THERE HAS BEEN NO PARENTING BOOK WRITTEN FOR COOPER......

I am a firm believer in gaining knowledge about parenting and different practices. I read parenting magazines, websites and listen to other parents and from that I take parts and believe this pool of information helps me parent. However, I don't think anything I have ever read or been told seems to be helping with Cooper.:) He is a very strong willed child or maybe he just enjoys seeing exactly how long he can hold out until I loose it. I may be exaggerating a little but just a little example....tonight Coop is in the bath. We are done with the bath and I ask him to pick up his toys. He continues to play making no attempt to pick up his toys. Eventually I get him directed to picking up the toys but of course he has to pretend every toy is an airplane and has to dive into the toy basket or a ball that you throw into the toy basket. I am scolding him telling him that he needs to focus and just get the toys in the basket without playing. He is looking right at me and smiles in the middle of my scolding and says, "Mommy come here." He repeats this multiple times until I am nose to nose with him. Then he reaches up to my face, gently turns my head and whispers in my ear, "I wuv you". Right there in the middle of a scolding he so cutely and adorably, softly whispers he loves me right in my ear. I told him I loved him too but he needed to mind me. He smiles and says, "O tay" and then proceeds to pick up all his toys just as I had wanted him to 10 minutes ago. This is just one example of many. The truth is he is so hard to get upset with because he truly is incredible funny and as you watch him you can see that he knows exactly what he is doing. I love the challenges parenting gives and love trying to find the perfect way to relate to my kids so I think with every challenge Coop gives me I actual smile inside because I almost think he knows I like the challenge and maybe even knows he is making me a better Mommy. However, I also enjoy the fact that a certain look or tone of voice makes Raelynn jump and I can only hope with consistency it will someday have the same effect on Coop. Not only does his behavior amaze me but also the things he is doing. When Coop spent those 6 days on ECMO we were warned that he may have some brain damage or developmental delays but is it possible the opposite happened? Today while I was working on the computer he brought out these stacking cups of Raelynn's. He proceeds to unstack them and then restack them exactly as they should be. As he stacks them he counts them. He counted from 1 to 15 perfectly and then to 20 only missing 17. Then he takes them all apart again and starts to restack them again only this time counting in Spanish. He counts from 1-10 in perfectly and to 15 just missing 13. I was astonished. We practice counting and the alphabet and such but Raelynn is always so overbearing I never realized Coop could do so much. I told Raelynn to watch him and when he did it again she says, "'ya, he can count Mom, I taught him how, he's not a baby anymore." Well, I guess she told me! So needless to say, we had another amazing weekend and once again Monday has came too quickly. But with every Monday there is another weekend to look forward too. Not to mention, everyday with a family like mine is a day to look forward to.

Besides our fun with our kids, we also took my nieces back to western Kansas this weekend. Cassidy had taken care of the kids on Monday and Friday of last week and they loved it. She did a fantastic job as well. Chandler got to stay with us Friday and Saturday and she and Raelynn had soooo much fun. Raelynn really misses having them close and I think they miss us too. They actually spent the whole week here and went between our house and their Dad's in Olathe. Terry was fantastic all week running them here and there and then today he took them to Salina to meet Sherri. It made for a crazy week but again we loved having them. They got a special surprise when they returned home too; a new puppy named Alli. There dog had passed away around Christmas time and they had been begging for a new one every since. I would have loved to have been there to see their faces. Thanks girls for spending the week with us and congrats on the new dog!

Watch out Monday, here we come...................