As I think back over these last 11 months, I can see how my life has completely changed to revolve around this little one. Each day is filled with so many emotions ranging from joy, delight, and wonder to frustration, uncertainty, and mom guilt....underneath which always flows a love so intense that it sometimes takes my breath away. I'm exhausted at the end of each day in a way I've never been before. I've loved every minute of it though...even the hard days. I am so beyond grateful for this precious boy and the light that he is.
Connor is as active as ever, and is continuously finding new things to get into. Even though I sometimes get frustrated with trying to keep him out of certain cupboards, I love how curious he is. He loves to open the bottom drawer of the oven and pay with the pans I keep there. He also loves to pull the pans and lids out from the nearby cupboard and slide and bang them on the floor. He's also discovered that he can lift the toilet lid. I caught him doing this for the tenth time or so (I try to keep the bathroom door shut, but am not perfect) and he looked up at me with the biggest smile that it made me laugh. Before I could reach him, he reached his hand in for the water. Ugh! I think I caught him in time, but regardless we've been going through a lot of wipes and hand sanitizer.
He's a little walking machine these days, and is always on his feet. I love his little wobbly, stiff-legged, back-and forth-sway as he totters around. He's still such a little guy, and it's so comical, and adorable to see him come walking into the kitchen or around the couch. He absolutely loves walking and smiles and giggles with excitement each time he's on his feet.
Connor has discovered that he can drop objects over the edge of the bed or couch when we're sitting together on either one. He loves to throw things over the edge and then peer down to see where it went. It's even better when Brian or I will pick the object up and give it back to him so he can do it over and over and over again. It's one of his favorite games at the moment and he'll play it as long as we have patient to keep picking things up for him.
One day when we were playing together, I showed him how to put the shaped blocks into the shaped holes in the front of his walker toy. He still can't do it himself because he doesn't understand the different shapes yet, but he did catch on to the fact that he can put objects into things. He now is a bit obsessed with put things into other things. It started out when he was in the bathtub one day and after a few tries got his small plastic submarine to go into the cup I use to rinse the soap off him with. He go so excited the first time he did that...so much so that he let out a very loud ad excited screech while vigorously flapping his arms up and down, splashing the water. He kept doing that over and over and was so excited each time. A couple days later, he discovered a hold in the sock that Brian was wearing. He pulled on it until it until the hole was bigger, and then went and got one of his blocks and tried to stick it in the hole...while Brian's foot was still in it. It was hilarious.
Since his fascination with putting objects in things, he's started collecting various items in his box. At the end of each day when I'm straightening up the apartment a little, I find a new stockpile of items and it always makes me laugh. I've started snapping pictures of his hoarding because it's just too funny.
Speaking of bathtubs and dropping objects, he loves to throw things in the tub while I'm taking a shower. He usually plays with his bath toys on the floor outside of the tub while I shower. Sometimes he'll throw them in the tub. Well one day while rinsing shampoo out of my hair I heard a thunk and just assumed he'd thrown his cup or submarine in. When my eyes were free of soap I looked down, and there was our television remote sitting in a pool of water on the tub floor. It was quite the surprise and I scrambled to grab it and throw it out before it got to water logged. Luckily the remote still works.
Connor really likes looking at his reflection in the mirror. We always stop to take a look at ourselves after his bath while he's still wrapped up in his towel. He giggles at his reflection every time. He gets excited and squeals when he catches a glimpse of his reflection on the surface of the bathtub's overflow drain while he's taking a bath. He loves to stand up against our full length mirror in our bedroom and slap it with his hands or put his face against it. He started licking the mirror and sometimes when he has his tongue out he moves his head back and forth so he licks it in a big horizontal line. Needless to say that mirror, and the glass on the sliding door is constantly streaked with his spit, mouth prints and little hand prints. I given up trying to keep them clean, so just windex them when I deep clean. I try to clean them when he isn't watching, so I can get the unmarred surfaces to last at least a couple hours. Haha!
Connor also loves anything that makes noise, including his rattle and toy car that has noise making beads in the wheels. Connor also really enjoys making noise...specifically banging a toy against a wall, floor, or our sliding glass door that leads to our balcony. He was banging on the door's window the other day with his car, so I took it away. Five minutes later he was back at it with a block. I took that away. He then found his teething toy and decided that made a delightful noise against the window as well. Isn't the definition of insanity doing something over and over and expecting a different result? Well sometimes I feel a little insane! Haha!
Connor boy just adores his daddy! He still gets so excited when Brian walks through the door each day after work. He always greets him with a "Dada" or two or ten. He follows Brian around the apartment and always looks to see Brian's reaction after he does anything...walking, dancing, pushing his box, shaking a rattle. I just love these two so much.
Connor loves to buzz his lips. Brian and he play a game where one of them buzz their lips and the other repeats it. They'll do this for hours if they don't get distracted playing something else. One night Brian was holding Connor and we were trying to talk about a bill or something. We couldn't hear each other because Connor was buzzing his lips loudly the entire time we were talking. We finally just gave up trying to communicate and broke out laughing. He thought that was pretty funny too. I took this video while we were still laughing about it...and he was still going strong.
This last month our little bug started clapping. He is so cute when he does it, and very proud of himself. He doesn't hold his fingers up straight yet when he claps, so he only makes a soft clapping sound. My visiting teacher was over a couple weeks ago and she was gesturing with her hands while she was talking. Connor was watching her and started clapping, thinking that's what she was doing. It was funny and she just loved that.
Connor still loves music of any kind, especially something fast paced with a good beat. Anytime music comes on while we're watching a movie or I have music playing on the t.v. or my phone, it immediately gets his attention and he comes to check out what is happening. His dancing skills have come a long way too. He doesn't dance at everything, but when he does it's pretty epic. He'll dance when he standing by bouncing up and down, and sometimes he'll dance when he's sitting by bouncing, rocking, and swaying back and forth. It's so funny to watch him dance, he's so intense about it. I just love it.
Here's a short clip of him dancing to "BINGO."
A few weeks ago, Connor was watching the chorister lead the music during Sacrament Meeting. When the next hymn started, he immediately started waving his arms around "leading the music." He does this during every song at church now. We love it, and it causes those sitting around us at church to smile.
Church has become quite the adventure lately. He is such a busy boy that it's hard for Brian and I to hear the speakers/lessons. At least one of us has to keep an eye on him to make sure he's not causing trouble or escaping. He's also gotten very loud, and his nap time falls right during Sunday School, so he really starts getting fussy. The last couple of Sunday's, either Brian or I have ended up out in the hall with him most of the time to avoid disrupting the lesson. On the occasions that he isn't being noisy, he's trying to crawl or walk up to the front of the room or he likes to bang on the seats of the metal chairs because it makes a gloriously loud clang. He likes to play a game where he crawls around and bats an object so it rolls forward a few feet in front of him, and then he'll chase after it. Kind of like crawling soccer. He was doing this in Sunday School with a small container of snacks that I'd brought for him. We'd let him do it for a little while, but if he got up front, one of us would go and get him and bring him back. Well he thought that made the game even more fun, so just kept trying to get up front before we could get him. Silly boy.
He also loves to push things around, and has discovered that he can push the chairs around in Sunday School. He kept trying to do so over and over and I would keep grabbing him to stop him, but when I put him down again he'd go right back at it. The couple behind us started laughing and commented that he was very persistent. That is a good word to describe him. He doesn't give up easily.
We've discovered that he loves Elmo from Sesame Street. He starts happily babbling, laughing, and screeching whenever we put Elmo's World on the T.V. and stands right up in front of it to watch. Sometimes he'll reach up and touch the t.v., trying to touch Elmo. I think I might need to find a small plush Elmo for him for Christmas. As much as he loves Elmo, he hates Mr. Noodle. For those of you not familiar with the show, Mr. Noodle is played by an older man who wears over-sized clothes, has a mustache, and doesn't talk. He is always messing up whatever Elmo asks him to do. He appears on every episode of Elmo's World, and every time he comes on the screen Connor backs away from the t.v. and comes to find me. At first he would start crying when he saw Mr. Noodle, now he is okay as long as he is touching me or sitting with me. It's kind of hilarious, but I totally understand why he doesn't like Mr. Noodle.
Connor's love for watching Elmo has its benefits. I can put on an episode and the majority of the time he will happily stay and watch it while I go clean the bathroom, take a shower, balance the checkbook...well you get the idea. It's so great that we've found something to distract him with long enough for me to get a couple of things done. I'm not a huge fan of Elmo, he's always bothered me, but I don't mind him so much now. Haha!
We've always known that Connor is a smart little guy, but he still surprises us often with the connections he makes about how things work. We just didn't expect him to understand some things yet, but he is such an observant little guy that it should be a surprise. For example, he found the brush that I use to brush his hair after his baths. And after holding it for a minute, he raised it up to his head and started rubbing it back and forth on his hair. He found a q-tip and brought it up to his ear, rubbing it's end against his earlobe. I use a q-tip to clean his ears after his bath. He found my hair brush just this morning and tried brushing his hair with it. A couple nights ago, Brian was laying on the couch and I was playing on the floor with Connor. I ran my finger down the sole of Brian's foot to show Connor how to tickle it. I did it a couple times and then he reached up to copy me and ran his hand down Brian's foot. When he's in the bathtub he'll stand up and wipe his washrag back and forth across the tiled shower wall, just as he's seen me do when I clean the bathroom. It just amazes us what he picks up on.
Connor loves being outside. Here is a photo of him with the pumpkin we picked out at the pumpkin patch. He loved the pumpkin, but when I tried to get a picture of him outside with it on our balcony, he was too distracted with the nearby tree, and looking out through the railing at the mountains and nearby buildings. He wanted to crawl around and look at the cracks in the cement and the tiny rocks and leaves laying around. It was a bit of work to get him to sit still for this picture, but we managed it.
I hung a fall wreath on our door at the beginning of the month and he came right over and was so excited to get to look out the screen door. When I moved him and shut the door, he started crying. So I opened the door again and let him look outside for awhile.
He loves looking out the window and when I sit in the rocking chair with him next to our sliding glass door, he loves to sit with me and gaze outside. He loves to watch the leaves on the trees move in the wind. He really loves to stand up against that door and look outside, watching the cars drive by or birds flying or the trees. When I have the blinds open but not pushed back on sunny days, Connor loves to examine the lines of sunlight that fall on the carpet. He crawls right over and touches them and lays in them.
The weather has been so lovely the last few weeks that we've been taking more walks to enjoy the lovely fall leaves and warm sunshine. I love the views of the mountains that we see while we're out.
Connor loves our walks and is always so happy as we move along. He just sits in his stroller, kicking his legs and babbling. It's quite adorable. He has had a cold (a horrible runny nose and a cough), and all last week just seemed miserable. It was in the 60's on Friday, so I put him in his jacket and took him on a walk. As soon as we were outside, he cheered up immensely. It was the happiest I'd seen him in a few days and I was glad to see my cheerful little guy again. I found a giant leaf and gave it to him to play with. It made him even happier and he held onto that leaf during our entire walk. We brought it home with us where it ended up in is box...a place of honor.
Although Connor is generally a happy, laid-back kid, he does have his grumpy moments. He doesn't like our pictures sessions each month, and I have to be quick to get some good pictures before he starts to scowl (I love his scrunchy, scowly face!) and cry. He still throws fits when we take away something that he really wants, or stop him from doing something that he shouldn't be doing (like opening the toilet lid). He also has breakdowns when he is overdue for a nap or bedtime or when he is sick. Everything is worth crying over then. He's even cute when he cries, although after a whole day of breakdowns over every thing I get a little cranky myself.
Connor doesn't like to sit still or cuddle or snuggle unless he's tired or sick, and even then it's hard to get him to sit still for long. We were all laying in our bed together after church last week, cuddling and getting ready to take a nap. Connor decided that he'd had enough quiet time and started crawling all over me. His favorite thing to do when we are laying in bed together is to crawl onto my (or Brian's) head and then just lay there kicking his little legs and giggling. It's hilarious the first or second time, but after he knees you in the nose or throat and pulls your hair it gets old fast.
Connor still has a very weird sleeping schedule...if you can call it a schedule. The only consistent timing with his sleeping is the one nap he takes around 1:00 in the afternoon. We've been a bit more successful getting him down for the night around 9 pm, but sometimes it's 10 o'clock or later. He wakes up a few times during the night, but it most often is just him stirring. We can usually get him to go right back to sleep if we pat or rub his back. Sometimes he won't go back down without a bottle, but that only happens once during the night about every two to three nights. I'm hopeful that he's transitioning to not needing to eat at night at all. He wakes up for the day anywhere from 8:30 to 10:00 in the morning. I guess it's slowly getting better. He has been sleeping longer stretches without stirring lately, for which Brian and I are both grateful.
He still eats three main meals a day that consist of baby food and table food followed by a bottle. Sometimes he'll wake up for a bottle in the early morning/night, and he has a bottle before bedtime. Some new foods that we've tried this last month include strawberries, tomatoes, pineapple, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, bits of hamburger, fresh apples, and macaroni. He loves all of them especially the strawberries, green beans and tomatoes. He's a good little eater and I'm so glad he isn't scared of trying new things. We hope to keep that phenomenon going for as long as we can.
Other Connor Facts:
- He wears size 12 month clothes (onesies, shirts, and pajamas) and size 9 month pants. We got him his first two piece set of pajamas this last month and he's so cute in them.
- He wears size 4 diapers.
- He has three teeth, all on the bottom, with a fourth one trying to come through. It's taking forever.
- His hair curls up in the back at the bottom just the slightest bit. It's so cute.
- He likes to sit up on his knees with one leg crossed in front and one leg behind.
Connor didn't have a well-check with his pediatrician this month...that happens next month. So we wrestled with him to get his measurements here at home. I wouldn't be on their accuracy...there more ball park figures.
- Weight: 20 lbs; 36th percentile
- Height: 29 1/4 inches; 44th percentile
- Head Circumference: 18.25 inches;46.35 cm; 67th percentile
Some of these measurements are the same as last month, so I know they can't be correct. He has grown some. I'm anxious to see his stats next month.
He is such a man. So many of the photos and things you describe remind me of Brian as a tot. He looks like a perfect mix of both of you. What a great kid!
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