Brothers

When I was pregnant the first time we thought that it would be a girl. Conor was a big surprise.

When I was pregnant the second time we thought it would be a girl. (Actually, Conor convinced us that there was “a little girl in Mammy’s tummy”.) Cormac was a big surprise.

Two big surprises.

Two wonderful surprises.

Two little brothers. They love each other. Conor is very affectionate towards Cormac and closes the door “in case Cormac might get cold”. Cormac twists himself around whenever he hears Conor’s voice and smiles whenever he sees Conor.

I love surprises!

Sophie the Giraffe

“Once upon a time, a simple story...

The little giraffe was born on the 25th of May in the year 1961... Saint Sophie's day! In those days, the only animal toys available were farm animals or pet figures. That is why one day in France, a certain Monsieur Rampeau, who was an expert in transforming sap from the hevea tree using the rotational molding of rubber as a toy-making concept, came up with the idea of designing a giraffe.
Such an exotic wildlife figure would be a first on the market, and its size and shape would be ideal for a baby's small hands to grasp. Sophie the Giraffe, who looked exactly the same then as she does today, went into production on a Thursday, May 25th, whence her name. She was an immediate success.” (from www.sophiegiraffeusa.com)

And over 50 years later, Cormac has just become a proud owner of Sophie the Giraffe. Does he like it...?

Hello Soother!

We had a major milestone this week. While not the big fan that Conor was, Cormac enjoys his soother and smiles in anticipation when he sees it coming towards him. In recent weeks he has spent a lot of time pulling it out of his mouth, swinging it in front of his face and examining it carefully. He tried pushing it towards his face on many occasions but never quite got the soother into his mouth. That is, until Wednesday, his great-aunt’s birthday. He was sitting on her knee and he put his soother in his mouth! We were all so proud!

Perhaps Cormac was just waiting until he had an audience!

New Sandals

At the first sign of warm weather this year we brought Conor to get new sandals... much to his excitement. He loved having his feet measured in the ‘special machine’. He is now size 8.5, two sizes bigger than last summer. He figured out a few weeks ago how to take the sandals off by pulling the Velcro apart. Then one morning this week he put his feet into the sandals and spent a long time carefully threading the straps through the loops, bending the straps back and pressing down on the Velcro. Finally, he proudly announced ‘Mammy, I put my sandals on myself!'

Ooops!

Tractors

Conor's first tractor

I couldn’t write a blog about Conor and not include a post on tractors! He was given his first tractor for Christmas by his grandparents when he was 1 and ¾ and he was hooked. His tractor collection now includes four Massey Fergusons, a John Deere and a wide selection of “accessories”! He is soooo happy playing with them! His favourite "Tractor Ted" DVDs (www.tractorland.co.uk) are like mini documentaries about farm life... They’ve taught me a lot!

Houdini Stop

Conor got to the stage recently where he could wriggle his arms free of his car seat straps. I saw a little gadget called a Houdini Stop advertised on television. It was invented by Bianca Richardson, a mother in New Zealand who had experienced the same problem. I ordered it from her website (www.houdinistop.com) and it arrived a week later... all the way from New Zealand!

It works really well and Conor loves it, not realising that its purpose is his safety!

Passport Photo

Getting Cormac’s first passport has been on my to-do list for some time. I knew that it would be difficult to take a photo of a baby which would meet Passport Photograph Guidelines. After taking a lot of unsuitable photos I remembered the burst mode on the camera (which takes a series of shots in rapid succession) ..... and look at the wonderful result!

All I have to do now is get around to posting the passport application!