Snakes and Snails and Puppy-dog tails

It has been declared that Liam is 100% boy! His fascination with all things icky has really become a passion. He spent most of the weekend finding bugs, collecting worms, and petting frogs and caterpillars.

Dancing with Fireflies

Last night I let Liam stay up late and go outside to explore the world at dusk. We watched the bats chattering and flying in the sky. I told Liam how they ate the bad mosquitoes for us. Then we started looking for lightening bugs to put in his bug box. We looked all around the back yard and caught quite a few. Someone in the neighborhood was setting off fireworks. We walked down the street to see, stopping to talk to neighbors along the way. Liam had to show them his collection of blinking fireflies. It was starting to get dark, so we went back to the backyard and sat at the table to watch the lightening bugs. When the mosquitoes started biting, we opened the box and watched the bugs climb out one by one. It was hard to say goodbye, but I told Liam we could catch them again another night.

PS - I gave Liam a haircut yesterday. It came out pretty good!

I'm the mother of a 3 year old!

Two days ago we celebrated Liam's third birthday with friends and family. Since Liam's current passion is dinosaurs, we had a dino themed party - complete with a dino cake and all! I think everyone had a good time, including Liam. He was spoiled by many great toys: legos, books, and even a dino-car toy!

On his birthday we went to the local science museum, where he played for several hours. It's hard to believe that three years have flown by already. He is such a big boy and has grown into a little person of his own. He's nearly 39 inches tall and weighs about 35 pounds. He talks quite a lot now - sometimes in whole paragraphs. One of his favorite pastimes is singing. He sings about cars and dinosaurs, as well as the usual childhood tunes. All summer he sung Happy Birthday to all his friends and toys. He was all ready when his own birthday came. :)

Inspiration

I'm always on the look out for good ideas for activities to do with Liam. This gal's blog is quite inspiring!

Are You Alright?

This morning Liam and Daddy had some quality time while I worked at the greenhouse. They went to the MSU Horse Barns, they got a tasty doughnut treat, and then Liam found two horse toys at a yard sale. Later in the morning, they came to visit me at the garden. Liam got to play on the playground with daddy until I finished up my work.

When we came home, Liam played in the backyard by himself for a while. Sean and I were just inside in the kitchen and could hear him playing. He moved all the deck chairs together to form a train. I told him that he should get some of his animal friends to ride the train with him. He came in to get his stuffed puppy, dinosaur, and his favorite elephant. They rode on the train together for a while, and then Liam arranged a train wreck. He Went around asking all his animals, "Are you alright?" And then answering "I alright" or "I think so" for them in different pretend voices. It was so cute to watch him using his imagination and pretending.

This evening, he asked me to lay in his bed with him at bedtime. We snuggled for a few minutes and talked about his day. I rubbed his back and tummy to help him relax. We also talked about the possibility of visiting with or friends Ashtyn and Alissa tomorrow. When I asked him what he wanted to do with Ashtyn he said, "I play on little bikes with Ashtyn at home. I want to." It's so nice to have actual conversations with my son...he's growing up so fast!

Unsolicited Parenting Advice

Why is it that everyone Joe or Jane on the street feels they have a right to tell you how to parent your child?!? In the past two weeks, I have gotten a ton of unsolicited and rather annoying advice from perfect strangers. Everyone wants to tell me that there is something wrong with my kid: he's hyper, he has sensory issues, he needs a speech therapist. For crying out loud people, he's not even three years old yet!

I have a very hard time believing that any of these so-called conditions can be diagnosed at this young age. Maybe he's just stubborn and bull-headed like the rest of his family. Maybe he's extremely intelligent and knows what he wants, which makes him harder than most kids to "control". I think we've become a nation of hypochondriacs. Every child that doesn't fit into some limiting and rather boring mold is suddenly labeled deviant or defective - you'd better medicate that kid!

Sorry for the rant, I've just had it up to here with total strangers telling me that my kid needs and "evaluation" for some condition.

Manitou Meanderings & Making Friends

Today is my least favorite day of the year. This afternoon, I took Liam to the park in order to escape thoughts of my deceased father. It was a lovely sunny day. At the park, there was a large family with a little boy who was probably 3.5 or 4 years old. He was the same size as Liam. He asked Liam, "what is your name?" He followed Liam around asking over and over. I could tell Liam was worried, he came over to me and said, "what name?" I told him, "it's ok, you can tell him your name is Liam and then ask him his name." He ran off happily and told the boy his name. Liam came back and reported that the boys name was Tim. Then he went back to play with Tim. It was very cute to see Liam learning how to socialize with new kids. They played on the jungle gym for a while, until Tim's family left.

After that, Liam and I played. He pretended that the gym was a sailboat. We sailed off to dinosaur land and then went to meet the dinosaurs. I am so grateful for the wonderful imagination of childhood!
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Last week we took our vacation to South Manitou Island, off the NW coast of Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes. Liam was actually pretty good for the week. He enjoyed camping, paddling, and hiking. While hiking, we pretended we were trains - he was Thomas and I was the coach Clarabelle. Liam splashed in the water and looked for pretty rocks along the shore. Liam also got to climb up a 100+ foot lighthouse, twice! It was a lot of fun for all of us, but also very exhausting! See my flicker page for photos of our adventures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archymommy/sets/72157621739868164/

Full Circle

Yesterday and today, Liam and I picked snow peas in my garden together. I have many fond memories of doing the same with my mother, when I was just a toddler. Tonight we had fresh snow peas with our fried rice, yum!

I spy something...

So this evening while Liam was on the potty, Daddy started playing games with Liam to pass the time. First they made up stories together. Then they started playing "I spy". Daddy went through a number of colors: yellow was a rubber ducky, green was daddy's shirt, brown the kitty cat, and so on. Eventually he got to the color white, and Liam responded with utmost glee "My Penis!". Needless to say, Sean and I were nearly rolling on the floor with laughter!

In typical toddler fashion, Liam is quite obsessed with his male anatomy right now. I suppose it comes along with potty training. Which, by the way, has been going great. He's pretty much worn underwear for the past three weeks. I put him in diapers only at bed time, but he usually wakes up dry. I am very pleased that he has finally decided to use the potty consistently! It's so nice not to have to wash diapers all the time, or paid for disposables.

The cat puked in my fishtank, true story...

After a long, but fun day driving to Portland, dropping of some bikes for repair, stopping by a few geocaches, visiting Jamie and (Liam) playing on the farm, then delivering milk to friends in Lansing, we came home to notice a rather bad odor in the house. At first I couldn't figure it out. I sniffed around in the kitchen, removed some old produce from the frig and took out a small trash bag, but still the smell lingered. An hour or so later, I happened to walk by the fish tank, when I noticed...well, you know. It was totally gross and ended up ruining my evening, and Sean's too once he got home. We had to totally tear down the tank and scrub it clean. I suppose the plus side is that none of the fish have died and now the tank is nice and clean.

Bountiful Birthdays

No, it's not Liam's birthday yet, but several of my friends little girls turned three in the past week. Last Sunday we went up to St. Johns for Hannah's birthday. Liam was fairly well behaved through it all. The only difficulty seemed that he wanted to be outside when we were inside and vis versa, so we were constantly chasing after him.

Liam has been signing the Happy Birthday since March, when several kiddos had birthdays at his preschool. So he was very excited to sign for Hannah's party and did so with gusto!

Tomorrow is Ashtyn's birthday. She is having a bug-themed party...I have to fill you in on what happens another time.

As for the rest of the week, Liam and I were quite busy. This week's theme is farming. So we visited the MSU farm: horses, sheep, and cows. Another day we visited the children's garden on campus. We met up with some friends for lunch and play time. While we were there, they started up the model train that runs through the garden. Liam really enjoyed that part. He also enjoyed playing in the dinosaur garden.

The weather was quite hot on Wednesday, so I took Liam to the splash pad at the local park. He had fun at first, but then was reluctant to get splashed. I put on my suit and made sure he got good and wet with me. ;)

PS - I'll probably jinks myself for posting this, but Liam has been using the potty reliably nearly all week. In fact, he asks me to use the potty and has worn underwear instead of diapers for the last 4 days. The only time he wears a diaper is at night, and he wakes up dry. I am really hoping that this is finally it! He is definitely ready and now seems to take an active role in using the potty.

Liam Returns

Liam returned with his grandparents yesterday. He reportedly had a great time and was fairly well behaved. The highlight of his trip was getting to drive the little John Deere tractor that his grandparents gave him. Their yard is nice and big, so he had plenty of room to drive around. He also helped grandpa pick up sticks in the yard using the tractor's trailer.

Grandma also spoiled Liam with a swimming pool and sand box. Liam had fun splashing about and getting sandy. One evening, Liam's other grandma, his uncle, and his aunt all came to dinner. Liam was the center of attention and ate it up! What little boy could ask for more?!

Thanks grandma and grandpa for a great time!

Adventures with Grandma and Grandpa

A few minutes ago, Liam embarked on his first adventure without mommy or daddy. He is spending part of the week with grandma and grandpa.

To be continued...

A week in review

Wednesday - Liam and I took a bike ride to campus to visit the natural history museum. Liam loves his dinosaurs! One of the attendants asked him what he saw upstairs and he answered, "I saw a T-rex!". I bought Liam another little dino and a coin with a dinosaur on it. Then we took a bike ride through campus and did a few geocaches. Two of them were in a wooded area of campus. The mosquitoes were murderous, but we persisted and found the caches. On our way to get ice cream, someone stepped out in front of me and when I swerved the bike trailer skidded and fell on it's side. Liam was pretty shook up. But I managed to calm him and get the bike bake in order. Ice cream made everything better!

Thursday - Liam and I stopped at a couple parks on the south side that we'd never visited before. One of them had a large dinosaur and a large car that you could ride on. Liam loved these toys and bounced on them for a while. I also pushed him on the swing.

Friday - We took a drive to Okemos to take care of some chores. While we were there, we stopped at some yard sales and a geocache or two. Liam was not in a good humor that morning. But after his nap, he woke up a changed toddler. He was much happier and was especially happy when daddy came home from work. He and daddy played with the legos and watched dinosaur movies.

Saturday & Sunday - Went down to the lake in the afternoon. We got there in time to go out for a short paddle with my mom. Then we headed to the nearby town for some supplies and to do a little geocaching. Sunday morning, daddy worked on our boat trailer while Liam, Grandma, and I did a little paddling. We also took a stroll around the lake. Great Grandma came up to visit too. Liam had fun playing hide under the covers with his grandmothers.

Monday - (yesterday) Liam and I biked to Hunter Park. Liam played on all the playground gear and we ate our lunch. We had hoped to play in the water, but the pool didn't open while we were there. :(

Comic Relief or Public Menice?

Liam was the ring bearer for my cousins wedding last weekend. This photo pretty much sums it up...he had to be carried down the aisle. It was a disaster and quite embarrassing for me. At one point Liam even rolled across the floor! Then he insisted on picking up all the flower pedals and returning them to the flower girl.

But at least he did look cute in his little tux - like a mini James Bond. This photo was taken just before the wedding with the adorable flower girl.

One hot biker

Liam started peddling his tricycle a little over a month ago. In that short time, he has become very proficient. He can peddle forwards and backwards, maneuver tight turns, and even knows how to back up and turn around without using his feet on the ground. This evening, we went biking together as a family up and down the sidewalk on our street. Liam did so well that Sean and I devised a plan to all bike down to the river trail together. We lashed Liam's tricycle to the trailer. Liam rode in the trailer down to the bike trail. Then we let him peddle down the trail with us on our bikes too. It was a little tricky teaching him to stay on the right side of the road, but all in all it was very fun and he was a super biker. Liam biked nearly 3/4 of a mile with us! A lot of stamina for a toddler.

I Told You

Liam's new phase of the weeks is "I told you...". He started saying it today and used it several times. His grandma and grandpa are visiting for the weekend. We had a lot of fun this afternoon at Sleepy Hollow State Park. We packed a rather lavish picnic dinner, our kites, and Liam's sand toys. It was a super tasty meal and lots of fun too!

Faires and Trains

This weekend was quite a busy one for us. On Saturday, I took Liam to his first movie in a theater. It was just a Thomas the Tank Engine flick that they were showing for kids. But we ran into our friends Alissa and Ashtyn while we were there. Liam was so happy to Ashtyn, that we invited them over after the movie. Our friends stayed for lunch and we all enjoyed the weather in the backyard. Liam and Ashtyn took turns playing on his bike. Liam liked pushing Ashtyn around (her legs were not quite long enough to peddle on her own).

After our friends left, we biked down to a classic car show that was going on at a dealership just a couple blocks away. By then the day was getting hot. But Liam still enjoyed looking at all the cars...it was just so hard not to touch them.

Sunday morning we drove down to Marshall to meet up with my sister, Rae, and her boyfrined, Rock. We arrived before they got there, so we did a little geocaching. We found three caches in all. Then we went over to the Mayfaire Renaissance Festival to meet Rae and Rock. We had a lot of fun at the Faire. There were silly performances, fun garb, and lots of cool wares to look at. Liam was dressed as a knight. Sean and I were Irish peasants. Several people commented on our outfits and thought that we were part of the festival staff. I take that as a compliment, since I made most of our clothes the week before. Liam had fun playing kids games and winning prizes. He actually won a little treasure chest full of faux gold coins. He also won a "gem" from a magician. We had so much fun that were there until nearly closing time!

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On Memorial Day, we decided to go for a bike ride to campus and do some geocaching. On the way, I had an accident on my bike. I was ok, just mostly embarrassed and a little bruised. We tried flying Liam's kite when we got on campus, but the wind was not steady enough. We attempted three caches and found them all. Liam had lots of fun helping us hunt for the caches and trading items in the caches too.

Cave Doodles?

This evening, after dinner, we all went out to doodle on the driveway with chalk. Liam has become quite adept at doodling "dinosaurs". He drew a bunch of them here and there amongst our drawings of dinos, trains, flowers, and such. It struck me that many of his drawings look very much like Paleolithic cave drawings of large mammals. I have to say that I am quite impressed that Liam can draw a recognizable animal with a body, legs (often more than four), neck, tail, and a head. This seems pretty advanced for a 2 year old!

I draw "D" all day long

Liam's new phrase is "all day long". He used it every chance he could today. "Kitty bite me hard all day long." "I play dinosaur all day long." "I watch Bob Builder all day long" (he wishes)... ;)

I feel bad that it's been over a month since I published on this blog. I started several posts in the past month, but never took the time to finish time and publish. What can I say, it's been a crazy month! I suppose I should share the news that I will be defending my dissertation next Tuesday. I have been working hard on revisions, conference papers, and presentations - so this month has really been a blur of activity for me. Today was my last day of work and soon I will be able to put Dr. before my name...No doubt this summer will bring many changes.

In the meantime, Liam has been growing like a weed. He grew more than half an inch between April 4th and April 20th! Even with all my business, I have tried to plan and organize themed activities each week. We've learned about plants, Easter, and travel and maps. It's been fun making little mini lessons for him and I think he has had a lot of fun in the process of learning. I was very gratified earlier this week when he pointed out the map on Sean's computer when he was looking up the weather forecast...Apparently Lian remembered looking at maps and coloring maps with me last week.