So smart

When we got our Christmas tree yesterday the man who owned the property guessed Conor to be about 3. This is pretty common and is due, mostly, to his incredible size. I've mentioned this before, mainly in passing, but our son is BIG. Huge? Maybe. He's not fat, not at all. He's NEVER had that adorable baby chub that both Morgan and I were hoping for. He was, frankly, a shrimp for the first four months of his life but has steadily climbed the growth charts so he's now well over the 95th percentile for height and holding steady at the 80th percentile in weight. And really, looking at his dear old dad, its no surprise he's so big. Morgan is no shrinking violet.

Another reason people tend to think Conor is older than his not-quite-two-years is because he is so dang smart. His vocabulary is light years beyond his peers. Most 18 month old children are expected to say about 20 words and 50 words by the time they are two. At Conor's 12 month checkup I counted 35 words. Honestly, trying to count all words he knows and says now would be like trying to count all the words I know. Hundreds. I mean, literally he speaks possibly SIX TIMES the amount of words that an average two year old does and he's still three months out from his 2nd birthday.

He knows EVERY SINGLE letter of the alphabet by sight and is getting really close to having all the vowel and consonant sounds down. Yes, he knows 26 letters and can tell you what two thirds of those letters "say". He can count all the way to 20 mostly unassisted but tends to get stuck on "5-teen". I think that is because its so darn cute that we all laugh when he says "5-teen" and then he figures why go on when everyone loves that number so much? Truthfully, I've seen kindergarteners who can't count to 15 and Conor is going past that before he's two.

But, back to the Christmas tree man. He thought Conor was 3 becacuse of how steady he is on his feet. And he is. I mean, he's been walking for just about a year now and has actually spent most of the last 5 months running. And while he loves to run, and jump and throw he does fall, sometimes at a rather alarming rate. This is probably not due to some latent neurological disorder as I sometime fear, but rather to his lack of watching where he is going. So anyway, the Christmas tree guy mentioned that Conor was a really great walker and really steady and just seemed older.

And I totally down played it. I have this AMAZING son and I DOWN PLAYED his accomplishments. What the hell is wrong with me? Morgan called me on it later (in a nice way) and I realized that he's totally right. And I really struggle with this for a number of reasons.

First of all, I HATE those people that talk, talk, talk and brag, brag, brag about their kids. You know, the ones in your office who talk about nothing but how great their kids are and how advanced and blah, blah, blah. Its on par with those people who always talk about how great they are and how they are so accomplished. It annoys me. Actually, it really, really annoys me. And so I don't do it with myself and I don't do it with my son. And while I know how proud I am of him, and while his many accomplishments are one of my greatest personal sources of pride, how will he know that if I don't either tell him or let him hear my praise to other people. Imagine if he was 8 and someone commented on how smart he is or what a great baseball player (or karate or soccer or cheerleader - kidding, Babe) he is and I say something like, "oh, he's not that great". At almost two, its pretty much a non-issue but as he gets older, this would be extremely hurtful to him. I would never do it to hurt him or because I don't actually believe with all my heart that its true, but I would do it so that people wouldn't think I'm "that Mom". The one who thinks her kid is the best, brightest. But wait, I DO think that. Because in my eyes, he IS the best and brightest.

So, that is my Mommy goal. To praise my son in private and in public and to say to hell with those people who think badly of me for thinking highly of my son. I would rather the whole world think of me as "that Mom" and have my son think of me as the best Mom than the other way around.

Failure already?

I knew the weekend would be an issue for this whole posting gig. I'm a creature of habit and weekends go against my normal, weekday routine. And we did stuff yesterday too!

I started the day with my dear friend Niki getting pedicures. Lately it seems that I haven't had much time to myself and I can't tell you how much that hour and a half recharged me. I need to remember to get out and do stuff like that more often. It really does make me a better wife and mother. And my toes look real pretty too!

After nap we went out and cut down our Christmas tree. Morgan normally likes to go up to Mt. Hood and cut one down but we just didn't seem to have time for that this year and opted to go to a lot out in West Linn. It was freaking freezing cold but beautiful and sunny so we got a few picures.

Then it was home to decorate the tree. Of course the lights didn't work and Conor was more inerested in pulling the ornaments off the tree than putting them on, but hey, that's the spirit of Christmas!Expect to see this one on the Christmas cards.
Family Self Portrait

We're kinda fuzzy but look at his cute little faceThe Subaru loaded down as God intended
The finished product. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

You already know this but...

So, there are approximately 4 people who read this blog. And all four of you already know this...but, on the off chance that someone is cyber-stalking me, please see below.

Yes, folks (folk?) that's Walsh Baby # 2. Due early July. We had a dr. appt. yesterday but its still too early to hear the heartbeat with the doppler so I'll go in again in a few weeks. This ultrasound was done about 3 weeks ago though and I heard the little whoosh, whoosh, whoosh then.

Every time we ask Conor if he wants to be a big brother, he responds with a very confident "no". The poor child has no idea how his life will change!

On fashion and faux pas

Did you think I had forgotten you? I normally post my blog in the morning around 6:30 when I first wake up. I really love this time of the morning becuase I get a half an hour all to myself to drink my coffee, check my emails and catch up on important current events like blogs and facebook. And while this time provides me with wonderful alone time to recover from my sleep inertia (actually a technical term that describes the time between when you wake up and when you actually FEEL awake. Some people have much long sleep inertia times than others. You know who you are.) it does not offer a plethora of interesting blog topics. So, I'm now sitting in the library at school (I should be madly preparing for finals next week but preparation is for the WEAK!) and I would like to take a moment to discuss with you..fashion.

Seriously, here at Portland State I'm often not sure if someone is dressed in costume or if this is just how they normally dress. Is that what people thought of me 10 years ago? I'm trying to picture what I used to wear and, while my parents might disagree, I don't think I dressed like an insane 80's era clown. Here are a few sights I've encountered recently at good ol' PSU.

-4 (FOUR) pairs of leggings on 4 (FOUR) different sets of legs in 1 (ONE) day
- a woman's hairstyle where half her head was covered in inch long boy-type hair and the other half was covered in long, flowy, frizzy hair.
-Jeans tighter (on men and women) and legs skinnier than I thought possible outside of a first grade classroom.
-These glasses
-These glasses

Ok, I can't think of anymore now and I"m starting to get funny looks from the people I keep staring at trying to find more incredible fashion mishaps. Are they mishaps though? Is this one of those things where I'm just severely and permanently behind the times?

Apparently my liberal education come at a cost of liberal fashion choices.

And I swore I would never be this person...

Day 2 - The Good Ol' Days

Look how little!



And now...look how big!




Seriously, this kid will just not LISTEN. I keep telling him "no more growing!" but here we have photographic proof of his defiance. Next thing you know he'll be calling me mother and asking to do my taxes.

Day 1

First of all, lets take a moment to adddress the fact that its already December 1st. Every year goes so quickly and it hardly seems possible that the next year could go any faster, but they always do.

So I took this great video of Conor in the bath last night picking out letters and telling me their sounds and he was so cute and so smart and, as luck would have it, being neither smart nor cute myself, I can't figure out how to get the video off my camera and on to my computer so i can upload it here. I TOLD you these posts would probably not be the most stimulating posts ever. But still...

I spent yesterday at New Urban High School out in Milwaukie. As part of my big Senior Capstone project I had to design a lesson plan and teach it, with three other team members, to language arts students for 5 periods. It was quite an experience. First of all, teaching is hard especially when you have to say, literally, the same thing over and over and over again. Second, no matter how revolutionary you think your lesson plan is, chances are a good 75% of the students will still look at you with the blank stare that is only achieved by high school students or stoners. In my first experience at teaching, I'm beginning to doubt my choice of vocations. This cannot be a good sign.

This is the last week in the term before finals next week. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get myself together enough to make it though. This term has been a giant energy drain and my goal of straight A's is looking more and more unrealistic.

Happy Day 1 everyone!

30 in 30 + 1 (This one is for Niki)

Yes, I realize I've been TERRIBLE about posting lately. I would like to blame it on lack of exciting information but things have been HAPPENING around here and still I haven't posted. And so, for the month of December i'm going to post one post every. single. day.

No, they may not be the most interesting or exciting posts ever, and many will likely be poorly written as I"m almost certain to be stuffing my face with Christmas cookies, but you will see one post every. single. day.

And yes, I know there are 31 days in December...whatever.

And so, for Conor's future girlfriend, Addison, a few pictures to whet your appetite. Lets see what the next few days will bring. Oh, and stay tuned for December 4th. Big news will be coming!