Well, by the time this posts Conway will actually be almost 16 months old, but check this kid out. Have I mentioned before that Conway is CRAZY?! Okay, but seriously. He does not sit still. Gone are the days of getting him to sit on the couch nicely with a little piece of paper announcing his age. Instead I've chosen to embrace his craziness and present an honest depiction of life with Conway. See the mayhem unfold below. The pictures are pretty blurry, but I think the blurriness captures Conway's nonstop movement perfectly.
Conway is a walking, running, jumping (although his feet don't actually leave the ground) machine. His first love is still balls - throwing, kicking, and even some dribbling. In addition to being full of energy, Conway is also full of smiles, laughs, hugs, and kisses. When he gives kisses now he actually purses his lips together and makes a kissing sound. It's basically the best.
Conway's sleep hasn't changed much since he turned one. He's still taking two naps most of the time (10:15 - 11:45 & 2:15 - 4:00). When we're out and about and he's kept busy enough he does fine with one longer nap (12:45 - 4:00), but if we're just around the house in the morning he gets pretty cranky without that first nap. The biggest change with his sleep is that he basically doesn't make any of the moaning sounds during the night (7:45pm - 7:15am) that use to wake me up. I'm not sure when his moaning/whining during the night stopped, but it seems like forever ago that it last happened so it must have been shortly after he turned one.
Sometime after turning one Conway also developed a bit of separation anxiety. When we leave him with a sitter he either cries as we leave or we have to distract him in some way. If he's in his high chair eating he does fine and if the babysitter holds him as we talk about the logistics of her time with the kids he usually does okay as well. Either way, he seems to be fine shortly after we're gone (or so we're told). The separation anxiety is actually the most difficult when I'm trying to get something done around the house. He starts out with a whine, then he pulls on my legs and whines louder, and eventually throws his whole body on the floor and cries. It's all quite sad (and also a bit hilarious) to watch.
I'm not sure if this separation scenario would be easier or more difficult if Conway had a more expansive vocabulary. Most of what he says is pretty much unintelligible. He does say "bah" for ball and "dah" for dog, but he uses both of those sounds to mean other things sometimes. I think Conway's first real word is bye bye, which actually sounds more like "bah bye" and is always accompanied by a wave. He also waves to say hello and sometimes adds a "hah" with it. Conway can use sign language to say the following: more, all done, milk, please (which for him actually means help, I want something), and thank you.
Conway's big brother Parker does what we call Independent Play Time almost every day from 6:00pm to 6:30pm while I make dinner. Conway is getting too tired/hungry/needy at that time of day so he still spends my dinner prep time whining and tugging at my legs (Fun!). He has started his own Independent Play Time, though, at a time of day that is better suited to him. While Parker and I read books together before Parker's nap, Conway plays independently in his own room. He's doing pretty well with it now and it's quite fun listening to him have a good time playing on his own. The transition went something like this. The first day was painful - he basically laid by the door and cried for the whole 10 minutes. I decided to give it a week, though, and on the second day he cried for only a minute (which of course felt like 10 minutes) and then he started playing! He still whines or cries a little bit as I leave the room, but I love that he can happily play all on his own.
And now take a look at Conway getting a kick out of me trying to take his picture.
{Running}
{And laughing}
{And giggling}
{Distracted by the camera}
{Quick pause for a kiss}
{Parker joined in for a "family hug"}
{He's pretty pleased with this new trick - walking with his hands behind his back}
{Back to running}
{Oh wait - jump}
{More jumping although feet don't actually leave the ground}
{And back to running}
{Pause to say hi}
{And get a quick cuddle}
We love you Conway!!
