Pay attention Mom!!

So I didn't really leave my 22 month old alone. I did find myself temporarily sidetracked for about 1 minute...which led to these shananigans...

Mommy's lesson learned: Never leave a mischievous little boy alone with a giant bag of goldfish crackers. I walked in to see his smirky little face look up as if I wouldn't notice the sea of goldfish all over the carpet.


While I was cleaning up the goldfish crackers in the living room, this is where Mr. Sneaky ran off to... (Mom's closet)


All I could hear was a little voice saying "That" over and over. I walked in to see him pointing to Matt then Mommy then Matt then laughing at himself.


The photo album flipping lasted a good 20 minutes.


Then this precious little face of wonder spotted something a little more interesting...
his duck halloween costume!


After launching about 6 pairs of Mommy's shoes onto the floor & climbing up on the shoe rack to reach the duck, he got sidetracked with the joys of playing peek-a-boo behind Mommy's work clothes.

Remind me again of why we buy our children hundreds of toys when simple household items thrill them to pieces!!!

Slides

It's amazing how a buzz cut can make my child appear about a year older! Today was the dreaded haircut day. I bought these amazing kid clippers that I would recommend to any Mom that cuts her kid's hair. I wish I would have had them from the beginning! Connor is terrified of clippers (since they're so noisy), so was already scarred by the use of them when he was younger. Even though my new WONDERFUL clippers are so quiet & kid friendly, he still associates them with the old HORRIBLE ones. My poor little boy :(. So after a traumatic haircut session, Connor was happy as a clam again! His newest trick: sliding off the sofa. It all began last week when Connor watched a few little girls at McDonald's use the kiddie slide all by themselves. He caught on quickly & became a pro at it. Ever since, my child that once, could careless about slides, has fallen in love with them! He uses our slide on the back yard, slides at McDonald's, and any lounger sofa! It keeps him busy and content, so its wonderful...until he starts to be "all boy" and opts to slide down head first. He likes to give Mommy a heart attack when I walk into the room to see him hanging upside down from the couch. Lots of praising with cheering & applause has worked wonders in teaching him how to slide down on his "hiney" instead of on his "noggin". Here are a few pictures of my big boy using his sliding skills & his oh-so-excited facial expressions after you cheer for him!

*Took a break from sliding off the sofa to watch the neighbor mow the grass*


We then headed out to do some early birthday shopping for Connor. This is probably the last year we can take Connor birthday & Christmas shopping with us, as he'll start to notice all the gifts we're buying for him! The bonus of shopping with a child is that they let you know if they like a toy or not, so its easy to know what to buy!



After much time spent shopping (with a busy busy busy toddler), we headed over t0 McD's for some yogurt parfaits & playground time!



*Check out the adorable plaid Sperry shoes courtesy of Auntie Nicole!*


*Trying out the slide frontwards, backwards....and a few times head first before Mommy swooped in!*


"Hey! You look a lot like Dora!"

You scream, I scream...

Ice cream!!!

Duck!! Bird!!

Connor has a love for animals. Feathered ones in particular. Oh how he could sit & point out birds all day. Oh, the simple things in life that make him happy!

*Nana thought it'd be fun to try to feed the ducks. Connor thought it'd be fun to try some of the bread himself first.*

My little Superman!

Connor was all smiles for me



and his smirk just got bigger and bigger



Until it turned into an outright chuckle



Then he ran off giggling his mischievous giggle as he stole the remote

Such a guy...

Us :)

When we can't be together like this...

...we can thank technology for bringing us together like this...

I can only imagine the technological advancements when Connor is my age.

When I was little, I remember my dad's cell phone in his car being the size of a large television remote. It had a huge base & long, curly cord attached to it. The computers in elementary school were giant, gray, and only took the big square disks. The most exciting games to play were Oregon Trail, Zelda, and Mario. Kids didn't have cell phones until I was in high school.

Connor was born into the era of smart phones, GPS systems, IPADs, video chatting, and interactive video games. Just as I made fun of my parents' having black & white television....Connor will be making fun of me for watching television pre-High Definition!

I'm officially starting to feel OLD. Yuck.

Sanibel trip!

Matt & I loaded up the bikes, Connor's giant helmet, sunscreen, lots of water, and headed down to Sanibel to spend the day last Saturday. Our first stop was a restaurant we could sneak in and sneak out with a noisy toddler. I spotted the "Island Cow" and thought it would be perfect! Well, I rarely like to admit when I'm wrong...but I was wrong! We went in to a very cute little restaurant, but thats what it was...little. The tables were rather close & I felt as if we were on center stage for this entire restaurant. So my precious little munchkin decided to stress Mommy out by sweetly yelling his new sounds out at the tops of his little lungs.

"Dahhhhhhh Deeeeeeee Dahhhhhhh Deeeeeee!"

Over and over and over.

No matter how much food I tried to feed him and keep his mouth distracted from making noise, he still managed to attract the attention of the entire restaurant. Connor was being a good boy though. He wasn't crying. He wasn't screaming in anger. He was excited to show off his little voice. Just chose to do it in the not-so-ideal place! So once we scarfed our lunch, we snuck outside as quickly as possibly to say hi to the birds. Matt snuck a few pictures in before we headed off to Ding Darling for our loooooooooooooooooong bike ride. Thank you, Matt, for putting up with my constant "Are we almost done?" and "You think we're almost there?!" :) We went about 8 miles and I was worried about my little smirf's face burning up in the sun (even though he was lathered in sunscreen). Connor slept the whole way and was wide awake when we loaded in the car completely exhausted! We managed to get some exercise, enjoyed a day out together, and had a content toddler, so the trip was very much worth it!

*We weren't sure why the cut out on the cow was in the eye hole, but still thought it would be a cute pic.*

*Look for the precious little person at the bottom of the photo staring up in complete wonder! He was precious! BUT no--Mommy will never have a bird in the house, so don't even think about it!*

Sweet dreams

Oh my lucky stars....two days in a row....my little child has fallen asleep while playing!!

So NOT my child...

I have always envied parents that have little ones that fall asleep playing or just curl up and go to sleep when they're tired. My busy busy bee of a boy has always fought sleep, no matter how exhausted he'd be. Connor does great going to sleep on his own at night time (for the most part...unless his routine is off or he's not in his own bed), but naps can still be a struggle.

When my Mom sent me a text on my way home from work two days ago stating that Connor had fallen asleep on his floor while they were reading stories seemed like a lie! A lie it 'twas NOT! :) Here's my precious little guy all pooped out on his bedroom floor. Oh, what a doll!

Ring around the Rosie

Please disregard my singing....

Enjoy the child that is trained to do Ring Around the Rosie! He will spin to get you to start singing it, then he will spin and spin and spin until his little body can't take it anymore. He will do this solo or with a partner (he usually prefers Papa). He's not too fond of the "we all fall down" part, but likes to see everyone else fall down!

Pure genius!

When you have a baby, you stock up on everything (usually through baby showers)! I had every baby gear & gadget known to Mom--the baby swing, the entertainer, the walker, the jumper, the bouncy seat, bumbo chair--all of which Connor wouldn't last more than 1 minute in before having a giant meltdown. I remember feeling so successful when he sat in his swing for more than a few minutes without fussing. I miss baby days sometimes, but those moments I like to erase from memory! While many items Connor could have cared less about, I was so grateful to have owned the following things--

1. Connor's musical mobile for his carseat **My child HATED life in his car seat. A two minute drive felt like an eternity with a crying baby in the backseat. You are supposed to drive slower & more cautiously as parent, but I found myself flying to any destination as fast as possible to stop the screaming! We introduced the mobile after Nana received a recommendation on it & WHAM--happy child in the car!**

2. Sound machine **Every day before nap and before bed was screamfest time in my house. I tried the hum of the vacuum for a while, but was afraid to burn out my vacuum & plus, I hated the fact that my vacuum was displayed in my living room all the time. I ordered a sound machine that plays several sounds- Connor's favorites were the heartbeat & the fuzz sound. It worked WONDERS getting him to stop crying & to fall asleep. As he got older, it was wonderful to take on trips to play to help drowned out any surrounding noises during bedtime. I am amazed it hasn't burned out yet after all the use it has received!**

3. All Dora products! **I'm not sure how his love affair with Dora the Explorer began, but it has always been the show that catches his attention no matter what he's doing. He adores the Map and the Backpack, but has always been able to point out Dora on any product or advertisement anywhere. Connor holds his Dora dvds, Dora tent, and Dora action figure very dear to his heart.**

4. Special Agent Oso cartoon! **As my 100% boy was busy adoring his Dora, I was secretly trying to find a slightly more masculine cartoon for him to love. One day we flipped onto Oso and Connor was locked in on his new favorite! For anyone that doesn't watch the Disney Channel on a daily basis, Oso is a cartoon version of 007 with educational tasks each episode. I love the lessons (and the fact that the whole show is in english!!). God Bless you, Oso!**

5. Crib fish tank! **At first it was rarely used. Then it became a pulling-up device to assist Connor in standing in his crib. Then it became a gift from God!!! Ever since Connor has become acquainted with his fish tank, he will crawl into bed at night time, flip it on like its television, sprawls out in bed, watches it for a few minutes, then falls asleep without a peep. In the morning, he may flip it on and talk to it...giving mommy some time to wake up before he starts squawking to get outta bed!**

I'm sure there are more, but those are the only ones that come to mind at this moment. I listed all of these items above to bring me to what item I am thankful for today! Drum roll please...

Connor's water slide & kiddie pool!!

It was pure genius for me to buy the pool. It was Nana's pure genius idea to hook Connor's slide onto the side of the pool. He spends hours playing in this thing! It works wonders in the evening after supper when its just a countdown until bedtime! Not sure what big item I will get to top this one for his b'day....

Fun photo

No explanation needed- This little boy has the best time with his Nana!

A day on the boat

One of my fondest childhood memories was going out on the boat with my family. I am so happy to share that with Connor. He is such a water boy & loves the outdoors, so we knew he'd love it from the first time he stepped foot on the boat. This past weekend was such a nice getaway. We didn't putt around too far, but we were able to find a perfect spot to swim, caught lots of bait, met up with Uncle Craig & Auntie Nicole, caught lots of fish, and caught a nice nap too! The weather was perfect! The photos will help narrate the trip :)

Connor loved the duty of picking up the shiners & tossing them into the bait well after Papa caught them all!


When the bait well was full, Connor thought it was even more fun to toss the bait overboard...and watch all the birds (AKA "dee") swarm the boat!


This child was LOVING life!


"Splash!"


After catching some bait, we caught up with Craig & Nicole for a nice little swim on the sandbar.


Mommy wasn't planning on getting in, but Connor insisted!


Uncle Craig & Papa introduced Connor to sand dollars...and the yellow fingers that come from holding sand dollars too long!


Connor & his Papa :)


Connor was getting a kick out of his Uncle Craig quacking like a duck!


"Papa, hold this sand dollar & watch what magically happens to your hands. If you look at mine, you can see."


"SAND DOLLARS!! AHHH!!"


More chuckles for Uncle Craig's funny antics!


Craig & Nicole on their pretty boat! We were so glad we met up with them.


A nice little snooze...life jacket pillow, fast boat, and some wind always equal a nice nap!


After nap time and lunch, we got to watch Papa reel in some fish!


The start to many many more fish pictures for Connor.


The ride back in...


"Heyyyyyyy Papa!"