21 months

Connor turned 21 months old a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting an update on our big boy!

Connor is becoming more and more independent by the day.  He wants to do everything by himself!!  He is talking more and doing a great job learning his colors. 

Here are some things we've learned about our big boy in the past month....

Connor is steadily becoming more strong willed.  We've noticed this mainly during mealtime.  Unfortunately we have to use bribery many times to get him to eat an adequate dinner.

Connor is terrified of gorillas!  I mean terrified!!  

Connor loves, loves, loves being outside, swinging & shoes....shoes....and more shoes!

He still requires at least a 2 to 3 hour a nap daily.  I discovered what would happen if he only slept for about 30 minutes and quickly realized it is not fun and completely unpleasant.  Big boy needs his sleep and I'm thankful for that!

He's the sweetest and will still cuddle up to us before bed so that we can sing to him. 

He loves his 'nineys' and now has 2 of them (we lost one, so I made another one only to find the original one in the garage the next morning).

Connor loves to do everything that big sis does!  When she's not around he often says "sissy?"

He has such a sweet tooth!  He loves his ice cream and will eat every little last drop!

Connor looks at the garbage man as if he is a celebrity.  It has become a part of our weekly routine to watch the garbage truck!  Connor is all about his planes, trucks & busses.  

Connor requires reading material on the toilet :)  This was the first night we let him try out the potty....he immediately ran to grab his Netjets book.  I'm pleased to say he's gone on the potty twice now and gets so excited when he does.  We're 2 for 3 in terms of trying to use the potty....I'd say we're doing pretty good.  Although I'm not ready for him to be potty trained and I'm not ready to start the process, I think we'll continue to let him try it out each day (or at least when we remember!!).

Connor is changing so much daily!  We can't believe that he will soon be 2!!

Big Boy

Guess who made our memorial day complete by going "pee pee" on the potty??????

This kid did!  He looked at me, said "pee pee" and ran to the toilet!!  Yay Connor!  1st time ever!!  He was running around and jumping like crazy.....he was so excited!!

Swim Lessons

We put the kids in 8 week swim lesson courses from March to May.  Elli absolutely loved it and did great with her lessons.  Connor enjoyed it at first, but towards the end of each of his lesson he was ready to get out.  Elli is really interested in learning to swim without her floaties.  Her baths now consist of her putting goggles on and keeping her head under the water for the majority of the bath.  

Random pictures from the lessons....

One of us obviously had to get in the water with Connor....

Can you find Elliana?

Elli got to play on the slide & fountains her last lesson.  She was on cloud nine!

As you can see in these videos, Elli loves to put her head under water!

We had so much fun at these lessons and absolutely fell in love with our rec center, but we are glad to have our Saturdays back after an 8-week stint of lessons.  And maybe by the end of the summer Elliana will be swimming without floaties??

Last day of Preschool

Elli had her last day of preschool last Friday.  She had a great year and had a lot of fun in her class.  Here are some pictures of the last day!  I can't help but post most of the pictures of our mini photo shoot!  I was taking pictures of Elli and all the sudden Connor came in and just started posing like her (this kid has changed so much within the past month- I'll update on him later!)!!

 The picture below is my favorite.  I can't even take it.....

 A little bribery for some good, smiling pictures....

One day I'll get a picture of them both looking at the camera and smiling.....until then, I'll keep trying!

We're so proud of how well Elli did in school this year and can't wait to see her continue to develop next school year when she'll attend 2 days a week!

Mother's Day 2013

We had a good Mother's Day weekend!  It involved swim lessons, yard work, dinner out with friends, church & some relaxation!  Here are some pictures from before church: (no one was really cooperating for pictures!)

(In Elli's defense, I had just put lip gloss on her lips before these pictures.  She didn't want to move her lips much after the lip gloss was on for some reason!)

Although we didn't get the best pictures, we had a productive and also a somewhat relaxing weekend!

Phone Pictures

Here are some other random pictures from my phone:

Elli after breakfast yesterday morning....She always requests to watch "Disney World" (which just means we 'youtube' disney world videos.  She was so engrossed in the video, it looked like she was about to fall asleep!

 Look at the way Connor is now holding a writing utensil!  Just like a pro!!

 This has become a favorite activity for the kids....It especially came in handy this past weekend when we were trying to do yard work!

 This picture is dark, but the kids love putting on their blanket animals and pretending they are on disney on ice.

 We tried out a new park last week and the kids loved it!!

People couldn't believe Connor was keeping his hat and glasses on!  What can I say, this kid loves to accessorize just like his big sis!  (Um.....he even HAD to wear sunglasses during his indoor swim lessons on Saturday....the.whole.time!)

 He thought he was pretty cool in this big kid swing!

 Connor and I explored a park that we'd never been to while Elli was at preschool on Friday.

....And I quickly realized that I'm going to need to stock up on some play clothes for this kid for the future.  He was so muddy after the park (I took this picture after I had used up multiple wipes trying to clean him off) and it didn't phase him one bit.  I didn't have time to run home and get an extra pair of shorts for him before I got Elli, so I did the best I could getting the mud off!

20 months

I am once again late on posting a monthly update on Connor.  Connor turned 20 months old on the 16th (in my defense, I didn't even realize he had turned 20 months until the 19th- oops).  

Connor continues to love everything that has to do with airplanes (I mean...absolutely loves planes).  He is always looking for planes in the sky when we go outside and is the first to point them out!  He loves being outside and it's usually a struggle to get him to come back inside.  Connor loves trucks and cars.  He especially loves the little cozy coupe cars that he can drive and it often gets him in trouble as he doesn't share well with them!  

Lately, Connor has been a little stinker when it comes to bedtime.  We continue to put him to bed around 7:30 or 8:00, but for the past few weeks he's been lying awake in bed until around 9:00 or 9:30.  Ugh!  He will then sleep in until around 8:00 or 8:30 (sometimes later)....be fussy in the morning and then rearing to go after naps.  This staying up late and sleeping in has become a cycle for him.  I'm going to try and start putting him down earlier for a nap in hopes he'll fall asleep earlier at night.  Speaking of sleeping, yesterday we were all ready to move him to his toddler bed, but then found out the rails we bought for his crib wouldn't work (booo.....maybe it was a sign that we shouldn't move him to a bigger bed yet....we'll see)!!

Just like big sis, Connor loves dressing up.  He only has one costume, spiderman, but he loves putting it on.  Today Elliana put on her 'snow white' dress and he kept saying "co-cume" (aka 'costume').  He loves wearing his sunglasses and will keep a hat on outside for a good amount of time.  This boy has an obsession with shoes and is pretty picky about what shoes he wears.

Last week Connor had his follow-up cardiology appointment at Children's Hospital.  The appointment was during naptime and I took both kids with me!  The appointment went great and Connor couldn't have been better (Elli too).  His EKG was normal and the doctors are hopeful that the hole is closing.  In fact, we don't have to go back for quite awhile.  They will do another echocardiogram and if the hole is closed we will be done with the cardiologist for good!  If not, we'll continue follow-up visits.

 Mowing the grass like Daddy

 Connor loves trains.....and hats

Dancing around with the broom!

I've never met a kid that can make a mess like Connor.  When it comes to eating, this boy has food all over him, the table, and floor at every meal!  

This video was taken in Florida!  Connor has quite the dance moves!!

 

We're crazy about our Bubs!!  Can't believe he is getting so big!!