Proud all over again

This morning I thought I heard Liam attempting to count. I mean, he says two and three, but he will NEVER repeat the word "one." If I say, "can you say one?"... he then says, "two." Hmmm...

So I got home from work tonight after running to P.E.R.C. Liam was in a great mood playing with Daddy. I brought out a "new" toy which was a numbers puzzle. He was putting all the parts in and didn't notice me and Ian standing there close by. He was jibber jabbering while pointing to each peice... and then that jibber jabber turned to full on counting.

"Two, phree, four, six, seven, eight, nigh, teh."

We looked at each other and looked back at him. We looked at each other again and Ian says, "You know, that isn't bad!"

I concurred.

Can we say WOWEE WOW WOW!?

We only work on 1-5 at home... the kids at the sitter's house must be working on the 6-10. Hmmm...

Happy 22 Month Birthday, Liam!

Dear Son,

This past month went faster than the last one. I am at a loss as to where the time goes.

We've had a lot of fun with you this month. You are just so smart and darling and wonderful. Even though you've lost some of your manners with the lack of "please" and "help", you are super sweet when you say "bless you" and "thank you" and our favorite, "love you."

We've noticed that you notice everything! Minor details of your surroundings catch your eye and you'll point or "talk" about what you see. It takes us a bit to figure out what you are telling us... and sometimes it remains a mystery... we just aren't that observant.

We get a kick out of your odd requests and demanding ways. You tell us (by pointing) where to put your food and where you want us to sit or stand. You get mad if Daddy walks away without saying he'll be right back. You demand your milk right when you wake up along with some kind of cereal to snack on. You ask to color or draw many times in a day, even when you are in the middle of a meal or we are on our way to tuck you into bed. You basically rule the roost, and most of the time, that is okay.

You've become a pickier eater. It's been difficult to find things you'll eat that are actually good for you. Eggs and ravioli continue to be your favorite foods. You aren't into bananas this month, but melon is one you always ask for seconds on. You love your corn on the cob, but refuse carrots or potatoes of any sort. You'll love pretzels one day and hate them the next. Yogurt is an edible food today and a play thing tomorrow. It's great that your buds are maturing enough to know what you are in the mood to eat, but for this to happen at a point when you can't tell us your exact craving... well, it's frustrating... we just keep guessing until you eat something!

You've been playing with the Bengals a lot more lately. You like to corner them and lay on them. You don't seem to get the picture that they can't breathe until we say, "let the kitty go, Liam." It's funny that once you set them free, they don't go far. I think they actually like the "affection" you give each of them. Orion gave you a small scratch for the first time last week. It didn't deter you for long.

Our new bed time routine includes me asking if I can have a taste of whatever body part I can get you to point to or give me. I will take fake bites of your nose, ears, eyes, neck, hands, elbows, belly, knees and toes and say "TASTY!" You giggle each time. You are so cute when you ask one last time for a toe or your nose before I leave the room for good.

Last night we were outside playing with the sidewalk chalk. It was so sweet when I sat down to draw, you sat down too. You even sat right in my lap and colored on top of anything I would draw or write. You love to have something to color, so if we don't draw something for you, you generally ask us to. Anyway, you had just gotten done playing in the pool and hose, so it was nice to hold you in my lap and warm you up a bit until you finally caved so we could go inside and start bath time.

It's an honor to share my birthday with you today. You were an angel child today - All Day. I couldn't get enough of you. You seemed tickled to spend some quality time with both your parents at the same time. It was especially sweet when I brought you in our bed and you were in between us, taking glances back and forth and grinning then giggling because you are so lucky to have two people that love you so much in the same room!

I can't believe I am 29 and it's even more unbelievable [for me] that I have a 22 month old! I love you so much, Liam! I'll thank you again for your patience with me as you grow and change. You want so badly to do good. You are such an amazing little man already. I look forward to your continued growth and learning. I am in awe of you.

Love you always,
Mom

Wordy Wednesday

Ian has been having a lot of luck with Liam copying the things he says. He does tongue twisters in slow motion with him and has even gone through the whole alphabet with him. We crack up because a lot of what he repeats sounds not-even-close to what that syllables are.

Anyway, here is my attempt at what Ian does with Liam each evening. Ian was at scouts tonight, so he wasn't available to co-star in this video.

P.S. Liam is watching some old clips of himself while he is doing the alphabet... he gets mad because the 30 second video ends and he wants it replayed.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't laugh your BIG heed off!

Like an orange on a toothpick... I couldn't stop laughing at our little gremlin as Ian called him.

Liam Laughing

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In which Liam teaches Orion to walk on 2 legs

Sunday evening... see the following sequence of events...

I was crying at this sight because I was laughing so hard! I even snorted it was so funny and I seriously couldn't get a hold of myself...

Orion is THAT desperate for attention... He didn't fight the love.

Busy Toddler

Liam has been busy with more P.E.R.C. toys, random findings around the house and of course, drawing. A couple weeks ago when we bought him a pool, we also picked up some window markers, finger paints, sidewalk chalk and I can't remember what else! Oh yeah, and more of the Crayola color explosion markers and drawing paper.

I haven't tried the finger paints yet, but the sidewalk chalk is a hit as long as his little pool is out of sight. Any kind of drawing activity is a thrill in Liam's book! He loves to get us involved and also for us to praise his work every few minutes (or seconds).

He has gotten to be very bossy and very particular about things lately. Quirky little child! It's frustrating sometimes, but mainly we get a kick out of his odd requests and funny ways of doing things.

He loves to draw and color with markers. Crayons require more effort than markers, so they are not his first choice.

These window markers are perfect for the big mirrored closet doors in the family room.

I found these bug (similar to the fish) counting and sequencing cards at P.E.R.C. He loves organizing all the bugs by species and lining them up in rows and also matching them to the sequence cards.



The giant peg board is still a hit. I got one that has different shaped pegs this time. This week his big thing is to kick the stacks over instead of swiping at them. I am not sure where all the foot action is coming from... sadly the kicking doesn't stop there. :(


This is called the Kiddie Carnival and Liam picked this one out all by himself at the P.E.R.C. center! This kept him busy for 2 mornings in a row!


He found his old froggy hat and insisted he wear it this weekend while he would draw or play around with any other toys. I just laughed at him. In the above photo he was holding a shovel and a golf club between his legs and trying to walk around like that. He's just been doing odd things like this and it's hilarious!


Saturday night after he got out of the tub, he got all excited saying that he wanted his books. I did as he told me to. He seriously sat in his crib like this for a good 30 minutes "reading" until I finally had to force him to go night night.


Sunday morning he got his floaty rings that belonged to his inflatable pool (that died). He wrapped them around his neck and was walking around and playing like that for awhile. He tends to do this whenever he finds these rings... wraps them all around his body and makes us laugh every single time! (He took his pacifier out for this photo... such an obedient boy to give me a real smile without the binky!)

3 Things

1) This past week Liam figured out the words "Bless You" when someone sneezes. So whenever he hears a sneeze or a cough he says "beshoo" in the cutest little voice! He even blesses himself when he sneezes... and he even does fake ones for added blessings.

2) Yesterday morning when I was working on my computer, the phone rang. I put the laptop down and went to answer the phone, thinking it may be my boss. I got back to the living room and Liam had put the computer on his lap and was using the arrow keys to sift through all our photos in iPhoto! I was floored! How did he even navigate to that application?

3) On our way to the Salt Lake area for a baby shower today, I had the radio on and a few songs of Crosby Stills & Nash played right in a row. The third song was Judy Blue Eyes and towards the end the "doo doo doo doo doots" came and we were bobbing our heads together and singing along! It was such a cute site to see him dancing and singing like that.

Wordless Wednesday

The week review

Nothing too exciting happened over the week or weekend, but Liam finds fun in just about anything. He is just a lover of life that way. We love to humor him as much as we possibly can in our old age. It's hard to remember the days as a child when energy wasn't an issue.

Last Monday evening, Ian took us out to eat at an Indian place and after a pretty smooth meal with a toddler (thanks to a few toy cars and some markers) we then headed over to K-M@rt to see if they had any kiddie pools left. All they had were the hard plastic ones, but we took what we could get. Liam was thrilled when we walked to the car with it in tow. He couldn't wait to get his shoes off when we got home so he could go "swim swim" in the big tub!

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Liam about froze solid because at 7pm we filled the pool with water direct from the hose. He couldn't get enough of that water, no matter the bitter temperature. I couldn't even wade in there for more than a few seconds... even though he wanted me AND Ian to play with him in the pool. He is very pushy like that and I am grateful that Ian obliges our child in just about anything he asks for.

Liam doing his signature "butt flop" just as he does in
the indoor tub [and gets his mom soaked].

After about 40 minutes of playing in the water, we finally forced our child to strip down and cuddle in a fluffy towel to warm up. Even after putting pajamas on and being inside for a bit, his lips were still blue for another hour! He didn't care. He just kept asking to go back outside because "outside" has a whole new meaning with a tub of water sitting in the yard.

The rest of the week was pretty low key... not a lot of photos until Friday morning when I caught Liam looking completely grown up as he watched Charlie & Lola while I got ready for work. It's handy that he loves this tv show so much! When it's time for me to get ready for work I say, "Do you want to go upstairs and watch Charlie & Lola?" And he says in reply, "Looow-LA!" in his low to high voice... then he books it up the stairs and claps his hands with glee as I start the DVD player.

Another highlight that I didn't mention last week is that Liam LOVES eggs! He will wake up in the mornings and immediately want his rice milk (and I give him a few fruit loops to eat with it as we cuddle on the couch for a bit). So this is around 7 or 7:30am. Then at 9am he requests his real breakfast. I scramble up 2 eggs plain (unless I have leftover meat or a veggie on hand). He shovels the eggs in his mouth without breathing or taking a drink. He then asks for "more" and I about flip every time he does this! At that point I make him a Pillsbury Toaster Scramble and he slowly puts that away in his belly and then breakfast is done. If we have fresh fruit on hand, that is always offered before the toaster scramble or while I am making those 2 eggs. I am baffled that he can eat this much every single morning the past two weeks. We are going through eggs pretty dang fast!

Anyway, I didn't take any more photos until Saturday when we went to Thanksgiving Point for Shade's Half Yearly Sale. No, I didn't take photos at the sale, though I am sure Liam looked darling but HUGE in the front carrier because I fully expected to be fighting a tight crowd with this kind of close-out sale. Nope, I should have just used the stroller...

Liam watching all the ducks and geese. I love his profile!

So after finding about 4 shirts and paying for them, I decided Liam should have some fun while we were 10 steps from the farm animals. It was only $3.50 for admission since Liam is still under 2 and it was worth every penny. He loved the goats, chickens and turkeys. He pointed to all the animals, especially the horses and ducks, and made the appropriate sounds. He doted on the baby cow for a long while and kept signing and saying "baaaay-bee, baaaay-bee!" It was so sweet!

Liam admiring that gorgeous calf.

We got a free pony ride with our admission, but Liam didn't last more than a couple minutes on the non-moving pony he chose. Just standing back far enough to take a full photo of him and the pony made him totally uncomfortable. He watched the other kids ride and was content with witnessing the fun from afar.

This photo makes him look SO small!

Before we left, I got a darling posed photo of Liam on an old wagon! Dang, I love that face!

SHE did this to me...

Yeah, that lady right there...

This poor child. His mother used the wrong size clippers and gave him
the cut of an Army recruit.

What a complete HAM!

Click the photo to enlarge this darling face:

Liam was playing in his pool today and went up to the front door to see if he could get Dad to come out and play with us... after he finally gave up [as Dad is sick today], he noticed his other pair of swim trunks dried on the wicker chair from the day before. I guess he thought they were a hat. I helped him finish putting it on his head and he immediately was satisfied and went on his way [back towards the pool]. BUT... before he took his first step off the porch, I asked him to turn around and say "cheese" and this photo tells you he obeyed.

Does he remind you of Dopey from the seven dwarfs? The dimples, ears and darling face altogether?

P.E.R.C

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a good friend of mine at work. I was telling her it’s getting more and more difficult to work from home in the morning because Liam has mastered all his toys and seems completely bored. He will crawl all over me, request unneeded snacks or just pull me to come play with him so it's not so boring. I SO don't want to buy any more toys because it seems like a waste when he masters new toys so quickly.

My friend was sorry she had never mentioned it before, but there is a place that I can “rent” out toys and keep swapping them every week for FREE! She then told me about a P.E.R.C program in our area. “What is P.E.R.C.?” It’s an acronym for Parent/Educator Resource Center. This Center happens to be in the basement of a library not too horribly far away from us.

I called the center. They told me they were only open on Tuesdays in the summertime, so it just happened to be a Tuesday that I called, so I went directly after work since they close at 6pm… yikes. I got there at 5:45 with Liam and hurried and picked out 6 toys (the maximum number you can get per week). Easy as pie!

I have been trying to do searches on google.com for other centers around the United States. It seems that West Virginia seems to have the biggest amount of resources for this program. I did find this site, though. I hope other parents can take advantage of similar programs around the nation. It’s so nice to know I never really have to buy any more educational toys for Liam. He will always have something new in the house each week. I feel so fortunate to have found this gem of information!

Liam loving the bead stacking. We have been working on colors and counting.

These foam blocks have been a hit the past 2 days. Helps us educate him in identifying colors and he tunes his own fine motor skills when stacking.


This is a counting and sequencing game for older toddlers, but we used it to match colors and grouping like colors without the game cards.

He has loved using his little noggin' and I've enjoyed watching him use his own logic to figure things out. I didn't get a photo of a plastic peg board that had 25 different colored pegs. He would stack each color (5 stacks) and then demolish them and laugh, then repeat the process. This was his absolute favorite! We even took it to the sitter's house he loved it that much. He also has liked the felt story board books helping him match colors and numbers. The xylophone toy, he would bang on that for a long time and get so excited to play me a song.

I hope other parents can take advantage of similar programs in their areas. It's literally a priceless find!