13 months

Life has been busy, so blogging has not been happening.  Cooper has just passed the 13 month mark.

Turning One
His first birthday was a fairly low-key event.  Just family over for pizza and cake.  I made a green sheep for his cake, as 'Where is the Green Sheep?' has always been his favourite book.  I have such great memories of choosing my birthday cake each year as a child, and the excitement at seeing the spectacular masterpieces my mum created.  I've been looking forward to trying my hand at cake making for my own kids, and hope that Cooper will be equally pleased with my efforts.

Development
Cooper still does not say many words, but he does love to chat away and his comprehension is certainly improving.  It gives me such a thrill to be able to give him instructions and watch him carry them out!  Like saying 'up, down, up, down' and watching him do squats - so funny!  Or when my phone beeped near him and I said "Ta for Mummy" and he obediently picked it up and brought it across the room to me - so convenient!

I love how he is learning to observe what is happening and then participate.  Like when I was hanging his birthday cards on a string across the dining room... he watched what I was doing, picked a stray card up off the floor and brought it over to me to hang.

He is a bit more cautious when entering a new situation or seeing new people.  He'll stay with me and look around with a subdued face for a little while, until he has sussed things out.  But then it is usually a case of no holding back.  He'll chat at the top of his lungs, wander around, check things out and do his best to be the centre of attention.

Cooper loves waving.  He stands at the window waving at the traffic going past.  He opens the lounge sliding door, wanders out and turns to wave at us as he tries to make his escape.  Jason pulled up in the truck one day and Cooper waved him off as he left... since then Cooper waves at pretty much every truck.  I think he thinks Daddy just does laps around the block in a variety of trucks.

Weaning
My aim was to start weaning Cooper about the age of one.  We have been slowly cutting back, as he was previously feeding on demand a rediculous number of times day and night.  It was quite convenient that we went on a 9 day holiday a couple weeks after his birthday.  We did a lot of driving each afternoon, so Cooper got used to going to sleep in the car instead of being fed to sleep.  Much to his delight (!?), Jason was on night duty for most of the holiday, rocking Cooper back to sleep.  This gave me a break so I wasn't so tired and just feeding him as the fastest, easiest way to get him to sleep.  He also goes to sleep much easier for Jason.  With me, he used to spend most of the time trying to get to the milk source.

By the end of the holiday we were down to a morning and evening feed.  Now, it is just once a day.

Sleep
So happy to report that Cooper is sleeping through about 50% of the time!!  Has been doing this for a couple weeks now, so I'm quietly hopeful that it may be the new normal!

What caused the break through?  Not sure, but I think perhaps a combination of a few things.  Obviously, he is older.  It also started happening suddenly about a week after the night weaning.  Also, it began on our first night back from holidays, so in his own bed, and I left a night light and music on in his room all night.  I've done the music before, but it has been a long time since I had a night light in there.

I've noticed a strong correlation between the night light and Cooper waking up happy and just lying talking to himself instead of crying for me to get him straight away.  Last night he woke at 4am crying, but quickly swapped to chatting to himself.  I went back to sleep, and obviously at some point, so did he.  Wohoo!!