When I was pregnant with Gillian, we talked to John a lot about the baby in Mommy’s belly.  We told him that if the baby was a girl, her name would be Gillian Marie and if the baby was a boy, he would be Cooper James.  When John met Gillian for the first time, he looked at Daddy and I and said, “where’s Cooper?”  We explained to him that there was only one baby in Mommy’s belly and it was a girl baby.  He still seemed a little confused.  One of the ladies that worked with Daddy suggested going to Build-A-Bear Workshop with John and have him make a Cooper.  Daddy and John did go and make a Cooper.  Cooper is a monkey.  John even picked out an outfit for him (the outfit has been lost over the past 2 years).  He is one of John’s favorite friends and often spends the night sleeping with him.   

John & Cooper the first day

feeding Cooper

Gillian discovered Cooper this morning.  She loves the monkey.  John and Gillian decided that Cooper needed socks on this morning.  And Gillian had him join her for breakfast this morning. 

breakfast buddies

He also made the car trip to school.  She gave him kisses in the car and waved good-bye as I walked her into school.  Daddy picked up the kids from school, but when I got home from work I brought Cooper back into the house.  Gillian found him in the kitchen at dinnertime and lucky Cooper got to “eat” chicken and rice for dinner.  During bath time, Cooper had to sit on the potty and wait for John and Gillian to be done.  But after bath time, Gillian made sure Cooper had a blanket and was put “night-night.”