Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Liam graduates to the toddler room

When I took Liam to daycare today, he was moved into the toddler room for the day. Now that they are getting in so many smaller babies, Liam is being slowly introduced to the routines of the toddler room, especially since he is walking well and acting like a toddler in so many ways.

He got to play outside for a while and they told me that he ate lunch at the table with the other toddlers. Such a BIG boy! When I arrived he was napping on a mat on the floor, not a crib anymore. Now if I could only get him to do that at home!

I waited a while at daycare and then gingerly moved him to the car. He slept for another hour in the car and I chilled out in the car too while we were at the park. Then we got to play for a while at the Potter Park playground. Elli and Scarlet joined us with their mommy's. Liam had lots of fun on the swing and chasing the girls around (they are much faster runners than he is right now).

This evening it was stormy, so we stayed in and watched cartoons after dinner. Then mommy had to go to work in the rain, leaving the boys to get a bath.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Settling IN

Well, we are officially all moved in now. The only problem is that we still don't have internet connection. So, this is a brief update on things until we have a more reliable gateway to cyberspace.

Liam has been throwing full-blown toddler tantrums as of late. He screams so load that he's made is throat horse. During the moments between tantrums, Liam is busy exploring the new house, coloring with markers, helping mommy and daddy rake in the back yard, and playing with friends at the playground.

Liam as started showing preferences for different foods. His all time fav is gold fish crackers...what do they put in those things to make them so addictive?!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Moving Mania

Last night was our first night in the new house. Liam as so excited that he kept running around upstairs. Exploring one room and then another. We were all so exhausted from moving so much over the weekend that we passed out around 8pm. We slept pretty well, even with it being only 65 degrees in the house this morning. We haven't turned on the heat yet, but it might be necessary if the evening temps stay in the 40s.

I was so chilly this morning that I bundled Liam up in fleece pants, woolly socks, and a sweater. I took the time to hook up the TV and VCR after breakfast so that Liam could watch Baby Einstein while I unpacked some things. He happily watched his video. When it was over I came to check on him and there he was...half-naked. He must have gotten too hot, because he took off his socks and pants and was standing there in only a diaper (which was also partially removed) and a sweater.

Liam was a trooper all weekend. It was quite a crazy time, but we finally have most of our stuff out of the apartment...everything except my office and computer that is. Since we don't have internet service at the house yet, we're leaving the office till last. So I won't be updating the blog too often this week. I should go pack some books while Liam is napping...gotta go!

PS - A HUGE thanks too everyone who helped us with remodeling and moving! We couldn't have done it without you!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Super Poopy!

Today we had a potty training milestone. First, Liam indicated that he wanted to use the potty. He did this by going to and playing with the potty. Taking the hint, I undressed him and put him on it. Then he proceeded to go #1 and a moment later he went #2! This is his first time pooping in a potty. Yeah! One less poopy diaper to wash! I am so proud of him.

To celebrate, we went to Fenner Park for a stroll in the woods. We first went into the nature center. Liam had fun watching the turtles swim around in the tank, as well as looking at the injured morning doves they were rehabilitating. They also had books and puzzles and different objects from nature to touch and look at. Liam was particularly fond of a tree log, which he carried around with him while we were there.

Once back outside, we stopped off at the pond to look at fish and frogs in the water. Then we headed down one of the forested trails. Liam examined sticks, pine cones, rocks, and leaves along the trail. We walked quite a ways together, having lots of fun crunching leaves noisily under our feet. Eventually Liam sat down in the path, his little legs where tired. Luckily I brought my wrap with me, so I tied him to my back and we finished our walk. Once in the car, he fell asleep. We both took a much needed nap when we got home.

This afternoon, we ran errands together. Liam actually ate a little dinner tonight. He likes his daddy's sloppy joe. Today went too fast!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

He's got fangs!

Well...actually just one fang, but I just had to make the Monty Python reference. Yes, that's right, Liam is getting yet another tooth and this time it's his upper, left canine. Sean and I have been wondering why Liam has been especially whinny the past couple days. I swear he was happy for only 20 minutes of the day on Tuesday (yes it's been that bad!). It's seems that teething is the culprit again.

This morning Liam woke up cranky, but I treated him to a nice bubble bath with the new stuff I got by California Baby. The bubble bath is aptly named "Tired and Cranky". It's guaranteed to turn your baby from cranky to sweet. It worked like a charm this morning, just long enough for me to get this cute photo of Liam walking his puppy and eating apple slices. He actually looks happy here!

Liam spent the rest of the day at daycare. When Sean picked him up, they told him that he hadn't eaten much and had a bad diaper rash. Ugh! Mr. cranky was back in full force this evening. He cried and cried while we tried to eat sub sandwiches for dinner at the new house. I gave him a plate full of sandwich cut into pieces. Normally he would have loved it, because it was turkey and cheese. Finally I offered him my sandwich. That's what he wanted. He had to hold it himself and bite off of it. He was happy and eating for a few minutes, then crying uncontrollably again.

Later when we got home I snuck a feel of his gums after nursing him and sure enough, I could feel a canine poking through. He's got thirteen teeth now!

I tried to perk Liam up before I went to work for the evening by giving him the toy watch I had made earlier in the day. I thought he would like his own watch, since he enjoyed wearing grandpa John's watch so much.

Monday, September 10, 2007

You spin me right round

Well, we're overdue for an update on little Liam. He's been quite busy lately! Last week he started spinning around in circles. He seems to enjoy getting himself so dizzy that he falls down :)

Liam has also been very talkative. He's started using personal pronouns. Last weekend, he bumped his head on a drawer in the kitchen and said "I ow". If I listen to his babbling carefully, I can often pick up fragments of words and sentences. He uses too many words for me to keep track of now.

He loves imitating everything I do. Some examples of what he wants to do: flush the toilet, sweep the floor, paint on the walls, drink from a cup, brush his hair and teeth, fix dinner in the kitchen, write with a pen, and today he "helped" me rake up old mulch in the back yard. I've noticed him carefully observing people and children around him and them imitating their actions.

This morning, while Ashtyn was visiting, he imitated her trying to feed her stuffed animal from a cup. He picked up his stuffed Pooh bear and gave him a sip from a cup too! Here are Liam and Ashtyn playing on blankets...seems my attempt at naptime is not working.

I try to encourage imitation where possible and appropriate, because I know it's the way he learns how to do things. For example, I gave him is own rake and own small paint roller when we were working on the house. Today I purchased some markers for him so that he can "write" things down like I do. For Christmas I plan on making or buying Liam pretend kitchen stuff, since I have room for it in our new place and because he enjoys playing in the kitchen with me so much.

Friday, September 7, 2007

And the rain came falling down...

Whew, what a wet and rainy day! Liam was back with us today as we attempted to finish most of the big tasks at the house. Today we painted the dining room, kitchen, hall, and stairwell. We also cleaned and painted window sills, installed the baby gate at the top of the stairs and added more coats of varnish to the master bedroom floor. I did take a few moments out of my busy day to take some pictures of Liam and to snuggle and feed him too. Here he is playing on the porch of our new house.

Just before we left for the day, I unrolled the play rug that we got for Liam at IKEA and let him run around in his room. He had so much fun! I think we will make such a special place for Liam to play in his new room. After we all cleaned up, we went out to Zeus' for dinner. Liam fell asleep on the drive over and was so zonked that he slept in my arms for most of dinner. He woke up just in time to eat some of the lamb meat out of my gyro, finish off the humus, and share my rice pudding. Yum!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Regrets

Sorry, no big posts lately. We've been very busy with renovating the new house and Liam has been at "school" (daycare) for the past couple days. It was hard going to work tonight and leaving Liam because he really wanted some affection and attention from me. On my short drive home from work I started reflecting on how fast summer went by. Them my thoughts went to the various activities and things that we had planned to do this summer and never did. It's amazing how just being a parent makes you come to regret all sorts of small things. I lived the first 28 years of my live relatively regret-free. But now, I regret that we never took Liam camping this summer, or to the beach, we never biked to the zoo or the market, and why didn't I make more playdates, my list could go on and on...I know it's silly, but it must be a natural part of parenthood.

On the other hand, we've done so much too! We went to a kite festival and saw Lake Michigan, we did go to the zoo many times and went to two other zoos as well, we went kayaking and took many, many walks, we went geocaching, and much more too...it's been a pretty adventurous summer after all. :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

It's a yellow sort of day

Surprisingly, both mommy and daddy where up before Liam this morning. He didn't want to get up and was snug as a bug in our bed. We went to work at the house again today. While playing with his duplos on the porch, Liam said "yellow" when grandma pulled out a yellow block. He also said "blue" when grandma asked him what color the blue block was. I think this was the first time that he said the colors of something. I taught him the names of common colors, but he hasn't used them before today.

Lucky Thirteen

Yesterday Liam turned 13 months old. My has August gone by fast! This past weekend was especially busy with working on our new house. Sean's folks and my mom came up to lend us a hand. We've been busy laying new flooring in the kitchen, cleaning, painting, refinishing floors upstairs, and even making a trip to IKEA for all sorts of stuff.

I think all the chaos may be a little stressful for Liam. Grandpa John has been watching him during the day, while Sean and I work on the house. In the evenings, Liam has been a velcro baby wanting to soak up as much of mommy as he can. Last night I let him take a bath with me. He had fun floating and kicking in the deeper then usual water.