Meet The Person:

How do you want me to address you and what's your exact title?
Coopa.

2. What are you most passionate about professionally? What most excites you about your work?
Mommy work. Daddy work.

3.What are you passionate about personally? What do you really enjoy?
Elmo. Outside. Wagon. Mommy. Backho. Dumptruck. Barney. Sandbox. 

4.How long have you been doing what you do?
birfday. Twhoooo

5.Any personal or career accolades?
Vacooom. Elmo.

6.Anything else you’d like to tell people about yourself?
Outside. Sandbox. Cali gil 

Influence 33/52Cooper Pompei Cooper on his 2 year birthday riding his new Strider bike

Influence: 

Kid. Toddler. 2 year old maniac. Little Monster. Mr. Doesn’t eat.
I asked Coop these questions and I typed up his responses for you. Needless to say, he is about as typical a 2 year old as you will find! He loves to be outside. In fact, he would never come inside if he had the choice. The kid is non-stop. He is the energizer bunny in a skinny, 23lb, bottom fifth percentile growth chart frame. He is strong as hell. Like, mutant strength strong. For being as small as he is the kid has some serious power behind him. And he certainly has an attitude with a backbone of frustration - he must get all of that from his mother! Haha.

Cooper was born two years ago to the day this past Thursday, April 17, 2014. And every day of those two years has been a wild and fun ride. The amount your life changes is hard to describe. People who have kids tell you your life will never be the same. And you believe them. But you really can’t comprehend it until it happens. Nothing is easy. Nothing. Being a parent is a challenge unlike anything I have ever experienced. I challenge myself physically and have for nearly my entire life. I can handle that and control that challenge. I have had bad things happen in my life that I have been able to push through as well. But being a parent is on a different level. It’s constant and never ending. Your life is still moving forward, but now you have someone else pulling in another direction. Learning how to manage time is probably the most important part to maintaining your sanity as a parent. For most of my days when I am with Cooper and not at work, the day is split into three parts: Before nap, during nap and after nap. Before nap is in the morning and for the most part, nothing happens other than breakfast and some play time. During nap is when you realize the last five to six hours of day have gone by and you have gotten nothing done. So now you try and cram in as much as you possibly can into the hour to two hours they are sleeping. Usually, that doesn’t happen. He’s awake now. The last third of the day is upon you now with a fully recharged baby and a pile of chores mounting like the national debt. But you play and have as much fun as you can before bedtime. Bedtime is great, you get a few hours of rest before doing it all over again. Rinse and repeat. The one thing people don’t mention are your own emotions. I feel like many days my emotional string is as closed to frayed as possible. Something about having a kid can really turn you into a softy. I literally can’t watch the news anymore. The amount of stories about kids being killed, abducted, beaten, etc, is too much for me to handle. Sure, you never want to hear those things anyway, but after becoming a Dad, I can’t take it. I am so worried about him all the time. I’m not talking about him falling and getting road rash. I am worried how he is going to grow up, will he make good decisions, will I make the right decisions for him, will we be ‘those parents’ who can’t raise their kids right and turn them into a big pile of wuss, what group of friends will he hang out with, is he going to be polite and have good manners, etc. etc. etc. It’s an endless cycle. But you just take each day as it comes and enjoy life as much as possible. Like when you pull out a container of goldfish to surprise him when you are driving and his face lights up like a Christmas tree!

Each stage of your childs life is so dramatically different. Milestones are very significant and noticeable almost immediately. There are days when you go in to get them out of bed in the morning and you swear you are looking at a different kid. The overnight changes in their mentality is also startling. They develop so fast. Each stage has it’s fun moments. From holding their head up, to crawling, to walking, to talking, laughing and interacting; it’s all a blast.
The last few months have been a lot of fun. Cooper is turning into a boy more and more. I just bought him his first bike and helmet for his birthday and have never felt more like a Dad than I do now. He got his first power wheels four wheeler for Christmas and is riding that thing all around outside. He likes using a ‘rewdriva’ (screwdriver) to fix things with Daddy and loves to find out how things work. This summer is going to be a lot of fun. We will try and hit Sesame Place to see his buddy Elmo, go to the Zoo to see some lions “raaaaar”, and go to the beach to swim as much as we can. I am extremely fortunate to have the summers off so we can spend time together.

I know people say to cherish every moment when they are little because they grow up so fast. And I certainly am. But I also can’t wait for him to grow up so we can do more things together. I can’t wait until he starts playing his first sport, when we can have a catch out back, ride our bikes up to the reservoir, go surfing/boogie boarding at the beach on a random summer weekday, go to a daytime Phillies game and tailgate all morning, and have him sit down with me for more than 2 minutes to watch a movie together on a rainy day. Those things are coming, I know, but I still can’t wait! Life changed two years ago when Ashley went into labor and things have never been the same. Cooper came into our life and turned us from a happily married couple into a real life family. Something about having a family of your own that makes your life more special than it ever has been. That’s because life rocks - I am a Dad and husband and life at 31 has never been more fun!

I love you buddy.