This past Saturday, we had a 3rd birthday party for Elliana with family at my parent's house. The theme was Beauty and the Beast. Elli was so, so excited!!
The cake
Seriously, Elli and Kensley are best friends. Tonight, I asked Elli who was coming this weekend (Kensley is) and she yelled, "KENSLEY, MY BEST FRIEND. My best friend is coming! My best friend is coming. My best friend is coming."
Connor got to try on Elli's birthday gift
Working on some Belle paper dolls
Cookie Decorating
Thanks everyone for making Elli's party so special!!
These days, Connor is able to follow directions very well! We're amazed at how much he can understand. He is beginning to tell us when he is going to the bathroom. Just this week, we noticed that when he goes #2, he keeps patting his diaper saying "ugh, ugh, ugh."
The older Connor gets, the more we realize just how much Connor likes to sleep! He is still sleeping at least 12 hours, many times more each night. These days, we usually see him waking up around 8:30 in the morning. We used to put him to bed without hearing a peep from him. These days, he likes to talk to himself for 10 or so minutes before he falls asleep.
One thing I always want to remember about Connor at this age is how anything can typically become his toy. I love watching his imagination with everything! He loves putting things to bed. Just the other day he put a thing of play dough in the stroller, was pushing it around, and saying "shhhhhhhhh." He'll put his niney (blanket) in a cabinet and say "shhhhhhh." Speaking of niney, he loves his niney....just like Elli does. I made his niney awhile ago and he rarely lets it out of his sight.
Just like his sister, when a part of his body hurts, he instantly wants it kissed. I often see him patting the body part that hurts and smacking his lips, so I will kiss it.
Connor is playing with the dog blanket in the picture below! He loves walking around while wearing this! Looks like we will have 2 kids that like to play dress up!
He loves shoes and gets really excited about trying on new shoes. We often see him putting our shoes on and walking all over the place! In this picture, he is wearing Elli's sandal.
I couldn't help, but post the above picture. A few months ago, Connor would ALWAYS stick his pointer finger in his nose. We saw him consistently doing this when he would get scared/nervous. This picture was from the other day, but it reminded me of when he would get scared/nervous.
Connor loves wearing hats!! See that NetJets hat?? Um....who wouldn't want to buy into NetJets after seeing this picture??
Connor is just so sweet, fun, lovable, and easy going!
I am a little late on this '16 month post' seeing as how Connor turned 16 months on December 16th, but better late than never!
Connor continues to love playing with his toys, singing, and dancing. I can't really pick out a favorite toy as he usually loves playing with them all. He also really enjoys opening and closing doors and playing with a bottle that has a cap. He is becoming quick on his feet and his broken leg didn't slow him down much at all. He is doing more of a run these days and still loves the game chase. In fact, this is his favorite game!!
He is repeating more words these days and I know I will leave some out, but here is what I can remember off the top of my head: mama, dada, sissy, more, ball, yes, uh oh, down, up, thank you, sit down, night night, open, baby, bubble, pop, out, cake, cookie, tractor, shoe and cracker. He, of course, does a lot of "uh uh" and pointing to get his point across, but we're pretty good at making him request using a word before we give him what he wants.
Connor goes to bed around 7:30 and usually sleeps until 7:30 or 8:30 in the morning. He also sleeps 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon. He has no problem going down to bed. He still loves for us to rock him before bed and this usually includes us singing to him at his request. Putting him to bed at night or at his nap is my absolute favorite time of the day. This is our one on one time! At times he just lays his head on my shoulder and I sing to him. Other times, we work on identifying body parts or play little games. It sounds like we spend a long time putting him to bed, but we really only spend a few minutes doing this.
One of our favorite things that Connor is doing is this.....
See those eyes?? When he is excited, being ornery or playful....he makes his eyes really big!
Connor loves looking at books these days. He will crawl up in our new chair and just look at books!
Connor loves dancing. Some days, I let the kids watch sesame street while I'm cooking dinner. He loves watching the beginning song- that's about all he will sit for :)
Grandma and Grandpa Zurcher got Elli and Connor a recordable book for Christmas. Both kids love listening to Grandpa read the book and Connor loves swaying to the music when it plays.
Over Christmas, we traveled to Mansfield, OH for the Brauchler Christmas. We stayed in a hotel that had a water park. We weren't so sure we would make it to Mansfield due to the snow; however, we braved the weather, spent many, many house in the car, and finally made it to the water park. Elli LOVED it and went down the slide over and over again! Connor, on the other hand, was not a fan of the water. He will be in swim lessons this spring :)
Best Friends. Last week Elli and I were talking about Kensley and she said "Kensley's my best friend." They really do have so much fun together!
Connor spent the majority of the time walking around! He did have a lot of fun doing that. He was sick at the time so I'm sure that didn't help his fear of the water.
Couldn't resist posting the next picture.... :)
Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to come to the hotel multiple times, so we wouldn't have to load the kids up in the car again.
We have two young children. Elliana was born on January 26, 2010. She was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 18.5 inches long. Connor entered our family on August 16, 2011. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. We also keep busy with our yellow lab, Bella.
