Connor's Christmas Carols

Happy Holidays everyone!  Liam is now almost 10 months, and Connor is doing very well in school (Junior Kindergarten). Last week Connor's class, along with other JK and SK classes, performed a Christmas concert. Connor's class performed two songs, and danced along with it. At the end the class performed two more songs with the rest of the school's kindergarten classes. I was definitely a beaming parent!

Yes of course I have video of the concert! Additionally, Connor has performed a solo for us which I also have a video of (there is also a quick 'Merry Christmas' from the rest of the family at the end).

We wish you all a joyful, memorable holiday. We knows ours will be, as our family life has enriched our lives tremendously, especially this year as a family of four (five if you count Oscar the dog)!

(If you see this via an email, you must go to the blog site at http://adventuresofconnorandliam.blogspot.com to view it).

Don't forget to view up-to-date 'Instagram' pics at the website, too, or click here.

Liam, 8 Months

Look at me, ma!

What's new with Liam at 8 months?  The little guy does not like being cooped up these days. He is quite the little explorer and loves to crawl everywhere and get his hands on everything and put it in his mouth. He can pull himself up to standing position and even take a few steps while holding onto one of his larger toys.

Liam has 8 teeth now!  Four front top and four front bottom. No wonder he likes to bite everything.

Liam started eating Cheerios a few days ago, which is very exciting for me because it also keeps him occupied at the high chair! Other foods he has had: beef, chicken, rice porridge, potato, carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, spagetti squash, sweet potato, and all the other standard baby fare such as rice cereal, apple, banana. He's eating very, very well!

This little baby is still very easy to take care of. Thank goodness because Connor is still a handful these days, demanding lots of attention.

Looking like a little Buddha baby!

In this photo you can see Liam's four lower teeth.

Happy after a relaxing bath.

Liam and Mommy

I took this photo to see their height difference.

Fright Night! Halloween 2012

Connor the Pumpkin had a blast this Halloween! During the morning at school, the kids got to make a cat bag for stashing Halloween loot. Then they went from class to class to get trick or treat!

In the evening we went trick or treating with his friend Andrew from school (in the dragon costume below), and two of Andrew's friends from his apartment.  It was fun watching them trot from house to house and yelling "Happy Halloween!". The neighbours around here are amazing, many houses with extensive decorations including live actors popping out of a trash can, a dead body on the ground coming to life, smoke machines, and music!  Needless to say, Connor got too much candy (2+ buckets full).

Liam had fun too, he was dressed up as Tigger the Tiger!

Fall 2012

It's Fall, and with it the business of school!  Connor started Junior Kindergarten in September. Part of the Ontario kindergarten program, the school near us offers it part-time from 8:40-11:15, 5 days a week (all schools are phased into full-time offerings). The school is just two blocks away, and I've been walking Connor to school and back each day.

Connor of course did not want to go.I made the mistake of telling Connor that I would be at home while he is at school. He cried right away and all the way to school! But after a couple of days the crying stopped. However, he does need to believe that I am waiting outside the school for him. Every day he says,"Mom, wait right outside of the school". And I tell him, yes, I will be right outside. Of course I actually do go home, but what he doesn't know means he won't cry.

After 4 weeks of school, Connor seems to be doing well. He is very vocal to the teacher and often tells the teacher about his family. There is one Chinese Mandarin-speaking boy named Andrew that lives a couple of blocks from us in an apartment building; they walk in the same direction as us to go home so we have been walking home together. His mom takes him to school, and they have a 4-month old. The boy Andrew does not speak much English, as his parents speak Mandarin at home. Andrew and Connor are friends and they play together at  school - they play 'dragon' at the playground when they have outside time at school, they do puzzles together at school, and we had a playdate with Andrew at the playground just outside Andrew's apartment. It was great to see the two little boys running around together laughing and playing!

Connor has homework every Friday. Here he is doing his very first assignment.

Liam is growing so fast! Two weeks ago he was able to pull and slither across the room pretty quickly, and now he can actually crawl. He can also pull himself up to a standing position. Liam's two top front teeth are growing in now; they are clearly visible. So everything he picks up goes into his mouth.

Ever curious, we really have to keep an eye on where he is and what he's trying to pick up. He doesn't have the fine dexterity to pick up small objects like Lego yet, but we are nervous about all the tiny little Lego pieces that Connor has, and so we have tried to ban Lego playing in the living room. I also took a refresher course on emergency response for choking infants and toddlers. Liam is still pretty easy to take care of, however we cannot leave him alone in a room anymore - once he knows he's alone, he starts crying.

I signed up for a family music class at Gymboree, so that the three of us can have a family activity together. The best thing about Gymboree is their play area, which is set with padded mats and climbing structures that are safe for little ones. Below are a couple of pics from the Gymboree play area.

That's all for now! It took me three days to finish this post! It's now the Thanksgiving long weekend, so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Liam can sit up by himself

Milestone today! Liam is able to sit up all by himself! He was very proud.

Auntie Emily's Summer Visit

"Auntie Emily" came for a visit in mid-August. She only stayed 3 days but we packed a in a lot of fun! We miss her a lot already!

We went to the Scarborough Bluffs and tried out one of Emily's newest hobbies, 'slack lining', where you walk on a rope. The rope is a flat woven fabric.

We had a great time at the Scarborough Bluffs beach building sandcastles.

Connor and Auntie Emily played in the water together.

We enjoyed a beachside lunch at Woodbine Beach as well, then went to the playground too!

We all went to a playplace and had lots of fun with all the playplace toys!

Auntie Emily had a great time with Liam too!

Time for a nap after the playplace and a full tummy!

6 Months Already?!

Note: We've got a new blog name and look!  I thought this change would be more appropriate for the change in our family.  The old blog redirects to the new blog at http://adventuresofconnorandliam.blogspot.ca. All the old posts can be viewed here on this new blog, too.


It's hard to believe that Liam is 6 months already! The time is whizzing by so much faster it seems than it was with Connor. Here are some updates on his progress.

• Weighed in a couple of weeks ago at 17.5 lbs.

• Liam is working hard to crawl. He can do mini-push ups and then be on his knees for a short while and wiggles his bum! So cute!  He can also do a push-up onto his toes! I don't recall seeing this much with Connor but I guess it must have happened. Liam can roll and wiggle his way around quite a bit, so we have to be a lot more careful now when leaving him on a bed or on the floor.

• He has his two front bottom teeth! They started coming out a few weeks ago. The two teeth are about the same in height, and about 2 millimeters show through the gums. Other than one night at 4 months when he got a fever, Liam hasn't been much more fussy at all.

• Liam is eating solids!  We started about two weeks ago with homemade brown rice cereal, avocados, bananas, pears, oatmeal, and peaches. Making this stuff is time consuming, but it feels good to give Liam fresh homemade foods and I'm sure it must taste so much better. The brown rice is tough to get a non-lumpy smooth consistency, even with a small food processor. The oatmeal is a bit easier, but the problem is both take a long time to boil down soft enough. My second batch of hot brown rice broke my hand-held mixer (a rubber seal broke off at the base of the mixer. It still works but it is very dirty there and the inside is exposed, so I can't use it). Bananas an avocado are easy enough to mash down with a fork; same with the cooked pears and peaches, but then it takes time to cook them. So Liam has been eating slightly lumpy food and has been doing very well with it. It is easiest to make a smoother rice or oatmeal cereal if you grind it into a powder first. Since my old grinder is broken, I bought a new smaller Cuisinart Chopper/Grinder. It still won't pulverize the rice down to a fine powder, but it does get it into small pieces for faster cooking and a smoother result.

One of his first solid meals - rice cereal with breast milk.

We are also glad that Connor loves his little brother soooo much. I always tell Connor that they will be brothers forever and they need to love and take care of each other.

Connor loves to play with Liam, and hug and kiss him. Sometimes Connor gets a bit carried away though - he can get a bit rough or not-so-gentle, so we have to keep an eye on them.

Connor loves to pick Liam up and sit him up (to my dismay!).

Connor loves hugging Liam.

What's up at 5 Months for Liam

Happy as a clam!

Five months old now!  I wish the time would not go so fast!  Liam is adorable and still very easy to take care of.

For daytime naps though he can easily sleep in his bassinet if I am able to place him there at the right "window of nap opportunity". He can also nap in his crib but I don't think he thinks of it as a place to sleep, since it has been used mostly as a diaper changing station. I've moved all the diapering stuff off the crib now and will try to place him there to nap more often. He is a bit more fussier now closer to bedtime. He sleeps in bed with me, I rarely place him into the bassinet for the night.

Liam cannot quite sit up by himself yet, but he can hold the pose for a minute or more without support.

Other milestones reached: he can hold/grasp items such as his toys. Yesterday he grabbed my dinner knife as I held him next to the table! Have to keep an eye on him, he is fast!  Often he will gnaw on his toys or a cloth or a bib - he is likely teething (but it may be a month or more before the teeth will show).  He often plays with his hands and feet. Definitely shows signs of separation anxiety from his momma. Here is a list of milestones: http://www.babycenter.com/0_milestone-chart-1-to-6-months_1496585.bc

Asleep in mommy's bed, not a care in the world.

Sitting up for the camera!

Sound asleep in his bassinet.

Connor's Tattoo

Check out Connor's tough guy tattoo! He was gifted a sheet of temporary tattoos for his birthday - Cars and Spiderman. The one he's got on his arm is Sarge from Cars. He picked the spot on his arm - the same spot that Daddy has his tattoo!

Learning to Save

Yesterday I took Connor and Liam to the bank and finally set up an Ontario bank account, and set up the two kids with accounts as well. Everyone needed identification; a passport was sufficient (I have passports for both kids). To my surprise, the bank account representative asked Connor to sign his name on the application form! Here is a photo of his very first self-signed official document!

Connor still doesn't really understand the concept of money and saving, other than the fact that it does require money to buy toys. We deposited all his birthday money into his account, and afterwards went to Toys R Us and he picked out a Thomas Toy Train, named "Diesel Ten".  

The event took a lot longer than expected and Connor ended up eating 3 mint candies, half a box of Pocky chocolate sticks, one pack Baby Mum Mums, and all the Vegetable Thin crackers I had brought in a very small container.

Attached is also a goofy photo that Linds took of Liam with a silly little toy hat on his head. The hat is from a large German soldier doll that we picked up at a garage sale on Sunday.

Toes

Yumyumyum! Toes sure are yummy, especially with a dash of beach sand!

Liam's First Time Sitting by Himself

Liam sat up by himself for the first time on July 13! He was sitting in my lap and squirmed to get down so I tried to sit him on the floor... and here he is, the moment captured...  of course Connor wanted a picture taken with Liam too!

Liam sitting up in his big red bouncy car.

Connor Turns 4

We had Connor's birthday party on Saturday. The theme was "Connor City 4" - a take on "Lego City", a Lego product line.

I spent lot of time over the past few weeks preparing for this party.I guess this is what happens when a focused achiever like me gets into doing something - I was obsessed!  I learned how to make sugar cookies and ice them so that I could make Lego cookies. I searched and tested for the best and easiest cake to make, and the icing too, so that I could make a Lego cake. Made a "Connor City 4" T-shirt for Connor. There was also a themed goodie bag for the little ones. We also planned a few games and prizes for the "big kids".

The day was super hot. We started the party at 2pm and by the time we cut the cake around 6:30pm (yeah kind of late, we don't know where the time went!), Connor was very tired and didn't have any cake. Although right before that, he got a tiny boo-boo - a minor fat lip after he tipped out of his new wagon (a friend was pulling Connor and Megan around in it). Plus he hardly ate all day. Poor little guy. He did have fun opening all his presents of course!

Grandma Jackie helped keep Connor occupied in the morning while Mom and Dad set up the party.

The party animals.

Birthday boy was all possessive about his play structure.

Liam was cool as a cucumber.

GF Megan helped Connor with his presents. Overwhelmed with generous gifts! Lots of Lego, including a 748-piece Lego Mining set, and a 211-piece Alien Conquest.

Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Brian gifted this wagon, which the two kids loved! It can hold up to 300 lbs!

The Lego cake that I spent tons of time planning and executing. The recipes used (for my own future reference) were the Busy-Day Chocolate Cake and Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting.

A thank-you hug to Megan for her gifts. They gave Connor a racing set, a car garage, and a 'Disgusting Science' set.

Still guarding his play structure.

Party in full swing. Some Lego-playing happening too.

The goodie bag had funny sunglasses, a Lego character, Lego crayons and a colouring book, a plastic cup, Lego-shaped candy, gold coins, a rolling ball maze, and marbles.