Wednesday, May 31, 2006

He napped in his crib today!




It's a miracle. He napped for an hour and then woke up, but the nanny was able to get him back to sleep for another hour on the couch - both of which seem superior to the swing, Connor's normal daytime place of rest. He is seriously about to outgrow the thing, so this is a very necessary development. Woohoo!

Monday, May 29, 2006

It's summer!


And that means that DC is heating up, so Ed did what any other sane daddy would do, he bought a swimming pool. Only Ed is not one to just buy the boring old plastic circle style. Instead, Connor is the proud owner of a pool that hooks up to the hose and squirts water. We can't wait for cousins Anna and Emily to come visit and show us how fun it can be!
On Saturday, some friends came over for dinner. Before they arrived, Connor and I were playing blocks. Let me just say that knocking over a tower of three - or sometimes even two - blocks if the mommy is not fast enough - never gets old!

We also introduced Connor to these two cubes that can be crawled through - though he wasn't nearly as impressed as Ed and I were. Yeah, I know you regular readers are surprised by that.
Bedtime came early tonight. Hope morning doesn't come early as well.

Elaine

Thursday, May 25, 2006

When you hear your husband say

"Ooh, Connor, I have a great idea", it is time to cringe. And, if your stomach isn't turning too much, you grab the camera and follow the two of them. Today's adventure involved discovering the sprinkler, which was innocuously watering my flowers prior to the boys noticing it. Naturally, Connor loved it. By the time they came inside, Connor's Royals outfit was soaked and he had enjoyed several good laughs.

The next adventure involved the more mundane searching for people walking their dogs. A found dog elicits a smile from Connor, and a vigorously waving left arm (his preferred arm for waving).

Finally, he enjoyed trying to figure out if he could fit his entire body into a very narrow cabinet in the kitchen. Given a little more agility, he could probably do it. Luckily, Ed removed the food processor parts from this cabinet in anticipation of such a move.

I consider us very lucky that so far, we can anticipate Connor's next move at this point. I feel like that skill may be fading though.

Elaine

Monday, May 22, 2006

Time to contain that baby!

Life around here has been pretty busy, which is my excuse for the very infrequent updates. That, and our most frequent visitors have been out of the country. OK, Aunt Linda may be just as frequent a visitor as Mims and Pappy, but Ed thinks Linda should spend more time monitoring her fantasy team which is in last place in the family league than reading about Connor. Connor, by the way, is in first place - as he has been for most of the season.

Connor continues to perfect his crawl, which now has two official versions. The first crawl is good for carpet. It's the traditional knees on the floor variety. The second crawl is good for hardwood floors when Connor has slippery clothes on his knees. That crawl involves using his feet in place of where his knees would normally be so that he doesn't slip. Yes, my little darling is a complete genius. I won't tell you how many face plants it took for him to develop this survival crawl. (Our home is primarily not carpeted, so learning how to get around on smooth surfaces was fairly essential. As you might suspect, Ed has begun the baby-proofing process.

On Saturday, we went to the baseball game with my office. Amazingly, the Nationals won! Even more amazing, perhaps, was all the entertainment he provided us and my co-workers. Throughout the whole game he was hooting like the rest of the fans (a squeal he had been working on since dawn) and sticking his tongue out and spitting. He also was full of smiles and caused several co-workers to ask me if he was always this happy. I lied. I said YES. Actually, it wasn't much of a lie. Connor is super happy these days.

He and Ed took a walk on Sunday morning and Connor was busy waving at all the dogs. Very cool, those four-legged animals. He also went sort of nuts waving at his nanny when she came to the same bus stop we were at. (Normally, I would walk home from my friend's house with Connor, but I forgot the Baby Bjorn, and even though he is the skinniest baby ever - he's still heavy to carry around. So, we took the bus the few blocks instead.) Very, very cute.

After I got up on Saturday, Connor and I were dancing around in the hallway while he laughed. So much fun, my little man is these days!

He also has learned how to get around on two feet. On Friday, he figured out how to use a step stool we have as a walker. He looked like a little old man scooting the stool and then shuffling his feet behind. Perhaps I should take him to the nursing home so he can show the others how it's done. On Saturday, Ed took the exer-saucer apart which turns into an actual walker. It has three wheels and Connor can walk behind it. He's pretty good on carpet, but it gets away from him on the hardwood floors. The 5 second video of this feat is below.


Welcome back to the country, Mims and Pappy!

Elaine

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Waving good-bye

No new photos today, but Connor did another amazing thing. He waved Good-bye to his nanny when she left. Very cool. He does not wave good-bye to me as he is too busy trying to communicate that he would prefer I not leave.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Happy NINE month birthday!

Dear Connor,

Today, you turn nine months old, and if last month was lacking in milestones, this one is replete with them. But, before we get to all the milestones, I must pause to point out that this month marks the point that you have been outside my body for as long as you were inside it. At first when you came out, you were just this very fragile, incredibly little being that your dad and I (especially your dad) were almost afraid we would break. Now, you are this incredible little guy so full of personality that we are sure you are the happiest, most amazing kid ever. And I assure you, we aren't biased about this at all! And your dad's timidness has been completely replaced by a ferocious vivacity that I fear someday will make him your favorite parent. But for now, no threat of that. You do love your daddy, but I am still your rock.

At the beginning of this month, you decided you were going to figure out what this talking thing was all about. So much so, that your nanny told me one day “Connor talks too much” and this is particularly funny because of an early outing your dad and I took. When we were both employees for the government, we called in sick to work and drove up to New York City to watch the Yankees and Royals. (No, I’m not condoning this behavior in the future.) On the way home it was raining, which meant your dad was driving because, you might as well know, I am not the best of drivers – particularly in inclement weather. Per usual, I was rattling on about something and your dad turned to me and said “you talk too much”. (I told him he didn’t talk enough and kept right on going.) So, when your nanny said this about you, it was hard to contain my pride. After all, you look so much like your dad that sometimes it’s hard to see me in you.

However, as of late, the talking has turned into full on concentration on figuring out this motion business. You have always been a baby who loved to be on his feet. Even when you were very tiny and shouldn’t have had the strength to hold yourself up, you relished standing supported by someone. Now, you pull yourself up, and push off the ground sticking your bottom in the air, trying very hard to get to a standing position. Unfortunately for you, that head of yours is one difficult thing to pick up, so you need something to push off of or pull-up to achieve a standing position.

And, though you clearly view it as a temporary thing, you are crawling. It’s still a special little crawl that is sort of hand, hand, leg, drag the other leg as if it’s broken. But, it’s getting faster every day and you are gaining confidence each day as well. On occasion, you still sit up and flap your arms waiting for someone to come pick you up, but you also crawl right up to me and give me a head butt to let me know it’s time to be picked up. You try, oh how you try, to grab my leg and pull up, but this is something that hasn’t quite been accomplished.

You seem to prefer having someone hold your fingers and when you want to get somewhere, it’s quite clear, and you can put one foot in front of the other and get yourself there. On occasion, you have taken a couple of steps holding onto your toybox (which incidentally was mine as a child – it was made by your great grandfather) and the music table that your Uncle Mike gave you for Christmas. (Uncle Mike, that present has turned out to be fabulous!)

At night when we read books, you turn the pages, and sometimes on the weekends in the morning you bring me books. And, oh, how I love that you seem to love reading.

You started eating yogurt and you can regularly get down squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. You also occasionally figure out how to get a piece of pasta in your mouth and potato chips are very cool. Food is just as fun to toss on the ground as it is to eat – and when you’re finished with dinner, you’re very good at letting us know. You’re pretty good with the fruits – and now that summer is here I can’t wait to see what the market has to offer you.

You are your Pappy’s grandson because you will chase after a newspaper bag for long period of time. Someday, maybe he will show you the giant stash of these he has accumulated and then he will explain all the great things you could do with them. For now, we use them to contain the stink bombs that you are now fairly regular about releasing (oh how I long for the once every 6 days pooping cycle that you used to be on).

If you aren't standing, you have quite a penchant for being held upside down. Often, when you are in my lap, you will flip your head so that the whole world is upside-down. The night wouldn't be complete if your dad didn't hold you by your ankles at least once.


I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the fabulous things you’ve been up to but it’s time for me to say good-night. Oh – and tonight is also a very special day because five years ago, your dad and I got married, one day before my 28th birthday.

Love,
Mom

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Good-bye, growth chart

Today, Ed took Connor in for his 9 month check-up. The appointment was actually for Tuesday, but I had it in my head wrong and sent them. The doctor's office was nice enough to accommodate my spacey-ness. Unfortunately, it looks like Connor could've used those extra few days to pack on more ounces as he is now no longer clinging to the chart, but officially off it. According to Ed, he's in the second percentile for weight. His length and head size are still above the median - but Connor has to go back in next month for a weight check. The doctor recommended egg yolks (which Connor has eaten in the past), yogurt (which he seemed to enjoy this evening), and orange juice - which is a very strange recommendation given that the American Pediatrics Academy has recently stated no kid should ever have juice. So...when Connor looks longingly at my orange juice in the morning, I figure I'll let him have a sip or two, but I'm not pouring him his own glass. Ugh! I thought we were over the extra weight checks.

I stayed home with Connor today because his nanny needed the day off and it was quite a day. At one point, I was laying on the floor playing with Connor and he crawled over to me and used me to pull himself up to a standing position. He then got the bright idea to let go, looked quite pleased with his accomplishment, and then promptly fell down. It was all very cute.

Elaine, mom to what must be the skinniest baby ever but I swear he's really healthy!

Monday, May 8, 2006

Mmmmm...potato chips!



Connor is still not very confident in his crawl, but he's getting around when he needs to. The nanny reports that he is playing very independently these days - though that is not a word I would ever use to describe Connor. I guess he's enjoying the toys at my friend's house and figuring out how to get into everything.

He seems to have settled into a 5AM wake-up which is a bit early for me, but I'm hoping it will get pushed back to a more reasonable 6:00 in the near future. On the bright side, there are still no tears at bedtime, which means I won't have to check myself into a mental institution in the next few days.

Mims and Pappy - we hope you're having a fun vacation!

Elaine

Saturday, May 6, 2006

TWCGHST - Part 2

So, the week Connor got his shit together, TWCGHST, continues. I forgot to mention in the last post that he is now a regular napper. Every day last week he took a morning nap that lasted 1.5 hours and 3 days he took an equally long or longer afternoon nap. Monday he abstained from napping in the afternoon, but given that it was his first day in my friend's house instead of my house, I figured some irregularities could be expected. Friday, his nap was shorter, but still a nap. He's still sleeping in the swing, but I figure if that's what he likes in the daytime, it's no big deal to me.

And...his crawling is getting better and better. Now, he's got sort of a tripod crawl going. He moves both of his hands forward, and then moves one of his legs, and then drags the other leg as if it's broken. Yes, he's crawling toward a platic bag in this video - which I'm sure is a terrible thing, but he really loves that bag and it has inspired him to crawl quite a distance (4 - 5 feet!). This continues to be a feature of TWCGHST.

Today we went to Gold Cup where Connor was able to enjoy carrying a beer glass (empty) around like all the adults (though the adults had beer in theirs) and eat potato chips. Yes, Mims, I allowed him to eat a potato chip but I still haven't buckled on the cookies thing.

On Thursday night, Connor ate carrots and peas for dinner, followed by green beans on Friday. More signs of TWCGHST.

But, the crowning achievement came last night. I nursed him to sleep, put him in his bed at 8:00 and I he didn't wake up until 5:00! Yes, folks, that means my little man slept through the night again. At 5:00, I fed him (he was hungry!) and then I held him as he sort of drifted in and out of sleep until about 6:30 when the sun was up and Connor was ready to face the day. Tonight, I did the same thing, so hopefully he will too! TWCGHST!!! Here, we're reading some books before bed.


Finally, check out Connor's new duds. Pappy signed him up to be a little wildcat and he got this, plus a magnetic frame in the mail. Woohoo!

Elaine

Thursday, May 4, 2006

TWCGHST

Here at home, this week has been termed “TWCGHST” which stands for “The Week Connor Got His Shit Together”. Read on.

Last weekend, before the camera battery ran out, we went to the petting farm at the zoo. This trip proved very enlightening for Ed and me. Now that Connor is talking, we’ve been curious to know what language he was speaking. We know it involves a lot of “da da da”, and this morning it started to also involve a lot of “ma ma ma” (sign one of TWCGHST), but other words are more difficult to pick out. After our visit with the goat, I think it’s possible he’s talking some sort of goat language. Seen here in this photo, Connor is saluting the goat, after what we can only presume were some words assuring the goat he would follow his instruction to put everything in sight in his mouth. Mr. Goat, let me assure you Connor took your orders very seriously.



Since the visit to the zoo, some amazing things have been happening. First, my little guy took what I consider his first official crawl on Tuesday night. The little man knows hot to wait for an audience because he tried mightily in front of me, but waited until Ed got home to actually get forward motion going. He crawls with his own special finesse that involves sort of a cross between a bear walk and a more pedestrian crawl on the knees. The bear walk is good because feet slip less than knees with clothes. My sister told me I should say good-bye to all of my nice things because they were about to be destroyed. What she doesn’t know is that Ed has been preparing for this moment since the day we moved in together by slowly breaking anything that can be broken, so there’s not much left for Connor. This feat was step two in TWCGHST.

Connor also tasted and did not reject a new food for the very first time (two nights ago) and ate peas for dinner last night with one caveat. When Ed served them, Connor gagged. When I served them, he ate them just fine. In any case, these are steps three and four in TWCGHST.


Finally, Connor spent the whole night in his own bed – only waking once last night. We’re hoping this builds on itself. That will be the last step in TWCGHST. Connor, we know it's hard, but we're really rooting for you!

Elaine

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Blog readers can relax

The charger for the camera has been located. Photos and stories on the blog will now begin anew. I no longer have to spend time at night cleaning the house in search of the charger. Phew!