Merry Christmas!

We've had a very busy few days! I will update with everything when I have more time, but here are a few pics of the past few days.  More posts coming to explain it all!

C-O-N-N-O-R!

Connor loves the new Aquadoodle pad he got from Mimi and Papa so much, that it seems to have a permanent home on the coffee table.  As I was making his lunch last night, I walked into the living room and he had written his name on the pad.  Now, he writes his name ALL.THE.TIME, but this was, by far, the most legible he's ever done it.  AND, he's always had trouble with the "R" in his name, and he FINALLY got it!  I ran for my phone to take a picture (because, it's Aquadoodle, and once it dries, it's GONE!).  He even underlined his name himself.  He's a tad obsessed with his name, and whenever I'm writing something, he's sure to say "C-O-N-N-O-R" as if to say "Mom, don't forget to write my name, and here's how to spell it!".

Needless to say, I'm a touch proud of my little guy.   

















I've also added this picture of Connor eating "popcoins" the other night.  Lately he hates having his picture taken, but he didn't fight me on this one AND has a cute little smile on his face.  Popcorn just happens to be his Grampy's favorite snack, so when we go see them for Christmas, they can enjoy "popcoins" together!

December

Connor has always been very interested in letters, and lately he's been spelling words.  He can spell Connor, Mommy, November, December, jell-o (a favorite), coat, and fox (this after we saw a fox on our street the other night).  It's funny to listen to him spell the different months because he adds "two-zero-one-zero" to the end because he sees it on the calendar.  Hopefully he's not too shell-shocked in a week when we go into 2011. 

His mind is a sponge right now and seems to pick up a new word every day.  He loves the magnetic letters on the fridge so he can put his words together, and he especially loves the iphones where he can just type in the word he wants.  He's improving his hand-written words, but it's much easier to type them if he has the chance.

A Very Estee Christmas

Saturday Connor had a busy day.  We first went to our favorite resale shop, Beansprouts, to have a picture taken with Santa.  They offer this free of charge, which is perfect when you're not sure how your little one will react.  Santa was parking his sleigh when we arrived, but Gingy the Gingerbread man was around and Connor seemed a little fascinated, so we got a picture with him first.  Gingy wasn't quite done getting ready, and you can see the person inside the costume, but it's ok.  Connor was a little more leary of Santa, but a little bribery with a lollipop and he was fine.

We then headed up to Tewksbury for the annual Estee Christmas.  We were all curious to see how Connor would react to the presents.  He understood that they were presents, but the actual process of opening it to get to the toy inside he didn't quite get.  He had a mini meltdown with all the commotion of people trying to get him to open his gifts, so we took a break for a bit.  While Daddy and Auntie went to pick up the food, Mimi and I sat down and explained about the toys inside the presents and showed him how to rip them open.  He understood, and opened his present to find Super Why inside!  He was very excited, and after that realized that if he ripped the paper off, he'd find a toy inside.  He still had his distracted moments, but I think he really enjoyed finding the hidden toys!  He was a bit spoiled this year, since Mimi and Papa are very generous, but he's already enjoying his new presents.

Connor loved the giant Santa Claus in Mimi and Papa's living room, and kept saying "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!" just like the giant Santa did.  I didn't get a chance to get it on video, but it was adorable. 

On the way home we stopped to see the famous Christmas lights on Rockvale Ave in Tewksbury.  The entire street goes all out with their Christmas decorations, and Connor loved it.  We did manage to get a picture of the Clark Griswold house.  Every inch of their house was covered with lights.  It's amazing.  I can't imagine their electricity bill! 

After ending the night eating two ice cream cupcakes (thank you, Auntie Heather), and didn't fall asleep on the way home as planned.  He finally went to bed around 10:30 pm, and slept through his last day of swim lessons on Sunday.  I was ok with this, because we've both been battling colds this week and he needed the rest.  We had a lazy morning, and only left the house to get some much-needed groceries.  He spent the rest of the day playing with his new toys and singing Christmas carols (his favorites are Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and the Muppets version of the 12 Days of Christmas).  

We have a busy week before Christmas here, with our regularly scheduled speech appointments and wrapping up some last minute gifts.  Any ideas on what to get his speech therapist?  :) 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Edaville

To kick off the holiday season, our friends Jess, Chris, Layla, Quincy and Brady asked us to go to Edaville.  We decided to get there while it was still light out, which was nice because it wasn't that crowded.  We made our way to the kiddie rides where we proceeded to ride the Caterpillar.  Over. And over.  And over.  It was, by far, Connor's favorite ride, and all it did was go around in a circle 6 or 7 times.  After being outside for a while, we went inside to warm up.  The kiddos played in the ball pit for quite a while, then moved to the train sets.  Connor, of course, loves trains, and would have stayed there all night if I let him.  But we had bigger and better trains to see and ride, so off we went.  Before getting a ride on the big train, we hit up the carousel with Layla first. 

The big train ride was lots of fun.  Connor has been a bit obsessed with cabooses lately (no - not that kind of caboose) so we made the long walk to the end of the train to ride the Caboose.  It was actually quite nice!  Since few others wanted to make the journey, the car only had two other small groups of people on it, and we were a bit separated so we had the whole back of the Caboose to ourselves.  The kids ate popcorn and looked at all the lights and had a marvelous time.  This was the first time Connor had actually eaten popcorn, so I think that was more a thrill than the lights, but he still had fun. 

In other news, Connor has been on an injury kick lately.  First, on Wednesday, he managed to dislocate his elbow trying to get out of holding my hand.  Luckily, the doctor easily put it back in place so we didn't have to spend the day before Thanksgiving in the ER.  Then, on Saturday, he jumped off his train table and hit his head on a toy on the floor, splitting his eyebrow.  After a call to Nurse Grammy, we decided he didn't need stitches and put a steri-strip on it.  It seems to be holding - must be because Mommy didn't cut it very small and it goes up to his hairline.  Oh well, it's secure and doing the job.  On Sunday, Connor was dancing to the music in the grocery store, and managed to hit his face on the cup holder, leaving a small bruise under his eye.  The poor kid is now being referred to as "Rocky".  I know this is typical for a boy, but does it ALL have to happen within days of each other? 

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving - ours was VERY nice.  Mimi and Papa came down and we had a nice, quiet dinner.  Mimi gets the award for "longest time playing trains with a toddler".  She's a trooper!  Connor had a blast and despite getting a MUCH hated haircut, was still sad when Mimi and Papa left;  he loves them and always has fun when they're around.

Preschool

Connor was evaluated for preschool a few weeks ago by the speech therapist at the Jones School in Stoughton.  Not surprising, he qualified for speech services.  Today we had his initial Team meeting where we talked about the speech services he would get - twice a week for thirty minutes each.  Not a ton of time, but better than nothing.  The problem is transportation from his daycare to the Stoughton school.  I'm not sure it's going to work out since I certainly can't get out of work twice (or even once) a week to drive him to speech and back.  Just to get him there is 30-45 minutes (between leaving work, picking him up and driving him there).  Not to mention I'd have to wait for the session to be over (it doesn't make a lick of sense to leave and return), so now we're talking another hour between waiting and driving back.  To leave work for almost two hours once or twice a week is not an option.  The speech therapist is still going to write up an IEP and mail it to me, but I'm not sure it's going to be the right choice for us.  As much as I'd like Connor in a preschool speech program (in addition to his twice weekly visits to Braintree Rehab), logistically I don't see it happening.  Plus, I already asked Brockton if he could go to speech at the Gilmore Early Childhood Center, but they are jam packed with Brockton kids needing services and can't accept Connor.  So... if anyone knows of any options, just let me know!  Thanks for checking in. 

How Do You Know When a Toddler is Sick?



...When he doesn't move from the couch.

Poor Connor was feeling a bit under the weather on Friday and Saturday.  Mom got a call from daycare Friday afternoon letting her know that Connor had gotten sick during his nap.  Miss Janet did her best to clean him up, but he was not a sweet-smelling kid when I went to get him.   An immediate bath when we got home helped, but even after 3 baths and a swim lesson, he still smells faintly of ... well, you know. 



 Connor spent the Friday night vegged on the couch with Pedialyte, saltines and Team Umizoomi.  He didn't move from his spot the entire night.  He took a few naps before crashing for the night around 9, then slept until 10 Saturday morning.  He started to perk up a bit around noontime, but we took it easy just the same.  By Sunday he seemed MUCH better and we did make it to his swim lesson.  We hope the bug is long gone and that no one else gets sick.  And, I'd like this to be IT for any and all illnesses all year.  What?  A Mom can hope, can't she?

 







Fright Night

Connor began his Halloween day with swim lessons at the Y. We try to do lessons during the colder months so he doesn't forget how much he loves the water. I signed him up for the "Pike" class hoping he'd be able to do it on his own (Mommies don't go in with the kids in this class). He wanted to go in the water, but didn't like Mommy 10 feet away. So we had a little talk and he kept pointing to Emily, our instructor from previous lessons. He kept saying "that one! that one!". So I got Emily's attention and she asked us if we wanted to join her class. Luckily, I anticipated such things happening and wore my suit. Connor was as happy as a clam in his old class, so that's where we'll stay. He had more trouble getting out of the pool after the class, so it's pretty clear which class he'll be in for a while.

After grocery shopping, Mom made a Halloween-y lunch of Mummies (pigs in a blanket) and Mummy fingers (sweet potato fries). Connor actually ate both, so Mommy felt a little better about him loading up on Candy later on.

Trick-or-treat time brought a few tears as Connor was annoyed by the circles on his Mickey shorts and his "yellow" shoes (his alternate pair of sneakers covered with yellow felt). So a quick change into black pants and his old sneakers seemed to solve the problem. He even kept his Mickey ears and hat on during trick-or-treating. With one hand being held by Mommy or Daddy, and the other hand holding a lollipop, there were no free hands to take off the Mickey ears.

He got many compliments as we hit the neighborhood houses. He definitely got the idea of trick-or-treating and was pretty tickled to be able to get so much candy. So far his favorites are the lollipops!

Without a nap and so much walking, Connor actually went to sleep in record time (we've had a bit of an issue with bedtime lately, so Mom was super happy to have a break from the battle). We hope everyone else had a fun Halloween!

I wasn't able to get the best of pictures. Everytime I'd take out the camera Connor would turn and yell "NO!". Oh well.
















Cruisin'

Daddy and Connor took the Jeep for a spin so Mommy could cook dinner.  Daddy took a few videos for us:

Happy Day

Because of all the craziness of the house "stuff", I opted not to do a big party for Connor this year.  I didn't want to take the chance of having to leave for an open house or a showing, so I just had Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents come down.  Good thing, too, because we got a call the day before asking if people could see the house at 10.  So off we went to Ward's Berry Farm for some fall fun. 

The party was very low key, but very fun.  Connor wasn't overwhelmed and had lots of fun playing with his cousin, Paige.  The theme of the party was "Mickey Mouse" (since Connor is a bit obsessed with him lately), and I even made a Mickey Mouse cake for the occassion.

Connor received one of his presents right away - a Thomas the Train rider from Mimi and Papa.  He fell in love with it immediately.  It was great to watch his face light up when he saw it, and he kept saying "Thomas! Thomas!".  Needless to say, it was quite a hit with him!

After lunch, Connor opened up his other presents, and he got a lot of nice things.  Paige was his helper as she taught him how to open up presents.  Connor would get very excited at each present.  We could have easily stretched his birthday out to several days because he would have been content with one present at a time.  We were rushing him a bit because we wanted to reveal his big gift before it got dark - a new Jeep!  Grammy and Grampy bought him one of those motorized kids' cars, and it's a "Jeep" just like Mimi's.   Connor LOVES this car.  He was all smiles as he drove it around the cul-de-sac with Paige.  He's not so good at steering yet, and he almost drove down an embankment into some water, but Mommy and Daddy nipped that in the bud, so everyone stayed dry. 

We did manage to get Connor in for some birthday cake, and he kept saying "Happy Day TO me, Happy Day TO me!".  It was adorable, and I was happy he understood what was happening.  We kept asking if he was 3 and he would yell "NO!".  I guess we all have trouble getting older and admitting our real age...

Thank you to everyone who celebrated his special day with us, and thank you to those who sent wishes and gifts from far away!  Connor is lucky to be loved by so many people!








  








10-10-10

First off, we would like to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Connor's Grammy!  What a great day to have a milestone birthday (we won't say how old, though...).  We hope she had a wonderful day - it was beautiful out, so we hope she enjoyed it!

Secondly, I apologize for the delay in birthday pictures.  I often times steal borrow pictures from my Dad, but he hasn't emailed them to me yet, so I haven't put them up.  I do have a couple of pictures that I took of him unwrapping presents, but  my dad has all the good pics.  So, when he gets to uploading those and emailing them to me, I'll post more.

Finally, today Connor and his BFF, Mairead, were able to spend some quality time together.  Well, 3-year-old style, anyway.  Usually that means the respective mothers are chasing them from place to another as they both go in different directions.  Today was no exception.  We decided to take the kids to Belkin's Lookout Farm in Natick.  It's very family friendly and they have an entire area dedicated to children, which was great.  We got to ride a "train" to the children's place which both kids seemed to enjoy.  Connor, as you know, has a real soft spot for trains, and he was so happy to be on the train.   He had a bit of a difficult time once we got off the train because he wanted more time on it.  He kept saying "Happy train!  Happy train!".  But I told him there were more trains at the new place and that seemed to work.  Thankfully, there was a little caterpillar tram that was pulled by a small John Deere tractor, so that made up for it.  The kids had to go on this ride alone, and when Connor returned he was crying a little bit.  Not because he was scared, but because he knew the ride was over.  He asked if he could go again, but there were other things to see so we moved on. 

They had a little petting zoo for the kids, and Connor got to pet a Donkey (whose name was Desmond for all you LOST fans "I'm a donkey, brutha"), and a sheep.  We did manage to get on a pony, but I didn't get good pictures because they were moving faster than your typical pony ride and Connor was having trouble holding on, so I had to help him out. 

After the children's place, we hopped back on the train to the orchard.  We weren't really there to pick apples, but we let the kids run in the pumpkin patch for a bit before getting back on the train.  I honestly think we could have just ridden the train all day and Connor would have been happy.  He loved it! 

Before leaving, we were sure to hit up the store where we bought some cider donuts, honey and a special "lolbypop" for Connor.  We said our goodbyes to our friends and hope to see them soon.  Mairead even gave Connor a little kiss before we left (it was so stinkin' cute, but happened so fast neither Meg or I got pictures).  We hope everyone is enjoying 10-10-10!