Big Boy Transitioning

Cooper has amassed quite a collection of things in his crib -- a pillow, 2 1/2 blankets, 3 bears (in diapers), 1 Ugly Dog, 1 stuffed caterpillar, a truck pillow, a cup of water, 2 pacifiers, and whatever books we've been reading lately.

A couple of weeks ago, Cooper asked if he could take a nap on his crocodile instead of in his crib. I'm not sure why I agreed, but he spent about an hour or so sleeping like this:

And then last week, I got a notice that Cooper's crib has been recalled. It's not an extremely serious flaw, at least not for a kid his age and size. So I would feel ok using the crib for a while longer. But he did a decent job napping outside of the crib. And if I take it back, I can get a full refund.

So I decided it was time to get out a Big Boy Bed. We started with just the low trundle bed from our guest room:

He spent about a week in there and did great. This is what we saw when we snuck up the stairs the first morning:

So I hauled down to the local furniture store to buy a frame and mattress set for his room. And I got out the safari-themed comforter I've been storing for six months.

So far, it's going ok. He's realized thought that he can get out of the bed, and nap times seem to be where we run into the most trouble. But he seems to like it!

His farming heritage

Getting ready to plow a field:

Checking in on the cow (at a nearby petting zoo/farm):

"Milking" a plastic cow. I'm still not sure he understands, but his Grandpa Farm would have been proud:

Finding the one and only kitty in the cow barn:

I made him take a picture by the Brown Swiss informational sign because that's what Grandma and Grandpa Farm raised. Again, he didn't get it, but it made me a little teary-eyed.

Howdy Pardner. Want a tootsie pop?

(In all honesty, though, I don't know of anyone in our immediate family tree who ever wore a cowboy hat. Maybe Cooper will start that fashion choice...)

Pure cuteness

Practicing putting on shoes

Reading in the car. I loved how he tucked his one foot under the other leg.

Shh... he's hiding.

Doing a better job hiding:

On an airplane (for our Portland trip):

Ridiculousness.

Fourth of July

So I'm a little behind on my blogging. Oh well.

So way back a long time ago on the 4th, Alan and I bought a few little fireworks to set off at home. Just things with sparks and lights. Nothing huge. No loud booms.

Coop wasn't too sure about things:


He liked driving the tank once it was done shooting things, though.

This is Hannah. She's the daughter of one of my high school friends, and she and Cooper were born on exactly the same day, about an hour and a half apart. They met for the first time at a BBQ in Lyons over the 4th.
Yes, he's picking his nose. He's got a way with the ladies, doesn't he?

Fishing trip

We loaded up coolers and sunscreen and bug spray, and headed out the Grandpa Cecil and Grandma Joan's pond for some paddle boat fun.

The fishing part of the trip made for a cute photo but wasn't very successful otherwise.

I take that back. We'll count it a success because no one fell out of the boat and the dog did not eat a fish hook, despite his most desperate attempts to do so.

Lunch on the trailer. Sandwiches. No fish.

My favorite photo from the day -- Cooper and Grandpa Cecil:

Summer foods

Gator Love

We've got to stop visiting Lyons when it's hot because it's all we can do to get Cooper off of Grandma Joan's gator. (I'm not sure why it's "Grandma Joan's" except that maybe because Grandpa Cecil has a tractor? So the gator must belong to Grandma Joan?)

Anyway, the last couple of times we've been to Lyons, Cooper has spent about 85% of his waking hours on the gator. We finally let him "drive," which he loved:

And let me just warn you in advance, this is about the most boring video I've ever shot. So if you play this over and over for about three hours straight, you'll get some idea of how Alan's feeling in this footage:

I think this picture is hysterical because that big orange and black warning sticker says something about how YOUNG DRIVERS INCREASE CHANCE OF DEATH. Surely not at Cooper's speed, though...

We couldn't even talk him down for food, so he ate lunch on the gator:

Variation on a theme: driving the whole family around.

One evening, a bunch of my high school friends and their kids came over for a BBQ. Dad was a huge hit taking everyone for gator rides. Guess who's wedged right up front as close to the steering wheel as possible:

Frankly, the other kids are lucky Cooper even decided to let them ride.

Saying Goodbye

We picked a nice shady spot under our red bud tree to bury Mikey's ashes and some of his favorite things.

It felt a bit strange to bury an indoor kitty somewhere outside. We couldn't even say "Oh, Mikey would have loved this spot." Nope. Mikey would have been scared to death of the leaves and the grass and the traffic, not to mention the rain or other animals! But scattering his ashes in his favorite spot (our bed, specifically Alan's side of the bed) wouldn't have worked too well...

These are the things we picked out for Mikey:

• A cardboard shoebox, one that he had already chewed on, as a matter of fact.
• Alan's running shoes -- Whenever we walked in the house wearing shoes with mesh over the toes, Mikey would come scratch at them.
• Photos of us and of Sydney.
• A small rolling pin -- When Mikey and Sydney were very tiny, they would shimmy up under the toe kick in the kitchen cabinets and crawl into the bottom drawer to sleep next to the rolling pin.
• A piece of spline (the string thing that you stuff into a screen door to hold the screen in) -- It was a favorite toy, back when he and Sydney could be bothered to chase things we dangled in front of them.
• The small pink thing is a little toy laptop because Mikey (like most cats, probably!) always wanted to lay on our laptops to "help" us type. The invention of the touch pad mouse made it way easier for him to mess up our documents (or games of solitaire).
• An email Alan's dad Jerry sent when Mikey died -- Jerry lived with the cats during the year we were in Palau, and he has a special place in his heart for them (and they for him!).
• A can of his favorite "scoobie snacks."

We also got a copy of this photo framed to put in Cooper's room:

And we gave Cooper a stuffed kitty to represent Mikey:

Goodbye, Little Friend.

Mikey's Life in Pictures

Crawling up Alan's leg to chase a leather key chain.

At my apartment during my first year of law school:

Oh yes I can fit into this box:

A new place to sit?

One of the saddest things about losing Mikey now is that he and Cooper won't have the chance to be good buddies. We could always count on Mikey to sit still while Cooper pulled his fur or tried to give him a pacifier.

Improving technique

Cooper's been practicing with his guitar and his drum set.

Here, notice the improved position of the guitar (albeit backwards). (And the bike helmet -- all the big stars are wearing them now.)

(The lyrics are "Hello Daddy, How are you? We're so glad to have you here today." to the tune of "Frère Jacques." Just in case you couldn't tell.)

(But what's with the southern drawl/slide in this song? I'm not sure where that came from.)

And here Cooper is drumming to the "Eat 'em up" song. Notice the crossover arm for the cymbal.

That's skill right there, my friends.