I am in trouble now!

So my baby is turning into a toddler and I am not quite liking it. So far today he has learned a couple of new things that I am really, ok extremely not happy about.

He has mastered going up the stairs, how you ask? I have absolutely no idea. I guess it has to be somewhat instinctual because he seriously has no real stair experience.

Earlier, I was going through the mail and heard his voice over the baby monitor (he was not sleeping) and I thought well that is strange that the monitor is picking up his voice all the way downstairs...and then it dawned on me...he is upstairs! So I ran up there and sure enough he was hightailing it down the hallway and of course at an even faster rate when he saw me coming. I had literally checked on him like 30 seconds before his apparent ascent up the stairs. So I decided to try it just one more time to see exactly how fast he could get up there...and...35 seconds, yep 35 seconds is all it took this non-walking, no stairs experience 11-month-old (yes, he is 11 months until he officially turns 12 months in 9 days!) to go all the way up the stairs. Looks like we will be making a trip to Babies-R-Us to try to diffuse this newly learned ability!

If anyone has any profound advice on how to gate this lovely landing, I would greatly appreciate it!

This is what we have to work with!

For our second adventure of the day...mind you it is only 10:45 a.m. I was putting dishes in the dishwasher and walked over to get something out of the family room only to come back to find this...what a stinker!

Oh please tell me he is not going to be a climber :-(

Part of his journey up the stairs

Bend it Like Gillam!

Connor started playing soccer this past Saturday. He is really enjoying it and likes to tell everyone that he scored 4 goals at his game...which he didn't! I think his favorite part was getting his uniform and the shopping trip to Dick's to get his cleats and shin guards...he is quite proud of them and asks to wear them everyday. It is 3-on-3 with no goalie, so it is pretty much a free for all. It was quite hilarious because they all knew what they were supposed to be doing but they couldn't quite get their 4-year-old bodies to move the way they wanted to. There was quite a bit of tripping over the ball and each other. The first play of the game, two players on the other team tripped and hit heads and one of them ran off the field screaming, "Mommy"! So as you can tell it is quite intense soccer playing! Here are some pics of Connor in his uniform and him in action! I forgot the video camera so I will be sure to get some footage this weekend for all to see!







Giving the other team hi-fives!

He Stands!

I think instead of napping, Cooper has been practicing standing in his crib! Brad went in to get him yesterday after he woke up from his nap and while Brad was putting some of Coop's clothes away he noticed Cooper making some funny noises and when he looked over at Coop he was standing on his own. So, Brad called me in to show me what he was doing. Brad would tell Cooper to stand up, so Cooper would pull up to his crib. Then, Brad would say, "Cooper, no hands" and Cooper would put his hands in the air and stand in his crib unassisted for about 15-20 seconds!

Well today he is a standing pro. He is standing for about a minute at a time! You know what comes next...I don't know if Mommy is ready for that yet!

Cooper has a new friend!

So I don't know much about this little girl other than she and Cooper are the best of buds. Her Mom works at the childcare center at the gym that I go to and take the kids to nearly everyday. This entire week when I have gone to pick the boys up, the (9-month-old) little girls' Mom just starts laughing the second she sees me. She says that she will put them across the room from each other and once they realize what has happened they make a beeline for one another. She says they hug and play and hug and play pretty much the whole time Cooper is there.

I just think this is really funny because Cooper has a couple of other "friends" his age and he really pays no attention to them...mostly just parallel play!

I guess there is something special about this little friend!

Growl, Grunt

Cooper is going through a stage where he feels the need to growl and grunt pretty loudly, especially when we are in tight quarters, such as the car. Connor, most of the time finds it humorous and likes to add fuel to Cooper's fire. Well the other night we were on our way to dinner and Connor had just woken up from a nap and was not in the best of moods when Cooper started in with a growling/grunting episode. This episode invoked the following dialogue:

Connor: Cooper, you are being sooo loud

Cooper: growl, grunt, growl, grunt

Connor: Cooper, knock it off

Cooper: growl, grunt, growl, grunt

Connor: Cooper, put a sock in it

As I am turning around to get on to Connor...

Connor: Well Mom, this kid is just driving me nuts!