1/2 Birthday

Cooper is six months old and boy, is he fun.  Life these days is simply a joy - we are loving every minute of watching our boy grow.  

It is amazing how quickly he is developing right now.  It feels like every day a new skill emerges and he becomes a more and more self sufficient little boy.   And besides all of the physical skills, his personality is really starting to shine through in everything he does.  

At 6 months, the words I would use to describe Cooper are:

- Inquisitive.  He doesn't jump into anything with wild abandon.  He sits back, analyzes, tests, and ultimately after a few tries, decides go or no go.  

- Joyful.  Life is fun for this kid and he generally is a very happy baby, full of joy.  

​- Charismatic.  Seems like a funny word to use for a baby, but along the same lines as the above, this kid has a twinkle in his eye and seems to draw in everyone he meets.  He flashes twinkly grins at most strangers he meets and elicits comments and interaction every place we go.​   When somebody makes eye contact with him, it's rare that he won't erupt into a full faced, body convulsing smile.   Our little ham.

- BUSY.  This is going to be a common theme for our life with him I think.  He's bouncing and jumping and rolling and moving and kicking and swinging and talking and singing ALL DAY LONG.  Kid is BUSY.

- Strong.  Even though he can't understand what I'm saying, I find myself already using what may be my most commonly used Cooper phrase over the next few years:  be gentle Cooper, gentle.   He is so strong and when you combine that with being busy, well mommy is already a bit the worse for wear.  

- Sweet.  I say to Jesse about once an hour "what a sweet bug we have".  He mixes all of the above characteristics and what comes out is a sweet, sweet boy, so curious and interested in whomever he's interacting with.  

New tricks:

- Rolling every which way.

- Two teeth!

- Sitting up unassisted but not super stable yet.

- Up on both knees in crawl position, rocking.  He's taken a few moves forward but mostly he's still trying to figure it out.  Every day he gets closer, and I'd bet in the next few weeks we will officially have a crawler.

- Eating food!  So far, not a huge fan.  But seems to be liking the oatmeal more and more each day.

- Extremely vocal, using his voice every way he can.

Stats:
Weight :  18lb 7 oz - 70th Percentile
Height:  26.75 in - 70th Percentile
Head:  45 - 75th Percentile (huge jump!  big brains!)

Favorite nicknames (from the mama):  Bugsdaboo, Monks Magee

First ferry ride to Angel Island

Wedding dress shopping with Aunt Stephie

Mom and dad snuck out for their first REAL date post Coop

Naked babies are SOOOO cute

I play hard to get.  A lot. 

But every once in a while, I'll give them a big ol' laugh.

Couch snuggling with dad

Good GOD do I love my jumperoo!!

Saturday mornings

Finally broke out of the crib.  Just too limiting for me.

Water fountains are pretty neat!

Growing two teeth is hard.  Sometimes I just need to snuggle with mom.

Still just LOVE bath time.  And now they gave me toys!  Excellent.

Met Papa Corey.  I liked him a lot.

Keith always makes me wear weird glasses.  But I hammed it up for him this time.

Check me out!  I'm at happy hour with the grown ups!

And I have discovered my three true loves:  the pacifier, my lambie and my blankey.