dianaschnuth

Dear Connor,

How is it that every month seems like The Biggest Month Ever? Mommy is surprised every time she sits down to write one of these notes to you — you seem to change things up on a regular basis.

The most epic thing that happened this month was you climbing out of your crib. It was on the lowest setting, but you figured out that you could throw your leg up and over and get yourself out. Luckily, Mommy and Daddy already had installed the gate at the top of the stairs. That didn’t keep you in your room, though.

You climbed out for the first time on Wednesday the 17th — during quiet time, I think — but bedtime went just fine. The next night, you refused to stay in bed, and kept climbing out and crying. Mommy and Daddy tried converting your bed to a toddler bed that night. We put the wooden gate on your door to keep you in, but you scaled the diamond-shaped lattice with ease. Daddy was on vacation that week, so he went to the store and got a gate for your doorway while Mommy read to you and got you calm.

Daddy put the gate up, Mommy read and sang and tried to get you to sleep, but finally Daddy had to take over and let Mommy go to bed at 11pm (which was past her bedtime and WAY past yours). You passed out from exhaustion eventually — almost falling asleep in your rocking chair, but finally sleeping in your bed.

The next morning, before Mommy went to work, Daddy decided to try a trick that one of Mommy’s co-workers told her about: he put the front of the crib back on, but dropped the mattress to the floor entirely, without the spring support beneath it.

That’s kept you in check for the past four weeks, and we’re hoping you don’t figure out how to climb out again until we’re all ready to put you into a big boy bed. (We bought a bed rail for when the day does come, so you won’t accidentally roll out of bed.)

The very next day, we converted your car seats to forward-facing! The first time you got to ride facing the front was when we took you to get a haircut at Daddy’s haircuttery. So, both things put together made for a Very Fun Evening.

One trend this month has been turning light switches on and off. You started out more intrigued by them than you are now, though — now you just reach up and turn on the bathroom light before you brush your teeth, and turn it off on the way out, and you very rarely ask to play with the light switches in the family room like you used to.

Unfortunately, another trend this month has been Epic Tantrums. You’ll cry because you don’t want to go to bed, or you’ll just throw yourself on the floor when Mommy comes home from work for no apparent reason, or you’ll stall Mommy from leaving your room at night by asking for “kissies” and then refusing to kiss Mommy, or you’ll arch your back and scream when we try to put you in your high chair (when you refuse to climb up yourself, that is). More frequently than we’d like, you manage to work yourself into such a state that you make yourself throw up (so much so that “sick” is one of your new words this month).

You do some super cute things too, though. You started out this month counting to ten, but skipping the number eight; now, you’ll count all the way to 14 (that’s how many stairs are in our staircase), and then you’ll go, “14, 14, 14, 14, 20!”

You don’t always seem to grasp the idea that you’re counting distinct objects — it’s more of a thing you say when you see the same thing over and over, like stairs or blocks or shapes. You do understand some numbers, though, like counting two shoes — and then saying, “Ah, hah, ha!” like the Count from Sesame Street. Too adorable.

We got you a potty, and you like to “flush” it because it has realistic water noises and it says, “Yay!” You haven’t actually gone in it yet, but we haven’t really tried very often to put you on it. You know it’s for you, and you sit on it fully clothed, and you know what Mommy and Daddy do on the big potty, but you’re not quite ready to try it yourself. Daddy bought you a board book about the potty, and you LOVE that — so much that you have some of the words memorized already — and I think you’ll be excited when we show you big boy undies like in the book. That’s going to be a while, though.

Another cute thing: the Connor Song has made a reappearance at bedtime lately. Memaw (that’s Grammy’s Mommy) made up a song a long time ago about Mommy’s cousin Michael, and Mommy kind of borrowed the tune and put Connor words to it. You ask for “Connor” now, so Mommy will sing it:

Connor, Connor, Connor B.
Connor, Connor — hey, that’s me!
Gonna grow up handsome as can be
Connor, Connor, Connor B.

(It’s Connor B. because your middle name is Bura. Mommy’s cousin Michael is Michael James, so his version was: Michael, Michael, Michael James / Michael, Michael is my name / When I grow up, it’ll be the same / Michael, Michael, Michael James.)

What’s great about this song is that so many things rhyme with B, so Mommy likes to make up verses as she goes along. This worked really well when you were a baby, too, because the song could be as long as it needed to be to get you rocked to sleep. Mommy sings silly things like, “When I get bigger, I’ll learn to go pee,” or “I love Curious George the monkey,” or “Someday maybe I’ll climb a tree.” You even made up your own rhyme tonight — something about feet.

You’ll be turning two in just a few weeks, and we’ll be having a very small party here at home with just some close friends and family. I can’t believe how fast these two years have gone, and yet how jam-packed they’ve been with milestones and constant game-changers. I keep telling people that I’m trying so hard not to wish you older too soon. Sure, it’ll be nice when you can speak in complete sentences and go the the potty and dress yourself… but every stage is different, and I want to be sure to cherish my little almost-two-year-old toddler while I can.

Lah-loo! (That’s “Love you” in Connor-speak.) 🙂