Cooper Updates at Age 3 1/2

I realized that I haven’t done an actual Cooper update in a long time. I tend to get very caught up in how I feel about all of this and often my posts take on a sad feel. And I don’t want it to be like that ALL the time.

Cooper has come a long way. I know that in my heart and need to remind myself of it daily. He is adorable and so sweet and so loving. He gives and gets a million kisses a day. He enjoys being naughty and loves throwing rocks and sticks and balls. He thrives on attention and is just starting to interact with other kids. He still doesn’t understand the concept of a ‘friend’ and tends to be drawn to girls rather than boys.

My biggest frustrations continue to be over his inability to try. I’ve had multiple therapists tell me that Cooper has the shortest ‘willingness to try’ ever. He will give something a second of energy and will immediately get frustrated and throw something if it doesn’t work out. This makes teaching him very, very difficult. The one word I would use to describe Cooper is rigid.

Cooper is a little over 3 1/2 years old now. I remember when he was two and I was CERTAIN that he would be talking by this time. Now, I don’t believe he will be talking by 4. He doesn’t understand the purpose of language yet. Sometimes I will look at him and wonder what is happening in his brain and why he doesn’t want to share it.

His brother is obsessed with him and mimics the tantrums and head hitting. It’s tough to have two that are doing it. Cooper and Sawyer do a lot of wrestling and tickling and are starting some play. Very little though. One of my biggest hopes is that Cooper starts to show love for Sawyer. As of right now I am certain he would sell him if he could.

This video makes me laugh. Cooper is such a love. I’ve watched it 10 times today. I even played it for Cooper and he laughed at himself. When it gets hard I have to remember that I have this unbelievable joy in my life.

http://youtu.be/WmgYmMZM4EI

A few others:

• He loves reading books, singing songs and anything involving tickling, chasing and wrestling.
• When I ask him to do something that he isn’t able to do his response is to give me a kiss and a hug. It’s adorable.
• Therapy is going ok. He attends speech twice a week and OT once a week. He’s either perfect or horrible. No in between.
• He continues to sleep great and still very much needs a nap every day. He goes to bed around 8 pm with no fight and sleeps till 6:30 am or so.
• He still doesn’t have a problem with bathtime, teeth brushing, clipping nails or any of those typical ‘sensory’ issues. And thank God for that. I fight with him enough already and would rather not fight over that stuff.
• He can follow directions very well (When he wants to or the bribe is good enough). The other day I told him to ‘sit down, take off his shoes, and bring them to the entryway.’ All for the bribe of watching a Thomas movie. And sure as hell he did it all in under 3 seconds. Score.
• Eating continues to be a challenge. Foods he loves include: waffles, yogurt (loaded with fresh fruit and granola), chicken nuggets, hotdogs, hamburger/chicken, strawberries and ANY snack I give him that is a carb. He loves cereal, cookies, crackers, chips and CANDY.
• If I had to guess, and it kills me to type this, I would say his spoken language is still at 6-9 months of age. We will get a ‘yea’ now and then but no other words. He still doesn’t have any consonants.
• Potty training is non-existent. I don’t think he understands it yet. I could and probably should push it but I don’t have the energy yet. But I sure am getting sick of changing diapers for two kids all the time.
• A big step for Cooper is that he is now waving. And if I ask him to wave and he doesn’t want to he gives me the look of death. It’s classic.

I really don’t know what the future holds. I can’t even guess. I’ve mentioned numerous times in this blog that I would love a sneak peek of the future. I would love to know what’s going to happen. What I do know is that tonight the boys and I played outside for 2 hours. We hopped like frogs and ran like puppies. And I chased them and play ring-around-the-rosey. It was absolutely amazing. I need more moments like that and less sad ones.