Our Big Boy

(Connor's first sucker, courtesy of Grandpa Robert)

I can't believe how big our baby boy is. He just turned 13 months yesterday, and I can't get over it. No worries, I'm not going to still make monthly posts like I did his first year, but he's just changed a lot over the month, I wanted to post what's been going on.

He's still not walking. He's scared, I think that's the problem. He can walk if he doesn't think about it. He's taken 5+ steps at a time, but only if he doesn't realize that he's doing it. If he thinks about it, he just sits down and starts crawling. I keep thinking that any day now he'll be walking, but it just isn't happening.

He's got such a funny personality. Everyone is just always laughing and giggling with him. He growls at you, just to get you to growl back at him. He plays peek-a-boo at church, with the people sitting behind me, just to get them to laugh. He had someone busting up during Sunday School this past Sunday, to the point of her then apologizing to me for egging him on and that it was just "too hard to resist"

My little sister Bethany has moved to St. Petersburg, Russia for 5 months, so teach children English. Connor and Bethany had a special bond that can't be broken. He absolutely adores her. Not that he doesn't love his other aunts, but he just has a bond with Bethany. For the first couple of weeks she was gone, I had talked to her on the phone, but every time I hand the phone to Connor, he just eats it, lol, so he hadn't really talked to her. But last week, I was over at my parents when Bethany called through Skype (a webcam, video chat). Connor was able to see her, and as soon as he looked at the screen, he started giggling, and trying to get close to her and yelling out "Ya-Ya" (which is what he calls her). He was SOOO happy to see her. And since then, he's been talking about her all week. Not sure what he's saying, but he's be mumbling something and I hear "Ya-Ya" in the middle of all his sentences.

While in Arizona, his Grandpa Robert taught him to put his hands on his head, and Robert was saying "oh no." Connor wasn't saying anything, but kept putting his hands on his head, to egg him on. When we got home from Arizona, I was driving somewhere with Connor in the back, and I heard what I thought he said"oh no." I turned back around to look at him, and he was laughing with both hands on his head. And since then, he does it ALL the time!

Connor has a special blanket we call "Softies." He can't sleep without it, and he usually carries it all through the house. Whenever I can't find it, I walk around the house saying/singing "Softies.... Where are you???" until we find it. So last night, we were in his room and I couldn't find it. So I said "Softies..." and Connor said/sang "where are you?" (of course more mumbled and in baby talk) I was shocked, I couldn't believe he said it. I thought I was going crazy, so I said it again, and he said it again too :-) Then today I was at my mom's and I said "Grandma..." and he said "where are you?" It's so cute!!!

Some of the other things that Connor says:

dada, mama, grandpa, hi, doggy, bye bye, night night, & what's that?

He's eating lots of new foods. He's still eating baby food. I figured, why stop if he's eating fruit and vegetables and he enjoys eating them. So I just give him that with some "finger foods" and his meals are complete :-) He still won't drink milk, but he likes water a lot more now. Before the only way to drink water was to give him 1/4 juice to 3/4 water... but now he'll drink just plain water. He tried spaghetti for the first time and LOVED it!!!

I just can't believe how he changes, even day to day. I feel like I blink and he's different. We love him so much, and enjoy every moment with him!