Independent Thinker

"In bad times and in good, I've never lost my sense in zest for life." ~Walt Disney

Last night while talking to Tim I asked, "Are you and I going to go out to dinner for my birthday?" To which Connor quickly and enthusiastically replied "YEAH!", thinking I was talking to him. He then added "and daddy too, and choo-choos." What a cutie!

 Five thirty in the morning is rather shocking, especially if it's on a Saturday, and also your birthday, but that's what time we riled the troops. Rarely does my birthday fall on a day that we can travel, so that's just what we did! Disney here we come! We initially planned the trip for just us three, but after talking about our upcoming adventure we got Uncle Casey and Aunt Arielle on board. Look out, here comes Funville, population 5!

We spent our day at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It was fun getting to roam around and do exactly as we please, each getting to go on rides and drink/eat at your leisure. Tim, Connor, and I even squeezed into Dumbo, and a Speedway race car, at the same time! Great memories. We even got to watch the Epcot fireworks from a special roped off section just for us. What a special birthday it was! After Epcot closed we trudged back to our car, and yes, decided to drive all the way back home (games were necessary). It was a looooong (birth)day to say the least, but absolutely perfect.The night before we had gathered with the rest of the family and Connor got to help me blow out my candles and open all of my presents. It was perfect.

New Year's Eve was spent with our loved ones, and was also the deadline for the photo contest. I am happy to say that I won a Kindle Fire, and I'm so excited to use it with Connor. I wanted something aside from "my" things to use with him. This will be more for him. He is so smart. He is recognizing more and more letters, and just the other day told me correctly that the letter block he was holding was an "A". He's been pretty good about the 4 letters in his own name, but now we're branching out. There are 22 more after all.

He seemed to transition back into spending the day at grandma's very well, though he has been showing signs of being very strong willed over the past week or so. More so than before. The Sunday before school started back up was his first major melt down, all because he wasn't ready to leave grandma's house. He is certainly trying to assert his wants, and testing to see who is boss. It is a very interesting new period in development. It hasn't happened every day, but when it does it's Chernobyl. I know he's frustrated because he wants to say so much more than he is able to, and it has to be frustrating. We just remember to be patient with him, but still let him know we are in charge, we have rules, and he still has to obey. It has gotten better.

My favorite time of the day is saying prayers with him at night. He has been more active in our time praying and I love when we are done and he says "amen". He also slept through one night over break, bringing us to a total of 7 times. That was a nice treat! Tantrums are normal, he really is such a sweet boy and we are so lucky!