Funny Boy

Conor has surprised me recently with some things he has said and done.

Last week he was mad about something, something specific and mad at me specifically.  I might have said no more candy until he ate his lunch.  Something like that.  Well, he yelled at me that he didn't love me.  Ouch!  That hurt, even though he's 3 and doesn't mean it, it's not nice to hear.  I said that wasn't nice, and then just moved on.  An hour or so later he came running into the bedroom where I was putting clothes away and said, "Mommy I'm sorry!"  I had no idea what he was talking about because we'd been joking about something a few minutes earlier.  So I asked him what he was sorry for, and he said he was sorry for saying he didn't love me.  I was pretty astounded.  He's starting to develop an awareness of himself and how he relates to others.

The other thing he did today showed his sense of humor.  He's a funny boy, always laughing, but this really got me.  We were brushing his teeth with him sitting on my lap.  I didn't realize he reached around me with his right arm, to tap my right shoulder. He kept talking to me about something else.  He was playing the joke on me where you tap on someone's shoulder to get them to look, but no one is actually there.  He sees his dad do this to Ian, Madison or me all the time.  I think he'll be keeping me on my toes!

A Whole Year Passed Us By!

Unforgiveable!  But in my defense I was enjoying life, enjoying my family and especially enjoying watching Conor grow before my eyes (but wishing it would slow down just a bit).

In that time so much has occurred.  The family took a trip to Illinois to visit Steve's family (last July), my mom moved back to Washington with her husband Bob (last October), we have a kid that now drives (Ian), and another that is now officially a teenager (Madison). 

For Conor I don't know where to begin.  His growth and development has been a sneaky thing.  From one day to the next we think he is still just our little boy (and he is), but whereas he once needed our goading to try out his potty chair and forego diapers during the daytime, he now hits the bathroom first thing in the morning all on his own before we are even up - and we're talking the big chair, not some kiddy potty chair.  "I'm a big boy now" he likes to tell us.  He is taller than the kitchen counter.  He knows how to use the tv remote control (somewhat).  He can hear reggae music on the stereo and tell you it's Bob Marley, or "The Heart of Rock and Roll" is by Huey Lewis.  He understands the difference between capital letters and small letters.  He's pretty good with a soccer ball and he is all about winning of course.

As of January Conor no longer attends the nursery on Sundays at church.  He goes to Sunday school with the pre-k crowd where he practices gluing cotton balls to paper plates to represent God's sheep or draws pictures of  whales and other Old T characters.  It's one step away from the nursery, but one step closer to learning about God and building a relationship with Him.  I saw him put his hands together in prayer and bow his head for the first time a few Sundays ago.  Very sweet.  It was my first time to see him do that and I'm guessing the kids pick it up from each other and on the teacher's instruction.  This is how it all starts.

Here's Conor with Uncle Scott on a recent visit.  Special treat was a ride on Uncle Scott's lawn mower.

Elmo at the Tacoma Dome!

Conor rushed his first stage last night.  I thought that might be something that could wait until oh let's say the year 2020 when he turns 11 and goes to his first pop concert.  But no, Conor was right up there with a bunch of other little kids, making a rush for the stage to get close to one of the adult-size, furry Sesame Street characters that had come down onto the main floor.  It was pretty alarming to watch him disappear in the swarm but it only lasted a few seconds when the kids realized Abbie Cadabbie, Zoe, and Cookie Monster were trying to exit stage left.

All the kids seemed to be having a blast.  Conor was torn between sitting with Daddy, eyes glued to the stage watching his favorite morning time friends sing and bop around the stage, or squirming to get out of the seats to dance in the aisle.  He can really shake his tail feathers!

We had a great time and can't wait for the next opportunity to take Conor out to see some live music. 

He's so cute...most of the time

This was my conversation in the car with  Conor today on our way to daycare/work:

Conor:  DON'T WANT BACON!!! DON'T WANT IT!
Me:  Ok, give your bacon to me and eat your blueberries.

(Conor hands the bacon up to me in the front seat)

Conor:  WAAAAAAAH!!!
Me:  What's wrong sweetie?
Conor:  Want bacon back!!!!

Just another day in Toddlerville    

Want More

Conor has this funny habit of saying 'want more' after we've seen something cool outside the car as we're driving along. Driving through the country to take his brother and sister home, we see horses which he loves. "Want more" he says after we've passed them. "Want more horses," as though I can conjure some up on demand. One day we hit the jackpot and were stopped at railroad crossing to let a choo choo go by. He definitely wanted more of that. I usually suggest to keep an eye out and we might see more. Horses, yeah we'll probably see more, but choo choos are a rarity.

Little boy on fast forward

Since Conor turned 2 I've been amazed at how quickly he is becoming a competent communicator. He constantly practices words, repeating everything we say just to get the sound right in his mouth. Some of his favorite songs that he hears over and over again are songs that he attempts to sing by filling in the final words of each line. He can sing most of "Twinkle twinkle little star" and he can sing his A B C's by slurring through the letters he isn't too sure of. He always finishes strong on Z and goes back to the drunken sailor slur with, "next time won't you sing with me." It always makes me laugh to hear him sing this and I'm pretty impressed with him and daycare who deserve the credit for everything he knows. Recent words and phrases: popsicle (he says opsicle but that's pretty close), crash, snack, black (he says clack), crayon, "here you go mama", "Conor's turn", "mama's turn".

Church is going well. We've brought him over for the final 25 minutes (communion and final hymn) about 3 times. Last week I ran over to the nursery to get him but he was completely passed out on one of the nursery helpers. She was stuck that way for an hour 'til church was over because she didn't want to disturb his sleeping. The times he has made it to church, he has fun checking out the stained glass windows. There are about 4 that line either side of the chapel, one large window at the back, and then another very large window up at the front. He likes to flirt with whoever is sitting in the pew behind us, and then once communion begins he watches the people walking up to the front of the church. The church provides little activity packets to keep kids busy (crayons, paper, goldfish), but so far I haven't needed to pick one of these up. I bring a sippy cup of juice and some blueberries and that's enough to get us through the last of the service.

Potty training is not really happening at this time. For a few days he was really excited because we converted his potty chair to sit on top of the big toilet with a step to get up to it. He was pretty excited to use it but even more so, he was excited to jump down from the toilet and get toilet paper to drop in the toilet and flush away. Then he wanted to repeat the whole performance. We almost clogged the toilet one day because he got a bit carried away. I could force the issue and plop him on the potty every hour or after every meal, but he's at such a stubborn place right now that he'd probably rebel at being forced. He'll be ready soon. Between seeing us at home use the potty, seeing his little buddies at daycare switch to undies and no diapers, plus just the loss of control when he has to lie patiently while we change him, I'm sure he'll say bye bye to diapers in the next few months.

Church visits

We have been utilizing the free nursery St. Lukes provides each Sunday that we go to church. When Conor was a newborn up to about 5 months I could take him into church and he'd either sleep or be pretty easy to keep calm just bouncing him on the knee. Then he hit the stage where sitting still just wasn't an option, and being quiet even less so.

Now that he's two, I've been thinking it's time to get him into church for short periods of time so that he can start to understand a little bit about what we do in church and that it is a time to sit still. I've been more nervous about doing this then I have been about potty training. What if he acts out and makes noise? Everyone we know will be annoyed by him and who knows what they'll think of us. That's been my thinking even though I know that everyone expects kids to make a certain amount of noise. Even I don't mind when other people's kids make noise and act out a little. I just don't think it should be my kid, ha ha. In the last month we've brought him into church a couple times, just before communion for the remainder of the service. He's been really good, a bit grabby of the hymnal and BoCP which is to be expected with no other toys to play with. When it's time to sing his ears perk up and he's focused on the choir up front probably because their voices are so powerful. It's live music for him, and that's a cool thing even if it isn't the fun pop music that he's used to from the radio. He nearly started clapping after a couple songs today but stopped when he saw that no one else was clapping. He did get a few chuckles from some people when he said "amen" a few seconds after everyone else after the Lord's Prayer.

So, I plan to keep bringing him over from the nursery just before communion. That's about 15-20 minutes of adult church time, and just one more sign for me that my little guy is growing up into a little boy!