Keeping Up With Cooper

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Sassy Developments

This is a no nap week. Cooper is on a nap strike and am struggling with it. I need to change the routine of his naps because I usually lay down with him for a bit and then leave the room. This frustrates me if he doesn't nap because I feel like I am wasting my time and then he goes into quiet time. I am going to change this to having him go in his room for rest time by himself. I've been under the impression that he's tired and will nap when I lay down with him, that isn't the case this week. Rest time will make for a calmer Mommy with this routine, I hope.
Cooper is very sassy these days. It isn't 100% of the time, he actually is fun to be around most of the day. His sassiness is saying no to everything, not taking to choices, and the tone of his responses. My tactics aren't working this week or maybe I'm not being consistent.


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Labor Day Weekend

We went camping at Panther Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot Forest this weekend.  It's just outside of Carson, WA and our friends Susan and Kerry joined us Sat-Mon. We unfortunately didn't take many pictures.  Here is the morning routine:

Our days consisted of throwing rocks in the creek, exploring the forest, sitting by the fire, riding our bikes, playing catch, cribbage and Sequence.
When we came home, Oma and Grandpa came into town for the night.  Cooper attached himself to Oma immediately and they read many stories together.

 We were sad to see them leave this morning, but they will be back in town on Saturday.

Fun with Larkin

Here are a few pictures of Cooper and Larkin at the park past week.








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World Forestry Center

I took Cooper to the World Foresty Center today, it was only $2 admission the first Wednesday of the month. It was fun to check out but we only lasted an hour. Cooper loved sitting in the tractor.


Upstairs they had a train, boat, jeep and crane basket that take you to different parts of the world. I wanted to watch the videos of each country but Cooper only wanted to drive the jeep. He picked up his friends Susan and Kerry in make believe land and we went to South Africa. I am excited to come back to the museum when he is older, there is a lot of cool stuff there. After that museum Cooper played on the train with some other kids before walking to the Children's Museum. It was packed there so we didn't stay very long. Cooper played with the train table, the ambulance and the water area. Fun morning on this rainy Wednesday. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happenings

We had a hectic week last week with the wake and several dinners with the Atherly/Shirey clan. Cooper had a nap strike all last week and I think it caught up to him because he ended Saturday night and Sunday with a low grade fever. He is a pretty good sick kid, he was lethargic and mainly just wanted to be snuggled by his mommy and mama. By Monday he was 90% and Tuesday back to normal completely. We visited our friends new baby boy. Cooper wasn't too sure of him at the hospital.


This was the closest he got. I think he was freaked out seeing E in the hospital bed and not able to move around much. He was also freaked because their older son, Cooper's friend, wasn't there. He seems to be warming up to the baby, he doesn't like it when he cries but he does like to see his funny faces. We signed Cooper up for swim classes this summer and they were supposed to start this week, m-f for 1/2 hour for 10 days. Monday I decided to reschedule them for the fall schedule. They start in mid October and are two nights a week for 10 days. It's more manageable for us and we both will be able to watch him swim. I'm also looking at a tumbling class for this fall. He loves climbing and trying the monkey bars so I think it will be fun for him. We have one more camping trip planned for Labor Day at Panther Creek in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Garden

This year is the first time I started plants from seed. I didn't know what I was doing and planted the entire packet of zucchini, crooked neck, cucumber, eggplant, tomato and basil seeds. This spring my counters were overflowing with starts. I gave many away and cultivated the rest. I now have 11 tomato plants, 5 zucchini plats, two crooked neck plants, 2 eggplant and a lot of basil. Only 1 cucumber plant made it through the wet spring. Cooper and I also planted sunflowers, string beans, and sugar snap peas from seed in the garden. Our work paid off we are getting lots of zucchinis now, eggplant is flowering and there are many a green tomato. Cooper eats the peas daily and we just picked some green beans.


Basil


Eggplant


Squash heaven


Crooked neck


Zucchini


String beans


Green tomatos


Sunflowers (8 ft tall) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wake

We had Grandpa Don's wake yesterday to celebrate his life. We have been telling Cooper that Grandpa is in heaven with his Angel Grandpa (my dad). When we pulled into the funeral home Cooper spotted Grandpa's car and said "Grandpa's here." I said yes that is Grandpa's car but he won't be here. He gave Grandma a big hug and was really good during the one hour service. When we sat down he looked around and said, "I don't see Grandpa anywhere." I again explained that he is in heaven and not here in person, even going so far to say he doesn't have a body. I am not sure what he is comprehending of all this. I expect him to keep asking about Grandpa when we visit Grandma and I will keep saying he is in heaven with his Angel Grandpa. It's hard to believe that Don won't be at the table for Sunday dinner anymore or whip us in a game of Hearts. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

In Loving Memory

Grandpa Dom passed away this morning in his sleep. He's been in and put of the hospital for the last few months. We spent a nice day with him on Thursday.
We love you Grandpa.

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