Porter 11 months
Feeding himself:
Wow, life seems really busy lately with work and Connor being in school every day. I'm not sure where the time goes some weeks! I can definitely feel it when I look around my cluttery house. Jeff is starting cyclocross racing season now too, so our free weekends will be filled up with bike races. Some of them are actually pretty fun to go watch, and they are usually only around an hour long, so at least they don't take up the whole day.
To catch up with the last several weeks, Porter turned 11 mos old on Sept 4th, the day after Connor started kindergarten. Porter loves taking a bath, and you will see my attempts at putting his age up in foam letters are becoming more futile. He loves to stand up in the tub, which is one of the only ways I can really scrub him well too! He also likes to throw stuff out of the tub, usually half-full of water. He thrashes and splashes and just has a really good time. His favorite things to do are to bang things together to make noise (coasters, measuring cups, blocks, or whatever he can get his hands on, the louder the better), he loves to get the remote (which we often take the batteries out of so he can play with it) and the phone. He has started saying "Hi Da" when he picks up the phone, and knows to put it up to his ear. He is also learning how to feed himself with a spoon which has been a messy task. He's very proud of his accomplishments though. He has been doing great drinking from a cup now and only rarely gets a bottle anymore. Just in the past three days I have cut down to only nursing at bedtime, getting ready for the big wean when he turns one (only a week and a half away!!). So far I am not feeling any sad emotions over weaning, I think I am pretty much ready to be done. I am definitely glad to have reached my own goal of nursing for a year, and feel good that I have been able to do this for both kids. It's time to be done though. I haven't needed to pump at work for the past couple of days, so it's been great not having to drag my pump back and forth to work too! Porter is still not taking steps on his own, but is cruising around everything and pulling up on everything. He has started to stand for a few seconds on his own though, so I don't think it will be too much longer until he is walking on his own.
Porter's big party is going to be on his actual birthday, October 4th, which happens to fall on a Saturday this year. Jeff's brother Dave and his wife Yuri are coming up, and Jeff's mom is coming up from Chicago too! I am so glad she is coming to visit, especially since October 5th is her birthday, and we will be able to celebrate with her as well. Dave's birthday is the 1st, so we will celebrate his too. My sister Molly is on the 8th, our nephew Tyler in Texas is on the 6th, and our nephew Danny here is on the 15th! Lots of October birthdays in our families!
Fall is arriving in Minnesota too, which is really one of my favorite seasons. I love the changing leaves, love going to the apple orchard, getting ready for Halloween, celebrating Oktoberfest, and just love the tiniest feeling of crispness in the air. I'm not thrilled about winter approaching, but I do love autumn.
Connor is doing pretty well adjusting to kindergarten. His teacher sends a communication sheet home back and forth each day and puts a smiley face, straight face or a frown on each day. So far he has gotten one straight face each week, for a variety of reasons, talking too loudly, not keeping his hands to himself and running in the classroom. So far this week 2 smiley faces, so we are shooting for a whole week. He's starting to figure out what the kids names are, and I think he is making some friends. He already has been to one friend's birthday party too. He started soccer a few weekends ago, just on Sundays and it will only last 3 more weeks. I think it will be good to keep his weekends free for a while until hockey starts up again in November.
Mutual admiration society:
The boys brushing their teeth:
Porter & our babysitter & friend Greta:
That's enough catching up for now! I will probably post again after Porter's birthday!
