He Plays with Toys.

Good Morning,

It definitely feels like summer around here! Today it's supposed to hit 90 and Matt has to put in our new air conditioner for the upstairs. Hot air rises, as you all know, so it's a sauna up there!

Matt's been putting in extra hours at work since it's his busy season. Cooper's been eating solid foods at daycare. I've been attempting to do more stomach exercises. All is good in the Mascolo household!

Mitzie (my mom) bought Cooper some great new toys, like blocks, plastic rings on a stick, a fake telephone, and a fake cell phone that lights up and makes noise. He's practically sitting up himself, occasionally wobbling to one side and appearing to be really drunk. After a while he's had enough, but it's fun to see him "play." We've also been "watching" Sesame Street, which gosh, brings back amazing memories for me. And there's new characters now, and more technology! But even with some new bells and whistles it is still the same old wonderful Sesame Street. I hope Cooper (Andy told me I can't call him Coopie for much longer) learns from it and loves it like I do (I mean, did).

Wanna see some new photos? Click HERE.

Oh, and I encourage you to post comments to this blog! Otherwise, I feel like I'm talking to myself which I do sometimes, but it's just not as fun as interacting with others. Let's get some dialogue going!

Visits, Vermont, and Other Stuff

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted. Here's what's been happening:

1. Visit from Dad, Dana, and Lucy. Two weeks ago, Dad, Dana, and Lucy (the dog) came up for a visit. We had fun hanging out at the house, going out for brunch, walking around Harvard Square, barbecuing, and going to see Avatar/out to dinner (just me and Matt). Good times!!
   
2. Trip to VT. We took Cooper on his first overnight trip, up to Vermont. We had some great highs (two nights of sleeping with only wake-ups once, fresh mountain air, fun at the farmer's market), and some stinky lows (constipation followed by a gigantic crap, acting "bad" at flatbreads, first night waking up every hour). We can't wait to bring him back again! It was our first family vacation.
3. Visit from Lou. Matt's dad, Lou, came to visit us for a weekend. We had a wonderful time! We went out to dinner and brunch, had Katie and Manny over for a BBQ, walked around town, made a fun trip to Target, Costco, and Babies 'R Us, and hung out at the house. Cooper got to meet his grandpa and spend some quality time getting to know him.
4. Vocalizing. In the last few weeks Cooper has learned to "vocalize" - he's making interesting sounds. It's very amusing to us and him. It almost sounds like he's trying to talk. Very cute.
5. Update on sleeping. He's learning how to fall asleep on his own. We begin the bedtime routine at 7:30pm and put him in bed in whatever state he's in, sleepy, sleeping, or awake. Even if he's crying we say "Good night, Coopie," and walk away. If he's still crying in 15 minutes we'll go to him and pat him and say it again. He usually falls asleep! However, he's still waking me up about twice a night to nurse which is really annoying. We need to wean him off these night feedings! There have been a few instances where he's only woken me up once and they have been miracle nights of joyous slumber from the Goddess of Sleep.
6. Eating. We're feeding him either rice or oatmeal cereal in the evening. We've also fed him some baby food like squash, carrot, and prune (hello, poop!). It's amazing how quickly he's learned to open his mouth to the spoon.

Click HERE to view recent photos!