Went to the lake this weekend for Labor Day. Danny was going to Austin on Saturday for the Texas game, so Cooper and I went to Nannie's house and spent the night. We were like a whirlwind! We zoomed into Nannie's house with two dogs in tow and never slowed down. We played outside, we had dinner, we chased the dogs out of the neighbors garage and then out of their goldfish pond. Cooper was partying the whole afternoon and evening. But when 7:30 rolled around, Cooper was ready for bed. He was playing in the living room and still going full blast, but I started to notice that he was playing with couch pillows and putting his head down. So, per our normal routine, I asked Cooper if he was ready to go night-night. And you might have thought I asked him if he wanted a banana, because he perked up, said "Yeah," waved bye-bye and started running (not walking) down the hall to his room. Nannie was floored. Her jaw literally dropped open. When morning came, we were a whirlwind out the door. Our friends the Munir's were due to join us at GrandMother's house and Danny was coming up from Austin. The weekend was lots of fun with time outside by the kiddie pool and time inside playing MarioKart on the Wii (pics here).

Cooper is growing up so fast and has become so independent. This weekend he amazed us as he climbed up the ladder on the playset by himself!! He just went over there and started climbing like it was totally normal. We stood behind to spot him when he needed it, but mostly just let him go for it. Then, once he reached the top, he wanted to slide down. But not the normal way... sure, sliding forwards is fun, but why not try it going backwards on your tummy? Seriously, he did this with no encouragement from us whatsoever. He even decided once to go down on his tummy, but this time facing forward. Well, I knew that was potentially dangerous, but let him do it anyway. So, he slid down and then as he came to the end of the slide, did a face plant in the grass. Yeah... not so fun after all. After that though, it was back up to the top and down again; this time with a twist. Literally. He would start his descent sliding forwards and then flip over to his tummy at the turn. I mean, come on, is this what every 16 month old does??

The only time I actually put the brakes on his fun was when he wanted to WALK down the 6 foot slide. I told him that I would let him try pretty much anything, but not that one. I have a good friend Angela Venuk with two sons, Cade is 4 and the Cole is a few months older than Cooper. When I was pregnant, we went over to their house and while we were upstairs in Cade's room talking, I watched as Cade climbed up onto a chair and then balanced precariously on the edge on one foot and reached to the tips of fingers for something stuck up high on the window. It would just take one little wobble to send him tumbling to the floor. I looked over at Angela and Fred and they were just chatting away like nothing abnormal was happening. I never really said anything to her about it, but I took away a lesson on how to be a mom to a boy. While I might be asking Cooper to take a step down if he ever tries to do something like that, I will continue to let him experience life for himself even if that means face planting off the slide.

So far so good. I hope that is why we see Cooper becoming so independent and brave. He knows that we are always there spotting him from behind while he goes out and takes on the world!