Sunder

I randomly realized that Cohen was afraid of thunder one morning back in April when he spent at least ten minutes in this position during a storm that I had barely noticed.

Although we really haven't had many storms since then, Cohen has assumed all loud noises to be "sunder" until otherwise identified!  After many long discussions about the fact that thunder is just a loud noise that can't hurt us, I thought we had overcome his fear until we got a really big storm this past weekend.  We had been hearing the forecast all week about the 100+ degree temperatures we would be getting during the weekend, but the storm was apparently a surprise.  The skies seemed to change from clear blue to black in a matter of seconds, and since Cohen has learned that thunder and rain usually go together, he was on serious storm patrol!

Cohen at 25 months

I just had to stick this next one in because when I was taking these pictures during the storm, I remembered a similar pose when "baby Cohen" was looking out the same window for snow!

Cohen at 8 months

                                                      

I think it becomes obvious when the "sunder" started if you compare the look on his face in these two pictures!!

Even though he told us many times that "sunder won't hurt," I guess he needed the flyswatter for  protection!

"Looking" for sunder...he is very confused about why you can't see it and always says "I see sunder?"

I'll just sit here to protect you daddy!

Just this past weekend, Cohen became very interested in his blocks and will actually sit for minutes at a time in one place to work on his tall buildings...this is a huge deal for this two year old!  So this masterpiece was able to distract him from the storm and he was very upset when he had to leave his work to go to bed!

Concentration face!

I am the champion block builder!

I feel like I should also take this time to report that Cohen is also a potty champion!  We finally overcame the fear of going #2 in the potty thanks to the help of some Miralax!  After a few cups of milk spiked with Miralax, many many "false alarms" that resulted in what felt like hours in the bathroom, and then 10-12 "victories," I think we can consider Cohen officially potty trained.  We are still using Pull-ups at night and on the ride home from work with daddy in the evenings, but I know that both of those will come with time.  I'm so proud and thankful for how Cohen has "owned" potty training...he decided he was ready earlier than mommy was, has had very few accidents since we started in March and has required very little encouragement from anyone.  I realize I may lose some blog followers with all this potty talk!

Looking for more blocks...apparently it wasn't  tall enough!

I learned the next day (after a 25 minute drive to Beech Fork campground where the pool was closed due to power outage and the beach was closed due to debris/trees down) that we were one of the fortunate households in the Tri-State area that still had power.  Since our cable/internet did go out during the storm on Friday night and I wasn't getting 3G service either, I had no idea how much damage the storm had caused all over the state.  As I'm writing this post 5 days after the storm, Jeff's parents are still without power along with family/friends in other areas.  The storm couldn't have happened at a worse time, since we are currently in a ten day stretch of 95+ degree heat.  The damage in our yard mostly consisted of many, many branches and limbs to be picked up.  Luckily, we have a little boy who loves to pick up sticks and "srow" (throw) them over the riverbank!  Since Jeff had a fishing tournament all day on Saturday, the little man of the house managed the clean-up efforts!

Howie and Cohen surveying the damage

After a few trips, he told me the sticks were "too heaby" and  rode off in his jeep!

Daddy took over when he got home...this was the worst of the damage in our yard thank God!

He loves wearing those "muscle shirts!"

Picking up arm loads of branches seemed easy compared to the mess we had to clean up after the big storm we had last summer.  When I found the pictures we took after that storm, it seemed almost ironic that the date was 6/23/11 and this year's storm was on 6/29/11.  I think we may plan our vacation for the last week of June next year!  These three trees were so beautiful during every season of the year and I was so sad to lose one and parts of the other two - especially since we had the special memory of having maternity pictures taken beside them.

Since we had worked hard cleaning up the yard, it was too hot to play outside and we didn't have cable to entertain us inside, I know Cohen was extra happy to get to spend some time Sunday on his first trip to a skating rink for Jeff's cousin's son 11th birthday party.  Although they didn't have skates small enough to fit Cohen, after watching all the big kids skate for awhile, he got out in the middle of the floor and showed off his dance moves!  I decided to stick these pictures in just because he looks like such a big boy!

After a trip to Cracker Barrel for dinner, Cohen had no trouble going right to sleep...until the "sunder" started again!  Since he was too scared to go back to sleep or stay in his bed alone, he stayed up way past his bedtime watching a movie with mommy and daddy.

When he FINALLY fell asleep, I had to get a picture of this chubby cheek sleepy face!