Cooper at play & something you probably didn't know about squirrels

Lots of pictures today. Limber up your scrolling finger and away we go!

I got to join Henry and Cooper for a fun morning!

He enjoyed trying out my new walker and there were finally some cupboard doors he was encouraged to open!

Snow!

A few drips on Elmo.

Coop was all about tidy up time!

Cooper does hand signs for some words like more and help. He can actually say the word more but enjoys signing it.

He's taken the sign for help and made it into a full body super hero pose.

It was pretty special to watch learning happen. Things like - glue is really sticky...

and scissors don't colour very well.

Cool. They're for cutting!

One thing I didn't capture well was Cooper's happy hand gestures celebrating the joy of such a plethora of book choices. True luxury for this book loving boy.

Music class was next. We were mostly taking it all in but it was fun too.

He was more into his double keyboard drum rock band.

I really liked what was painted on the wall above Henry and Cooper as we headed home.

It was a brilliantly gorgeous day out there today.

Harry pointed out that there's still snow and ice and kept one foot raised for warmth almost all the time.

This was a first though:

So today Coop learned that scissors don't colour well and I learned something neat too. Did you know that red squirrels harvest maple sap?

I can't really see what the squirrels are doing at this distance until I download the pictures.

I thought that he was just being playful and funny hanging upside down and I even said so at cards. But then I looked at the pictures and immediately googled "Why do squirrels lick trees?"

Sure enough, they score the trees with their teeth then come back later to harvest the sap!

click here for a National Geographic article.

Cool huh!

With the amount of food I've seen these chaps scrounge off porches though I would say that it's more for pleasure than survival around here. A seasonal treat.

Wonder what the Vegas odds are on the rose sisters making it officially till spring?

Whew, thanks for hanging in there!

This is your reward. Little Lorelai and her mom Ashley at their photo shoot out west.

You're welcome.