Paul Revere

The Thinker(s)

Cooper loves this car he got as a gift from Kim and Michele for his birthday. It is funny - he plays with it on a constant basis for like 4 or 5 days, puts it aside for a couple of weeks, and then rediscovers his obsession yet again. His own little 'circle of life', huh?
Carter. In his quiet reflection.

For Elaine

Elaine graduated from Rutgers, and never misses the opportunity to remind people of this fact! Oh, and be careful - breaking into the fight song is highly probable! (we love you elaine)

So when we saw this, how could we say no?

Cooper, we think Rutgers is a fine institution....

But please consider the pros and the cons of being a Scarlet Knight as you go through your acceptance letters from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, etc etc. Ok Kid?

Our Big Boy

When did our baby turn into a BOY?

We Suck

I know. We suck.

It has been a month. A whole month since the last post!

Lori has been doing a lot of traveling for work, and Maria had her normal crunch of end-of-the-semester interpreting gigs. Our social calendar is still churning. Oh yeah, and adding in the fact that Cooper has hit his twos hard? Makes for a fun/crazy/busy life.

But what is life without an up to date blog?

Lacking. That's for sure!

Will try to keep up from now on.

A Week In The Life

Cooper is quite the busy young man. A normal week in the life of this particular two year old does not only consist of nap times and building blocks. Oh, no - this kid is taking full advantage of the mild weather to prepare for a summer full of activities and excursions.

MONDAY:

Cooper heads to Bright Horizons daycare to start off each week. Some there call him the 'Mayor of Mondays', while one teacher calls him her 'boyfriend'. He is quite popular! It is unfortunate that he is of that tween-like time where he is too big for the toddler room, but not yet ready for the preschool room. The teachers are all great there, and they bring him over to the bigger room with toys/activities like the kitchen center, manipulatives, and (of course) dinosaurs.

TUESDAY:

Cooper goes to the library a few blocks away for Toddler Story Time at 11:30am every week. It is a free class, and he always enjoys seeing all the kids and looking at the books. Here he is sitting next to his friend Clover - the pair spent lots of time together.

WEDNESDAY:

Nice weather outside! Clara decided to head down to Central Park for the morning. Off at the 59th Street station, and walked into Central Park in search of a playground - any easy thing to do since there are seemingly millions of them along 5th Ave and along CPW. This was really Cooper's first time playing in a sandbox - and he LOVED it!

Of course, after all that digging, a juice/pretzel break was necessary.

Man cannot live by pretzels alone....

So their lunchtime pit stop was at an Applebees.

THURSDAY:

This is a quick video that Clara took with her Blackberry of Cooper at his Art & Music class he attends on Thursdays. It is right up the street, at The Arts Horizon - LeRoy Neiman Arts Center. The class consists of all neighborhood children, and several that live in our building. Today Cooper is dancing with his friend Clover. Maya, another love of his, is dancing with another in the background.

FRIDAY:
What will Friday bring? Who knows! That is still to be determined. Maria off work + nice weather = something fun and exciting. That much can be guaranteed. She is looking into a drop-in class or an outside activity. But without a doubt, it will create a memory.

Google Ad: It Gets Better

Oldie But A Goodie

Who is this funny looking baby?

Good Parenting

Dear Blog,

Do you know how to tell you are really a good mother and provide positive parenting for your child?

A definite example has got to be when you drop something on the floor by accident, and your two year old son yells out "DAMN IT!" before you even have the chance to react or say a word.

Sincerely,

Maria

Better Than Palin

Better than Palin. Who would have thought this was even possible? I mean, we had the crazy teabagging witch-woman in Delaware. Also experienced the insane gubernatorial wannabe Paladino in New York. Many many others have tried their hands at going as "rogue" as Palin - the woman is a walking reality show, and is cashing in on each and every step. Her inadequecy and ineptness is just so gosh darn entertaining. Who could possibly come close to this living bobblehead that is wears a 'I Can See Russia From My House' tshirt? Who?

TRUMP. Donald Trump, that's who!

So looking forward to this guy. Oh my god, he is the quintessential representative of the undereducated masses. He is the golden calf - and watching the simpletons that reside here in the good ol' USofA drink the kool-aid will be fun for the whole family. Hold on everyone! Palin and Trump - we are in for a wild ride. YeeHa!

Jon Stewart. Daily Show. Love him!

The Daily Show - Believe It or Believe It - Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Stephen Colbert. Love him too!

Bubble Mania

Always fun to get packages in the mail, but even way more cool when the box contains bubble wrap. Pop, pop, pop!

Shalom

Happy Passover!

Random And The Ross Family

Been a bit busy as of late, and hard to get online and keep the blog as up to date as we used to do! Worry not, Maria isn't doing as many hours as usual over the summer. Expect total inundation of posts. That's a promise.

Lori has been traveling quite a bit lately. Los Angeles and Las Vegas and Nashville and more. Maria has been trying to spend as much quality time with Cooper as she can, but the kid is definitely happiest when his Mom and his Mommy are both with him at the same time. He totally has us wrapped around his little finger. A done deal. Although, Maria is so much more of 'The Enforcer' than Lori even dares to be!

Some random tidbits:
Cooper's new favorite snack is Smart Pop microwave popcorn. He is getting taller, and we know this bec he is able to stand and balance on his SKUUT bike a bit better. He is becoming more assertive with his specific directions of "sit down" and "come please" and "wait here" and "don't do that". Cooper knows that 'I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck' is the song that his Grandma sings to him. The kid is constantly trying to feed his plastic dinosaurs from his juice cup. He is crazy about his cousin Carter. And the book, 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt' needs to be read and then repeated at least three times at each sitting.

Maria and Cooper have been fighting an annoying little cold that has them both coughing pretty regularly. We had plans to see Noreen, Tony, and the kids for dinner on Saturday night - and we wavered back and forth on whether we should bring Cooper if he was sick. He woke up from his nap and looked as if he could handle the outing - and we are so happy we went. We miss the Rosses so much!

Lots of catching up was had as Cooper played with Daniel and kept tabs on the comings/goings of their cat Sage. Can we say again how we need more Noreen time? Not enough hours in the day to fully get updated on everything. Maria and Lori tag'teamed during dinner since Cooper wanted to be downstairs in the Man Cave and check out the weights, Call of Duty, legos, a guitar, a punching bag, and the pool table. The testosterone was definitely flowing!

After an amazing Italian dinner, yet more bottles of wine were consumed as Tony volunteered to clean up the kitchen. Don't feel bad for him - Tony had an apprentice that just wouldn't leave his side.

Home through the pouring rain and flooded streets that evening. Can't wait to hang with the Ross Family again! And soon! But can we tell you the best thing? The absolute best treat of all? We had NOTHING to do on Sunday. Nothing. Nada. WooHoo! No where to be and no where to go. Finally! It has been months since we had a day like that.

Decided to hang out a bit in the morning, and then head to the 11am service. Cooper loves his time in the nursery with all the toys and the kids. The weather was on our side, so we grabbed brunch on the Upper Westside. Cooper fell asleep for two solid hours in the stroller as we walked down Columbus and then through Central Park to the Eastside.

Gorgeous gorgeous day.

AC Baby, AC

The annual retreat for the Greater NYC steering committee of HRC took place this month. They group hits a different area of the region each year to come together, make plans for the upcoming year, define role and objectives, and let's face it - have a bit of a fun weekend.

Lori will be continuing as co-chair with Brian going forward this next year as well, and she is also on the Board of Governors, liaison to a few committees, and a Major Donor to boot. Why yes, I believe 'overachiever' sounds about right.

The people at Harrah's are just amazing, and gave the group a block of comp'd rooms on Saturday night along with making the meeting process and social events as perfect as can be. Everyone was extremely appreciative.

So! We worked on Friday, packed up the car, pulled off the Parkway for a bit to drop Cooper at Grandma/pa's, and then continued on the last '50 minutes there' to Atlantic City.

Constant contact with a number of people while en route: Jo, Rick, Champ, and Chris were already making a name for themselves at the bar. We checked in, threw our bags down, and headed to the Mountain Bar. Chris and Vern met up with us at some point.

Lots of drink specials. Lots of drinks. And lots and lots and lots.

How many rounds? We think the final count was 10. Scandalous. All we can remember: we had an unfriendly waitress, Maria drank faster than Jo, Rick has one set of dance moves, chicken wings hit the spot, Lori has made many a friend on Grindr, Champ bought the first round, Chris smokes too much, the drinks were watered down, and Lori/Maria sponsored the better part of this illustrious night out. The most humbling moment of the night? Getting back to the rooms after 3am and knowing everyone (except Vern and Maria) had to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the meetings the next morning.

Maria had plans to go see Jeanne/Matt and the kids on Saturday afternoon, but first needed to rehydrate. Badly. Grabbed a Pepsi to wash down the 4 tablets of Advil she desperately needed. The woman in the Bally's gift shop was sweet.... She gave Maria the head's up that the soda cost $3.75 there. Maria's reply? "Ma'am, if you told me it cost $12.75 - at this point, I would still buy it." Yes, you could say that Maria was a wee bit fragile that particular Saturday morning.

After Lori suffered through her all-day planning meeting with the other 25+ that are involved, the group met at Mia in Caesar's for an open bar cocktail hour at 6pm.

While at Mia's, Maria soon found out that ALL of her "friends" from the night before had thrown her under the bus! Apparently, everyone's hangover was due to Maria and her bad influences and feminine wiles. Blasphemy!

The cocktail party ended around 8pm, and groups split up to enjoy the varied restaurants that Caesar's and beyond had to offer. We ended up with the more low key group, and enjoyed a great many fried foods at the sports bar Game On. Fine with us! We didn't need any fancy shmancy place in Atlantic City.

Even more splintering after our transfat-ladden meal, some went to gamble while others went to get a drink. After the cool kids decided not to sit at a face-lift'ed Denny's look-a-like for a glass of wine, we settled on the same Mountain Bar that was the true culprit in our demise the night before.

The gamblers went from high to low WAY too quickly. Lori lost $200 at craps and called it quits when nothing positive seemed to be on the horizon. Maria took Jo up on playing some Blackjack. Maria changed $100.... Gone pretty quickly. Lori went to bed. Maria changed another $75.... And was down to only $10 in record time. She stole $5 from Jo so she could manage the $15 minimal bet at the table. Then? Then? Then? Maria's luck changed for the better....

YEAH BABY!!!

Basketball Skills

Obviously, he is on the path for a lucrative basketball scholarships at all the top schools. We have every reason to believe he will be tall enough to play with the big boys!

Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese. Yes, it is true. Maria actually willingly took Cooper rodent-themed mecca for overstimulation and overindulgence.What caused this lapse of judgement?

Honestly? It wasn't all that bad. But timing is KEY in the planning of this excursion. Another family of a toddler in the building told us that it was a nice little trip on a weekday morning. Had to see it to believe it. Maria bundled up the two boys and started out on the walk to 125th Street to the Chuck E. Cheese - Harlem location.

We sent this picture to Christina with the tale of our mouse-laden activity. Christina's reply gave us the idea and the permission to bring Carter into the ball pit. Why did she think allowing her infant to spend time in what basically is a petri dish was a good plan? She never actually thought Maria was going to this establishment without some sort of coercion.

Enough talk! Forward, ho!

If you ever do feel the need to go to this type of place - go in the morning! Lots of staff. Lots of cleaning going on. And no kids! I think there were three other children in the entire place, and the number may have been all of ten kids at any given time. I suppose on a normal Saturday this place would house hundreds.

The guy at the desk was shocked I had no coupons with me. He said EVERYONE uses coupons. Coupons? For a 'family pack' that included pizzas and soda? For a jillion tokens for $10 instead of 50 tokens for the same price? Cooper is two years old. 50 tokens will suffice.

Cooper saw this 'Bob the Builder' immediately. Backhoe! Backhoe!
He so wanted to play in this whole climbing structure, but he was a little too short to be able to get his legs up and climb up through all the tunnels. Really for kids 4 years old and up.

Talk to me Chuck.
Cooper played so many games....
And didn't have a clue as to what he needed to do.

Basketball. Now that is a game that Cooper (thinks he) plays like a pro. Yes, there are rules at Chuck E. Cheese about standing on the games and playing appropriately and whatnot. But was at 11am. And Cooper was being so very cute. Staff gave us a 'get out of jail free' card and allowed the kid to practice his jumpshots.
Who's the big winner? CARTER is the big winner!
Cooper finished up his tokens, then he and Maria split an individual 'pizza pie' before heading for home. Oh, and with Cooper's tickets? He picked out a plastic black cobra and a big plastic spider. What a typical BOY, huh? On the way home the poor kid was falling asleep while standing up on the stroller. Exhausted. Good day.

Merry Go Round

With Lori away in Las Vegas at the American Country Music Awards, Maria decided to go to New Jersey for the weekend. Hung out on Friday night, Saturday morning to Alex/Mark's first T-Ball game of the season, and headed out to dinner on Saturday night.

After Cooper's favorite meal of 'pizza pie', we headed to the mall. Grandma, Aunt Liza, and the twins as well. A little shopping and a lot of running around - all good. As we walked passed one area, the twins spied a Merry-Go-Round.....

Alex and Mark: "Can we go on it? Please? Please please please?"

Liza: "No, we are not riding the merry-go-round tonight."

Maria: "Of course we are! Aunt Maria is here. We are totally riding."

Alex and Mark: "YAY! YAY! YAY!"

Cooper: "HURRAY!"

Aunt Maria is pretty freakin' awesome, huh? The boys were allowed to help push Cooper in the stroller, and Maria even bought them cookies at the end of the night.


It actually was a way cool carousel. Two levels. Quick video.

Zach Wahls

Ducks In A Row

This picture was taken just a few moments before Mark fell off the bench, Cooper burst into a fit of laughter, and Alex said, "I am TRYING to WATCH this SHOW." At least all three of the boys were contained for a nanosecond or two. Cooper loves quality twin time.

Brown Eyed Boy XVII

All In A Day's Work

Our little boy certainly does get around....

A man who loves to eat.

All he needs now is a flux capacitor.

Toys? Nah. Shampoo bottles are the rage.

'Top Chef', here he comes.

Wow

Didn't get much posted at all, huh?

Tomorrow. Will give it another shot tomorrow.

CHEERLEADING

Maria's team competed one more time this season, and they did an AMAZING JOB! It was a regular competition. They were the only deaf team performing. Lexington's category was High School - Coed Varsity. They took SECOND PLACE!!!

And? The first place team had 225 points, while Lex had 210. Only a 15 point difference. Pretty amazing! It was a great experience for Maria's team and for all the other kids at the competition that Saturday. The last thing that these deaf kids want would be given any sort of "sympathy" from anyone. Hard for anyone to say they didn't earn their trophy when Lex's basket-tosses and extended liberties were just as good as the stunts performed by their competitors.

Flashback from earlier that competition morning.

World Trade Center

Maria was working downtown recently, and walked passed the World Trade Center site on her lunch hour. So much work has been done! And there were crews all over the place continuing the project.

Carter's Girlfriend

It is official. Carter and 'Sophie the Giraffe' are an item.

Our Secret

Don't tell Christina or Michael that this ever happened!

Shhhhh......

Dump The Blog

Ok! We have a jillion and one things to post on the blog. Maria has an hour before she needs to get together and head out the door to work. How much posting can be done? Let's see! Going to 'dump the blog' with a whole mess o' random stuff. You have been warned.

The last snow of '11. Cooper was the assistant cinematographer.

Worker Bee

Cooper likes to "work" when he is down on the 3rd Floor. Understand - there is a huge open area, great big wooden playset, and kids to run around with. Cooper? He likes to work.

Kiddo, we are hoping you venture into a different realm of profession after all the money we will have spent on private school tuition in Manhattan for years and years!

The Best Aunts

I LOVE MY AUNT MARIA

AND AUNT LORI!!!!

Hair Hair Hair

Cooper needed a haircut. Badly. And desperately. Interestingly enough, his locks seem to increase in thickness at a faster rate than grow longer. The result? Quite a mop to contend with! Haircut!

See what we mean?
Went to Cozy Cuts on the Upper Westside. We've been here before, and they people working here do a way better job than at the Kidville salon we tried a few times. Videos, balloons, lollipops, video games, and toys - what else does a kid need to create a positive experience out of a chore? Well, Cooper needed the plastic rattlesnake seen hanging out on the car.

Have to admit.....

Lollipops were definitely part of time in the chair.

Yes, Maria is one of 'those moms' who lets their child partake in a lollipop (actually, three of them) when he gets a haircut. Go ahead. Judge.

This woman was SO GREAT with Cooper. We are absolutely going to ask for Sandy when we come back for his next cut. She worked on his hair for a long time and wanted everything to be perfect. Love that. And she and Cooper discussed 'Toy Store' for quite a while.
And YES -
Cooper got to bring home the rattlesnake!