A BIG Choo-Choo

Cooper has become obsessed with trains! I love it because for some strange reason I always pictured myself having a little boy who loved trains. Maybe it's because I have always thought they were so fascinating and have always wanted to take a trip on a train! Anyway, he LOVES trains. He loves watching Thomas the Train movies, even though they are quite boring to me. He sleeps with Thomas every night. And he plays with his train table we got him for his birthday constantly. He also has the book "The Little Red Caboose" memorized and we tell that story on the way to school every morning! It's amazing...without the book, he can tell me that the little red caboose always came last. Then, I say..."First, came the big black engine". Cooper replies "then boxcars, the oil cars, the coal cars, and flat cars"!! That's exactly the order of them in the story! He loves going across railroad tracks, and says everytime "red caboose come?" It's precious! A couple of weeks ago, we took him to ride a real train in Calera. We went on this ride last spring to go on an Easter egg hunt...but Cooper wasn't into trains then. It was an hour long train ride through the woods...and he loved every second of it! We sat out on an open car, and he was absolutely amazed! I'm not so sure that an hour was long enough for him! They also have old trains out that you can climb on and look at! Cooper loved doing that too! His favorite part was seeing where the coal goes. He will tell us that the choo-choo eats coal! Anyway, it was a great little Saturday morning perfectly spent!

The Beach

I'm not really sure how I get so behind on blogging. I do want to do better and capture our memories. We did take a trip to the beach this summer! We stayed at Splash in Panama City! Cooper LOVED the "water park" that Splash has...the beach...not so much! He was not all about the sand and said it was "guck"! He had lots of fun jumping in the pool and playing in the play area! Jared and I took turns going down to the beach to relax while Cooper was napping! Our beach trips are no longer about just relaxing...but entertaining a toddler, forgetting about things at home, and just enjoying family time! Most of the time, we just stayed at the condo, the beach, or the pool. We went to eat at the Back Porch which was delicious! We also went to Pier Park twice because Cooper loved riding the train, and we loved all the neat things to do there! Before heading home, we visited Gulf World, which was a lot of fun. We saw a loat of water animals, and even watched a dolphin show!! That was the best part! We loved it, and can't wait to go back...in October we hope!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper!!!

On Saturday...our little boy turned 2!!! I can't believe it! We celebrated with family and friends at the zoo...one of Cooper's places! We got to pet a turtle, a snake, and a ferret! We had cake and ice cream and then went to ride the choo-choo!!! Cooper was SO excited!!! After the train ride, Cooper walked(actually ran) around the zoo with his friends Christian and John Patrick! We walked around and looked at all the animals, stopped to pick up rocks, and finally ended up at the splash pad where we played in the water and rode the carousel with Nathan! It was such a FUN party! We came home, had a LONG nap, and then...present time!!! Cooper LOVED his train table...we weren't sure he was going to open anything else! He finally did leave the table long enough to open his presents! He got a lot of great toys! He even got the bike he had been asking Mammy and PawPaw for! We pushed him all around the house! Last, we took him outside to see his new swing set! He loved it!! He played with his new toys...mostly his train table until 10:00!!! He's never been up that late...but it was his birthday!!! I look forward to many more birthdays with this precious boy!

A Day with Friends

Best buds digging in the dirt
Sweet Baby Emory

Christian, Cooper, and John Patrick taking a snack break!

Christain and Cooper feeding a snack to the fish!

Earlier in the summer we me these sweet friends, Christian, Emory, John Patrick, and our friend Angela Blocker for a playdate in the park! We swang, fed the fish, had a snack, and played in the dirt! It was a fun day, and a HOT one too!
These sweet friends held hands like this all the way from the playground to the lake where we fed the fish! Christian has ALWAYS been such a sweet friend to Cooper, and he LOVES her! I know he will miss being with her at Mrs. Barbara's next year! We'll just have to be sure that we continue getting them together to play!

We've Been HERE a lot...

We have absolutely LOVED going to the zoo this summer! Cooper loves seeing the animals...but he especially LOVES riding the "choo-choo". He can narrate the trip..he knows where the hippo stays, where the cranes are, when we go through the tunnel, pass the flamingos, and then the choo-choo goes "night-night"! It is so much fun to just be with him these days! I am amazed at how much he remembers and that he can now somewhat tell us what he is thinking! Although he hasn't been much of a talker, he has really just been taking everything in, and now he tells us a little bit of what goes on in that busy little mind of his! We have gone to visit the zoo late in the afternoon quite often! It's a great time to go for several reasons~no crowds, it's not AS hot, and it's feeding time for the animals so they're up and moving a lot more! That's how we got to see the red panda eating his dinner one night! Cooper stood and watched him for a very long time! He just kept saying, "he eat-in"! He also loves to feed the fish and the turtles! He has also fed those crazy lorikeets...but just once! Mostly, we watch Daddy from OUTSIDE the fence! We have had a BLAST with him this summer! I wish that I could freeze himin this precious stage of life that he is in right now...but then I remember that there are many precious memories to come! We are so blessed to be the parents of this sweet little boy!

Cooper's First Trip to the Emergency Room....

happened on Mother's Day Weekend...and I JUST came across the pictures and realized that I never blogged about it! On Saturday morning Cooper was playing in his room, Jared was busy in the back of the house, pretty sure I was doing laundry (because it was Saturday and that's just what I do every Saturday). All of a sudden, I hear glass shatter...followed by Cooper SCREAMING! I run into the kitchen to see him standing in the middle of a broken snow globe which usually is in his closet...have no idea how he got in there! Anyway, I look down to his foot which is bloody and I tell myself over and over to "remain calm" as I carry him to a sink near Jared (in case I cannot remain calm or pass out first). He had a gash on the side of his foot which basically went down his entire foot! We got it to stop bleeding, he acted REALLY pitiful, we watched Nemo and ate popsicles on the couch. Then he took a nap. When he got up the huge band-aid had LOTS of blood on it, so I called the after hours nurse and she sent us to Children's (the one downtown). I would simply HATE to go back to Acton Road unless ABSOLUTELY necessary! Remember I said Cooper was acting REALLY pitiful?? I mean he was not putting ANY pressure at all on his foot, and we really could not tell how bad it was because it started bleeding so badly when we tried to look. No kidding, as soon as we got to our room in the ER, he was running around, jumping on their bed, spinning on the stools, etc. He even let the doctor flush it out with saline~OUCH! (to make sure there was no glass in it)where he would scream like he was dying if we even touched it! So...basically they wrapped it in some gauze, kissed the boo-boo and sent us on our merry way! Later when he would let us near it, we realized that he basically just took off a little layer of skin BUT better to error on the side of caution...right??? Even if we're tagged as overreactive parents?