. You bring me a book and climb in my lap and lay your head back against my chest, like you are getting comfy for a nice, long book reading session and I love it.

You wait a really long time to do stuff that the stupid screening ladies say you should be doing and then when you start to do it, it's like your saying, "What? Clap? Oh, yeah. I've been able to do that forever. Did I forget to mention that? I can wave, too, watch. Oh, I can even clap to that song you always sing to me, the 'If your happy and you know it' song. Yeah, I've had that down forever. Sorry ma--- I mean dada! Did I forget to let you in on my secret. Whatev."

And, when you know you aren't supposed to do something, you look at me with those big eyes and you make your mouth into this little 'O' shape and stretch your hand out...just waiting for me to say, "No." And when I do you stop...for a second and then try again...and again...and again...and again until you finally win and touch/throw/pull whatever you weren't supposed to touch/throw/pull and get a smug little look on your face that says, "haha, I win." And you do. You win. You always win.

But, that's okay. That's you. You are crazy and perfect. And I love you.

But my favorite thing is when I put you to sleep at night, every night. Just you and me. No 'dada.' You cuddle in and look at me with those HUGE brown eyes and I kiss your head and you smile and I know you love me, too.

With all my love,

Mommy

{itty bitty coop & big, crazy, one-year-old coop}

Cooper Catch Up

You know you are a bad blogger when your overachieving blogger friend has to send you a Facebook message asking you to blog. :( LP, this is for you...

So, here's a little Coop catch up:

1. Cooper started daycare. He's doing really well. He is so flippin excited to see you when you pick him up. It kills me. What kills me even more is that I have drop off duty and when the hubs returns from his forever long business trip, he gets pick up duty.

2. Coop's has figured out how to open the pantry and tries to crawl in and/or pull everything out every chance he gets. This is apparently more fun than the hundreds of dollars of toys he has.

3. Cooper ate dog food. It was an accident. He shoved one lonely piece in his chubby cheeks and clamped down so hard I couldn't get that mouth open if my life depended on it. I had to watch him chew it up and swallow it. GROSS.

4. Apparently at daycare he crawls over to the kitchen area and then sits there looking up at the pantry until some one gives him a snack.

5. His first word was dog. This is all he has said thus far.

6. Between numbers 3, 4 & 5, do we see a pattern/problem? Does Cooper think he's a dog? Maybe.

7. Coop LOVES dance party with his Mommy. His favorite song is "You're the Best" by Drake (clean version of course) with the lyrics changed to "Coopie you the best, Coopie you the best." I now sing this to him in the car and he just smiles and laughs. :)

8. He doesn't it "baby food" any more. Even Miss Kiesha at daycare told me to only bring foods he can feed himself because other than yogurt and cereal, he doesn't like to eat mushy stuff. So, he's all about mac & cheese, chicken, cooked veggies and the kid LOVES watermelon.

9. His BFF at daycare is Sam. Sam is about Coop's age but BIGGER! Today when I picked him up they were bouncing around together. Too cute.

10. He is so freakin cute! Check it...

No More Fat Baby?

Friday was Cooper's nine month check up. He was just getting over a cold and has the remnants of an ear infection. Other than that, everything was fine...except apparently Cooper's too skinny! At 30.25 inches, he's in the 95th percentile for height [Dr. Mackey called him freakishly tall] but only in the 50th percentile for weight! He was 20 lbs. 11 oz. He should be closer to 25/26 lbs. I'm pretty sure that his weight is low because he didn't eat much while he was sick. However, I'm not sure he would have been at 26 lbs even if he hadn't been sick [he was closer to 22/23 lbs].

We had all noticed that Cooper had thinned out and chalked it up to him being active and mobile. Don't get me wrong, Cooper still got some extra meat on those thighs, but he's definitely not as chunky as he could be. Anyone who knows me knows I love me a fat baby. So, imagine how excited I was when Dr. Mackey told me to "fatten him up." YES! We go back in four weeks to recheck his weight. I'll keep you posted on my progress as I attempt to get Coop to full roly poly status.

{fat cooper}

{less fat cooper}

Cooper & Olivia

So far, Cooper only has one cousin, Olivia June daughter of John & Kate Biolsi in NYC. Olivia's 4th birthday was the reason for our trip back to NY earlier this month. Although Olivia's only met Cooper once before this most recent trip, she loves him. She refers to him as her brother and when we arrived she didn't care about us, it was all about Cooper.

She loves to touch his head. I don't know why, but she was always touching his head. And, she loves to take care of him. While we were in NY, she got his bed ready with a blanket and stuffed animal and she was always fixing snacks and drinks for him. One nite, he was asleep in the pack & play and she was in her room while the adults where out on the deck chatting and apparently Cooper woke up. Olivia came to get to tell us Cooper was crying and when I went to get him I found that she had already tried to comfort him by giving him a few stuffed animals and another blanket. Too cute!

Here are some of my favorite Cooper and Olivia pics. She's coming to California in November for Cooper's birthday and I can't wait to see her!

Worst Mommy Blogger Ever

I am truly the worst mommy blogger EVER. If I fancied myself a real mommy blogger (which I don't..I'm not clever enough nor do I post enough) and there was a governing board of mommy bloggers, I definitely be kicked out by now. At least it hasn't been a full month since my last post. So, what has happened with Chupie lately...

1. He has another new nick name -- Beep Beep. I actually really like this one and use it often. Except, now that he really responds to his name, I feel like I might be confusing him. He'll figure it out. He also has figured out what I mean when I say no...and listens!

2. He LOVES teething biscuits and bananas. He's not super fond of green veggies -- although he did just woof down a whole jar of peas and brown rice, so maybe he's turned a corner.

3. We are taking swim lessons and he seems to like it. And I love having an activity that just he and I do.
4. He is a crawling, standing machine! He's exploring all over and pulls himself into a standing position whenever he can get his hands on the couch, baby gate, window ledge, etc.
5. He loves to climb the stairs. It's super cute -- and he's really good at it -- but it is killing Mommy's back.

6. We recently saw our buddy Landon. It's been awhile since we last saw him, so he look a lot bigger and he can hold his own bottle. I love it!

7. Cooper took his second trip to the Arrowhead Resort and while we were there we finally got to meet Graham! He's about a year and a half and just too cute. And, I love that name!

8. He moved into a real carseat...he's just on the edge of being too big for the infant carrier seat and he seems to like this better anyway.

9. He things smashing his face against the mesh of the playpen is hilarious and laughs at himself, which makes me laugh and then he laughs at me.
10. Coop has gone to the worlds BEST sleeper to an average sleeper. He has been pushing his bed time later and later each night...tonight he went to bed at 9 p.m. And, he's been putting up a fight for his second and third naps. Hummm, I'm sure this is Daddy fault somehow!

Okay. You are up to speed on a day in the life of Beep Beep. I promise (to try) and post more often. I uploaded a ton of pics to shutterfly, so check it out... http://cooperjohnbiolsi.shutterfly.com/

Coopapotamus

A few weeks ago the hubs and I headed to Santa Monica for an adult only "staycation" [this is not my word, this is something I stole from one-eyed wonder). After a great night of sushi followed by a nice little wine bar, the hubs and I had a fabulous breakfast and headed to the farmer's market. There we found Jackapotamus, these oh-so-cute baby tees and onsies. We decided to throw down $16 for this organic cotton teaddy bear skull & crossbones tee for little man. It's so cute, I love it! Granted, Cooper is 7 months old and this tee is sized at 18 months old. But, Coop's big, the shirt is still a little big on him. They have some really fun designs. I personally like the one that says "Punk." It maybe my next purchase! If I had a girl, I'd be all over this Breakfast at Tiffany's tee, too.

That's my binky

A couple weeks ago, we were at a friend's house as was Coop's best bud Landon. They are kinda getting to an age where they are interacting, but mostly on accident. Landon usually tries to grab Cooper's face [so cute] and Cooper seems confused by the whole thing. That's because Lando's 6 weeks older and has more stuff figured out. Even though they don't actually "play" we sit them in front of each other, which we find entertaining.

Note the binky in the video. It's not Cooper's, but he seems to be intrigued by it. I love how it ends up in Landon's mouth by the end. The community binky!

Crawling is so last week

So, last Saturday Coopie started to crawl. My mom asked me if I was sad, because up until now every milestone he hits or pound he gains makes me realize I'm never going to get those tiny baby moments back. I've been know to shead a tear or two [or sob, but whatever]. But, the crawling didn't make me sad because it was so exciting. This is definitely the best age. He's cute, cuddly and super fun. He laughs when I tickle him like it's the best thing he's ever experience in the whole wide world and it melts my heart every time. But I digress...

Anyway, the day before yesterday, while sitting on my lap, baby Coop decide to to pull himself into a standing position using the toy music center, that's bigger than he is and sitting in front of us, to hold on to. This was exciting and scary. He was so proud of himself, looking back at me like, "Look what I just did, Mom!" But, this meant we were going to have to move the crib mattress down another notch [didn't we just do that a few weeks ago when he started sitting] and a realization that the crawling phase was going to go quickly. So, I was back to being sad when my baby boy starts to move ahead faster than I want him to or am ready for. I haven't had enough time to soak in the crawling, slow down, kid!

So, last night, I'm telling the hubs that we need to move the mattress down, he tells me I'm crazy, no way he's going to pull himself up, and if he does, no way he can fall out of the crib. Literally, right then, we look at the monitor and he's standing in the crib, holding onto the sides [yay for video monitors]. I RUN up the stairs to find this:

The hubs conceeds and at 8:30 p.m. we are moving his mattress down a notch. Now for the best part, as we are doing this, the hubs tells me that a guy from work just told him how their kid fell out of the crib because they didn't move the mattress down!

Me: Wait, you just had this conversation with Mike at work and he told you that his kid FELL OUT OF THE CRIB and you still didn't think Coop could do it?

Hubs: Well, he said his kid was fine and I still don't think Cooper could get himself over the rail.

Me: He has a big, heavy head! I don't think he's going to throw a leg over or anything, but he's going to lean over and that noggin is going to take him down and then, thud.

Hubs: Okay, okay.

I still theink we need to go down one more notch on the mattress, however, because this morning, when he decided not sleep for his morning nap, I went in to find this:

Please note that his mellon is higher then the top rail and he's only on his knees. What am I going to do with you, Chupie! :)

Babyfood Making Day

Sunday was baby food making day for the Coopster. I busted out the BabyCook and the organic peaches and apples I bought the day before [BTW, four organic peaches and four organic apples cost me about $10. Good thing it'll take him two weeks to eat it all]. I went to work steaming the peaches and apples, separately of course, and peeling the skin from the warm fruit, just like the baby cook book said to do. Yes, I have a baby cookbook, two in fact. Of course, I had to taste these tasty treats to make sure they were good enough for my little monster. It turned out so good! I told the hubs that we should steam the fruit and then put it over ice cream, YUM! The apples reminded me of apple pie and the peaches tasted like some kind of dessert tart. No wonder you are supposed to feed kids veggies before fruit. If I ate peaches first, I'd probably never eat peas either!

And he's mobile

So, This weekend was the official beginning to the end...Cooper has started to crawl. He is mobile. It is now 100 times more difficult to get dressed AND watch him in the morning. Check it out for yourself. This is from Saturday, when he finally figured out how to move his arms to go forward.

Now, just a few days later, he's a machine and getting around like nobody's business. Of course, he only crawls to objects that he wants that are out of his reach. He's not exploring yet or crawling to me, but I know that's coming soon enough. Right now, his favorite thing to check out is the dog bed in our room. I just know one day I'm going to find him curled up in there. Gross.