Story Time

Every night, when I'm putting Connor to bed, it ends with me turning off the lights and getting him to lay down under the covers so that I can tell him a story. The first story I ever told him involved him going to see his Uncle Kevin in Japan, and Kevin saying, "Konnichiwa!" when Connor arrived. Connor expects me to include "konnichiwa" in every story now, and laughs every time he hears it.

Every night before last night, Connor has always asked me to tell him the same story over and over. Last night, though, he asked for a new story each time, and he was making up new ideas for stories! Our format goes like this:

Me: "Once upon a time-"
Connor: "a - little - boy - named - Connor!" (wiggling with each word for emphasis)
Me: "- there was a little boy named Connor! And he liked to-"

This is where I let Connor tell me what story he wants to hear.

His common choices so far have been:

1. "Splash the chalk" - Referring to his favorite game, throwing chalk into a bucket of water over and over.
2. "Splash the ice" - His favorite game got a seasonal twist when it snowed, so he asked to hear stories about throwing ice in the water.
3. "Go see Mama and Baby Eamon" - Stories about Connor having to go places to find Mama and Baby Eamon, where Connor will sometimes feed me the location they need to be found. His favorite place is, "Awawa," which he made up. I think he likes the way it sounds.
4. "Play a little boy named Connor" - in which Connor and his fictional friend Connor tell each other hello back and forth.
5. "Say konnichiwa family" - Where I list off the names of everyone in our extended family, and Connor says "konnichiwa" to each of them

Last night, instead of picking one of those and sticking to it, he requested:

1. "Splash the chalk" - No surprise there.
2. "The diaper story" - Never expected to hear him request this story. I told it to him once when I was frustrated that he went wild while I was changing a poopy diaper, and things almost got messy. It was about Dada wanting Connor to be calm and still while he got his diaper changed.
3. "Take the trash" - Never told him a story about this before, so I made up one real quick where Dada asked him to put his diaper in the trash, and he slam-dunked it.
4. "Get the numbers" - Also a new concept, so I told him about how he had to go on a journey to find the numbers one, two, and three. (I wasn't very creative; he found a stick, a snake, and a worm in the shape of the numbers).

Then, when he wouldn't go to sleep, and I had to go back in to see him, he asked me to tell him a story where Connor "gets the letters."

Our little Connor is getting bigger! I'm excited by his new capacity for creative thought. I keep hoping one night that he'll want to tell his Dada a story, since I'm sure it'll be more entertaining than any that I tell him. 

Snow!!

Last week we got snow on two different days.  On Tuesday we got a little snow that all melted by the end of the day.  Then on Wednesday it rained and turned into snow as the temperature dropped and we got about 3 inches at our house.  It was fun watching it come down at night. 

Connor and Patrick got the mail together.

Some of Connor's toys being snowed on.

The next morning, Patrick and I got the boys up and bundled as soon as we could to go play outside!  I put our little blue adirondack chair in the snow to get some pictures of the boys.  Eamon was thrilled.

When Connor came out, he made a beeline for the chair to pose in it.  It was pretty hilarious.  I was kind of shocked I got him to wear mittens, but I think he knew how cold the snow would be to his little fingers and he saw me wearing mine, so he asked for some himself.

Cheese!

I built a little snow totoro next to Eamon.  He kept trying to maneuver himself into getting the snow and touch it like I was.  He ended up on his belly on the chair a couple times.  I didn't spend a long time on the totoro because Connor was in a destructive mood and I knew he would want to destroy it.  And I was right!  When he saw it, he exclaimed, "Stomp the totoro!" and proceeded to mash it into the ground.

Making a snow ball to throw and yell, "Break!"

I got Patrick to take pictures of me and the boys.  They are so cute and I'm so glad that they had fun playing in the snow!  Eamon needed to go in for a nap, but Patrick stayed out with Connor for a while.  Connor mostly wanted to throw snow into the little stream in the gutters of the street, so Patrick brought him in when he was bored.  I think Connor liked the snow, but wasn't in love with it because he didn't ask to go out in it again and he wasn't sad when it was gone. He did, however, ask Patrick to tell him stories about a little boy named Connor who liked to "splash the ice" for the next three nights.

Sweet 6 Month Old Eamon

Time flies!  It's hard to believe Eamon is 6 months old already.  I mean, it hasn't felt fast, but I haven't been really wanting it to go faster.  I've just been able to enjoy the here and now a lot with these two awesome kids.

Eamon has been going through a cognitive leap over the past couple weeks and we can see see so many changes in his behaviors, thought processes, and his physical abilities.  There's a lot going on!

Drooling up a storm.  We go through 3 bibs a day.

One of the new things Eamon is doing is sitting up all the time.  He gets stronger every day.  He throws his weight forward to scoot along the floor, and reaches for anything in his grasp, often ending up on his tummy.  Then he scoots backwards, trying to move himself forward, and will usually end up rolling around to try and get where he wants to go.  Connor crawled shortly after 7 months, and we are sure Eamon will by crawling by then too, if not earlier.  Then we'll all be in trouble!  I am sure I will have to be the referee between these boys, since Eamon loves Connor so much and just wants to be with him and touch him all the time.  When they nurse at the same time, Eamon tries desperately to hold Connor's hand.  Connor might do it for a minute, but usually shakes Eamon off.  Eamon regularly holds my hand when he is nursing, so I think he thinks it's just the thing to do, and I'm sure he can't understand why Connor doesn't want to do it!

Eamon loves jumping in his jumperoo, but his new favorite activity is bouncing on Rody.  He loves to alternating bouncing with gnawing on Rody's ears.  Eamon's teeth are threatening every day, but they definitely bother him a fair amount.  He drools a lot, is constantly chewing on toys and fingers, and has been acting differently for a week.

Eamon got his first snow day last week!  We didn't know how long the snow would last, so we changed him as soon as he woke up to take pictures of him in the snow.  You can see him being a little puffy-eyed and tired.  He was smiling for his dad.

Eamon has been much more fussy and demanding with us.  He wants to be held a lot and doesn't like for us to go out of his sight.  He also is much more engaging and likes to play games and interact with us too.  He's pretty chill as long as his basic need for nearness is met.  We've spent a couple afternoons, when he woke up early from his nap, sitting in front of the patio door, while he looked outside and I read a book.

His schedule right now is a little bit off of what I would like, but it's working okay.  He's been waking up pretty early, but I think that was temporary because of all the mental changes.   He was waking up around 7, the switched to 5:45, and sometimes earlier, and is slowly going back towards 7.  He takes several short naps in the morning and at lunch time, before a long nap that I try to start at the same time as Connor's.  Sometimes Eamon is ready at 1:30 and I have to let him be awake and tired while I put Connor to bed.  It is sad to hear him cry when I come back from putting Connor down, but I just don't have much choice!  He's still sleeping on me for naps, which is working fine, so I'm not going to change it until I have to.  Having him rest with me is too awesome to change as long as I can help it.  I know I'll have to give it up soon for his rest's sake anyhow.

Connor the Big Boy

Connor continues to grow up and mature in so many ways.  It's hard to watch in some ways, because I see the baby slipping away, but I'm looking forward to seeing the boy that he's becoming.

He loves singing right now.  He loves the alphabet a LOT.  He loves candy and chocolate.  He likes taking baths.  He loves for us to be together, but really values his alone time.  When he wants to be left alone he will yell, "No!" at us, which is annoying and we've started doing "time ins" with him (holding him while counting to 50), but sometimes he will say, "Dada talk to Mama!" when he wants Patrick to leave him alone, and when it's just me at home he will tell me to talk to myself!  It's pretty hilarious.

Connor's favorite thing to do is throw things.  He like to throw balls over the love seat, throw various objects into bowls of water, throw all the toys out of the bath and then put them back in the bath.  He loved throwing the recent snow on the ground and yelling, "Break!"

Going out on his balance bike for the first time.

Don't be fooled by these pictures.  These
are the only 2 times he's gone on his bike.

Connor has really started interacting with us a lot more, mostly to issue commands.  Along with telling us "no" all the time, he makes demands for food he wants, often followed up with a request for a larger, and then an even larger number of that food.  "How about 5 blackberries?  How about 11 blackberries?"  He also tells us to take pictures of him at certain times.  Patrick took a picture of him in his fox towel and then he requested to take a picture of him and the fox towel snuggling with me.  Oh my heart.

It is often difficult to try and get Connor to do an activity that he hasn't come up with himself.  I try to get him to color, but most of the time it turns into a "throw the markers" or "throw the crayons and then peel off the paper" game.

A rare time actually coloring.

One of Connor's recent requests was that he sleep "in Dada's bed."  We joked with him and said he could and then he was very upset when we didn't let him.  So that night we tried him in the guest bed and he slept well all night.  Since that was a Friday night, we decided to go ahead and overhaul Connor's room and move the guest bed in there for him to sleep in.  We plan on he and Eamon sharing a room when Eamon is ready to sleep on his own.

Connor really likes sleeping in his big-big bed.  I used to nurse and rock him the the chair and then he would climb into the converted crib, but now we lay down together before nap time.  Patrick lays with him every night and started telling him a story about "a little boy named Connor" that Connor will make him repeat, "How about 2 stories?  We listen... 11 stories, Dada."

Panoramic of the new boys room.

Connor is so sweet with Eamon... most of the time.  When he wants me to do something with him (mostly nursing) he will ask me to put Eamon in his jumperoo (which he says super adorably).  He will often take things away from Eamon, which is frustrating to both Eamon and me, but most of the time he's very loving.  He will often get Eamon toys he thinks Eamon wants, especially the glow worm.  He will often say, "Oh baby Eamon, you're so cute.  A boo boo boo boo boo!"  When we are in the car and Eamon is getting upset, Connor will sing to him, and Eamon usually calms down to listen to his brother.

The Past Month and a Half...

Here's a blog of fun pictures from our every day life the past month and a half.  

Classy Connor.

Jerod and Britni came to visit for an hour on their way through town.  We will be so glad when they come back, hopefully in about 2 weeks. Patrick was sorry he had to miss their visit, because he was at a new employee orientation at his new job.

This sweet little girl was born 5 days before Eamon- on his due date!  It's fun watching her grow.

We've started consistently eating dinner together as a family and Connor LOVES it.  "Time to eat dinner fambiwe!"  "Eamon sit his chair!  Dada sit his chair!  Mama sit her chair!  Connor sit the chair!"  I've been trying to do it at lunch time too, when it makes sense with our day.

Eamon loves being part of the action.

Loving on sick Dada a few weeks ago.

"What is on your face?!"

"Jump to Dada!"

One of the best things in my life is seeing Connor and Eamon love each other and how much both of them love Patrick, and he them.  We love taking pictures when Connor asks to hold Eamon, which is fairly often, even though it doesn't last long (by which I mean it lasts about 5 seconds).

Best picture.