Progress

I finally took some pictures of the sandbox. You can also see the 3 yards of rock we hauled around it.








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Rocks

Here's our progress.



It actually looks like it is dwindling now. Maybe just a yard left??
Here is my helper. My other helper, Larkin, is napping. She helped pick up some rock this morning and directed the wheelbarrow for me.







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Weekend Wrap-Up

Great weekend, but it flew by. We bought a new utility trailer on Saturday! The old trailer is 15 years old and needs some minor work, like a new floor. Our new trailer is great. It is heavy duty, has bigger wheels two things we wanted to upgrade. Here's a picture.




We sold the extra sand we had
and delivered it to Beaverton. We also gave the plastic green turtle sandbox to our neighbors. I hauled at least a yard and a half of the rock Saturday. I still have more to move before Friday.

Sunday I had a band concert at a local festival. It went well but we were sweltering in the heat. I headed to Grandma Lindsay's afterwards to work on Cooper's matchbox city. We built the commecial buildings, railroad tracks and planned out the rest of the spaces. He already loves playing on it!


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Park

I took the kids to a nearby park this morning to get some energy out. They had a great time running around, sliding,
playing on the sand, climbing and swinging. Larkin really likes to swing.
I watched from afar while Cooper was playing with a little boy that was probably 1 1/2 or 2. They were riding in a car that has a steering wheel and taking turns driving. The little boy's caregiver was with him and communicating via sign language. Cooper was doing imaginary play with the two of them and it was so cool to watch. He drove them home the most, but also stopped at the ice cream store and bought all of us chocolate ice cream. He is growing everyday and it blows me away. I don't have to be spotting him at most parks, he climbs up play structures with ease and is so proud of himself. I love watching him play with other kids.
The other great success for us is he mastered potty learning. He has no issues with the toilet. Although he does like to go poo in the bark chips like Riley, when he is in the backyard.
Yesterday he helped me haul some of our rock to the backyard in his dump truck, wearing only his a shirt and underwear.


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August Fun

This summer is flying by.  July was a whirlwind of visitors, birthday, camping.  August started with Sharon's birthday and a planned camping trip.  We are having fun, Cooper and I went to Oaks Park for the first time a last week.  He didn't like the roller coaster or the Tilt-A-Whirl.  He liked the train and the motorcycle ride the best.  He also went on the cars and rockets.  It was a lot of fun.

Today we went to a Vancouver library for the Reptile Man.  I thought it was great.  Cooper lasted about 1/2 hour then had to go potty.  He saw the train table inside the library and threw a fit trying to go back out to see the rest of the show. He really wanted to hold the white snake.

Back to Work

Happy Birthday to my awesome, beautiful wife. I love you.

I am back to work watching Larkin three days a week, Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I am enjoying the two days off in the middle of the week. Monday and Tuesday we stuck around the house and took a walk in the morning. Larkin is a good napper so she slept after lunch until her Dad came.

This weekend we bought beach sand and built Cooper's new sandbox. We were using a plastic turtle but wanted to build a box to make it bigger and have it under the deck. It's great, Cooper loves it too. He helped shovel the sand out of the trailer and was jumping and laying down in the sand as we dumped it in the box. We ended up buying way too much sand and are now trying to sell it on Craigslist.

The garage sale I had last weekend was a great success. Cooper helped me out on Saturday throughout the day. He played with the toys we were selling and said "hello" to all the kids that came by. It was probably good that he was sleeping when the blue race car was sold.

This weekend we have to move 3 yards of rock to the backyard, it is currently in the driveway. We are going camping the 13th so we need to move it to get the trailer out.

Birthday Party

Boys

What a great 3rd birthday party.  The weater cooperated by the end of the party, and the lovely Janet hosted for us again.  Here are some pictures.

Blowing the candle

Present time

Grease Lightening

The party was Saturday the 17th. On Sunday we had more cake and presents with Oma, Grandpa, Rosey, Holly, Angie and Nona.  It was a fun-packed birthday weekend.

So happy with his new bike

Oma and Grandpa

Rosey and Nona

And here is most of the loot. 

The loot

See more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/weeziebaby

 

 

 

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Favorite Bedtime Book

Our new favorite bedtime story is Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest. It's a sweet story.

After nap on birthday.

While Cooper was napping on his birthday party day, I put all his presents on our bookshelf in the living room.  When he woke up he was super excited to see all his presents.  This is what he said.
Cooper, "I like all my birthday presents. I like my birthday cake."

Birthday sayings.

Rosey, "Happy birthday Cooper."
Cooper, "My birthday is over."

Lake Almanor

Another great adventure at Lake Almanor this year.  We were gone for two weeks and had such a great trip.  Here are some pictures.

Chester Parade

At the lake

Mt Lassen and Lake Almanor

Skuut Rider

Shamanda

more on www.flickr.com/weeziebaby

 

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Road Trip Words

Cooper, "let's stay at hotel." His way of not wanting to drive on the highway anymore.

Marching Band

I played in the One More Time Around Again Marching Band (OMTAAMB) again this year.  It was a great time, we played the Starlight Parade and the Grand Floral Parade.  We practice April to the end of May, march two parades in June and are done for the season.  It is a great group of people and so much fun!  This year we played Louie Louie (of course), Back in Black (AC/DC), I Love Rock n' Roll, and Kung-Fu Fighting on the parade route.  Here are some pictures.

 

French Horn Ladies

Espresso Shots

The Annual Horn Line-Up at Henry's

Nancy, Jenny, Amanda

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Happenings

We leave for our July 4th camping trip on Sunday.  We are going to Lake Almanor with Papa and Grandma Barbara.  This year we are going for two weeks.  I am so excited to relax, play in the lake, see the Chester parade and chill with Sharon.  It's a long drive down there but well worth it. 

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Anacortes last week.  We went up there with Sharon and stayed with our friend Rosey.  Sharon and Rosey worked Thursday while Cooper and I toured the town and found a great park.  It was a great, super fast trip.  Can't wait to visit longer and go to Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.

Train tracks

Rocks

Coolest Park

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We went to the Lake Oswego Farmers Market last Saturday with Grandma Lindsay and Grandpa Don.  There is a stand that makes donuts and they are the best!  Here is Cooper enjoying his donut.

Donuts!!

Don and Lindsay

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New phrase

"Mommy I am having so much fun!" said playing soccer at park. Soon after he fell and got his first road rash boo boo.

Sent from my iPhone

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2nd night without Cooper's buddy.

2nd night without Cooper's buddy. He threw one away and said it was broken. Fairly smooth transition.

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Grandma Lindsay, "Riley you are

Grandma Lindsay, "Riley you are my dog." Cooper mid-tear (bonked head on door) replies, "No. Riley is my dog!" Emphasis on my.

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Visitors

Sonya, Kristen and Alexander visited last weekend.  We went to the beach with the trailer for two nights, then came home for the long weekend.  Cooper and his cousin, Alexander, had fun playing with the water table.  We also took them to the Children's Museum, we hit the German Bakery of course and went to two different parks.  It was a fast and non-stop visit.  We managed to watch 11 of the 13 movies we rented too! 

Rental stroller at outlet mall

Dance Hour

Playing at the airport

Wet Cooper

Riding in the water

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Recent Pictures

This is a funny picture.  We went to Becki's wedding last weekend and just as the ceremony was starting Cooper announced, "No, I am pooping."  Fortunately only the people around us could hear him.  Sharon picked him up and took him to the back of the chairs to do his business and snapped this photo. 

Cooper at the wedding (pooping)

Here is Cooper on a slide at the park.  He found a spot to rest.

Slide stops

Here we are at the wedding, pretty great picture by Paul.  Becki met Billy (husband) when she lived with us and Billy lived across the street.  This was about 3-4 years ago.  Paul was Billy's roommate so we three feel responsible for their union!  It was a great wedding, they had a bouncy house for the kids and Cooper jumped for about 2 hours.  There were two kid bouncers in the bouncer to monitor the transitions from big kids to little kids time and they were awesome (we gave them a tip). 

Cooper was upset because we told him we were going to the beach but we didn't actually go down to the beach.  After the wedding we drove to Cannon Beach and met Elliot, Anna and Jason for dinner.  Cooper got about 30 minutes or less at the beach because it was freezing and we were not dressed appropriately.

Sharon, Amanda and Cooper at Becki's Wedding

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The Dragon

We are entering a new development stage and I think it is correlated to Cooper turning 3 soon.  We call him the dragon and my friend uses the word "beasty" which I also really like.  He's started biting (again). It used to be that he would bite me when he was 18 months or so.  Now, he is biting his friends as a way to control the situation.  We checked out the book, "Teeth are Not for Biting" and it helps to read that to him.  He also reads the book aloud to me and says "no biting, teeth are for chewing."  This week he has only bit one child and I am taking that as progress. 

In play with kids he is getting more physical and vocalizing what he does or doesn't want to do.  He likes to be in charge of objects, like the stairs to a slide or the end of a slide and that kind of thing.  He lays his body across the slide or refuses to get off the slide or let another child get past him.  When he does this I ask him "Who are you in charge of?" and he usually stops doing it, otherwise I have to physically remove him.  Some more dragon type behavior, telling his aunties "no", throwing toys when asked to pick them up or put them away.  His behavior is definetely linked to not getting enough sleep or not getting a nap for the day. 

The cool thing with Cooper right now is how much he is talking and how much we understand him.  Our friends and other kids can understand what he is saying 90% of the time and it is great!  He gets really frustrated when I don't know the word he is using but he also keeps saying it so that we can figure it out together.  He says some pretty funny things and he has a great sense of humor. 

One of my favorite things he still says is, "The freeway makes Cooper crazy."  He said it again today and I wondered how much longer he will say that.  I often find alternative ways to get home if I am not pressed for time and he appreciates it.  He also requests that we go over or find railroad tracks.  Today was the first time he said railroad tracks, it used to be choo choo train tracks.  He knows where they all are in the city and near his friends' houses.  He also knows and labels all the fire truck stations in the area.  There is my (Cooper's) fire truck station, Holly's fire truck station, Teo's fire truck station, and Grandma Lindsay's fire truck station. 

I am challenged with this new dragon behavior he is having but I know we will get it figured out soon.  These milestones come up every few months and it's always a reminder to Sharon and I to alter what we are doing in discipline and find new strategies to keep us all sane.

 

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