Life as a List

Wow…

It’s been nearly four months since my last post. My, how time flies. But, in the interest of getting you up to speed, I get to write one of my favorite things: A list!

Here’s July through October, with as much brevity as possible…

• The week of Independence Day was our first official vacation of the summer. We spent a glorious week at Sandy Pond with Pap (my dad) and "Uncle" Chris (my bestie); celebrated Grant’s first birthday and my 33rd; and, got some much needed R&R. We figured out that we hadn’t really taken a break since the previous July—and, I wouldn’t really classify maternity leave as “vacation,” even if it was at the Pond. In any case, on his first birthday, Grant took his first steps, threw a ball, and tried out some new sounds. We came home with what felt like a totally different little boy.

• The very next weekend, we went to Ohio for my mother-in-law’s annual family reunion slash pool party. We spent some time with a side of the family that we don’t often see and started to have a little more faith in ourselves as parents attempting to travel with an almost toddler. The very next weekend after that, we went back to Ohio for Grandma’s (father-in-law’s mother) 80th party, where we spent some quality time with the entire other side of the family.

• In between all of that, life was peppered with graduation parties (lord, I felt old seeing kids I used to babysit start to graduate from high school), toddler milestones for Grant (read: getting steadier on his feet, putting new words together, discovering the world), weekends at the pool, and a few “date nights” for Matt and me.

• At the beginning of August, we took our second, shorter, long weekend of a vacation to Sandy Pond with Pap and Gram (my mom). This time, Grant knew what to expect. He went running for Lake Ontario, finally got the hang of playing in the sand, and continued developing in leaps and bounds. We also celebrated our second anniversary, albeit a little late, with a night out at and a bottle of wine that we had been saving.

• August was all about spending more time together as a family, taking advantage of belonging to a pool, experiencing new things (like Pittsburgh Restaurant Week), and seeing Grandma Cooper (Matt’s mom), and our friend in town from England. All in all, it was nice to stay grounded in Pittsburgh for a few weeks after all of the June and July traveling.

• At the end of August, we celebrated Matt’s birthday and took a long Labor Day weekend at Sandy Pond with Gram and Pap. Grant was a pro at that point – remember where all his toys were stashed, looked forward to golf cart rides, ate and slept like a champ, and was a joy to be around.

• The weekend after we got back, I took Grant to Ohio to visit “Uncle” Chris in Ohio, where I showed Grant our college town: The smoking benches where Matt and I met, our dorm at Kohl Hall, my old haunts, and, of course, Finders Records. Two weeks after that, Grant did his first overnights with Grandma Cooper and Miss Beth (nanny extraordinaire), while Matt and I spent a very quick weekend in NYC visiting an old friend from college and seeing Atoms For Peace.

• October has been no less chaotic but extremely memorable as well. We saw Nine Inch Nails, which was insanely incredible. We also took a final weekend trip to the Pond with Gram and Pap that was full of wonderful moments, snuggling, bonfires, excellent meals, and the slow transition to fall weather. 

What’s next for the Coopers? We are looking forward to trick or treating, gorging on Thanksgiving favorites, spoiling everyone rotten for Christmas; fires in the fireplace; homemade parsley and basil pesto, spaghetti meat sauce, and 6-bean turkey chili in our bellies; and, hopefully, a non-spirit crushing winter.

But, most of all, we are looking forward to watching our son grow and change, seemingly on a daily basis, before our very eyes. Every day is something totally different. We are constantly amazed with our own capacity for experiencing new things and at how many other “firsts” we have yet to experience with Grant.

Life is, obviously, different with a child around. Grant is now a walking, babbling, pointing, too smart for his own good, curious, sometimes naughty but always adorable, bonafide toddler. Simple things like grocery shopping take twice as long but, then again, they’re twice as fun with a 15-month-old along for the ride. Grant’s laughter and nonsensical gibberish and little waves goodbye and lip-smacking open-mouthed sloppy kid kisses and wild uninhibited hugs…they make everything better and okay and filled with love. Which is all that really matters.