Cooper

So, Cooper is now 4 years old and I thought I would take a little time to describe a little bit about his personality.  It is amazing how much they change from year to year, so I wanted to document exactly how he is at this stage so that I won't forget.

First of all, he is the cutest thing around.  His big blue eyes, long eyelashes, and curly blond hair attract lots of attention.  I can't tell you how often people comment on how beautiful his eyes are.  

Cooper is still very full of energy and is definitely a boy's boy.  He is rough and tumble and loves to karate chop, wrestle, shoot hot lava at us, or play anything else that is aggressive and tough. When he plays with his friends, he is wrestling on the ground with them, making me very nervous, and just smiling the whole time.   He is also pretty competitive and always wants to run the fastest, be first in line, and hates to lose.  If you want him to get his shoes on fast or wash his hands fast, all you have to do is make it a race and he is moving a light speed.  You might think that he is just this way because he is the third, but I just think it is more his personality than his birth order.  He is also physical in the sense that he still likes to snuggle and be physically close to us.  Those moments of stillness are less often, but he still likes to crawl in my lap or snuggle up with us in the bed in the morning, much more than Peyton or Karsten did.  He gives big hugs and kisses and tells us how much he loves us all the time. There is nothing better than listening to him belly laugh when we start tickling him. 

He is very funny and is very aware of how funny we find him.  He shows off for us constantly, whether it is dancing around silly or doing some karate chopping routine.  At the same time, he is very shy, by far the shyest of our kids, and gets embarrassed easily around people outside of our immediate family.  Especially when I am around, it is very hard to get him to say "hi" or respond to someone when they say "hi" to him. He just looks down and won't even look them in the face.  He even acts shy around his teachers and our friends when I am around.  Every morning at drop off at school, his teacher would say "good morning" to him and he would just look down.  Then the moment I left, he was all smiles, talking a mile a minute and giving her hugs and high fives.  He does the same thing at pick up time and won't say "goodbye".  My friends all say that he so friendly to them and tells them all about their day when they pick up their child, but the moment I walk in, he immediately runs to me and doesn't want anything to do with anyone else.  It is an interesting dichotomy of personalities.  I am glad that he is fine once I leave, but I'd love for him to be more friendly with others when I around.  I guess that is something he will grow out of. 

He is also quite stubborn and hates to get in trouble.  When you get onto him about something (especially in public or around extended family) he gets really embarrassed and starts crying and just can't recover from it very easily.  Once he sets his mind to something, that is it.  It is really hard to coerce him into something that he doesn't want to do and if you really push him on it, he totally shuts down and it becomes a huge issue.  It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, it is not something that he gets over quickly.   

For the most part, he is pretty go-with-the-flow though.  He really seems to enjoy trying to keep up with Peyton and Karsten and all their activities, so he is happy to play around at the ball park during their practice or sit at the table with them during homework time.  He loves having constant companions to help him think of fun and elaborate ways to play with his toys.  He has always had a special bond with Peyton and they are very sweet together, but over the past year, he really is enjoying his time with Karsten more.  They play together really well and keep each other occupied for much longer periods of time before any fighting starts.

He still loves his froggy and sleeps with him every night.  If I would let him, he'd carry it around all day too.  The problem with that is that he sucks his thumb when he holds him, so we really try to limit that to bedtime and the occasional nap.  Potty training is still in the works.  The daytime peeing, he had down pat.  The night time and pooping thing still requires a diaper.  It drives me crazy, but when I start making a big deal about it, it makes it worse.  So, I will just let him go at his pace.  

Sometimes I think about our decision to have 3 kids.  I can't imagine what life would be like without the precious little boy.  He is truly a gift to us and we cherish him everyday.