I'm sensing a shift this week. Parenting has gone from trying to keep a child alive to being concerned with my son's behavior. Until now, our main concern has been trying to keep Cooper well fed, clean and healthy. Haven't been too successful at the healthy thing lately; he's getting over another virus right now. Fever, runny nose, vomiting.....Yuck! Well fed - now that we are good at! Now where was I............
Oh right, the shift. In the beginning, we, newbies, simply want our child to survive our feeble attempts at parenting. We are glad they have no memory of how terrible we were at diapers in the beginning. Or how we simply could not stop the crying. We just wanted to keep him alive and it was an incredible bonus if he was happy. The older Cooper gets, the more I realize this was the easy part.
Over the last few days, it seems my son is developing a bit of an attitude. He has learned which things or places in the house are not appropriate for him. And of course these are the things he wants most. He wants to eat the dirt out of the house plant. He hauls diaper to the laundry room in an attempt to sneak some dog food (unsuccessful as of this post). Maybe he's not as well fed as I thought - haha! He gets very upset when I try to steer him away from these things. He gets especially upset when I shut doors or pick him up and move him away from the dirt he most desires.
We have reached the point of no return. We can never go back into survival mode. From now until he's grown (and for a while after that, I'm sure) we will constantly be monitoring his behavior. We will be correcting, training, scolding, teaching. I know we will have lots of fun along the way, but in the end I hope to have a well-mannered, respectful, godly man. Guess God will be hearing a lot more from me - praying for my son......and my sanity!
Gotta go! Someone learned to climb stairs!
2011 - See ya!
I cannot believe how quickly the pages on the calendar of 2011 have fallen. A year ago, Tanner and I were on our way to have our 3D ultrasound. It was so incredible to see our little man again. Cooper had his hands and feet in front of his face almost the entire time. We should have know then that he would be a thumb sucker. He loves his thumb! It gets blisters, and callouses, and pruny wrinkles, but he loves it just the same. He still sucks his thumb sideways, like a gangsta! It never strikes me as funny until I see a child who suck his/her thumb like normal. Just makes me see a little more of what makes Coop so special.
Enough of the random rambling. Although, let's face it, isn't that what blogging is all about? Now for a rundown of some of the best moments of 2011.
Cooper's First Christmas - so much fun! We have enjoyed spending time with family and especially our little guy. We also found some interesting ways to give back this year. We are sponsoring a child through Mission of Hope Haiti. Our sponsorship will help fund the child's education, but we can also send notes, cards and gifts back and forth so that we can get to know the child. We also gave gift cards this year through a program called Advent Conspiracy. We've really started to try to rethink how we approach Christmas/Santa/gifts. There is nothing wrong with gifts but, we really want Cooper to know the true meaning of Christmas - JESUS. We really enjoyed this holiday season; from Thanksgiving until New Year's!
Halloween - I just realized that I never blogged pics of Cooper in his costume. Hhhooooo's the cutest little owl ever - that's right! My kid! Not necessarily one of the best moments, but maybe one of the cutest!
Easily the best thing about 2011 - Cooper was born! Even though things didn't go the way we planned, we wouldn't ever go back to before he was in our lives. Parenthood is different than I anticipated, harder than I thought and better than I ever could have imagined.
No idea what 2012 will bring, but looking forward to finding out. Happy New Year!
P.S. Happy birthday to Cooper's first friend, Brooks. He will be one this weekend! And Coop is hot on his heels!
Enough of the random rambling. Although, let's face it, isn't that what blogging is all about? Now for a rundown of some of the best moments of 2011.
Cooper's First Christmas - so much fun! We have enjoyed spending time with family and especially our little guy. We also found some interesting ways to give back this year. We are sponsoring a child through Mission of Hope Haiti. Our sponsorship will help fund the child's education, but we can also send notes, cards and gifts back and forth so that we can get to know the child. We also gave gift cards this year through a program called Advent Conspiracy. We've really started to try to rethink how we approach Christmas/Santa/gifts. There is nothing wrong with gifts but, we really want Cooper to know the true meaning of Christmas - JESUS. We really enjoyed this holiday season; from Thanksgiving until New Year's!
Halloween - I just realized that I never blogged pics of Cooper in his costume. Hhhooooo's the cutest little owl ever - that's right! My kid! Not necessarily one of the best moments, but maybe one of the cutest!
Easily the best thing about 2011 - Cooper was born! Even though things didn't go the way we planned, we wouldn't ever go back to before he was in our lives. Parenthood is different than I anticipated, harder than I thought and better than I ever could have imagined.
No idea what 2012 will bring, but looking forward to finding out. Happy New Year!
P.S. Happy birthday to Cooper's first friend, Brooks. He will be one this weekend! And Coop is hot on his heels!
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