I have a million pictures to post from October and Halloween festivities, but I keep seeing funny things Cooper says or does and I can't handle the thought of him getting older and outgrowing some of his silly quirks.
1. The question "how old are you?" will produce one of two answers from Cooper. Either he'll say "two" and hold up his index finger and his pinky (because, I've learned, he lacks the coordination or fine motor skills to hold up his index and middle fingers together) or he'll tell you he's 4. At this point I'm pretty sure he's convinced himself he is actually 4, since he gives that answer more than the other one these days.
2. Soon after his recovery from surgery was over, we got bunk beds and moved Tyson into Cooper's room in preparation for the new baby. The transition actually went more smoothly than I anticipated, though we have hit a couple snags. One of those snags is that Tyson always went to bed with quiet music, and Cooper always had white noise. Cooper decided he's too big for white noise now, so he and Tyson decide together what to listen to every night. One night I went in to get them in bed and asked what they wanted. Cooper kept saying "rocket" and I had no idea what that meant. Finally Tyson told me Cooper was talking about rock n' roll. Tyson apparently taught him about it. Cooper went to bed that night mad at me that I wouldn't turn on rock n' roll.
3. One of our favorite Brighton basketball players had an accident a few months ago and ended up with some injuries that required a crazy contraption on his leg. Cooper came up to me a few days after we had visited Trevor with this train tunnel on his leg and announced to me that he was "Trebor".
4. Cooper helped me put together these stools for the boys lego table. Tyson finally decided Cooper is old enough to join in the lego fun. Cooper and I built a little house the other day and Cooper instructed me on where everything should go. He's a very deliberate child and I love him for it.
5. He talks all the time. Non-stop. He speaks in slurred English run-on sentences which we've mostly learned to interpret. We were reading 3 Nephi 3 the other night and Alex was explaining to the kids how the good guys were in the middle and the bad guys were in the mountains. Suddenly Cooper gave a 5 minute monologue about the bad guys in the mountains building gas stations and fire stations and the good guys had a wall and that's a wall, and that's a wall, and that's a wall and that's a door and that's a fridge, and that's a wall and something about toes and Wreck-It Ralph and the bad guys built a gas station in the mountains... He just talked and talked and didn't want to stop. He had us all rolling with laughter. And he's pretty much just like that. He talks a lot and makes us laugh and also frustrates us because he's so darn stubborn, but secretly we all love him for it.
6. Over the last several weeks he's become extremely interested in learning his ABC's. It all started when I had a Crock-Pot box sitting on the counter and he started pointing at the O's and saying it. So I taught him the rest of those letters. He was really excited that there was a C on it that matched the C on his shoe bucket in the mud room. From there he learned the rest of the first initials on the shoe buckets and he just went wild from there. He now knows all but maybe 4 or 5 of his upper-case letters. Any time he sees a letter that matches a shoe bucket he gets really excited and runs to the mud room. "I see a H for Holly!" I bought him a little foam ABC puzzle a couple weeks ago and I think that was the best dollar I've ever spent. He loves playing with those letters.
7. Cooper got to go to his very first BYU football game with Alex a few weeks ago and I've rarely seen him so excited. That boy was talking about it all morning and felt like one of the big kids. Now whenever he wears his BYU shirt he talks about going to the "BYU bupball game".
8. He loves shooting hoops in our basement. And I have to say that he's a pretty good shot for a 2 year old! He spends lots of time shooting, and sometimes he'll even share with Tyson. "Shoot a backetball!"
9. We spent a lot of time during his surgery recovery cuddling on the couch. Now he's back to his old self, but he still brings me a blanket at least a couple times a day and asks to cuddle on the couch. It makes me so happy. I will take the cuddles as long as he'll give them!
10. If Alex is eating or drinking something, Cooper stakes his claim. When Alex says no, Cooper will say "no, it's Coooooper's water" and drink it anyway. Alex always gives in. It's cute. :)
As much as I try to make him stay my baby, he won't stop getting older. He feels like one of the big kids and he's starting to act more like one these days. I sure love this little buddy.
