New Swingset....FINALLY

Finally - after months of waiting and FINALLY having a level ground in the backyard, Connor's swingset was assembled today.  Mommy was secretly crossing her fingers so that there were no issues and it could be built.  It worked!  We came home to a brand new place to play.  Unfortunately, today was also an Early Intervention Day.  So I waited before showing Connor his swingset.  And waited.  And waited.  No EI lady.  Finally, a little after 4 I made the executive decision that she wasn't coming and showed Connor the swingset.  He acted like it had been there the entire time... like "Oh yeah.. my swingset...I forgot about that."  Just as Connor was settling in to his new toy, the EI lady called and said she was running late and she could show up at 4:30 if I wanted her to.  Um... I know my sons speech is important, but I'm not taking him away from a brand new giant swingset, so I didn't call back.  He has group tomorrow, so it's not like he's going without any services this week.  Besides, swinging is good OT!  :)  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Mother's Day

Connor got a big Snoopy card for me for Mother's Day.  When you open it, it plays the Peanuts theme.  I think Connor likes it more than I do.  He keeps opening it over and over just to dance to the music.  It's very cute.  I do think he gets his dance moves from his father, though. 

Not exactly...

I was changing Connor yesterday when he kept saying the word of all words.... over and over again.  I kept looking at him, trying to figure out what he was TRYING to say, because no son of mine would ever say THAT word, right?  I see him looking over at the FROGGIE hooks in his room and it hit me - he was trying to say FROGGIE.  It's just that... well, it didn't exactly come out that way.  So of course, the more Mommy laughed at him, the more he said it... over and over.  I couldn't resist getting it on video.  WARNING:  EXPLICIT LYRICS.  :)

Sweet Dreams

It's official - my little baby isn't a little baby anymore.  This past weekend we set up his big boy bed.  We were going to take it slow and just start off with naptimes, but he wanted nothing to do with his crib Sunday night, so Mommy switched the mattress back to his new bed so he could sleep.  An hour and a half later, he finally went down.  It was a bit of a min-battle, and he was definitely testing his new freedom, but he finally fell asleep.  Every day has been better, and the past two nights he's pretty much gone right down.  I think we're ready to take his crib down this weekend.  It will be bittersweet, but his room is so small we definitely can't keep them both up.  My little guy is growing up way too fast.  I feel like he was just a baby!  It's wonderful to watch him grow and learn, but does it have to happen so fast??

In other good news, Connor had his Early Intervention re-eval this week.  Just to recap, he began EI a year ago (April 2009) and it was hard for him to focus and he became frustrated easily.  He screamed everytime he saw Sharon, his interventionist.  He made little progress, and at his 6 month evaluation he showed no improvement, which was very disheartening.  Wednesday, however, he was a rock star.  He actually started bringing his high chair into the living room so they could work.  He did everything they asked (with lots of laughs), and the speech interventionist was amazed at the progress he's made since she last saw him.  She told me that at his last eval he scored at around 10 months for speech.  Wednesday, he scored at 23 months!!!  Yes, we still have a lot of work left to do - but a 13 month jump in only 6 months is unreal.  I'm so proud of my little boy.  We've all been working so hard at getting him to this point, and he's just taking off.  Our next step is using sentences, and he's already learned "I want more".  Which is good, because he ALWAYS wants more (food, toys, play, etc.).  Like father like son! 

Two Videos

Connor had a very fun day today - he got a new big boy bed AND a new big boy pool.  After deciding that playing in a bucket just wasn't sufficient, Papa and Mommy went to Toys R Us and he bought Connor a new pool (complete with slide).  Connor LOVED it.  It was a battle to get him in the house to eat dinner.  He was so happy. 

Uncle Nate brought down the Fire Truck bed that Grammy and Grampy bought him up in Vermont.  We haven't completely made the move over to a bed, but it's there to start.  Connor was way too excited about his new bed to even attempt a nap today, so hopefully that excitement will die down so he can get some sleep soon.  We'll keep you posted!

In the video of Connor and his bed, please disregard the saggy diaper.  It wasn't that Mommy was lazy - Connor decided to sit in the bucket of water and his diaper was the result.  Boys. 



And the pool....

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Since today was a most perfecty sunny day, and Daddy was hanging with Uncle Nate, Mommy decided to take Connor to the zoo.  I was excited to see how Connor would react this year, being older and more aware of things around him.  He LOVED it!  His favorites were the Otters.  They were showing off by doing backflips, and he would squeal with delight everytime they did.  It was so fun to watch him.  Connor also enjoyed dancing to some of the music they had playing (video included). 

After the zoo, Connor took a short nap and then we played outside for a LONG time.  Then Mommy cleaned off the deck furniture and Connor had a blast playing in the sudsy water.  He was having so much fun I had to re-fill the bucket so he could continue playing.  It's amazing how the simplest things give him so much joy.