2 years, 10 months/36 weeks, 3 days.

Happy New Year's Eve!  As long as we're recording milestones, Graham has a big one to report: he is totally done with diapers, including during night & nap times.  We gave away our last ones a couple weeks ago and all seems well.

2 years, 10 months/36 weeks, 2 days.

Storytime at the library!  Connor is not much of an academic yet and so practiced crawling instead of reading.  He appears to be trying to pack as many milestones as possible into 2013 (and Daddy's vacation)--today, he figured out how to sit up from a crawling position.

2 years, 10 months/36 weeks, 1 day.

This morning, Daddy and Graham went to the park to try out Graham's new soccer ball (and his 3T sized jacket--time to pack away the 2T one for a year).  Thank you for the ball, Uncle David and Aunt Meghan!

Later on, I left Connor and Graham playing in Graham's room and when I came back, Connor was slyly standing up, holding onto Graham's bed!  He then repeated this feat (pulling up to standing on his own) several times!

2 years, 10 months/36 weeks.

Four cousins, together at last!  We were so excited to meet baby Sawyer and celebrate a slightly belated Christmas with Nana, the Sheas, the Ottos, and the (other) Millers.  Thank you so much for coming to visit, laden with gifts (I mean, thank you for coming to visit, and thank you for the gifts.  Not thank you for coming with gifts.)!

2 years, 10 months/35 weeks, 5 days.

Today, Graham built a house for his Sesame Street guys with his new blocks while Connor attempted to pull up to standing.  He isn't quite there, but he's really, really close.

2 years, 10 months/35 weeks, 4 days.

Merry Christmas!  Santa came!  Daddy passed the lego torch to Graham by helping him assemble his first official Duplo Lego set, and then we all got headaches from too much chocolate and endless hours of Hungry Hungry Hippos.  A trip to the park to try out a few outdoor toys, like the stomp rocket, helped clear our heads.

Thank you for all the wonderful presents, Santa, Grammy, Granddad & Linda, Granny Annie & Papa O'Brien, Uncle Peter & Aunt Tiffany, and Mona!

In Graham's favorite send-off of the season, a merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

2 years, 10 months/35 weeks, 3 days.

Christmas Eve!  Anticipation is high.  As part of his ongoing confusion about what "tomorrow" means, Graham wanted to go down for his nap early because he thought Santa would come while he was sleeping.  Daddy slipped out of the office early and we went to mass, had dinner, left oats & carrots for the reindeer on the roof, and left cookies & a note for Santa (dictated by Graham) by the tree.  Fingers crossed Santa comes!

2 years, 10 months/35 weeks, 1 day.

Graham and Violet continued their dinner party tradition with some manicotti and milk.

2 years, 10 months/35 weeks.

Eight months yesterday!

2 years, 10 months/34 weeks, 5 days.

It's impossible to change Connor's diaper right now because he immediately flips to his stomach when laid down on his back.  He does the same thing in bed and has started sleeping exclusively on his stomach, apparently spending every sleeping and waking hour trying to figure out how to crawl.

2 years, 10 months/34 weeks, 4 days.

Graham, Connor, and I made the somewhat epic journey into Manhattan today for the children's holiday party at Daddy's office.  Among other activities, Graham made "Super Monkey" at the build-a-bear station and strung fruit loops onto a red licorice rope to make his first candy necklace.  Worth the trip!

2 years, 10 months/34 weeks.

Graham's first nutcracker!  We went to an abridged children's performance on a very snowy day.  Graham seemed to like it and did a great job clapping at the appropriate places, though he did clap when the Nutcracker got broken and immediately realized his error.

Meanwhile, Daddy and Connor held down the fort.  Connor has really come along on solids and can now eat enough to avoid a bottle in this kind of situation.  His favorites are veggie burgers, broccoli & potato pancakes, grated cheese, and slices of peeled pears.

2 years, 10 months/33 weeks, 6 days.

Time for Christmas cookies!  Graham did quite a bit of helping in making our peanut butter blossoms--he dumped each ingredient into the bowl, rolled the cookie dough balls in sugar, and unwrapped all the chocolate kisses.  He also helped with the eating (though he stayed away from the raw dough and the plain chocolate--Santa's elf was keeping a close eye on him).


Peanut Butter Blossoms:


Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup sugar1/2 cup brown sugar1 teaspoon vanilla1/2 cup butter1/2 cup peanut butter1 egg2 tablespoons milkadditional sugar48 Hershey chocolate kisses (unwrapped)

Directions:1.  Combine butter, sugars, egg, vanilla and peanut butter.2.  Add dry ingredients and milk.3.  Shape dough into small balls, then roll in sugar.4.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.5.  Bake 10 minutes at 350.6.  Place a kiss in middle of each cookie pressing until the edges crack.

2 years, 10 months/33 weeks, 5 days.

Graham was excited that the note in the advent calendar today told him to set-up our creche sets.  Unlike last year, he doesn't seem to have a problem with the baby Jesus.

Graham loves his advent calendars (he has the big one from my childhood from Grammy and a bible story one and a chocolate-filled one from Nana) and is very excited to open them every day.  Having a daily task has made it clear to us, though, that his concept of time is not exactly in sync with the Gregorian calendar.  He considers after-nap to be a new day and "yesterday" means "anytime in the past, be it 2 minutes or 2 years ago."

2 years, 9 months/33 weeks, 3 days.

After a snowball fight on the roof deck, Connor helped me wrap presents.

2 years, 9 months/33 weeks, 1 day.

The tree is up and decorated with no casualties (yet)!

2 years, 9 months/32 weeks, 6 days.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Connor rejected the age-appropriate meal I made for him and instead snatched a bean & cheese quesadilla out of my hand and ate that for dinner.  He hasn't broken out in hives yet so I guess it's OK.

We don't think that Graham and Connor look particularly alike, but there's no denying that they're siblings.  Here's Graham on August 31, 2011:

2 years, 9 months/32 weeks, 4 days.

Connor cheerfully gnawed on an apple while Graham played at the train table outside a local toy store. If we aren't going to stop there, I need to remember to cross the street at least a block or two ahead of time to head off any issues.

2 years, 9 months/32 weeks, 3 days.

Welcome to the world, Connor Powers!  A day late but not short a thing!  We can't wait to meet you!  

While Auntie Mac was busy birthing a baby, Graham and Connor occupied themselves with terrifying peacocks and feeding swans at the zoo.