Changes, changes, and more changes

Time flies so fast with Connor around. We just love him to pieces and everyday is something new. He has 9 teeth now and two that will pop through any day now and 5 more that are on their way. These teeth are a good thing since Connor REALLY loves his food! The only fruit I've tried that he hasn't liked is watermelon. He loves tomatoes, but he wouldn't be mine if he didn't. We finally found that he will take a cup if it has a straw. We also found that we can stay sane if said straw can't be removed from the cup. I got him these grippy cups with a built  in straw from Munchkin and he loves them. It was so frustrating trying to get him extra fluid and having him not be able to work the sippy cups. He just never got the hang of tipping them up to get the fluid where it needed to be. Now with the new cups I can just hand it to him and let him go. Now if we could actually get him to swallow his spit, he might stay hydrated!
Connor is definitely the outdoorsy type. Unfortunately he does seem to have my sensitivity to bug bites, though I haven't seen him itching them. He loves to go out and walk the neighborhood. He loves to ride his buggy and his tricycle (that we push and steer.) He loves to just go out and see people doing things in their yards and garages. He likes to look for critters, too, including "Boots" the cat. She/he doesn't really belong to us, but she will often take walks with us and comes around for food several nights a week. If you tell Connor "We're going in to get Boots some food," that had better be exactly what you're doing - and he wants to help. He helps pour the hard food into a bowl and he carries that bowl to the front door, takes it out and knows just where to put it. He is quite the little helper. Pretty often I encourage him to do what I want by asking him to "help Mommy."
Connor is fascinated with cooking. He will stand at my feet craning to see what I'm doing until I say "Connor, go get your chair so you can watch." Off he goes to get a kitchen chair to stand on so he can watch and help. I let him pour things into bowls and stir things (with help of course) and he loves it! Of course he could reach the knobs on my stove so I had to take them all off and just put them back on to cook. I can't even leave them on then because he goes over and adjusts the heat on me. He loves the sizzle of things hitting a hot pan. He also gets very excited by the dishwasher and happily climbs in every time the door is open. I have to get creative when it is time to unload and load it or he is into everything. Oh who am I kidding - HE IS INTO EVERYTHING!
Connor has been fully weaned for a whole week now. I didn't push the issue. He just didn't seem as interested anymore. It wasn't really putting him to sleep reliably at night anymore. So we just slowly started eliminating different nursing sessions, waiting a week before stopping another. First went the naps, then the morning and finally, last Sunday night was our last time nursing. I think it was harder on me then him. That was our special thing, just Connor and Mommy. At the same time we started including reading into our nap and bedtime routines. We still get to cuddle and as one thing was lost, another was found. He really doesn't seem to be missing the nursing. There hasn't been any shirt pulling or lifting and he puts himself to sleep with a lot of jabbering and minimal fussing. All in all I'm a little sad but proud of my smart easygoing kid.
He has also weaned himself to one 2-2.5 hour nap a day. I don't really miss the two nap thing. It made it really hard to plan a day and get anything done. It was especially had because Connor was one or those kids who couldn't/wouldn't nap unless the car was moving or he was in his own bed. Now we can get up and actually accomplish something before his nap which can happen anywhere from 12:30 - 2pm. I have been trying to keep it around 1pm so he can have a good nap but still be up plenty of time to be tired for bed.
Connor has also started falling asleep more easily in odd places. I can only guess it's because he doesn't need to nurse to fall asleep anymore. He has fallen asleep while eating twice. He fell asleep in the jogging stroller on my jog this morning and once in his bike seat on our way home from getting the Sunday paper. When he starts to fall asleep now there really isn't any deterring him. A lot of times I'm trying so hard to get home to feed him lunch before his nap and he falls asleep in the 5 minutes between Home Depot and Home. I tap his feet, talk to him, make funny noises - but it's all no good. The nice thing is that more often then not I can get him from wherever it is he has fallen asleep to his bed without him waking up - I never could before.
My drooly kid slimed a little girl at Barnes & Noble the other day during the story time free-for-all. I'm not exactly sure how how he did it. All I saw is that she was holding this little bug house and Connor ran over to see it and knocked it out of her hand (and ended up on the floor in the process.) The next thing I know she was holding up her arm with saliva dripping from it and whining for her Mom. I felt sort of bad and managed to hold off laughing until I was a ways away.

Our Baby turned 1!

It is so hard to believe that a whole year has come and gone since our beautiful boy came into our life. It has been the most exciting, stressful, exhausting, and wonderful years of my life. There were times when it seemed to be moving entirely to slow, but looking back I don't know where large chunks of it went.

At one year old Connor is walking, running, climbing, pretty exclusively eating solid food, the majority of the time he is sleeping through the night, and tearing though my cabinets. He loves to be Mommy's little helper and helps throw his dirty diapers away, puts his baby monitor back on the charger, turns off light switches, starts the washer and dryer, pushes the button for the garage door, let's the dogs in and out, and wants to helps with the dishwasher and the vacuum. He has 6 teeth lets me floss and brush them. His newest and best skill is drinking from a straw (he gets way more fluid then he did with the sippy cup.) He loves to go shopping and he likes to eat out (but don't put baby in a corner! He wants to see what everyone is doing!)

For Connor's Birthday Grandma and Grandpa Person came out from Truckee and Ousia and Beeba (Jenn's parents) came down from Tennessee. We had a nice long visit with everyone. On the big day we went to a small splash park on Daniel Island. I thought there would be more kids there, but it was pretty deserted. Luckily Miss Nancy and Evan and Mariessa (our neighbors) came to have fun with us. There was a little wadding pond and some fountains and a fake shrimping boat to play on and in. I think everyone had fun. We played until the birthday boy got tired and then went home. While he was down for a nap we made Carrot Cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and homemade slaw to have with burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner. He got up and played with several of his new toys, and then we played in the sandbox while everyone else napped. We had dinner and cupcakes and opened more presents. Then it was time for a bath and bed. Partying and company and new toys will tire you out pretty quickly!

Where to Start?

Well, I think first of all I need to thank everyone who has been so very generous to Connor. We have been very fortunate to have neighbors who have given us baby cloths both used and new, and toys - we got a Little Tykes play structure today. To our families who have also been so generous with hand-me-downs. Most of all - we would like thank everyone who has been so generous with the greatest gift of all...time! We have had neighbors and friends and family all step forward and offer their time - time to help out and time to watch Connor - and both are greatly appreciated. I try not to take advantage and save those offers for times when I REALLY need them.
For example, today our friend and neighbor Nancy came over (to give us a 1st birthday outfit that she just HAD to buy) and mentioned that the lawn needed mowing - it did. So she offered to take Connor tomorrow so I could get it done. That right there is so huge to me. The lawn has to be mowed or I'll hear about it from the HOA, but it's very hard for me to find the time to do it. It is a large stress for me. Luckily Tom got home early and he got to spend some quality time with Connor while I got the mowing done - so I don't have to impose on Nancy tomorrow.
Now, Connor, what a kid! He is all over the place and into everything. He is walking (since about the 3rd week in March) but feels he needs to hold on. It's as though he's playing a game of tag. Walk walk walk to the couch, hold on and walk along the couch, walk walk walk to the side table, walk along the side table, walk walk walk to the bottom of the stairs, walk along the baby gate, walk walk walk to the front door and stand there watching the world outside. It's so funny to watch.
He has also discovered tippy toes and has a grand time going through my desk drawers. He has a million toys in the den, but all he wants to do is go through my drawers. Highlighters! Canned Air! Wires! Oh My!
He had a bad afternoon today though. After lunch we went in the living room and he went strait for the bookcase next to my chair. He lost his footing and went forehead first right into the corner of the bookcase. He had this perfect blue line and an egg formed within minutes. Then when Tom was watching him (during the lawn mowing) Connor did a face plant and got a fat lip! I told Tom I was almost glad that happened because it made me feel like all the bumps he gets in my care aren't entirely my fault. I feel so bad when he hurts himself, but I feel even worse when we go out and he's all covered in bruises. DCS will be stopping by any day now. On the upside he didn't lose any of his 6 teeth in the fall. He loves to use them, too. He's bitten us a few times, but I think we've gotten across that that is not ok. We're still breastfeeding, too. No problems there.
He had his first bike ride the other day - but I will not be posting the pictures. The way the bike seat is mounted and the size of my butt make them intensely embarrassing. I told Tom if we can't adjust the seat so he can actually see then we'll have to get a different seat. When I'm sitting on the seat his helmet is pinned between my butt and the back of his seat, the poor guy can't look side-to-side. It's plain to close to my seat even when I'm NOT on it. He says I have to ware bottoms with back pockets though. He likes to hold on.
He has also started to say little things here and there. He says Dada and loves to sing song that; I think he even knows it means Tom. Every once in a while I'll hear a Mama over the baby monitor, but I'm not certain that isn't an accident. We have heard Ut-oh, and I think he says WHOA! occasionally. By far the cutest is Hot Ow Burn. This is the most reliable thing he says. He is fascinated with the stove and opening the oven around him is always a worry. He loves to see us cook and hear things sizzle. So we've been trying to instill the stove is dangerous. When my nephew Colby was little the phase Hot! Ow! Burn! was coined for the same reason. Connor has heard it a lot. A few weeks ago I was making Chili and he was watching me stir it as it bubbled away. I held his hand in the steam rising off the pot and said Hot! Ow! Burn! After a few minutes I realized he was trying to say it back. It came out more like 'Ot Oooooo Bbbbbbr. I even called my mom and she could understand it. Now everything is Hot! Ow! Burn! The water running in the tub, the food we feed him and especially the stove. I'm not sure he is 100% sure what it means, but it's something to build on.

Places to go...

Connor is getting around so well and he is starting to climb on things. He walked about 3/4 of the way around our street while holding onto our hands the other night. Then he climbed the stairs all by himself on our way up to take a bath. He's in his bathroom right now figuring out how to open the cabinet doors. He climbed onto my dishwasher door yesterday when I was trying to finish loading it. Today he went in and puller the door down and was about to start rooting around inside. Tom laid on the floor to play with him last night - which means Tom was dozing next to Connor while he was playing. Connor decided to climb on Tom and discovered some untapped technology. He had Tom's pager off in a minute and then figured out how to get the belt clip off. Tom put the belt clip back on and it was off again in no time. Connor is sharp!

On the other hand, he seems to be constantly tired lately. He hasn't been sleeping well or napping well for the last several days. He woke me up 4 times last night before I finally gave in and nursed him about 4:15 this morning. Then he went back to sleep until a little after 8am. But he didn't get those long hours of good deep sleep that he needs. I can only guess that he has a tooth coming in. He had them coming in one after another, but now we haven't seen anything since the end of January and it looks as though there is a pressure point where the upper left lateral may be making an appearance. If he's having this much discomfort with the anterior teeth, I don't even want to know what the posterior teeth will be like!
I feel like he's been medicated more nights then not in his short little life and I hate feeling as though I'm medicating him for no reason. Of course I should note that Connor doesn't seem to care. He is a fan of both Tylenol and Motrin and takes both readily. He can be out and out screaming and the minute he sees the dropper or tastes the medicine he calms down instantly. We jokingly call him Our Little Resident Drug Addict.

This Is Some Funky Rain!

So Connor got to see his first Snow last night. We took him out for a walk in before his bath. We only took one loop around the Circle, and by about half way through, that was enough. The snow was a little icy and the wind was blowing it in Connor's face and eyes. He wasn't at all sure about that.

Then the power went out. I was right in the middle doing the dishes when it died. So I read in bed by candle light for a while. When I went to check on Connor, I took a candle with me. The first time he slept right through it. The 2nd time, I could see the flame of the candle in his eyes when I was still in the doorway. He was on his belly, laying on top of his blanket and though I didn't want to move him and wake him up more, I wanted him to be covered up because with the power out, there wasn't any heat. He was so mesmerized by the candle, I'm not sure he knew I was there. Our sweet little Pyro!

When we woke up this morning all of the neighborhood kids were out in force. Connor crawled over to the door to check out the snow and activities.

Changing so quickly!

I just can't get over how quickly Connor changes! I feel bad because I just don't get to update this blog often enough and I'm horrible about his baby book as well. I can never remember all of the little fill ins and when I go back to check for a milestone it's long gone by and I don't remember, say, when he smiled the first time. Thing are filled in rather vaguely.
Connor now has 5 teeth. The upper right lateral snuck in on us and was peeping out when Tom and I got home from Florida. The upper left lateral is taking it's time. It's there, you can see the hump, but I could see the hump when we found the right one a couple weeks ago. He is moving on to bigger things, namely cloaths. A lot of his 12m sizes are getting small and he fits in 18m pants pretty well. They are just a touch long. He fits into his 12-18M onsies REALLY well. Of course this isn't a surprise considering how well he eats. He really doesn't turn up his nose at anything and we try to add something new to his diet as often as we can. He likes every friut vegetable and meat we send his way. He gets REALLY excited when I go to the pantry and take the Cheerios out. He also makes the sweetest noises when he's eating something he finds really yummy. As he takes a bite he makes an Mmmmmmm sound, every bite.
Connor has started crawling some, he gets on his hands and knees a little more everyday. Before Tom and I left for Florida on Jan 21 he was mostly rolling and stretching to get places. Within a few days of coming home on Jan 25 he started "inch worming" a little way. he seriously looked like a little inch worm - he would stretch and the butt would come up a little way until he could push off on his knees. This graduated (in just a few days) to what looked very much like a parapoligic dragging himself around. The last few days he's been doing more of a commando crawl with intermittent hands and knees crawling. Either way - he gets around! Tom came home tonight (Thursday - he hadn't seen Connor since Sunday) and set Connor on the rug in front of the fridge. A few minutes latter he had to put him back there and said laughing "you don't stay where we put you anymore!" He loves our shoes, he found the basket of dog toys tonight, he can open the drawers he can reach (yes they are safe).
Last weekend Tom put gates up at the top and bottom of the stairs. Connor thinks it's great to stand there and hold onto the one at the top and then shake them to make them rattle. When he wakes up from a nap I let him hold onto it and help him walk it closed. This was okay the first couple times. Then one day he walked a few steps and then lifted his little feet up onto the gate and had a little ride. I've been telling Tom that Connor is his future amusement park buddy. I think he's gonna like all of the "good rides" (read "rides to scary for Mommy").
He pulled himself up to standing in the tub a few times in the last few weeks but those were short lived - we try to discourage standing in the tub as much as possible. We discourage kneeling in the tub, too. He is VERY good at kneeling. For a long time now, since about the time he started sitting up, he likes to sit with his right leg kicked back behind him. Tonight he pulled himself up to standing on his toy organizer all by himself (need to reach the toys in the top).

Swim Class ended Jan 28th. I need to get him signed up for a round of Kindermusic or "The Little Gym" next - and soon. We'll do swimming again in a few months, when it's warmer and he's had time to get excited about it again. I'm also trying to get involved with the Mom's Club of West Ashley so we can go to play groups and get him time with other kids.

Little Swimmer

Connor is starting to wiggle around a bit. He isn't crawling and I'm not sure he is technically scooting, but he'll be in one spot and a few minutes later he'll be two feet away and facing a different direction. Last Sunday I was cleaning and Tom came home while I was moping. I stopped to talk to him while Connor was playing with his magnets on the fridge. A few minutes later my mop handle was being tugged on. Connor had wiggled his way over and was mostly on my mop. It looked like he wanted to chew the handle. Not wanting to encourage that, I gave him a little ride and he just stared up at me with his mouth gaping open. He started to hang off the side, so I set him on more squarely and kept sliding the mop back and forth. He loved it!

Connor started a Discovery Swim class on January 5th. He loved it. There are only two other kids (a 3 year old and a 6 month old) in the class. He still loves the water and loves to splash and wriggle and kick. I told Tom I'm worried he's a little to comfortable. One of the things they do is have you stand your little guy on the edge and let them jump in (you're in there to catch them, obviously.) Today we were the first to arrive and we were all changed and waiting. So I was letting Connor walk up and down the length of the pool (He loves to hold your hands and walk here and there - I must add how gorgeous he is in his little yellow bathing suit that is covered in fish, waddling barefoot along the pool.) He kept walking over to the edge and trying to slide in. I don't have any pictures of him in his class yet, since I'm in the water and can't take them, but I will hopefully get some in a few weeks.

Today in class he was kind of clingy. I think it mostly came down to him being tired. I think he's having a little separation anxiety and he hasn't been napping well. That and just all the moving in the class wears him out. He was falling apart in the changing room while I was trying to get him dressed to go home and we had hardly left the parking lot before he fell asleep. So I got him home and nursed him and laid him down for a nap. Well his hair must have still been a little damp. When I went in to wake him up he had this crazy hair happening and I just had to share! Look at that smile! Those Teeth!

Baby it's cold outside!

We went for a walk today when Daddy got home early. It's been really cold here (just like everywhere else) and Tom got Connor bundled up while I put my shoes and coat on. We were part way through walking the 1st dog out when I looked in the stroller and noticed Connor had nothing on his hands and they were tinged blue. He never made a peep - but I did! So to make up for it Tom put his already warm gloves (notice he covered his own hands) on Connor. In the second picture you can see Connor sacked out when we got home. We stopped by and got his mittens (socks) when we traded out pooches. He did get a pair of mittens in the mail this week courtesy of Aunt Angie and Uncle Eric. Thanks guys!