Cooper's Birthday

I was excited for Cooper's birthday this year: the first year that he'd enjoy opening presents. He's really so much fun these days, I just can't get enough of him. We're still amazed at having a two year old who talks to us! Mercedes seemed to have her own language... a mixture of sign language and sounds that we actually understood quite well, but she refused to repeat words. Cooper will repeat almost anything we tell him to, and so his vocabulary seems huge to us! He loves to follow Mercedes around, and chases after her and her friends. He thinks he's a big kid, and I feel sad for him when she leaves to play at a friend's house. He loves vehicles of all kinds. He gets excited every time he hears a bus drive down the street, points at cars and trucks and airplanes, but his two favorite things right now are trains and boats. He refuses to say the word "train," preferring instead to say "choo-choo." So for his birthday we got him a train:





He was pretty excited, and still carries his train everywhere.

Unfortunately, my brain is not functioning a full capacity these days. Weeks before his birthday I bought a candle for his cake. I don't know what I was thinking, buying a #1. Here he is ready to blow...



Of course his favorite part of his birthday was probably the ice cream:



I sure hope that baby #3 is as happy as #1 and #2. We have been blessed with exceptionally happy kids. Sure, they whine and cry when things don't go their way... but the rest of the time they are really cheerful, full of love. Both Cooper and Mercedes are social, and love to be with people. They are always generous with hugs and kisses. Cooper used to say "you too" when I'd say "I love you." Now he says, "love you!" Before he was born I wondered how I'd love another child as much as I loved Mercedes. This time my query is, what will the next one be like? We've got a mini-Lisa, and Cooper is definitely a carbon copy of Brent... we sure are anxious to meet Lincoln and get to know him. Just two weeks left!