Conversations with Connor - And bugs!

Connor's still not speaking with us in English, but he loves to talk. He will string together multi-syllabic sentences of gibberish and he seems to think he's stating something important with the way he looks at you. I got a little bit of our conversation on camera today about what he did with his shorts...



He still loves to play outside. It's definitely his favorite thing. He finds bugs absolutely fascinating and he loves to squat down and watch them. Sometimes he tries to pick them up, sometimes tries to stomp them, but mostly he just watches them.




He's also been working on his coloring and his puzzles. He has a lot of trouble with his puzzles still, the pieces are actually pretty tough to work with and you have to line them up perfectly for them to drop into place. He gets frustrated sometimes and tries to mash them in as hard as possible. Earlier today tried getting a running start and then bashing them down, but that didn't work very well either.

Mowing the lawn (and a poop story)

No big updates on Connor again this week. He's been a lot of fun to be around lately, he's been in a great mood and he's been very sweet.

It's been a while, so I'm going to post a gross story. Don't read on, if you don't want to hear about something gross. Anyways, Connor was playing the other night, and was over by Chloe's bowl. He came trotting over to Andrea with his hand out, and it looked like he was holding up a moist bit of Chloe's food. Andrea took it from him and noticed he had a bunch smeared on her hand. "Oh gross Shawn" she said, "What is that?". So, Daddy picked up Connor and noticed the stuff smeared on his hand didn't look like dog food. He smelled it, and sure enough, poop. Daddy carefully carried him directly to the bathtub and took off his pants. His diaper hadn't managed to hold in the terrible dump, and for the first time in perhaps a year, when Daddy took the diaper off he gagged from the sight and stench, and nearly vomited. There were fully formed carrot cubes, peas, and corn in the diaper, and somehow seeing exactly what the comprised the poop made it all the more horrible. It took a while to get that filthy baby clean, and we won't soon forget this one.

Well, enough poop stories, let's talk about mowing the lawn. Connor really loves to push around his lawn mower. If we could find a way to safely make that toy cut the grass, it would be Daddy's favorite toy too.




He also loves playing with his friend Mackenzie-


Hilarious!

Mid September fun

Connor had his 18 month doctor's appointment this last Friday and it looks like he's doing pretty well. It looks like his Mommy and Daddy are doing a half decent job! He's 32 1/2" long (45th percentile) and he's 26 lbs (55th percentile). He's still not consistently talking, but he's mimicking sounds and he will rattle off 4-7 syllable "sentences" even though they're completely unintelligible.

He also had a haircut. I can't believe how many of these he's had. We were trying to remember, and he's had to have had at least seven and maybe as many as ten.

Connor starting to look like a dirty hippie:


Much better!


He's been doing pretty well with his forks and spoons. He can get it into his mouth if he can get it on his utensil. That's the tough part...


We also got a few new toys. He's got a shopping cart and he loves to fill it up with his trucks:


On Sunday Maia and Chase came by to play and Connor had an awesome time chasing them around and screaming like a monkey. He did a great job of sharing and playing with both of them.

Andrea and Shawn's 10 year anniversary!

Ten years ago today, Shawn and Andrea met in Springfield, MO. We met the second week of college, and we've been together ever since. Shawn was roommates with one of Andrea's high school friends, and on September 3rd 1998 we all went out to a club to party up. Shawn didn't pay much attention to Andrea at first until Andrea took the initiative and pinched his butt a few times! Thankfully Shawn took the hint and married that pretty girl!

Here are a couple pictures we took shortly after we met in Andrea's dorm room:



Connor's glad that Mommy pinched Daddy's butt 10 years ago! Yay Mommy!

Connor is 18 months old!

Connor turns 18 months old on September 2nd! He's been growing up fast recently. His level of language understanding constantly surprises us, however he's still not interested in using words to communicate back with us. He speaks in full sentences, typically he utters 4-6 syllables when he communicates, but they don't really seem to be words we're familiar with. Maybe Chloe knows what he's saying, but we don't yet.



He's also gotten pretty good with a spoon. This morning he fed himself an entire cup of yogurt all by himself. It was pretty darn impressive. We got a couple pictures and even this little video:



Mommy also taught Connor a little bit of sassiness. He loves exchanging dirty looks with her. He'll drop his chin, pout his lips and will scowl. It's pretty hilarious. He does it in this video, but it's not the sassiest look we've seen. He's a natural at it, it must run in the genes he got from Mommy.



Yesterday we had Andrea's family over, and Connor really enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool that Aunt Amanda got him. It's the shape of a shark and it squirts water. Very fun stuff. Thanks Auntie!



Connor also chowed down on marshmallows. Uncle Nathan was shooting them with a slingshot, and although Chloe ended up eating the most, Connor liked them too.

(There's actually a marshmallow at the very top of this picture!)


Nathan was trying to catch them in his mouth, and I think he managed to catch one all day... it was windy, so he had a little bit of an excuse, but he still let everyone down and ruined the entire day. Thanks for nothing Uncle Nate!