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!



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was laughing way before reading the post just b/c of the title! Connor is doing great and I am so happy that you are able to make fun posts. You guys are wonderful parents and are so fortunate to have parents that can teach you. Growing up, we tend to resent "knowledge" and want to pave our own way. But after having children, we suddenly want to hear those words that we previously turned a deaf ear to. They REALLY do know a thing or two, haha! I'm so happy to see the pics of all of you doing so well!!!