Our very own children's museum!

After the wonderful time we had at the Chicago Children's Museum, we decided to see if we could find something similar in the area. What luck! Kansas City has a fun children's museum too!

We started in the water room:

And then on to the water fountains:

This fun room was just for kids two and under. Lots of things to climb on and walk around, and all with railings at just two-year-old height! Perfect!

And the rest of the rooms we saved for a future visit!

Out and about

Cruisin'

Duet:

Kristen and I both took a picture of this (that's her in the upper left hand corner), and we both thought the same thing -- Hallelujah! They can entertain each other now!

Ready to go to work:

We bought a new step ladder, which makes sink play way easier!

Zoo

We're terrifically envious of our friend Gus, who lives really close to a nice large zoo. He even got to go on Christmas!

So we've taken advantage of some unseasonably warm winter weather, and we headed over to the Topeka Zoo.

Cooper spent quite a bit of time picking up rocks that we wanted to give to the elephants.

Cooper wanted to see monkeys, so we had a lovely chat with this Mama and Baby orangutan.

The big gorilla we saw was "picking his boogies" one time, and eating carrots and lettuce the next. One out of two ain't bad for behaviors to encourage, I guess.

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We got to feed this guy:

And then, we got to play in the sink!

Oh, and one time we were there, a lady was using a hose to spray water in a cage. That really was a high point in the morning for Cooper!

Around the house

Cooper's favorite cereal. We call them Crunchy Pillows. (Not to be confused with Corn Pillows (aka Corn Chex) or Corn and Rice Pillows (Crispix) or Snowy Pillow (Frosted Mini-Wheat).)

If only we could spend all day, every day playing in the sink!

New snow boots. We haven't had a chance to wear them outside, which is good because Cooper doesn't exactly love walking around in them. He walks like he's wearing ski boots and can't bend his ankles. Pretty funny, really.

Cooper loves to get out Mama's green vacuum. The first couple of days after we got it (it was a Christmas present to ourselves), I had the cleanest house around!

Super cute wool coat:

And if we can't play in the sink, can we at least play lightswitches??

The pep band

We've been going to some Baker basketball games when we can. Cooper couldn't care less about the game itself, but we have fun walking around, talking to people, playing peek-a-boo with Wowzer (the mascot), and listening to the pep band. Oh my, the boy loves the pep band.

Cooper watches intently as Mr. Nate (one of Alan's students) sets up his trap set. "Another green drum!" "A cymbal!" And then Cooper watches Dr. Parr, the band director, count off the band to start playing. "One... two... one, two, three, four..."

When we get home, we play lots of pep band. This is Cooper counting us off -- in a crazy, rock-band-drummer kind of voice. And then he stands and directs, and would be snapping his fingers if he could.

We've gotten even more creative. Cooper decided an ice scraper looked like the pedal on Mr. Nate's bass drum. And he found a flashlight to use as a horn of some kind. At first, I thought it might be a microphone, but now I'm pretty sure it's a trumpet.

And only certain pep band songs will do. Alan and I try to mix things up -- my high school fight song, the "hey" song -- but Cooper has clear ideas about which songs he wants to hear.

So this is Cooper counting us off, directing, insisting on a different song ("Sing the other band song!"), drumming, snapping, and trumpeting to the Baker fight song.

Alan and I are more than happy to nuture a "band geek." I'm a little concerned though about raising this guy:

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Boy.

The yellow digger cake I made:

A much tastier cake for everyone to eat:
And yes, there are four candles on it. Cooper was playing with two, so I dug out two more for the cake. And then he decided his two should also go on the cake. This picture will totally confound me in about 25 years. "Really? Four? He looks so little for a 4-year-old...?"


Cooper liked the yellow digger cake, but I hadn't adequately prepped him that it was actually a cake. He cried when the window came off on his hand. But then picked off all the M&Ms to eat.

Presents! With gusto!

An original composition

"On the Merry-Go-Around"