Cooper Clifford

We are less than a week away from the triple birthday we celebrate every year. If you didn’t know, Cooper and Oliver were born on my birthday, we are less than 10 minutes apart in birth time. It was the one thing I asked God not to do, so of course he laughed, changed the course of my pregnancy and gave me birthday thieves. Ha! I thought as a way to celebrate my miracles I would dedicate one blog to each of them, today is all about my Cooper Clifford, or as we know him our Coopie.

Cooper is the older twin by one whole minute. He was my quiet calm baby when I was pregnant, he was my quiet calm baby as an infant and he’s still, for the most part, my quiet calm toddler. This little lover is the worlds best sleeper, 12 hours every night no exception. He gives the worlds best snuggles, we start every day with a cup of milk and sweet snuggles as we watch Blippi. He is quiet and observant, a complete momma’s boy and independent as the day is long.

Watching Cooper play is highly entertaining, preferring to play alone because it never requires sharing, his view of what is a toy is typically unique. Aside from tractors with trailers, Legos and his water table, he can be found playing with literally anything you call junk. Broken jewelry, plumbing fittings which we have in abundance and any metal or plastic items he can get his hands on. We all say he is a future engineer of some sorts, always creating, building and designing something we’ve never seen before.

He is the polar opposite of his brother in every way, quiet and very independant who loves fruits and veggies. He starts every day with a fruit smoothie and has never met an apple or carrot he didn’t love. We call him a little squirrel as he frequently steals apples from the kitchen eats a bit and then hides it from me for a quick snack later on. By bedtime he’s down to the core, tummy full and ready for bed.

I sound like I am describing a very easy child, and for the most part he is. I left out one part though, he is stubborn like his dad. Ha!

He is a child that knows what he wants and will stop at nothing to get it. He figured out how to open a baby gate before he was 1, when we fixed that he figured out how to climb over it. In fact, climbing is Cooper’s signature. He could climb before he could walk. He’s been known to give his momma heart attack or two climbing on anything he can. His strong will and intelligence will take him far in life, it just makes for interesting days with a toddler.

The first three years with this sweet boy has taught me so much. He’s shown me love I never knew possible, patience I didn’t know I had and more joy than I could ever describe. He greets every day with a smile, that big grin of his is contagious. I hope I can take a page from Cooper’s book and look at the world in a new light every day. I love you buddy, happy 3rd birthday!