Conor and the Giant Melon

If Roald Dahl were around to write the sequel to James and the Giant Peach it would probably be called Conor and the Giant Melon.  Conor's head measured 20" at his 15 month checkup today.    That's the 75th percentile ... FOR A THREE YEAR OLD.  He is waaaaaay off the charts for his age.  No worries - he's always had a gigantic head.  He comes from some large head stock so it's to be expected.  I just can't believe I'm shopping for 3T hats for this winter!

15 Months Already??!!

Age 15 months

Weight  Officially 25 lbs 9 oz (65th percentile)

Length  Officially 32" (75th percentile) 

Size mostly 18 month clothes, size 5/6 shoes, size 4 diapers, 2T hats

Hair  probably due to be cut again; tried hair gel for the first time ;)

Teeth  8; I don't think he's ever going to get molars!

Sleeping  One nap, usually after lunch.  11-12 hours at night, sometimes up once or twice early on.  Bedtime routine is bath with mama, diaper and jammies with dada, turn out the light with dada, books with mama, singing then to bed.

Eating  3 meals a day + 2 snacks.  Loves most foods but favorites are watermelon, cheerios, cheese, grapes, peas, bananas, ravioli

Movement  Sweet dance moves, stomping/running in place

Milestones  Points out body parts (head, belly, toes), imaginative play, scribbles with a crayon/chalk, climbing, stacks blocks

Outings Detroit Zoo and Hands On Museum with Mimi and Grampy, Apple Charlie's with Nana and Grandpa, mama's 5K, Fall Festival, Ann Arbor Library for a baby association meeting

Favorite toys/activities Books, rocking horse, balls, play cars/trucks, slide, "Neighborhood Animals" DVD

Words/sounds New words - shoes, butterfly (buttah or butts), outside, no, stop, baby, hot potato ("hot patoe").  There are probably others I am forgetting.

Memorable Moments visit from Mimi and Grampy

LOLCONOR

Action

Here's Conor in action a few days ago, showing off some dance moves.  He also wants to show you his head and belly, and tell you about his stuffed animals.

Fix It Friday - Number 72

Here's my play for this week's Fix It Friday from I Heart Faces.  This touching photo is by Julie Rivera Photography.

Original

My Edit

My steps in CS5:

Levels adjustment layer - brightened overall and masked off baby's shirt

Curves adjustment layer for skin tone - brought up green slightly to reduce magenta

Selective color adjustment layer on man's face - reduced red and yellow to remove redness/sunburn

Duplicated background layer with soft light blending at 13% opacity

Another curves adjustment layer to lighten man's face only

Crop, Resize

USM - 10%, Radius 40, Threshold 0.

Plurals

We're hearing some plural words from Conor these days.  Even when he's referring to just one of something, he prefers to use the plural.  Maybe he means, "Mama, make more of those!"  Here are some examples:

Butterflies - "Buttssssss" or "Buttas"
Dogs - "Daths"
Ducks - "Duts"

I think I even heard him say trucks this morning ("tucks"), referring to a basket of toy cars.

Fix It Friday - Number 71

It's time for this week's Fix It Friday from I Heart Faces.  This week's pic had a mega blown sky so I created a fake sky in Photoshop to add back some detail to that area.  (I chose not to change the area of sky visible under the car because I thought it blended well with the edit as it was.)

Original

My edit

And a B&W one

My editing steps in PS CS5:


Color edit
Make rough selection of sky with lasso tool, create new layer
Select > Color Range, Fuzziness: 80, Sample sky
Set foreground color to light sky blue and background color to a darker sky blue
Gradient tool, Mode: Foreground to Background, Method: Radial
Draw a line from the bottom to the top of the sky
Transform sky layer (Command-T), drag bottom edge just below tree line
Blending mode of sky layer: Darken, Reduce opacity of sky layer 
Add layer mask and paint black over any areas the lasso tool accidentally selected that aren't sky
New adjustment layer > Levels
Adjust output levels of red channel to 250
New adjustment layer > Curves
Create S-shaped curve to boost contrast of midtones
New Layer
Sponge tool set to "saturate", Flow:50
Sponge over red part of truck
Reduce opacity of saturate layer to 20%
Flatten, resize, sharpen, save!


B&W edit
Create a gradient map (Black to White, Linear)
Levels Adjustment Layer - Reduce overall output to 250, Reduce output of blue channel to 245
Create two new gradient map layers (same as original one), Blending modes set to Sceen and Overlay
Reduce opacities of gradient map layers
Create new fill layer, fill with a light tan
Blending mode = Multiply, reduce opacity 
New curves adjustment layer to increase contrast of midtones, reduce opacity
Flatten, resize, sharpen, save!

"Baby"

Conor's teacher reported yesterday that he was saying, "Baby", directed at the younger members of his class who aren't walking yet.  He's such an elitist already.

Wordless Wednesday

McFatty Monday - Week 17

Yesterday, I ran my first 5K.  In a tutu.  To be 100% accurate, I've participated in two 5Ks before, but this way my first time running.  And I ran the entire 3.1 miles, no walking - can I get a HI-OOOOOOOO???!!!  My time was 34:28.27.

The course was hillier than I am used to.  Mile ~1.25 - 1.75 was fairly challenging, but then I saw Tim and Conor just before the 2 mile mark and got a second wind.  The course went through a residential area and was pretty empty, except for a few folks who turned out to cheer.  While I appreciate the sentiment, I really wish people wouldn't yell, "Good for you!" as I run by.  Was I really that pathetic looking??!!

I was doing okay until I made the turn to the finish, which was on the middle school track.  My legs were Jell-O at this point.  I started worrying I might trip and fall in front of everyone, but managed to cross the finish line without calling (more) attention to myself.

Here's me and Conor Here are Conor and I This is a picture of Conor and I after the race (apologies to my 3rd grade language arts teacher).  I also had "Tutus for Tanner" written across my back with tape.  I did get some strange looks and giggles, but oddly no one asked why I was in a tutu.

Things a 14 month old does not know.

Conor's brain is a sponge these days.  He is growing by leaps and bounds - it's amazing to watch the things he picks up on!  He can point out his head, belly, and toes, says lots of words and can identify many animals.  Here are some of the things he hasn't quite grasped yet.

A tomato is not a ball.

Pool water is not for drinking.  Neither is bath water.

The dog is not a chair.

Weekends are for sleeping in.

The top of the table does not look better with dents in it.

Markers don't go well in the cornbread batter.

Wiping your hands and face after eating is not a form of torture.

Shoes don't go on your hands.

It's okay to drive the Walk 'n Ride forwards, in addition to backing up.

Not everything that is yellow and orange is a duck.

Also, not all ducks are yellow and orange.

smarty pants

Fix It Friday - Number 70

Here is my edit for this week's Fix It Friday from I Heart Faces.  The original photo is darling, I just thought it needed to be warmed up a bit and sharpened as it seemed a tad soft.  The crop was challenging working around the pigtails and bows.  I debated leaving it uncropped, but I didn't like the blue blob in the upper right corner.  

Original

My Edit

My steps in PS CS5:

• Color Balance Adjustment Layer - Midtones: Cyan/Red +22, Magenta/Green -4, Yellow/Blue -45
• Select Mask - Image > Apply Image, Channel:Red, Blending:Multiply
• Curves Adjustment Layer - S-shaped curve to increase contrast of midtones
• Decrease opacity of last layer to 45%
• Flatten
• Duplicate Background
• Filter > Other > High Pass, Radius 3 pixels
• Change Blend Mode to Overlay, Reduce Opacity to 36%
• Flatten, Crop, Save

McFatty Monday - Week 16

Is it Monday already???  In that case, this week's McFM post will be short and sweet.

My 5K is this Sunday.  It coincides with final run of my C25K program.  I. am. pumped.  I also need to make a tutu.  Anyone know of a good tutu tutorial?  (Say that 10 times fast!!)

I've been posting the same weights and BMIs for weeks.  Boring.  How's this - I'll let you know when the scale actually moves.

Watermelon

"When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat"

~Mark Twain

To say that Conor loves watermelon is an injustice.  There are no words strong enough to describe his affection for it.  His first taste was last weekend at his friend Griffin's house.  He enjoyed it, so we tried it again last night.  He was able to hold his own slice and eat it well enough, and we could tell he was enjoying it by his little "mmmmmm" noises.  

What we didn't count on was that he'd try to eat the rind, too.  When we took that away from him, he was beside himself.  He cried.  Hard.  I'm not talking pouty, whiney cries - these were full on sobs with HUGE tears streaming down his face.  He could see the leftover rinds on the table and just pointed and cried.  (Of course we gave him a little more then quickly removed all traces of the leftovers from sight.) 

Today at lunch, he enjoyed a presliced serving with no leftovers anywhere in sight:

Fix It Friday - Photo Editing Fun!

Fix-It Friday is a weekly challenge from the photography website I Heart Faces, where readers are given the chance to edit and share the same photo.  Here's my first stab at it!

Original

My Edit

My workflow in PS CS5 (as best I can recall - I flattened the layers before writing it out, oops!):

• Duplicate background layer
• Add layer mask, select couple, feather selection radius ~10 pixels
• Adjustments > Levels (Highlights ~245, Midtones ~1.20)
• Duplicate background layer
• Add layer mask, select purple flowers on left
• Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, select Magentas, boost saturation to +40
• Flatten
• Duplicate background layer
• Soft light blending mode, Opacity ~40%
• Flatten
• Duplicate background layer
• Filter > High Pass > Radius 3.0 pixels
• Opacity ~30% 
• Flatten, save, crop, DONE!

Wordless Wednesday