Mother Goose Fair at School

On Halloween, Cooper and Penny's school has a nursery rhyme themed fair. After reciting nursery rhymes with their class, the kids get to participate in the fair.  Cooper enjoyed most of the booths, which was a significant change from last year.  He even allowed his face to be painted and his picture taken! Penny enjoyed the duck pond the most, when last year she was only 8 weeks old, she slept through the fair.

Penny at the fair!

Who needs a net??

Cooper finds himself more amusing than Penny does.

Digging for an egg at the Humpty Dumpty booth.

Cooper really liked having his face painted.

Cooper-ese and Penny-speak

We talk all the time about the cute things our kids say now and about the cute things they used to say.  It occurs to us on a daily basis that there are things we have forgotten, so I thought I would take a minute to jot down some excerpts from our current conversations with Coop and Penny.

Penny:

"gook" (rhymes with look people!) = book
"ma-mote" = remote control
"ker-ker" = cracker/cookie/snack
"go-gur" = yogurt
"uh, uh, uh!" = I want that!
"wo, wo, wo" = Row, Row, Row (your boat!)

Cooper:

"I can't got it!" = I need help!
"That's not the thing!" = You are irritating me.
"I need cake, it's an emergency!" = I am HUNGRY and I want a granola bar!
"Daddy, where's the big shirt?" = Dad, put on your robe so we can go downstairs and start the day!
"Bust my buffers!" = Oh my! (the expression comes from Thomas the Train, but he has always used it in perfect context)
"Give me a hug." = Self explanatory, but he says it just so sweetly!
"I want the orange one" = Fill in the blank with a color and he uses this phrase to ask for something he doesn't know the word for.

Cooper is Three!

On October 4, 2008, David and I were thrilled to welcome our first born baby boy into our lives.  Sweet Cooper has changed our lives so profoundly and the last three years have positively zoomed by!  While we have always adored him, we are reveling in this great age he has reached.  We have watched him grow and his personality shine in just the last year.  Some of the differences in our now three year old from last year:

• He can speak in full, articulate sentences.
• He has recognized his ability to be funny and intentionally makes us laugh everyday.
• He loves school!  He actively participates in school, when last year he was mostly too shy and kind of did his own thing.  He also has lots of friends at school and talks about them at home all the time. His teacher tells me he is quite the social butterfly.
• He knows all his letters and numbers (1-20) by sight and is starting to grasp the concept of what they mean.
• Cooper sings!  Around this time last year he would just ask us to sing his favorite songs.
• He has memorized lots of his books and will "read" them to you.  He enjoys going to the library or bookstore and picking out his own books.
• Cooper still very much enjoys his collection of Thomas the Train toys, books, and movies.  It is amazing to me that he honestly knows over 100 different characters.  We were in Toys-R-Us the other day and I pulled several new train characters off the shelf that I had never heard of and we didn't have at home or at Grandma's...he could tell me who they all were.
• He is a great big brother!  Coop does get irritated with Penny when she messes up whatever he is playing with, but he told her just this morning, "I love Penny!"
• While I would still consider him to be a somewhat picky eater, he has opened his mind to trying lots of new things.  We are most amused that his favorite food is rib-eye steak.
• Cooper is potty-trained!  Most of the time I don't even have to ask/remind him to go potty...he is already in there flushing by the time I realize he has to go!

For Cooper's birthday this year, we opted for a family dinner at home.  Ma-mas, Pa-Pa, and Libby came bearing gifts for grilled pork chops and birthday cake.  Cooper had a great time helping make the cake and icing, though I decorated it while he napped. Cooper loved his cake, mostly because it had a Thomas the Train ensemble on it, and liked his presents.  Penny had to help him open his presents because he got so involved with the first gift, he didn't want to stop playing to open the rest!  He received some Mega Blocks Thomas building sets, a miniature train set, an ant farm, kids' binoculars, books, and some shirts.  Overall it was a great birthday!

Party Pics!

So excited about these Thomas sets, we had to coax him to keep opening gifts!

Pa-Pa and Coop playing with his mini train set.

Coop's and Mom's creation.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

A morning walk.

Exploring...

Penny helped Cooper with his dirt pile.

Penny did not want to be carried anywhere...she preferred walking, even though with her stride, she has to walk twice as far.

Ralph was just happy to be there.

Ma-mas was happy to oblige when Coop needed a ride.

Early Sunday morning sight.