HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY COOPER!

Cooper,

You are THREE.

3

1.2.3.

What?

And what a wonderful three you are. You have continued to keep us in constant amazement at your wonderfulness. This year was a big year of change. I know everyone says babies/kids change the most in the first year, and yes, you did change a lot, but that was all expected change. This year was all somewhat unexpected in many ways.

You went from a non-talker to… well, an ALWAYS talker. Sometimes when we go through a drive through (yes, you get to eat McDonalds, not often, but oh do you love it) you will listen to me order, and say what I say word for word from the back seat a second behind. Like a car echo. I am sure it is confusing for the person listening, but I think it is hilarious. You repeat me other times, too, but I find it most funny when other people are on the receiving end of our jibberish. And you don’t just repeat me, you talk all the time. To me, to your dad, to the cats (“Clementine, get down or I will take away your cars”… ). You have so many words and, surprisingly (based on “terrible two” rumors) most of yours are nice. Due to your constant repetition, your dad and I have had to really be conscientious of what we say… Especially after one incident in the car when you complained about the “F*^&%^ trucks.” We both nearly wet our pants, but managed to NOT acknowledge it and make a deal out of it, and you haven’t repeated it since.

You went from person to … cat. This is one of your odder incarnations, but it has stuck. You like to pretend to be a cat, be referred to as a cat, and often make us speak in cat (meaning, say “mew” in lieu of words when reading a book or singing songs or talking in general). You are often, as it happens, a huge Adele fan. Totally unrelated, except that for the first time today I got to hear you sing one of her hit songs in cat. It was memorable.

You went from well rounded to a CARS fanatic. Ok, you will still play and enjoy other things, but OMG are you obsessed with Cars. You can recite the first 10 minutes of that movie. This says less about how much you watch TV (not that often, you consider it a “special treat”) and a TON about your ability to memorize. I think you get this from me - I have a somewhat uncanny ability to memorize things verbatim once I hear them – it drives your dad NUTS! But will serve you well in school.

You went from a one and only to a big brother. And not just any big brother, but THE BEST BIG BROTHER IN THE WORLD! You love to talk about how “cute” she is. You love to help with her – get her diapers, wipes and blankies. You love give her kisses and hold her hand. You have not acted out in any way other than to show that you are the most loving little creature in the world, and to want to sometimes play “baby”… and I must say, you are kind of large and hard to swaddle now… But we make it work, like we do everything on the fly!

You went from unburdened with the tasks of parenting to… parent to a stuffed piggy. Yes, this won’t last, and yes it is probably but a small blip in the three years of your life, but it is happening right now, so I have to mention it. You have taken to “fathering” your (really mine, from pre-you days) stuffed pig. You swaddle her. You rock her. You pat her down. You coo at her. You feed her. You check on her. How sweet to see you taking such good care. Of all the things you could have done to act out and show how much change having a baby sister is and how much it rocked your world, you have chosen to show us that having another person around only adds to your awesomeness. Thank you for that.

You went from a downtown guy to a suburban dude, and you LOVE it. You go to “school” now – you see Ms. Kathy (who you (for some reason I don’t quite get) ADORE). You are (and I am not just saying this) the most mature and smart kiddo in your class. You are a good sharer (at school) and you love snack time. You have a park you can walk to, and we got to go sledding. When we had you downtown I was so glad to give you that experience. It was so cool to watch you look at so many different people and different faces and register each as unique but none as different. You were so metro and multi-cultural. Now I am so glad to give you this. While somewhat… vanilla, you have what every kid deserves – an awesome school, a great library, a yard, sidewalks, parks… GRASS!

You went from toddler to little boy. And I am still reeling.

Happy Birthday Coop-a-loop. Love you much.

Three Months of Daphne

Baby Girl,

Wow! Three months already. It seems to have gone by quickly. Already I cannot remember life without you – sleeping through the night – what was that like? I kid – you are so much more than my middle of the night snuggler.

You are Daphne. Daffo-doodle. Daffo-doodle chicken noodle. Daphers. Daffa-laffa-ding dong. Laffa-Daffa. You are my Beauty.

We love you.

You are three months. Three months going on something like 13. You already have the ‘teen angst’ thing down. When we put you in your first bath – THE AGONY! When you realized you liked baths and we took you out of every bath since then – THE AGONY! You can stick out your lower lip and basically get the whole room to jump up to tend to your needs. It is that cute and you are that loved. When you are upset you are a little like a bomb, in that if we can diffuse you before you go off, then the whole house breaths a big sigh of relief. And if not, well, we all run for cover.

Despite your… angst-i-ness, you are actually a very happy baby. You smile all the time, and it requires your whole body to do so. You squeeze your shoulders up by your ears, you flail your arms, or stiff arm them by your sides (depending on the smile) and you kick your legs as that beautiful smile covers your face, lights up your eyes and peek-a-boos your dimple. I cannot look at you smiling without smiling, too. You also laugh, but not always for a reason I understand. We will be carrying you around, or opening the mail, and all of a sudden a big full bellied laugh comes out of your little body and the whole world stops for just a minute. You clearly have your own little secrets that keep you entertained. You coo and talk constantly, sometimes quiet, sometimes louder, sometimes it sounds like you are telling secrets, sometimes it sounds like you are discussing current events, and sometimes it sounds like you are telling your brother off for playing with your toys (and no one would blame you). If we could bottle up your sounds, we so would. I have a feeling you will always be outspoken, but I also have a feeling that when you get older, say in your real teen years, I may not want to know what you are saying, and will prefer to go back and listen to the baby gibberish.

You are an avid tap dancer – when we stand you up, you constantly tap your foot.

You love to watch TV and will often crane your body in to weird shapes to do so, or make a squawking sound to “encourage” us to face you in that direction.

You may look through this thing someday and wonder why there were so many pictures of Cooper and so I have posted so few of you. Let me assure you, it has nothing to do with you, your brother or either of your cuteness. It has to do with (1) a lost camera battery and (2) vastly improved camera phones 3 years later. I promise you, there have been TONS of pictures taken of you. TONS. And they have been distributed far and wide via text. BUT, I am so going to find that battery… Seriously, if you would just SLEEP a little more, I could function a little better and perhaps get to item 1 on my “to do” list.

Oh baby girl. I am still somewhat terrified at the prospect of raising a daughter, but I am also so excited. I cannot wait to paint your fingernails and toenails. I cannot wait to teach you to French braid your Barbies’ hair.

But that is all a ways off.

Right now I want you to stay little for a while.

What?

And we have entered a new realm in parentdom... the second kid ear infection brought on without a doubt by the older sibling attending play school with an unnamed kid who was clearly too sick to be at play school.

Way to go, unnamed kid.

We took both kids in today as Coop has a nasty cough and Daphne has a similar nasty cough, an aversion to eating, an inability to sleep for more than 70 minutes at a time, a general grumpy disposition and a pouting lower lip.

Coop is fine, clean bill of health and though that cough may linger it is just that, a lingering cough and not a sign of anything more problematic... which means no more Tylenol for you, buddy. He LOVES grape tylenol, and while the rest of the day he would tell me how NOT sick he was, at bedtime he would say "I'm sickie. I need the purple medicine to make the sickies go away."

Con artist.

Daphne, on the other hand, has an ear infection, and it makes me feel HORRIBLE that we didn't know this until now. She started coughing Wednesday night, we called the doctor yesterday, they finally called us back today, and we went in ASAP, but still... poor boogity.

She was prescribed the same nasty, pink, needs-to-be-refrigerated amoxicillan that I used to have to take as a kid - seems they could have improved on that since then. The good news is, we found a culprit, and we should have our Daphne back soon - the one who is an excellent eater, has an inability to sleep for more than 70 minutes at a time, has a generally sweet disposition and a sassy attitude.

I have missed her.

Terror!

That is what you inflict upon the house when you are over-tired.

SO SLEEP!

Seriously. Your dad and I were sitting on the couch in the quiet (finally) a full hallway and room and doorway away from where you were slumbering (finally) with the TV on (practically) mute and all of the lights out and there was a rustle over your monitor. We both jumped, caught our breath, held it and looked at your image on the monitor to see whether you were waking (again).

I feel like we are suffering from PTSD.

Painfully Tired (but) Sleep (adverse) Daphne.

Sigh.

That's the best I can come up with at this hour. I am too preoccupied worrying about when you will wake up next...

Unforseen

My Night:

5:15 - Steve leaves for class. I finish giving Daphne a bottle and place her on her mat, and then Coop (aka my shadow) follows me to the kitchen to get the dinner Steve made before he left that is tucked under aluminum foil to stay warm. I eat, sharing most of it with Cooper who would not eat a bite of it if it were on his plate, but wants to "share my wunch, please?" For the next 45 minutes I lay on the floor next to Daphne and coo back at her and/or play cars with Coop and/or "swaddle" him and rock him to bed like a baby.

6:00 - While Daphne remains content in a new spot on the floor, I take Coop to the bathroom and fill the tub with warm water for him. Meanwhile, I give him a cup and ask him to fill it from the running faucet and then pour that into Daphne's little bath right next to the tub. He is very excited about this task, so I manage to get his and Daphne's jammies set out and ready to go post-bath while he does it. I get both kids in the bath and clean - listening to Coop's jabber with his bath toys and Daphne's giggles as she kicks the water (both = adorable).

6:20 - I get Daphne out, dry and dressed, then get Coop out dry and dressed while I heat up a bottle. I give Daphne a bottle while I get Coop to pick out the books we will read tonight.

6:45 - I lay Daphne down, and get bottles and pumps so I can pump while I read to Cooper. This actually works in his favor as he gets to read double the amount of books. I make him go potty and he assures me he has no poo poo (which i believe as he has pooped in the morning and at naptime).

7:15 - We snuggle and rocky and then I tuck him into bed giving him a "big kiss" and wrapping him up (like Daphne). I put some laundry away and finish doing the dishes. I am somewhat smug at how well I have orchestrated the evening routine and the kids' bedtimes such that each got individual attention, we played together and everyone went down without a tear shed at a VERY reasonable time. Oh, smug me... if I had only known.

7:25 - Daphne wakes up fussing (a common fake out wake up - she will get up about an hour after she first goes down, but usually goes back to sleep within 5 minutes with a little rocking). I go in and pick her up - her eyelids already close again, and she nestles in.

7:26 - "Mommy! Poo Poo!" yells Coop from his room. I go in, get him up and manage to get him on the potty to do his business while holding Daphne in the dark. Then I manage to assist with the wipe and send him back to bed with a "WAY TO GO!" and a quick one-handed tuck in while I am trying to get Daphne's eyes to close again.

7:28 - Daphne is back in her near sleep state.

7:30 - "Mommy! Poo Poo!" yells Coop again. I struggle between pulling my hair out while saying "but I just asked if you were done and you said you had no more poo poo!" and saying, "Good job! Let's go!" The former reflecting how I am feeling at the moment, and the latter reflecting how I want to feel and how I should feel and how I would feel if not for his and his sister's conflicting needs. I manage to say the latter and sound enough like I mean it to convince a two, almost three, year old.

7:32 - "Are you SURE you are done" I say as I try to speed wipe Coop while I hear Daphne breaking out of her swaddle from where I left her in the dark in the next room, so I could turn on the light in the bathroom for Coop. "Yes."

7:45 - After a little extra time than usual, Daphne is back in her near sleep state.

7:46 - "Mommy! Poo Poo!". Are you ________ kidding me. I try to keep my voice quiet and calm (for Daphne and Coop's sake) and go in and hustle Coop to the bathroom while explaining that while I am PROUD of him it is important he get all his poo poos out at once, because it isn't fair that he keep waking up his sister. He clearly has no idea what I am saying and is just excited about his poop. I don't want to burst his bubble but can feel on the brink of sharing my lack of excitement at his third potty trip so I leave him in the potty to do a "good job!" and get him 2 books. I hand him both books and tell him to sit on the potty and read until ALL the poo poo is gone, and I will be back in a minute, and he cannot get up until I come back.

7:50 - I am still trying to rock Daphne back down, but realizing it is completely useless, and since I can't really expect Cooper to sit quietly on the potty for the hour it will now take to get her to sleep, I should just bite the bullet, lay her back down (allowing her to break the swaddle and wake all the way up) and go get him back to bed.

8:35 - Steve gets home to me and a still awake Daphne. He gets to rock her down, and I get ice cream.

I am so glad we have a boy who is reaching new milestones, but is still convinced he cannot get out of bed unless we come get him out of bed (seriously, I dread the day he realizes that he can get up even if we don't open the door and say he can...) but OMG! I did not realize how frustrating it would be to applaud one kid while he is simultaneously screwing you over.

Poo Poo!

In the POTTY!!!!

Coop has been potty trained since he was about 2. If "potty trained" means going #1 in the potty and holding #2 for a sleep time (nap or night) when he can do his business in a pull up.

I was not bothered by this as any sort of potty training at his age was pretty awesome... then we neared 3 and I was like, um, yeah, we need to get on this. Partly because I really prefer to only clean up one persons poops at a time, and partly because the waste of wearing an overnight pull up for only a half hour or so and then requiring a new one was just something that bothered my efficient mind.

So we begged, pleaded, bargained, bribed and... no go. Coop spent many months talking about all the things he would get if he did his stuff in the potty, but continued to use the pull up for important business.

Until yesterday... out of nowhere... he called from his room, went to the potty and did his business. He was promptly rewarded with one of the two cars we had propped in the bathroom to encourage / torment him into using the potty. He went to bed, and five minutes later called out and did it again - thus getting the second of hte 2 bribery cars we had on hand. He actually got up a few more times and wondered where the car treats were for his continued efforts... um...

Then he got up this morning and did it again, and again tonight!!!! I am so proud.

Three more cars are en route from amazon as we speak.

And we went and got a special ice cream treat today.

And a happy meal.

Seriously, we are pretty excited about poop over here.

Ahh, parenthood.