Only 3 months away from Cooper’s second birthday. These posts always put that into perspective for me. Time FLIES! Cooper has grown so much both physically and mentally in the last 3 months, it’s so much fun to watch! He can count to TEN! Like, out of the blue just started finishing it for us. So all those times where you count past the number 3 actually HELPS, he’s actually listening, haha. And he knows all his colors and can also identify a lot of the letters. He sings Baby shark and Hop like a Bunny. He eats the same thing for lunch and dinner almost every day. Baked HAM (only a certain brand), all fruit – grapes, watermelon, blueberries, mandarin oranges…. He loves pickles, Garden Tomato flavored crunchies, pancakes, waffles, eggs, bananas. We’ve had a pretty busy last few months, traveled a lot!We got our family photos made for his 18 month photos, first time with his glasses which was an ordeal because they had glare, they are also transitions so he was wearing sunglasses. I had some non-prescription glasses but he wouldn’t wear them. Oh well! We got some super cute photos. We visited the zoo again – he loves petting the sting rays! We spent a week up in Cleveland and got to spend a lot of time with his cousins and his friend Mac (whom he talks about all the time now! Time for another visit!). Our neighborhood had planned a 4th of July parade for the kiddos, so we decorated his wagon all up, he was so excited, he loves flags. But unfortunately there were some storms that morning so they cancelled it prematurely. But we still took him for a walk to the park in the wagon and let him show his patriotism. On the actual 4th, we took a trip over to Clearwater beach where Gina, Trey and kids were staying for the week. Spent a day at the beach, Cooper had fun with his cousins and didn’t complain about the sand much at all! Then the next day we spent the day at Busch Gardens. Me and the kids rode the roller coasters while Gina and Cooper toured Sesame Street Land. He was so tired and hot most of the day. But he loved seeing Elmo! We got rained out and had to leave a little early, because it ALWAYS rains on the west coast. ALWAYS. The day after that Cooper woke up with a fever and was sick most of the day, and wouldn’t sleep that night. He slept in my arms most of the night and I ended up in his crib the other half. Never slept more than about an hour at a time. It was miserable, poor little guy. We ended up sleeping until like 10AM. Then we got up and headed to the east coast for our annual beach trip. He was feeling MUCH better, didn’t have much of a fever, but was very clingy to me the next few days. It started a whole string of bad sleeping habits from that point. Didn’t help that we went on vacation and he wasn’t at home, but from that point he wanted me in the room for him to fall asleep, and if he woke up and I wasn’t there we started all over again. That was the first week of July and we are still working on breaking it. My poh so perfect sleeper all these months and now it’s a struggle. So the beach. He was NOT a fan. I thought for sure he would love it, and especially since we went a few days before and didn’t have any issues. But he hated the sand. I guess he came by that honestly though. I don’t blame him. He lasted out there maybe 30 min one day and that was about it. He did love the pool though! He just wasn’t feeling 100% that week so that didn’t help matters at all. We got home, and Cooper STARTED SCHOOL! What!?!? Only 2 days a week from like 8-12. SO HARD leaving him in the mornings. It hasn’t gotten much better. He cries, and clings, and screams. They say he has gotten better in the mornings after I leave, but usually around 10ish he starts crying for me. They told him I will be there after he eats lunch so he’s started asking for lunch early haha! Smart kid. But it will get better, I know! We were home for a week from the beach and then sadly Big Mama passed away (Bubba’s grandma). Poor little Cooper doesn’t understand yet, he loved her so much! He knows she is living with Jesus now, but still thinks the room where she stayed at our house is her room. So we traveled back to Georgia for the week for the funeral. My parents picked us up on the way down to Florida and that weekend went to Ft. Lauderdale for my Mom’s high school reunion! Bubba had a golf tournament in Warner Robins and my parents were going to be in Florida so I just tagged along. We stayed at a resort there that my uncle worked at back in the 60s. It was amazing! Cooper wasn’t a fan of that beach either, haha. We spent most of our time in the pool. So we’ve been home for about 2 weeks now and don’t plan on traveling much so we can just relax and get Cooper back in his little routine! HOWEVER, after going to school Tuesday, he woke up Wednesday with a 102.5 fever. Took him to the doctor just to make his ears weren’t the problem since he had been getting a fever on and off the past few weeks. Tested him for strep and it was negative, but his throat was SO red. Yesterday he was fine for the most part, still irritable, but no fever. That afternoon I went to change him and realized he had little red bumps all over him, which the doctor warned me to look out for in case it was Hand, Foot, Mouth. UUUGGGHHHHH!!!!! He is absolutely MISERABLE. His throat hurts so bad, he’s not eating, barely drinking, only eats ice cream. I feel so bad for him. Nothing you can do except alternate Tylenol and Motrin. Called the school and they were shocked saying no one had had it in over 6 months there…. WELL…. he didn’t get it from home! SOMEONE had it. So here we are again, out from school, stuck at home sick. I knew he would pick stuff up from school the first few months, but good grief. This is terrible. Hoping he gets better soon and it doesn’t get any worse!!! He has been doing SO WELL at swimming lessons, he loves it! He’s starting to blow bubbles under water which is a good sign that he’s catching on to the concept. His teacher loves him. We’ve had to really start cracking down on the discipline the past month or two. He has gotten so bad about hitting me, and mostly just me. I get that, they say the Mom gets the worst of it. He tells me No, tells me to stop, slaps at me when he gets mad. We had started spanking him when he totally disobeyed us and he knew he was doing something wrong. He totally works with Bubba, he knows he’s in trouble and feels bad about it. With me, not so much. So I started putting him in time-out and he HATES it. I put him in his crib with none of his toys or blanket and shut the door. Then when I go back in I make him apologize and tell him what he did wrong and ask if he’s going to do it again. Of course he always says Sorry and gives me a big hug and says he won’t. HA. 🙂 In time. The terrible twos have already started over here! And try telling my husband that his acting out, irritability, and bad sleeping habits have ANYTHING to do with his two-year molars and you’ll be crucified. (I’m not crazy, and teeth in kids are painful, regardless of what my husband thinks. Right mamas!?!?). We also went to the eye doctor back in June and they said the glasses have “fixed” his eye from turning in to the point where it’s equal to his good eye. Which is GREAT news! Bad news is they still want to do eye muscle surgery to fix it even more. We go back next week to determine when that will be. So prayers for little guy!!! Mommy too. :-\ I almost don’t want to end this post because my next one will be for his second birthday and I’m not sure I’m ready for that. It’s the end of “counting months”. It just solidifies “Toddler-hood”. So, until then….
Likes: Reading books, going outside, riding in his wagon, playing on the playground, putting things in and out of stuff, stacking things, dinosaurs, Elmo, Mickey, CARS and big trucks, Baby Shark, Toy Story
Dislikes: Being told no, going to time-out, not getting his way!!
THINGS HE CAN DO: Sings Baby Shark, Hop Like A Bunny… Counts to 10! Identifies letters and knows his colors.
SIZE: Size 5 diapers, 2T clothes – he was 26lbs this week at doctor
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