First full week

This was Cooper's first full week (3 days, really) at daycare. There were ups and downs, but he seems no worse for the wear and the people at daycare were very encouraging. When I picked him up on Thursday afternoon, he was using his special blanket to stand on as he carefully emptied out an entire drawer of plastic cups. He was happy to see me, but was so intent with the cups that he couldn't figure out what to do. Mom- cups- mom- cups... eeek! decisions!

The staff said Thursday was the worst start, but the best day. He apparently threw an utter fit when Matt left of screaming, sobbing and kicking. But after a few minutes, he calmed down, and had a great day. Ate his snacks, had some lunch, napped for two hours, and then had a good afternoon of playing in the kitchen with cups. He even laughed, which was a first at daycare for him, and the staff said he was "very cute today."

So I think it is going pretty darn well. I'm relieved that he does the things he needs to do- sleep, eat, staying calm. All the other stuff- making friends, having fun, etc- those things will come with time.

Better, and a report from the field

I'm feeling a lot better then I did Thursday and Friday, but I'm still quite sick. The biggest improvement is that I slept pretty well last night, and was able to take an uninterrupted nap this afternoon. I've got high hopes for feeling nearly like myself tomorrow- we'll see how that goes.

The reports from NY have been very encouraging. Cooper has a runny nose and a sneezy cough, but isn't anywhere near as sick as I've been. He did really well on the flights, has slept well at night, and took a whopping 3 1/2 hour nap when Grandma R was watching him (while Matt was at a friend's wedding). Matt sounds like he's having a good time seeing friends and refereeing the play between Cooper and cousin Jacqueline. Today the family is over in Western NY for a family reunion of sorts, and last I heard Cooper was being fawned over by around 17 great aunts.

I've recently embarked on a quest for chemical free rubber ducky for the bath, and I've been really disappointed. I have a few more stores to check on, but frankly, (and this will really only make sense to Missoulians and my parents) if Rockin' Rudy's doesn't have the right kind of rubber ducky, who will???

Two things

1) Of course, the first day I've had to myself, at home, in over 17 months... and I come down with a brutal head cold, complete with a very sore throat and extremely uncomfortable pressure in my left sinus.

2) In 2008, for the State of Montana, "Cooper" was the 26th most popular boy's name, with 35 newborns being named that... make that 36 newborns, if you count us. Actually, ff you did count us, Cooper would be upgraded to name rank 23, right behind Tyler, Gavin and Dylan.

Interesting!

Phew!

Apparently, Cooper's first day at daycare went pretty well. He refused to eat all morning, but he did play some, and did take a nap when it was naptime. He ended up waking up from his nap before the other kids, so the daycare owner and him just hung out- and then Cooper decided to wolf down a ton of food. He was very relieved to see me in the afternoon, but not horribly clingy or panicky.

When we got home, he was pretty much himself. We played with his new awesome toy dump truck in the mini gravel pit (his favorite spot in our yard) and had a nice snack. He ended up eating two full dinners, including spaghetti with sauce on it, which he normally eschews.

We did an early bedtime because he seemed really tired, and he ended up sleeping for 12 hours and 1 minute. Matt and I had a lovely breakfast all by ourselves as Cooper slept, which is the first time we've done that since Cooper was born! Amazing.

Matt reports that Cooper was nervous but not panicky when he got dropped off this morning. I think this transition is going to go pretty well. I'm really happy that Cooper's reaction to his first day seemed smooth and normal.

Today is torture

Today is Cooper's first day at daycare. It is a lovely place with lots of slides, tricycles, organic food and nice kids. It always looks clean and tidy when I pop in to drop off a form, or let Cooper hang out in prep for his big day.

I'm sure he's fine. It is a gorgeously cool crisp post-thunderstorm summer day, so I know the kids are all out in the yard. I know he had a good dinner last night, and a good breakfast, and is appropriately dressed. But I'm totally useless.

I can't get anything done. I'm counting down the hours to 4pm when I can go pick him up. I'm thinking of him getting nervous with all the new people and new experiences. I'm worried he won't eat lunch, or won't nap, or won't be able to enjoy himself because he's so overwhelmed. Basically, I'm being a typical parent surviving the first day with her kid at daycare.

I'm glad, though, that we were able to wait this long. Cooper can be very independent lately, so even though he is rather shy I am convinced that he will enjoy his time with the other kids. And I remembered to pack his precious favorite blanket so he has it for naptime, which is probably the only thing he really needs from us today.

He's also watching the dog

Cooper learns from what he sees. And he sees the dog doing a lot of things. Cooper has already tried to drink water from a puddle on top of an overturned canoe after watching Lucky do that, but today was even more impressive.

After throwing most of his lunch onto the floor in a fit of frustration, Cooper was demanding to get out the high chair. So, feeling defeated, I let Cooper out of the high chair and let Lucky in to clean up the macaroni elbows and cucumber slices blanketing our kitchen. Lucky, being a dog, started hoovering up the macaroni. Cooper, being a very funny kid, put some things together in his head for the first time ever- and got down on all fours, bent his head to the ground, and started sucking wet, dirty cucumber slices off the kitchen floor and eating them. There they were, together, cleaning up lunch. I have to admit that instead of making the two of them stop, I just laughed at them. At least I know Matt mopped pretty recently.

Cooper's vocabulary expanded in the last few days. His previous sum total of spoken words (Mama, Dada, Doggie, Water, and "That") now has nearly doubled. He's added Bird, Chicken, Kittie, Moon, Balloon, and "Mooo" (for his favorite picture of a cow). These words are not pronounced very well, so I could also rewrite them as Burr, Did-den, Did-eee, Ooon, Dah-ooon, and Mmmmm.

My favorite is Bird, because he says it with such certainty. He sees a sparrow and points to it, and declares "Burr!" in this soft, hushed, gentle way. It almost sounds like a cat purring. But he's sure of the bird, and so if you ask him what he sees, he'll repeat "Burr!" very surely, but quietly. I'm not sure how this became the right way to say Bird to him- I don't think that Matt and I sound quite hushed and reverent around birds, but maybe we do.

He's watching you

A few days ago, I saw Cooper walking around with an outlet cover in his hand. This didn't really worry me, but I could see the empty outlet, so I took it and plunked it back into the outlet for safety. He walked over and pulled it right back out, like no big thing. Somewhat miffed (and rather surprised) I told Cooper that wasn't a good idea. So he did the next logical thing- he puzzled for a second at it, and then stuck it back into the socket. Perfectly. And then looked at my proudly, as if to say, "I'm pretty good at that!"

Sigh. Might have to get some of those fancy spring loaded covers for the outlets that are most likely to be a real hazard to him.

He's been watching us carefully lately, and doing things he has no business knowing how to do. This is only one example. He's also learned how to get the lid off his cheapo sippy cup (there goes the practicality of THAT), the tops open on dad's bike water bottles (thank god it is summertime), and my favorite for sheer amusement- how to drink from a Camelbak. This from a kid that steadfastly refused a bottle for six months! It took a single day of watching Matt and I use a camelbak on a day hike, and by the end of the day he was grabbing the hose, gently biting the nozzle, and drinking all the water he wanted.

These examples all involve drinking water, I know, but that isn't all. He also has figured out that Mom likes to pull the heads off of flowers (sort of) so now he wanders the garden, beheading the blooms. And Dad likes to move dirt, so Cooper scoops up dirt with his buckets, shovels, tiny trowel, and plastic spoon, and dumps it in random spots.

Most horrifyingly, I de-pooped the backyard in full view of my child. Guess who learned that picking up poop was something he should try? Ugh. Luckily, I've been able to dissuade him from trying this again (so far). And also luckily, it is very very dry here, so while it is gross, it isn't... shall we say... extremely gross.

Belated friend baby announcement, and more

I just realized I forgot to mention that another friend of ours had a baby, about a month ago- a day or two before we left town. Baby Mattea (Mah-TAY-ah) Beatrice (last name starts with G) was born weighing 7lb, 6oz. Her name is in honor of her father's mom (her grandmother), who passed away a few months before Mattea was born. Her nickname is Tea, pronounced "TAY-ah." If I could make Google's blogger add an accent to the E in her name, it would make so much more sense!

While Tea is working hard to fool me into thinking she's an easy kid (by always, without fail, being asleep for the duration of the time that I visit my friend's house to help out), I know that is not the case. Tea isn't a good sleeper even by newborn standards, and my friend's three or four (or more?) visits to the lactation consultant have been helpful, but not an easy fix. However, the latest report is that Tea is starting to sleep a bit better, and her weight gain is really good so even though she's a troublesome little nurser, she's getting plenty in there somehow.

I also just found out that a friend of mine that had a baby earlier this year has been having some really serious mood issues, which is hard to hear. Balancing a new baby, work, family, stresses... it is so hard no matter what, but when you add severe and prolonged mood swings- that just sounds awful to me. Luckily for her, she is a very pragmatic and straightforward person, so she is getting therapy, acknowledging that this is not normal, and seeking lots of help. I'm really hoping she sees improvement with her state of mind soon, of course.

On the brighter side, Cooper's drippy yucky nose finally cleared up and, as hoped, his rather unphotogenic habit of leaving his tongue sticking out all the time also disappeared. I was very suspicious that the two were related! Now if only I could get rid of my extremely bad seasonal allergies this year, we'd all be congestion free!