Communicating with Connor

It's amazing how a little tiny baby can get his point across, even without formal communication. Like, yesterday he let me know LOUD AND CLEAR that he did not enjoy being in the carseat for 4+ hours getting to Seattle, and then again for 3 hours coming back. (I went to Wendel's house first, thinking they had already left the hospital... bad me!) It was interesting that when I turned off the radio and sang to him, it seemed to help soothe him, at least temporarily. He's taking notice! He finally cried himself to sleep (poor guy!). Then, when we got home last night and I changed him into his pj's, he woke up and found he was NOT in the carseat. He just giggled. He gave me a very appreciative look and smiled at me with his little "squinchy" smile. I call it squinchy because he squints his eyes and gives me a less-curvy smile, kind of like a straight line. He usually follows the face with a "hee, hee" sound. If I can capture it on camera, I'll post it here. :)

And, today when I went to visit him at lunch, we had a grand time rocking and playing with various toys. (Although lately I get the feeling that he doesn't mind if I don't come at lunch. More time to play with friends!). At the end of the hour, I put him on the floor to play, and he crawled a little bit then started whining. I knew he hadn't had a decent nap yet, so I went over to put him in his crib. He got super-excited, and then when I brought the blanket out from his drawer, he grabbed it and cuddled it and started whacking the mattress with his feet (thud, thud, thud -- his way of putting himself to sleep). He just smiled at me and hugged his blanket. I gave him a paci and he took it (which he doesn't do very often, mostly when he's tired). So, I guess he was tired!

At church on Sunday, he was sitting on the floor in front of me in Sunday School, and decided to play with the plastic cap from his playtex dropins bottle. (I like to use disposable bottles when I'm out. So much eaiser! and he takes any nipple now, so it works). He was pounding it against the wood floor of the multi-purpose room, like a hammer (which makes me think he's ready for the hammer set my mom gave him for Christmas, we'll have to try it). All the other toys around him and he wants to bang this thing. Ok with me :). There was another little boy sitting just a few chair-floors away that was a few months older than him that wanted to come play. As he scooted closer Connor took notice, and slowly grabbed his toy and tucked it under his arm, close to his chest. So funny! I can tell you exactly where he learned that move -- there's a little toy-bully at baby school that likes to steal toys just to steal them. Connor is learning to defend his ground by "hiding" the toy, or putting it out of reach. He's also getting pretty good at stealing them back now that he's scooting around. Of course, this little boy didn't want his toy, he just wanted to meet the other baby. :)

When Connor is in a talkative mood, he will start telling me or Ron a story. The story usually doesn't have many consonants in them, but they are very animated. His voice inflections go up and down and he makes arm movements to explain it better. And if you're not paying attention, he will whack whatever part of you he can reach to get your attention. Sometimes he'll do that even if you ARE paying attention. :)

Sometimes, if I am feeding him a new taste that he doesn't like, he'll communicate by clamping his mouth closed and turning his head sideways. It's pretty funny, because I'll try and push it in there, but he has a strong jaw! I'll try making him laugh and he won't budge. He just looks at me with his mouth shut as if to say "just try it!"

Saturday, I was wrapping a birthday present for a friend of his who turned 1. He saw the present and wanted it! at least, he wanted the big box with bright colors. So, he made a v-line and army-crawled/knee-launched his way over to the box. He was so excited about it that he was grunting, trying to get there faster. He got across the room and started to grab the box, like he was going to pick it up. This was a huge box that was housing the Tonka Scoot 'N' Scoop ride-along toy. He'd have to have the strength of the Incredible Hulk for that, but it was fun to watch him try. I showed him the revvin' beepin' wheel, but he was more interested in the box. I thought it was so cute that I grabbed the video camera and put him back across the room. He didn't come over quite as quickly the second time, but I still captured it. I'll post it here if I can upload it.