My Heart Melts

Cooper just said for the first time ever, "I love you, daddy", which phonetically sounded like "I luv u dah-ee".

As a special bonus, he's never said it to Micole. It's kind of a freakish occurrence, because he is a total momma's boy. I'm #1 for just a little while.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kelly!

The cupcake aftermath.

It was everywhere. Tables, couches, chairs. It's kind of like going to the beach and finding sand in places you didn't know you had.

It's Potty Time!

We had to bribe Cooper with stickers to get him on the potty. The first time that Micole gave him a sticker after getting on the potty, she told him that every time he gets on the potty he gets another one. He walked right over and got on the potty again.

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Now we just need to get him to actually go on the potty.

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Colton with a little 5 o'clock shadow.

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Clean shaven.

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Cooper can be a really good kid when he's not beating up on his little brother (or as the case has been lately when he's not biting him). When he doesn't want to share, he is very territorial with his toys. Of course, much of the time Colton wants to be Cooper's shadow. I admit that I will fiendishly enjoy the day a year or so from now when Colton finally pops Cooper a good one. That day is comin'.

Feeling Minnesota

It took us about 14 hours to drive to Minnesota to see Aunt Kelly. We had to stop for a couple of hours to take a nap and another hour to get breakfast. Cooper was a little cranky, but all things considered it wasn't a bad trip. Many thanks go out to the DVD player, which made this entire trip possible.

I like Minnesota. I don't think I would like it in the winter, thought. I'm used to inches of snow, not feet of snow. I think I could get accustomed to good camping, fishing, and partying on the lakes. There's supposedly 10,000 lakes, but I've only accounted for 5 so far.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at the Mall of America. So many things to do, so little time.

The boys playing at Legoland.

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Dinosaur legos.

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The amusement park in the mall.

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Cooper throwing the first of two fits at the mall. He wanted to play with a train at a toy store, but it was time to be moving on. He just layed down in the mall. Some people thought he was sleeping. One older gentleman said, "It's amazing how comfortable he makes it look." At least Colton was extremely well behaved the entire day.

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Colton wearing the chocolate chip cookie we bought him.

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We also spent some time at the at the aquarium.

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After a long day at the Mall of America, both boys were tuckered out.

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Hanging out at the pool on Monday.

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Tired babies.

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Follow The Leader - 13 and 26 months

Colton is now the exact same age as Cooper was when Colton was born, 13 months.

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Little brother likes following big brother around. Which really depending on how you look at it, could be big brother likes following little brother around. At the boys last doctor visit, Colton outweighed his big brother by 2 pounds.

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Cooper likes to play with Colton, but he can also be mean to him when he wants his own space. There is also a little bit of jealousy at certain times (some times accompanied by pushing) when it comes to sharing Mommy.

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Colton doesn't seem to have the same level of intellectual curiosity that Cooper has, but at 13 months I swear he'll occassionally do things Cooper never did at that age, because of course, he learns a lot just by watching his big brother. Colton also has a wider selection of toys to play with than Cooper had, so he has more distractions. Colton seems to just enjoy life while Cooper can be a bit moodier and more difficult to deal with.

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We love you Mommy!

Seeing as how Daddy forgot to get you a card and we can not drive, we decided to make an online card. Plus, no trees will have to be cut down for this card. So Daddy tells us this is the environmentally responsible thing to do and we don't have to purchase any carbon offsets.

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Mommy, while you're upstairs sleeping we're getting hopped up on powdered donuts and getting our Barney fix. Soon we will pull every toy out of the toy box; It will not be pretty. Please forgive us.
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We really wish you were down here playing with us instead of being so lazy. But Daddy says you're lucky. You missed out on a diaper that he said contained "pure evil".
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Things I never thought I'd ever have to say, #127

Me To Colton: "Stop chewing on my toe!"

Two: Part 1

I have a two-year old.

Strange. In my mind it almost seems like yesterday or at least only the week before I was 16 years old and in high school. Zipping forward to the present, I'm still the same inside, but now I'm 33 and I have a two-year old.

Where does the time go? In my mind those 17 years seem to have passed almost as quickly as the last two. I feel old and young at the same time. If 16 was the week before, then certainly 25 was yesterday. At 25 I hadn't even met my two-year old's mother. 25 was just yesterday, so certainly in my mind it seems impossible for me to be 33 and married with a two-year old. You don't grow 8 years older and sprout a two-year old in one day, do you? It's simply not possible.

I have a two-year old. I'm not complaining by any means. I just wish time would slow down a little.

Cooper on our way to his B-day dinner. He's changed so much in the last year. He's gone from a baby to a little boy. I'm not sure when this transformation took place, but it hasn't been that long. Even at 18 months he was still kind of babyish. Having two boys so close in age allows for some interesting comparisons.

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The girls at Max and Erma's sing to Cooper.

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With money from Aunt Kelly and Granny, we set the boy loose in Toys R Us. I found out much later from a meanie store manager that you're not allowed to take pictures in Toys R Us. I had plenty of pics by that time, but next time maybe we'll just go to Wal-Mart. (Did I really say I'd rather go to Wal-Mart? I must be crazy.)

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We weren't allowed to take this picture either, but we did!

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This one too! We're so bad. I expect a lawsuit from Toys R Us lawyers to cease and desist showing these photos to be coming soon.

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Finally back home with his chosen toys, we opened them and Cooper vehemently did not want to share with Colton. Much shrieking, shoving, and pushing ensued. This did not phase Colton one iota. He managed several times to sneak in and crawl away with a car or two with Cooper in chase. Cooper didn't think it was very funny, but Colton thought it was riot. These two are going to be bestest friends and the worstest enemies.

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To be continued soon with "Two: Part 2"...................

Poor, Penniless Colton

Since last we blogged, Colton has been in the hospital twice. The first time was about 10 days ago. It started with Micole finding Cooper with two pennies. She took them and put them away, but as he is apt to do, he found them again. Later, Micole found only one penny on the floor next to a gagging Colton. She quickly surmised that he had swallowed the other penny and called the doctor. X-rays later confirmed that the penny was stuck in his throat. Micole and Colton then spent the night in the hospital, because they couldn't perform surgery until the morning. In the end, a single 1974 penny cost many thousands of dollars (hopefully mostly covered by medical insurance).

This past weekend Colton was suffering from a stomach virus. Vomiting, dehydration, and a short visit to the hospital were in order. I took off yesterday to stay at home with him. He was lethargic and fussy most of the day. He's in much better spirits today.

I'm almost forgot he had tubes put in a few weeks ago. So we've easily met our medical deductible early this year.

Cooper is so smart. Which means he might be dangerous (as evidenced by the case of stray pennies). He gets into everything. He talks alot but I don't understand most of what he's saying. Without any doubt he knows what we're saying.

One night we gave the boys a bath in our bathroom. A couple of days later I went to draw a bath in their bathroom. Cooper without us saying a word, went directly to our bathroom to retrieve the baby soap and shampoo. I was simply amazed. I just wish he would stop thinking that turning the television on and off is fun.

Pre-penny surgery.

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Post-surgery recovery. We had a nice chat with a nurse, who was shocked to find out that our "little" guy was only 9 months old. "Massive" is one term that she used.

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The infamous penny.

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Colton is almost walking. Here's a little video of his accomplishment.

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A cute after bath photo from a few weeks ago.

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A bath time photo.

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Cooper and Grandma Stella.

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The boys on their 23rd and 10th monthdays in the living room that can never stay clean.

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The boys this evening.

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22 & 9 and 2 In A Row

I didn't expect to post tonight, but Micole reminded me that Cooper turned 22 months old today and Colton turned 9. I haven't done a monthday post in awhile, so it seems appropriate. Two posts in two days. That's a new record!

Cooper spent part of his 22nd monthday playing in the snow with Ben, TJ, and Rachel. It was his first time playing in the snow.

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Young Colton on his 9th monthday. He's been sick for a few days but he's feeling much better today.

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I had a discussion today with a co-worker. We both agree that it is amazing that any children ever make it to the age of 5. There's all these little things that can happen with the younguns, mostly involving falling but there's plenty of other stuff like electrical shock or swallowing a coin or drinking cleaning fluid. Yesterday, Colton was pulling himself up on a toy when he fell through the glass on our curio cabinet. Micole said he was bleeding pretty badly at first, but when she cleaned it up all she could find was a little scratch. Lucky kid.

A few weeks ago Colton started pulling himself up on stuff, like the ottoman or the Imaginarium block that the boys got for Christmas. He had himself up on the Imaginarium, when of course (being one of his first attempts at this endeavor) he lost his grip and fell chin first into the block. I was upstairs when Micole screamed for me to come down. He was bleeding pretty badly out of his mouth when I arrived. Micole had me get a wash cloth for her. It cleaned up pretty fast, but it was scary. The same thing happened to Cooper at the same age, but it happened on the coffee table.

The funny thing about it was how upset Cooper was by the whole situation. Not an hour or so before he was pushing or hitting Colton for playing with HIS toys. So there he is pointing and screaming like "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY BROTHER! DO SOMETHING PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! OH THE HUMANITY!!!! " He was utterly and completely terrified by the situation. I'm not sure if he knew what was wrong; he just knew something was WRONG.

Falling Behind

I've got a lot to post, but I'll probably save some for future posts (and hopefully this time the not so distant kind of future). 2007 hasn't been the best year, but I'll write about that in another post. Nothing all that bad to us mind you (so as not to scare into imagining something that hasn't happened). Things just haven't gone quite the way I had hoped. I was hoping 2007 would be a great year and it has started out on a less than stellar note in many respects.

Before I write anything about 2007, (and so I can get back some blogging momentum) I should at least talk about Christmas and post some photos.

Santa was very good to us again this year. Based upon the volume of toys currently spread across our floor, he's been way too generous. If Cooper has learned any cuss words it's entirely because I've injured my foot stepping on unseen toys.

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Cooper was very into the whole act of opening presents this year. He opened his presents, Colton's presents, my presents, and anything else he could find that was wrapped. There were so many presents that Cooper didn't open them all on Christmas day. A good stack of presents was left unopened, but Cooper found them the next day and opened them while I was at work. Colton wasn't interested in the presents this year, but I'm sure he will be next year.

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It was a very Elmo Christmas for the boys. Besides the chair and the big stuffed Elmo doll, there was a talking Elmo, an Elmo phone, and Elmo book.


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It's Lightning McQueen! Kapow! Kachow!

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This is the stack of presents left unopened on Christmas day.

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Cooper had fun playing with the wrapping paper. I'm not sure why we even bought him toys and you don't cut your foot when you step on wrapping paper.

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Despite not caring all that much about Christmas this year, Colton was tuckered out.

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Colton on Christmas day at Aunt Heather's. Notice the hair.

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He had his first haircut a few days later. I think he looks so much different.

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The boys are often found together. Planning something diabolical for sure.

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I don't remember the context of these two pictures, but they're funny.

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Aunt Kelly came to visit us with her boyfriend for New Year's. She brought her new puppy, who we affectionately call "Hula Dog".

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Hula Dog had a thing for climbing on Colton's butt.

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By the end of the year Colton was able to pull himself up on the first step.

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That ends tonight's portion of the blog. I hope to return soon with a post of 2007 pics.