Fun new things

Alan went to Steamboat Springs for a family reunion, and he come home with bandanas.  Perfect for pirate head scarves.

Or to be cowbow bandits with the help of Fuzzy the Stick Horse.

Grandpa Cecil cleaned out his shed and sent this toolbox for Cooper. 

Grandpa Cecil's grandpa made it for him when he was a boy. Coop loved putting his little plastic tools in it. I'm guessing it'll get more use when his tools get bigger and sharper!

Grandma Carol found a new pirate hook, as well as a styrofoam parrot to complete Cooper's pirate outfit.

He was crazy-excited and didn't take off the hook, the bird, or the costume all weekend long.

Coop used a box of pencil erasers for witch fingernails.

Never a dull moment around here!

Garage sale season

We've had a fun summer of garage sales around town.  Cheap fun, but it does result in a large increase in crap toys around the house.

We kicked off the season with the Baldwin Citywide sales.  At the first one or two places we stopped, Cooper didn't really find anything he truly wanted, but he would pick something up and say "well, I guess we can buy this." I certainly didn't want to foster the idea of buying stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. So we talked about waiting to find something he really wanted, that way if we came across something a little bigger (instead of just a small car or something), we could get it.

He found this:

A 3-foot by 4-foot doll house.  It's the Little Tykes Grand Mansion from the 90s, and it's in spectacular condition.  Good thing, because now it's in our living room.

Also notice the outfit -- a clown costume to go with the jester hat he got for his birthday in England.

Cooper's doctor outfit became a vet outfit when we found a plastic animal crate, stuff dog (he named Ralph), and vet tools.

And it's possible I may have lost my mind here.  Coop found a box with a pirate ship on it.  We bought it for $1 and then I noticed that it contains a zillion tiny plastic pieces that we're supposed to glue together.

So bit by bit, Cooper and I have been piecing it together.  He much prefers to watch me do it and then count to 20 while we hold the freshly-glued piece in place.  So far, we've built about 45 cannons, three decks, and the hull.

Many  more steps to go.

Fuzzy the Stick Horse

Coop and I were in Dollar General a few weeks ago buying random supplies. He's had his eye on a stick horse there for quite some time. So we decided we would take it up to the front register and ask how much it costs.

[Rookie mistake. I should have found out what it cost first before we actually had it in our cart.]

Anyway, it was $8. I explained it's a bit more expensive than I was thinking, so we're not going to buy it today, but that we'll go home and make a plan about how he can earn/save money and come back to get it later. He cried for a while, which I expected. And we talked about how hard it is to have to wait to buy something you really want, but that we can use his sticker chart (which currently earns him books) to maybe earn the horse over the next week or so.  I got him calmed down, we gave the horse a hug, took him back to his box, and headed to the door.

We were half-way out the door when the woman who was paying for her items at the register yells out to us, "Ma'am he can buy the horse!" And I say "Oh, no thanks. We're ok. We'll come back and get in some other time." But she insists, "No really, he can buy it." And she digs money out of her purse. I keep saying no, and I'm frantically shaking my head at the cashier (a friend of mine) to see if she can help. But then the woman hands Cooper $8 and tells him to go get the horse. 

We did. And he was overjoyed. With honest-to-goodness tears of joy. It was sweet.

 

 

But so much for the lesson I was trying to teach. So now we're using the sticker chart to earn the $8 and then do something nice for someone else.

Summer fun

Carmen and Toban got this helmet/handlebar set for Cooper for Christmas a year and a half ago.  We just now figured out that it only works when the handlebars are in close proximity to the helmet.  And then it makes all kinds of great noise.

 This is Coop's motorcyle-riding position.


One Saturday morning, we made a beard to go with Coop's Santa costume:

Coop designed this train track, complete with the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye on the back corner.

The Lawrence Community Theatre put on a production of How I Became A Pirate, based on a book that Coop loves.  So naturally, he donned his pirate costume so we could go see it.

Cooper with Captain Braidbeard, the pirate lead in the show:



Summertime

Alan and Cooper (and Grandma Joan) worked at the water stop for a local 5K.

All of the cousins got together in Lyons around the 4th of July.  Popsicles:

Bubbles:

iPads:

This photo is titled Sweet Revenge:

Coop got stung by a wasp (his first sting!), so he and Alan eradicated the nest, which the wasps had built in the fence right next to our car.  Bad move.

Other random activities

Riding in the new booster seat (instead of a five-point harness!) with Woody doll.

Ice cream beard:

With Cooper Bear, a gift from Aunt Jill.  It's a talking, interactive bear from Hallmark that's actually named Cooper!  He comes with books that you read to him, and he responds to certain words and phrases.

 Coop loves him.  For the last month or so, he's gone everywhere with Cooper.  He rides in the car (with his seatbelt, of course) to school, sleeps in Coop's bed, and sits at the table with us for meals.

Playing with the dollhouse at Grandma Carol and Grandpa Jerry's.

Singing into Grandma Margaret's cane -- the perfect height for a stand-up mic!

Care to guess what this creation is:

It's Cooper's version of Joplin, Missouri. 

Coop and I took a trip to Omaha with our friend Carrie and her son Gus.  We had fun playing in the hotel pool and we really, REALLY enjoyed the Omaha Zoo.  It's fabulous.  The only picture I took of the trip, though, was this one of the boys in the bathtub:



Right brain activities

We played with sidewalk chalk.  Coop drew this picture of a person, and then he wrote his name.  Note:  He can properly write his name with all the letters facing the correct way.  But for this masterpiece, he was writing it upside down, and he still got it pretty close.  I was impressed.

A tractor:

Baking some sugar cookies:

Cross stitching:

Baking Grandma Farm's rolls:

Visit to the Lyons area

Cooper enjoyed a (belated) Easter egg hunt at Grandma Joan and Grandpa Cecil's.  (Prince was not much help.)

We went out to Grandpa's pasture to walk around and play at the pond:

Fish!

And then we visited Hedrick's Exotic Animal Farm in Nickerson, where we got to pet kangaroos:

Kiss giraffes:

And listen to the talking parrot:

Activities back at home

Cooper's had fun driving his jeep around the yard.  It's really been the first time he's played with it, despite that it's been sitting in our barn for a couple of years.  Up until now, it was a little scary (I maybe didn't adequately warn him what would happen the first time he sat in it and stepped on the gas pedal... oops).

 But he loves it now!

And the bicycle has gotten lots of use too:

Cooper started back to preschool when we got home from England, and he's been doing lots of writing practice.  And he's drawing more pictures now, so he decided to write a book called "The Birthday Party."  It's riveting.  Look for it in bookstores near you...

Yay for garage sale season!  We picked up this pile o' train tracks and Thomas engines for a mere $20.

Actual retail price:  probably in the neighborhood of $300.  Score.

You know it's been too long since you've udpated your blog when...

Your dad nags you about it on Facebook.  I got the hint, Dad.

But I'm really worn out from all the England blogging.  And all of the Nothing I've been doing since we got home.

So I'm going to ease into things by posting some photos from last Christmas. I had set these aside to blog after the holidays, but then we left for England and I had other things to post.

Cooper's new reading chair:

Cooper trying out his new baker's outfit:

Cousin Zoey came to our house for a bit over Christmas.  And she got to play with Coop's pirate stuff.  She even got to wear the hat!

We spent an afternoon shredding a bunch of documents that had piled up.  Coop really enjoyed it, and danced a cute little jig as his papers went through.

Cousins playing with a parachute at Grandma and Gramdpa's house:

Finally, an adorable video of Cooper and his friend Jackson.  The boys started at Raintree at the same time, and were fast friends.  They got together once over Christmas break before we left for England, and apparently did a lot of giggling:

 

(I'm a little afraid that they do that all during the school day, too!)

In case you missed it...

I was looking over my England posts, and I realized that I had created one but it never actually posted.  (I sent it through recently, but it's dated May 12, so you might not find it.)

Anyway, if you haven't seen it, go check out our photos from the Costume Ball in Harlaxton.

Harlaxton: Final Thoughts

We had a fantastic semester in Harlaxton. We would love to go again whenever Alan gets another turn (maybe in five or six years?).

The manor is a wonderful place to live, and the folks at Harlaxton run a good ship. The housekeeping and grounds crews keep the place immaculate. And we were all made to feel right at home—every detail was arranged for our arrival, including snacks in our apartment and children’s books on the shelves.

Food in the Refectory was ok. It was cafeteria food cooked to serve a large number of people. So there were inherently some limitations in quality. But definitely passable. Coop maybe wouldn’t entirely agree, but they always had a dessert, which was a big hit with him, and he ate a lot of yogurt. (I’ve convinced myself that yogurt is some kind of miracle food, and as long as he eats that, he’ll be ok...) Given that all of our meals were provided, we didn’t eat out much. When we were traveling, we usually found a local pub. And pub food is always yummy!

We liked living with (among) the students. I wasn’t sure we would; I thought it might get old after a while. But our room was tucked out of the way so we saw very few people and heard even fewer. The students were so kind to Cooper, which really helped. And they always had fun stories to tell about their previous weekend’s travels or their itineraries for the following weekend.

Alan’s classes (you know... the official reason we were there) went well. He greatly appreciated the quality of his students’ work. Most schools require a minimum GPA for a Harlaxton semester, so on average, this group of students was sharper than student body back here. His classes were small, which meant way less grading. And he had plenty of time in the evenings to work on some other projects. (Though he did miss his wood shop!)

My time in Harlaxton was great, though different from my expectations going in. I had envisioned dropping Cooper off at preschool, and then having a large chunk of time at the manor to read or exercise or walk the trails. But because preschool was in Grantham (10 minutes away from Harlaxton) and because we were tied to the school shuttle schedule, I spent all of my non-Cooper hours in Grantham, which put a damper on lounging around the castle and taking leisurely strolls through the woods. It worked out well, though. I camped out at a pub and got a lot of work done for my Judge in Kansas City. I explored town and found some neat shops (and some great bargains!). And then I had a lot of time in the evenings, after Coop went to bed, to read or catch up on email.

Cooper also did really well. At four, he’s adaptable enough to be at home anywhere. He slid right into preschool without much trouble. And he loved the attention of all the college kids! But we realized early on that we were placing huge expectations on him in a number of areas of his development.

Physically, we were asking Coop to walk more than he ever does at home—70 stairs from our room down to the ground floor, at least three times a day, and a half-mile from the shuttle drop-off to preschool (and back at the end of the day). Not to mention all of the walking we did while we were sightseeing. In some ways, he was at a bad age for this—too old to strap in a stroller (or carry) and drag wherever we wanted to go, too young to walk as far and as fast as we would like. But we quickly adjusted our travel expectations and learned to do things in bite-sized chunks, with lots of snacks in between excursions.

Socially and emotionally, we wanted Cooper to behave whenever we were around people (which was always). At dinner, we expected him to sit and eat and not hop on his chair or smear butter on the table or sing eleventy-five verses of Wheels on the Bus.

One stressor from the semester that I had not anticipated was trying to parent a four-year-old with 200 other people around. Mind you, everyone was kind and helpful and no one said anything negative (except for once, but I’m trying to block that out). Only a few times did we even get a stink eye from anyone (that I saw). But living in a manor with so many other people means that there’s always a pair of eyes or ears to catch my Bad Mommy moments. Oh well. We did the best we could.

And hopefully we’ll have a chance to do it again. On the slate for next time, when Coop’s older: more guided tours (like the Tower of London!), more time in Scotland, more walking the footpaths in the area, a trip to the Lake District, and maybe a trip to Ireland.  We'll keep you posted!