Happy Holidays to us

We've been reveling in the joys of the winter lately.

Cooper surprised us on Christmas by finally breaking through with his eighth tooth, and also learning to walk. Oh yes, after months of using the furniture to help him stay up, on the 25th he started taking two or three independent steps. As of today, he can walk by himself for at least six or seven little steps, maybe going about a yard and a half, before he loses his balance and plops onto his butt.

His horrible sleep regression that he developed after we got home from NY has finally gone away, too. Weeks of mommy torture reminiscent of having a newborn baby finally drove me to extreme measures- basically, I told Matt that I refused to nurse Cooper in time segments less than four fours apart, and that Matt would have to help me for a few nights. After about three nights of unpleasantry, Cooper snapped out of his odd pattern and went back to his previous sleep-eat schedule. Thank god. The best sleep he's ever gotten was a few days ago. He slept from 8pm to 4am, and then 4:15 to 8:15. It was so great! Usually we are closer to 8 to 2, 2:30 to 5, and 5:15 to 7:30, but that's fine with me.

Of all the great gifts we got, the best one is the ring stacking toy. Cooper is positively obsessed with it. His new game is to hide the rings in interesting places. So far I've watched him quietly stuff a ring in my boots, my slippers, Matt's jacket, my ski boots, underneath the somewhat mortified dog, in between the couch cushions, and under the rug. He also sometimes stacks them, which is refreshing. He has yet to make a full stack, but he's gotten two on at a time, which is a great start.