You ask anyone who lives in Texas, no doubt they have a picture in the bluebonnets.  I always say that you’re not really a Texan until you’ve got your bluebonnet picture.  Well last week was Coop’s turn and here are a few of the shots.  He’s a big, adorable boy these days!

Spring has sprung!

Since my last post was while we were still in Nicaragua, there are a few updates to make.  Overall, the trip to Nicaragua was an amazing time.  So amazing that Phillip is convinced we should move down there and set up shop!  (don’t worry Grandmas, it ain’t happening any time soon…)  Since we’ve been back, we’ve gotten back in the swing of things here.

A new YMCA membership has been great for us, since Cooper goes to the nursery there and plays with the other kiddos.  He’s been getting sick a bit more often, which I think is just the way it goes.  He’s got a mouth full of teeth, molars and the whole bit.  Sometimes I forget and feed him a little morsel of food off of my finger and CHOMP!  He literally drew blood last week!  (I guess it’s like snakes- the baby snake bites are worse than the adult ones because they don’t know their own strength and go whole hog….)

The little guy is also at the stage where he doesn’t talk much, but he understands everything.  It’s amazing how quickly this came about.  One day to the next, I would say “Hey Cooper- go get me that spoon/book/toy” and he would go from being otherwise distracted to one day just going right over and picking up whatever it is.

I also make sounds for all the animals we see around the house.  When we see birds, I say “that’s a bird, it goes ba-kaww, ba-kaww”  Well, yesterday we were playing on the bed and he stood up and pointed out the window and said “Ba-kaww!”  and I looked where he was pointing and wouldn’t you know there was a bird perched on a limb at the window.  This might not seem very fascinating to most folks, but it was the first time I noticed him taking what he hears and using it on his own accord (vs just repeating back what I say).  This is just so amazing to me watching his put his brain together piece by piece.

As his personality comes through stronger and stronger, he is seeming to be one of the kindest and most generous souls I’ve ever met.  He gives somewhere in the hundreds of hugs and kisses a day.  Every bite of food he has, especially when something tastes really good, he wants to share with anyone around.  Hence, the dog has gained 10% of her body weight of late, but whatever….  When he plays with other kids and they start crying, I have seen him go over and try to hug them.  Rarely does this work out as he intends it, but still- it touches my heart to see how genuinely loving he is.  Here’s him after realizing that Maysen looks like she needs a good hug….

Cooper starts his day going over to “Bu-da” (Luna) and patting her and putting his face in her face with his mouth wide open for a big kiss.  Luna is infinitely patient with all of his attention…  Then he goes and finds da-DA (dad) to throw himself on to wake him up.  His favorite is to squeal his delight for the day (which just overflows in this kid) right into dad’s ear.  That usually works to get him up and at ‘em!

Some new fun in our lives is this bike seat we got so we can all go on family bike rides.  As usual, he’s so adorable it just cracks us up….

This is the experience of parenthood to me so far…it’s just living my normal life but with the cutest, most fascinating person I’ve ever met.

While I’m at it, here are some picture from Easter.  We’re not big holiday people, but I am going to try to be for Coop’s sake.  I dyed eggs and hid them in the yard.

More great news in our world is that Phillip’s mom (G-ma!) has finally finished a very tough year of medical treatment and is finally starting to feel better again!  She has been through hell and back and we are all so happy that she is on the mend.  Cooper is especially glad that she’s ready to play with him again.

G-ma does have the best lap to curl up and kick back with a sippy cup, huh?

For those of you worried that-because none of our pictures seem to have Cooper with a smile- that maybe Coop’s not loving this trip so much, here’s a little reassurance that our little man is happy as a clam.

Bebe Feliz!

Cooper smiles!

Yes, this little man loves his beach side play dates…

Cooper and Lucy

And we are pretty proud to say that after three weeks “on the road” facing all sorts of challenges to our sanity, we feel stronger, more appreciative, and happier as a family.

watching the sunset

I think we have finally named this feeling that we have about our travelling.  We call it “Third World Therapy”.  For us, travelling like this- with all of it’s demands and discomforts (as well as it’s delights and beauty), helps us strip away the unimportant from our daily life.   What doesn’t fit on our backs probably isn’t entirely necessary.  We learn to have a new level of appreciation for clean sheets that smell like fabric softener and city air that doesn’t burn your nose, cold, crunchy salads and a perfectly brewed cup of coffee that your husband brings you while you’re still half asleep in bed.  These little things are more than enough to send us over the moon but so often, we just get spoiled on delights and take it for granted.

Also, from the vantage point of our little house in Austin, with only the television to tell us about the state of affairs of the world, we get to thinking that this world has gone crazy.  It seems like “out there” is just too dangerous- what with it’s germs and gangs and folks out to rob you.  This trip was such a validation to us that the world is full of people JUST LIKE US, no matter where they are from or h ow much “stuff” they have.  They want their children to be safe, they want a delicious dinner and they want good fortune to shine on them.  We have benefitted so much from being back in what we call the “river” of life with other travellers and new experiences.  Talking with other people who are taking risks, daring to live outside of the formula and creating their own vision of a life-well-lived is so inspiring to us.  We are grateful that we had the guts to take this trip in the first place.

Phillip and I both have noticed the exponential growth that Cooper has had in the past few weeks.  He is so curious about his world and seems confident in himself.  As parents, this is the gift we hope most to give him- a love of life and enough gusto to live it.  This trip was a step in that direction– and we can not count the thousands of people whose faces lit up for even a second or two just to see this little blondie in the big goofy backpack pass by.  It has been a reminder what an honor it is to be his parents.

We are grateful that we are so fortunate if only because we were born in a prosperous country, we are grateful for our health and happiness, and we are grateful that we have each other.   We wish the same for everyone.

See you all back at home.

xoxox

The Knight Family

Coop & I at the Plaza in Granada

Cooper the Trooper

every house a different color

a beautiful volcano crater lake

Cooper had a playdate with Lucy

disc golf paradise!

Let’s get right to some new pictures!  Now that we are in Granada- I feel like we have really hit our stride.  The colonial feel and colorful buildings is so much more interesting than sitting on the beach worrying about whether Coop is getting sunburned or has sand in his butt.

Fruit stand in Leon

As some might know, I have a special kinship for folks with fruit stands.  I also like that it shows Cooper just gnawing on a strap of his backpack- content and waiting for the next admirer to come along.

Leon

countryside...and that smoking volcano that promises it will be nice

These smoking volcanos do make me nervous, I’ll admit it.  They are awe-inspiring.  The countryside (in some areas in the West) looks surprising like Texas, huh?

food at the 'beisbol' game in Granada

This is the food you get at the baseball games.  Regional baseball is a fanaticism here and we went to our first game on Friday night.  Tiburones (sharks) are the local team so that’s who we were cheering for.  Every play worth a damn got the stadium SCREAMING and out of their seats.

Viva los Tiburones!! (They won)

We didn’t know how rowdy it would get or how much Cooper would be into it, so we stayed up in the standing galleys to watch.  Cooper was such a good sport- considering it got a bit past his bedtime…

Notice the raw fish in the bucket. Yum.

This was the bus that took us from the beach (Las Penitas) to Leon.  The buckets in front of us are full of fish that the fishermen take to market.  There are guys at the bus stop in Leon with handheld scales that weigh the catch, pay the men and they take the bus right back out of town.  Pretty efficient if you ask me– just don’t as the health department I guess?

Fun for Coop- even if it doesn't look like it.

Course Coop can have fun with a hole in the wall!

Here’s the thing about our little angel boy.  He is down for whatever but when it’s his turn to cut loose and have a blast- it’s funny the things that make him so happy.  The fish ride (above) was okay, but that little ledge on the wall in our first place here in Granada– hours of fun!  While we were in Las Penitas, we had a queen bed next to a twin bed and there was about a six inch height difference.  I’m not kidding when I say that he must have jumped and crawled and tumbled over that ledge about forty times an evening!  It was our sole source of entertainment in the evenings until he tired himself out and passed out for the night.  He also gets an amazing thrill from drinking from our water bottles and then shaking the bottles.  That’s another half hour of fun a few times a day.  Since we plan to play disc golf while we are down here, we brought about four discs with us– what a brilliant idea!  Whenever we have to distract him, we take them out and slide them around on the ground and he has a blast.

VIDEO CLIPS:  For fun, I just threw together (in like five minutes, so please don’t expect much) a quick compilation of video clips.  From now on, I will take better quality- this is as much of an experiment as anything.  I hope it just shows a little bit of the flavor here.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO WATCH THE 5MB VIDEO: nicaragua_0001

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Our hotel manager, when we were checking into our beloved suite here in Granada, was looking at Cooper all strapped into his backpack and said “wow- Cooper the Trooper!”  I love it!
• We are staying in a hotel room with a kitchenette and wi-fi and a living room for SEVENTEEN DOLLARS A NIGHT in downtown Granada.  Now that’s a bargain!
• Cooper started vomiting after having some watermelon juice the other night.  It wasn’t ten minutes later that we were at the pharmacy late-night getting let in to see a doctor.  No biggie in the end- it wasn’t food poisoning, but we were so scared.  I think I saw the doctor roll his eyes and call us ‘rookie gringos’ under his breath but I could give a damn. He gave us Pedialyte and an anal suppository (for Phillip?…j/k) and we said our prayers of immense gratitude to the universe that he was going to be okay.
• This kitchenette set-up means we get to get back to Phillie’s home-cooking!  After a week of gallo pinto and other unremarkable Nicaraguan fare (sorry, I’m just being honest-) and that scare with Cooper, we are going to cook most of our own food here from now on.  It is so nice to eat veggies again.
• Granada is so beautiful!  We are having fun walking around and just running into music performances, parks, markets, etc.  I haven’t gotten good photos yet, but I will work on that today.

That’s all for now!  We love ya!