Talkin' with Santa

Friday evening was our cities annual winter festivities. We didn't have time to participate in everything, but we did go to the city market, where Santa and Mrs. Clause meet the kiddos. We've taken Liam to this event on several occasions, but he was always afraid of Santa. But this year, to our surprise, Liam was so excited to see Santa and he ran right up to meet him. He even talked to Santa and told him what he wanted for Christmas!

My Sunshine

This has been one crazy week! I'll start with the happy news that we are expected another kiddo, due in June! I am only 6 weeks pregnant. We were planning on keeping this news secrete till Thanksgiving, so we could announce it to our families. But of course, fate had different expectations. Tuesday morning, while teaching in front of 35 students, I started hemorrhaging! I dismissed class and quickly drove myself to the ER. After a torturous day of tests and procedures in the hospital, we were no closer to knowing whether or not I had lost the baby. I was told to go home and rest and wait for another round of blood tests on Thursday. Meanwhile, we called the family to let them know what had transpired.

My in laws, who are retired, came up to watch Liam for me. They decided to take him home with them for a couple days, so I could rest. While I was sad to see him go, I knew it was for the best. My mother happened to have Wednesday off from work, so she came to keep me company, make sure I stayed off my feet, and keep me fed.

Thursday morning was tense. I canceled my class so that I could get my blood test and continue resting. I decided, however, that I should teach my afternoon class, so it would not be behind. I managed to make it through an hour and half lecture, then quickly checked my phone for messages from my OB's office. Sure enough, there was a message...to call them! So I called and waited for the nurse. She told me that it was good news, my Hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels had doubled and that I was still pregnant. She told me to take things ease and rest as much as I could. We also scheduled an ultrasound for Monday, to check on the baby and look for a heartbeat. What a relief!

Friday, Liam came home. It was so good to see him, I really missed my little guy! His grandma and grandpa said that he was a good boy while he visited them. He came home with a nice haircut. They took us out to dinner before going home.

This morning we attempted to get Liam and I vaccinated for H1N1 at the county clinic. We arrived a half hour early to find that there was a line of more than 500 people around the building. We waited in the cold rain for a while, but decided it wasn't worth it. We attempted the clinic again around noon and were able to walk straight in! So that is one less thing I have to worry about now. I only wish that we could have gotten Sean vaccinated too.

Liam is napping now, but when he wakes, I want to carve some pumpkins!

Dino Dasher

Liam ran his first official race today! It was only about 200yards, but it was still a race. He was the fastest in his age group (1-3)! Although, he was disappointed when all the kids 'won' medals and didn't think his medal was special. :( Pictures will eventually be posted on flickr, for family. Stay tuned...

"I love you mommy."

I never get tired of hearing those words, no matter how many times he says it in a day! Liam has learned how to share his appreciation and love. In the past couple weeks he will frequently tell Sean and I that he likes us or loves us. It is so sweet to hear those words in his little toddler voice.

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.