Our baby boy is 16 months old today! Cohen has had quite the summer so far, and has made some huge strides in his development. First and foremost, Cohen has finally picked up the skill of sign language. John and I began signing with Cohen when he turned 6 months old. We were fully aware that he was developmentally only 3 months old, but we decided to do with him what we did with Carter…and that included starting sign language at 6 months. Carter did not catch on very quickly, and actually didn’t fully sign until he was 11 months old. However, when he hit 11 months old he knew all the signs and was using them correctly and appropriately. It was pure bliss, and everything the studies say about babies who sign are 100% true. With our experience with Carter we were not at all surprised that Cohen did not pick up on signing at 6 months…or 9 months…or even 11 months, because he was still 8 months adjusted. We got frustrated when Cohen was still not signing or even attempting to sign at 14 months old. From his developmental assessment in May, we learned that his communication skills were in the 4th percentile for 15 month old babies born at his gestation. It was a little relieving to hear that we weren’t the only ones who could sense something was awry. The therapist told us to keep with it, and gave us some other tips and tricks to help him catch on. Wouldn’t you know…it worked! It is unclear if it was the tips and tricks, or just passage of time, but Cohen is now using sign language to convey very basic communication. He can sign “more”, “all done”, “please”, and “milk”. I will note that he isn’t initiating the sign language on his own yet, but this is a great start. Speech wise, Cohen has started saying Mama, Dada, that, and dog. Very basic and hard to understand anything other than mama and dada, but it’s a start!
Motor skills wise, Cohen is becoming more and more confident in his walking with each passing day. He still has the occasional face plant, but he no longer looks like a drunken sailor when he walks. We have kept him shoeless for most of the last 2 months on the advice of the developmental therapist who noticed his walking was more unbalanced and uncoordinated than a typical beginning walker. Cohen’s feet turn in and he walks only on the balls of his feet…so in addition to having him go shoeless we also do physical therapy exercises to help correct this. It seems to be working, and we absolutely love seeing progress!! Cohen is also our little climber. He loves to climb stairs and will be to the top before you even realize he has opened the non-latched gate (thanks to aunt Libby usually!). He climbs on coffee tables and anything his little heart desires, however when he falls he is still landing on his head. Another big accomplishment is that he can now bend over and pick an object up without toppling on to his head. That is at least one method of acquiring a bruise that can be crossed off the list!!
As far as stat’s go, I don’t think Cohen has gained any weight since his 15 month appointment…but he certainly seems much taller. His 12 month pants are high waters, but the waist of 18 month pants are huge and the length is still too long for him to walk around safely in. So for now, he’ll be sporting capris =) Teeth wise, Cohen has his upper 2 front teeth (which are HUGE!) and his two lower front teeth (that are normal sized).
Food wise, Cohen is still dependent on a bottle for the majority of his nutritional intake. That will soon change as we are taking him off his special diet. We did 2 months of absolutely no corn, wheat, gluten, or dairy and there was simply no change in his bowel issues. While we wait for Cohen to grow a little bit more before we start the next chapter of that journey, for now we are returning him to a regular diet. Finger foods here we come!!
Baby Cohen we are so proud of your accomplishments!! We love you!
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