Visiting the Park

Conner and I spend most of our time inside.  It is cold outside, so our blinds are normally closed to keep in the heat.  He does not see much of the outside world.  It was pretty nice day on Saturday, so we bundled him up and went to the park.  He loved it!

Our little walker.  :-)  Ever since his birthday party he has been walking all over.

 He loved the swing.  He laughed and laughed.

 We went down together at first.

 Conner eventually got brave (or we were brave enough to let him..) and went down alone.

Here is a video of the slide.

Conner's Birthday Party

I have been super excited for Conner's birthday party for quite some time.  It is his first birthday, which is a BIG deal!  So my friend Tara and I planned out decor, food, games and favors.  Fun!  I might have enjoyed it as much or more than Conner... :-)

My parents were excellent sports at going along with my theme.  They gave Conner this set of blocks (which Daniel might play with too...)  They even wore hard hats.  Aren't they cute? 

We invited several of Conner's little friends from church and their families.  Our apartment is not very big, so it was pretty cozy.  The kids had a great time playing.

Conner enjoyed watching all the other kids.  He is the youngest, so he learns a lot from his friends.  At his party, he decided that walking was cooler than crawling.  He has been walking a lot more ever since!

 We had a vegy tray and sandwiches that were shaped like trucks.  The vegy tray was a hit with Conner.

 We got all the kids cute aprons from Home Depot (they were free!)

 I made a pinata, which was a big hit.

Each of the kids took turns trying to break it.  Watch out!

 Torin actually put a few good dents in it.

 Daniel finally took a turn and broke it and dumped out the candy.

 We tried to take a picture of Conner with the cake.  It was tough, because he wanted to grab the trucks.

 One of Conner's friends, Walter, was happy to help Conner blow out the candle.  Conner did not understand.  I think if he would have tried we would have had a lot of spit on the cake.

 Conner loves sweets, so the cake was a huge hit!  He ate the whole piece.

Here is a video.  It is kind of long.  He was pretty chill about eating his cake.  He loved watching other kids, and there was a lot going on to watch. It looks like he is eating popcorn and enjoying a show.  :-)

He was one messy boy!

 Daniel was able to clean him up a bit, then we opened presents - fun!  One of the boys brought Conner bubbles.  Conner had never been introduced to bubbles, but the other kids had a blast.

 Mom made a cute tool belt for Conner with little toy tools. One day he will appreciate it a little more.

 The older kids understood the present thing a lot more than Conner.  It was fun to see them get so excited.

 We bought Conner this wagon with blocks in it.  He helped us pick it out at Target.  We knew it was good when he pushed it all the way from the back of the store to the register!  He did not want to let it go.

It is hard to believe that he is already one.  It is so fun to see him learn.  He is learning so fast.  Happy Birthday Little Man!

Reading

Conner may not be running, or really even walking much, but it can be a little exhausting to keep up with him. His attention span is about as big as his field of vision.  As soon as he sees something new and interesting, he drops what he is doing to go get this new exciting thing.

Sometimes it is nice to just sit on the couch, and this week I convinced Conner to sit with me.  He loves reading his books.  We pick a few books, lay on the couch, and read them over & over & over.  :-)

I love our quiet snuggle time on the couch.  Conner is growing up so fast, it is nice to just sit, relax, and hold my baby.

Happy Birthday Conner!

Last Friday on January 27th Conner turned 1!  Happy Birthday little man!

We did not really celebrate Conner's birthday last weekend because Daniel was in California for a vet school interview.  (We should hear back the results of that on March 15th, cross your fingers!). We are having a party for him this weekend instead, so I will have more birthday boy pictures then.

I attempted to sing happy birthday to Conner while taking a picture and holding a pancake with a lit candle in front of him... bad idea.

He just wanted to grab the light.  So he did. I will work on my technique before we try this again with a birthday cake.

Despite burning his hand on the candle, Conner loved his birthday pancakes.  

I can't believe how fast a year has gone by and how much he has changed.  It is also hard to remember what life was like without him.  Our lives revolve around him, and I love it.  He is such a happy, smiley, drooly, energetic little boy.  I am so grateful to have him as part of our family.

Peek-A-Boo!

Conner loves playing peek-a-boo.  He loves having mom or dad hide from him and jump out and scare him.  Recently, he has started covering and uncovering his face to play Peek-A-boo.  It is so cute!  He gets so excited. 

Today I was cleaning up the dishes from lunch and he was still in his high chair.  He started hiding behind his bib.  Enjoy the video!

After his bath, he did the same thing with his towel.  He looks at Daniel mischievously, then pulls the towel over his face and quickly uncovers his face.  He gets more and more excited as you play along.  It is so fun to watch him learn!

The Flour Bucket

We have a 5 gallon bucket where we keep our flour storage.  I had it out to refill our flour tub in our kitchen, and it was empty enough that Conner could push it around.  Conner loves to use anything push-able as a walking device.  He is too scared to walk more than a few steps on his own, but he loves pushing things.

First Word = Ball

Conner talks a lot in his own language.  It consists of a lot of da da da, dat, ta ta, ba ba ball, blah blah (tongue out) and an occasional ma ma (usually when he is sad). 

Conner says ball a lot, but I am never sure if he knows what he is saying.  Today I decided that he does.  At least he acted pretty well.  :-) 

So his official first word is ball.  Now we need to expand his vocabulary before everything becomes ball.  Currently he likes to point around the room (or at the ceiling..) and say, "dat?"  It sounds like he is asking, what is that?  He is already picking my brain, and he is not even 1! 

One of his favorite toys or group of toys are his lids.  We have been keeping our lids from our milk cartons.  We finally gave them to Conner last weekend, and he is obsessed!  He almost always has one in each hand.  I don't know why I ever purchase toys.