Check out Connor’s photo gallery.  I uploaded pictures from Christmas, his Christening, his birthday, and this past weekend.

Enjoy!

Connor has a case of “separation anxiety” and has had it for quite sometime. We’ve talked to many people about this — people who have been through it, others who have not, as well as the doctor. The doctor continues to reassure us that it is quite normal and that he will eventually out grow it. Our doctor also tells us it has nothing to do with us “spoiling him” or the way we raise him. He says it is instictual and that some infants/toddlers have it worse than others.

Connor has been known to cry for 1 hour (if not longer) and sometimes vomit.

Now for those of you that are alarmed by this or have not gone through it with your child, here is a little more information. http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/separation_anxiety.html

And if you have gone through it or are going through it, we are always looking for suggestions.

One mother (and she and her children will remain anonymous) mentioned she and her child got through it because she decided to volunteer at pre-school and kindergarten. Hmmm…this is the best advice we have received so far. 😉

Mommy went ‘cold turkey’ on Connor the other day and bagged up all of his bottles and stored them away. (Mean Mommy!) 😉 (Oops, Daddy is getting in trouble for writing that…)

Connor never learned to hold his bottle on his own and continues to require that we hold his sippy cup for him. That is the next thing for him to learn.

If we prop up the bottle in his hands/arms he will hold it there but it slowly lowers until he is no longer getting milk. So, we then reached for the end of the sippy cup to help tip it higher for him. He sees this and then lets go — as if to say, “if you gonna help, why don’t you just hold it for me!”

For 12 months and 5 days, Connor has managed not to have any major injuries or significant falls. On the morning of 12 months and 6 days, Connor broke that streak.

The significance of this date is that Connor had his 1 year old portraits scheduled at JC Penney’s Portrait Studio. So, what happened???

Connor likes to play in our kitchen drawers and two of them now belong to him. Well, I brought Connor downstairs and set him down in the kitchen (like any other day). Connor walked over to his drawers and I turned my back to get some milk out of the refrigerator. Next thing I hear him fall — usually not a big deal. He started to cry — again, usually not that big of a deal. Then he cried a little harder so I went over to investigate. I noticed he must have banged his head because it was red a little bit, but other than that he looked alright (on first glance). I held him, hugged him, and kissed him and then put him in his highchair. As I buckled him in, I noticed a slight cut had opened up near the corner of his right eye. Now I was concerned and started to inspect him a little closer. It was not bleeding but was split open and a dab of a tissue brought back a little bit of blood.

Further inspection on why Connor fell led me to take a look at the bottom of the footies on his sleeper. The rubber on the bottom had been worn down over the past couple of months and no longer provided traction — needless to say, they were soon thrown in the trash and all of his other sleepers were inspected.

So, we took Connor to his 1 year old portraits with the cut from approximately 4 hours earlier. I asked the photographer if they would touch it up and she said they don’t do that there. Oh well, we won’t ever forget Connor’s 1 year old portraits.

I’ll post those pics once we get them printed and scanned in.

About a month ago, Mommy brought Connor up to Daddy’s office.  Connor spent quite a bit of time with Ms. Tammy in the computer room.  He pushed a small recycle bin around her office.  As he was making his way back to Daddy’s office, there was a larger recycle bin which holds the computer room’s empty cardboard boxes.  Connor quickly realized it had wheels and could be moved.  So with Mommy, Daddy, and Ms. Tammy watching, Connor pushed the large grey recycle bin to the other end of the hallway.  Then he pushed it back to where it was originally located. The grownups were getting a kick out of this.

Fast forward a month…

Mommy, Daddy, and Connor took a walk in the mall the other night.  It was not that crowded, so we kind of let Connor walk about on his own (within a few feet of us).  All of sudden, something caught his attention but Daddy didn’t pay it much mind.  He figured it was just another jaunt off the “beaten path” and Daddy would have to steer Connor back on course.  As Daddy approached Connor, Connor just froze and was fixated on something in front of him.  Daddy glanced up and about 15 feet in front of Connor a woman was pushing a grey trash dumpster around the mall.  Quickly, Daddy asked Mommy for her phone and then switched it on.  Now, this is a real short click because Daddy had to stop Connor before he started playing with that NASTY dumpster. It is truly amazing to see a toddler’s brain at work…they are like sponges and take in so much and love to experience so much.

As Ms. Tammy will attest to — the grey recycle bin outside the computer room is much cleaner than the dumpster in the mall. Anyways, hopefully you get the drift from the posting and video.

This one is for you, Ms. Tammy — we think this will bring a smile to your face as it did for Mommy and Daddy (and Connor too) that evening in the mall.

We are all starting to get back to normal after about almost an entire month of at least one of us being sick in the house.

Connor 1st (cold then an ear infection), Mommy next, and finally Daddy was a little under the weather for a while.

I’ve posted some videos that I took tonight.

Connor likes to stack little bowls.  The other day while feeding him cheese, you decide to put his cheese into his bottle top and then eat the cheese out of the bottle top.

Connor eating spaghetti, chicken, and then bread for dinner.

Connor likes to let us know he is done eating by ripping his bib off of him.

Connor loves Thomas!

Connor enjoys pushing this ball around.