While Anderson Cooper's 6-week-old son Wyatt Morgan may not be able to meet his grandmother Gloria Vanderbilt in person, she is with him in spirit — and art.
For this week's Pride issue, Cooper takes PEOPLE on a tour of baby Wyatt's serene nursery — which is decked out in cream, blue and gold tones — as the swaddled-up newborn snoozes nearby in his crib.
The first bit of the room that the CNN anchor, 53, proudly shows off is a painting of his mom Vanderbilt, who died last June at the age of 95, and dad Wyatt Emory Cooper, who died during heart surgery when Cooper was 10.
And what makes the painting even more special is that the late heiress and fashion designer created it herself.
"We were kind of rushed to try to get everything together so there's still some stuff not hanging up on the walls, but this is a painting my mom did of my mom and my dad," Cooper tells PEOPLE. "And I thought it would be nice to have here — them watching over Wyatt."
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Art above the changing table includes a photograph taken of Cooper when he was a baby and a throwback photo of Cooper's ex Benjamin Maisani (with whom he will co-parent Wyatt) and his sister — plus a sweet drawing of a sloth done by the daughter of Wyatt's surrogate.
The nursery is complete with wooden animals and blocks, a nod to Brazil and Our Lady of Aparecida and tons of stuffed animals — many of which are near and dear to the Anderson Cooper 360° host, as they were part of his own childhood. One even has a touching connection to his brother Carter, who died in 1988 at age 23.
"This is my Snoopy, and I loved him so much I used to hold him by his neck all the time, so his neck's kinda loose. I apologize, Snoopy," he jokes. "And he's actually wearing a T-shirt that belonged to my brother. I remember, at the time, I was worried that Snoopy was cold, so I asked my brother for a T-shirt and I cut it [to fit]."
For more from Anderson Cooper, pick up this week's Pride issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
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