Last Christmas, Connor wasn’t really old enough to appreciate getting gifts; he was almost three months old, and I’m pretty sure he spent our gift-opening time laying on a blanket on the floor next to his parents while we opened gifts to each other. Well, I mean, we got him a couple of little things, but we figured he was too little to remember or even know what was going on.
This year was different.
Connor’s Grammy sent him alphabet blocks for Christmas!
This is actually kind of special, because some of my favorite memories of being around kindergarten-age revolve around playing with my alphabet blocks with my Mom. We’d make pyramids on the coffee table, out of words — she’d help with the big seven-letter word that would form the base, then we’d make a six-letter word, and a five-letter, until we finished the pyramid with an I or an A. Then we’d take turns poking out the blocks, Jenga-style (this was long before we’d even heard of Jenga), until the pyramid fell down.
Thanks, Grammy.
There have been two big themes this month: your vocabulary and your independence.
You’ve started to mimic us more and more when we speak. Mommy still tries to teach you new signs, and the words to go with them, and it’s super cute when you actually pick them up. One day, you wanted a taste of Mommy’s ice cream, so Mommy said, “Please,” and made the sign for it. And you repeated, clear as day: “Peeeeeze!”
So Mommy gave you a bite of ice cream, then did it again: “Please?” And you reached forward and rubbed Mommy’s chest and said, “Peeeeze?”
Ah, well. You’ll figure it out.
A rare bird, this: a video blog post!
After this, Connor decided that he wanted to climb down the stairs after all. Since the basement isn’t a place where he’s generally allowed, I had my work cut out for me in keeping him interested only in the stairs (and not Daddy’s comics).
He’s not nearly as adept at climbing down as climbing up — and he’s not nearly as adept at climbing up when he’s getting slappy and tired. He bonked his nose climbing up near the end of the evening, and I had a bit of a time convincing him that he should climb up the rest of the way and get back on the proverbial horse.
(As an aside: I really have to work my pronunciation around my new braces. I hadn’t realized what that looks like. It’s a good thing I’m not any more self-conscious about having braces than I was about having bad teeth. There’s just a learning curve to working around the extra hardware.)
Dear Connor,
Nothing too crazy happened this month, but it’s a slow and steady learning curve for you. You’re learning new words, like “Mei” (our kitty’s name), and “meow,” and “ear” (although that comes out sounding like “eye”). You still say “bye” a lot, and wave, but you don’t say “hi” so much anymore. You sign “milk” now, but that’s your only new sign lately. (Edit: You also sign “diaper” now, and make some sounds along with it that sound like “dah-bah.” Probably only Mommy and Daddy would know what you’re saying, though, as with a lot of words that you’re trying out. You also know where your pee-pee is, and call it your “pay-pay.”) You understand many more words than you can articulate or sign: body parts like nose and teeth and mustache; different foods like applesauce, melts, and yogurt; and games like “Mommy’s gonna get you!” and “Gone, gone. Connor’s gone. Where’s Connor?”
Speaking of Gone-Gone, you have taken Peek-a-boo to a whole new level. You’ll run around with your crocheted baby blanket on your head — the one that Grammy’s friend Kay made for you before you were born — until you decide to reveal yourself and pull the blankie off. We have you use that blankie instead of one of your old hospital blankies because you’ll still run around with it on your head, just without the crochet holes, so you’ll actually be running around blind and bonking into furniture, which isn’t so good.
Another new game you like to play is carting Mommy and Daddy’s shoes around. Sometimes we’ll find one of our shoes in your playpen. You also like to push Mommy and Daddy into a new position, wherever we’re sitting — you’ll open and close our legs, or push us over if we’re sitting on the floor, or just move one of our legs or arms back and forth. You’re realizing that you can affect the world around you, and that’s kind of fun to see.
You’re finally getting to a point where you get frustrated when things don’t go your way, or the way you expected them to go. Mommy’s trying to find a happy medium between helping you when you get mad and letting you experience the frustration. Sometimes Mommy will help just a little when you’re not looking, then see if you notice that you don’t need to be mad anymore; either that, or Mommy will use the fine art of distraction to direct your attention elsewhere.
We didn’t go anywhere too exciting this month. Even though Mommy bought you a costume earlier this year, we didn’t actually go anywhere for Halloween; we had an invitation to go pass out candy with Harper and her parents, but you usually get tired so early that we decided to stay home, instead.
Mommy gave you your second-ever haircut this month! We left you in your highchair after dinner, got out the scissors and a damp washcloth, and went to town. It turned out pretty good! Mommy’s learning, too.
Grammy and Grandad sent you a box of Uncle Phil’s old baby clothes from the late 80’s. Some of them fit you quite nicely!
Daddy managed to rescue a few of his old baby clothes from your late Grandpa Schnuth’s attic several months back, too. Some of them got eaten by mice, but some of them made it just fine — including Daddy’s old coat from the late 70’s. You look great in it!
Your personality is getting more and more pronounced every day. You’re generally a happy guy, unless you’re overtired or your teeth are bothering you (which has been happening a lot lately — you just got your seventh tooth in, and are working on your eighth). You love to interact with people, even total strangers, but you love the one waitress at New Empire — OK, pretty much everybody at New Empire — and Mr. Kim at Korea Na, and the owner of Star of India, and the baristas at Starbucks (although we don’t go inside very often anymore). Like I mentioned earlier, you’re only just starting to get upset when things don’t go your way; you still try so hard to make things go, though, even though you’re mad. You really are a combination of your Mommy and your Daddy, in so many ways.
We love you so much. Keep being awesome.
