On the Eve of the Eve

I had to work today, while Sean was home with Liam. In the mid-morning, Liam and Sean came to the museum in the building where I work. I visited them during my break and helped Liam make some festive new year artwork in the craft room. The guys had fun looking at all the exhibits afterward.

I came home a bit late, after stopping at the grocery after work. Liam was so excited to see me when I got home! He gave me a big hug and was in a great mood all evening. Being greeted with a happy munchkin makes a long day of work worth it!

Christmas at Cheri's House

Yesterday Liam celebrated the holidays at daycare. Cheri, his daycare provider, bought small gifts for each of the kids. Liam got a train, of course. ;) He was so excited about it that when he got home, he had to tell daddy all about it. Liam is working so hard at making sentences now and puts words together. It is cute to see him gesturing with his hands as he attempts to convey what he is thinking. :)

Polar Express

Today we treated Liam to a train ride with the Little River Railroad in Coldwater. This time of year, Little River has a polar express themed train all decked out with Holiday decorations. The trip includes cookies, hot cocoa, and a visit from Santa! We met my mom at the station and all road together. Liam was so excited!

We sat in the lounge car for our trip out. The windows were nice and large, so Liam got a good view of all the scenery. We ate cookies and Cheetos, and sipped our cocoa. There was a little coal stove in the corner of the car to keep us warm.

When we arrived at Quincy, Daddy and Liam wanted to get out to look at the Engine up close. We took a moment to pose on the back of the caboose. It was very chilly outside, so Liam and I went back in the train to warm up while daddy took video of the engine changing position.



On the return trip we sat in one of the passenger cars. It was a little cooler, but te seats were comfortable. After a while, then invited us to go see Santa. I talked about Santa a lot to get Liam used to the idea. It seemed like he might actually sit on Santa's lap today, but once we got next to Santa, Liam suddenly got shy. The best I could do was kneel near Santa with Liam in my arms. Santa offered Liam a candy cane, which took without hesitation, but he did not want to talk to Santa...at least he did say thank you for the candy. He did make friends with Frosty. ;)

The rest of the ride back we listened to the train whistle. Liam clowned around and made faces in the video camera after he scarfed down his candy cane. When we arrived back at Coldwater, Liam said bye-bye to the train and to grandma! He was sad to see them both go. But after a long and busy day, he quickly fell asleep in the car on our drive home.

A colorful score!

Look at this awesome picture that I found at a second-hand shop for only $5! I rearranged Liam's room just so that I could incorporate it in his play area. I think it really brightens up the room and Liam loves to look at all the fun pictures.

What's that? And other questions...

Over the last couple weeks Liam’s favorite phrase has been "what’s that" – actually "wat dat". He usually asked this question every time he wanted to bring my attention to a sound he heard, like: water running through the bathroom pipes, a car on the street, the neighbor’s dog barking, or the distant sound of a train whistle. My mom heard Liam’s "wat dat" while we were talking on the phone last weekend. She laughed and said, he’ll soon be asking "why".

Well wouldn’t you know it, this morning Liam asked his first "why" after I told him I had to go to work. It made me feel a little sad and spark that mommy guilt about being away from my child every day in order to go to work. But on the bright side, he is a bright and inquisitive little boy.

Puppet Pals

While we were at IKEA over the weekend, we picked up a small horse puppet for Liam (really it's more of a donkey, but Liam wants us to call it "horse-y"). He really loves the puppet and wants mommy and daddy to play puppets with him. Last night he played with his frog puppet and I played with horse. Together horse and frog went looking for bears in the dark, while horse held a flashlight in his mouth. Liam has figured out how to whisper now, and he was very cute whispering quietly as we would sneak up on various bears around the house (I have several holiday decorations with bears in them). We played like this for quite some time.

Gosh, behind again!

Well, life has been quite busy between work, school, keeping house, and raising Liam. I started a couple of posts in the last week but have not finished them yet…I will try to when I find the time (ha,ha). The amazing thing is that Liam just turned 28 months! I can hardly believe that he’s such a big boy!

He’s talking even more lately. Just this morning he said “my clothes” and tapped his shirt with his hand, as I was getting him dressed. He usually uses the word “me” rather than “my”, so this was a first. Liam didn’t like the shirt I have picked out for him, so he picked another one out of the drawer.

Liam is also singing more lately. He started trying to sing “We wish you a merry Christmas” with his Thomas video last night. He also likes to sing the ABC song when he’s playing – although he’s often missing quite a few letters and they are not in order. ;)

Sled-o-rama

This evening, the snow was coming down pretty good. Sean decided that he wanted to walk down to the Library for some more books and videos. He took Liam along with him, pulling him on his little sled. It was a very cute sight!