October recap

The past month was soo much fun!

*It started with Kirsten's Bday where we played house together on her new fake house toy. Maybe in 25 years or so we'll be playing in our real house together?

They also had a neat backyard, but I couldn't find their dog though I called out "dog," repeatedly and tried to search for him in the hopes that he would come out of hiding, but he never showed. They also had a basketball (I've never seen one that wasn't deflated from a maniacal dog attack). I thought the basketball was the funniest thing I'd ever seen but it scared Kirsten! Maybe aired up basketballs are something to fear?

Kirsten's party was so much fun and her Mommy's strawberry cake made my Mommy happy and she even shared some with me. We should do this more often.

*Another weekend we went to the circus, I've heard my Aunt Stephanie telling her children she would sell them to the circus if they acted up. After attending my first circus I'm thinking that if I were one of her offspring I'd be a serious troublemaker.

I sat in Daddy's lap most of the time in awe of all that I saw...there were elephants, tigers, camels, and even dogs! I got the opportunity to pet the camel, which looked like a gargantuan Shiner dog but nowhere near as friendly, so I just let Mom and Dad pet it while I stared at it suspiciously. There were also a lot of men dressed up in vibrantly colorful outfits and face makeup. One of them gave me his business card and I ate most of it before Mommy could retrieve it from my mouth saying something about how we don't eat clowns. Who makes up these rules?

This is Mommy and I in front of this big ball cage that some guys rode motorcycles in. They even had a 6 year old boy in there with 5 other guys all at one time. Mommy had to cover her eyes at that point and kept saying how she felt like she might have a "heart attack."
Little did she know that the reason I'm eyeballing the ball so intently in this picture instead of looking at the camera is because I am contemplating conspiring with Daddy to get me a mini-motorcycle so that I, too, can become a motorcyle ball guy by the time I'm 6.
If I understand correctly, the heart is for loving, so when Mommy talked about having a heart attack, she must have been so full of love for the motorcycle show that her heart was going crazy with love when she saw the young boy in the cage. That means she would have an even bigger heart attack if I were to be a motorcycle cage ball boy too! This could be great!

*That same weekend was Mommy's friend Kelly's graduation from college party. Go Kelly! It was a fun party, she even had a bounce house that I sat in while my buddy Maddy bounced around me gently and told me that she liked babies. We discussed which colleges we planned to attend and how ironic it was that we've heard so much about how being an adult is no fun, but from the looks of it, if we still get bounce houses when we graduate college-we're okay with growing up.

Uncle Jason and Aunt Kristy were there too, Jason let me turn the lightswitch off and on repetitively. He then allowed me to pull the chain from the fan too! Talk about fun! This guy grew up in Mommy and Daddy's neighborhood so they've known him for close to 20 years! Talk about Old! None of them even have gray hair, but they are so OLD!

This is me and Kora petting the world's most placid cat. He probably would have let us do anything to him...and believe me we both wanted to try and test this, but there were too many big people around.

*The next weekend Daddy went camping with the boys so Mommy had Ryeland, Abby, and Caleb come over with their Mommies to keep us company. We ate yummy pizza and I got to share my toys with them....or from the looks of this picture, throw my toys with them (or at them).

I let Abby sit in my highchair for awhile and watched her eat pizza, she's always taken such good care of me since I was a new baby and I thought I'd return the favor. Look how captivated she is by this morsel of food. I'm sure she'll love that I posted this picture when she's older.

*The last weekend of October was probably my favorite. The parents dressed me up like a farmer with my farm animals stuck to my legs. Don't all farmers keep their animals this close to them? It was very realistic, I felt as though I was actually on the ranch. My love for farm animals is comparable to my love for Shiner dog so this outfit was very fitting.

Cousin Chandler was a clown (Aunt Stephanie is serious about this circus stuff, isn't she? She's preparing to send them away at an early age) and Josh was a scary doctor (is there any other kind?) and Cadence was Indiana Jones. Judging from their animated faces in the below picture, it seems Mommy and Aunt Steph might be fit for the circus too.

Anyway, we went to Grandma's neighborhood and began to walk up to random houses and knock on the doors. Typically, when we've knocked on doors in the past, we were then permitted to enter that home. This is how I've been taught. Things went awry this night, and when I attempted to walk into people's homes Mommy or Daddy would immediately scoop me up and remove me from the home. The homeowners usually mentioned how cute I was and then put candy in a pumpkin I was required to carry. After a few hours, I was thoroughly confused about front-door etiquette but my pumpkin was full of treats like I've have never seen before. Come to think of it.....whatever happened to those treats? And do Mommy's thighs look a little thicker to you guys too?

On the following day, we went to a Fall Festival at my cousin Josh' school where I got to test out my farming skills on real live animals! I herded some goats and patted bunnies and Mommy even lent a hand and gave a rooster a piggyback ride! Farming must be in our blood. We stayed in this farmers pen for a really long time, I was in my element.

I could have stayed in there all day, but Mommy was deadset on riding the choo-choo train. What an adventure that was! I got to travel around the school's parking lot and see all of the handicapped spots and teacher parking and I wasn't required to be restrained in that awful carseat! I don't see why we don't travel via train more often.


Later that day.....we went to Uncle Brody's parents annual Halloween party. Mommy and Daddy dressed up this time, Mommy was a farmer like me. Daddy stole the sticker that a policewoman had given me at the festival that said I was a "Junior police officer," and wore some cowboy boots and touted himself as a police officer from our little podunk town. How creative.


I got to hang out with Ryeland the bee and play with a bunch of new toys in a room where a kid with good taste obviously stays. Mommy was lucky enough to get to party with me in that room for the majority of the party, we played with cars and stuffed animals and there was even a cozy coupe I could ride in! Its so funny that we live across the street from Ryeland and his parents but we see them more at other places.


This month I also discovered the "ball" plants that Daddy has in his secret garden on the side of our house. I previously never ventured out much past the concrete rectangle which held my bike and swing in the backyard. Recently, with the onset of my speed walking skills I've decided to embark on quests into the secret abyss' on the sides of our house. It is on these adventures where I have been met with much turmoil and much happiness.

Here is evidence of the aforementioned turmoil, which I had the misfortune of encountering not once, but TWICE. Not with just Daddy, but with MOMMY too:

-Evidently there are small creatures lurking within the green covering in our yard. I found a pile of dirt that was obviously placed in the yard for me to play in. As soon as I stepped near it, small pinching creatures began to crawl up my legs. In both cases, my parents were right there next to me but Daddy and Mommy were no match for these unbelievably fast attack meanies. I ended up with at least 50 bites from these creatures, even one in my bellybutton. Honestly, I think they bothered the parents more than me. I never even scratched them. The funny part is how Mommy came home when the 1st attack happened under Daddy's watch and glared at him with a look that said "How could you let something like this happen to my baby?" and then the exact same thing happened to me when she was watching me! Mommies are so funny.



And here is evidence of the aforementioned happiness, which I experience everytime I bite into one of these delicious, red balls I've picked myself from our "ball" plants:

Unfortunately, Daddy says the ball plant will die when it gets cold.

At least I have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to since I won't be farming or picking the fruits from my ball plants. This toddler stuff is fun.

Happy Birthday Grandpa's!!!!

I have two of the best Grandpa's in the world and their birthdays are one day apart. That must be why they're both so cool. We drove down nearby our state capitol this weekend to surprise this Grandpa:

It was so much fun and he was so surprised, I was so glad to get to be there!

We'll take this Grandpa to lunch to celebrate his birthday this weekend, I can't wait!

I wish I could write more about these awesome dudes, but I've got tantrums to throw! Mommy says how "she just loves it when I throw tantrums," and I want to keep her happy.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL GRANDPA'S!!! I'm so very lucky to have such great men in my life!

"Was Dat?" Wednesday

Once upon a time, a VERY long time ago, I used to be much less inquisitive than I currently am. In fact, I couldn't have been less concerned with the world around me. As long as my Mommy (or 2nd Mommy) or Daddy were nearby and I had a fully belly, all was well with the world.

Now, the world is my oyster....whatever that means...it doesn't really make sense but it sounds fitting. I guess I'm searching for the pearl, even though I really have no interest in pearls but its figurative. I'm searching for EVERYTHING! Sometimes my brain can't even keep up with all of the knowledge I am receiving when my little finger points to every object within my view and I ask with utmost curiosity: "Was Dat?" "Was Dat?" "Was Dat?"....and so on, you catch my drift.

I feel like a sponge with infinite soaking capabilities. I MUST know what everything is.

From what I hear from my older, wiser toddler buddies (Shout-out Caleb!), this is just a pre-cursor to the ever-dreaded "Why's?" Here is a photo of one of my best inquisitive faces:

From what I understand: You spend your early toddler days finding out WHAT things are and once you've done that you must find out WHY they exist and what their purpose in life is. So, essentially we are budding existentialists, talk about deep! Note to Parents: please be patient with us as we are embarking on our journey into a knowledge comparable to yours! Every repetitive "Was Dat?" and "Why?" is bringing us closer to that college degree and the mental capability to explain similar instances to you when you are old and gray and years of raising angelic children have taken their toll on your brains. :)

But I digress....

Now onto a simpler subject, my favorite "Was Dat?" discovery of the past week: CHEEEEEEESE!!!!!!!!!!

This is a yellowy-orange or white substance, sometimes solid and sometimes in shreds that Mom pulls out and sprinkles atop my less desirable meals in order to entice me to eat more. Let me tell you, she is a magician because this works and everything tastes better with this stuff on it. It even tastes good in a block or pile of its own. While its been a staple of my consumption for quite some time I hadn't been able to pronounce that "Ch" sound until this week. Its so nice to put a name to an object and finally have the ability to command the 'rents to serve up "Mo Cheeeee". Note that this is usually a half-signed (more), half-spoken command (Cheeeee) given with all of the exuberance and zeal I'm able to muster...for this deliciousness is worthy of my hardest efforts and I WILL resort to waterworks and tantrums if my commands go unmet.

In other developments:


*I have a newfound love for other animals other than Shiner dog, altough I think he will always be my number one. I can mooooo like a cow and hug on the kiddy cots and talk about the birds in the sky. It would be so nice to find a local petting zoo or someone with animals that I could come visit. If you have any ideas (besides Fossil Rim) please tell my Mommy so we can plan an excursion! Maybe it could be a group thing.

*Though he's not technically an animal, I have a new betta fish named "Bobby." "Why Bobby?" you ask. Thats because I've taken to calling books "Bobbies," I'm not really sure why it is that I call them this, but it works for me. I make sure to sign "book," to assure Mom and Dad that I'm not referring to an imaginary friend named Bobby.

*I've discovered a new pathway to go "owside" where Shiner goes potty and there are sometimes dead rodents and/or rodent parts from the cats. This is great! Talk about freedom! It seems to be stressing Mom out though. There's talk around the household that Shiner may have to be let owside manually and this portal may be closed soon.

* I'm now able to show Mom where my legs are. She must have trouble locating body parts because she is constantly inquiring about the location of my facial features...and her own. Sometimes I worry that she is unable to find these things without my assistance. Shouldn't mothers go through some sort of training or have qualifications for this stuff? She seems fairly intelligent but I question her credibility when she has to ask her 1-year old to point out her own nose. This is a photo of my feet, which are attached to my legs, which I like to put in this hook when I'm in my highchair.

Dancing King

Mommy bought my soon to be one year old possible future wife, Kirsten, a neat magnetized farm animal contraption thing. As it turns out, she already has one of these so I got to keep it! Thanks Kirsten.

Kirsten's Mom told my Mom that Kirsten likes to jam out to Farmer Tad's rocking banjo tunes rather than using it for its intended purpose of matching farm animal parts to one another and learning about them. I determined that if I am going to one day woo her, I'll have to learn to like her music taste and be able to keep up with her on the dance floor. Here I am busting some moves:

I'm also considering trying out for "So You Think You Can Dance?"

Advice for new mothers of toddlers...

My parents are learning so many new things in this parenting process. I'm going through another life change into full-blown toddlerhood and its taking some getting used to for them. Here are a few tips I've taught them the hard way:

1. We toddlers love to help with all of your chores, dishes especially, and will always grab for the sharpest knife first. They're so shiny and pointy! 2. If given large quantities of blueberries for dirty-messy-fun-food-before-bath-time, we will pass black stools. This will send you into frenzied-internet-search-for-"toddler black stool" mode while assuming that your sweet child has some rare intestinal disease.
3. Two wobbly toddlers trying to hug will inevitably end up on the floor! And where there are two wobbly toddlers, there is bound to be an Aunt (or two) with a camera.

4. If you own a dog, you will need to switch his food to a Diet version, as he/she will gain immense amounts of weight from toddler food droppings and handouts. Also, it may be a good idea to invest in pet insurance as the full sippy cup thrown at the head of the dog from a tall highchair could risk injury. Shiner, too, has had a few months of learning about toddler habits and now resides under the highchair during mealtime for protection.

5. Go with your gut and take your baby to the doctor if they are acting strangely and causing you to miss out on sleep for long periods, there is probably a culprit....like a DOUBLE ear infection! That mixed with Mommy's sinus infection can lead to some unhappy times as Mommy discussed here, citing these circumstances, I've decided to forgive her for being short with me.

I think things are changing for the better now that I am out of daycare and spending my afternoons with one of the sweetest women ever! Maybe I'll even go a week without a cold...so far so good and its Thursday. :) Wish me luck.

Go Cowboys!!!

This Sunday was the first Cowboys game of the season. In my efforts to prepare for my future football career, I asked if I could start wearing a helmet around the house. Mommy has been a helmet advocate ever since I was born but Dad just refuses to let me have one. So I decided to be constructive and created my own facemask...this thing is funner than any of my toys!





Here I am doing my best Tony Romo impression and calling out plays to my team(Mommy and Shiner).

Super "Immune System" Cooper

If you've been one of the unfortunate recipients of one of my Mother's invite refusals due to "Cooper being sick AGAIN, I swear!" Rest assured, she is not suffering from munchausen by proxy. Its been a rough two months for us all. It started with an awful cold with fever that caused me to miss the entire second week of my new school. Followed by a nasty bout of pink eye, a few other colds, another bout of herpangina (my body's favorite choice of throat virus), a double ear infection, and now another cold....or is it a tooth? or another ear infection? allergies?

Either way, I've heard a lot of talk from Mom about "going insane," "all of our money going to Cook's children's," "people are going to stop believing that he's sick, maybe I should just stop telling anyone," etc. So I'm here to vouch for my Mom's sanity....I have, in fact, been sick approximately 75% of the past 2 months. What a way to bring in my toddlerhood!

The doctor, who knows my throat, ears, and parents debit card number all too well says this is pretty common when starting school for the first time. He said that after 6 months (WHAT?!!) to a YEAR (WHATTTT???), I should have this super immune system and will miss less days once I start big kids school. I hardly ever got sick when I stayed with my beloved Abby & Caleb, but apparently schools harbor many more drippy-nosed toddlers and, thus more germs for my body to ingest! School is also tons of fun, though, I have so many new friends:

A photo of some of the culprits...their images have been blurred to protect their identities. I am the 3rd from right, showing off some dance moves.

So, please don't think my mother is insane (at least when it comes to this subject), she is just weary from worrying about me being sick and never getting a moment to herself because I require myself to be in her arms at all times when I am under the weather.

Vertical Venturer

In recent weeks, I've found myself standing perilously in mid-air with no prop of any sort holding me up. While it feels okay and strangely natural, each time, I immediately squat back down to crawling position to ensure my safety.



I've also noticed both parents staring at me alot more lately when I'm cruising around the house on whatever crutch is available. Not that its terribly abnormal, but Mom also seems to have more cameras at the ready these days too. I've been feeling like I'm on display and they are waiting for the Cooper show to start. Maybe they want me to dance? clap? point at various objects quizzically and repeatedly ask "whats that?" I've tried all of these tactics and the staring continues....sometimes it looks as though Mom has even been holding her breath. While its nice to be paid attention to, it was getting out of hand, and causing me much confusion trying to figure out what it was they wanted from me and how I could provide the best entertainment.


This weekend was apparently a monumental one, albeit seemingly normal to me. Outside of my becoming proficient at saying and signing "Doggy uh-oh," at the same time, which caused much fanfare from the parents, I have completed the task which I believe will satisfy their hungry eyes...


We had another session of "Go See Daddy/Mommy," its a game we play in our family where Mommy and Daddy will let me cruise to the other one while holding their hands (I'm sure no other families are aware of this ritual, I believe its original to our household). Anyways, I decided to switch things up for entertainment value and release their hands and cruise to the other one with no support.



My Goodness! You would have thought I just graduated from Yale with honors!



This led my mother both to hysterical tears and laughter, all the while clapping and cheering my name. Daddy hugged me and threw me up in the air and told Mommy to 'stop crying or I'd think something was wrong.' While I'm still confused at the potpourri of emotions, I think I did something quite important that will be a part of my life for a long time to come. After a few runs, I felt really confident and ventured away from our normal straight path and headed for the toy box. See video:



This post is dedicated to my ottoman, couch, music table, walker hippo, baby gate, chairs, drawers, and most of all...to my dearest and most loyal supporter, Shiner dog. All of you have been there to guide me through the perils of navigating this new world above my previous domain of one foot off the floor. I must thank you all for your support...I couldn't have made it through the past few months without you there to lean on.

My Birthday Bash

My first birthday was apparently reason for celebration. People just began coming over one day and I seemed to be the focus of their attention. Nolan came and tried to steal my new bike. I showed him and pulled it from his hands thus knocking his tiny self to the ground. I bet he won't be messing with any of my future rides.

Elmo and his girlfriend came too...aren't they a cute couple? A perfect match.

Cadence and McKalyn stared longingly at this strange rectangular celebratory object.

Grandpa stayed outside with the bigger kids, perplexed by their extreme intelligence and wit.

Here's me playing with some of my buddies, and Aunt Steph showing us that Josh does, in fact, have a face under all of that hair.

Note that we all require something in our hands at all times, preferably something we can also attempt to eat.

Mom gave me my own personal "cake" to tear into. I assumed it was intended as a hand lotion of sorts for dry baby hands but it didn't seem to nourish my skin very well. ....so I took the tiniest nibble and was pleasantly surprised to find it was sweet and delicious and obviously intended for my consumption. An added bonus was that the paints used for decoration could also be used as Native American war paint for my face. Little did I know that this paint doesn't feel great in the eyes. You live and you learn I suppose, something to remember for next year. Not only were my eyes burning from the paint, I felt a sudden surge of emotions like the cake had some chemical in it that provided me with a short period of bliss, followed by a quick dive into crankiness. I wanted no more of this and Mommy quickly obliged and placed me back on the floor with my friends and great new toys. Ryeland felt similar and, being too young to communicate properly, gave out a peace sign in the hopes things would calm down.

Once the excitement died down, I decided to retreat to my toy basket for a few moments of reflective thought. I pondered how it was possible to have so many friends close to my age that I can play with and how wonderful it is that my Mommy and Daddy can play with their parents too, what a deal. I am truly blessed.

Once everyone had gone, I collapsed out of sheer exhaustion and joy onto the floor.

What a great day! I am one lucky one year old.

Happy Birthday Aunt Nessa!

Remember last year when I was only a month old and I wore this hat for your birthday?

Well, since it did not quite fit last year, Mom had the novel idea to see if it was a better fit this year.....

I'm thinking ....not so much. I'm not really down with the cheesy birthday attire.

I gave Mom a taste of her own medicine and told her that if she wanted to wish my awesome Aunt Nessa Happy Birthday on her head, she was welcome to do it herself.

Now isn't that a better fit?

Happy Birthday from us, Nessa, we love you and are so glad you were born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!