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.