I had a very exciting day today! Grandma Donna was here when I got up this morning! She stayed here all day and we had a great time together. We went outside to play and practice walking. I walked halfway around the block holding Grandmas hands! Mommy was really impressed when we told her!

After lunch me and Grandma went to the train station and picked up Great Grandma Berta. I was so excited to see her and I had so much fun playing with her today. She rally is a "great" Grandma! Then tonight my Uncle Ben and Aunt Becky came over. I liked playing with Becky's toes and listening to Daddy and Ben talk about dorky stuff. Of course all these visitors were also very interested in Cooper, but I am pretty sure they came to see me too!

Tonight I am spending the night at Grandma Donna's house! I can't wait to play with Grandpop Bill tommorow!

I had a pretty busy day today! This morning my speech teacher came over. We laughed and had a good time and even a little breakthrough. She was trying to get me to immitate a "mmmm" sound and I did it! It might have been a fluke, but she was very excited. If I can start immitating sounds that means I am one step closer to talking, I guess that is pretty exciting!

Then this afternoon Daddy took me to speech at Loyola. It was pretty fun and my teacher played Wiggles music for me which I love. It was pretty cool having Daddy take me to therapy, he never gets to do that!

Then this afternoon Grandma Donna came over! What a great end to the day! We played and she fed me lots of food. She also played with Cooper a little, but that is okay with me. Tommorow Daddy goes back to work and Grandma Jan is going to spend the day with us. I also have a lot of therapy tommorow so it should be another busy day!

Just another fun day hanging out with Mommy, Daddy, my new brother Cooper, and of course my sister Portia. Portia has decided she doesn't like me very much right now, maybe it has something to do with the new baby. I don't let it bother me, I just keep on chasing her around even though she is always growling at me.

Cooper seems like a cool guy but he isn't doing much yet. I am jealous cause he gets to swing in my old swing and sit in my old bouncy seat. I don't fit anymore!!! Of course I am also jealous that Mommy holds him all the time. I am just too big for Mommy to hold right now. Today we all watched Signing Time and The Wiggles. I really like the songs on The Wiggles, those guys can really sing!

I got into the tissues today and shredded them all up. Mommy let me cause I was having such a good time. Thanks, Mom! She also let me cause she knew Daddy was gonna have to clean up after me.....sneaky Mommy!!

Tommorow I have Speech at home and at Loyola...it will be a busy day for me and Daddy!

I haven't posted much lately, but as you can see there is a lot of crazy stuff going on here! Just like they said, Mommy and Daddy brought home a new baby brother for me. He is really small and cries a lot. So far I like him okay and he hasn't really impacted my life. Except Daddy hasn't been going to work so that is great! Also, Mommy can't pick me up or cuddle me close for a while and that really sucks. Sometimes we sit next to each other on the sofa and watch TV. I watch TV and Mommy plays with my hair and squeezes me tight and kisses my cheeks and neck. I like it a lot, but it is still hard for me to stay in one place for long.

I have really been interested in watching my new brother the last few days. His name is Cooper by the way. I stand up next to the porta-crib while he is in it and watch him. I also like to pull up on the couch and watch him while Mommy is holding him. I always try to grab him, but so far I have only gotten my hands on his clothes. Mommy and Daddy are always telling me "gentle, gentle", but it is so hard to be gentle when I am so excited!!

So anyway, Cooper has his own blog now! The address is http://cooperdavid.blogspot.com/
make sure you bookmark it!!!

Cooper in his going home outfit....he kicked the socks off right away!

 

All strapped in and ready to go home!

 

Trying to wake Cooper up for a feeding at the hospital.

 

Cooper David Banta - June 16, 2006

My new brother, Cooper, was born at 9:57 am EDT. He weighs 7 lbs, 2.8 oz and is 19 inches long. That's more than twice what I weighed!


He is healthy, alert, and doing great! Mommy came through everything just fine too. She did a great job.


A great Father's Day gift for Daddy.


Grandma Donna is thrilled to hold grandchild number seven! Of course she loves holding number six just as much.

Another fun day! I had a great time playing today. All day I really wanted to play with Portia, but she just wasn't interested in me! She even got mad at me when I went to look out the window with her. Mommy said she is in a bad mood cause she knows what is happening tommorow. I am still a little confused about that. All I know is I get to go spend some time with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Don and that is okay by me!!!

Grandma Donna came over for a little while tonight. I was really happy to see her even if I was kinda tired and cranky. We played in my room while she helped Mommy pack my clothes up again. We also played a great game of catch with my football, that was so much fun! Grandma brought a really cool video of my cousin Sam playing softball. I really liked watching all the kids run around and play, I especially liked seeing Sam. I can't wait till they get here this summer so I can play with him in real life!!!

Tommorow I go to Grandma Jan's in the morning and Grandpa Don is gonna watch me while the baby is being born. Then I can probably go visit Mommy and the new baby on Friday! It will probably be a while until I can update again, I do need Mommy's help still and she is gonna be really busy!!

Today Grandma Jan came over and went with us to see Mommy's doctor. I love it when Grandma Jan comes to the doctors office with us cause she always lets me get down and play. Mommy thinks it is too much work to let me down usually...she is right, I am a real handful! I pulled out every toy in the waiting room and spread them all around! I had a great time with the puzzles and the train tracks and the books. I talked really loud the whole time I played too, no one in the office really seemed to mind. After I was done Mommy made Grandma Jan clean everything up! I wanted to help but I just made a bigger mess.

Then we went into the back and listened to the baby's heart for a while. It was pretty boring, but Grandma sang me songs so that was fun. I was so tired from playing so hard in the waiting room that I fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. I did wake up when Daddy got home and we got a chance to play together. It was a pretty fun day!

Apparently we are taking it easy this week so that Mommy doesn't have the baby too soon. Fine with me! I just played and played and she watched and watched! I had a great time playing with my new ball today. I would show it to Mommy, then put it on top of my head, hold it there, and laugh and laugh! Mommy didn't seem to get what was so funny...but she laughed with me anyway. My newest thing is that I clap for myself all the time now. When I get a toy I really like, I clap. When I put something where I want it to go, I clap. Sometimes I just clap for no reason at all! I am a very clappy boy lately!

When Daddy got home he got down on the floor and played with me a bunch. That was really fun. We played with my car and cuddled too. I love touching Daddy's face cause it is almost always rough. You know how I like my textures!

Tommorow I get to see Grandma Jan cause she is gonna take me and Mommy to the doctor. I can't wait to see her!!

Today we all took a trip to Annapolis! After we dropped Portia off and said hi to Grandma Donna and Grandpop Bill we went to the mall. There was this cool new stroller there that Mommy wanted to check out. It was the coolest! It had two different seats and I got to try out sitting in both of them. They were both really comfy and fun to sit in. Mommy said we are definately getting that stroller when my brother gets here. That way both of us can fit and both have comfy seats! I hope Cooper likes it as much as I did.

After the trip to the mall we went back to Grandma's house for dinner. I ate a bunch of chicken and some angle hair pasta. Grandma also cut me some corn off her cob and that was really yummy. I had a big dinner and was totally stuffed. After dinner we played for a while. Grandma and Grandpop bought me one of those cool balls like I was playing with at the picnic. It is so neat, I love to throw it and watch it bounce. I had a really fun night!

I went over to Grandma Jan's house today and had a great time! First I played with all my toys that are over there. Then me, Grandma, and Grandpa Don all went to the mall. We went to the mall that has the really big cool fish tank in it! I love watching all those fishys swim around! Then we went to the food court and had pizza for dinner. And the best part was that after that we went to McDonalds and had ice cream for dessert! I love ice cream and I couldn't get enough of it. I was kinda mad I had to share with Grandpa! Good thing I love him so much!

By the time Mommy and Daddy picked me up and we got home I was really tired. I went right to bed and didn't even complain a little. Tommorow we are going to Grandma Donna's house for dinner, what a weekend!

What a day! This morning we all woke up and went to the hospital. Not to have a baby though. Mommy needed to get her blood tested and a shot. Better her than me! Well, as it turned out I had to have a blood test too! They tricked me!!! Mommy has been putting off having my semi-annual thyroid test, but today they did it. It wasn't bad at all. The lady got my blood on the first stick and Daddy helped hold me still. I only cried for a minute, I was a very brave little boy. Mommy wasn't as lucky! They had to stick her a whole bunch of times and she almost cried too! I felt bad for her.

After the blood test we had to wait two hours for the shot so we went out to lunch! We went to Bertuccis and it was really fun. I watched the guys make pizza and threw everything Mommy tried to feed me onto the floor. I did play with the pizza dough they gave me a little, but I only liked it when it was wrapped in the paper so it wasn't so sticky. I also tried to color with the crayons a little and even made a few marks. That red crayon was the only thing on the table I wanted to eat, but Mommy said no! It was fun going out to eat with Mommy and Daddy, our last family date before the baby gets here!

Then we went back to the hospital for Mommy's shot. I hate waiting around but at least they had a TV in the waiting room. I watched soap operas while we waited, not as good as the Wiggles, but it will do!

Today was a pretty exciting day! I went with Grandma Jan to her job this morning and got to meet all of her friends. They were all real nice, but I was shy as usual. After that we came home and played for the rest of the day.

I did do something new and pretty darn neat today. I got up on my feet and hands three whole times! Apparently this is called a bear crawl position and it is the first step to learning how to stand up on my own. I just thought it was pretty cool, I will keep practicing and we will see what happens!

I thought I was staying at Grandma's house all week while Mommy had the baby, but that isn't happening after all. Daddy came to pick me up tonight and bring me home. No baby this week, we have to wait until next Thursday now. I guess my brother's lungs weren't ready! What a wimp, mine were fully cooked at 31 weeks! Of course I had an unfair advantage with the "roids"!

My speech teacher came over today. She played with my mouth a lot, usually I don't like it when she does that, but today I thought it was really funny! I laughed the whole time she did it! She tried again to get me to sign "more". Why does everyone want me to do that???!!! Why don't they get that I just don't want to?? She told Mommy that my avoidence strategies crack her up. I guess she means how I turn myself as far around in the chair as possible everytime she tries to get me to sign. If it weren't for that seatbelt and the attached desk I would be outta there!

What a suprise! Grandma Jan and Grandpa Don came over to pick me up tonight! I was so excited to see them. I get to spend a whole bunch of nights at their house apparently. Mommy even packed my Signing Time DVDs and sent over my shopping cart! I will miss Mommy and Daddy but I always have fun at Grandma Jan's house!

My teacher came over this morning and we had lots of fun! She brought a bucket and a bunch of bean bags and she wanted me to throw the bean bags into the bucket. Well, when I tried to just put them in the bucket she said No! She actually wanted me to throw them! Usually my therapists hate it when I throw stuff, so I was a little confused. But I got the hang of it right away and it was soooo much fun. I didn't want to stop when it was time to move on to other stuff. And in case you were wondering I have a pretty strong arm and really good aim!

Grandma Donna came over tonight to help Mommy pack for the hospital. I had a lot of fun playing with her and she even shared her dinner with me! I ate a bunch of chicken and some angle hair pasta. I don't usually like pasta, but this stuff was really yummy! Fun to play with too! I had a great time with Grandma and when it was time for bed she read me some books, I really liked that. It was such a great night!

 

Quinn with a really cool ball he borrowed at the picnic. 

  

Today I decided the living room was much too neat! So I pulled out, dumped, and spread out every toy that I could get my hands on. It was really fun! I think the living room looks much better now. I knocked over my shopping cart so I could get all the food out of it, then I decided it would be fun to climb over it. I climbed over it a whole bunch of times, it was fun and I was really careful not to bump my head on the way down or anything. Then I tried to climb over my toy kitchen while it was still standing up and that didn't go so well. Mommy gave me big hugs and kisses when I fell and bumped my head.

I was pretty tired tonight but I still wanted to watch the Simpsons with Daddy. Mommy moved my Spiderman chair so it was in front of the TV and put me in it. It was really comfy and nice. I got to sit back in my cool chair and watch TV, it was great!

My teacher is coming over tommorow. I hope she has something fun planned for me!!!

Today was sooooo much fun! Me, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma Donna, Grandpop Bill, Grandma Jan, and Grandpa Don all went to the Down Syndrome group picnic. It was at a really cool park and I had such a great time. Grandma Jan brought my favorite ball with her for me to play with and I had a great time rolling it around in the grass. I even walked and kicked it a little (see my video below). There were lots of kids to watch playing and walking around. I can't wait till next year, maybe I can run around with them! There were also some kids my age that weren't walking so I played with them. Me and this really cute little girl named Eva hung out for a while. I really liked her, but she did pull my hair a couple of times. Hey, love hurts!

I ate a sugar cookie, it was really yummy. I also got walked around by my grandparents which was really fun. It was such a fun exciting day! I took a nap on the ride home but then I got up and played for a while after that. I was still so excited from my day that I couldn't stop talking about it! I was talking so loud I even woke Mommy up from her nap! Sorry Mom!

Here is a video of Quinn walking (with help of course) and kicking his ball. He did great walking on the grass and he is even going up a hill in this video!!!


Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Quinn playing with his ball at the picnic.

 

Quinn loved spending the day outside!

 

After a long day at the picnic, Quinn and Grandpop Bill both fell asleep on the ride home!

 

Me and Daddy spent all morning playing and it was the best! Then this afternoon I got to go over to Grandma Jan's house! It was lots of fun too. I got to swing on the swingset. Me and Grandpa Don took a really long walk around the neighborhood and I got to watch some big kids play basketball. Then I had dinner, they gave me orange juice which made me spit up really bad...so no more orange juice for me. Too bad it was pretty yummy! Then we watched some Sesame Street. I love sitting on the sofa between Grandma Jan and Grandpa Don and watching Sesame Street, it is great and makes me feel like such a big boy!

Tommorow me, Mommy, Daddy, and all the grandparents are gonna go to the Down Syndrome picnic! I can't wait to go see all my friends!!!

I had a fun day today. I just played and played and played! I watched a little TV too, gotta watch my Signing Time! Of course I got into some stuff I shouldn't have, I emptied out my diaper bag...why did Mommy leave it where I could reach it and with the zipper open! I played with Portia a little and we both looked out the window for a while. I climbed all the way up the stairs for the first time in a while today, but then Mommy just put me down for a nap...so I don't know if I am gonna do that again!

When Daddy got home we watched the Simpsons together. I love that show so I stood right in front of the TV and wouldn't even move when Mommy tried to play with me!

Tommow I get to play with Daddy all morning and go see Grandma Jan in the afternoon!

What a day! We had to go to Mommy's doctor early this morning and we had to stay a long time. First we went in a room where they took a picture of what is in Mommy's belly. Apparently it is a little boy just like me...didn't look like a baby to me! The kicker is that he is twice as big as I was when I was born and he isn't even here yet! I was 3 lbs 4 oz and he is already 6 lbs 9oz! Wow, if this is any indication I will be looking up to my little brother before you know it. Mommy says maybe he will be big like Daddy, now that is big! After that we went in to see Dr. Zern, she loves me of course. Then we went into another room and they strapped Mommy to this machine to listen to the baby's heartbeat. The nurse rolled my stroller closer to Mommy and then left. She obviously doesn't understand what I am capable of! Halfway through the test I got bored and started playing with the cords that were attached to Mommy. Mommy got real upset and told me I was messing up the test, but the nurse told her not to move...so she couldn't do anything!!! We played a little tug of war, it was fun, but then the nurse came back in and moved me away. She couldn't believe I could reach the cords, but even though I have short arms I have a very long reach...it is one of the mysteries of me!

I fell asleep in the car on the ride home and took a nice long nap. It was a long morning. Then my PT came over and I was still tired. Even though I was tired I did a good job and we practiced walking etc. I did take a few cuddle breaks with Mommy, but at least I didn't cry. I get to take three weeks off from PT cause of the baby! Yay!!!! PT is my least favorite therapy lately.

We have tommorow off and we aren't doing anything! Sounds good to me!