Cooper loves the stairs so much that Matt had to finally buck up and buy (and install) gates today.
I warned Matt that over the weekend, while Matt was taking his ski patroller tests, Cooper had developed an extreme love for the stairs. I told him many times this morning that Cooper could not be left alone for more than two seconds because of his new stair obsession. Apparently this did not sink in very well, as Matt ended up (to his horror) plucking Cooper off about the 5th stair sometime this morning. Cooper had apparently, in the time it took Matt to fill a glass of water and put a few things into the dishwasher, gone 1/3 up our stairs. It scared the crap out of Matt and he immediately said, "We're leaving to go buy gates."
So despite the -5 degrees weather my men went out to Home Depot and bought two industrial strength metal baby gates.
Now our house is a heck of a lot safer. And clang-i-er.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Consonant confusion
Cooper's pronunciation of "doggy" is very variable. Sometimes he hits the nail on the head, which startles our friends. "Doggie!" he'll say, confidently, and more than one of our friends have replied with "Wow!"
More often he has trouble with the G sound. He replaces it with a number of other noises. Sometimes he swallows the sound, and ends up saying "dah-(gulp)-nee." His most common mispronunciation is "dab-nee." He's good at making a B sound, and he likes saying "nee," so I think he says dab-nee not because he thinks that is what he wants to say, but because it is easy for him.
A common scene in our house goes like this-
Cooper crawls over to the dog, who is lying in front of the heater. He starts hitting the dog's back with an open hand (this is his attempt to pet the dog) and shouts Dabney! Dabney! Dabney! over and over again as he hits the dog. Lucky, to his credit, tolerates this for a while. Then, Cooper gets so excited that he tries to climb up onto the dog's back. Lucky doesn't really like this, so he gets up. Cooper gets knocked over and starts whimpering. Lucky licks his face and head while Cooper attempts to fend off the large stinky dog tongue that is attacking him by hiding his face in his shoulder. Lucky loses interest and wanders off. Cooper tries to crawl after him, saying Dabney! the whole time. Lucky moves out of sight. Cooper gets distracted by a fallen dishcloth and starts saying buh, buh, buh.
I told Matt today that we need one of those little jars and wands for making bubbles. Cooper says both buh and bub, so I think we could have a lot of fun teaching him to say bubbles. Or at least trying to.
More often he has trouble with the G sound. He replaces it with a number of other noises. Sometimes he swallows the sound, and ends up saying "dah-(gulp)-nee." His most common mispronunciation is "dab-nee." He's good at making a B sound, and he likes saying "nee," so I think he says dab-nee not because he thinks that is what he wants to say, but because it is easy for him.
A common scene in our house goes like this-
Cooper crawls over to the dog, who is lying in front of the heater. He starts hitting the dog's back with an open hand (this is his attempt to pet the dog) and shouts Dabney! Dabney! Dabney! over and over again as he hits the dog. Lucky, to his credit, tolerates this for a while. Then, Cooper gets so excited that he tries to climb up onto the dog's back. Lucky doesn't really like this, so he gets up. Cooper gets knocked over and starts whimpering. Lucky licks his face and head while Cooper attempts to fend off the large stinky dog tongue that is attacking him by hiding his face in his shoulder. Lucky loses interest and wanders off. Cooper tries to crawl after him, saying Dabney! the whole time. Lucky moves out of sight. Cooper gets distracted by a fallen dishcloth and starts saying buh, buh, buh.
I told Matt today that we need one of those little jars and wands for making bubbles. Cooper says both buh and bub, so I think we could have a lot of fun teaching him to say bubbles. Or at least trying to.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Happy 9 months, little man!
Today is Cooper's 9 month-i-versary. Here are two big achievements in the last few days;
- He has said his first word, out loud and very proud, over and over and over again. It is "doggy." Congratulations Lucky! Good dog.
Note that Cooper's first uttered word was Da-da, but he still doesn't seem to mean it when he says it. Da-da comes out of his mouth constantly, like a running commentary. With doggy, however, he says it as the dog walks by or while he is petting the dog.
- He has finally learned how to lower himself off our bed safely. After months of coaching and practice with Mom and Dad, Cooper now crawls to the edge of the bed, turns himself 180 degrees, flattens himself to the bed, extends a leg cautiously, and gently slips off the bed without crashing painfully to the floor. This is so cool to watch! He finally learned it! We are very proud of him. Sometimes he flubs it, so I still keep a close eye to prevent nose-dives, but he's over the 50/50 mark now. Such a coordinated kid!
- He has said his first word, out loud and very proud, over and over and over again. It is "doggy." Congratulations Lucky! Good dog.
Note that Cooper's first uttered word was Da-da, but he still doesn't seem to mean it when he says it. Da-da comes out of his mouth constantly, like a running commentary. With doggy, however, he says it as the dog walks by or while he is petting the dog.
- He has finally learned how to lower himself off our bed safely. After months of coaching and practice with Mom and Dad, Cooper now crawls to the edge of the bed, turns himself 180 degrees, flattens himself to the bed, extends a leg cautiously, and gently slips off the bed without crashing painfully to the floor. This is so cool to watch! He finally learned it! We are very proud of him. Sometimes he flubs it, so I still keep a close eye to prevent nose-dives, but he's over the 50/50 mark now. Such a coordinated kid!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy 40 weeks minus two days!
It is official- as of this evening, Cooper has spent as much time "on the outside" as he did in the oven. Yeeee haw!
Today he celebrated by standing independently for over 30 seconds in a row on a few occasions, saying "Dog-gee" to the dog about 100 times, and saying ma-ma once very quietly. I just about peed myself with happiness. Which, given the very mild but undeniable changes to my bladder control resulting from running a nearly nine pound baby through a very small opening, wasn't all that hard to do.
In other news- friends and family are announcing fun stuff left and right. Here's a list...
- Brother-in-law got engaged! Cool!
- My sister is baking baby #2. Due in May. No word on gender yet.
- Our friend and neighbor found out its gonna be a BOY!! Yippee a little boy buddy for Cooper! They are working on the name so I won't reveal, but one of the idea-names they gave is a great name and I give it two thumbs up. Definitely not on my "what-the-hell?" list of idiot things to name a baby.
- Another neighbor who we don't know all that well but want to get to know better because she and her husband and their 3 year old boy seem cool is having kid #2 in July. Neat! We'll have more to talk about, maybe.
- Only two more months until another friend's baby, to be named Hannah, is due. I view the house of these friends as our personal storage unit. Every time Cooper outgrows a toy or gear, we give it to them. I think they have a whole room dedicated to Cooper's old stuff, in prep for Hannah. It saves us the space, and them the money, so its win-win. They promise to give it all back eventually. Bonus! Might even get the newborn stuff back in time for neighbor babies.
Today he celebrated by standing independently for over 30 seconds in a row on a few occasions, saying "Dog-gee" to the dog about 100 times, and saying ma-ma once very quietly. I just about peed myself with happiness. Which, given the very mild but undeniable changes to my bladder control resulting from running a nearly nine pound baby through a very small opening, wasn't all that hard to do.
In other news- friends and family are announcing fun stuff left and right. Here's a list...
- Brother-in-law got engaged! Cool!
- My sister is baking baby #2. Due in May. No word on gender yet.
- Our friend and neighbor found out its gonna be a BOY!! Yippee a little boy buddy for Cooper! They are working on the name so I won't reveal, but one of the idea-names they gave is a great name and I give it two thumbs up. Definitely not on my "what-the-hell?" list of idiot things to name a baby.
- Another neighbor who we don't know all that well but want to get to know better because she and her husband and their 3 year old boy seem cool is having kid #2 in July. Neat! We'll have more to talk about, maybe.
- Only two more months until another friend's baby, to be named Hannah, is due. I view the house of these friends as our personal storage unit. Every time Cooper outgrows a toy or gear, we give it to them. I think they have a whole room dedicated to Cooper's old stuff, in prep for Hannah. It saves us the space, and them the money, so its win-win. They promise to give it all back eventually. Bonus! Might even get the newborn stuff back in time for neighbor babies.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Playing catch-up
Well, we are back. My life is starting to resemble itself again- days spent balancing work and baby, nights spent sleeping. Cooper hasn't made any giant leaps in his development in a while, but he is getting so much better at everything he does. Here's the laundry list of recent developments.
Inserting snacks into mouth
In recent weeks, he's moved from being barely able to get food near his mouth to expertly inserting anything (and everything) in there. Matt found him eating a large, dessicated, and extremely dead bug the other day. Cooper has also started to offer food to us and let us eat it (Smiling, offering a cheerio, waiting for us to nibble it out of his sticky fingers, and then looking all proud that he fed mommy something). It is really cute.
Practicing walking
He still cannot walk all by himself, but give the kid a steady hand or a well designed push toy and he's off running. After watching him delight in the push toys at both grandparent's places, we borrowed the clacky-alligator wooden push toy that our friend's little boy recently outgrew and man, does Cooper like it! He squeals with joy as he runs pell-mell around the house, clacking and skidding around.
Saying Da-da and Dah-ghee
Yes, Mama is apparently third best to Daddy and Doggy. These two are quite recognizable and often said while looking in the appropriate location. I think he's got those sounds down pat. He almost never says the "em" sound- for whatever reason, it seems to be hard for him to make that syllable.
Being clingy
Spending 10 days away from home made our little monster quite dependent on my presence. What can I say, the kid loves me.
Asserting his independence
Oh no, you don't DARE feed Cooper applesauce with a spoon. He needs to feed himself. Which is an unbelievably messy and inefficient experience. I've found myself washing the floor, the curtains, the baby, all the baby's clothing, my pants, two bibs, the entire highchair and the dog's head after only a single serving. What blows my mind is that Cooper was a very obedient and patient eater in New York. Hardly ever refused to eat something, ate very calmly, etc. Now that we are back home... oh my god. Complete temper tantrum if you try to bring a spoon to his mouth. He actually flung a bowl at the dog in anger (poor dog). I'm counting on this being a phase that will pass. Or he'll just need to get better with a spoon really, really fast.
Drinking water from a cup
He can drink water from a cup all by himself. He spills some, but truely most of it goes into his mouth without choking, coughing, or anything. It is amazing. He's not even 9 months old! We took a video of it and will post that soon.
Standing up without anything to balance him
Cooper first stood unaided just a few days before Halloween, but he's been pretty tentative about it until the last week or so. Now he frequently stands for 5 - 10 seconds without touching anything. Typically he is holding a rag or toy while he does this, which I think might distract him from the achievement. It seems like when he notices he's been standing unaided he gets nervous- kind of like when a kid sees that Dad is no longer holding onto the back of the bike, they crash.
Inserting snacks into mouth
In recent weeks, he's moved from being barely able to get food near his mouth to expertly inserting anything (and everything) in there. Matt found him eating a large, dessicated, and extremely dead bug the other day. Cooper has also started to offer food to us and let us eat it (Smiling, offering a cheerio, waiting for us to nibble it out of his sticky fingers, and then looking all proud that he fed mommy something). It is really cute.
Practicing walking
He still cannot walk all by himself, but give the kid a steady hand or a well designed push toy and he's off running. After watching him delight in the push toys at both grandparent's places, we borrowed the clacky-alligator wooden push toy that our friend's little boy recently outgrew and man, does Cooper like it! He squeals with joy as he runs pell-mell around the house, clacking and skidding around.
Saying Da-da and Dah-ghee
Yes, Mama is apparently third best to Daddy and Doggy. These two are quite recognizable and often said while looking in the appropriate location. I think he's got those sounds down pat. He almost never says the "em" sound- for whatever reason, it seems to be hard for him to make that syllable.
Being clingy
Spending 10 days away from home made our little monster quite dependent on my presence. What can I say, the kid loves me.
Asserting his independence
Oh no, you don't DARE feed Cooper applesauce with a spoon. He needs to feed himself. Which is an unbelievably messy and inefficient experience. I've found myself washing the floor, the curtains, the baby, all the baby's clothing, my pants, two bibs, the entire highchair and the dog's head after only a single serving. What blows my mind is that Cooper was a very obedient and patient eater in New York. Hardly ever refused to eat something, ate very calmly, etc. Now that we are back home... oh my god. Complete temper tantrum if you try to bring a spoon to his mouth. He actually flung a bowl at the dog in anger (poor dog). I'm counting on this being a phase that will pass. Or he'll just need to get better with a spoon really, really fast.
Drinking water from a cup
He can drink water from a cup all by himself. He spills some, but truely most of it goes into his mouth without choking, coughing, or anything. It is amazing. He's not even 9 months old! We took a video of it and will post that soon.
Standing up without anything to balance him
Cooper first stood unaided just a few days before Halloween, but he's been pretty tentative about it until the last week or so. Now he frequently stands for 5 - 10 seconds without touching anything. Typically he is holding a rag or toy while he does this, which I think might distract him from the achievement. It seems like when he notices he's been standing unaided he gets nervous- kind of like when a kid sees that Dad is no longer holding onto the back of the bike, they crash.
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