Cohen Lately

Let this be your warning:  this post is going to be very lengthy and very uninteresting to anyone but me, Joe, and maybe a grandma or two.  Not that any of my posts are more interesting than this one, but, you know.  Whatever.

Cohen has reached the age where he is starting to do new things every day, and I don't want to forget a single one of them.  I feel like when you are with the same kid day-in and day-out you think you will never forget the little things they do all day.  I have slowly learned that this is not true.  Already, family members will ask me if I remember quirky little things that Cohen used to do as a baby and I think, 'how did I forget about that??'.  So, here is my ode to the things Cohen has been doing that I don't want to forget.  

Thing number 1: He is obsessed with being cozy.  Or, as he calls it, co-thee.  When we're reading a book, watching a movie, putting a puzzle together, riding in the car, or sometimes in the middle of just playing by himself, he'll run in his room and grab his pillow and blanket, then lay it on the ground while quietly chanting 'co-thee'  over and over again.  Not only does he insist on being cozy all the time, but he makes sure his animals are cozy throughout the day as well.  He'll wrap them up, then whisper co-thee to them over and over.  I find cozy animals all over the house.  I really don't know why I even bother making our beds in the morning, because by nap time every one of my pillows have been stolen, the beds are a mess, and there are 'cozy' animals all around the house. (ps - he learned the word cozy from me.  Sometimes when I tuck him in at night, I tell him he looks cozy in his bed).

Thing number 2:  He LOVES putting together his puzzles and train tracks.  Some of our puzzles he still needs some help with, but the train track he'll put together, then take it apart and try a different way over and over again.  Every time he finishes a track with all the pieces, he yells, "I did it!".

Thing number 3:  Interrupting.  This one is probably my favorite.  Every night before he goes to bed, we say prayers then sing a few songs.  He tells us what songs he wants to sing, we sing them, then we close his door and he goes to sleep.  Lately, randomly during the day, he'll come to me and want me to sing to him.  He tells me which song to sing, and before I get two words into the song he interrupts me and changes the song he wants sung.  It goes a little something like this:

co: mom. sing. twinkle.
me: ok, twinkle twinkle lit...
co: mom.  mom.  mom.
me: yes?
co: snowman.
me: ok, once there was a...
co: mom. mom. moooooooommmmmm.
co: (gives me the hand action for popcorn popping)
me: ok, but this is the last song then mommy's done singing, okay?
co: (gives me the hand action for popcorn popping, again)
me: I looked out the window and...
co: moooooommmm. mom. twinkle.

He also has been doing it in the middle of reading a book, too.  I'll be reading to him when he interrupts me just to say hi, or tell me something random that is totally inaudible. So I just respond by saying, "oh, really?", and he looks back at the book and says "ya".  Then we continue reading.

Thing number 4: He wants me to watch everything he does.  He'll say 'watch!' over and over again, and even when I'm watching (and I tell him I'm watching) he'll keep telling me to watch.  When him and Elliot are in the living room alone and I'm in the kitchen, he'll tell Elliot to watch.  It's the cutest thing evvvver.

Thing number 5:  Last, but not least, cleaning up.  I started a new rule that we can't get out another game or set of toys until what he was playing with before has been put away (hi-ho-cherry-o, memory, a train set, blocks, and the game Elefun are very overwhelming to put away all at once every day).  For example, if he is playing with his train set, then asks to play with his blocks, I start singing the 'clean-up' song and help him put the train back in the box.  For the first few weeks he was super excited to clean things up.  He'd get this serious look on his face and strut around putting things away like he was so proud of himself.  Slowly though, it has been wearing off.  He'll throw a fit and scream and cry, then slowly start moping around putting things away.  It's very dramatic and over-the top and, well, let me just show you: