Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose

Part I:  Medical Update

Connor has been sick this past week with a cold and what Mom thought could possibly be conjunctivitis.  Most mornings this week Connor woke up with his eyes crusted together.  Gross.  Several minutes with a warm washcloth solved the problem, and he had no other symptoms of pink eye, but that's a pretty major one, so off to the doctor we went.  Shockingly he did NOT have conjunctivitis, but (not-so-shockingly) he did have an ear infection.  Such is life for us.  I think this is ear infection #6 since November of 2008.  Not completely unheard of in the toddler world, but not what I wish for my little man.  He has his antibiotics, and this morning he not only woke up with his eyes crust-free (for the first time since Monday) but he seems to be feeling much better. 

In other news, the neurologist called with the EEG results.  Turns out they were slightly abnormal, but nothing to be alarmed about.  The same part of the brain that controls seizure activity showed some abnormal results.  Fortunately, he does not have a seizure disorder (although he may be prone to them in the future, but the neurologist was not concerned with this as he's never shown signs of a seizure).  This is the same part of the brain that also controls language development.  BINGO!  We've found a correlation!  Normally the course of action is to have Connor meet with a speech pathologist, then go on anti-seizure meds for 4-5 months (these same meds also "calm" that part of the brain down so that language can develop), and then have him re-evaluated in 6 months.  FORTUNATELY, after speaking with me about all of the improvements Connor has made lately, he just simply recommended the appointment with the speech pathologist.  Mommy was very happy.  She wasn't too keen on putting Connor on meds if he didn't need them.  If we see any regression or if he stops improving, then we'll talk again about meds, but for now Connor seems to be speaking more and more everyday.  Which brings me to Part II of my post:  Look what I can do!

Part II:  Look What I Can Do!
It seems like just as everyone kept telling Connor what he couldn't do, he felt it was time to prove them all wrong.  He has been talking up a storm lately, and every day I'm hearing new words.  I would have liked to have typed that sentence when he was a year or so old, but I'll take what I can get.  Some words he's been saying lately:  red, blue, yellow, purple, cracker, juice, sprout, hi, hello, bye-bye, more, M (as in M & Ms), Mommy (but he says it like he's up to something... it's very funny), more, shoes,  ready, set, go, please, fish.  There are more, but I can't remember them all (that's a good thing - it means he's saying more than Mommy can remember!).  He also has numbers 1-10 down (which he's had for a while, but now he acknowledges the number 2!), and he has most of his alphabet down.  He also recognized two words without them being said to him.  "HI" and "Sprout".  I bought him the "Learn to Read" DVDs and one of the first words put up on the screen is "HI".  Connor looked at it, and before the DVD said anything, said "HI!".  I was amazed.  Joey wrote it on a piece of paper and showed it to him, and he did it again.  Ok, so it's only two letters, but STILL.  I was impressed!  As for "Sprout", when he watches Thomas & Friends On Demand, the intro is a bunch of kids saying "Sprout, please" and they show the logo for sprout about 20 times.  On Mommy's phone, there's a game Connor plays that is a "Sprout" game, and the logo pops up before the game starts.  Everytime the logo pops up, Connor says "Sprout".  Yes, I know he's not really reading the word, just recognizing the logo, but I can still be proud of him.  He's come such a long way in such a short amount of time. 

One of the best parts of his learning is that he actually helps Mommy clean up!  He tends to make quite the mess when he plays with his toys, and Mommy is tired of cleaning them up, so she says "Connor, help pick up!", and he DOES!  He'll put his cars back in the bin, his bathtub letters back in the container, and today he even started picking up crumbs he decided to spill all over the coffee table.  Now if I can only get a mop in his hands....

Thanks for checking in with us.  I don't really have any new pics, so I'll just post this latest one of him trying to get something under the couch.  He doesn't quite understand you can't get to it feet first, but we'll get to that.  One thing at a time!

ABC Video

Today's Post is Brought to You By...the Number FIVE!

Lately Connor has been all about numbers and letters.  He can name most of the letters of the alphabet by sight, which is fairly new for him.  He gets very excited about A and O, especially.  He's recently learned to say "W", which sounds more like "ouble-doo", but he's getting there.  He has an alphabet train that he uses to practice his letters.  He will hand me a letter, have me show it to him, just so he can say the letter.  I can really tell how proud he is of himself everytime he gets one correct. 

Even though he's been saying his numbers for quite a while now, he's saying them more clearly lately.  He is especially excited about the numbers 3 and 5 and will yell them out for all to hear.  We've had this 'Numbers Nursery' DVD he used to watch all the time, but has been replaced by Thomas the past couple months.  He's recently been watching it again, and has figured out that his 'Numbers' book goes along with the DVD.  He'll read the book and watch the show at the same time, turning the page as they DVD moves to the next number.  I have to say, I was pretty impressed he made the connection.  That's my boy!

Parks and Recreation

Since it's been ungodly cold out lately, playtime outside has been very restricted.  Thankfully, Connor has some friends who suggested we go to an indoor playground in Lowell.  So up to Lowell we went to meet Mairead, Meg, and Dave for a playdate.  We went to Perpetual Motion, which from the outside looks like a spot where one could get mugged, but inside it's a very large space with swings, slides, trains, and anything a toddler could want in the dead of winter.  Connor, of course, went straight to the swings.  He would have stayed there all day if we didn't make him move to different activities.  He did love the slide and REALLY loved the ball pit where he could jump into gently back into the balls.  This was one of Connor's favorite parts of the day.  He was in that pit for quite a while.  I'm sure it was clear of any germs, too.  Not too surprising, Connor and Mairead didn't spend much quality time together.  They tend to go their separate ways when playing in a large place like this.  Mairead periodically checked in with us, which was nice.  She seemed to have quite the time in the sandbox.  Connor didn't love it so much - you know how he doesn't like things on his hands!  After we were done playing, the kids were shipped off to the grandparents house while Mom, Dad, Dave and Meg got to go out to lunch.  It was nice to have some grown up time for a little while.  Connor had a grand ol' time hanging with Mimi and Papa and cousin Paige.  Paige had created a GIANT cardboard box that she turned into a "condo" complete with a skylight and doors with handles.  Connor LOVED it.  I have a feeling we may see a giant box at our doorstep in the near future!

Hide n' Seek

Connor has discovered that he can hide behind the curtains in the living room.  He had a fun little game of hide n' seek over the weekend.  Check it out:

No More Mullet

This past weekend, Connor was surrounded by family.  His Grammy, Great Aunt Colleen and "Aunt" Becky came down to see Wicked with Mom.  Connor was able to spend Saturday night with his Daddy, when Mimi and Papa came down to see him, too!  Mimi was very helpful in giving Connor a badly needed haircut.  He was starting to sport a mullet (business in front, party in the back!).  We tried to give him a haircut around Christmas, but he wasn't too pleased to see a pair of scissors near his head, so it didn't work out.  Mimi was smart, though, and let him play with one of her brushes while she cut his hair.  Great thinking!  Here are a few shots of his new do!

 

New Year's & Thomas

The Estee's had a very low key New Year's celebration this year. No parties, no going out with friends - just staying home, watching movies, and eating yummy food. Connor got to try his very first TV dinner. He ate a few of the chicken nuggets and that was it. I can't say I'm disappointed - they're not good for him (but I was willing to budge on that as a special New Year's treat). Connor didn't even attempt to make it to midnight - he was in bed at his usual time so that Mommy and Daddy could have dinner and watch a movie.

 For New Year's Day, we decided to take Connor to Edaville.  We tried to go before the holidays, but it never happened.  Since Edaville closes it's gate for the season on January 3rd, it was our last chance to go see the Christmas lights and the trains. 

We got there and Mommy and Daddy were pretty impressed with all the Christmas lights.  Connor didn't quite know what was going on - he did like the little buildings that had the moving figurines - that captured his attention.  We tried to take him on the big train ride around the park, but he was cold and hungry and wanted nothing to do with it, so we got off the train before making a scene. 

We went on the merry-go-round with him, but he looked very sad the whole time.  We tried to get him to look at the big engines they have for kids to climb on, but he didn't understand it.  He DID like the little wooden train that you can climb in, and LOVED the train set that was set up indoors (it was a Thomas set - his new favorite).  Getting away from the train table, however, was going to be a battle since Connor had to leave the train there.  He was not happy by any means, so Mommy and Daddy caved and bought him his own Thomas the train on our way out of the park.  The pure joy on his face was worth the $12.99 price tag.  He has barely put it down since, and even sleeps with it on occassion.  This kid is all about Thomas lately - the trains, the bath toys, the DVD and the book we found in his collection (that we read 3-4 times a day).  It's fun to watch him get SO into something like this.  It's very cute.  He walks around the house saying "boo boo" (translation:  Choo Choo!).   He's quite the little train conductor!