One of the things we love most about Connor is that he is so happy the majority of the time. He is almost always smiling or laughing. He's really gotten good at clapping this last month, and loves to do it. He claps at everything, especially when he gets excited about something. While he claps he'll look around with a huge smile on his face, and won't stop clapping until we clap with him. It's hilarious.
Connor can now climb up onto the couch and get back down by himself. It's nice that he can get up and down by himself in some respects, but I can no longer use the couch to "bench" him. It's been nice to be able to set him on the couch to keep him off of the floor while I'm vacuuming, or set him on floor while I sit on the couch and use the computer or some other task I don't want him helping me with. Now he just climbs up or off and is into everything. I feel like I've lost my last line of defense!
He has also learned to get off of our bed by himself. I was laying in our bed with him one day and left him there while I went into the living room to grab something. I stopped to talk to Brian for a minute, and then we heard our bedroom door move and out comes Connor, strutting like he owned the place. He had climbed off the bed all by himself--this was the first time he did it. We were so surprised, and he was very excited about his feat because he was smiling and giggling.
He likes to use his new found ability to climb up onto the back of the couch. Most of the time he is content to just sit there and flip the light switches on and off. It's like a constant party with strobe lights at our house now.
Sometimes when I'm in the kitchen, he'll climb up onto the couch and then up onto the back and just perch or lay there watching me work. It makes me nervous because I know one of these times he's just going to tumble right off. I pick him up and put him on the floor, but he'll just walk around and climb up again. There is no stopping this boy.
Connor has really started to play peek-a-boo this last month. It's the cutest thing when he covers his eyes with his little hands. Most times he ends up just covering his nose or mouth, which is hilarious. He will sit there covering his eyes/face for quite awhile before lowering them. We have to repeatedly ask where Connor is before he'll move his hands, and he giggles every time.
He loves being tickled. He'll squeal, laugh, and squirm while we're tickling him and try to push us away. Not long after we stop, he'll be pulling our hands or faces back towards him wanting us to tickle him again. It's great fun.
Connor has also started to show a mischievous streak lately. He will come up to Brian or I and stick his tongue out over and over until we copy him and stick our own tongue out. Then he'll reach out and touch or more often grab our tongues and pull on them. He laughs and laughs because he thinks he's being so sneaky. We wised up after the first few times, and now pull our tongues back in before he can get a good grip. He thinks it great fun to try to trick us.
He loves it when Brian "flies" him around the house like Superman, and will beg and beg to do it over and over after the first time.
Brian and I got him a set of wooden blocks for his birthday. I now spend a good chunk of each day building towers with Connor so he can knock them over. We were playing with the blocks one day and he threw one up in the air and it hit his head on the way down. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but he just looked surprised for a minute. I put my hands on either side of my face and said "Oh no." He laughed really hard at that and immediately copied me by putting his hands on either side of his head. It was so cute that it made me laugh. Every time he knocks over a block tower now, we have to put our hands on our faces and I say "oh no." He giggles with such delight each time.
Connor still loves to explore our apartment and I makes as many messes as he can each day. It does get a little tiring, but for the most part I don't mind. His newest discovering is the kitchen drawer full of dishtowels and pot holders. He loves pulling them all out. As I pick them back up each day, I realize that I have far too many dishtowels. Haha!
One day, Brian brought a bocce ball home (just one) that he scrounged from somewhere. Connor has been obsessed with it since. He is such a strong little guy and loves to pick it up. Yes, our baby lifts weights. The first time he tried to lift it, he was standing up and bent over to grasp it. It was a bit too heavy for him and he lost his balance and fell forward over the ball onto his head. It didn't hurt him at all, but was just funny. He has since learned to sit when he tries to lift it. He'll sit there straining and grunting until he gets a good grasp and then lifts it up to his nose. I have to watch him while he plays with it, because he'll just drop in on the ground and I try to catch it so it won't smash his legs or feet.
I don't know if all of this chasing is a good idea. We love it because he loves it and it makes him laugh, but it has caused a few problems with changing diapers and dressing him. He would much rather be naked, so he tries his best to escape once his clothes are off. The same with diaper changes. As soon as we take his diaper off, he's up on hands and knees crawling away at the speed of light, trying to gain enough distance to get onto his feet before we can catch him. Recently he doesn't even wait until we've taken the diaper all the way off. As soon as we open one tab he's up and moving and crawls out of the other side. It's quite comical...until he pees on the floor. All of this happens only when we can catch him to change his diaper. When he sees me pick up the diapers and wipes he immediately makes a run for it, crawling behind our recliner and giggling while hiding. Also, last night he took his diaper off by himself for the first time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this boy.
He also hates socks, and whenever he stops long enough to realize he is wearing them, he sits down and tries his hardest to pull them off. Sometimes he can only get one off, so settles for that. A lot of the time he wanders around with one sock on and one off. When he manages to pull both of them off, he grasps them in his little fists and waves them above his head as he walks around squealing and laughing in triumphant excitement.
Connor almost never crawls anymore, instead preferring to toddle around on his feet. However, when he really wants to move fast he will drop down on all fours and crawl away. A few weeks ago he started doing this funny thing where he'll push his head along the floor as he crawls. He doesn't do this all the time, only occasionally. It's very entertaining to watch him crawl around with his head on the floor. He can't see where he's going, so he's learned to go slowly so when he bumps into a piece of furniture it's not that hard of an impact.
He also likes to crawl inside of things. He loves spending time crawling inside of his box and in the bottom kitchen cabinet where I keep the pans. He just opens up the door and crawls inside.
Connor hasn't really had a favorite toy that he can't live without. He will play with his toys randomly and moves from object to object quite quickly. He is mostly entertained by his diaper box, dishtowels, pan lids, and dvd cases. He's recently taking a liking to an empty Superman Pez dispenser that we have and Brian's stuffed koala bear. Layne bought it for Brian while he was in the hospital as a preemie. It sat in his isolette. Connor has decided that he really loves the koala bear. He will pick it up and hug it, and carry it around with him. It's super cute to see his little arms wrapped around the bear. If he's sitting down while holding it, he'll hug it and lean over so he's laying on it too. He'll often just hold it and touch it's nose and eyes, and sometimes he'll sit and talk to it.
Although his interest in his toys is hit or miss, he loves books. He loves to hold them, and turn the pages, and he loves it when we read to him. His favorite book right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". We read it to him almost every night, multiple times. He likes the bear, duck, dog, and sheep pages the best, and we spend a lot of time flipping back and forth between these pages. Another of his favorite books lately seems to be "Good Night Moon" and "The Going to Bed Book"--if only they actually put him to sleep.
My Mom and sister Annie came to visit for Connor's birthday. One night during their visit, Connor went back and forth between them, having them read him lots of books. He was in heaven.
We've had a few accidents where he's fallen and whacked his head on the couch or TV stand, and as a result has had some minor bruises and scratches on his face. We've only had one accident that involved blood. It was a bit traumatic for both him and me. I was in the bathroom washing my hands after changing his diaper, and he followed me in. Somehow he tripped on the rug and fell forward, hitting his mouth on the lip of the tub. He started screaming and when I picked him up there was quite a bit of blood coming out of his mouth. Poor little guy, I felt so bad. I wet a wash cloth with cool water and tried to hold it to his mouth, but he kept batting it away. I just held him for awhile until the bleeding slowed. I tried to look inside his mouth, but didn't want to make things worse, and he wasn't too happy with me prodding his lips, so I just left it alone. I'm thinking his teeth probably cut the inside of his lip. Luckily, they didn't go all the way through and the bleeding stopped fairly fast. Not a fun thing for either of us.
Connor's hair is still very blonde. It's getting longer, and is curly in spots. He has some curls at the nape of his neck, which I just love! He also has a bit of a wave in his bangs. He has hair like his dad's--Brian's hair starts to curl at the back when it grows out a bit too.
One night a few weeks ago Connor stood up and folded his arms. We hadn't ever purposely shown him how to do it, he's just watched us fold our arms when we say prayers. So it surprised us when he just stood up and did it. He was so serious as he did it, and he just stood there with his arms folded and his head down. When Brian and I got excited and started praising him, he got excited and started clapping. Then he folded them again. He is just too cute.
Speaking of teeth, ever since Connor first noticed Brian and I brushing our teeth, he has been fascinated with teeth and toothbrushes. He will sit and watch us so intently the entire time we brush and floss. If he gets close enough, he'll grab the toothbrush's handle and "help" us brush. Since he has so many teeth now, I bought him a toothbrush of his own. It's tiny little bristles kill me. He loves to brush his teeth every night with us. He is so cute holding his little brush. I hope we can keep this love for tooth brushing going as he gets older.
He is still our little night owl, and won't go to bed until 10 pm. He's been doing a lot better lately and sleeps through the night more regularly now. He'll wake up around 4 or 5 once a week maybe, which I can handle. He'll go back to sleep if he wakes up, and sleeps until 9 am.
Connor hasn't said any words yet except "Momma" and "Dada". He has been exploring sounds though and we love to hear his little voice as he babbles. Lately he has been saying the "n" and "l" sounds a lot, and combining letter sounds. He'll say "na-na-na" or "la-de-la-de-la". He likes to sit and look at his books and talk as he turns the pages. Brian and I like to think that he is "reading" himself the stories.
This last month he's also started babbling in a whisper. He does this especially when he is serious or intently exploring an object. It sounds like he's saying "pshhh-pshhh-pshhh" over and over. It's so funny.
He was only an inch away from the maximum height allowance of his baby carrier/carseat, so we bought him a new convertible car seat. We pulled it out of the box when it came and got it ready to install in our car. He had fun climbing in and sitting in it, checking out the straps and cup holders. He didn't want to get out. It was a different story once it was installed in the car and we had to strap him in. It took two of us to hold him down while we buckled the harness around him. Boy did he kick and scream. Once he was buckled in, he settled down and was just fine. It's taken a couple weeks for him to get used to it, but now he doesn't fight us (at least most of the time) when we put him in it.
It's always fun to take Connor shopping with us. He loves to ride around in the cart, looking at everything we walk by. He is always looking up at the lights on the store's ceiling, and he lifts his arm and waves at them. People we walk by, think he's waving at them, so they wave back and say hi. He doesn't like to face backwards in the cart--he'd rather be sitting front-facing so that he can see where we are going. He doesn't try to stand up or climb around in the cart, so when he turns himself around we usually just let him stay that way.
Connor has started to wave. Mostly he just stretches his arm out at you, but he's started to move his hand back and forth. This last Sunday, I was holding him in Relief Society and he was waving at the ladies sitting behind us. He moved his fingers up and down while waving at them--it was the first time he's done that.
He's such a friendly little guy too. He's all of the sudden lost his shyness (for the most part) at church. He wanders around the room during Sunday School and Relief Society, walking right up to people. Occasionally, when someone starts waving or talking to him, he'll fold his arms and put his head down and stand still until they stop looking at him. Connor especially loves to play with the babies and kids at church. He gets so excited when he sees another child, probably because they are his size. He walks right up to them and starts talking or growling at them--his way of saying hi. He isn't shy about grabbing their toys, snacks, and he's even pulled hair clips out of a little girls hair and taken the pacifier right out of another baby's mouth. I love that he's not afraid to socialize with other kids, we just need to start working on the sharing and invasion of personal space.
Connor has become quite the little ham and just loves attention. He loved it when everyone was here for his birthday party. He loves to skype with Grandma Miller and his aunts and cousins. He likes to look at himself in the mirror and on my phone's camera. He has started making this cheesy smile when he sees himself. It's hilarious. This face is also similar to the one he makes when he is fake crying to try and get his way. I haven't gotten a picture of his cheesy grin, but I did manage to catch it on video.
Connor still continues to be a good eater. He eats three main meals a day with snacks in between. Sometimes he'll have a bottle in the we hours if he wakes up, but that has mostly stopped at this point, and he'll have a bottle before bed. Some new foods he's eaten this last month include oranges, grapefruits, parsnips, pb&j sandwiches, and oatmeal. He's been a fan of them all. He's decided that he'll eat baked or roasted potatoes but not mashed, and he really likes cooked carrots.
A couple of times, he's taken matters into his own hands and tried to feed himself. Brian was feeding him dinner and stepped away from the table for a minute. Connor reached over and pulled the container of baby food onto his tray and started digging in with his spoon. I don't think he managed to actually get anything in his mouth, but he'd made a fine mess by the time Brian came back.
Connor loves to play with Brian's hat. When Brian leaves it within reach, Connor will grab it and carry it around with him. A couple of weekends ago, Brian was sick and spent most of the day Saturday in bed. Brian came out to eat lunch and then went back into our bedroom, closing the door behind him. Connor was following him, holding Brian's hat, and started crying when he realized the door was shut and he couldn't give the hat to Brian.
He also loves to get into my purse and open my wallet. A couple of times he's snuck into my wallet without my knowing and I've found my check book and cards spread all over the floor. Luckily he hasn't lost anything super important yet, although my library card is missing, and I'm assuming he is the culprit. I'm still waiting for it to turn up. He also likes to play with our sunglasses, and is constantly finding them and putting them on.
Connor is quite flexible and very strong. He likes to squat with his bum almost touching the ground while he plays with his toys on the floor. He can stand right up from that position with no problem. He also can stand up right up from a downward-dog-like position. It's pretty incredible watching him do that. He'll often sit with his leg up over his arm, holding onto his foot like in the picture below. I wish I was as flexible as he is.
Connor wears size 12 month shirts and onesies, although he's starting to fit into some 18 month onesies. He is in between pant sizes right now. Size 9 month pants fit him around the waist, but are too short. Size 12 month pants are a bit long and too big around the waist. He still wears size 4 diapers.
I took him in for his 12 month checkup a couple days after his birthday. He's doing really well, meets or exceeds all the milestones, and is as healthy as can be. His growth looks just fine as well.
- Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz; 26th percentile
- Height: 30 inches; 57th percentile
- Head Circumference: 18.5 inches, 47 cm; 77th percentile
He's still a scrawny little guy though. He hasn't quite made it to 20 pounds yet! Our pediatrician gave us the okay to switch him to whole milk. It will be nice not to have to buy formula anymore. During the visit, Connor received his MMR and Chickenpox vaccinations, along with a flu shot. He didn't cry until he got the third shot and even then he didn't cry for very long. He continues to be our brave little boy.
It's been a wonderful first year with our Connor-bug. We love him more than we ever thought we could. We're excited for all that year two will bring.
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