Over the past couple of weeks, Connor has learned a few more signs to help him communicate with us better.  Victoria has been great in teaching him this stuff.  I must admit, we fell prey to those books and DVDs that you see in the baby stores and we purchased one or two that claimed your child could be signing by a year old.  We watched them a couple of times but never watched them with Connor.  As most of you parents already know, a lot of that stuff is just not worth it or you learn to adapt your own “training” in your day to day activities.

Well, we have continued to voice and sign certain things to Connor (Victoria has been better than me at it) in the hopes that he may pick a few things up.

And for those of you who do not know Victoria that well, she has a cochelar implant that she received about 10 years ago.  As a child, she went through speech therapy and was “mainstreamed” in schools that hearing students went to.  This has enabled her to develop such a wonderful ability to speak, listen, and read lips.  She uses all of these senses to communicate on a regular basis.  So, she does not communicate via sign language but she does know some sign language.  (I know a little too, but mainly just the simple stuff and the alphabet.)

So, to make a long story short…communicating with Connor (and me) is not primarily done via sign language but will supplement our communication.

The reason we are teaching Connor sign language is that it helps him communicate with us when he is unable to speak.  So, it is merely another for of communication.  For those parents-to-be or parents of babies/toddlers already…here is an interesting article.  And for those that might worry, it does not prevent them from learning to speak and it does not slowdown the process either (according to all the research).

To get back to the title of this posting…

Connor has learned to sign his own version of  “down”.  He actually makes the sign when he wants to get out of his high chair or if something is out of his reach (for example the remote control was on the dresser and out of his reach) he will sign for it to be “down”.

He has learned to say “thank you” (looks more like him blowing a kiss) but he does this in response to saying “thank you”.  He doesn’t quite know what “thank you” means yet…but will sign upon request.

He knows the sign for “more” and signs this when he wants more food, milk, or water.  Usually this is when he wants more of a tasty snack he has finished.

He knows the sign for “sorry”…again, I don’t think he understands why he would sign this but he signs it in response to someone saying “sorry”.

The big one that Victoria taught him without me knowing it and he displayed to Grandpa and Mimi tonight was “baby”.  Mimi says she heard him say baby and then he signed “baby”.

We keep getting those one words out of him but then he doesn’t repeat it when asked to.

For example I think he said “shoes” the other day, “baby” with Mimi tonight, “apple” with Grandma a month or so ago, and I think he said “Brenna” (at least something close to it) when looking at a picture of his cousin Brenna with me the other night.

Anyways, signing is a part of Connor’s development and something that has definitely exploded here in the past few weeks.

Connor and Mommy — keep up the good work!!!!

Connor,

Don’t get me wrong…Grandma, Mimi, and Grandpa have always been pretty technically savy and have been using email and the Internet for a long time.  Heck, Grandma was the one who bought Daddy and Uncle Danny a Commodore 64 back in 1983 and actually wrote a few programs (from reading a book).  And Connor, just so you know the 64 stood for 64K as in 65,536 bytes.  That is all the memory a computer had in 1983.  As I am writing this posting I am using Mommy’s MacBook Pro that has 2GB as in 2,147,483,648 bytes.

Grandma has been slow to adopt the cell phone not because she technically challenged but because she does not like to be that person talking on the phone in a car or in a store.  (Understandable as I don’t like talking on the phone in a store either and I will NOT do it standing in line.)

Grandpa and Mimi (who use the cell phone quite a bit) have been slow to adopt the text and picture messaging of the newer phones.

Well a first for both sides this week and all because of you my little “buddy”.

First Grandpa and Mimi bought new cell phones and figured out how to text and send pictures via text messages as well.  They have taken you out the last couple of Saturdays and send Mommy and Daddy a picture of what you are up to lately (namely dipping french fries in mustard).  First, tell Grandpa it should be dipping french fries and secondly is that organic ketchup and mustard he is feeding you?  (Mommy, might get mad.)

Secondly, Grandma called Daddy today while she was in Target.  Wait, did Grandma move her house phone to Target??!?!?!  Daddy was all confused and Grandma was talking with a softer voice and much quicker than her New Jersey heritage normally allows.  Why was she calling Daddy from Target???  Was something wrong, was the car not working, was she not feeling well??!?!!?  Well, she wanted to see if you already had a toy that she wanted to buy for you.

So, Connor…you are bringing the Grandparents into the future.  When they start blogging and twitter’ing (or is it tweet’ing) then we will really have a problem.

Love,

Daddy

Connor and his cousin Brenna (who makes a cameo in the video) signed up for gymnastics at the Riverview Gymnastics Center in Newport News.  Daddy was lucky enough to attend one Friday and film for a while.

Connor enjoys it and has been trying to do the front roll at home when he plays with Daddy.

Personally, I think Mommy is having more fun then Connor.  Be sure to watch where Mommy nearly falls over with Connor around the 5 minute mark

Go get a cup a coffee, sit back, relax, and enjoy (this is nearly 8 mins long).

Various videos of Connor…

Over the past few weeks, Connor has been helping out around the house and loves it.  He helps Mommy fold the laundry, helps make pancakes for breakfast on the weekends, and the biggest chore he does and absolutely loves is taking out the trash.

I finally got video of it but tonight’s trash was a bit too heavy for him and he struggled with it.  Usually it is a little lighter and he is capable of dragging it out the door and along the sidewalk to our trash can out back.  We can no longer take the trash out without his help or he begins to cry in disappointment.

Next step for Connor is cutting the grass!!!!

He even knows how to put the bag in the trash can…watch as he tries to open the garbage like Mommy and Daddy do it…

Daddy and I were playing out back while Mommy was inside working on her business.

I would check every now and then to see if Mommy was coming (I didn’t want Daddy to get in trouble).

I had to make sure the neighbors were not spying on me as well…sometimes they tell Mommy what Daddy and I do outside…

Tonight was not my bath night, so Daddy put me to bed just like this.  (Just kidding!)

Check out the gallery for more pictures from tonight.

Love,
Connor

… that Connor and I make a lot of the same facial expressions.

Check out Connor’s photo gallery and see which kid was having more fun in New Jersey for the 4th of July.

Identical expressions in these two pics.

Daddy and Mommy took me to a park not too far from Aunt Antoinette’s (Daddy’s Aunt) house  in New Jersey.  While I was there (and Daddy was watching me), I fell on some steps.  The steps were metal and I hit my lip.  Daddy didn’t think I was hurt at first but when he put his thumb up to my mouth to check and saw a lot of blood he knew he would be in trouble with Grandma.

Daddy quickly had Mommy pour some of my cold water on his shirt and then he stuck it in my mouth.  I was crying and bleeding.  (Daddy’s shirt is ruined.)

Here is some of the evidence of how poorly Daddy was watching me (see the blood on my shirt and collar).  Daddy has been telling everyone that he was “watching me like a hawk”.  I don’t know where he gets that from.  I mean if he was watching me like a hawk, I wouldn’t have gotten the busted lip.

The picture really doesn’t do this story justice.  I should have taken a picture of Daddy’s shirt, then you would have gotten the idea.