Arm Hickies, Coop Speak and Other Stories of Coop's first month
It has been a grand adventure in getting to know our little boy Coop over his first month of life on this planet. We certainly fall in the sterotypical camp of parents who think their kid is the greatest thing on earth, but honestly, he could give a lot of other babies a run for their money. First off, our little guy is a great sleeper. The first week and half, he was giving his mom and dad the chance to sleep 3-4 hour stretches at night. That waned a little as the two week growth spurt kicked in, but over the last week, he seems to be going back to blissful sleep. God I love this kid!
Coop "the master sucker" has now surpassed his birth weight. After losing about a pound the first couple days, he came roaring back and now weighs 8 pounds, 14 ounces, and has grown a full inch in both his head and length as of 9/5 (we anticipate him being well over 9 pounds by now.) Much of the credit goes to Cooper's "Hoover" like skills at extracting milk from me. Despite the pain that sometimes caused, as a results oriented person, nothing gives me more pleasure than to see him get fat.
Many things have made us chuckle about Cooper. Related to his sucking skills, Coop has gotten into the habit of soothing himself by sucking on his arm, giving himself big red welt like hickies. At first we thought he was getting strap marks from his car seat, but upon further investigation, all the "strap marks" took the perfect shape of Coop's gum line. We are noting this skill, and will be sure to keep an eye on him when he reaches junior high.. we may have to warn all future girlfriends of the danger. ;-)
It is clear to us that Cooper was definitely born under the correct sign as a Leo. While generally a mellow child, he knows with precise certainty what he wants at all times, and is very directive in telling his mom and dad what to do via his use of the word "ACK!!" Learning "Coop Speak", we have dutifully followed his many commands "AACKK Mom- get me a pacifer" "AAACCKK Dad, put me in the football hold". In learning his language, we generally can avoid major melt down, however, if we miss a clue, he will go beet red, and go into a full out "AACCKKK" scream until we get in line. (For those of you who understand Matt and my temperments, I guess it wouldn't be too much of a surprise that our child tends to know what he wants and be directive. :)
Matt and I really love being Coop's parents. We are filled with gratitude that he is such and easy kid to hang out with. So easy, in fact, that we have already managed to get out of the house for family dinners at local kid friendly restaurants. All this, of course, was made easier by having a steady stream of grandparents with us for the first three weeks of his life, in addition is a load of super support of friends who have made the transition to parenthood so much more manageable. We are hoping to continue to get out as Cooper enters the second month of his life, and will keep you posted on the details.
Until then, enjoy these pictures with scenes from the grand adventure of Cooper's first month: http://www.goofylittlemonkey.com/photos/cooperMonth1/