1. Cooper's latest fascination is with shadows. It started about a week ago. Every Saturday morning I open all the blinds in our family room and kitchen to let in all the morning sun. I love it. Well, last Saturday Cooper was sitting on the couch with me for his morning feeding and stopped mid-suck. He was mesmerized. At first I couldn't figure out what he was so intrigued by. Then I saw it. The shadow of the blinds on the arm of the couch.

Then yesterday I noticed it again. I laid him on the floor of our room while I vacuumed. He was playing with the shadows from the blinds. He laid there and played that way for about 30 min. uninterrupted. I tell you--the kid loved shadows. And again today. At the park we were trying to get him to look at the geese in the pond. He was much more interested in the shadow of the tree we were standing next to. He gets frustrated that he can't grab them.

2. As I'm typing this, there is a puddle of drool on the desk. I just stuck my wrist in it. Momma's little helper was helping her with the last blog post and decided to leave his mark. Yum.

3. Cooper's other latest fascination is anything electronic. Like, say, the tv remote for instance. If it's in sight, he wants it. He will also accept or go for the camera, the computer mouse, calculators and cell phones. I told Nathan the next toy we should get him is a tv remote that belongs to nothing. He would be in heaven.

And while I was blogging a bit ago, uploading pictures and such, Cooper was determined to take the camera. I gave him the camera case instead, which he happily played with on the floor for about 5 minutes. And then it dawned on me where our camera case has been...airports, vacations, zoos, parks...you get the picture. Let's hope he just picks up antibodies and not a bad germ. Lovely. Way to go mom.

4. Another way to go mom happened last night. Nathan and I have always run most of our Saturday errands together. It has usually been the only way we get to spend time together outside the house without spending money we don't need to spend. So when he got home yesterday we headed off to the dreaded Wal-Mart. Oh how I dread that place. It seems to suck the energy right out of me. It did that even before I had a baby in tow. Now it's like mommy torture.

My great idea was to finally buy a shopping cart cover since Coop is nearly sitting up on his own. I figured if we got him strapped in he'd be much happier sitting there than being in his carseat, which he HATES. We usually end up lugging him around the store in our arms, trying to push the cart and pick up things at the same time. Not fun. So since we were going to Wal-Mart, why not go in and get a cart cover first (I know I should wash it at home first, but desperate times call for desperate measures.). Of course--they're out of the one I want. The only one in stock only covers the front and back, leaving the germy sides completely open to my child's wandering and curious hands and mouth. Oh no. No, no, no. That just won't do. We'll have to wait and get one somewhere else.

But what to do at that moment? Ah-ha! If we put the diaper bag on his left side, my purse on his right side, and cover my purse and the front of the cart with his blanket, there won't be any cart available for him to try to chew on. Silly momma. You forgot your child's ability to find anything germy. We ended up slathering the entire handle of the cart with antibacterial whatcha-ma-call-it (the name of it escapes my dead mommy brain at this very moment), and hoping our kid would be protected enough to get us through one trip through the necessary evils of Wal-Mart.

This morning Cooper woke up with a cough. Nice.

5. Cooper got up on all fours yesterday a few times for about 10 seconds at a time. And he sat up by himself, unsupported, for about a minute. He'll be sitting and crawling before we know it. Right now he rolls ALL OVER the place. If he wants something, he generally knows how to roll and scoot, and turn and roll to get it. He is playing on the floor next to me right now. If I put down a blanket for him, the first thing he does is roll off it, so there's little point to that any more. A few minutes ago his happy coos and blurbs turned into a cry. I turn around to see that he has pinned himself between the chair and desk leg of the desk behind me. Nice. Time to put that playpen to good use if my eyes can't be on him.

6. Cooper is starting to learn to self-soothe. Sometimes at night he'll have a tummy ache, and I'll lay him across my lap and slightly bounce him. He enjoys that. I sing to Cooper a lot. Maybe more than most, I dunno. Well, lately if I'm bouncing him like that and not singing to him, he'll start singing to himself. If I start singing with him, he'll stop, but start again as soon as I stop.

7. On the subject of singing, Cooper LOVES it. I sing lots of songs to him--primary songs from church, kids songs from when I was little, and more current music as well. He especially likes womens' voices. Yesterday he stopped what he was doing when he heard an electric guitar playing (I was playing something on my iPod.). Combine the woman's voice with a guitar and he's in love. Apparently he likes the rocker chicks.

No, but he really likes songs. One of his favorites is from Yo Gabba Gabba, a very weird kids show. It seems strange to us, but to babies, as Nathan puts it, it's "baby crack." We have several Yo Gabba Gabba videos marked in our internet favorites. His most favorite is "There's a Party in My Tummy." Oh my. He will watch the video without even blinking. When I get his cereal and baby food ready, I'll put him in his high chair and sing words from it, "There's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy." He breaks out in a grin and usually lets out a shriek of joy. He LOVES that song. (Thanks, Mel, for telling us about it when Kyle used to watch it.)

He also likes the songs "I Like Bugs" and "Come and Play" from Yo Gabba Gabba too. These are additions to my previous post of him liking "Do as I'm Doing" and other songs.

. . .

Ok. I'd better go eat some dinner before the nightly bedtime routine begins. Thanks for listening to the thoughts from my head.

This was our Friday night entertainment. Need I say more?

to toe...

and even his backside...

Cooper was ready for our superbowl party thanks to the great Patriots' jersey and hat Uncle David sent him. (Note his little football next to him.) Well, it should still fit him next year, and we'll hope the Pats make it so we can cheer them on and get to wear this outfit to a Superbowl party again!

And maybe by then I will have learned more of "The Man Code." Humph.

This morning, like most days, Cooper woke up babbling and happy. Since I didn't have to rush to go anywhere, I grabbed the camera and popped into his room to snap the moment....


And here is Cooper playing while I blog. This is a perfect example of the consternation he shows when playing. It's like he's always got to figure out the toy, not just enjoy it. Funny kid.

Ever since Cooper was born, I have an entirely new perspective on the value of human life, on family values, on love, on children, on joy, and on the importance of families. I can hardly watch on tv or listen on the radio shows or stories involving harm to or death of children. My mind always reverts to how I would feel if Cooper were that child. Being a parent is an entirely new gamut of emotions, thoughts, and feelings.

Well, yesterday was our church Stake Conference. (For more on what that means, click on the link. In a nutshell, our church is organized by geographic location. Our local congregation we meet with every week is comprised of usually about 80 local families, which is what we call a "ward." A "stake" is usually about 5 wards closest in geographic location.) We have a conference twice a year where various church leaders speak, two conferences as a world-wide church (General Conference) and two ther conferences as a Stake (Stake Conference).

Yesterday our stake conference was a live broadcast of speakers from our church administration in Salt Lake City, UT. The last speaker was Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. He spoke about families, about being as a little child, etc. His talk was full of ideas that struck me in ways I have never felt before I had a child. That is completely natural, of course, to have different ideas/thoughts/spiritual inspiration apply to whatever course of life you're in. As I sat there listening and contemplating his talk, several things struck me.

1. It is important to read the scriptures to your children, even before they are able to understand the actual words (or able to read). I never thought about that before. I mean, I figured we'd start reading scriptures with Cooper when he was about 2-3 years old, when I can at least explain in children's terms what something means, or when he can follow some sort of story. But Elder Eyring had a good point. He said children are usually eager to listen to the word of the Lord, even if they don't understand the WORDS because they can FEEL an understand the SPIRIT that they will feel when hearing the word of God. They that when they hear the scriptures read, they feel happy and good. I had never thought about that, but totally agree. How often do we underestimate our children's spirituality?
2. I know from personal experience in my own family growing up that giving children the opportunity to pray is also especially important. As we have family prayer and give our children the opportunity to pray specifically for other family members, that child develops a stronger bond with those family members. It also helps children learn how to speak to their Heavely Father and recognize him as a true being they're speaking to when they are able to pray for specific things and not just ramble off a little rote prayer.

I'm having a brain cramp as I try to write this, which is unfortunate. I wish I had taken notes (yeah right--with a fussy baby?), or at least written things down when I got home. Meant to blog about it yesterday afternoon, but time slipped away from me. Well, at least I got two main points recorded for my future reference.

It's just amazing how having a child deepens your feelings. We were watching a show on the History channel the other day, and it spurred our feeling of needing to be more ready for emergency situations--more than we are now. With a child dependent on us for his sustenance, no matter what situation we may be in, it makes emergency preparedness much more of a priority. We have plans to ready our food storage, water storage, emergency kits, camping gear, make a family fire escape plan, a plan for what to do if something happened while Cooper is at the babysitter and we are at work...and the list goes on and on. Never before have Nathan and I felt such an urgency to get more prepared than we are currently for whatever may or may not happen. Kids change everything...

Last Tuesday was Cooper's 4-month doctor visit. The results:

Weight: 15 lbs. 1 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 24" (25th percentile)
Head Size:....wait for it.....97th percentile!

Yep--our kid has a HUGE head relative to the rest of his body. Guess that's where all his smarts come from.

I also forgot to include in my last post about recent milestones that he does raspberry lips all the time. It's like his favorite thing to do now. And last night he sat on his own for about 30 seconds. Won't be long now.

[I'll post a picture or two later...posting from work and forgot camera.]