Happy Moments

Amidst the trauma and turmoil of my father's untimely passing, Liam has surprised us all with a number of remarkable and happy moments. Last Wednesday (7/25/07) during the visitation for my father, Liam took about ten steps in a row. The day before that he took about five steps. By Thursday morning (7/26/07) during the memorial service, Liam was a full-fledged walker. He was toddling around the funeral home like a drunken sailor. Friday (7/27/07) I saw him walk the length of my parents living room and dining room, where he made it to the refrigerator! Pretty remarkable! I later got footage of him toddling around their house after his bath in the buff. (Sorry no good pictures yet. My camera was out of juice, so the good action photos are on my mom's camera).

Liam learned how to climb up steps while we were away. There are no steps in our apartment, so it's not a skill he has had a chance to practice before now. He climbs up and down the few steps at the cottage porch (7/21/7). He also attempted to climb up the steps to the loft at my parents house...we'll have to be extra diligent now...especially where there is no baby-proofing!

Liam has also been signing milk very regularly and no longer cries when he wants food. What a relief! I use lots of positive reinforcement when he uses signs or talks instead of screaming to communicate with us. He also says words like: mama, daddy, teddy, kitty, cat, and the phrase "what's that?".

Recently Sean has been playing make-believe with him a lot. One of his favorite games is to "sooth" his stuffed animals if Sean makes them pretend cry, by giving them his pacifier.

Over a week ago I tried seeing if Liam could bite off mouthfuls from a whole apple. He surprised me by really liking it. Now we can share an apple together without having to cut it up.

Liam was having a rough time sleeping while we were away. We tried co-sleeping, but he was keeping us up all night with his restlessness. So we opted to put him in a portable crib next to the bed. To our delight he only cried (more a whimper) for a few minutes before putting himself to How great is that! People have been telling me that he could do this since he was 4 months old, but he flatly refused to cooperate. FINALLYsleep! he understands that he is safe and we are there for him if he truly needs something and he can sleep on his own. We all slept so much better after that! He's kept it up now that we are home too.

All of these landmarks are even more remarkable given the fact that Liam was teething, sick with a cold, and staying in a strange place with grieving people all week!

PS - I forgot to mention that Liam walked the length of a city block today! We went for a walk in the morning and he pushed his stroller for a whole block, then rode in the stroller the rest of the way.