Cooper demonstrates his knowledge of cars

Sometimes kids are just weird...

Trying to make himself dizzy? Shaking water out of his ear? Imitating someone? Who knows!

The best part of Christmas. . .

is the filler paper Amazon puts in the boxes. We have been opening one present a day since any more would be overwhelming for Cooper whose favorite toy is always the last thing he got. Grandma got to be here for the opening of her gift. He liked the toy she gave him, but playing with Grandma and the paper was even better!

Buildee house

Cooper loves it when we make a house out of the couch pillows. Needless to say Daddy invented this game. . . it has quickly become one of his favorites. It only becomes an issue when he wants his very pregnant mother to climb in the house with him!

Thank you Marsh cousins!

Cooper's first Xmas present of 2011. So far I think he likes the holiday!

Playing with Daddy is so fun!

(or, an alternative title. . . When am I going to learn to not let my Dad do these things to me. . .)

Ready for winter!

It is starting to get very chilly here. Luckily Cooper seems to not mind the hat and gloves as long as he is still able to hold his cars. . .

How could a parent resist?

Cooper gets the greatest joy out of saying "Please". How can you ever say no!!

Stroller? Who needs a stroller...

When you have a scooter! Now he just needs a backpack do he can carry his food and diapers...

8-9-10

Cooper's favorite numbers are 8-9-10. He counts using 8-9-10, when 1-2-3 might be more conventional. . . He appears to be learning the other numbers, but still strongly favors 8-9-10!

Cooper and shoes

Cooper loves to put on other people's shoes, and at times his own. Here he is in my Ugg boots, a few sizes too large for him. . .

Trying to ride his scooter.


And in his wellies.

Fireworks!

My sister and I took Cooper down to see the Guy Fawkes night fireworks. He loved them!

Daddy's home!

Halloween

You might remember some great Halloween photos from last year (Brady and Dragon, #2). Unfortunately Cooper is now older and wiser and did not enjoy the dressing up quite as much. . . That didn't stop us from trying though!

Then Lou and I tried again. . . at least he liked the gloves!

Indoctrination starts early

Cooper's first Starbucks (a babychino)

One of these is not like the other...

Watching Ratatouille.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

From,
Mini-me

Rosa's Cafe (in California!)

This one is for the Marsh clan (especially the San Angelo arm). He loved it, can't wait to go to the original!

Fun in the sand with the Chiu cousins

We went to Manhattan Beach for Grandma's (Nama) birthday this weekend. It was perfect weather and we had great fun on the beach today.

 

 

Cooper and Daddy on FaceTime

A video of Cooper talking to Chris on FaceTime. Got to love the giggles!

Overhead luggage?

I swear he climbed in there himself!

Does ketchup count as lunch?

Sometimes our standards are so low...

Sometimes he is just weird...

I love French toast!!

"No like chicken"

Cooper's language skills have really developed in the last 2 months. When Nama was in town 2 months ago he was still calling every moving object a bus. She did her best to teach him car, truck, bike, etc. After she left the lessons seemed to take and now he just talks constantly. I think we understand about 25% of it. A few of my favorites:

• "No like _____" - Said all the time, and many times with a descriptor added, "chicken" being my recent favorite.
• "No more ______" - Said when something has stopped, for example the "bubbles" in the jacuzzi, or the "water" in the bathtub.
• "Bye bye _____" - Said when something/someone leaves or he throws something on the ground - "Bye bye car".

Musician in the family?

Happy Birthday Uncle Drew!

In Houston with the Marsh clan in celebration of Drew's 40th birthday. (it was past Cooper's bedtime. . .)

How to beat the heat, Cooper style

We are in Dallas. While it seems cool to those who have lived through the last 4 months here, to us London-folk it is hot!

 

New York weather

It never rains like this in London!!

Shouldn't this freak him out a bit?

Feeding the animals at Central Park Zoo.

Something about the hands...

Cooper doesn't like it when his hands are dirty. (The rest of him doesn't appear to matter!) here he is wiping his hands on my pants. :)

A pro with chopstix!

Bubbles, more bubbles

The Disney effect

Cooper's daily quest for Mickey (aka M Mouse).
1) Announce your desires
2) Get cable remote
3) Get TV remote
4) Wait patiently for mommy
5) Zone out

Cooper the artist

Cooper's first foray in to the world of drawing.

Ready for the NBA?

He does it to himself!

Sometimes you don't even need to harass Cooper, he does it to himself. ;)

No likey!

Cooper has started to string two words together. For better or worse, the first two words he has put together are "no" and "like". He uses them a lot, and I must say, rather effectively.

We felt a bit mean, but we really wanted to catch it on video, so we harassed him a bit this weekend. =)

Fountain fun!

It was warm out and Lou took Cooper out to the fountain across the street. He was having such a great time she called me to come over with the good camera. I couldn't choose my favorite shots, so everyone gets a slideshow. =)



and a normal video:

Where did my little boy go??

So grown up, doesn't need me any more!

18 months! How time flies!

Again, his likes and dislikes haven't really changed much, except the likes now include throwing and dislikes include having things taken away when he throws them!

He has also gotten very, very good on his scooter. He has even been let out of the hallway a few times. I need to get a good video of this. He seems so much more coordinated when he is on it, than when he is running and tripping down the hallway. ;)

His vocabulary has exploded again, I can't even track the words anymore. He has also started repeating things that he hears, even when he doesn't know what they refer to. He has also started putting two words together occasionally, the biggest being "no like". It is very useful, he says it before getting upset about something, oh, how he is growing up!

He still refers to most large moving objects as a "bus", but he has differentiated with "bike" and very occasionally with "ca" (short for "car" - doesn't quite have the "r" sound yet!).


He seems to be getting taller every day. He can now open doors, get most things off the kitchen counter, and climb up on just about everything in the house. We decided to get a height chart so we could start recording his growth. He appears to be 34in, which is about 95% percentile for his age, so still a very big kid! We tried to get a picture of it. . .

17 months old

(ok, so this was written really late (30 days late. . .) but the magic of technology will be moving this back a month once everyone has had a chance to read it. =)

His likes and dislikes haven't really changed since last month, but his vocabulary has at least doubled. However, he still calls all large moving objects with wheels "bus".

The words we can understand:

Back - when he wants you to put something back where it was before he moved it
Poo - said while he is squatting holding his diaper. He is correct about half the time... Maybe he is also identifying pee?? We will work this one out over the next 12 months!
Eyes
Nose
Shoes
Socks
Push - when he wants you to play with his toy, specifically push yourself on his scooter
Horse
Da - used for plane or bird. He even identifies the sound of a plane when he can't see it
Monkey
Mine
Box
Door
Ears
Mouth
Lou (his nanny)
Light
Hot
On
Apple
Snake
Bush (the president not the plant)
Knock
Stuck
Bumpy
Hello

First DIY

Chris teaching Cooper how to fix broken toys, or at least take them apart...

Studying:



Teaching:



Doing:

My son the hoodlum

Lou took this picture at the park. Is he about to pull out a gun?? ;)

Ms Pac-Man Champion?

Watch out Uncle Matt, we get them started early in this household!

It's a boy! Again, probably. . .

I am pregnant, due Jan 13, 2012. At the 12-week scan they gave us 70% probability we would be having another boy. More importantly, all signs point to having another healthy baby!

Cooper's first haircut

This actually happened a few weeks ago, but the pictures were on the good camera and I just now got around to downloading them.

He started out with a bit of caution, hold on tight!

Then things went all wrong. . .

He pulled himself together


And he ended up looking like the dashing young man that he is!