Cooper's Diagnosis

This week in our session with Teacher Judy, Cooper said six new words in 30 minutes! We love Teacher Judy. While blowing bubbles she got him to say blow, bubble, and pop. Why he never says those for me I don't know... And then she got him to say Ruby for the very first time! It was so exciting! Which he pronounces Rubah or sometimes Wubah. And she got him to say Cooper, or Toopah. And she got him to say Mama. Teacher Judy was so excited about that one that she gave him a hug and Cooper immediately ran away. Apparently Cooper's love for Teacher Judy does not extend to hugs.

Josh and I love hearing him say Wubah. We make him say it all day long and then giggle about it at night in bed. Wubah.

So at the end of our session Teacher Judy told me that Cooper has apraxia. Apraxia is a condition where the brain's signals to the mouth muscles involving speech are missing or incorrect. This means that the child has no problem understanding speech but when it comes to speaking themselves, they don't know how to move their mouth muscles to make the sounds. Children with apraxia have to learn how to make each sound, and then the thousands of combinations of sounds and practice them thousands of times before they become muscle memory and something they can say independently. It involves extensive and frequent speech therapy for years sometimes. But the good news is once they figure out how to talk, they'll be all caught up on their speech. It just takes a lot of work to get to that point.

It's a daunting task and right now it feels a little overwhelming. And I'm a little sad that speech can't just come naturally to him like it does to everyone else. But I'm glad Cooper has a diagnosis so we know what help to get him. I'm glad there is help available for him. I'm glad I get to stay at home with him so we can practice our speech together. I'm glad Cooper has so many people who support him. I'm glad my husband is just as committed to helping Cooper as I am. There are many things to be grateful for.

Luckily Cooper has a few words already that help him communicate. Once they practice a word enough to have it become a muscle memory they will always have that word and Cooper already has a few words, of course "no" being one of them. And luckily he can make all his consonant and vowel sounds, he just needs to practice them and learn how to combine them into words. So he has a few things working for him already and the rest we will help him figure out.

One thing I know for sure about Cooper is that he is smart. He can count to ten, he knows the first half of the alphabet, he knows his letters, shapes, numbers, and colors. After watching a Barney episode about China, I said hi to Cooper one morning and he answered, "nee how." He is a smart boy and if he gets the help he needs, he can overcome this. And he will have the added blessing of parents who listen to every single thing he says for the rest of his life because we're going to be so delighted by every word. "Wubah" has already brought a lot of happiness to our hearts.

So now we know what to do and what lies ahead for us. Good luck buddy. Mama is always cheering for you.

Another Week

Another week, another blog post. Maybe I should amend my writing goal, there's no way we do enough in one week to warrant a blog post! Let's dig down deep here....

I drove by the preschool this week that Cooper would potentially go to. Actually I drove by it several times, as I drove in one continuous loop around the building for ten minutes. There's just no way. It's too far from my house. It's too big. There are too many window treatments that make it hard to see. I just can't do it. Cooper will just have to be a mute.

This week my mute said up and made monkey sounds. Progress. He's discovered a passionate love for Curious George and he imitates whatever George says. Now if only George was a human instead of a monkey. 

Ruby is officially the cutest baby that has ever been born. She is just gorgeous! I really think she should do baby modeling. She's so dainty, she looks like a little porcelain doll! I want to get her pictures taken again even though we just took newborn photos. I'm kind of obsessed with her. She still wakes up once a night but I still think she's too small to go all night without eating. It is funny though because Cooper was sleeping through the night at six weeks old! Now I realize that was just pure luck. Maybe solid foods will help her stay full a little longer? I doubt it...

Ruby has been doing the 45 minute nap thing, I looked back on my blog and Cooper was doing that too at the same age. She sleeps for 45 minutes and then wakes up and if I get her up she's cranky and tired until her next nap. Most of the time she will go back to sleep if I let her cry for a few minutes, but man I hate letting her cry. And Cooper and I are usually playing in the living room while Ruby is crying away and I wonder if Cooper thinks I'm a terrible mother. But he actually doesn't seem to mind having fun while sister cries. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Cooper is getting a little less enthused with Ruby the older she gets. Sometimes Ruby will flail her arm and accidentally touch one of his trains and he is not pleased. I put her in his old exersaucer this week and he told her, "no!" Then when I eventually got her out he tried to get in it and wound up stuck in the seat head first with his head stuck in a leg hole. Cooper needs to work on his sharing.

This week we went out to dinner with the kids and both of them sat there nicely and quietly the entire meal! I am not even kidding! The check came and we looked at each other like woah, that was amazing. I thought that was blog worthy. We haven't gone out to eat in like six months and maybe that's the key, only take your kids out to eat once every six months.

This week was Josh's last week of classes! He still has to take his boards in July before he graduates but he is done with three years of night classes!! It is so exciting for everyone in our family. But I'm probably the most excited, let's be honest.

Also I'm in love with my yard during the summer. That's all.

Preschool Problems

So my little Cooper had his first speech therapy this week with Teacher Judy. Then later that same night we got him to say "poo-poo." So I hope that's a good sign. Poo poo is an excellent word because the p sound is a very important sound. Basically he could be talking in swear words and we would be happy.

The developmental specialists in Seattle are booked several months out so it looks like that will take quite a while to get him evaluated. In the meantime we are going to be seeing Teacher Judy once a week and next week Cooper is getting evaluated to start receiving speech services through the school district as well.

As soon as I posted about Cooper's doctor appointment last week, a sweet angel from my ward who works with the early intervention program called me and talked to me about getting Cooper set up to do speech services through them. It was amazing because our pediatrician said nothing about it and I was aware that there was a program but had no idea how to get him into it. I am incredibly grateful to her right now. So next week someone comes to our house to evaluate Cooper so he can start speech therapy. It will be so wonderful to have him doing more speech therapy than just our weekly session with Teacher Judy. HOWEVER, this program only runs until he's two, when he turns three, they send the kids to a preschool where he would get extra help with speech.

Preschool.

This fall.

FOUR days a week!

My sweet precious baby boy would be ripped from my arms FOUR days a week!

I called my mom in tears and she asked me how long the days were. And I told her that didn't matter! They could be 30 minutes long and it would still be FOUR days a week!

Now I don't know all the details, we still have to apply and get accepted and maybe I wouldn't have to send him all four days. But I'm already in a state of panic. I wasn't going to send him to preschool at all this year, he has a late August birthday so technically I could send him early or wait a year, and I was going to wait! And then next year maybe find a co op preschool that was two days a week but I could volunteer as a mother helper so I could be there with him every day. And then by the time kindergarten rolled around Cooper would say, "Mom I want to be homeschooled!" And I'd say ok! And then we'd be with each other all day every day all the way through high school and Cooper would take me as his date to senior prom and then maybe he could just live with us for the rest of his life and save on rent! That was my life plan. Every time Cooper poses in a picture with me I think oh, this is just how our prom pictures are going to look! But all of my grand plans started coming off the rails when I heard- FOUR days a week...

I'm not ready. There's no way I'll be ready by September. I just barely let him go to nursery at church. And then when I finally let him go I sat and watched him through the window the whole time. Then the next week they put papers up in the window! Coincidence? Probably not! Now I have to jump up and down to see him!

I wonder if the preschool has better windows.

I wonder if they let people into preschool who still sleep in a crib and still have fat rolls and still giggle when their mommies pretend to eat their feet. It should be illegal! It should be considered kidnapping to even suggest it!

There's even a bus that can come get them! When she told me that, my knees buckled. I'd sooner throw myself in front of the bus before I let my little baby ride on a bus without me!

That darn August birthday! It was the undoing of my life plan! If only I would have known I would never have done anything underneath a Christmas tree!

Aaaahhhhhhhhh!

But Cooper would probably benefit from the extra socialization with other children and he would probably (definitely) benefit from the extra, daily speech therapy, and he would probably benefit from some time away from his mommy who knows what every point and grunt means.

But if everyone could just pray that Cooper starts talking before September so he can stay home with his mommy, that'd be great.

See? Wouldn't we look so good at prom together?