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.

Yes, Daddy has taken a break from posting on the blog lately — we’ve been busy with the holidays, parties, illnesses (colds and ear infections), and photography business stuff — not to mention just everyday life.  I hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis soon.

Now, back to the title of this posting “A break from the normal…”

This posting is a break from the normal “Connor postings” because I am going to recommend a movie.  My buddy, Tony (best friend since high school and someone who I consider to be “my brother”), recommended a movie to me a couple of months ago.  The movie is Fireproof.  I waited patiently for it to come out on DVD so Victoria could watch it with Closed Captions and it was WELL worth the wait!

Victoria and I watched this movie tonight and shed more than a few tears.  I am not a deeply religious person and do not like to push my faith or beliefs on others, but I feel this movie is something everyone should watch. It is a Christian based movie AND is well worth your time.

To Tony — thanks for sharing this with us!

Love to all of you!

http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/

…is our new vaccuum.  When we first brought it home and used it, Connor was scared of it.  Now he has grown accustomed to it.

Whenever his child-proof gates are open, he makes a bee-line for it.  He walks over to it and points at it and smiles.  We say “vaccuum” and then he walks over to it and touches it.

I am not sure why he is so fascinated by it.  Anyone want to guess as to why?  Anyone????

Mommy and Connor started with a cold a little before Christmas and then Daddy got sick on New Years Day.  Connor was congested and coughing for nearly two weeks.  We tried the humidifier, the vapor plugins, and saline drops and they didn’t seem to help much.  It finally ran its course and Connor started returning to his normal self last weekend.

During that time period, Mommy and Daddy were subjected to less the ideal sleeping conditions.  Connor was waking up 3-5 times a night coughing and crying at times.  He would only be up for about 2 or 3 minutes, but when that happens and it interrupts your sleep pattern, it can take its toll on the adults.  We are much more rested as Connor returned to his normal sleep pattern last Saturday night.  (Daddy was especially thrilled to see this happen.)

Two days in a row during that stretch, we actually brought Connor into our bed around 4am so he could sleep the rest of the morning.   Something we might have only done once in the previous 11 months.  I enjoyed that, but it is hard to sleep comfortable when you are worrying about hitting him with an elbow or disturbing his sleep.

I guess we were a little spoiled since Connor has always been an excellent sleeper.

Anyways…once we get the Christmas decorations put away this weekend and get caught up on other things I will try to post more of the pics from over the Holiday season.

…have improved tremendously and he is slowly coming off of walking on his tip toes.  Once Connor started to learn to push things around, he always did it on his tip toes.  When he started to walk, it was on his tip toes.  He has realized he has more balance and control if he walks on his feet instead of his tip toes.

For months now, Daddy and Connor’s ritual was to play hide and seek around the couch in the family room.  Over the past few months his crawling skills improved and the speed at which Daddy had to get away had to increase.

Over the past week, Connor has learned that he can walk around the couch faster than he can crawl and now chases Daddy by walking.  Most other things he will walk to as well now.  Crawling is 2nd behind walking in his choice of movement.

He has also mastered walking and shaking things in one hand (like Ms. Tammy’s rattle).  He loves to shake things and walk!

Congrats on improving your walking, Connor!

We love you!

Mommy and Daddy

Hard to imagine that our “perfect” little boy will be a year old in less than 3 weeks.  Mommy and Daddy are planning his party.  A Mickey Mouse theme is in order because of how much he loves Mickey Mouse.

We’ve asked all the local toy stores to stop selling toys to anyone that is related to Connor as our Family Room is now resembling a childcare center.  😉

He loves taking his toys out and spreading them about.  Next on his list of accomplishments is to learn how to pick up his toys and put them away.  I think he still has sometime to learn this one.