ELEVEN

 {The blanket above that I have been laying Cooper on for these pictures is also the blanket that I sometimes swaddle him in for his naps.  I guess he's caught on and will have nothing to do with it.  So I did not get any smiling pictures!  I figured not to try any longer and just use what I have.}

Well, my little boy is growing and changing faster than I can type!  He turned 11 months a couple weeks ago and I just can't believe that he will be a 1 year old in just a few short weeks!  He is still such a happy baby and content with almost anything.  He loves eating and still cares mostly for meats.  He will eat vegetables if you continuously give them to him and make him try them more than once.  We are pretty much completely off of puree baby food and I have just started giving him whole milk in a sippy cup.  He doesn't seem to hate it, but doesn't drink a lot of it at once.  He really plays with the cup more than anything else.  He is not far behind his sister's weight and is somewhere around 23 pounds I would say.  So far he has not said any words, but lately has started babbling quite a bit more!  He will blow kisses and play peek-a-boo over and over and over!  However his favorite game is to drop things off of his highchair and watch Mommy pick them up.

Caroline insisted that she match Cooper the other morning!

We have had a little set back this month with development.  Cooper was pretty sick in the beginning of January and so I took him to the doctor.  I casually asked when an infant should start being able to get into the sitting position from laying down on their own.  The doctor said it should happen by 8 months and that she was a little worried he wasn't doing it.  Well, we ended up calling ECI (early childhood intervention) and they came out to evaluate him.  I have to admit it was a little scary calling them and actually saying out loud that we thought something might be wrong.  They came and said that they did think his development was delayed and he would be able to be enrolled in the program.  This was most likely caused by several things: Cooper not liking to be on his tummy and us not putting him on it enough... his laid back personality and being completely content just sitting wherever he may be... and low muscle tone.  The muscle tone is just how you are born and something you have no control over.  Wouldn't you know it that his daddy was not going to just let that be it!  He came home that night with detailed exercises that we needed to do and a way to get him moving!  At the beginning Cooper was hardly even rolling.  After just 4 short days of exercises we noticed a difference and Cooper was rolling across the room!!  Since then we have had 2 therapy appointments and the therapist has given us different activities to work on with him.  What a change!  Cooper is ready to move and I think really just noticed he can!  We're not sure how long the therapy will continue, but we hope to have this boy crawling soon!

Here are some pictures of the Coop man exercising!

practicing putting weight on his knees by playing in this position

 shifting his weight from side to side and stabilizing himself

 practicing being on his tummy

 just jumping away!

We have kept busy this month with the wonderful, warm weather!  It is so nice to be outside!!