Snubbed by a 3-year Old

Tonight I was giving Boston a bath and Hooper was trying to "help" me. He was climbing all over me trying to get a good look at brother and spicing up his bath with a few toys he threw in. After about the fifth time I told Hooper to get off my back Shiloah tried to lure him into the living room.

"Hooper, want to come in here and play with Daddy?" cried Shiloah.

"Um...no thanks." replied Hooper

Snubbed by a three-year old.

Hooper the flying Penguin

This year for Halloween we allowed Hooper to choose what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween. He's really been interested in dinosaurs and all things that roar for some time now so we thought a t-rex or lion would be something he'd like.

Shiloah sat with Hooper one night and showed him pictures of all sorts of lion, tiger and dinosaur costumes. He showed mild interest until he saw a penguin costume. He jumped up and down crying "A penguin! A penguin!" Shiloah continued to show him tigers and things that roar hoping to distract him but the penguin won out.

When we got the penguin costume we still weren't sure whether or not Hooper would wear it but he quickly tried it on and began flapping his wings. We actually had to make him take it off that first night.

Soon after this I noticed that Hooper was jumping off of things more than usual. His bed, our bed, the couch, chairs anything that would give him a little height. One day I asked him what he was doing and he put his chin to his chest and very quietly said, "I can't fly." Then he began flapping his wings like he did in the penguin suit. It was then it hit me all this jumping was an attempt to fly like a penguin. He was so disappointed that I didn't have the heart to tell him penguins don't fly either. A kid needs goals in life.

Choosing Treats

While at my mom's house tonight I thought of another Hooperism that I never want to forget. Hooper spends alot of time with my mom while I'm in softball season. She picks him up from the babysitter and they go home, get a snack and play until Shiloah gets off work. Around 2 years old Hooper was really putting sentences together. We soon realized how much he listened to and how much time he was spending with Nanny.

One weekend afternoon Hooper wanted a snack. I went back to the pantry to get some crackers. Before I knew it he was in front of me tapping his index finger to his mouth saying, "Wet's see...we wike QUACKERS!" (translation:" Let's see...we like CRACKERS!") Very funny. At three years old he still does this when picking snacks and I of course continue to laugh.

The cow says_____________________?

Around 2/2 1/2 years, Hooper began figuring out animal sounds. We would do the typical, "The cow says..." and Hooper would enthusiastically reply, "Mooooo!" We have since added a snake, horse, lion, tiger, bear, whale, elephant, chicken...you get the idea.

My husband thought it would be cute to tell my son things that people say. For instance, "Mommy says...." and Hooper replys "No, no, no!" Soon the whole family had a saying and I wanted to make sure we never forgot them.

Daddy says- "Seriously?!" With his hand held out, palm up.
Nanny says- "Cookie?" As in "Want a cookie?" My mom makes wonderful cookies and is always willing to share, God bless her.

Brother says- "Whaaa, whaa!" Hooper does not enjoy Bo's crying.
Grandad says- "Ah, Babe!" As in, trying to talk my mom into something.
Grandpa says- "Vroom, vroom." Grandpa and Hooper share a love of cars.

Looking back, turning Hooper into a puppet for our amusement may not have been the right thing to do, but it sure was the funny thing to do.