Well, she’s officially here. 6 lbs, 2 oz, 18" in length. About 3 weeks early, so technically, she’s premature. That’s probably because Kathleen was thinking too much about labor these past couple of days.
Everything looks great so far. She’s normal on all the tests and seems very content. I’ll follow up on this post with some pictures once I’ve got a chance to doctor them and upload.
Kathleen and I have had the same conversation about 10 times in the past few days. It begins with one of us asking the other what they think of this name for the new baby, some discussion, general uncertainty that the name is a good fit, and then closes with us agreeing we have another month to think about it.
Well, now we’re at the moment of decision. I’m about 80% OK with Nicole Kate, and I think Kathleen would go for that as well. It’s got some nice alliteration all together with cochran, which is important to guys like Demosthenes. I’m kind of enamored with the Greeks lately anyway, and that’s where the name Nicole has its roots (according to the interwebs).
It’s pretty far down on the popularity charts, but not so rare that no one can spell or pronounce it.
It’s also a kind of sideways tribute to both grandfathers. Grandpa Bird wants a Victoria, and Nicole has the Greek "nike" for victory as its root. The most popular nickname for Nicole rhymes with Grandpa Cochran’s name.
Anyhoo, now for a status update. Kathleen is moving along, and it looks like it’ll be today sometime, maybe before noon. I’m not a good guesser with these things, so we’ll see.
Well, this kid is a sneaky one. I woke up around 1 AM this morning when Kathleen dashed into the bathroom saying her water was breaking. Well, it was. And here we were thinking this kid wouldn’t be here until around the 1st of June.
This is technically a premature birth, since Kathleen isn’t fully to term until Thursday. Still, the kid has a strong heartbeat and has been pretty active, so we’re not too concerned. Watch this space for more updates and potentially pictures as things progress.
We took the Toads to the zoo yesterday, and with the exception of a couple of solid tantrums, a good time was had by all. Isaac finally saw his Penguins, and Charlotte enjoyed looking at pretty much everything.
They got to ride the little train as well; video below. If you squint, you might be able to make out Kathleen, Isaac, Charlotte, and Heidi on the train.
I took the kids to the museum at Hill Air Force Base a couple of weeks ago. It was an attempt to buy Kathleen some time to nap or do chores. They behaved pretty well on the drive to Ogden, and then we had fun looking at all the planes. This picture shows Isaac and Charlotte next to the wheel of a C-124 Globemaster, a decent-sized cargo plane. Isaac liked the B-1 as well; he was fascinated by its bomb doors (of course). The planes outside were getting a little weathered, and some of them were unique enough to justify a little more attention, if the budget could be spared. The kids also enjoyed a nice F-89 Scorpion, a 
fairly unusual plane and one of my favorites.
We went inside to look at some of the excellent display aircraft, but the kids were getting a little restless by that point. If you get a chance, there is a very rare P-38, recovered at great effort from the Alaska. It’s been carefully restored and lovingly displayed. When they’re a little older, I think they’ll have a little better sense for what these machines really represent. Each plane is a lesson, and each plane has a story. Take the P-47s and P-51s on New Year’s Day 1945, or the amazing and gutsy Doolittle Raid.
We have a lot to be grateful for in this country, not least of which is a history to be proud of. I’m glad we live close to a place we can go remember these things.
The books didn’t inspire him to smear my lotion into his hair (refer to picture below), but this is my most recently taken picture of Isaac, so I used it anyway.
2.26.08 We read books about sharks toni
ght. It’s amazing that Isaac isn’t afraid of them because when we read about seals, he would cover up the picture of the seal while I read so that he didn’t have to see it. He actually likes sharks because they eat seals. He doesn’t like seals because they eat penguins. After we read he asked what the fish will do when they swim under the sharks. I told him that the sharks would eat the fish. He told me that “The fish will tell the sharks to eat seals so seals don’t eat penguins”. He also told me that the sharks will get legs and come out of the water. When I explained that the sharks can’t come out of the water because they can’t breath when they are out of the water he told me that “the fish will tell the sharks to close their mouths if they can’t breath.”
2.28.08 I read a book to Isaac tonight about what babies can do when they’re born. It led us to a conversation about the baby growing in my tummy. I told him that his new little sister wouldn’t know anything about trains. He told me that he wanted to teach her that trains drive on train tracks. He said that she would try to drive the trains on the road. Then he said that she would not let him scratch his itches. He said she will cry and move his hand off of the itches so that he can’t scratch them. He decided a little later in the conversation that he wanted to teach her how to scratch her itches. He explained that he would put her hand on the itch and show her how to scratch it.
Here are some log entries from the last few months:
12.31.07 Isaac remarked this evening that “legs li ve in
pants.†A week or so ago he told me that we should name the new baby Charlotte and we can have two Charlottes. He said that one will get bigger and he told me that I needed to keep the other one a baby.
Isaac has some phrases that are his own such as: “That I doo-d (sounds like dude)†meaning that’s what I did and “that will be a good idea.†Charlotte loves to approach me with demands. The two most common are “mom, I need cereals†and “I need Mps Mps†(meaning M&Ms).
1.4.08 Every night Isaac needs to make sure he’ll be safe before he falls to sleep. Lately it’s just “mom, keep me safe from all of them†but sometimes it’s “keep me safe from every
thing†or “ don’t let anything come in and don’t let nothing come in either†or “keep me safe from the naughty list†which turned into “keep me safe from the nice list.†One night he was worried that babies would sneak in while he was asleep and suck on his train tracks. Another night he thought an engine would get him. One night after I read him a book about animals in the Ocean he said pointing to the book “keep me safe from those animals.†After watching Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer he asked us to take all the scary things to the dentist to have their teeth taken out. One night he even asked me to take all the bugs to the dentist too to get their teeth taken out. We went to the dentist this week for a consultation which took a rather long time and when I tucked him in tonight he said “take them to the dentist and have them take a long time.â€
1.22.08 Motivated by the desire not to have three
children in diapers, I decided to get serious about potty training tonight. I made some charts for the children and explained to Isaac that when he filled up the row with 5 stars he could earn something special. Whe n I brought in three packaged trucks to show him what he could earn, the urge to use the potty came quickly and to my surprise he actually went. I let him place his first sticker on the chart and then told him that he could drink lots of water and then try to go again to earn another sticker. Little did I know how effective this method would be. I introduced the concept sometime around 6:00 PM and by 8:30 PM he had successfully used the potty five times and earned his first truck! At this pace he’ll earn the other two trucks before I get home from work tomorrow! Oh well, beggers can’t be 
choosers!
Charlotte continues to amaze me with her increasingly complex and grammatically correct utterances. She adds endings to words and uses better grammar than her big brother. It just seems to come to her so naturally. She enjoys pointing out the obvious and comparing everything in the room. She’ll be eating dinner and say “there’s daddy’s shirt, there’s mommy’s shirt, there’s Isaac’s shirt,†then point to herself and say “Charlotte’s shirt.†While I was on the phone this evening she just climbed up on my lap and said “there’s mommy’s lips, Charlotte’s lips, Jill Pole’s lips†when I came home from work she took inventory of the room by saying “there’s a girl, there’s another girl, there’s another girl, there’s a boy.†She seems to enjoy pointing out gender. She’ll come up to me and give me a hug and say “we are girls†then point to Isaac and say “Isaac’s a boy.†We hadn’t talked
about the baby in my tummy for awhile and Charlotte didn’t seem to understand when I explained to her that a baby girl was growing in my tummy, but the other day completely out of the blue she put her hand on my tummy and said “there’s a baby girl in there†I had only a moment to be astounded before she lifted up her shirt and declared that there was also a baby girl in her tummy—so I’m still not sure she understands the concept.
2.12.08 Isaac’s prayers are sometimes interesting. I remember one night he said “thank thee for Charlotte not being good for prayer.†Recently he said “thank thee for all the good things, thank thee for all the naughty things, thank thee for things that will bite me.†Tonight in his prayer he said “thank thee for naughtyness.â€
I don’t remember when a child first said this next one but I think it was Charlotte 
several months ago, but both children have said it since. They sometimes tell me that glassess keep mom’s eyes warm.
2.23.08 Isaac ran in to the kitchen where I was making dinner and announced “Mommie, I asked Heavenly Father on my knees for donuts.†I told him that if he cleaned up his books, I’d give him a brownie and he responded by asking if Heavenly Father would give him donuts after the brownie.
So the truth is, Charlotte and Jill get along really well. Jill likes the kids, and the kids like Jill, and this trust leads to funny pictures when the worlds of cats and kids collide. The second picture in the set would make a good lolcat (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
So, what’s your valentine’s tradition? Flowers? Chocolate? A nice dinner? My mother has this funny little tradition and the oddest thing about it is that she didn’t even know it was a tradition! I’ve noticed over the last several years that she goes to the dentist on Valentine’s day. So today when I called her I asked how her dentist appointment was and when she actually starteted telling me I had to laugh. I explained to her that no one had told me she had an appointment, but that everytime I talked to her on Valentine’s day she had been to the dentist that morning. We both had a good laugh after that.
As I started writing this post Charlotte was driving cars down her leg and saying “weeee” then giggling while Isaac was “making his train beautiful.” He was doing this by decorating the couch with small cars and other odds and ends. Now they’ve moved on to cooking. Isaac says they’re making “soup with french fries in it.” It sounds like a culinary masterpiece.
Today we tried a new approach to potty training. This involves a chart where the boy can earn rewards by placing stickers each time he succeeds at using the toilet. The first reward, a little toy truck, came at five stickers on the chart. Well, somehow, the kid contrived to go five times tonight in the space of about two hours. That’s about the number of lifetime attempts prior to today, so wow. Stickers and trucks are the answer.
One potential pitfall: in spite of lots of three-year-old grunting, there’s been no success with Number 2. The other potential problem: we may run low on chart space pretty quickly at this rate, and I’m not sure what our truck budget looks like. Still, there’s no arguing with results.
This was the first Christmas where Isaac got the whole Santa thing (we’re still working on the Bethlehem angle with him), so he was very excited to go out and open presents. He read the names and delivered presents to everyone, and each toy had to be enjoyed a little before another one could be opened. Jill (the cat) also got a kick out of the boxes, as you can see by the pictures. They’ve really enjoyed the gifts; I think we tried not to go too far overboard this year, and just get them a few things that will bring them some lasting enjoyment. 
The wagon will have to wait for better weather, with the exception of the occasional ride around the house. Charlotte loves her new kitchen toys, and their new doodle pads (the magnetic sort) have stayed interesting to both kids. I think they both had a good time and things went pretty well.
Children are funny little creatures. With it being the Christmas season, we’ve had a number of those terrible kid’s specials on the tube, and Isaac really latched on to Rudolph. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, and it hasn’t aged well (if it was ever any good at all). Anyway, Isaac got pretty creeped out about the Abominable Snowman. He’s spent the last couple of nights asking Mom and Dad to make sure all the monsters get taken to the dentist to have their teeth taken out.
And don’t get me started about the whole Frosty thing. The child-molester narrator turned out to be the worst-looking animation of Andy Griffith, a detail I’d forgotten from my youth. And did we really need a storyline where Frosty gets married? The other show that’s been on a lot is that Tom Hanks version of The Polar Express. Two words: uncanny valley.
Isaac and I took a little hike together today up above Alta, to Cecret Lake. He was a great hiker, going up the whole way and about a third of the way back before he was worn out. The trip up and back is under two miles, but the kid is only three, so he can get worn out if he wants too. He used one of my trekking poles at its shortest length while we walked over snow and mud, and climbed over rocks. He kept talking about everything he saw, trees, mountains, but mostly the dirt and rocks and ice on the trail. It’s hard to look around much when you’re thinking about where your feet are going. By the time we got back to the car, we’d worn him out pretty good, and he was nearly asleep on my shoulders.
One funny thing I wanted to mention: Isaac calls all my friends Rawlyn. I guess he knows Rawlyn best. Today we were hiking with my friend Zac Cook, and Isaac kept having to be reminded of the right name. He does the same thing with my friend Mike.
One more picture of a tired boy after the jump.
From our log:
9.26.07 Zach and I came home for lunch today and as we were making sandwiches, Zach was teasing Isaac a little and said “should we make a Eustace sandwich?” to which Isaac said “No, Eustace is not a pickle!”
We walked down to the park this evening and 
I brought along my new camera. Isaac and Charlotte were holding hands and walking down the sidewalk so I let go of the hand I was holding and took some pictures from behind and from the front. Isaac got very concerned and told me that I needed to keep them safe from cars by holding a hand. He would say “you need to keep us out of the street.” On the way home from the park he once again declared that he was Charlotte’s mom, but this time he said that I was her mom as well and that she had tw
o mommys. Then he started to talk about how Charlotte’s two mommys love her and keep her safe from cars and when she cries, her two mommys give her hugs and kisses and help her to be happy. It was very sweet, despite the fact that he refused to accept the role of big brother instead.
9.27.07 Here’s a conversation that Zach told me about. He said “Isaac, does dad love you? ” Isaac: “yes” Zach: “How much does dad you love?” Isaac: “Daddy loves Isaac a little much”
9.30.07 Grandma Cochran (Zach’s mom) said the other day she was putting a shirt on Isaac and sai
d something about putting the shirt over his little head to which he replied “Isaac does not have a little head, Isaac has a big head.” Which is actually a quite accurate description.
This morning Isaac woke up all wet. I threw his sheets in the wash before church. When he came home and saw his bed, he said “Isaac’s bed is naked. The bed is cold, it needs some blankets on it.”
Then this evening as he was enjoying possibly the first Sloppy Joe that he has ever eaten, he started talking about it and he said that it has sausage and chicken in it.
Charlotte likes to climb up on Grandpa’s Tricycle. She’s so proud of herself after she makes it to the seat. She sits down with a triumphant smile and puts her feet up.
9.24.07 I had pulled the vacuum and other similar items out of the kitchen so that I could mop the floor. Whe
n Isaac saw them in the living room he said “This is a vacuum store.†I wasn’t intentionally correcting him when I replied “yeah, it looks like a vacuum store.†He quickly responded wi th “Not looks like a vacuum store, it is a vacuum store!†I didn’t realize how often I respond to his declarations with the phrase “yeah, it looks like_____†until I started getting the correction: “not looks like ____, it is ____!†He’ll tell me that his block creation is a rocket and I’ll say “yeah, it looks like a rocket†to which he responds “not looks like a rocket, it is a rocket.†The latest correction came as we were reading our new batc h of library books. I had this book about exotic cats and on the cover was a mostly white cat. Isaac declared that Jill Pole (our kitten) was on the cover of the book to which I replied that the kitten looked a little like Jill Pole and you can probably guess his 
response, it was “not looks like Jill Pole, it is Jill Pole!†Then he opened the book and said “more Jill Poles.â€
Charlotte has embraced negation, particularly at bedtime. I’ll say “it’s bedtime Charlotte†to which she’ll replay “no bedtime†then I’ll say that it’s time to change her diaper and she’ll say “no diaper change.†“Time to read scriptures†= “no scriptures.†When I tell her that it’s time to say a prayer and she’ll say “no prayer†and as I say the prayer she sometimes says no to the things in the prayer. “thank thee for Isaac†= “no Isaac†and so on. Just before I lay her down in her bed I always tell her that I love her, to which she replies “no love you.â€
When she’s not negating everything I say, she’ll often pray with me. It started out just at night when I’d say prayers with her before laying her in her crib. She’d start saying “Thank you, Isaac. Thank you, mommy. Thank you, daddy. . . .†with
a big “Amen†at the end. It wasn’t long after she started saying night time prayers that she started also joining in on other prayers. Now she’s to a point where we say the prayer over dinner and we can hear her sweet little voice saying “Thank you, Isaac. Thank you, mommy. Thank you, daddy. . . .†Our prayers at night often have a little girly echo and even in sacrament when someone gets up to pray we often see Charlotte bow her head, fold her arms and say “Thank you, Isaac. Thank you, mommy. Thank you, daddy. . . .â€
I need to write in my log more often because each story I finish reminds me of another to write. Last night we had some family over for dinner and Isaac was so anxious to eat that he pointed to his grandfather and said “Grandpa, close your eyes and put your arms like this†after which he demonstrated his best praying posture.
Ok, I 
did something rather impulsive today. I’m the one who is usually campaigning for less pets, so I’m not quite sure why I decided to adopt a new kitten today. She caught my eye as I was leaving the store and I called Zach as I walked to the car. When he didn’t answer I thought, it’s probably for the best. I don’t really want to clean up after one more cat and I don’t pay much attention to the cats we already have. But Charlotte is such an animal lover, wouldn’t it be fun for her to have her own kitten. And kittens are so funny to watch run about and attack everything in sight. (now you know what it’s like inside my brain) Zach returned my call as I was loading the boy into the car (he had Charlotte with him at home) and I explained that a kid was giving awa
y free kittens. Being the head Zookeeper, of course he thought we needed another specimen and reccommended that I pick one out. So I pulled my car up to the front of the store, picked out the little gal who caught my eye and drove home thinking, ‘am I going to regret this?’ So the title isn’t entirely accurate, because she was free meaning I didn’t exactly buy her, but I suppose I bought into the idea of getting her so it kinda works. We might name her Jill Pole (a friend of Eustance Clarence Scrub in the Narnia series). Then we’ll have Jack and Jill and Eustace and those who don’t know will think her name comes from the nursery rhyme about the youngsters fetching a pail of water.
I was adding to my log today and I went back and read some old entries. It was fun to read about some of the ways Isaac and Charlotte related to each other. Here’s a few entries that I thought were of interest.
(this is from when Charlotte was only 6 days old) 1.20.06 I laid Charlotte on a blanket in the living room and went into the kitchen to get something. Charlotte let out a cry, and as I went from the kitchen to the living room, Isaac came running towards me crying. I found Charlotte soaking wet with my cup and some ice next to her. I assume Isaac tried to give her a drink of my ice water which resulted in him spilling ice water all over her face and shirt.
2.8.06 Today during scripture reading time I was holding Charlotte and Isaac kept leaning over and saying ‘kiss, kiss’ then he’d give Charlotte a kiss. The funny thing was after the kiss he’d act like he was picking the kiss back up and then putting
it back on his lips.
3.10.06 I was in the kitchen when I heard Isaac saying ‘door, do or.’ I went into the living room to find Isaac had placed his toy truck on Charlotte’s lap and was trying to teach her how to open the door. He’d say ‘door, door’ and put her little hand on the door of the truck.
3.12.06 I found Isaac showing Charlotte a book. He placed it on her lap and was turning pages and babbling.
3.21.06 I opened the freezer to get some meat out for dinner and he grabbed a burrito. Rather than fight with him, I decided to let him carry it around a little. Next thing I know he tossed it on Charlotte’s lap and said his rendition of her name!
Before bed I was cleaning out Charlotte’s nose with one of those bulb syringes and she was crying. Isaac could see that she was unhappy so he ran over and hit me on the head to get me to stop.
5.5.06 Charlotte was sitting in the high chair and Isaac was playing with her and trying to entertain her. I heard both of them laugh and looked over to see that Isaac was dancing on the table and laughing and Charlotte was watching her brother and laughing. I think that’s the first time that she’s ever laughed when no one was physically touching her!
Ok the series of Isaac posts needs a little balance, so here’s something about Charlotte. She is such a silly unique girl. No-one who knows her can deny that she’s innately ALL GIRL. Sure she’ll growl and drive one of Isaac’s trucks around the room, but most often you’ll find her carrying a doll around the house trying to wrap it up in a washcloth that is way too small or wearing high healed shoes that are three times as big as her feet. Some of her favorite things to do are brush my hair and bring me my shoes. If I take off my shoes and leave them where she can get them she’ll bring them to me every 15 minuets or so until I decide to just wear them again or put them in my room where she can’t get them. When she saw my closet organizer that was filled with shoes she smiled really big and said “shoes!†Yesterday she was carrying a toy dog and a bottle around. She loves to put on hats and seems to think that Isaac’s bike helmet is just another hat to accessorize with. She has been bringing it to me and saying ‘hat’ and insisting that I put it on her. What really makes me laugh is that every time she sees me point a camera at her she gives me this crazy squinty-eyed, wide-mouthed smile.
Created with Paul’s flickrSLiDR.
Every time I took Isaac to WalMart he would insist on going to the bike section and riding the little red bike. So when his birthday rolled around we bought i
t for him. The funny thing to me is that over the last two days he has spent more time studying how the bike works than actually riding it. He has such an innately mechanical mind. He loves to turn the pedals and watch the wheels go around. Last night he said ‘m om, the tracks are moving around and around.’ It took me a moment to realize he was actually talking about the chain, but I had never taught him the word chain so he equated it with track wheels on a bulldozer. He continues to be so enthralled with how the bike works, constantly telling me about what he’s discovered and naming all the parts. Today I had to tape the handlebars to the floor so the bike would remain upsidedown while Isaac moved the pedals with his hands and studied how the gears worked!