Running

Wow. Where to even begin? I assure you my absence from the blogging world is not a reflection of the lack of happenings. Rather, the opposite. Since last time, Cohen turned one, started walking, grew 6 more teeth, babbles up a storm, dances like he knows what he is doing, had his first tantrum in public, had his second haircut, decided he is done with baby food, is somewhat of a regular at Nursery Rhyme Time at the library, enjoyed his second Fourth of July, and went to the pool for the first time. Whew. I am exhausted just typing all that!  Overall, it is amazing to see the daily development Cohen makes. It surprises me as well as scares me how much he knows and understands.  

We have started to kind of get a routine.  Cohen wakes up around 7 and 8 AM, generally and exactly four hours from then he needs a nap.  He eats lunch after his nap and is ready for dinner when we are. He then has a bath, which he is really starting to enjoy, then pajamas, a cereal snack and bedtime by 8 or 9 PM.  He is sleeping through the night more often, but strangely gets into these patterns where he will wake up the exact same time for several days.  I can't figure it out.  Although, it didn't help that our neighbor got a rooster that crowed between 5 and 10 AM every day. We are not out in the country, either! Just no city ordinance against it.  However, it  disappeared a week or two later. I am pretty certain Chris had nothing to do with it... it was lovely, though. Woke me up every day.

So, Cohen's party went well. A lot more work than I imagined.  Cohen was pretty serious during the whole ordeal and eating cake in front of everyone scared him.  He eats it privately just fine. Never would have known that from seeing him!  He received a Cozy Coupe Truck and a tricycle among many other nice gifts.  He loves to push both of those around and sometimes gets on the trike, just to ring the bell though.  We are confident he will enjoy it for its intended purpose, some day.  Here are a few pictures from the celebrations (there are more on facebook from his party):

The next big event happened on May 23rd. Cohen officially walked! We thought he would way before this time, because he had been pulling up on furniture and pushing things for months.  I guess he just wanted to make sure he could do it. He was so proud of himself. He has not slowed down since! I do know where the stage name "toddler" came from now!  Cohen is into everything and thinks the sky is the limit.  He wants to walk by himself everywhere now.  He wandered off in Toys R' Us one day while we were looking for shoes and found this popper push toy. He pulled it off the display and started cruising around with it.  I let him play for awhile, but told him it was time to go and put the toy away.  I couldn't believe he threw himself on the floor and cried like he was hurt.  It was quite an embarrassing scene.  We headed straight for the door.  He has mini versions of these each day, but they are usually short-lived since we ignore him.  Anyway, every day is a work out since we are now "Mr. Independent".

Such a big boy, mowing all by himself.

We have been planning to enroll Cohen in a "Baby & Me" swim class at the Y, but weren't sure how he would respond. Sometimes he is overwhelmed and upset by new people and situations.  As an example, we bought a bath mat for the tub and the new texture freaked the little guy out!  So we decided to buy a little pool to test things out.  He was initially upset and would not sit down.  Finally after getting his bath toys and having Chris join him, he warmed up to it.  We joined the Y recently so Cohen and I would have something to do this summer. He went his first few times this week and he took awhile to get acclimated, but surprised us by wading everywhere (too deep, actually), splashing, clapping, laughing, sliding down the slide, and standing under fountains. He is getting so tan, it is not fair! Actually, I am the fair one and Cohen got Chris' skin. I'm not bitter.  But, we are glad to add some variety and a bit of socializing to Cohen's summer calendar.

He looks the part!

Such a good dad! (He's wearing a suit, I promise!)

Starting to relax

Isn't he adorable?

  Since I missed all the remainder bear pictures, here they are:

41 Weeks

42 Weeks

43 Weeks

44 Weeks

45 Weeks

46 Weeks

47 Weeks

48 Weeks

49 Weeks

50 weeks

51 Weeks

52 Weeks

I don't know if you can tell, but Cohen got increasingly hostile towards the bear near the end.  He was less excited each time and it was more difficult to get a happy picture.  I think he was ready to be done with this weekly ritual. (Sniff, sniff)  Now he is a big boy!

Busy Boy! Part 1

It is difficult to believe Cohen's first birthday is quickly approaching!  It seems like yesterday and yet a lifetime ago that we were putting the finishing touches on the nursery, I was waddling around, and we could hardly wait to meet our little boy!  But now Cohen is at such a fun age.  His emerging personality is amazing to watch each day. We have been able to do so many fun things recently.  Cohen has experienced many firsts as of late; his first haircut, his first Sesame Street Live show, and his first trip to the zoo to name a few. 
First of all, I learned the hard way not to leave Cohen in his crib for even a few minutes if he is at all in a disgruntled/mad mood.  A few weeks ago, I came back only to find him with dark brown flecks speckled around his sheepish grin.  I attempted to stay calm while I searched for the source, fearing it was dried blood somehow.  Luckily and not so luckily, I quickly found teeth marks on the side of his crib.  It really didn't bother me too much, which surprised me.  Maybe motherhood is mellowing me out, yet!  When I told Chris of the matter, he just laughed and said it adds character to the crib.

Anyway, he has only done it once since and he was pretty mad.
February 25th was also a momentous occasion! Cohen had his first haircut.  It was a little sad, but his hair was so long and Cohen was even getting food in there, so we gave in.  Chris held out a little longer than me, but finally caved when I pointed out how it is always in his eyes and we were finding oatmeal and other traces of meals in there.  Cohen was so intrigued by the goings on around him that he sat fairly still on dad's lap.

Before (Completely thrilled)

Snip, snip!

After! (Still thrilled)

We weren't too sure what Cohen would think about Sesame Street Live, but decided to go ahead and buy tickets.  Cohen has seen a little bit of the show, but not much.  We thought in any event it would get him accustomed to crowds and would be a fun family outing.  Unfortunately, Cohen has recently adopted the habit of waking up earlier on the weekends. So by the time we got to the morning show he was tired and ready for a nap.  Cohen was pretty solemn about the whole ordeal. Pretty sure he didn't smile once.  But, I think he was taking it all in and thinking about it.  He even watched quite contently until intermission when we decided to go.  The funny thing is, Chris refuses to pay to park by the arena.  So, of course he called around to see if the shuttles were running and they were.  We were the only ones to ride the bus from the baseball stadium!  So, our bus driver was ready and waiting to take us back to our lone car in the parking lot at intermission and was pleased to call it a day early!

First Bus Ride

Not sure about this!

Cohen's friend is way more excited and Cohen is more interested in his friend!

Hanging with Oscar

We are in the nest

Watching

Happiest on the way home

 Next, we went to the zoo on a nice day a few weeks ago.  Chris took off from work early.  Cohen was definitely taking it all in.  At this stage, it is a challenge to point out the far away animals, but he enjoys the close up animals.  His favorite would be the otters, because they came up really close to the glass while he could pound on it.  He also enjoyed the free-walking geese as much as anything! The really neat thing was the bears were down in the water fighting up against the glass. Chris and I were more interested because it was at the very end of our trip and Cohen was ready to go home.  Fortunately, Cohen received a family membership as an early birthday present so we can go back any time!

About to go in

Watching the monkeys

Figuring out the ape

Trying to snag dad's sunglasses

Getting the goose

Excited about the otters

Wrestling bears; close to the action

Check back soon for Part 2!

Crawling Right Along

Wow! I wonder if I can adequately sum up the last several weeks. It is amazing how much growth and development takes place in such a short time.  Mr. Cohen definitely keeps us on our toes.  And since he is approaching ten months old I guess I should give the 9 month report!  I breathed a sigh of relief to know this appointment didn't involve shots, but they did take blood to check Cohen's iron levels.  Cohen tipped the scale at 21 pounds, 4 ounces in the 55th percentile and is 29.5 inches long in the 75th percentile.  Most people think he is already a year old, so I guess he's a big 'n'!  Also, his iron level came back great, so I guess he is eating enough.

Cohen is not exactly the adventurous type with food.  He has his favorites with several cereal types (oatmeal being his favorite), sweet potatoes, apples, squash, bananas, and a few meat dinners.  He is also picking up different flavored puffs with more precision each day.  Lately Cohen will pick up puffs, stretch out his hand, look at me and smile, and just open his hand and drop the puffs on the floor for Tucker.  That is a good indication he is full, at least!  Lately, he enjoys small pieces of soft bread and really throws a fit if I have food and he doesn't.  So, if anyone eats, we best have a handful of something ready for Cohen, too!

Cohen is babbling and talking more, too.  He has been saying "ma, ma, ma, ma" alot, usually when he is upset or in the middle of the night, of course!  I have been working with him on saying "da da", mainly so I can nudge Chris awake in the middle of the night, telling him Cohen wants him!  He is also entertaining himself for longer periods. We just watch as he plays in his crib or pack n' play with his toys or talking to himself.  His newest trick is to throw every toy out of the crib or pack n' play one at a time and wait for someone to get it for him.  He also pulls his socks off every chance he gets and throws them some where!

Cohen is also really pulling up on things and walking around them.  He has taken a few steps with his walker, but I am not in a huge hurry for him to master this huge milestone because I know it will mean a lot more work for me (if that is possible) to keep up with him.  He loves to lean over his toy box and throw things over his shoulder, but a lot of the time he will fall over into it because he still has no regard for his own physical safety.  We catch him many a times teetering over the edge.  The child can not be left alone for a second!

Nights are tough.  I would say since Thanksgiving we have really been struggling with teething and separation anxiety and most recently a cold.  It is just so challenging since he started out being such a good little snoozer.  Now sometimes he wakes up a handful of times a night. Most of the time he'll be back to sleep quickly, but those occasional two-hour stints when he doesn't are brutal.  I crave sleep...and when he is having a good night it is difficult for me to sleep.  The cat may be extra loud or just insomnia.  Last week was really difficult since Cohen came down with a cold and then I had a sinus infection that overlapped.  One night I held Cohen all night so he could breathe more easily and because he would wake up five minutes after I would put him back down. Poor guy!  We struggled all week, then Friday looked promising.  Cohen went to bed fairly early and so we followed a short while after.  We barely laid our heads down and we were out.  Then a couple hours later which felt like a couple minutes, we were awakened by a continual, loud beep.  We were freaking out! We both jumped up and Chris sprinted down the hall to the carbon monoxide detector.  He pulled it from the wall and started ripping the batteries out.  When we were finally awake enough, we ascertained we either have a carbon monoxide leak (one lingering fear in the back of my mind for years now) or it has lost its mind and has a faulty sensor. There were a few things around the house we could think of that would cause a leak, so it seemed possible.  Then I was googling things that said you could fall back asleep and not wake up, etc.  Chris loves when I google things, by the way!  So, since we both wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway, we opted to call 911 and they said they would send the fire department.  Chris asked if they would call when they got to our house since we had a sleeping baby. Amazingly, Cohen slept through the alarm.  We put the dogs out to bamboozle them, and it worked.  Two firemen came in with their little sensor thing and measured the carbon monoxide level in our house and in our blood.  None to be found. Whew!  Oh, well. Better safe than sorry. Back to bed.

We are trying to be flexible and figure Cohen out and hopefully get back on a regular sleeping schedule. Things are always changing and we cannot believe he is almost a year old! Although, exhausted, we are enjoying every moment with our little guy!

34 Weeks

A rare still moment

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

So happy!

So excited about his bigger car seat that he is lounging in it inside

37 weeks

38 Weeks

39 weeks

"So serious" about a jog with dad

40 Weeks

Happy and full after lunch

Huh? A bath? Me?

Kinda fancy in his tie

See you next time!