Cooper at 2.5 Months

Poor Cooper.  It’s been almost a year since I wrote out an update on what he’s been up to and how he’s changing.  Blame it on a move and a very unmotivated Mommy.  There are still lots of pictures and my memory isn’t horrible, so I will try my best and summarize the big stuff over the past year. 

Sleeping:  He definitely has Shaw in his blood.  He loves it.  He even asks to go “nigh nigh” after lunch (nap time) and after dinner for bed.  He’s been pretty consistent at sleeping about 12-14 hours at night and taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons.  He can manage if he doesn’t get his nap, but he definitely does best when he gets his sleep.  He rarely takes a nap at school and when he does it’s for 30 minutes to an hour typically.  He uses his pacy only when he’s sleeping and I’m guessing that’s part of why he doesn’t nap as well at school, since he doesn’t have the pacy at school.

We transitioned him from the crib to the toddler bed in July and he did great!  Our bedtime routine changed, but otherwise his sleeping/staying in the bed has not changed.  We went on vacation and when we got home, Mimi and Papaw had moved out his crib (for Lilly) and put the toddler bed (that we got for free from a family that had outgrown it) in his room along with Sesame Street cling ons on the wall, which he thought was so cool!

Bedtime routine changed from bath, jammies, books, and bottle of milk on the couch   to bath, jammies, hugs all around, songs by Mom, and kisses in bed.  He now always tries for “more songs” when I tell him one more and always turns his head for cheek, ear, nose, pacy, and chin kisses before we say “nigh nigh Mommy” and “ob u” (love you).  He sleeps with his pacy, his blue and white polka dot blanket, and his babies (Domo, Wally, Elmo, Leo, and Bobo). 

Getting rid of the bottle was my main goal and we tried sippy cups of milk, but he always took us back to the kitchen and pointed to the cabinet with bottles, so transitioning to no milk at all was easier and made more sense because we don’t want him drinking right before bed anyway. 

Eating:  The boy does like to eat... just on his own terms.  He has transitioned from milk/baby food to occasionally drinking milk with breakfast/supper, sippy cups of mostly water and a little bit of juice or lemonade and whatever we’re eating.  He was just fine eating baby food and I finally just made the decision that we were not doing it any more.  He could eat table food when he wanted and we were using baby food because it was easier.  I got over that!  He was not going to be 2 and still eating baby food!

Meal time was the source of a couple of horrible meltdowns, like 30-45 minutes worth of screaming even after dinner, but those are extremely rare right now.

His favorite foods right now are chick-fil-a nuggets (he eats 6 of those and some fruit easily), any kind of fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oatmeal, yogurt, refried beans, corn, mac & cheese, hot dogs, and anything sweet (cake, cookies, ice cream, m&ms, rice crispy treats, fruit snacks). 

He will eat lots of things and we are eating, but still is very picky.  He still does not eat a lot of meat other than chicken, but is getting better about trying things.  He doesn’t like to try a lot of things for us, but they say at school he eats everything.  We are working on decreasing his portion size to make him more successful. 

His favorite place to eat out is Chick-Fil-A.  We take him other places as well and most of the time he gets chicken of some sort.  He rarely eats much of what we order him, so I’m starting to take something with us or just letting him eat off of our plates to not waste food/money.  He does eat refried beans at the Mexican restaurants.  He’s gone from always being in the high chair when we’re out (and even at home) to sometimes a booster seat and even starting to just sit on the booth/chair alone.  Such a big boy!!

Healthy & Growing:  Aside from a few ear infections, one case of strep, and a virus that caused a horrible rash all over his body he has been pretty healthy.  His stats at his 2 year check up were:
   head:49.5 in (72 percentile)
   weight: 33.2 lbs (93 percentile)
   height:  38 in (99 percentile... he was actually in the 50th percentile for 3 year olds!)
   diaper size: 5-6
   clothing size: 2T-3T and starting some 4T shirts
   shoe size:  7-8
     
Personality:  Friendly but shy.  Likes to check things out but not afraid to jump right in the middle of stuff.  Active.  Has a huge heart and is not afraid to share (his food his toys, etc.)  Though we did go through a “mine” stage where everything was “mine” but he’s doing better with that. 

Speech/Language:  Probably the biggest change in him over the past year. 
Receptive:  He is oh so very smart.  He has long been understanding most everything we say even though he wasn’t using many words.  He pointed to pictures in books, did everything we asked him to do, and just figured things out.  His memory has also improved so much.  He knows his system about things and has his routines that he likes to stick to.  He will go and get something for us and is always watching and learning.  He knows all of his letters (can point to them and name them) and several colors (red, blue, green, yellow).  His newest game is to do something (make a funny sound or do a funny movement) and then say “Mommy do it” or whoever he is trying to get to copy what he’s doing.  He thinks it is hilarious when we do what he does!

Expressive:  He went from only saying a few words consistently and only saying “dodo” or “dah” when he didn’t know how to say something to imitating everything and using lots more words almost over night.  Right after his 2nd birthday in April, his language exploded.  Almost daily there were new words and putting 2-3 words together.  He now uses plurals, possessive s, some 5-6 word sentences, negatives, asks questions, and is using verbs and in/the/a appropriately.  He has all of his age appropriate sounds and lots of other sounds, though Mommy & Daddy still have to be a translator a lot of the time.  There are times when we have no idea what he is talking about and it is frustrating all around. 

He has probably hundreds of words that he uses now so there is no way I could list all of them, but I will list a few favorites:

eem eem          m&m
shiss                 kiss
tain tyou          thank you
peez                  please
bonana            banana
dess                  Jess
chechup          ketchup
Tinasee           Tennessee
tomaino          Towmater
yiyee                Lilly
reree                Jere
hego                 here you go
pay                   play
ub ew               love you
nigh nigh        night night
yightning kween    lightening mcqueen
souside            outside
bock bock       chicken
bainkit            blanket
Missssipeee    Mississippi
Coopuh           Cooper

rawrerry         strawberry
samich            sandwhich
ogurt               yogurt

It’s really funny when you say something to him the way that he says it and he says “No” and then you say it the right way and he says “Yeah”.  He doesn’t recognize that we’re saying things the way he says them!

Motor Development:  Able to climb up on couch/chairs alone.  Jumping with both feet off the ground.  Tries to hop on one foot.  Pedaling the trikes at school (he’s still not quite tall enough for his at home). 

Travels/Adventures: Several trips to Knoxville to see Mamaw and Pappy for the weekend.  Spent 2 weeks with them in February and had a blast!  Christmas trips to MS, AR, and Knoxville.  Spent a weekend with Aunt Jess and Uncle Sean - they took you to a petting zoo.  Vacation to Baltimore, MD to see Grandmommy & Papa Chas and got to stay with them a few days while Mommy & Daddy went away for a few days.  Guys weekend to AR with Daddy to visit Granny Helen & stayed with Uncle Jesse and Aunt Beth.  A few trips to Murfreesboro to see Uncle Ben & Aunt Laura. 

Favorite songs:  He loves music.  A few favorites right now are... Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  Jesus Loves Me.  God is so Good.  Amazing Grace.  Rocky Top.  Hey Baby.  Wake Up by Arcade Fire.  Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem. 

Favorite TV Shows/Movies:  Sesame Street (particularly Elmo), Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, Finding Nemo, and Cars

Favorite Toys: 

-  books (he goes in spurts of which books are his favs... right now he loves “Llama Llama Red Pajama” and “Down by the Cool of the Pool”).  He prefers someone to read to him, but he will go through his books and look at them himself, even starting to “read” them.
-  blocks: he prefers playing with someone else and by playing he likes to watch you build a tower and then knock it down, but he is getting better at building a tower himself
-  animals, sesame street characters, barn, bucket, etc.  He loves to put things in something and then take them out. 
-  cars are his newest obsession:  he likes to race them, park them, crash them, put them in his bag, pour them out, count them, etc.
-  balls:  any kind of ball to roll in the house and throw outside
-  outside he loves his newest toy from Mimi, Lightening McQueen that he can ride.  His tractor that was his Daddy’s growing up - he’s still a little to small to ride it himself, but he rides on it while Daddy pushes him to the mailbox.  Trike.  T-ball set.  

-  Mommy’s iPhone:  he only gets this when we’re out and we need a distraction like when we’re waiting on our food at a restaurant and his favorite thing right now is a puzzle app where he drags the pieces to the right spot (Tozzle). 

-  Puzzles:  he only has a few right now, but he enjoys getting them out and mixing up the pieces and then putting them in the right puzzle.

Special Memories:
-  now using pacy only when going to bed
-  started school the day after he turned 2 and has really enjoyed it overall.  He has really opened up since being there and is learning so much.  We love that he gets to be around kids his age.  When we ask him what he is going to do at school or what he did at school he always says “pay, eat, nap, ahbey, no shoes fence”.  We have worked with him on taking a nap at school, obeying his teachers, and not throwing his shoes over the fence on the playground, which is why he says all of those things. 
stung by a sweat bee at school on the face x2 for the first time
-  becoming a big brother... he was so funny when I was pregnant and would imitate me when I would get sick or grunt when I was sitting down/standing up or but his hands on his back and go “oh my back urts”.  It also took him awhile to realize that Mommy was the only one who had a baby in her belly... he’d point to Zach, Mimi, Papaw, and even his belly and say “Bobbie?”.  Now that she’s here he has been really good with her.  He always asks to hold her and kiss and hug her.  He only holds her for about 30 seconds before he’s “all done” but that’s ok. 

He has grown up so much over the past year and we have loved watching him!

Cooper Right Now (At 18-19 Months)

- Sleeping 12-13 hours at night and just recently being all big and not needing Mommy to rock him to sleep. He points to his bed when he's ready and snuggles with his mehmo and Leo and goes to sleep. So sweet, though I'm still hoping he'll let me rock him to sleep every once in a while. We made the mistake of leaving Elmo and Leo in the car and he had a very hard time going to sleep one night. We did not make the mistake again!

- Drinks 3/8oz bottles of whole milk a day. He drinks fine from a sippy cup, but we just haven't made the transition for all of his milk. He doesn't really ask for something to drink unless he sees it, but he will ask for "wa-wa" if he sees his sippy cup. He's also gotten pretty good about drinking from a straw if we're out and I hold it for him so he doesn't stab himself in the roof of the mouth.

- Still being kind of picky about what he eats, but is getting a little better about at least putting new stuff in his mouth which is huge! He still eats a few baby food veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, and green beans are something he always eats. Anything else baby food wise depends on his mood. He does not like the meats and I can't blame him! He will eat chicken sometimes and so far has not turned away chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A. We offer him just about everything we eat and sometimes he tries it, most of the time he doesn't. But it is getting a little better. He loves bread, any kind of fruit, somehow just knows when I have something sweet and will love that too. Just this last weekend he had peanut butter on some ritz crackers and really seemed to like it! He seems to like cheese quesadillas, sometimes. He loved the french fries + ketchup from Five Guys, but not other places. He always likes cheese, yogurt, and oatmeal. I tried grits with him one morning when we were in Clarksville, but he was not a fan.

- He is talking more and more all the time. Lots of times it is only something that he can understand, but he's getting better. He asks for people by name all the time especially Dada, Papaw, and Mamaw. He can say Mimi if he wants to and he can now say "Papa" for Papa Chas and he tries to say Grandmommy and Pappy, but still can't quite get it out. He learns some things super fast like "moon" and "gogo" for Goldie and others we can say over and over and he just looks at you, like "thank you". He knows some animal sounds - "moo", "mmhmmh" for woof woof, "a" for neigh (but he does make the inflections!), and "roar" for leo the lion.

- He understands just about everything you tell him now. He knows his major body parts, who people/animals are, and where things in the house are. He goes to his high chair when you say it's time to eat, he goes to the stairs when you say it's time for bed, he goes toward the garage when you say go get in the car. He picks up his toys (with encouragement) when asked to. He picks out a particular toy if you ask for it like blocks, cars, books, etc.

- He is stacking his blocks up 3-4 (sometimes more) at a time but still prefers to knock down a tower. He stacks his rings the correct way and is starting to learn the colors of the rings. He loves balls and cars. He doesn't throw cars anymore, but will put it down and push it like he is supposed to. He loves trying to put things where they aren't supposed to go like toys in my tupperware and bottles in the trash. He loves figuring things out unless it takes longer than 5 seconds and he's reaching for my help. His airplane is still a big hit, though he prefers pushing it around to riding it and loves the buttons, music and seat that holds some of his toys.

- He was Elmo for his 2nd Halloween. It took a couple time of practicing with putting the costume on/off before he got used to it. But on Halloween we had no major meltdowns because of the costume. He didn't really care to have the head part on top of his head, but he did wear it all day.

- Being outside is probably his most favorite place to be. He loves it! Especially in Pappy and Mamaw's backyard where he is free to run around and play with the leaves, balls, golf club, and of course rocks and sticks.

- He is pushing his limits now. He is getting more and more independent. You tell him "no" and he pushes just a little more to see if he can get away with it. He likes to take something off the shelf that he knows he's not supposed to and then bring it to you like he's doing something right. One day he had my phone and I told him "no" and to give it back to Mommy. He held it up to his ear and said "hey" like he was talking to someone. I held my ground, but it was so stinking cute! He is not going to make disciplining easy, because he just looks up at me and flashes his huge grin and my heart melts into a little puddle.

- He has had a couple of major meltdowns in public. The first was at WM while we were waiting 2 hours for an oil change and I was about to have a meltdown too! The second was at the Riverwalk where he had to hold my hand while we were walking and he did NOT want to hold my hand. He pitched a fit for a good 20 minutes including screaming, crying, pulling at my necklace, throwing himself on the ground, and even trying to crawl away. I held my ground and since he would NOT hold my hand, I carried him straight to the car.

- He absolutely adores his Daddy and asks about him all the time. When he sees him, he gets so excited and jumps all over while they are playing. The joy on both of their faces is sometimes more than this momma can take.

- His memory is amazing me!

- He now has his 4 top front teeth and two upper molars and three teeth on the bottom. We brush his teeth most every morning and night and I'm grateful for toothpaste that is safe to be swallowed!

- He is doing so good about not having to have his pacy unless he sees it and then when he's super tired and at nap/bed time. I'm proud of him and our goal is to be pacy free by the time he's two.

- He had his 18 month check-up a couple of weeks ago. I will NEVER take for granted each time we get to leave after hearing he is a healthy, growing, little guy. He had one shot and was so brave. He said "ow" when she stuck is leg and then screamed for a few minutes but was better very quickly.
Height: 34 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 30lbs 3oz (90th percentile)

- He's wearing size 5 diapers, size 2T or 24 months pants/shirts, and size 7 shoes. The pants are a little long, so we have to roll them up but I didn't want to get 18 month fall stuff since I knew he wouldn't be in them long.

- Love watching him learn new things each and everyday! Such a joy and privilege to be this little guy's Mommy!

Cooper Right Now (At 17 Months)

My dear sweet baby boy,

You are definitely growing up. At 17 months you are showing your personality. You are sweet, loving, opinionated, stubborn, and so smart. You love your family like crazy! I love it when I say "Cooper give Mommy a kiss" and you grin and give me one of your wide open mouth kisses. You give the best hugs ever. When I drop you off at Mamaw and Pappy's in the morning I always ask for a hug and after a second of playing with me and just standing where you were, you come running to me with your arms open and squeeze my neck. And every morning, I hate having to get in my car and leave you. (But I am thankful for my job and for your grandparents who adore you and take such wonderful care of you.)

I have a few names that I call you... "Sunshine" "Cooper Booper" "Cooper D. Booper" "Lovebug" "Little Man" "Little Guy" "Mister Man" and there's always "COOPER ALAN".

You are understanding so much of what is going on. I tell you to go get my phone by the couch and you go straight for it. We ask you to take something to someone and you take it to the right person. I tell you to go get a book and you get a book. I ask for a ball and you get a ball. I say it's time to eat and you say "ee" and point/walk to toward the kitchen/your high chair. I say "Let's go to bed" and you go to the stairs. I say "let's put on your shoes" and you find your shoes. You are picking out pictures in books. You know what a cow is and can say "mmmoo" when I ask what it sounds like. Just tonight you pointed out the armadillo in "Goodnight Gorilla". You picked out the ball in the same book and always say "bawl" and point to it. You know what close the door, drawer, cabinet means, though don't always do this when we tell you too. You point to the right people in our family and you point to yourself when we say "where's Cooper?". You love to point out the "big trucks" whenever you are in the car. As Mimi says, you have some preliteracy skills because you take a book and turn the pages yourself, granted the book is upside down sometimes, but that's ok. The other night you picked out one of your "baby" toys (a rattle) that was mixed in with your books and took it to the drawer where we keep those toys without me saying a word to you about it. And yet not minutes later went right behind the chair in your room after I said not too. You know what you're doing.

You love to see and talk to Daddy on the computer when he is away. I'll say "come see Daddy" and you come running to the computer and say "hi dada" and grin so big. This week I said blow Daddy and kiss and you pulled your pacy out of your mouth (sorry Grandmommy, but it was bedtime I promise!!) and put your hand over your wide open mouth to blow him kisses.

You love Jere and he tolerates you. Every once in a while he'll play with you and you just cackle and cackle. You try to get him to play by bringing him a toy and holding it to his face and waiting for him to go after it. Most of the time he just lays there or tries to get away. If he's laying somewhere you can reach him, you'll give him a big hug and he let's you. It's so cute! You are not a fan of any other dogs, though, unless they are little and white like Jere. You run from them and try to hide behind us or reach for us to pick you up. If you're really not a fan then you start fussing/crying. You met Uncle Ben's new puppy, Meiko, last weekend and you finally started warming up to her when they were getting ready to leave.

Your speech is growing quickly! You are so southern when you say "Ma-maw" and you absolutely made your Papaw's day when you said "Pap-aw". You totally surprised me when we were at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago and you pointed at some "elmo" pajamas and said "mehmo". I was so proud!! And we of course came home with the "mehmo" pjs. Now every time you wear them you point to your shirt and say "mehmo" and then your shorts (that have lots of elmo's) and point to them and say "mehmo, mehmo, mehmo, mehmo" and then grin super big. You say "wow, wo, mo (more), bye-bye, hi, ee (eat), baba (bottle), moo, boobawl (football)". Daddy and I were talking today that it is a little strange that you don't say "no" yet, but we are not pushing that one! All day today you were pointing at the tv and saying "boobawl"! We love it!!

You love your bath time. You now splash regularly which is cute and annoying when I don't really want to take a bath too. The other night you threw a cup of water out of the tub and it landed on me. I was dripping wet and sternly said "Cooper Alan" and you turned around and sweetly said "Ma-maw". I couldn't help but laugh because of course you wanted your Mamaw when Mommy was getting on to you.

You are growing so fast! You have three teeth. You got your 3rd tooth right before you turned 16 moths and we all know you are about to be getting some more. We can see 3 more just ready to pop through at any time on the top and are pretty sure there are more on the bottom. You are wearing size 5 diapers, 18 month shorts/shirts, and size 6 shoes. We finally went and bought you some long pants and long sleeve shirts today and we got all 24 month or 2T stuff. The pants are a little long, but it won't be long before you grow into them. You wore your new jeans tonight and I could not believe how not-like-a-baby you look.

You are starting to be over the baby food. We were mixing fruits/veggies for a while and you were cool with that, but now you won't hardly even do that. I'm glad of this, but also slightly frustrated because there's not a whole lot of things you are willing to try. We offer you just about everything, but the majority of the time you just shake your head no and turn away. I battle between forcing you to try it and just waiting it out. Things you have tried recently include sweet potato fries, french fries, fried white cheddar bites (from Zaxby's), banana pudding, grilled chicken, mac & cheese, barbeque chips, baked beans, potato salad, bread, cake. Please know that when I say try, I mean you may have taken 4-5 bites of these things if we were lucky. You love sweets and fruit. Somehow you just know when something will be sweet and you readily take a bite of that! You turn your head at pasta, meats, and veggies.

You wave and grin at just about everyone, but when someone new or you haven't been around them in a while, you get all bashful and go to me, Daddy, or Mamaw. You also get shy around people and don't show off your cool tricks like saying your words or your "touchdown" with your arms up and "Tennessee" where you hold your fingers up to say "1". You are a fan of country music and last week when we were coming back from Clarksville you finally calmed down when I turned it on a country station. You are an adorable dancer and kick/shuffle your feet, bop your head, bend your knees, and spin around. I love dancing with you.

We are trying hard to teach you "no". You know what this means, but you do not always listen. We want you to be obedient and it is not fun for Mommy to try and be consistent with this, but it's part of my job and I plan on taking it seriously. We pray every morning on the way to Pappy's for you to listen and to be obedient.

As much as I love the day time with you and being around you while you're so active, my favorite part of the day is still bed time. You pick out some books for us to read, crawl up in my lap, and I read to you. I say "Cooper are you ready for your bottle?" and you take out your pacy and reach for the bottle. I put the pacy on the table, you take your bottle and snuggle right up next to me. You drink your bottle and I catch up on Facebook, Twitter, and some blogs on my phone while you relax and enjoy your milk. Sometimes you are so tired you fall asleep mid-bottle. Sometimes you finish it and I switch the bottle for your pacy. Sometimes you just look up at me and drift off to sleep. Sometimes you reach your tiny hand to my neck and face. But every night you drift off to sleep in my arms. And every night I rock you just a couple extra minutes because I can. And every night it is in those quite minutes that I am rocking my baby, it seems all is right with the world. No matter what has happened that day and no matter what is on my heart/mind, in those minutes the world is just as it should be. Mommy rocking her baby boy to sleep. It is a feeling that words cannot explain. Some nights (like tonight) I get so overwhelmed with love for you, I can't help but shed a few tears.

I love you, little guy. Forever and Always.

Cooper at 15.5ish Months

I haven't been very good at keeping up with the monthly posts. I think I'm going to just update when I can and go with what he's doing right now and what he's been up to since the last update.

- Eating is still a little frustrating for us. Mostly me, but still. For the most part he won't touch anything new. We offer just about everything to him and he won't touch it. He turns his head and waves his hands at us or if we put it on the tray, he picks it up and hands it back to us like we lost something.

- He does eat his baby food pretty well, though he has been picky about that as well. If he sees a bowl of fruit waiting for him, he pitches a fit. He wants it now. I've been having him eat the veggie first and sometimes having to mix a little veggie+puree fruit to get him to eat it. We've been trying a few of the stage 3+fruit as well and he's eating that some as well.

I know his eating will come and he will be fine. He won't starve! But, I want him to be healthy and not afraid to try new things. I have to say this has been one of the first things to come up with him that I just don't know what the best thing to do is. We're just taking things one day at a time and I'm trying my best to be patient and not get frustrated with him.

- His new love is fruit snacks. I don't give them to him often, because I don't want him used to all the sugar, but he knows when I get a pack out. We usually share the pack. He's so cute stuffing his little mouth and holding his hand out for more!

- He loves to feed Jere! In fact that's something we're working on... do NOT feed Jere your food. If you don't want it then give it back to Mommy. He's actually doing a little better with this!

- He still sleeps like a champ at night. I am so very thankful for this! He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until 8:00 or 8:30 and sometimes even 9:00 if we don’t have to go anywhere. I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I’ve had to get up for him crying and even then it’s before I go to bed at night.

- Nap time is another story. He usually sleeps about 1-1.5 hours during the day. Sometimes all together and sometimes it’s in 30 minute increments. I kind of blame the nap thing on us. He doesn’t always nap at the same time or in the same place and I blame our daily changing schedule on this. Again... I’m very thankful he sleeps so good at night and we’ll deal with the nap time issue as it comes.

- He still only has the two bottom teeth, but we are constantly thinking that he is teething. He really does have lots of bumpy gums and I’m hoping we see something pop through soon.

- We have a walking machine. He no longer crawls unless it’s under the table or behind the end tables. He is now able to go over the door step with only holding on to the door and not one of us. He also will climb the stairs if we let him. I usually let him before bed time.

- He’s imitating us more and more. He has a few words that he can say pretty clearly, but doesn’t always use them to make requests. He says “mama” “dada” “bawl” “bye bye” and “hi”. He’s learning how to ask for things and we are trying to get him to use his words rather than a point and grunt.

- We have locked up the cabinets with chemicals, but the rest are fair game at this point. He particularly enjoys the tupperware and his bottles/sippy cups. Sometimes those things can entertain him for a while and other times he just pulls them out for the fun of it and leaves the mess!

- He definitely understands so much! He’ll take things to people when asked, he’ll put things away when asked (and he’s in the mood), he’ll go get things we ask him to (such as a book or ball or his golf club), and he also does the complete opposite of what we ask him to on purpose. He knows what “no” means and “come here Cooper” and yet he often does it anyway or just tries to run the opposite direction. Little stinker.

- He loves to play ball with his Daddy. He can put some of the rings on the ring stacker the correct way and he’s getting so much better at actually putting shapes in the shape sorter. I’ll show him how to put the shape in and then he’ll try. If he can’t get it right away, he usually tried to hand the shape back to me for me to do, but I just help him do it himself. Sometimes he stacks blocks but most of the time he loves to just knock down the tower that I make. He seriously gets the biggest kick out of it! He especially likes it when I try and stack things on my head... he’ll sometimes try to stack something on his head too.

- He had his 15 month check up the other day. We had a new NP and I was very impressed with her. She asked lots of very detailed questions and I appreciated it. She checked him over and said everything seemed right on track. I had her check his ears because he had been pulling at them and it was the start of an infection. She gave me a prescription to fill if I thought we needed to. I ended up going ahead and filling it a couple days later because he was still pulling at his ears and I just didn’t want it getting worse. I mentioned my concerns about his eating and she said that there was a study that said kids really don’t not like something until they’ve been presented it at least 10 times. That made me feel a little better!

Little man was brave for 3 shots. Oh it was horrible, but we both survived and he calmed down pretty quickly.

Here are his stats:
Height: 33.5 inches, 97th%ile
Weight: 27lbs 5oz, 85th%ile
Head: 18 3/4 in, 63rd%ile

- We are in a new stage of parenting and it seems a little more challenging. There are just so many little decisions and I want to do the right thing. I want to stand firm on some things and yet remember he’s only 15.5 months. I tell Cooper that he’s learning to be a 15 month old and I’m learning to be the Mommy of a 15 month old. It’s a learning process for us both. One thing I do know... I love him to the moon and back and wouldn’t trade this time for anything in the world.

Cooper at 13-14 Months

I guess after he turned a year, I kind of dropped the ball on doing a post at 13 months. I'll try and summarize the highlights of months 13 and 14.

- Three days after his birthday his first tooth popped through! A few days later his 2nd tooth popped through. They are the middle bottom two and oh my goodness I love that little toothie grin!

- Transitioned from formula to whole milk and went very well. We basically just finished off the formula we had and haven't bought anymore since then! We like just having to buy the milk and not formula. We figured it up and it was $1/ounce for formula compared to $.05/ounce for milk. Happy day!! We've transitioned to about 3 bottles/day with sometimes a little afternoon snack of some milk.

- Still working on trying new table foods but he is pretty much against all real veggies. He eats baby food like crazy, but put the real thing in his mouth and he starts gagging. He does eat most real fruits, breads, oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, and some meats. I try not to get frustrated, but it's not easy. I am thankful that he likes/eats something!

- Started standing in place without holding onto something. At first he did it on accident. He'd have something in his hands and let go of what he was holding onto and then realize that he was just standing there and then plop down on the ground. So funny.

- He quickly moved to being a furniture surfing pro, held onto our fingers and walked, and then would just hold onto a finger for balance. He took his first steps without holding onto anything going from Zach (on the couch) to me (sitting in the chair). It was totally a surprise as we weren't coaxing him as we had been doing a lot of and he did it two or three times.

- He started actually putting his blocks together and not just taking them apart after we put them together. He learned cause/effect. He figured out that if he pushes the button then music plays and then we heard the music over and over and over and over... He loves his airplane and his talking books.

- His receptive language is taking off! He really understands us and will do what we ask at times. He looks at things when we point to them. The first time I really noticed this was when we were playing upstairs and I said "Cooper go get your book". He went and got a book (the Bubble book) and then brought it to me, climbed in my lap and sat there waiting me to read it. He then wanted me to read it several times. He also pointed out his hair with the line "bubbles bubbles in my hair"! So proud of my little guy!!! Of course that very same morning I was changing his diaper on the floor and he escaped before I got the clean diaper on and I looked up and he was on all fours peeing on the floor. So much for my little genius. Ha!

- We set up gates at the bottom of the stairs because he suddenly became very interested in them. And we got a long gate at the top of the landing that blocks the stairs and the landing. I'm very pleased with it and so glad to have something to keep him safe upstairs.

- He cried for the first time when I dropped him off in the nursery on Mother's day. It was horrible! They said he only cried a minute or so and then was fine, but still it was hard to leave him when he was upset and he hasn't ever done that before.

- He's imitating all kinds of sounds... ma, ba, oh, lala, clicking his tongue, ah, aaa, mo

- Had a weekend visit to Mimi and Papaw's and Papaw babysat while Mom and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. The first full week in June Cooper spent a week with Mimi and Papaw. He went to Bible School with Mimi and had a blast hanging out with them. He had started walking just before he left and by the time he got back he was perfecting his "Zombie" walk and taking several steps across the floor. He was figuring out that it was faster to walk than crawl.

- The end of May, Grandmommy spent a week with us and got to spend lots of time with Cooper. We always love to have her here!

- Memorial Day we set up Cooper's pool at Danny's and Cooper got to go swimming for the first time.

- Had his first episode of strep throat. We caught it pretty early I think, but he was still pitiful and I hated to see him sick. Zach had to take him to the doctor since I was at work and really didn't need to take off (even though I really really wanted to) and they survived the strep throat test together. Poor guys.

- Still sleeping like a champ at night. Very consistent with his 11-13 hours at night. Nap times/lengths still vary depending on what's going on that day. He's really pretty laid back and go with the flow. I'm thankful for that.

Cooper at 12 months

My baby is a one-year-old. I cannot believe it. Here's a few highlights for the month...

Eating: He takes 4 6oz bottles throughout the day. Usually around breakfast, lunch, dinner, and one before bed. He still does great with them and readily feeds himself everytime. I love at bedtime, when I'm rocking him and he's eating his bottle, he'll turn into me and snuggle up close. He'll start out using both hands, but then turn into me and use my chest to help hold up the bottle. Simply precious. We've gotten a little braver with all the food choices and are trying to let him try more table foods. I have to admit, though, I'm often too lazy and just give him some baby food. He likes it and always eats every bit of it. He has tried chicken, bread, BBQ pork, mac & cheese, corn, sour cream chicken & rice, blueberry muffin and of course cake! I'm sure there's other stuff, I just can't think of it all!

Sleeping: Still does great at night. Sleeps for about 12 hours every night and on normal days when we're at home, he starts winding down about 7. I can almost tell time by him, because he starts getting super clingy and fussy. I am thankful that he is a pretty flexible little guy and will go with the flow when we've been out a little later than normal. He's doing better about nap time for us. At least, he'll pretty consistently lay down in his rocker and nap. This is much improved from me having to hold him, if I was home. He usually gets about 1 3o minute nap and another longer nap in the afternoon.

Other Cool Stuff: We are trying to teach him "no". He knows what "no" means, but he doesn't always respond. Our biggest thing has been him pulling up on our entertainment center and playing with all the stuff up there. I have been very diligent about telling him no, swatting his hand, and then taking him away from the tv. We do this over and over and over. But, I can finally start to tell a difference. He still goes for the tv, but not nearly as often. And most of the time he will stop when I say "no" and "sit down".

He's a super fast crawler and will furniture surf with the best of them, but so far no attempts at taking steps on his own. He'll hold our finger and take a few steps, much less wobbly than before, but as soon as we let go he plops down. He does use his little dinosaur walker to practice those walking skills and he is so proud. He always smiles so big! He's also getting better at balancing when up on both knees.

He's still babbling like crazy and practicing all the different sounds he can make. A new one is for him to just open his mouth and start screaming. He's not upset. Just yelling. He says things like "dadada" and "mamama" and "du" and "nenene" but I'm not convinced anything is purposeful yet. He's also started pointing and grunting when he wants something. Like if he wants more cheerios or puffs, he'll point at the jar and start grunting. The speech therapist in me is trying to not let him do that, I want him to "use his words", but I also know it'll come.

He does open mouth kisses, which are disgustingly precious. Melt my heart. He also still waves and claps. We're trying to get him to be better about waving when we say wave, but most of the time he waves after the person has walked away or turned around. He'll also just start waving at random people and look at us funny when they don't get excited and start waving back.

12 Month Check Up: We have a healthy 12 month old! I will never take that for granted. We are truly blessed. We saw the NP that we've seen the last 2 times with his ear infections and I really like her. She checked his ears again and said they were all cleared up! I am so thankful! They had to prick his finger to check his iron level and blood count, both of which came back normal. He didn't even flinch when she pricked the finger and no fussing when she had to keep squeezing it to get the blood into the little tube. I barely had to hold his other arm out of the way! But, come time for her to check his boy parts, he started screaming. Go figure. He had to have 2 shots and after a quick time of screaming and snubbing, he recovered and all was well in Cooper world.

Stats:
Height: 31 inches & 80th percentile
Weight: 22 pounds and 7 ounces & 50th percentile
Head: 18 inches & 50th percentile

Pictures:

Cooper At 11 Months

Eating: We are gradually trying to introduce some "real" food, but so far he prefers baby food. He will eat just about any kind of baby food, but you put a real green bean or butter bean in front of him and he gags. We're working on it! I don't want to force anything. He eats real oatmeal, bananas, applesauce, yogurt, cheese, and some cottage cheese. He's tried several other things like noodles, some veggies, chicken, and mac & cheese but doesn't eat more than a bite or two. He does have a sweet tooth like his Momma. I gave him a crumb size piece of a strawberry pound cake I was eating and when I went to take my next bite, he had his mouth wide open for the bite. I think he's gonna be a huge fan of his birthday!

Sleeping: We are blessed with a wonderful sleeper, at least at night. He goes down about 8-8:30 and sleeps until 8-8:30 most mornings (when I don't work). He's taking 2-3 naps a day for anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. He's not a fan of laying down for naps, but he will snuggle in your arms, sit in his rocking chair, or in his car seat.

Other Cool Stuff: His big new things are clapping and waving. He cracks me up when he just randomly starts clapping (like after a diaper change or after I start singing to him) and when he claps when we say "yay, Cooper". He will wave at just about anyone now. I love it when I come home from work and he and Zach are waiting for me. He's sees me get out of the car and starts waving and grinning so big. Melt my heart.

He's crawling all over the place and will even race you if you get down on the floor with him. He pulls up on anything he feels is sturdy enough and is getting braver and braver of letting go with one hand. He's had a couple of little spills where he loses his balance and falls backwards, but overall he's doing so well.

He is jibber jabbering so much more lately, which is music to my ears. I just cannot get him to say "mama". He can say it. He has said it. But every time I say "Say, Mama", he responds with "Da" and a huge grin.

Oh, and still no teeth.

Pictures:

Cooper At 10 Months

Here's the latest on little man...

Eating: We transitioned from 5 4oz bottles a day to 4 6oz bottles a day. It seems to be working just fine. He always eats breakfast and dinner. Most days he has a little lunch, but we're not as consistent with this. Mostly just when he acts hungry. I know he's still getting plenty of nutrition from the bottles, so I'm not to worried about it. For breakfast he has some combination of oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, banana, and cheerios. Lunch is usually some leftover yogurt, a jar of baby food, or a banana. Dinner is 2 jars of baby food and something crunchy (cheerios, puffs, graham cracker). I'm trying to get him more used to using a sippy cup with water and he seems to do better with it - he actually swallows the water instead of spitting it out.

Sleeping: He is still taking 2-3 naps a day for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours each. It's pretty inconsistent on how long or when he naps. He also usually naps in someone's arms, his chair, or his carseat. He's not a fan of the crib for naps. But, at night he does amazing. I've been starting to get him ready for bed about 7:45 or 8:00 and he's usually asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 and will sleep anywhere from 7-9.


Other Cool Stuff: He's crawling all over the place. It amazes me how quickly he can go from flat on his back to his belly to all fours and then on the go! He pulls up on the couch and us. He will walk still just with us holding both hands. We tried to see if he would at least stand with just one hand, but he immediately starts wobbling.

He's getting to be more expressive and opinionated. He knows when he wants something and usually doesn't want to wait - like for his food. He screams and yells and bangs on the tray until the food is going in his mouth. He cries when we take something away from him that he doesn't need. He smiles and laughs and gets so excited at the most random things. Like us blowing in his face or barking like a dog.

He has tons of toys but seems to prefer climbing on us or finding Jere's toys the most.

We've had to introduce the word "no" and he just looks at us like we're insane and then smiles super big.

He gets super excited and flaps his arms around and then likes to smack you in the face. Not cool.

He can hold his own bottle like a pro and for the most part, prefers to do it himself now.

He's babbling still with lots of various sounds at various volumes.

And for a few pics from the last month...

Cooper At 9 Months

Here's the latest on little man...

Eating: We transitioned from still breastfeeding some, to strictly formula/bottle-fed. It was definitely bittersweet, but it was time. We exceeded our goal of six months, and he has done great with the transition. Probably better than me. He's now having 5 bottles a day; a breakfast of oatmeal or rice cereal and sometimes a fruit; and supper of a fruit and veggie. We just started adding a lunch meal of a fruit or veggie as well. He's had real bananas, butter beans, and black-eyed peas (all mushed up of course) and done pretty well with all of those.

Sleeping: We are blessed with a good sleeper. For the most part he goes to bed about 9 and sleeps until 6-7. He had a couple of 4:00am mornings and he got to snuggle in bed with mom and dad until time to get up, but other than that he's always in his own bed at night. Napping is not quite as consistent. He takes 2-3 naps a day and most of the time someone is holding him or napping with him (me!).

Other Cool Stuff: He officially moved from army crawling to fully crawling on all fours. At first he would go just a couple of steps and then back to the belly, but over a couple of days, he moved to being on all fours all the time. He's also getting faster and stronger... able to go a little further without having to rest. Over 3-4 evenings he went from crawling from the middle of the living room to the table, to crawling from the middle of the living room to the kitchen.

He's still babbling like crazy with lots of "dadada" and some "mamama". He's adding in some other sounds too ("nanana", "guh", "hey"). Every once in a while he'll come out with a trill or loud scream when he's either super excited or super upset.

He'll wave at you. Gives high five. Looks for things that we take away from him like our phones or the remote.

We celebrated his first Christmas and New Year's during this month. I've just finished a photo book detailing all our celebrations and will leave all the pics and stories for the book.

Doctor Stats and Update: We have a very healthy baby boy!!! His development is right on track and the doctor didn't have any concerns. He said we could start giving him more table foods (this makes me nervous for some reason) and some milk products like cottage cheese and yogurt. We were very happy that he had grown a good bit since his last visit since last time he wasn't even on the charts.
Height: 28 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz (10th percentile)