Oy! That head!

As soon as one mark begins to fade, another takes its place. Bruises. Gashes. Scrapes. They all find their way to Conal’s head. And, usually, they land in prominent spots on his forehead.

He fell at Jer and Darci’s house on Saturday and it was one of his worst falls ever. I thought that last horrible bang-up was his worst ever. I was wrong. This one topped it. And, unfortunately, I imagine that there will be others that will top even this one.

The short story: He ran. He fell. He smacked his head on the corner of the wall. He cried out. I picked him up. He cried out so hard that he stopped breathing and turned blue. His head swelled. He started breathing. He calmed down. Aunt Darci took him to look for cats. He was all better.

But the gash remains.

Take a look — it’s a beauty . . .

 

Sea lions.

Some kids have imaginary friends. Conal has imaginary sea lions. He pushes them in the stroller. Feeds them treats that he picks from the cherry tree. He tells me that they are putting balls on their noses. He also names them. Today, one of his sea lions was named A-Rod.

Well, there you go. A-Rod the sea lion.Who knows what the sea lions will be called tomorrow? Melky? Derek? I guess we’ll wait and see what strikes his fancy.

 

Apple-y.

The boy looooooves his apples!

October 2008:

October 2009:

 

The Little Jumper.

Conal is a boy who likes to jump. Jump, jump, jump!

Sometimes, Conal likes to jump on his mom and dad’s bed. They’ve always let him do it, even though it has seemed a little dangerous, because he loves it.

One day, Conal jumped and jumped and jumped on his parent’s bed and landed — SMACK! — head-first on the sharp wooden headboard. He screamed. He cried. He held his breath until he turned blue!

His parents were very worried. What should they do? His father ran to the kitchen to get a cold pack for his head. His mother held him and tried to make him feel better.

Soon enough, their efforts worked. Conal was better, with only a big, nasty bruise to mark the injury.

Conal’s mother wanted an end to the jumping. “No more jumping,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.” But Conal still wanted to jump. Jump, jump, jump. The day after he hurt his head, he was back to jumping on the bed, the coffee table, the stairs — all around the house! When his mother reminded him that sometimes little boys get hurt from reckless jumping, Conal became sad.

He didn’t want to think that he could be hurt doing something so fun. And jumping is lots of fun! But, he also didn’t want to get hurt. Conal wondered what to do.

His mother had an idea. She decided to guide him to safer jumping spots, like the floor and the couch, instead of the bed and the stairs. “Jump all you’d like on the couch and this pile of pillows!” she told Conal.

“Hooray!” he thought, and got ready to jump.

Conal is a boy who likes to jump. Jump, jump, jump!

 

Lucky boy.

Today, we were supposed to go to a corn maze. I told Conal all about it and happened to mention that he might be able to have a donut after going through the maze. They sell them there — the warm, yummy cider donuts. I also told him that he’d see his friends, Nora, Leah and Dylan.

Well, things happened and a scheduling snafu made it so we couldn’t go. I felt bad and decided to take Conal to the library so he could pick out books and play with the train. As we were getting ready, he kept asking if we were going to Leah’s house. He was very excited. “No,” I told him. “We’re going to the library.”

And then he asked about the donuts.

“Donuts for Conal?” he asked, giving me those eyes.

“We’ll see,” I said. And then mentioned that we really needed to get shoes on if we were going to the library.

We made it to the library and as he was climbing out of the car he said, “Donuts now?”

I put him off. “We’ll see. If you’re good,” I said. We went inside and picked out books. He played with the train set. I watched him share the trains with another little boy who was much older. When it was time to leave he said, “Donuts for Conal!!!” and practically ran out of the library.

To a two-year-old, “We’ll see” apparently means “Yes.” So what choice did I have? I had to get a donut for the little jobber.

On the way to get the donut, he sat in the car waiting with patience and excitement. When he got out of the car we held hands and he asked again, “Donuts for Conal?” and looked up at me with those eyes. Again. “Yes,” I said. “We’re going to get a donut.”

Still holding my hand, he started jumping up and down. “Lucky boy!” he said. “Lucky boy! Conal! Lucky boy!”

Yes, a very lucky boy. And a happy one at that.

 

At least he’s neat about it.

Apparently, Conal didn’t go for his lunch today. So this is what he left behind*:

Yes, I gave him the heel of the loaf. But there were only two pieces left, so he got what he got. And I got some modern art.

* He ended up eating the rest of the sandwich when he declared that he was hungry before going up for his nap. Stall tactic? Perhaps, but he probably was hungry — two bites doesn’t usually fill his belly!

 

Busy!

It’s true that I “stay at home” with Conal, but it seems that we don’t do all that much staying at home. I like to make sure that he has plenty of time with other kids so I belong to two moms groups through which we’ve both made some great friends. We usually have a playdate or two each week through those groups, which is nice (this week we went to the Saratoga Children’s Museum). And, of course, we have the twice a week speech sessions with Miss Lynn, who Conal has tons of fun with.

But sometimes a kid needs more. So, to satisfy my little athlete, I’ve signed him up for gymnastics class. The session started on Monday and it was terrific! Conal loved it. He walked on the balance beams, jumped on the trampoline, hung and swung on the high bars and parallel bars, crawled through the tunnel, jumped on the stars and somersaulted his way across the mats.

To balance out the athletics, I also signed him up for a science class on Wednesdays at CMOST. The first class was all about bubbles and next week he’ll explore colors.

What fun for a two-year-old!

And what tiring days for a mom. TGIF!

 

Ham for breakfast.

Sometimes Conal can get pretty goofy. Like at breakfast the other day, when he turned into Mr. Funny Faces:

He’s a ham. A two-year-old ham.

 

What happened to four?

Conal does a great job counting to 13 except for one thing: He skips four. Almost every time.

I’ve asked him, “What happened to four? You forgot four.”

He responds, “Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. THIRTEEN! YAY!” And then he claps and smiles. But no four. Four is out of the picture. What does the little jobber have against four?

Who knows? He just doesn’t go for it. But, he loves thirteen.

 

Catching up.

After vacation, we had a few days at home before taking off again. The highlight of our brief time at home was Claire’s graduation party. It was a fun Mexican-themed fiesta!

Conal liked the bouncy-bounce:

Nicki and Conal.

Sean and Conal.

And he and Owen loooooved Claire’s yummy cupcakes:

Conal also had fun just hanging out that night, after the party started to die-down:

Now, the party’s over and Claire heads off to college next week. Conal will miss his Aunt Claire, for sure!