Cooper is amazing

I don't post much about Cooper since truly, he is the easiest child we have! When Cooper was a few months old I began noticing some sensory concerns with him. It took him forever to take a bottle without gagging and throwing up and he hated having things on his hands. His eye contact was okay but not the greatest. He had really good gross motor skills, but was very clumsy. He never waved "bye bye" as a baby. When he was 18 months old he had lost the six words that he had been using. He was finally evaluated and was placed in Speech therapy and occupational therapy. He was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. He literally would stand and stare at a doorknob for hours just humming away. If we even thought of turning Teletubbies off of the TV be ready of an outburst. Things were hard but we made it through. We always raised Cooper just like any other child. We taught him early that things were not always going to be his way and routines do change. He hated it. I mean HATED it, but you know what, now I can spring any ole change on him and he's okay! Granted that's just in the last year or so, but still, wow! At the age of 4 he was given the diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. This child began reading at the age of two and was doing math facts at the age of three. He had so much trouble with changes of any kind. Especially routine. If I told him we were going to pick Jarika up at gymnastics and I took an alternate route, man I was in trouble! He would scream and cry and bang the windows of the car. It was heartbreaking. I have mentioned that Cooper auditioned to be a part of the Junior Jays Singers for 4-6 graders. Over 170 tried out and 80 kids made it. It truly is amazing to see this child perform like this! His past teachers are so amazed by him. His librarian from the age of 3-7 stopped me the other day. She is one of the leaders of the Junior Jays and she said "Cammie, if you would have told me between the ages of 3-7 that Cooper would be a Junior Jay, I would have said "NO WAY!" I can't get over him! He is doing so great!". I am so proud of this child of mine. God truly knew what he was doing when he chose Cooper for our family. Don't get me wrong, there are many times when I think to myself, "Why can't he just deal with this, or get over this." I feel guilty when I have those feelings because he truly can't help it. Cooper is nine years old and still cannot tie his shoes, play sports as well as he'd like to (but he does it), he has trouble with unstructued activities, recess is the worst, but you know, he is mine and he is amazing and has made so much progress dealing with what he faces everyday as a child with Autism. Enjoy the pix of his latest concert, the lighting was horrible but the performance was great!