Block party, broken crib, sippin' straws, Jordan, and Jenni

Connor had a very eventful week last week!

Our neighbors went to a lot of trouble to put together a block party this weekend and it was a lot of fun. We blocked off our street, grilled out, and even had the fire department show up. They hooked up their truck to the fire hydrant and I think the kids liked it just a little bit.

Woah, that water's wet!


The hose looked fun, but Connor was still too little for it:


Jordan and Jenni stopped by on Saturday to visit with Connor. We hadn't seen them in a while, so it was great to see them. Connor liked them and even let us take a picture with them. They have some puppies that Connor really wants to meet, but we haven't found a good time to go visit yet. They're probably older than Connor now (in dog years), and maybe not even puppies any more, but we'll still have to go see them soon.

Jordan and Jenni:


Connor finally figured out how straws worked this week. For a while he would just bite on them. Now he gets to share Mommy and Daddy's yummy drinks.

Mad sippin' skills:


We also had a bit of a scare this last week. We put Connor to bed and a little while later he started crying pretty insistently. Daddy went up to check on him, and was pretty horrified to find that Connor's left foot was caught in the gap between one of the slats on his bed. It was the crack closest to the edge, which was a little tighter than most of the other gaps and his ankle was twisted in an odd angle. He stopped screaming when he saw Daddy and Mommy, but every time we touched his foot to get it out he got very upset. It was jammed in past the ankle bone and we couldn't find a way to pull it out. We were worried he'd dislocated it, or broken it, and we couldn't get it adjusted in any way to pull it back out. We couldn't find a way to pull it out, and really didn't want to injure him, so we decided to be safe and Daddy tore the crib apart with his bare hands. (Oh Snap!)

Thankfully, after removing the slat and getting his ankle out, Connor didn't seem hurt at all. Right away, he walked around and enjoyed examining the big new gap in his bed. Thankfully, it was possible to jam the slat back in place, and it looks like we can tack it in place and glue the splintered wood back where it belongs. For now, it will work, but we've already re-ordered the front piece of his crib. The crib converts to a toddler bed, and converts later to a full sized bed. The back will become the headboard and the front will become the footboard, so we were glad we could replace that piece of it.

Connor in his busted crib:


Don't mess with Daddy's baby:


Glued some of the wood back on the bottom:

Amanda and Ryan wed!

Amanda and Ryan got married this last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding, and Connor was honored with the responsibility of being the ring bearer. We were worried he was too young for it, but he was a good boy about wearing his tux and he practiced running up and down the aisle during the rehearsal at least a dozen times. At the wedding, he almost made it the whole way, but got distracted when everyone laughed. We were happy he was so brave, it's a long walk down with everyone watching!

Connor running down the aisle:


A video of Connor going down the aisle during the wedding:


Connor's tiny jacket:


Getting busy on the dance floor:


Holy cow, cousin Alli has some awesome dance moves:


Let's dance!


Family shot at the rehearsal:


Family shot right after the wedding:


Connor and the newlyweds the day after the wedding:


Congratulations Amanda and Ryan! Hooray!!

16 Months old!

Connor turned 16 months old on July 2nd. He's learned a lot this month, and it's amazing to watch him develop. Just last week he learned where his belly button is, his nose and his ears. If you ask him to point to his nose, he'll point at it (and sometimes stick his finger in it), and he can also point to other people's noses. He's very interested in belly buttons and if you ask to see his, he'll pull his shirt up to show you. He also is very curious about other people's belly buttons and he likes to pull up shirts and will stick his finger in any belly button he finds.

Here's Connor pointing at Andrea's nose:


Connor showing us his nose:


Yesterday Connor had a heck of a time in a baby pool that Grandpa Garry and Grammy Genie got for him. He loves water, but unfortunately our pool gets deep (for a baby) as soon as you go down a couple steps. Connor is very independent and very confident that he could swim just fine if we'd let him. He doesn't like when we stop him from jumping down the steps, so it's a constant fight with him when we're at the pool. The little kiddie pool was perfect for him. Not only was it shallow enough that Mommy and Daddy could relax, it also had a sprayer on it that would squirt water. It was probably the most fun Connor's ever had with water.

I think he likes it:


Connor also loves playing with his reflection. I don't think it's computed yet that it's him, so every time he sees his reflection he thinks it's a really nice little boy that wants to play with him.


Here's a little video of him playing in the mirror at home:


As you could hear from that video, Connor's pretty chatty, but it's hard to know exactly how many words he really can say. He says them fairly randomly and intermingled with nonsense sounds, so it's difficult to really know whether he's saying words properly in context, or if it's just luck when he does. We're pretty sure he's said a few correctly. Overall, his receptive language is great, so we're not too concerned he isn't speaking in full sentences or anything.

Well, that's all for now, say goodbye Connor!

Pool fun

Connor went to the pool last weekend for the first time this year. We played on the steps to the pool for a while, but Connor kept getting angry that we wouldn't let him drown himself. He kept trying to jump down the steps into deeper and deeper water, and didn't want us holding him or helping him.

The splash ground is a big area where water sprays out of different sprinkler devices and kids run around on wet concrete with their eyes closed. The water was ice cold, and every other kid that went into the splash ground ran through it once and then left. Connor couldn't get enough of it. He would run through it over and over, standing over the fountains, always surprised when they would spray him in the face. It was hilarious to watch him creep up to a fountain after it went off, then jump in surprise when water exploded out of it a moment later. We kept expecting Connor to get tired of the frigid water, but either he didn't realize that the water was making him cold, or he just didn't care. We ended up getting too cold and tired of it before he ever did. The wind was blowing the water into the parents' sitting area, so there was no escaping a shower if you were in the splash ground.

One of the few shots where Connor's running with his eyes open:


A full shot of the splashground (surprisingly with some kids in it besides Connor):

Happy Father's day!

Daddy and Connor celebrated Shawn's second Father's day today. Mommy and Connor got Daddy a cool video game, and we had a nice relaxing day.

We'd also like to say Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Richard, Grandpa Garry and Great Grandpa Roger!

Connor Visits St. Louis

Last weekend we went to St. Louis and had a great time visiting with the Grandparents, Great Grandparents and Connor's uncles. Connor had a great time getting into all the different toys and playing with everyone. We took lots of pictures!

Connor playing with one of Daddy's old toys:


Grandma let you play with WHAT???


This water is wet!


Drying off the wet baby:


Baby and Daddy:


Playing with Grandpa:


Grandma reading a book while Connor puts a toy in his ear:


We got a few pictures of Great Grandpa, but Great Grandma kept covering her face, so we won't post any pictures of her:


Playing with future Aunt (someday!) Abby:

Connor turns 15 months old today

Connor visited his friends the Kendalls over the weekend. They just had two new babies recently, Reese and Teagan. Connor didn't much care about the babies, but had fun playing with Payton, the oldest of the Kendall kids.


Andrea held Reese, and Teagan slept through the whole visit.


Teagan:


Connor really loved Cali, their big dog. He really liked giving her hugs and we realized that he definitely needs a lot of supervision around animals. He gave her a really nice hug, and when I got out my camera he went to hug her again. I caught him being a little rough with her.


Those aren't gentle hands there Connor!


Connor looking like a mess and having fun pushing around the girl toys: