The head tilt.

In yet another level of cuteness, Cooper now tilts his head to one side. An effort to be coy? Lazy neck muscles? Water in his ear? Who knows, but it's pretty precious.

It's an especially popular trick during meal times:

He had a little trouble going left at first:

But he got it figured out:

Hanging out with Daddy.

Guess the noise.

This would obviously work better if I had little sound clips I could play after each photo. But bear with me.

What might Cooper sound like when he makes this face?

Did you guess nasally whiny noise? The kind of noise that, in a year, will cause me to say "I'm sorry. I don't understand whining. You'll have to use your words." Then you'd be right.

How about this one?

After this one, I might say "Oh yes sir I am the boss of you. Now go clean your room."

This is a relatively new one. He makes little spitting sounds with this face. And then he makes sounds like he's imitating radio static. No clue what he means yet. But it's entertaining.

I know. It's humiliating to be photographed while doing your "morning business." And then for me to plaster it all over the internets. Poor kid. We'll start a therapy fund now.

Cooper's baby doll

But first a video of his latest skill.

There's no sound (my camera isn't that fancy), but the video works better than still pictures for this particular feat. (I took the video in the middle of a meal, which explains why he has food all over his face and why, at the end, he turns back to me like he needs something rightnow.)

Ok, now Cooper's baby doll.

See the baby's plastic pacifier?

So did Cooper:

And when I took the pacifier away:

Maybe Coop's too young to play with the baby just yet.

New things lately

We've been working on standing:

And on getting used to being on our knees, as a precursor to crawling hopefully:

Coop's got a roving eye, it appears. The moment before I snapped this picture, he was reaching out to touch the pretty girl. (She was a law student. We were at KU law school for a team research competition, and she was the spirit squad for her team.)


And we're having fun trying out different finger foods. Rice seemed to go over well, at least the part that actually made it in his mouth!

My son hates fall.

Can you guess what would make Cooper cry like this:

And cling to his dadddy for dear life like this:

Leaves. Yup, leaves.

We went outside to take some cute fall pictures, and as I was kicking a big pile of leaves around, Cooper started screaming. The same kind of scream he used when he got his first shots. Poor kid.

He eventually calmed down. Doesn't he look calm here?

I guess he's a little young for tossing leaves into the air or jumping into a big pile of them. He mostly tried to eat the leaves.

He seemed fine when Daddy was holding him though:

And luckily for me, he's perfectly content to sit in a big pile of laundry while I toss it around!

Random interesting note: Today, Cooper is 38 1/2 weeks old, which means that he's now been living with us for the same length of time as he was percolating inside my tummy. Strange. It seems like I was pregnant for such a short period of time and that he's been with us for something like four years or so.

Trick or Treat!

Cooper's parrot costume:
He makes the perfect addition to our pirate family:

And might Dirty Sam Cash working in his office:

Snappy dresser!

Overalls are always a favorite in this house.

Our neighbors back in Tuscola had a little boy about 10 months older than Cooper. So whenever they would have garage sales, I'd be first in line to pick up boy clothes. This outfit (it's a one-piece, just in case you were wondering) was free -- the boy's dad would never let him wear it, so we got it. It's a bit dandy-looking, I think. But still cute!

This outfit, on the other hand, is the way to dress up for a little boy. Super cute khakis, button up shirt, and sweater vest. Love it!

And this outfit isn't particularly special--in fact, several people thought he was a girl on the day he wore this--but I did want you to see Coop standing. True, he's holding on and also leaning, but still, he's up! Hurray!

Pumpkin Patch Kids

This week, Cooper and I went with Michael, Kristen, and Parker to a local pumpkin patch, mostly for picture-taking. Coop was extremely interested in the grass and dirt and vines on the ground, so he's actually looking at the camera and smiling in very few pictures. Apparently, I need to take the kid outside more.
Oh, and Parker was dressed up like a pumpkin! It's his Halloween costume, but you have to wear it to the pumpkin patch too! Too cute!

Ichabod Coop?

Chewing on some straw on the hay wagon ride back to the car.

Blueberries

Practicing Ultimate Fighting Championship moves