Tigers Around Town and 23 Months Old

This weekend, we ventured to The University of Memphis for their Tigers Around Town event. This being the 100th year the university is in existence, they kicked off the celebration by getting local artists to decorate life-sized tigers, each representing a year. We ran through the exhibit because someone was out of sorts, but did manage to get pictures of several of the tigers.


Joey Dorsey tiger in honor of my favorite Memphis basketball player, aside from Earl Barron and Kelly Wise.


Us in fron of the 1999 tiger- that was the year I started at Memphis.


The 2003 tiger, which was the year I graduated with my undergraduate degree.


I think this was 1926, but I really took the picture because I thought the tiger was cute.
*The other pictures we took either didn't make it out of the camera or didn't turn out well including 1976 (the year YaYa graduated), 1977 (the year Pops graduate), 1987 (Tada's birth year), 1998 (the year Jeff started at Memphis), and 2007 (the year I graduated with my Master's). Like I said, quick outing.

Speaking of someone, we are a mere month away from having a 2 year old on our hands. I was looking at his baby pictures, getting all teary eyed because he's really not a baby anymore. And he's really not staying in his bed, either, so maybe those tears are from lack of sleep. No, I'm pretty sure it's because I can't believe almost 2 years have gone by so quickly.

So, what's Mr. Cooper up to these days?
*Escaping from his crib and room with the greatest of ease. Just call him David Copperfield. We've been battling naptime and bedtime because he's decided he's not going to stay put. We're working on this. Diligently. Because Mommy and Daddy are t-i-r-e-d.
*Talking up a storm. Frequent calls are made to Bob-O, Nana, Pops, YaYa, and Tada in which he says "hi", "love you", "bye" and may or may not hang up in the middle of the conversation. He talks about Mommy's glasses being on and off, our shoes being on and off, he and Daddy wearing hats, Avery playing with her golf ball and all the things "Coopie" is doing. Loves to point out school buses, trucks, cars that resemble family members' cars, airplanes, puppy dogs. And did you know that everyone mows the grass, even Carnie, Bob-O and Nana's dog? It's true.
*Loves brushing his teeth. Every morning and night, we go through "Mommy brush teeth?", "Daddy brush teeth?", "Coopie brush teeth?", "Avey brush teeth?"
*Loves reading, especially his potty book and Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin. We've read that one so much he can recite it along with us.
*Needs to check the mail everyday. He proudly announces "Maaaaaiiiiillll" or "No maaaaaiiiiillll" each time we walk in the house. Those drawn-out letters are no joke- Cooper has a strong Southern accent.
*Potty-training when he feels like it. Sometimes, he has no problems sitting on the potty and going. Others, you'd think we were about to waterboard the child. We're picking our battles, which probably isn't what hardcore parents would say to do.
*Has found a love of yogurt (strawberry seems to be his favorite) and cheese puffs. We're still struggling with him being a picky eater.

We're gearing up for his birthday party, although his Mama can't quite get it together enough to plan anything out. A party planner, I am not.