C is for Connor... and cute... and...

Connor at 7 months old

There are so many things to say about my darling little boy. He is 9 months old these days and I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. If possible, it is going even more quickly than it did with Lydia. Possibly because life is busier with two kids. Maybe because I'm older. Probably both.

Crawling

Connor is everywhere lately. He started officially crawling on July 23. Daddy saw the first official movements forward and I looked up from where I was in the kitchen in time to see the end of those first little crawling motions. Now it's all I can do to keep up with him. I love to watch his little hands padding forward as he giggles -- a sound he makes especially when he is heading toward the blinds, the office, the pantry or any number of places we would rather he not go.

Chewing

We've been adding more and more table foods into his diet as he's gotten older. I had forgotten what a messy stage this is! It's so fun to see how excited he gets feeding himself though. Some of his favorites are black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans and bananas but he's a pretty good eater with most things.

No need to limit the chewing to just food, right?
Here he is in the conductor hat from Lydia's birthday party.

Clean

We stopped using the baby bathtub earlier this summer and moved him right into the big tub so we could bathe both kids at the same time. When he gets a solo bath though, we still prefer the sink -- it's so much easier having him at our standing level rather than bending over the bathtub for long periods of time.

Calm

So sweet!

Chilling

He's been pulling himself up to standing in his crib since July 27. He's also been doing it on various pieces of furniture. I fear walking is in our near future.

Trying out the shopping cart with no bucket seat. He's a little small still, but it made the most recent Wal-Mart trip a little more entertaining.

Lots of blanket play time at our house. I love watching him manipulate his toys and explore new things.

He loves kicking these fish at Grandma Larson's house.

 Crying

The necessary evil in parenting -- the time when you finally let your child cry it out in the night -- is a step I've put off far too long with this little guy. I could tell he was ready to do it in early June, but because we had travel plans and so many schedule interruptions this summer it didn't make sense go through the heartache only to undo all our efforts on vacation.
So, we waited.
Finally on Aug. 10 I determined this would be the night. At 9 months old these sporadic but increasingly frequent mid-night feeding sessions were getting ridiculous. He is old enough to sleep through the night and I knew I was the basic problem in the equation. I guess I'm just a big softie.
At 11:57 p.m. he woke up like clockwork. He'd been requesting a feeding at midnight for several days and like a fool I had been giving in. That night I decided it was time. He'd had a good feeding before bed and good meals all day so I knew he wasn't really hungry, just looking for comfort or a snack.
I waited until 12:07 a.m. Aug. 11 to go in and assess the situation. I checked his diaper, made sure he had an adequate supply of binkies in his bed and gave him a big hug.
Then I left.
He screamed.
Surprisingly it was not as terrible as I expected it to be. I mean, it wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt strong. I had done this before with Lydia, and I knew I could do it now.
I went into the office, turned on the fan to create a white noise barrier and tried to focus elsewhere. Derek laid in bed entertaining himself by perusing things on his phone. We waited.
His cries ebbed and flowed as he worked to calm himself down. By 12:46 a.m. he was asleep.
So far he's not had another problem. Knock on wood.

Celebration

Nine months is always an interesting milestone. He's been living in this world longer now than he did in utero. He is such a light in our lives. We feel so incredibly blessed to have Connor in our family!