That's such a nice place

For some reason, the death of the lead saxophonist for the E Street band is a big conversation topic around here. Right before bed, Cooper and I had a deep discussion about it.

Cooper: The guy that played the saxophone died?
Me: Yeah, he died.
Cooper: What's he doing now?
Me: He's not doing anything. He's dead. Once you are dead, you don't do anything.
Cooper: Oh. People die. That guy died. That's very sad.
Me: Yes, but, people are saying nice things about him, so that makes it a little better.
Cooper: He's dead. So where did he go?
Me: Uhhh... well... when people die, usually they get buried deep under some dirt.
Cooper: Oh! That's such a nice place to be when you're dead!

A transcription

Matt is currently out biking with his friends. Cooper is in his room, fighting naptime, talking on his toy phone. I am on the other side of the door... right now. This is an actual transcription.

"Oh, you're there? I hear you. So you're going to be home after naptime. Good for you! I want to take a nap and after that you are gonna be here, OK Daddy? I'm gonna buy stuff for you with all these numbers and you hear that? You're gonna be home after naptime. OK sound good like a plan? Bye." (phone snaps shut)

"Oh hi. Yeah you're gonna be home after naptime. I have my naptime stickers and I'm gonna sleep with my new pillow. Are you biking with Ian? Ian is my friend too. He's very nice. After naptime you're gonna be home and play with me. Are you there? I hear you. OK bye." (phone snaps shut)

"Are you there? No? OK I'll see you later." (phone snaps shut)

"Hi Daddy. I'm gonna take a nap and then you need to be home after naptime so we can go play outside. Bye I taking a nap now." (phone snaps shut)

The end.

Grant's vocabulary

Grant is falling into the typical pattern for second child, in that he's mostly letting Cooper do the work of talking for him. He's remarkably adept at expressing his needs to Cooper, somehow. Big brother babble translator Cooper nails it on the head as much as I do, I think. Cooper often will be talking with Grant and then turn to me and say, "Grant says he wants a banana." And sure enough, the darn kid wants a banana. Of course, that's kinda cheating, because Grant will eat up to six full size bananas a day if we let him (rest assured we only let him do that once). But still.

One of the things I love the most about this is that Cooper is totally undaunted by Grant's five word vocabulary. You'd think it would be frustrating to live with someone that communicates exclusively by clapping, nodding, screeching, Doggie, Dada, Chicken, Blankey and You're Welcome, but somehow it works. Cooper holds complete conversations with Grant, including all sorts of input from Grant that may or may not actually be occurring in reality. I guess if you can engage a stuffed animal for two hours, an animate and babbling baby brother is a comparably delightful companion.

Our favorite part of the day, some days, is the early morning. On mornings when Cooper and Grant both wake up in a good mood, they'll chat with each other for easily 30 minutes, with Cooper handing various toys to Grant in his crib, laughing together, and being extremely cute. We often hear Cooper chiding Grant calmly about something in his big brother voice, "No Grant, we don't hit people," or "No Grant, we don't grab," which is always impressive. And recently, one morning, Grant got very agitated really quickly for some odd reason, and Cooper said, "Don't worry Grant! I'll get mama and she'll make you feel better!" and then he came up the stairs, told me that Grant needed my help, took my hand and forcibly dragged me out of bed to go get his brother. When we got there, Cooper announced, "See Grant? I got Mama and now you gonna feel so much better."

The sad kids

In the car, on the way home from daycare.

Cooper: Where is daddy?
Me: He's at work until after dinner.
Cooper: What does he do at work?
Me: Uh... well... uh... he helps kids that are feeling sad get better.
Cooper: How does he do that?
Me: I think mostly he talks to them.
Cooper: Oh, OK. That's great.

About 45 minutes later, out of the blue.

Cooper: Daddy helps the sad kids feel better by talkin' to them.
Me: That's right. Daddy helps them feel better.
Cooper: What does Daddy say to the sad kids?
Me: I don't know. What do you think he says?
Cooper: I know what he says. He says, "Hey guys, what's goin' on? What's happening over here that makes you feel so sad?"
Me: Then after that, what do the kids say?
Cooper: They feel better. And then they say "Thank you."

I told Matt about this and he said that essentially, Cooper is right. The only part that was kinda wrong was that teenagers basically never say "Thank you."

Hero worship

Grant looks up to Cooper like a god. We've seen some very funny results of this in the last few months, now that Grant is more or less able to imitate what Cooper is doing.

This weekend, we were all playing outside and Cooper decided he wanted to pee on one of the lilac trees. I told him to go ahead, so he pulled down his pants, grabbed the tree trunk so that he was leaning over appropriately to keep his pants dry, and peed. No problem- very well executed. Moments after Cooper had wandered away, Grant walked up to the same spot, pulled his pants up (from the ankle) to just above his knees, grabbed the tree, leaned over, and giggled loudly. He was so proud of himself. Look at me! I'm doing what Cooper was doing!

So proud

Another quote that had me stifling laughter this week happened as I was having lunch with Grant and Cooper. I was chatting with Grant and he kept reaching for my sandwich. After he reached for it a couple of times, I said, "Sure Grant, you can have a little piece if you want," tore off a small section, and handed it to Grant. Cooper looked at me and said, "Mom, I am so proud of you for sharing your shammish with Grant. That's what good mommies do."

I think we've probably said, "Cooper, I'm so proud of you for sharing your toys with Grant. That's what good big brothers do," about a thousand times. Apparently, it was heard loud and clear.

Two quotes

Cooper has said some gems since I got home from DC on Tuesday.

Over dinner yesterday...
Me: Do you want some string beans?
Cooper: Well mom, you've got two options. You can put string beans on my plate, or you can put string beans right here on the table.
Me: OK, uh (stifling laughter), I think I prefer the plate.
Cooper: That's great, mom. I'll have the string beans on the plate then.

This morning as I was helping Cooper get dressed.
Cooper: OUCH that hurts me!
Me: What? What hurt?
Cooper: Your hands are terribly icy. Please don't touch me with your hands. I don't like it.