A few words that describe our Connor include happy, loving, affectionate, smart, curious, determined (maybe even a little stubborn), persistent, strong, brave, easy to smile and laugh, funny, and playful.
He's gotten even more active than he was last month. At six months he was crawling around like crazy, and even started crawling onto things a little. He started to really get adventurous, crawling under our table and chairs, and was beginning to get into everything. I rearranged some things here and there to keep him out of too much trouble. I moved books and-nick knacks from our living room shelf, replacing them with stuffed animals and books that he couldn't hurt. A couple of strategically placed baskets blocked off the area behind our recliner and gave us a safe space to keep our computer and miscellaneous cords.
This worked for a little while, but Connor just kept getting more adventurous and skilled at crawling and getting into things. This is how we like to climb into and play with our bouncer now. I have to make sure that he can't get into it when I'm not supervising him, or he'll scoot/crawl all the way to the top and tip it over.
About a week later (May 2nd), I was in the kitchen and he was playing nearby on the floor. I opened the fridge and pulled something out and walked over to set it on the counter, leaving the fridge door open. When I came back, less than 30 seconds later, this is the sight I found...
The little monkey had scooted over and pulled himself up to a standing position inside the fridge! I was so shocked. I didn't think he was ready to start pulling himself up yet, but he decided it was time. This was the first time he stood up on his own. A little later that same day, he pulled himself up to standing in front of the couch. Since then, he has become a pro at pulling himself into a standing position, and honestly spends most of the day on his feet. He's already started walking along the couch and bookshelf using the cushions or shelves as supports as he moves along.
A few days later, Connor got his first black eye. I was laying on the floor in front of our t.v. and we were playing. He was having fun crawling on me, and he lost his balance, fell, and caught his eye on the bottom shelf of the t.v. stand before I could catch him. His eye immediately started to swell a bit and bruise. I felt so bad.
After a few minutes of cuddles and hugs, he stopped crying and was off exploring the world again, so he was fine. His eye stayed bruised for a good week or so though.
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| Taken just after he stopped crying. |
That hasn't been the only time he's fallen since he's learned to stand up. He's still so little and wobbly that he loses his balance a lot. That first week was the worst though, and I swear every day he had a new scratch or bump on his arms and head. Of course, I'm there watching him and catching him as much as I can, but he's a busy fellow and sometimes I'm too far away to reach him in time. He's gotten so much better over the last few weeks though, and doesn't lose his balance as often. The last few days he's figured out how to get back down on his own. It's not a perfected skill yet, but he does really good, reaching down to the floor with one hand first before letting go of the couch or other object he's holding onto. He's also learned to catch himself with his hands or roll when he does fall.
Now that he can stand up, my yarn basket no longer works as a blockade between our recliner and the couch. Not only can he reach inside and play with my yarn, which is one of his favorite pastimes, but he has learned to step on the handle of the recliner and climb up and into the basket. He get stuck and can move forward or get back out, which results in him crying until I come rescue him. He won't be deterred though, and does this over and over and over again each day. I don't really have anything else that will fit in that space, but after one particular day of removing him from my basket for the twentieth time, I got a large cardboard box containing items we're selling on ebay and just stuck it in front of the space. It's ridiculous, but so far it's kept him out of my yarn and from getting stuck in the basket repeatedly. He didn't like it, and cried for a bit at first, trying to get around it. Since then he's been trying to find ways around it. If it gets moved at all and a crack appears between it and the arm of the couch, he's there trying to wedge himself in the opening. He's also started trying to push on the outer corner to move it himself. So far he's been unsuccessful, and just stands next to the box playing with the top flaps.
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| I put him in his first pair of shorts recently. They're a bit big yet. Made me smile! |
He also started pulling himself up while in his crib. We would go in to get him in the morning or after a nap and he would be standing up as proud as punch, waiting for us to get him out. We've since lowered his crib mattress to prevent him from crawling or falling out, but he still manages to use the crib's bars to pull himself up to stand on the mattress.
Because Connor went straight from crawling to standing, we thought it might be good to work with him and help him learn to sit up on his own. We figured it would probably help him with his balance and maybe aid him when he falls. I've been putting him in a sitting position more when we're sitting together on the bed or couch, and having him sit in his booster seat/high chair has helped a lot as well. He won't/can't get in a sitting position by himself yet, but sits up pretty well if we help him get into that position. He doesn't sit still long enough to practice though.
Also, just two or so days ago, I was watching him crawl towards me and I realized that he was actually crawling...like up on all fours crawling! I'm pretty sure that's the first time he has officially crawled and not used his army crawl/sea turtle pull-and-scoot method to move forward. He did it so casually, like it was no big deal. He just got up on his hands and knees and crawled. He still uses his hybrid crawling method most of the time, especially when he wants to get somewhere fast (you should see how quickly he covers ground when he wants to), but we've caught him crawling a few more times now.
We celebrated Father's Day (June 18th) this last month...Brian's first one! He is such a great dad. I love watching Brian with Connor, the way he cares for, teaches and plays with him. I actually had oral surgery (ugh!) just a few days before, and Brian took a couple of days off work to care for Connor while I recuperated. The surgery went fine and the recovery time wasn't even that bad. I was a bit sore and swollen that first day though, and Brian took care of everything so that I could rest and take it easy. Because he is such a hands on dad, I didn't worry about Connor at all, and was able to actually have a day off.
He is the best dad for our little boy. I'm so grateful for him, for the example that he already is to Connor. I love him so much and am so happy that I get to share this journey of parenthood with him.
It was such a beautiful day and we got to spend it with Brian's parents who were visiting us that weekend. Church was wonderful, and afterward we took a few photos. Connor had just woken up (we may have done the waking) from a nap, hence the slightly grumpy face and yawns. Don't let those facial expressions fool you...he loves his dad and lights up whenever Brian enters the room. Often he greets Brian with a laugh or excited screech when he comes home from work or church meetings. It's adorable.
Connor has been eating so well this month. He hasn't had any periods of a waning appetite like he has in the past, and I'm so relieved. In fact his appetite has grown, and he absolutely loves baby food. He eats 6 to 7 ounces of formula every three to four hours. We feed him baby food two to three times a day, and he'll eat an entire 2 1/2 ounce container in one sitting... after having a bottle. We've been having fun with trying new baby foods, and he hasn't been picky about anything yet. Green beans and sweet potatoes are the newest additions to his diet, and he has no problem with either one. We've also tried peanut butter this month. He wasn't sure what to think of it at first, because it was so sticky. But he seemed to like it and had fun sucking on his spoon to get it all off.
I was just talking to my sister about her 5 1/2 month old son, and how he doesn't like squash. He gagged and spit it out all over her when she gave it too him for the first time. I was told her how we haven't had any funny or messy experiences like that yet. I spoke too soon. The very next meal, Connor decided to explore the tactile nature of his prunes. He would suck on his fingers immediately after taking a bite and then rub his face, big, or tray. By the end of the meal, prunes were everywhere including on his bottom eyelashes, onesie, legs, down the sides of his booster chair, and even on the floor. He was quite proud of himself, and I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture.
As far as sleeping goes, he does it, but only because he has too. I honestly think he views sleep as an inconvenience at this point. He is so busy and has too many things to investigate. Sleep just gets in the way of all of that! I rock him or lay with him in bed to try to get him to fall asleep, and the entire time, up until his eyes are closed and he drifts off, he is moving, exploring, climbing, crawling, bouncing, or rolling back and forth. As he gets really close to dozing off, he starts to fuss and cry. I just have to let him roll and crawl around while he's half asleep until he finds a position that he likes and finally succumbs. Once he's out, we move him to his crib and he sleeps just fine. Getting him to settle down long enough to actually fall asleep is the difficult part.
We've found that giving him a blanket to hold on to and rub against his cheek helps settle him down and then we take it away after he's asleep. He's a little Linus van Pelt! Playing some rain sounds/white noise in the background also helps, as does telling him stories. He seems to really like listening to the stories as he cuddles with us. At first we started to tell him stories such as "Goldilocks" and "The Little Red Hen" from memory...but soon realized that our memories are quite fuzzy on the details. Haha! Sometimes we just go with it and make up the details, other times, we find the story online and read it to him. Connor also loves to play and cuddle with Brian's stuffed koala bear before falling asleep. Brian was born premature and his parents got the koala bear to put in his isolette at the hospital. I'm so glad he still has it and that Connor loves it too.
When we're lying with him trying to get him to sleep, he'll crawl or roll over to us and climb up if needed until his little cheek is pressed against ours. Then he pushes his face into ours as hard as he can while rocking back and forth. We call it extreme cuddling. Sometimes this is accompanied with an open mouthed kiss on our cheek or over our nose. It's the cutest, funniest, most endearing thing and it makes us laugh every time he does it. He also likes to lay right next to us and rock back and forth, gently head butting us, or the pillow, or the wall. When he's feeling especially cuddly, he loves to snuggle up against us with his head on our arm.
He still takes two good naps a day and has been going down for the night around 10 pm. He normally gets up once per night around two or three am for a bottle and a diaper change, but he's been sleep until four or five am the last week or so. I'm hoping this new trend holds out.
Connor always greets us with a smile and his giggle is the best sound in the world. He loves to laugh, and we love to make him laugh. He giggles when we make silly sounds, talk in funny voices, tickle him, play peek-a-boo, perform silly dances especially for him, and pull silly faces. We also can get a giggle pretty quickly by snorting or whistling. Earlier this week I pulled out my sewing machine to alter some shorts. I put him in his booster seat by the table so he could watch what I was doing without crawling around on the floor and playing with the machine's cords and pedal. As soon as I started sewing, he started to laugh. I stopped, thinking that he was laughing at me pulling a silly face, but as soon as I started to sew again, he began laughing again. It as hilarious.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Connor is so curious and determined. When he sees something new that he wants to touch and explore, or decides he wants something, there is almost no stopping him. He will crawl up and over us and anything else in his way to get to what he is after. He is a strong little monkey for sure. It's so hard to hang onto him sometimes, because he's leaning to the side over our arms or trying to crawl up our chests to reach some item or other that's caught his eye. He is often successful at the latter, and ends up hanging halfway over our shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Always active, this boy.
His favorite spot to stand is in the corner of our sectional, whether on the floor against the cushions, or on the cushions against the couch's back. We call the later his perch. He loves to try to crawl up the back of the couch. Thankfully he can't get up there on his own yet. We showed him how to turn the light switches above the couch on and off and now every time he sees them he tries SO hard to climb up to reach them. If we turn the switches on and hold him up, he'll turn them off. It's one of his favorite games. Also, he constantly struggles to reach the blinds or the lamp when we're holding/rocking him in our recliner. He likes to cuddle until he doesn't, and then he's on the move again.
A little while ago, I showed Connor how to lift and close the lid of his toy box. Today I watched as he did it all by himself. He's been trying to open the lid on his own ever since, but was unable to until today. He got stuck for a moment when he went fishing around inside, so I had to lift the lid so he could stand back up, but he's got it figured out.
Other Connor Facts:
- He wears size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.
- His hair is really starting to grow in on the back. I know I keep saying it, and it's still hard to see unless you're close, but I promise it's coming in. It gets so fuzzy after he's been sleeping.
- His eyes are definitely turning brown, although there is a bit of dark blue still hanging in there. His eyes continue to be so dark that you have to look at them in the right light and up close to see their color.
- He's started making more letter sounds instead of just "aahing" and "ooohing." Mostly he says "mmm" and "bah." He likes to suck on his fingers and alternate saying "bah" and blowing to make a buzzing/bubbling sound.
- He's rediscovered his tongue, and is always chewing on it or sticking it out. I don't think he's teething yet, I think he just likes the feel of it. He chews on everything, and his tongue is no exception.
- Connor also discovered his thumb. He doesn't suck on it so much as chew, but it makes us nervous that he knows it's there. When Brian saw it happen he said, "Oh no! Somewhere an orthodontist just got his wings!"
- He loves sitting up in his bathtub and splashing the water with his hands.
- He's started drumming/banging on surfaces with the palm of his hand. Up until now, he's just rubbed or scratched surfaces, but now he's started drumming and loves the sound it makes. He loves to hit the table, his booster seat's tray, the couch, and any other flat surface. He got so excited when I showed him he could do this on the lid of a tupperware full of watermelon.
- He loves to chase the vacuum cleaner when I vacuum. He crawls after me while I work, and I have to re-position him multiple times so that I don't run over his curious little fingers. It makes vacuuming a bit more complicated (I realize I could put him in his bouncer or high chair) but it's too fun.
He didn't have a well-baby checkup at the pediatrician this month, so we wrestled him to get his measurements this month. I'm not kidding about the wrestling. Weighing him (besides our poor quality scale) and measuring his head weren't too bad, but trying to measure his height was almost impossible. So his seven months stats aren't perfectly accurate, but they're as close as we could get.
- Weight: 17 lbs; 26th percentile
- Height: 27 1/2 inches; 63rd percentile
- Head Circumference: 17.5 inches/44.45 cm; 65th percentile
As correct as these are, it looks like his weight is continuing to improve. I think the baby foods are helping with that, and I'm so glad.
Our little man continues to bring us joy every day, and is constantly surprising us with how fast he is learning and growing. Boy do we love him!
I love this! And the toy box thing is exactly like Brian.
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