Extra fun!

Cooper had a particularly difficult speech therapy session on Tuesday so I decided he deserved a special treat.  We went to Catch Air to play for a couple of hours (we both fell asleep really easily that night) because he worked so hard.  There are days where my heart just breaks for him because he works so hard to talk which is something that nearly all of us take for granted.  He'll try to say the same word over and over and over again and he gets so frustrated. Actually, I'll cry if I think too hard on it SO instead here are some pictures of Cooper's special afternoon! 

I asked him to give the dwarf a hug but instead he kissed him. I've been paranoid about the flu ever since this kissing incident, lol. So far so good! 

5 year check-up!

I cannot believe that Cooper is 5 and how mature he's been getting lately.  We've dealt with a pretty serious case of doctor anxiety since he was about 2.  To be fair, he's had 2 MRIs, a CT scan, several genetic tests, several ER trips (Asthma), a week long hospitalization and 2 surgeries so I think a fear of doctors/nurses makes total sense.  But, homeboy walked into his 5 year well-check and rocked it!  His pediatrician retired so this was our first appointment with the new doctor which I had worried would makes things horrible but he loved the new doctor. He answered basic questions with yes/no (he's functionally non-verbal but his receptive language is perfect) and followed all the doctor's commands.  He even took the tongue depressor from the doctor and said "ahhh!" without being told.  He blew me away!  He even got two shots without any fear or tears. Seriously, I took him for frozen yogurt to celebrate because I was so relieved! 

Now, I just need to see if his fear of hair dressers is over too so that he can get a real haircut, haha! 

He's 3 feet 9 inches tall (86%)
He weighs 44 pounds (71%)
and, most importantly, perfectly healthy!

World Prematurity Awareness Day

World Prematurity Awareness Day was November 17th and we celebrated our preemie that day!  Cooper was born at 31w1d and has been such a fighter from day one.  He's been in therapy (pt, ot and st) pretty much since he was 6 months old (st for feeding therapy and speech therapy beginning at 2 since I'm sure some folks will wonder why a baby was in speech therapy, lol).  He didn't walk until he was 2.5 years old. He's battled Asthma and luckily it's pretty stable right now (KNOCK ON WOOD).  He has Autism, Apraxia and Sensory Processing Disorder.  He's had two surgeries, one to fix a hernia and another to close his PDA.  He's had several ER visits for his Asthma and one week long hospitalization (3 of those days in ICU) for RSV, bilateral Pneumonia and Asthma complications. So, you see, this kid is a fighter!  He's called SUPER Cooper for a reason!!

Thankful

We had a Thanksgiving lunch at Cooper's school a few weeks ago and, despite the fact that the lunch was school food, we had a lovely time!  Seriously, the quality of school food hasn't changed since my days in public school, haha!

My little turkey and I :)

A Coopie farmer placemat...I'll keep this thing for forever! 

 

Fun Friday!

The Pink Pig is a holiday tradition in Atlanta and get's super crowded the closer that it gets to Thanksgiving.  Don't even bother going Thanksgiving week, period. So, I thought I'd beat most of Atlanta to the punch by taking Cooper last Friday!  We had no waits in line and had our choice of the primo seats!  This is how I'll do our trips from now on, seriously. 

 Cooper loves trains!  He didn't care that it was pink (he hasn't been taught to see colors or toys by gender) and we had the time of our lives!  Seriously, you have those moments where things fall into place and your child is so happy that you just don't feel like life could get any better. This was one of those moments.

I was pretty surprised to see Santa at the mall already or he would've worn a cuter outfit.  This is his first time being a willing participant in this Santa stuff.  We view Santa as a story and nothing else. We don't do the "he's watching you and you won't get stuff if you're not good" and pretend that he's real bit.  None the less, Coop was excited to meet him!  I was overjoyed because this was HUGE for him! 

 

Big kid!

Cooper has Autism and safety awareness is a huge issue for kids with Autism.  I've appeared to be a helicopter mom over the years because I've had to stick pretty close to him on playground equipment.  I can relax about a lot of stuff but I'm not ok with him just walking off a playground structure.  He didn't walk until he was 30 months old so I'm not cool with a broken leg or heaven forbid, worse!  Here lately, he's becoming more aware of his environment and being safe.  So, he's not doing the playground all by himself! I get to sit on the sidelines with my Starbucks now like all the other moms!  It's the small victories, people!

Birthday boy!!

It's surreal watching your kiddo grow from a teeny tiny 31 week preemie to an active and not-so-teeny-tiny 5 year old.  It's surreal but has been the greatest experience ever even with all the different trials that have occurred since he joined our family! 

I made this shirt for him to wear for his big day! 

Just a reminder on how tiny he started out at!! 

 

He loved all the balloons!

We went to his favorite place, the Children's museum!

His big gift from us was a bunch of new art supplies.  This was his first time painting on canvas! 

 

We're going to hang it on the wall because it is priceless!  

 

This was on Sunday when he fell asleep at Costco.  He had a busy and fun weekend and dropped like a sack of potatoes, haha! 

 

Coop's last week as a 4 year old!

His birthday post is to follow but here are pics from his last week as a 4 year old!!

Monday-

Tuesday-

we went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 so here he's pretending to blow out fire...

 

 Wednesday-

Curious George Boofest is his favorite Halloween movie. He watched it a lot...

 Any activity turns into OT if you have them lay on their belly ;)  I sneak in therapy any way that I can!

I've been trying to do music time with him since our music therapy playdate. He enjoys it :) 

 

Thursday-

Cutest kid ever! 

 

 

 Friday-

 Our chilly and dark walk to school!

I brought cupcakes and stuff for a little birthday with his class! 

 

After school, I took him for a free spooky face pancake at IHOP

Trick or Treating! 

I blew up 200 balloons while he was at school and we put them in his room while he was sleeping so that he'd have a fun surprise when he woke up on his 5th birthday!!