Happy 8 months Connor!

This handsome fellow is 8 months old!

Big 8 month boy!

It's amazing how big he is getting and how much he is learning - He's like a little sponge! He's been such a blessing and source of fun and laughs for the past 8 months.

"Are you shrinking monkey?!"

Connor has been working on his sitting and is getting better and better. He still topples over occasionally, testing our reflexes. He loves sitting at his xylophone or piano and making music. He also loves to be sung to. It always soothes or entertains him (despite my questionable singing voice and small repertoire of songs - I'm working on it!)

Baby Beethoven

Other new "tricks" include reaching for his toes:

Sitting up in the big kid part of the grocery cart:

Picking up food for my puppies

Playing in his jumperoo (it helps that his feet can reach the ground now and he can turn himself around in it:

Jumperoo fun!

And using a high chair at restaurants:

At chipotle - "where's my burrito?!"

Connor had eye surgery in late September to straighten his eyes, improving his vision and depth perception. He was a champ for the surgery and recovered very quickly. He was a very good (and super adorable) patient. His eyes were a little red for awhile, but he's doing much better now.

Eyes are a little red, but he's happy as ever

We've seen a noticeable difference in how he sees, which is awesome. We often see him "inspecting" things that he may not have been able to see well before.

"Hmmm, interesting..."

He's moved up a size in diapers, to 2, and is quickly outgrowing his 6 month clothes. He is tall and skinny, so a lot of his pants are short, but big around the waist. Luckily, he's a fantastic eater so we can bulk him up a little. We have yet to find a food that he doesn't like. He will happily eat anything we give him, even mushed green beans, which don't seem very appetizing to us. His favorite food right now is bananas (these get a lot of "mmmms" while he eats them.). Honorable mentions include sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots.

"Mommy, take my picture in front of my favorite food"

Connor recently got 2 new teeth - his top 2. His bottom 2 came in with very little problem, but we weren't quite so lucky with the top 2. These seemed to give him a little more trouble and kept us up at night sometimes with the poor little guy. We seem to be almost through it now, however, and he is back to his ever happy, sleeping through the night, self (hopefully I didn't just jinx us by typing that - knock on wood)

Little angel

The little guy always makes us laugh! He is currently in love with ceiling fans and laughs hysterically at them. He is also ticklish, so it's fun to play and find his ticklish spots while he giggles (don't tell him I told you, but his armpits usually elicit a laugh)

tickle, tickle

In other recent exciting Connor news, he rolled from his back to front, a skill we have been working on for a while that he finally did himself (I have to wonder if his indifference toward tummy time made him not too interested in learning this, but he did it none the less). I came in to get him from his nap the other day to find this:

First back to tummy roll!

I witnessed the rolling first hand later that day during playtime. He rolled, lifted his head and gave me the biggest "did you see what I just did" smile. Little stinker :)

the little stinker himself

Connor has been busy cheering on the Browns with Daddy on Sunday (sorry Pittsburgh friends, he inherited his Daddy's football taste, poor kid) and got to see his first Browns win against the Bengals the other day. Father and Son were both excited!

Go Browns!

Happy 8 months Buddy!! We love you to the moon and back!

<3 <3 <3

 

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What's up, Doc?

Messy eater!

Lately, Connor has been branching out to some new toys. He briefly entertained a couple of the teething toys while those first bottom teeth were pushing through and he's been giving his rattle a real workout lately. The seeming favorite, though, is his funny bunny.

Life is good.

Smiling!

This bunny has been hugged, squeezed, gnawed, thrown, and eyed enviously by Graham. Since he's such an integral part of Connor's day-to-day, we thought it only appropriate to ask him for some input on Connor's next dietary adventure. Sweet potatoes were a smashing success, but where to go from here?

How about carrots?

Carrots it is! It's been fun to see how quickly Connor has picked up eating from a spoon. He's at the point where he opens his mouth WAY up when he sees the spoon coming. As he takes a bite, he makes a pretty cartoonish NOM sound. I suppose after six months of nothing but milk, I'd be excited to eat something new as well -- even carrots. The carrots were a big success, too, as you can see in the video. Trying new foods is fun!

Finally, I'm throwing in one more picture that doesn't really fit the theme of this post, but it's one that I really love. I'm a lucky guy.

Yep, pretty lucky.

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Busy Weekend

Connor's first veggies!

The weekends seem to go by faster since Connor came along, but they're a lot more fun, too. The little guy keeps us busy. It's a different kind of busy, though -- the kind where Elle and I are sitting on the couch at 10:30, getting ready to head to bed, and we ask each other "Where, exactly, did this day go?". The laundry isn't done and the grass didn't get cut, but the baby is fed, bathed, and all played out, so you have to consider it a success.

We spent Friday night watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Connor and I missed the beginning due to bath time (where he was putting the finishing touches on a pretty impressive backstroke). We settled in in time to catch the hundred Mary Poppinses fighting off the fifty foot Voldemort. Connor was not impressed. He did dress to support Team USA, though.

Current Patriot, Future Olympian

Saturday I snuck out for a couple of hours to see the new Spider-Man movie with a friend, so Connor and Mommy enjoyed some one-on-one time. The three of us went out with some friends to celebrate a birthday. Once again, Connor was a superstar at the restaurant. He managed to sleep through a good chunk of the meal, despite our party being somewhat spirited. We had a lot of fun seeing friends, something we are making an effort to do more often now that Connor is a bit older.

Today was a big day, too. After a few weeks of "training" with rice cereal, Connor took his first run at veggies today. We opted for sweet potatoes, as that was a favorite for both Mom and Dad. It was a rousing success. Connor thoroughly enjoyed them, at one point even voicing his frustration when Mom failed to reload quickly enough. We are hoping for a similar level of success with his greens next week. We even noticed a couple of teeth that are threatening to push through any day now. We did capture the whole thing on video:

After a fun visit from Grandma and Grandpa, we wrapped up the day with a quick walk down to the park and some time in the baby swing for Connor. He simultaneously looked so big ("He's old enough to sit in a swing at the park?!") and so small (He's still swallowed up by the swing). He really seemed to enjoy it, giving us a few of his signature laughs (which are coming more and more often these days). All in all, another great weekend!

Fun at the park

 

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Exploring the World

As always, Connor has been doing great. He's really starting to explore the world, rather than just watching it passively. He's at the point where everything he sees has to go into his mouth. He's always grabbing someone's finger (or Mommy's hair) and chomping down -- I had no idea baby gums were so hard! I guess it's good practice for him, though. He started rice cereal a couple of weeks ago and is doing great with it (although the poor kid seems to have inherited my table manners).

We start fruits and veggies this weekend, so hopefully he doesn't share my unfortunate distaste for all things green. In the meantime, though, the little guy is having a lot of fun everyday. He's laughing more and more, especially at his "funny bunny". Here are a couple of videos featuring this master of hilarity and some other favorite toys.

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