Friday, January 23, 2009

He's not "slow"- he just takes after his father

While Ross and I were on vacation in Colorado, Ross’s mom (Beth) had the difficult but enjoyable job of taking care of Connor. Not only is Beth a nurse by profession, but she’s raised two kids of her own and has three grandchildren (Lauren Ann, Connor and Daniel – eta. June 2009). She’s far more experienced and qualified than I am at taking care of a baby – which is why we went on 100% worry free.

Connor is the most laid back, even temperament baby I’ve ever seen. He can go days without crying – literally. He’s just happy to “be” – happy to be alive, happy to be with you, happy just to sit and play. However, there is one exception. He’s hands down the most difficult baby to feed. I always know when a new daycare worker tries to feed him because his take home sheet looks like this – offered bottle at 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 – finally ate two ounces at 11:30. I always have to laugh because his regular teachers have no problem at all. They can get him to eat all of his food without a fuss, but he always likes to give the newbies a run for their money.

Beth did the most phenomenal job with Connor. He tried to test her once or twice, but he didn’t know who he was dealing with. She quickly took control and after that there was no turning back.

Connor had more calories the week we were away, than he’s ever had while we were home. On top of that Beth was able to teach us a thing or two when we got home. During the week they spent together, she was able to get him to eat a whole jar of stage 2 baby food at each sitting (approx. 3x per day). That may not sound impressive, but he’s never done that before. She also introduced a variety of new foods to him – some of them he liked, others he didn’t care for (can you believe he wrinkled his face and spit out the Blue Bell vanilla ice cream – ugh!)

My favorite part about having her come to stay was that I learned so much about my son through stories that she told about Ross. Before she arrived, I couldn’t figure out why Connor wasn’t crawling yet, plus there was a whole list of things that I attributed to a developmental delay and was ready to call our doctor about. However, as it turns out Connor is just like his daddy.

Ross never learned to crawl - he rolled instead. Strangely, if we put a toy across the room from Connor, he’ll drop from the crawling position onto his belly and roll towards the toy. BTW – he’s improved a little in the last week and is now “scooting” backwards on his hands and knees.

Ross used to be content to just sit all day long. Beth would leave him in his crib for hours and Ross would never fuss or complain to get out. Connor does the same thing.

Ross used to inspect every square inch of his toys before playing with them – Connor does this too.

And the thing that kills me the most is that Ross used to observe everything. He would watch his sister, his mom, the family dog, etc. and he would absorb all of it. Then when he actually went to do something, he was an expert at it because he’s watched it for so long. I witnessed this with Connor when I spent the last 4 months saying “mama” to him over and over again – without a peep out of him. I was starting to get worried and then one day, I picked him up from my parent’s house and he was saying “mamamamamamama”. He didn’t try it once – then practice it for a while. He was saying it like he’d been doing it all of his life. Ugh – I give up!



Thursday, January 22, 2009

Don't eat the yellow snow

Considering that the last 9 months have been such a struggle for Ross and I, we decided to take a little vacation. There’s no better way to recharge your battery, than to escape from reality for a few days. So with our friends Brian and Teresa, we headed to Copper Mountain, Colorado for a week of skiing/snowboarding. Ross’s mom came to stay with Connor while we were away – I’ll tell you more about that later.

Colorado was amazing – as usual! The snow was fantastic and everyone had a little too much fun eating/drinking and skiing. Ross was our lone snowboarder out of our group. He’s decided not to fool with skiing and would rather “shred” the mountain with the rest of the kids. :)

I was so happy that my friend Jen, drove up from Denver on Monday to ski with us. It was so nice seeing her and it made me miss all the times we used to hang out together in Dallas. Strangely, Ross and I are one of the few from our Dallas crowd that still haven’t moved to Denver. We’re working on a relocation strategy, but it might take a few years.

On Thursday, I decided to trade in my skis for a snowboard. I wasn’t about to let Ross win the title of “cool parent” when Connor is finally old enough to “shred” the mountain too. So I strapped the board to my feet, pointed it down the mountain and kissed my *ss goodbye. What’s the worst that can happen - right?

Ross was giving me a few pointers, but then he somehow “lost” me on the first run of the day. And then I somehow took a wrong turn and ended up on a blue run (harder than green, not quite a black) that passed right in front of the super pipe (think Shawn White – half-pipe only bigger). I had visions of ski patrol rushing to the rescue of a 31 year old Caucasian woman in a green ski jacket – yikes! I’m not sure how I did it, but I finally made it back to the base safely. Then like an idiot, I climbed on the lift and went back up the mountain – determined to win the cool mom award.

Connor's 9 month check-up

The McKinnon’s have had a busy couple of weeks – so let me start at the beginning. Connor had his 9 month check-up on 1/6/09. Ross and I were thrilled to see that our little peanut has made it all the way up to the 10th percentile for his weight and he’s still in the 50% for his length.

That’s a huge accomplishment, especially considering that Connor was in the negative 10th only a few short months ago. What's even better, is that he’s realizing that solid food opens up a whole new world to him. Connor's finally enjoying his meals and is eating like a champ. He seems to really like the taste of his food and is thrilled that we’re not shoving a bottle in his face as often. The best part is that if he keeps it up we might be able to bump him up to the 25th percentile by his one year checkup. Go Connor – go!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Quick update

Our lives are incredibly busy right now. I have a ton of updates for the blog (Connor's 9 mo. doctor appointment, graduation, our vacation to Colorado, Ross's mom's visit, etc), but unfortunately I can't find the time to write about them. So for now these pictures will have to do.

I'll see if I can make time this weekend to write about all of the new things happening right now. Stay tuned...