These are a few of his favorite things

Conor is like most kids, knows what he likes and what he doesn't like. And sometimes what he doesn't like is what he liked 5 minutes ago. Ahhh, the ever-changing mind of a "pre-toddler" (you've heard of "pre-teen"? well we have that and a pre-toddler in the house...watch out!).

It's a powerful thing to know what the pre-toddler *loves* because if this knowledge is used correctly, it is possible to control their actions, at least for a short period of time. So, what does Conor really love? Besides his blankie right before nightie night or in the middle of a good cry? Or besides the bedtime bottle of milk? The only thing that comes to mind is.....popsicles! I pulled one out of the freezer for him the other day and I could swear his world stopped momentarily as his eyes locked on the plastic wrapped treat and he transitioned into the foot stomping happy dance that he sometimes does. He never once took his eyes off the popsicle as he ran towards me to claim it. I hardly had time to take the wrapper off before he reached me grabbing for it. He doesn't get to have these too often. I brought one out for him that day because he'd been such a good boy and I wanted to give him a special treat.

But now, knowing how much he loves his popsicles, would it be so wrong to use it as the occasional bribe to encourage good behavior? I haven't had to worry about bribing yet but I'll keep it in mind for when that day finally comes.

More new words!

A few more words for Conor in the last two weeks: hello and yellow, purple, cold and plane. Oh, and bottle. Bubble is still a stand in for blueberry, but he is really making attempts to say words by pointing at things and waiting for us to say what they are. He's done this a lot with books we look at. He attempts to say Elmo by saying Momo. And "thank you" sounds a bit like "A chew". He has surprised us with some other new words but I can't think of what they are just right now. He still impresses me with how he tries to mimic my phrases by just copying the intonation. He doesn't usually get any of the words at all but he captures the phrasing really well.

Conor's crazy week

This week Conor has been waking around midnight and again around 3 or 4 in the morning. He probably has some teeth coming in slowly that are causing him to wake. Or of course it could be gas, but that isn't the type of thing to wake him up anymore. It has been really hot too although not as hot as last summer, or even last month. Fingers crossed that he gets back to a regular sleep schedule.

Nighty Night!

The books all recommend a consistent bedtime routine for babies, so that they can begin to calm down; the day is nearly done and it is time for bed. At least that's what I guess the idea is.

Typical bedtime routines involve taking a bath, brushing teeth, maybe a last drink of milk or water, and a bedtime book. I try to follow that routine but it doesn't always work too well. The idea is to get baby to calm down and ready for sleep. We find that Conor wants to play, play, play until he is wiped out.

After his bath and brushing teeth, he gets another hour of running around the living room, chasing and throwing balls, playing with cars or exploring some other favored toy. Once he shows signs of starting to be tired (usually between 7:30 and 8), one of us gets a little sippy cup with milk, and his blanket and heads upstairs with him to his room. If it's me, we like to rock in the chair for a few minutes and listen to some music (Caspar Babypants), or I like to sing a few lullabies to him. It is almost my favorite time of day sitting in the semi-lit room, singing some favorite songs to my little guy. Here is a quick list with links to some of our/my favorites:

Skye Boat Song
Tur-a-lura-lura
All the Pretty Horses
Dance to your Daddy
My Darling
Golden Slumbers
There's a Kind of Hush

He's very sweet when I sing to him. He either really does fall asleep to the singing, or is faking it to get me to stop, ha ha. Next I'm looking for a simple Greek lullaby to balance out the celtic-ness of our night time drill.

He speaks!

The last two weeks or so have been exciting for us to realize that Conor's babble is slowly becoming language that we actually understand.

I had been enjoying the sound of him just stringing incomprehensible words together into babble sentences (in the back seat of the car while we're driving, or in his crib, or in his high chair at the table). I don't think even he knew what he was saying when he did this, but he enjoyed the act of "talking" and didn't care if anyone was listening or not.

Before we knew it the babble started to sound like actual words. Here is a list of words in Conor's official vocabulary: hot, bubble, milk, bottle, poop, mama, dada or daddy, kitty (sounds like keekee), Ian (sounds like Eee), up, three, bye bye, all done, go and ball.

For some reason if he doesn't know the word for an object, it is automatically "bubble" til he does learn the word. He doesn't use all the words on a regular basis, but we've heard him say each enough in the right context to know he understands what the word is. The words he uses most are bubble (he likes his blowing bubbles), go (as in Go Go Go!!!), dada, mama, and ball. He knows what blueberries are but I think it is easier for him to just say bubble when he wants them.

I catch him repeating my intonation with phrases alot. This morning I said "right now" and he mimicked the sound of the words. When he was learning to say "all done" he did the same thing.

He knows many more words of course. Ask him to go get his shoes, blanket, coat and he'll go look for them. Tell him something is "over in the corner" and he looks to the corner. If I tell him to put something in the trash he runs to the kitchen and stands at the cupboard that holds the trashcan. It's a great but dangerous time. I think we're at the point he's paying attention to things more than we might realize, especially TV and our own occasional bad words that slip out.










Here's Conor with Oma Barbara in June 2010.

What's my game?

Conor is keeping us guessing with what his favorite play activity is. Sometimes he goes for the ball, and seems to "have a ball" just throwing it around. Other times he is all about his many cars, swinging a bat, fitting flashcards back into their box, pushing the laundrey basket around or arranging mama's pots and pans. And sometimes he's in an artistic mood and goes for his piano, his sister's electronic keyboard, or the drums. Here he is channeling his inner Jerry Lee Lewis:

Milestones

Each milestone we see with Conor is bittersweet. There's the sense of accomplishment that our little boy is growing up and meeting the markers little people are supposed to meet. The first real smile, turning over, crawling and the first steps. In the moment we experience them they are amazing and unparalleled. Then we begin to look forward to that next big event. And before we know it, (if we aren't careful), our little boy won't be so little, won't be so dependent on us, and won't be providing us with as many "firsts" to look forward to.

Having said all that, there is one particular milestone I'm looking forward to being past, and that is potty training. Conor will be a year and 4 months on May 13. According to the pros it is a good time to get started on this. We have a new potty chair and we've even placed him in it to practice sitting a few times, with and without a diaper.

I know that consistency is the key to most things with kids. So here is to the next few months, with rations of patience, steady nerves, and a sense of humor for everyone.

Practicing with a spoon -

just one of the ways Conor

shows us he's growing up

International Traveler

The family was off to Victoria, B.C. on the 9th of April, passports in hand (a passport at 15 months? Wow that kid gets around).

We knew we wanted to have the car with us so we only really considered getting to Victoria by going through Port Angeles and the M.V. Coho. On a rough sailing day, the Coho can be an adventure. Even on a smooth day, about mid-point, the ferry gets a certain rhythm and rocking going so that walking through the aisles or even just standing in place requires concentrating on one's balance. We were lucky with a smooth sailing day and just a little side to side rocking. I wasn't anxious to see if Conor is the type to get seasick. Save that for some other trip.

Daddy and Conor on the Coho

I think Victoria will become a favorite place for us in years to come. It already is for me from years past visiting my grandmother. Steve and I spent 3 days there after we married, and we already have plans to go back this summer.

On our first day we coerced Madison and Ian (Mr. Conor doesn't have a say) into going to the Butchart Gardens, and we all enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day except for a few minutes of hail. Later in the day we made a quick stop by Craigdarroch Castle for some quick outside photos. Later was dinner at the Greek restaurant Millos which is just a block up from the harbor.

Going for a stroll at Butchart Gardens


With Big Bro and Big Sis at the Gardens

Conor was still teething this weekend. He got to sleep ok but he was getting us up at 5:30 both mornings we were there. I got dressed and bundled him (still in jammies) into his jacket and went for a walk down Douglas St. Not much going on at that time but we found the downtown McDonalds was open 24 hours. The first morning (Saturday) we stopped in so I could get a coffee and fill Conor's tummy with some scrambled eggs. The ladies were so nice. They offered to make the eggs from scratch instead of using the egg mix. We swapped baby stories and then Conor and I headed back to the hotel to see if anyone else was awake.

Our second day was mostly spent in Sydney, a little north of Victoria. We visited an aquarium, strolled along the sidewalks and stopped in for some lunch at a Greek restaurant. Conor and I stopped in at a thrift store and scored a $3 stroller which we'd forgotten to pack with us. Yay for thrift stores!

Later in the day mommy and daddy packed Conor off to Beacon Hill park which is a 154 acre park in the heart of the city. I used to love walks in the park here with my grandmother and remember the open air concerts we used to go to. It was wonderful to share with Conor and I hope he'll grow to love it as much as I do.

Conor going after the ducks in Beacon Hill Park

Sunday morning was another early rise with Conor and a walk down Douglas street again. We scoped out Smitty's Pancake House to see what their hours were, so we could go with the rest of the family before we had to load onto the Coho by 10:30. On our way back to the hotel we stopped in at McDonalds to see if they had apple slices for Conor's teeth. They were happy to see him again but sorry to hear we were heading home and that they wouldn't be seeing him on Monday. The graveyard shift at McDonalds must be rough. Conor's smiling face at 6:30 a.m. seemed to lighten their last hour of work.

The sail home was smooth and we took a detour through old Hwy 101 to get back to Tacoma. We packed a lot of walking, shopping, snapping photos and snacking into a few days. Can't wait to head back!

Conor checks out the hotel sink.

First post of Conor's blog

Here it is, a Tuesday evening and we're embarking on a new adventure, a blog to track Conor's development. I wish we had thought of doing this sooner to share with family and friends. But there is still so much new and exciting that our little guy is discovering each day, and so much to share with friends and family who aren't near.

Conor will turn 15 months (hard to believe), on the 13th of April, just one more week. What's occupying him most these days is a mouthful of hurt. He has molars bursting through the surface. It's rare for him to let us have a look inside his mouth, but every once in awhile we get a glimpse of what is going on in there. The four front top and bottom are well established by now. Now the first molars and incisors seem to be coming in top and bottom. The kid can't catch a break. We let him take a bottle of water to bed tonight. The cool water must have felt good against his gums. During the day he takes comfort in gnawing on apple slices and spoonfuls of cold yogurt.

We're heading to Victoria, B.C. for a 2 night stay this weekend. I'm hoping the worst of this round of teething will be over by then.