So as I promised, here is the story from our adventure to Jasper this weekend. Cooper had been a superstar all day long, but he has hated the rental car seat we've had. Normally at home, he likes to "Go!", but he cried for a few seconds just about every time we put him in the car seat in Canada. Consequently, he was also a little fussier while in said car seat as we made our way across Alberta.
After being on the road for a couple hours Sunday morning, walking all over Jasper and then hiking and riding for 3 hours that afternoon with no nap he was getting a little antsy in the seat as we made our way back to Lake Louise.
Jill has a great method of telling Cooper very calmly about what is going to happen and her expectations for him during these events. So we're rolling down the gorgeous highway and Cooper is fidgeting with books, blankets and other distractions all over the back seat. He would read a book for a bit, then he'd grow tired of it and toss it to the ground.
He was even throwing his Cookie Monster stuffed animal. The first time it went flying, we thought maybe he dropped it so we gave it back to him. 5 minutes later it went flying across the car again.
Jill grabbed it and calmly said "Cooper you threw that on purpose so Cookie Monster is staying with me. When you tell me it was an accident, then you can have it back."
We cruised down the road, Jill and I oohing at the various things. A couple of minutes after Jill's exchange with Cooper, we hear "Acc-e-dent!" yelled out of the back of the car. We both just stopped and looked back at the little smiling face in disbelief. I wouldn't have believed it had I not been there myself. The kid already has us beaten.
The funniest part was that he obviously had been sitting back there with his little brain churning trying to figure out how to muster up that big word. We had pretty much forgotten about the exchange until he spouted it out.
And then Jill promptly gave him Cookie Monster back....
