Boy Mom Stuff

Cooper boy has recently entered a new phase that has required me  to roll up my boy-mom sleeves for him and catch bugs. Blech.


On Sunday, we were playing outside when Cooper spied a prospective new tenant for the bug hotel and asked me to get it for him. Naturally, I spent the next five minutes coaxing the little guy onto a leaf and then frantically shoving him into the bug catcher.

I asked Cooper what his new roly-poly's name was and he replied "Buggy the Bug". Fitting, especially if you are familiar with Cooper's quite pragmatic approach to naming his stuffed animals (Mr. Bear, Mr. Lovey, Mr. Nother Lovey, etc.)

A few minutes later, Cooper came up to me in a panic to tell me that Buggy the Bug had gotten out. I looked to where he was pointing and saw, to our great luck, that Buggy the Bug had indeed not escaped and there was another roly-poly that needed catching. "Pick it up Mom!" 

Cooper informed me that this new bug was Buggy the Bug's sister. I asked him what this new bug's name was, thinking he might say something sweet like Carrington or Sister Sue, as he lovingly calls his own little sister. Nope!

"Umm, her name is Buggy the Bug, too." Should have known!

Speaking of Sister, here is the full video of her belly-laughing over Cooper's bubble blowing. You know, just in case my 7-second Instagram video just wasn't enough for you! This makes my heart happy!

A Parenting Ego Boost from an Amazon Box

I recently purchased a couple (or 4) parenting books from Amazon.

We always joke that Cooper is going to be a great Aggie because if he’s done something one time, its tradition. The words “stubborn”, “strong-willed” and “determined” often come to mind when trying to describe his personality. But it wasn’t until what I will lovingly refer to as “the bike helmet incident” took place that I realized I may need to pull in some other resources to guide my parenting style for the three-year old that has the patience of a saint without the halo to match!

So, “the bike helmet incident”… Cooper loves riding his bike. I’ve never seen him more passionate about anything in his life. One afternoon, he rode up and down the street for literally 3 hours with our neighbor friends and then cried when we had to go inside. Cooper’s bike was a hand-me-down from our next door neighbor and for the first couple of weeks we let him ride helmet free out of sheer unpreparedness. Big mistake. We took him to the sports equipment store to purchase a helmet and made a big deal about letting him pick out his very own helmet. He was really excited about it until he got home and we made him put it on. He panicked and demanding we take it off. We did, but we also made him get off his bike. That was three weeks ago and he has yet to return to his bike.

I keep thinking he’ll get over it and get back on the bike but apparently he would rather give it up for good than to wear a helmet. We’ve tried so many things to get him to ride again. I even put on the helmet myself and rode his bike around in the street to show him it was cool to wear a helmet. This turned out to be my first lesson in "you're not cool, Mom".

So this, along with his sheer terror of new situations/places/people, led me to rack up quite the shopping cart at Amazon. And, although I've only skimmed the tables of contents and read a few chapters at this point, I can already tell you they're worth every penny.

If you want to make yourself feel like a good parent, just read the table of contents of a discipline book. Hitting? Not here! Getting out of bed at night? Nope. Won't eat dinner? I don't think so!

I understand that this is not the point, but for now, I feel better about hard headedness and separation anxiety!

My Day Date is Your Typical Saturday

Yesterday was President’s Day and Kyle and I both had the day off. We used the unique combo of the holiday plus available childcare to construct the perfect “day date”. I suppose when you’re a parent, this takes on a whole new meaning.

 We started off the day at a new restaurant in our neighborhood for breakfast. We sat down and talked over coffee and I actually read a newspaper! Kyle let me eat in peace without having to sit in my lap and grab for my fork or exclaim “I HAVE TO GO PEE PEE” as soon as I took my first bite. IT WAS GLORIOUS. GLORIOUS, I tell you. 

Next we went to the gym to workout. I forgot that when you’re not on a time budget that this is actually fun. We even squeezed in a sauna steam and a smoothie, because we could! Afterwards, we went shopping together and out for the most kid-unfriendly lunch we could muster: sushi and sake. Raw food and eating utensils which are likely to be turned into swords? Bring it. 

Now here’s where things started to get a little crazy. Are you ready for it?! The next stops included none other than the grocery store (kid mecca for a case of the “I want that-s”), the pet store (where nobody asked me for a pet snake) and the hardware store (where we escaped without having to buy 5 Lightening McQueen flashlights). 

I was giddy this morning when I got into work recalling all of the things we did yesterday. Until I realized that I was recounting my story to a colleague without children. He probably does this every weekend. 

Just wait, sucker. They’ll come for you too.

Oh, Hey Valentine's Day!

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

We always stay in and cook. Really the only difference between Valentine's Day and any other Friday night is the price tag on our wine!

Today I was thinking about our first Valentine's Day together. It was 2005 and we were still in school. Kyle had me over for "surf and turf", which on a Texas boy college budget meant venison backstrap and shrimp. It really could have gone either way but having grown up the daughter of a hunter, I appreciated the delicacy we call deer meat!

We opened a $10 bottle of wine (Coppola I think) and thought we were so fancy. I mean, college kids drinking any kind of wine other than Boone's Farm actually IS pretty fancy if you ask me. We watched 50 First Dates, a movie we still watch every time we see it on to this day. (I have no idea where Kyle's 3 roommates were...)

Funny how I can remember all of this and nothing of what I did last week! Hail to the power of the deer meat that stole my heart!

Here's to many more (and a better wine selection)!

I got roses this year! Either I did something right, or he did something wrong!

Somersaults: The Adult Version (ouch)

When is the last time you did a somersault? For me, I'm guessing its been about 20 years. 

If you plan on getting back into the somersault grove, I would recommend that you pick your poison: head, neck or back. One of these is going to hurt!

A little background… Almost every night after dinner we have a "dance party".  (Side note: I keep telling Kyle that if anyone ever bugs our house they're in for a real treat! Weird things. Weird things.)

Anyway, we turn up the tunes and dance around the house. For Cooper, this means bouncing off the furniture, falling to the floor and yelling "WHOA"! That was, of course, until he learned how to somersault…

You see, we taught him this nifty trick never thinking he would request us to join in on the fun. A week into this game and Kyle flat out won't participate anymore because of his neck and I must admit to frequenting the google page for "how to do a somersault without hurting yourself".

This is clearly an acrobatic feat meant for children. If you're wondering, you are supposed to tuck your neck and never let your head touch the floor. While this technique totally eliminates head pain, there is practically no way to come down on your neck or back funny. Either I'm that out of shape or the physics just don't work. (I'm sticking to the latter.)

Dear Grumpy Old Man

Dear Grumpy Old Man at the grocery store today,



The answer is yes.

Yes, I do let my son swipe my credit card for me. It is  his "reward" for being on his best behavior while we ran in to get some milk at the grocery store. I was on my "lunch break" between my son's school pick-up and returning back to work. Cut me some slack.

Yes, I do carry enough cash to buy a gallon of milk. I chose the card for the sake of time, mine and yours!

Yes, I did it on purpose. When you so kindly told me to not worry about anyone else's time and that you had all the time in the world, I pretended you were being sincere and lifted my son up so that he might sign his name on the credit card reader, too. You're welcome.

I hope you had as great of a day as you wished me!



Sincerely,




One Tired Mama



P.S. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it to a multi-tasking Mom!

Cooperisms, Third Edition

More Cooperisms for you! And to think, it all started with Man Meat! Here are my previous Cooperism posts if you're just catching up! (Man Meat and other Cooperisms and More Cooperisms)

• Barnacles - Our sweet nanny, Monica, does most things very, very right. However, on occasion she will put a toy away with its pieces in about 5 different drawers. On discovering this one afternoon, I exclaimed "MONICA" but Cooper thought I said "BARNACLES"! (Thank goodness.) Now, anytime we can't find something he yells "BARNACLES"! Little ears are always listening.

• Hearing Cita - We talk to my Mom, Cita, when I take Cooper to school. I use my Bluetooth so Cooper can talk to her, too. Now, every time he hears a voice over a loud speaker he thinks it's Cita. i.e. At the grocery store if someone says "Clean-up on aisle 9", Cooper yells "It's Cita!"

• Let me see your watch - Cooper is very into what time it is although he can not read a watch. He always asks to see our watches and then tells us that it's dinner time, bath time, etc. The other day, Cooper told me "You see that stick moving up and up and up then down and down and down? That means it's my birthday!"

• Munch kisses - For some reason unbeknownst to us, if you ask Cooper for a kiss he gets about an inch away from your face and says "munch"! I guess it's kind of like the mmmmuah sound?

• Can I get some upoos, please? - "Upoo" has always been Cooper's word for being picked up. Now that he's older and doesn't get toted around as much, he uses it in a different capacity. And somehow it's a noun. Like when he's trying to reach something on the counter he says, "Mom! Can I get some upoos, please?"

• The Crank - Cooper calls cranes (as in that machine used to move heavy items) a crank. Every time I can't reach something (often) he says, "Mom! You need a crank?"

Just in case you missed him on Instagram (@ccredfish), here is the full video of Cooper doing "push-ups" last night. This really cracks me up!