For Cooper’s 2nd birthday, we decided to make his celebration a bit lower key than his first.  Thankfully.  I loved having everyone for his 1st birthday, but it was too much.  I wanted to be able to really spend time with him, playing, and enjoying it rather than throwing and hosting a big party.  Because his birthday is so close to Easter, we are fortunate to be able to spend time with all of our extended families, and then have time to celebrate Cooper.  With the Allar’s and Dunstone clan, we opted for Red Robin for some good burgers, fries and some ice cream cake.  We had Granny Pat, Bumpa, Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Allar, Randy, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Dunstone and Deb.  We were all so excited for the ice cream cake from DQ….but someone forgot to instruct me to let it thaw….oops.  Guess that was a step I forgot.  Cory did his best to power through it with the knife I brought, nearly chopping his hand off.  He managed to get 2 pieces off before giving up.  Everyone should thank me for saving them the calories 🙂  Except then we brought it home and ate off of it for the next week – great.

We then went up to Cory’s cabin and were able to celebrate with Gamma and Papa, Sheesha and Ary, Dylan and his cousin.  It was a great weekend!  Cooper got some pretty cool stuff!  He got a race track, and a remote control car.  So fun!  Then on Sunday morning we celebrated Easter.

I brought out my old blue blow up Easter Bunny that smells like my parents basement, and 35 years worth of stale air when you blow it up….icky, but nostalgic.  Ary led Cooper around to find all of Easter eggs and Cooper got tons of candy in his basket.  We even found bunny tracks in the living room that led to some more eggs.  It was so fun to watch him starting to get it a little.  We had some breakfast than then loaded up the car to get to an Easter Egg hunt in Minong…and got there late so we missed it.  A few hours later we were able to make an Egg hunt the city put on.  There were TONS of kids!  They all lined up in a row, and they counted down and everyone started running like crazy to grab as many eggs as possible.  Auntie Sheesha, as competitive as she is, led Cooper out way past the other kids so there would be less kids to contend with.  He is so lucky, he will learn all the tricks by the time he grows up!  We then went to grab some lunch at Grandma Links in Minong, and they had an egg hunt too.  Ary found the golden egg, and got a special price, and the rest of the kids loaded up with TONS of candy.  There were only about 5 kids doing it, and it looked like they had planned for like 50 kids…needless to say, there baskets were overflowing.  We had a great time!  The only hiccup in the weekend was right before we left for the second Egg Hunt.  Cooper was running away from Cory as we were trying to get going in the car.  He tripped and did a header right into a rock.  The right side of his forehead ballooned up into what looked like a golf ball, and fast!  We grabbed some ice and held it on there the whole way there.  Man, we will be lucky if this kid doesn’t have brain damage!

Cooper is by far the “most advanced” kid I know for his age.  I say that with sarcasm, with a hint of truth.  I have always said that because I have not been around many kids that I am pretty unaware of what they should be doing developmentally at different ages.  But from what I hear, he is pretty advanced:-)  He talks like a 4 year old, started walking like a champ at just over 9 months, and has kept us moving ever since.  He really is an amazing kid!  He has a beautufully kind nature and is a social butterfly, making friends whenever we go to new situations.

He plays so well with the girls next door.  He calls Addison next door Honey.  TOO CUTE!  He talks about his “friends”, and really loves them. It has been so awesome being able to bring him nextdoor for daycare.  Gary is an awesome guy.  He loves Cooper as if he is his own.  It is like Cooper has two sisters, which I think is great!  It will be a good lesson for him to be around girls.  He is learning the softer side, playing with Barbies…Cory loves that.

Before Coopers little brother came along, we wanted to make sure to spend some special time with just him and us.  One weekend we took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo.  Gamma, Papa, Alycia, Ary and Dylan came with Coop and I.  Cory was unable to make it.  Because I was about to pop, it was starting to get kind of uncomfortable walking, so I got to use one of the electric carts.  Super embarrasing, but fun!  He loved watching the monkeys with Ary, and then thanks to Sheesha and Dylan dangling him over the touch pond he got to touch a Sea Urchin.  It is so awesome watching him run around seeing all of these new things for the first time.  He loves it, and I love just watching him.

Cooper also took at trip to Underwater World at the MOA with Cory.  I had to work, boo.  Cooper has been there I am pretty sure 4 times on “field trips” with Gary, and I have never been there.

When it finally got hot enough, we were able to take Cory’s fishing boat out to Lake Beebee and did some swimming and fishing.  He is getting more and more comfortable swimming, which is awesome!  He is not very good about keeping his mouth closed, as he is always smiling and laughing, so he gets some good gulps of lakewater, ick.  It was such a beautiful day.  Watching Cory throw him up in the air and him splashing around is one of the greatest sights I could see.  Cory is so amazing with him!

Soon he will be a big brother…..I hope he will still feel special and loved.  I guess only time will tell what he will think.