One of the big events that has passed since my last blog was Valentine's Day, also known for Cohen as Second Christmas! He woke up to presents from mommy and daddy including new books about trucks and tractors, a new pair of sunglasses, an Elmo balloon and a Mickey Mouse that dances while he sings the Hot Dog Dance. He came home from his grandma and grandpa's house that evening with a new dump truck toy and treats from his great aunts like animal crackers and coloring books. He had Valentines in the mail from his great-grandma and from his MiMi who sent him an Elmo shirt and the Lady and the Tramp DVD. Our baby is very loved. For Valentine's, my mom and dad gave Jeff and I a night out including babysitting for Cohen. We had dinner out at Olive Garden and saw the new Denzel movie - this was Jeff's choice because I think Denzel might be his Valentine! We ended the night with Yogurt Mountain and shopping in the childrens section of Books a Million for new books for Cohen. Looking back, I'm not sure this even qualifies as a "date" but we were both thankful for the night out!
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| Cohen surrounded by Valentine's Day love! |
When Cohen is not being showered with gifts, he spends a lot of time riding his horse. I guess technically he spends more time getting on and off of the horse than actually riding it, since he doesn't stay on longer than 30 seconds at a time. He also prefers it if mommy or daddy will ride the horse with him and makes this request by patting the back of the "saddle" while saying "mama" or "dada" in his sweetest voice with a big smile on his face. This may sound cute, but it is a harsh leg workout for mommy and daddy who have to avoid putting full weight on the springs of a horse that I know was not made to support up to 200+ pounds (referring to Jeff not me)!
I think that Cohen should possibly by wearing a helmet!
Here is another one of the calm, safe indoor games that Jeff likes to play with Cohen:
I've called my turn but am still waiting!
One of his other favorite games is "get" as in "mama get or dada get" when he likes to be chased. I've also heard him say "Howie get," but Howie does not seem to cooperate with this game nor seem interested in being Cohen's real-life horse! Cohen insists on getting out his coloring book and crayons every day. Note that I did not say Cohen "colors" every day because at this point it involves more of making a few stray marks on 4 or 5 pages, giving a crayon to mommy and daddy and saying "mama car (color), dada car (color), and then being done! He's very good at putting the crayons away though! We get out the Playdough occasionally and he has inherited his mama's talent of making great snakes! We usually put the Playdough away when he starts saying "bite, bite" and putting it up to his mouth! Cohen is very good at naming colors as long as everything you point to is green! On occasion he will show you or find something that is black, blue, pink or blue but he does not prefer any of the other colors! He also likes to play with the alphabet letters on the refrigerator, but like all the colors are green, all the letters are B. He has his favorites! Cohen's grandpa says that his grandma should be teaching him the letters during the day, but she reminds him that Cohen is not even 2 yet!
Most of the rest of Cohen's time is spent looking out the doors/windows for the neighbors cat (aka KitCat). Even though it's still been cold outside, he gets SO excited when he sees the KitCat that we can't help but open the door for a few minutes to let him pet it. You will notice from the next videos that Jeff and I often to refer to the KitCat as it...I also say something that sounds like "hiiieeerr" and in some of the videos the KitCat is called him and others it is a her. When Jeff and I moved into this house, I guess he assumed the cat was a boy and started calling it Mr. Kitty. Two years later one of the neighbors mentioned in passing that the cat is a girl. Hence our confusion!!
A KitCat call!
In full disclosure, this is what happens when we close the door:
He obviously throws some classic tantrums. As proof, this an actual injury that resulted from one such tantrum...Cohen is very dedicated to his work!
After a week of researching snowsuits back in December, several days of checking Ebay to find out if our bid had won, several opportunities to brag about the fact that we got a $79 LandsEnd snowsuit for $17, and months of getting Cohen excited for his first trip out in the snow, I'm so sad to report that I missed the big day. What I assume to be our first and only snow of the winter suprised us on a Monday morning when I just couldn't miss work. Cohen is lucky, though, to spend his days with a fun grandma who took him out in the snow to pull him around the yard in a sled and help him build a snow man. I guess Cohen was not a big fan of all the snow gear, especially the mittens, and taking it all off was probably his favorite part of the snow day. This news made it a little easier to know that I had missed his first trip out in the snow. Seeing his reaction to the snow was more than enough for this mama for the whole winter. (You'll need subtitles for this one...Ah-too is Cohen's word for snow - it was adapted from snowman and also means Santa!)
