Many things have changed in the last year. Connor has grown and changed in so many ways. He talks in paragraphs now. He is full of opinions (That’s my favorite! I want to wear the Pteranadon shirt!) and questions (What are you DOING, Mama? Can we watch Dinosaur Train now?). He has a deep love for trains, dinosaurs, and cars. He had a great time over the summer playing with Kyan and Brynn. We are always traveling to “Fowrida” when he plays at home. Cars, planes, and trains are always on their way to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Mike is well into his 4th year. He is enjoying his rotations and preparing for his residency interviews. He is a busy guy, but tries to always make time for Connor.  He also works to make time for our prenatal visits for our new upcoming arrival. We are looking forward to adding another member to our family in March. (YES, that is the same time we find out where Mike matches!)

Connor is “super duper” excited about the baby. He often rolls up my shirt so he can give the baby kisses.  He also gets a big kick out of “tickling” the baby. He is a sweet boy, and we are confident that he will be a great big brother.

So this fall we made a discovery that Connor has an egg allergy. While upsetting, in many ways this has been a really good discovery, because we now know why Connor has had stomach issues for so long.  Since cutting egg out of his diet we have watched Connor become a whole new toddler. He immediately took up an interest in food and started putting on some weight. As of his 18 month appointment he is now almost 29 pounds!!! This allergy has also given Mama a new focus in the kitchen. Reinventing old favorites in an egg-less way has become my new favorite past time. Fortunately there are many resources out there for egg-less living.

Connor is growing in many other ways as well. He astounds us daily with his vocabulary and memory. He can count to 6 on his own (and he knows how to count things, not just repeat numbers!) He sings parts of songs, dances with his shadow, plays computer games, puts together puzzles, plays pretend, and creates games for us to play with him. One of his favorite activities is trying to “poke” Grandma and Grandpa through the computer screen. He even reacts when they pretend poke him too.

Connor’s vocabulary is amazing. He says 3 word sentences all the time, but the words he says the most still are “Please” and “Thank you.” He asks for “Help” whenever things get too difficult, and he uses his words to try to get his wants and needs met. He has some ‘terrible-twos’ moments, but they are often short lived.

Connor’s favorite things right now can be summed up with one word…locomotion. He LOVES trains, and he sets up his Thomas tracks every day to play with. He can identify almost every train (and other vehicles) from the show by sight. When trains aren’t nearby any vehicle will do. He loves trucks, cars, and buses. We never leave home without them. Thanks to the PBS show Dinosaur Train (GREAT SHOW!!!) he also has a great interest in dinosaurs. He likes to sing the T-rex song with me.

Connor is a great joy to be around. He loves to play with us and read with us. He is generous with his hugs and kisses, and I can’t think of any better way to end a tough day than seeing his grin and feeling his arms wrap around my neck. We will be flying down to meet our new niece (Connor’s cousin) on Thursday. It will be the first time in almost a year that the whole family will be together…and the first time since the newest addition, Brynn, came along.

I will post some pictures of the last month or so….so check out the gallery.

Hi Everyone!

Just a little update regarding pictures I want to share. Sunday we took Connor to St Anthony’s Feast in the North End. After discovering his love of fried eggplant (there is a little garlic in all that gaelic), we brought him by the Rose Kennedy Greenway to play in the fountains. Here are a couple pics of him that I love.

Mike

Connor and I just spent two wonderful weeks down south with my parents. He loved being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa as well as Auntie Kate, Uncle Dan, and Ky. There was a lot of laughter going on with everyone and we had a really great time. We will be going down again in August. It may seem strange to take two trips down instead of one long one, but we thought it was more important for Connor and Mike to get to have some time in between trips. Connor was so excited each night when we talked with Dada over Skype.

Now we are back into our regular routine. We skype with Grandma and Grandpa most nights. Connor’s favorite parts are when Grandpa reads the Little Fire Engine book and then Grandma leads us in Itsy Bitsy Spider. Connor has worked out his own signals to show us he wants us to sing. He really missed his Fridge DJ while we were gone, and has played it almost constantly since we arrived back on Wednesday night. He really likes it when he can get the DJ to sing at the same time as the Alphabet song from Leap.

Connor is a busy toddler and loves to see new things. He really enjoys going to the zoo and seeing animals. He is very expressive with them and “talks” a lot to them. It is almost impossible to get him to wave BYE when we leave, but he says, “Bye bye,” and waves at the animals. I try to take him to story time as often as possible. I am following my sister’s example and trying to find an activity for Connor every day. She is so creative with activities for Ky! So this weekend Nonni, Papa, and I took Connor blueberry picking. He had a great time, and he only at a few green ones! He was really tired at the end. I uploaded some photos from our trip to the farm. Hopefully I will be able to get some of the Florida pictures up soon!

As promised here are Connor’s 1 year photos. He was NOT in the mood for photos, but they had a great deal of patience with him. Enjoy!

It seems impossible that a whole year has gon by since Connor first came into our lives. I can remember how hard it was for Mike and I to say his name at first. We suddenly had this new person that we were talking about all the time. Now his name rolls off our tongues like we have been saying it our whole lives. My family flew up (minus Dan who was missed!) to join us in celebrating Connor’s first birthday. It was really great getting to see my sister and nephew, both of whom I had not seen in months. Ky was really great with Connor and enjoyed helping him with his presents. We had a lot of toys that we got so Connor could “grow into” them, and Ky thought they were just perfect. We celebrated a couple of times that week, and I have updated with a few of Papa’s photos from the parties. Connor loved all of the attention and the special carrot cake cupcakes he ate. He wasn’t so sure about the first one, but he figured out very quickly what it was and how best to enjoy it.

We took Connor to the doctor for his first year check-up. He is 30 inches long and weighs 24 lbs. He is walking EVERYWHERE, and he is quite the flirt. We have also discovered that although he is very happy almost all of the time, he does have a rather big temper, and he does NOT like the word No. But he is quick to try to charm you when he thinks he has been caught doing something he shouldn’t. We get a kick out of him turning and sitting…pretending that he wasn’t doing anything at all…no not him.

I have been delayed in writing this because right after the first check-up we had my middle school drama festival. This was followed up with a weekend of the stomach flu. This weekend Mike had his Step 1 tests (which he thinks he did fine on!) and now we are finally able to breathe and relax a little bit. So thank you for your patience in waiting for this update. We will be taking Connor for his 1 year photos soon so check back for another update!

So Connor had a great time today. He got all dressed up and we went shopping. He even got down and pushed the stroller around for a while. He made lots of friends as we stood in line to meet the Easter bunny. Then he actually SAW the Easter bunny. He wailed. When he finally calmed down he looked back up at the bunny…and wailed again. There is a picture in the gallery of Connor’s meeting with Mr. Bunny.

The last two months seem to have gone by in the blink of an eye. We have all been amazed in the past few weeks with how tall Connor has gotten. Not a day goes by that we don’t say, “Oh look…he can reach that now!!” He has started to walk, although he is only taking 4 or 5 steps on his own at a time. It is somewhat painful to watch as he learns how to walk.  He is also learning to talk. He makes lots of great sounds…and sometimes he even nails some words. We often hear about “fish” and “duck.” He has recently added in “this” and “cheese.” He even told Papa to “read this” while handing him a book. He is amazing to watch and Mike and I feel truly blessed by his presence in our lives.

I have posted some pictures of Connor at Day Care. He has many great friends there. He is having a tea party with his friend Sydney and he is enjoying crackers outside in the almost warm weather. You will be seeing more of his friends soon. Enjoy!

Connor went to the doctor for his 9 month check-up. He is now 21 lbs 12 ounces. He is 28 inches long. Our doctor was very impressed with his many skills. He has 4 teeth coming in on the top, so he is having a little trouble at night and in the morning. He is also very close to walking. I imagine in the next month or so you will have an update about him being able to walk. Connor and I are going to Florida this week to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We will get to play with Auntie Kate, Uncle Dan, and Kyan as well.

Today we took him to get his 9 month photos. They are in the gallery already. Check them out!

Connor is getting so big he hardly seems like a baby anymore. He is convinced that he can walk (he can’t yet!) and he loves to make fishy faces. He had a great time celebrating Christmas with the families in spite of the fact that he was very sick. Mike and I loved spending our two weeks off with him. All too quickly Christmas passed, he was baptized, and most of my family went back to Florida. Getting Connor back to his routine was a little tough, but after a few days he was back to being excited to be at Patti’s.

Connor says “Dada Dada Dada!” all the time now. He is also working on sticky/stinky and fish. Sadly I only get “Mama” when he is upset. But I also get all of the morning hugs and I get kisses all day, so I don’t get too upset. He is now a speed machine when he crawls. He has developed a game where Mike or I has to chase him. Sometimes he even turns it around and tries to chase us. He is a true joy to be around.

We take him next week for his 9 month visit. I promise to give an update on his height and weight.

Enjoy the family photos that I posted!