Time flies...a long overdue update

So sorry for the longest delay ever in posting about my super dooper Cooper the pooper :). It's been crazy this past month with Cooper going full steam ahead with walking (and now running), our trip to CT, my treatment related challenges since we got home (please see my other blog for info about that), and me getting back to work part-time this past week.

Cooper is teething two more molars (top) now and it's not a pretty process. The poor kid is in agony at times and it causes him to wake numerous times at night in spite of receiving Tylenol or Motrin (or both alternated). When I go to him he is clutching his checks or has his hands in his mouth as he cries out. I feel so bad for him. I also feel bad for me as it's been a very long time since I've had a good night's sleep and frankly this fact is not good for me and my health situation right now so we're hoping and praying these teeth hurry up and poke through so we can get back to some semblance of peace at night once again.

Cooper is mastering the use of baby sign language which is really exciting after what seemed like a slow start. I couldn't believe it when I showed him the "I'm tired" sign only 2 times before he started using it correctly. I test him too to see if he really understands what the signs mean and it just blows me away what what he understands and how well he's able to communicate with us already. He is learning new things so quickly it's shocking sometimes. There are a ton of examples but what comes to mind at this moment is the body part identification exercise we do - I ask him to point out body parts which I've taught him to identify and he points to them...so last night while stopping by a neighbor's house we had Cooper point out his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, toes...and then my neighbor asks him where his tongue is and he pointed to it and I was shocked since we've never taught him that one. Today when I was changing his diaper and clothes I was talking to my mom on the phone and I realized I'd forgotten to pull something out of his closet that I needed. Cooper was on his changing table/dresser and I needed to take three steps to the closet and I pointed at him and said "you stay there" as I backed away to grab what I needed and he repeated it back to me, while also staying put as requested. When this happens I convince myself that I was hearing things but my mom heard it through the phone and said "did he just say that back to you?". Tonight when Hunter (dog) was covering Cooper's leg with kisses, Cooper exclaimed "no doggie!" as he giggled and pulled his leg away (it must have tickled). Too cute.

On the food front, Cooper is finally eating solids again after he was on a bit of a food strike for a couple weeks (which is typical for him during the early stage of teething new chompers). For a while there we had to resort to putting vitamin drops in his milk each day and using more pediasure because he was not willing to eat solids. Now that one of the emerging molars has poked through partially and the other one on the way appears to have begun to poke through he has been more cooperative and receptive to food at meal times. I'm not sure where he gets it from but he's not a big eater, and he's not at all interested in sweets, but he adores corn, potatoes, broccoli, and salmon. He still eats best when we're out of the house and there's lots of new things/people for him to look at. That's been the case from the first day we introduced solids.

We had a great trip to CT to visit family and friends. There's lots to write about our trip and pics that I need to upload so I'll write a separate entry about the trip sometime this week when I'm able to spend more time on it.