The Connell Chronicles: SCHOOL BOY!

Yep, that is my baby boy as of Sept. 7, 2011…. SCHOOL BOY! Brady attended his first day of school today and passed with flying colors! His teachers wrote him sweetsie pie notes that any mother would melt in their pot o’ love when reading.

I really want to know if his whole “nap time” means that he slept ON A MAT, ON THE GROUND for fourty minutes? Or does that mean they actually got him to stay still on that one spot o’ fluff for forty minutes? If he slept on DAY ONE and on THE GROUND, I am going to pull out the biggest hillbilly knee slap and exclaim WELL KISS MY GRITS, I’LL BE DARNED! We had orientation last week and an open house to meet his new teachers. He has two, Amanda and “Del”, they seem just precious and I loved them from the start. Brady made a BFF IMMEDIATELY when we were there for open house, it was as if it were BFF from first sight :). They absolutely gave their best shot at making the other feel funny as they both had the best fake laughs you have ever heard.

They did back and forth, back and forth :), so sweet. They would follow each other to the different areas of the room, but then we haven't seen her :(. Hopefully she is still going to the school, I think those two would be great friends if so. We shall see! We dropped him off after taking this fantastic picture of his “first school day”, isn’t it one for the mantle? HEAVENS TO BETSY!

And then he was off to class :)..

The night of 8/30/11 was the last night that I placed my sweet boy into his crib. It snuck up on me before I had time to “mourn” the crib, and actually hit me as I was putting him in his sweet crib on Tuesday night that that was the last time! The crib that has held his sweet little body since he was a just a tiny little guy, the crib that allowed itself to be treated as a beaver would treat a tree branch as Bubbie gnawed away :). The crib that let out tiny squeaks as Bub moved towards the end of it’s run. Thank you cage o’ wood for always helping me to feel good to place my cherished belonging in your care :). Some tribute pictures since I always meant to take some pics. for his baby book as it has a section for it. Now putting the baby book together, let’s just say this blog is just fine for that right now :).

His night time buddies :)

The good ol' rocking chair that I received from my Grammy, it brought closure to many a days..

He is now the proud owner of a big boy twin bed, and for the mere fact that it is all that will fit in that itty bitty living space. We have a perfectly fine and extremely comfortable queen mattress sitting all protected in the garage. However, his room would have been one big mattress if we would have put it in there. I read that a good idea to introduce the new bed is to actually put it in the room before you take the crib out and let them sit on it, play on it, just get used to it.

He went straight to the bed, laid down, and said NIIIGGGHHH NIIIGHHHH! :)

And then in .02 seconds, he said I'M OUTTA HERE! ;)

I really liked the sound of that idea so we did just that, we put the bed in there a few days before the crib was to make it’s big exit. We brought it in and then brought him in and made a HUGE DEAL of this new big boy bed. He ran over with a huge smile on his face, laid down on it, and said NIGH NIGH! Oh what music to my ears because of course I was a waiting anxiety attack about the new adventure that lie before us with this transition.

NIGHT #1, went as horribly as I feared it would, but the crying only lasted for about 30 min.. I chose to close the door as my sister in law had done successfully with both of her children. I didn’t think that he would be too understanding of why he could not leave the room at his age when he is always able to roam as he wants. He is younger then I had planned on him being when trying this new step, but I thought it would help him to have consistency with the napping situation at school. Well, I do think that it is good that I decided to do it, but the whole closing of the door, that is not for us. I was an emotional mess right alongside him as I felt like I was shutting him out or something. I went in quite a few times as I thought it was only right on the first night that I reassure him that it was all ok and that I know he doesn’t understand but that it was ok. After 30 minutes of me coming in and reassuring him and putting him back, he climbed into bed and off to count sheep he went. I am sure that it is me blowing it up, but I just didn’t like how it made either of us feel. There are other options and I felt that I should try something else. So the next day at nap time I tried to leave the door cracked open, after a few times of me putting him back in bed and it turning into a game of him opening the door and running away when I went to put him back in bed, HE SHUT THE DOOR! Not one whimper, nada..

NIGHT #2, because I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to have roam of the entire house right now at his age, I put up a baby gate the second night. For about 10 seconds he started to get worked up and cry, but I quickly let him know that I was not shutting the door and that it was ok, momma and daddy were right here. NO MORE CRYING, it was amazing! And guess what, HE SHUT THE DOOR AFTER OUR LITTLE GAME OF HIM OPENING IT AND ME COMING IN AND PUTTING HIM IN BED! I left the door shut, he didn’t fuss, and went to bed eventually :). That is the way that it has been every night thus far and I couldn’t be happier with him and the way that he adapts to everything so wonderfully. I crack the door when we go to bed and he opens it in the morning and lets us know it is time to rise and shine and come get him :).

He loooooves to scribble and draws now! Let's just say that that pretty little table cloth in the picture has now turned into a vinyl one that can be wiped off easily :).

His masterpiece!

I guess I interrupted him and his envision as he stared out of the window ;).

Mom, gooooooo!

His first "art project".. is he not the most amazing tot with scissors that you have ever seen?

So crazy how much growing up he has done!

Pretty sure this is the best picture of his fake laugh, EVER!

Ohhhhhh momma, you sooooooo funny :)!

Is this not the cutest picture ever??

On a mission!

Doing some tricks on the 4 wheeler :)

This picture will be on the mantle of every house we live in, loooooove it.

WEEEEEEEEE!

Skiddin' in the air :)

Staring off in the distance pose.. cutest ever.

Mowin' the dirt :)

BFF's

Hanging out with cousin Micayla!

She is so good with him, but lordy he is quite a challenge if he decides to do the alligator wrestling move to get away from her. He weighs as much as she does :)

She is such a sweetheart...

Sweet little Jackson

Chowin' at family dinner..

Love all that red hair..

OK, so never in a million years would I have thought he would sit and eat, and not have to be strapped to the chair! Amazing what they will do when a friend is there doing it too!