Sweet Sister

Look at this tub o' love!

The other day the cute overwhelmed me so I stripped her down to her bow and diaper cover and took pictures of sweet Sister and all of her squishiness.

Dang. Couldn't you just eat her?!

I think this is my favorite age. Carrington at 8 months wants nothing more than to sit and smile at us, show us her favorite tricks like clapping and blowing raspberries and make every attempt to crawl.

So far, she can only go backwards which presents all sorts of problems like:

Navigating around chairs...

...and, getting stuck under the ottoman...

...and getting hung up on a door jamb!

She'll get it soon. Although, I wish she would just stay still and squishy forever!

Cooper is the best Mommy in the world!

He is, because he told me so.

Most mornings, both kids will play in our bed after waking up and while I get ready for work. Carrington is generally content with a toy, or her brother’s sock or the thread on the edge of a pillowcase. She will play contently like this for about 20 minutes, as typical second children do. I could just eat her up she’s so sweet.

Cooper usually sits and plays on the iPad, builds pillow forts around and on his dog and his sister, and barks general orders at me about things he needs. Typical firstborn. Sigh.

Poor Kona.

The other morning, I was putting on my make-up when I hear:

Cooper: MOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I. NEED. MY. IPAD.

Me: First of all, it’s not YOUR iPad (but really, who am I kidding). Second, how do you ask?

Cooper: I need my iPad, now?

Me: Try again.

Cooper: I need my iPad, now, please?

Me: Close enough. [I go fetch it for him like a good dog mom would.]

Me: What do you say?

Cooper: Thank you very much!

Me: [Riding the wave of politeness.] Who’s the best Mommy in the world?

Cooper: I am.

Me: Oh really?! Are you a Mom?

Cooper: Yes.

Me: Then who is your kid?

Cooper: Cita. (My mom.)

Me: …

He really has a way of making me laugh through my exasperation. Such a toot!

Ghetto Cowboy

I'm not sure whether to blame the Houston rodeo or the recent helmet phenomenon, but suddenly I have a kid that's into hats. Weird hats.

Cooper started requesting a "blue cowboy hat" a couple of weeks ago. I was understandably perplexed, as I had never successfully gotten him to wear a single thing on his head before his helmet in his life. So, naturally, I milked it and made him do a few good deeds before I purchased one for him (i.e. not trying to sit on the cat for a full day, allowing me to pick his shoes, other tasks otherwise classified as Cooper torture!)

Once I was sure he was serious, I went on the hunt. Blue was not an easy color for my cowboy fashionista son, but I found something I thought would work on Amazon:

You know, in person, the blue is really more like a blue faux crushed velvet. Yikes.

But, y'all. When Cooper saw it, his eyes lit up and he literally squealed with delight. Apparently this is exactly what he was imagining. He couldn't wait to put it on and even wore it to school today. He was only 10 days late for Go Texan day. Whatevs.

But then he told me "Mommy, something's missing. I need cowboy boots!"

Something's missing alright buddy, but it doesn't appear to be cowboy boots. Looks like dear old Mom forgot to order your matching pimp suit!

Well, at least he's happy! (And finally willing to wear a hat!)

She does cry! See?!

When it comes to Carrington, I often get asked: "Is she always this happy?" and "Is she always smiling?" The answer, generally is yes and yes! I can say that without a moment of hesitation because I've already had my "jinx" baby. Let's just say Cooper was a bit more, uh...demanding?!

There is one thing, however, that is really getting her down lately and causing her to make faces like this:

How would you feel if you were trying to crawl but could only go backwards?! Poor sweet girl.

And if that doesn't pull at your heart strings enough, here's the video! Warning: you might just cry right along with her!

I'm sorry for doing that to you. This should cheer you up! Ahhh, much better!

Back in the Saddle

And just like that, Cooper is back in the saddle again. The bike saddle, that is.

It only took 4 long weeks of gentle encouragement met by dramatic stubborn refusal. Victory?

Anyway, last week Kyle asked Cooper to show him how to put on a helmet because he didn't know how. Well, my firstborn loves telling people what to do and couldn't pass up the opportunity to show his Dad how to do something. (Won't be the last time, babe.)

"Watch me, Dad. You put the helmet on your head and buckle the strap right here."

And that was that. He wears it non-stop. He puts it on to ride his bike and sometimes even wears it to dinner. Now I suppose the fight will be getting him to take it off! It's always something...

Speaking of Cooper's love of instructing people, the day after he started riding again he was talking to my Mom on the phone and just couldn't help but give her the rundown on bike riding. Clearly she couldn't have known how without him telling her!

"Ok Cita. You put your other foot on the pedal." - I don't know why it's the "other foot" but this is always how he explains it.

"Then, you swing your weg over. You pedal with your feet and you turn the handlebar."


"AND, don't pee pee on any dogs."

[Huh?]

Through a fit of laughter, Cita and I asked him to explain. His response?


"That's right. Don't pee pee on any dogs."


No explanation needed. I mean, I guess that's probably a good thing to know?!

This kid.

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!