The Lindvall Family: 1 Year Old

Dear Connor,

I can't believe you are 1 year old! Your personality is developing more and more each day! There has been many, many changes within the last month!! You took your first step on July 20th and have been taking steps here and there ever sense. You still prefer to crawl, but I'm convinced that one day you will just take off. You've taken up to at least 8 steps at one time and then usually instead of falling you just sit down and decide you don't want to go anymore :) You also got your first tooth last Monday, August 13th. It seemed to bother you, but after a few days you were fine. We switched you to whole milk last Sunday night and you seem to really enjoy it way more than your formula. Nowadays, you prefer it cold. You don't take 8 oz. of it at a time like your sister did, but instead just get in all your ounces at various times throughout the day. You are also bottle-free since last weekend and are doing great with it! Connor, you were pretty upset with us the first night we offered you a sippy cup instead of your bottle and somewhat upset the 2nd night; however, you have quickly forgotten about bottles!! And lastly, you are officially PACIFIER-FREE. Yep, we went cold turkey on the paci last night. You were not happy last night and it took you about 1.5 hours to fall asleep, but you slept all night without any trouble. It took you about 15-20 minutes to fall asleep during your morning nap and a little over an hour to fall asleep for your afternoon nap (the paci isn't the only thing to blame for this....you took a really good morning nap and slept for quite awhile....I don't know that you were fully ready to go to sleep in the afternoon). You had little trouble at bedtime tonight....only took you about 15 to 20 minutes to fall asleep! With each nap and bedtime, this will get easier and easier as you adjust to sleeping without the pacifier. I'm really proud of how you've done....you LOVED that paci!! Elli is also now taking away her baby's pacifiers saying "I take Baby Sally's paci away. She's too old. She's 2 now."

You and your sister are playing more and more with each other. Elli is often very interested in toys that you play with and has no problem taking them away from you. You, of course, throw a mini fit! A year ago, she wanted you out of the house, but now she LOVES having your around! Nowadays I hear, "I wanna play with Bubby for a few more minutes," "I like Bubbies," "I wanna go wake bubby up," "Where's Bubby?" She loves bossing you around and occasionally wants to play like you are HER baby. She doesn't quite understand that you are too big for her to pick you up!

You enjoy listening to music and I love to watch you dance. You enjoy 'driving' your riding toys, climbing all over the place, throwing balls, giving your stuffed animals hugs, climbing all over the place, playing with blocks, and did I mention climbing!!!! You are not much of a reader these days and I'm lucky to get 3 books read to you in a whole day! You just don't sit still long enough for them! But you do like pointing to pictures in the books! Your new trick is telling us what a dog says. You smile real big and say "wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh." You are babbling up a storm!!

You are a relatively good eater and aren't too picky. However, you are starting to show a preference to some foods over others. Your favorite food is crackers- you love them. I can't get them out without you going crazy. You also have quite the sweet tooth and love ice cream, cookies, and cake!! You usually make a huge mess while eating, getting food on the floor, in your hair....everywhere!! Your new thing is that you want to feed yourself and I usually let you attempt this with oatmeal. You do a pretty good job getting the spoon to your mouth when the oatmeal is put on there for you. You also like to take bites of things rather than having someone cut them up for you- your independence is already starting to show through!

We were lucky to get this photoshoot done! The second we put you down, you were on the move. Your Daddy was very creative in getting some smiles out of you!