In Which Connor Has A Best Friend

So I've talked a lot about Connor's respite care worker Joanna on here, and I think I've mentioned once or twice that she has a little girl, C, who she brings with her when she watches the big boy.  We not only don't mind her bringing C, but we actively encourage it, as we feel like the more socialization Connor has with other kids, the better.  Plus Joanna's pretty much one of the family-- she's been watching Connor at least thirty hours a month for a couple of years now.  So that makes C family too!

C is about six months old now, and as far as she's concerned Connor is her very, very best friend in the whole entire world.  Not only does he have great toys and all sorts of fun extremities that she can stuff in her mouth, but he also apparently has very pettable hair. 

Connor has a love-hate relationship with C.  On the one hand, he can sit back and let her do all the pushing of buttons and switches and keys that make his toys go while he can lean back and do all the directing.  C hasn't quite figured out the concept of turns yet, and as far as Connor's concerned that's perfectly fine.  Both kids get ticked at Joanna when she picks C up to give Connor a turn at the keyboard or drums or whatever it is they're playing with when he would much rather let C have a turn indefinitely.

This picture pretty much sums up their relationship.

But C sometimes gets on Connor's nerves too-- she loves him to death and wants to touch him all the time-- and sometimes the petting and grabbing and laying across and chewing on and whatnot gets to be a little much for him.  Joanna supervises them closely, of course, but as C gets older and more mobile she only gets more enthusiastic about showing him how much she adores him.  And she's going to be crawling soon.  Guess I'd better start actually childproofing the house!

Connor pretends he doesn't care for her, and acts totally indifferent when she invades his personal space and slobbers all over him, but every once in a while we'll catch him holding her hand or patting her gently on the back.  So I'm pretty sure it's mostly a front and he likes her just as much as any kid likes having an annoying little sister around-- he may complain about her a lot, but he still gets excited whenever he sees her, and he's pretty tolerant of her.  Certainly he likes C a lot more now that she's more interactive and doesn't spend all of her time either sleeping, eating or crying.

I think it's pretty great that he's got such a big fan to grow up with! 

~Jess