Dear Santa

Coop wrote a letter to Santa this year:

"Deer Santa Claus.  My dad is beeing bad and bosy.  I hav bin good.  I want a castle and the ice cream set Iv wanted and a grinch costume and a bat costume.  [heart] Cooper."

So about this ice cream set.... Coop and I visited his friend Henry, who's five, and Henry's sister Caroline, who just turned two.  Caroline has this small plastic ice cream set:

Coop played with it when we were there, and he insists that he wants one of his very own.  "Henry has one," he explained to Alan.  Um.... no... Henry doesn't.  Henry's sister, who's two, has one.  And just for the record, I refuse.... I mean, Santa refuses... to buy a 18-36-month-old toy for the almost six-year-old.  Anyway, we'll see what Santa comes up with...

Letter addressed and ready to mail!

More xmas decorations

I had some of Cooper's artwork from last xmas framed for the mantel:

"Roodolf," ""Frostee," and Santa.

Alan, Cooper, and I got to be a part of the Baker float for the Baldwin xmas parade.  Alan was a reindeer; Coop and I rode in the truck, wearing Santa hats, waving out the window:

We found a small tree for Cooper's room.  He promptly made aluminum foil ornaments for it:

And he made this "sleigh" using construction paper, tape, jingle bells and dental floss:

Festive!

Lost tooth!!

Coop's had a wiggly tooth for a couple of weeks or so.  He's clearly not like me -- I'd've played with that sucker and had it yanked out in a matter of days.  But not Coop.  He mostly left it alone and just checked it each night to see if it was still wiggly.

 

At school on Friday, though, he apparently forgot about it, bit on his sleeve (because he's a five-year-old boy and I guess they do that?), and when he jerked his sleeve out of his mouth, his tooth came with it!

He couldn't find it right away, so his classmates had to help.  Olivia found it, I guess.  And then Raintree, accustomed to children losing teeth at school, gave him a tooth-shaped box necklace to hold his tooth for the rest of the day.

Coop left it under his pillow, of course, along with the following note for the tooth fairy:

"Deer tooth faree.  I lost my tooth then I found it!!  I hope you like it.  From Cooper.  to tooth faree.  it's in this box."

The tooth fairy brought him $5 because it was his first tooth.  She's going to get substantially cheaper with subsequent teeth, I'm sure.

More Thanksgiving break fun

Coop made this turkey (??) centerpiece out of pens, a rag, his allowance money, and tape.

We killed some time over break at the new Lawrence play land.  Coop went right for the costume section:

And then found some great glasses and a duck puppet that quacked.

We went to a fun new pizza place in Topeka where Cooper sat back, crossed his legs, and promptly put away three pieces:

Vada helped Coop put ornaments on our tree:

Coop's 2012 ornament:

This was the year he started organized sports through the Baldwin City Rec Commission, including t-ball, soccer (or as he calls it, "soccer ball"), and basketball.  (No football, but it came with the ornament.)

Vada comes to visit!

Vada (and her mom Carmen) came to visit us over Thanksgiving, and the kids had a great time playing together (and with Grandma and Grandpa).

 

Potato heads:

Love sac:

Watching Brer Rabbit, one of Grandpa Cecil's favorites.  In fact, just after I took this photo, the kids got up to play and Grandpa Cecil stayed another 30 minutes watching the movie...

Hungry Hippos:

Santa costumes:

Decorating turkey-shaped sugar cookies:

Bed Bugs:

Thanksgiving Feasts

We went to the annual Raintree Thanksgiving Day feast this year.  Coop wrote out a menu, which is difficult to see, but includes items such as "rlz" (rolls), "turkee," "froot salid," "and "pumpkin cace" (cake).

Coop enjoying the Feast:

At home, Coop set up his "restaurant" in the basement to serve us delicious things like pineapple and pizza.

On Thanksgiving Day itself, we went to our church's big Thanksgiving meal:

The dessert nook:

When I asked Coop what his favorite part of the meal was, he said the turkey, which surprised me because he doesn't really like turkey.  And then he clarified:  "the turkey made out of junk food."

Ah...yes.  That makes much more sense.

Basketball

We signed Coop up for basketball through the Baldwin Rec Commission.  Unlike soccer and t-ball, we don't have a team for regular practices and then organized games.  Instead, we all meet on Saturday mornings for a lesson in some of the fundamentals.

 

First week, dribbling:

Maybe not Coop's strong suit.

The next week, shooting.  Sort of.

He doesn't seem to have/apply the strength necessary to dribble or shoot just yet.  But he pays attention during the lessons, isn't crazy silly (which I count as a huge win), and seems to enjoy himself.  We'll go with it for now!