Haircut/Messy Eater Combo

This is a twofor...a nice capture of his new styling haircut & how he ate his soup last night. Plus some apple sauce. And whatever else is on that bib.

It's a good thing he's cute.

And some days are just not exciting...!

Today, well today, has not been very exciting & I suppose I should be grateful for that, no?

But Nana, you might want to sit down for this, ok?

I took him to get his hair cut.

And it looks TERRIFIC!

OK, you can stand back up now.

But seriously, that's been the excitement of the day around these parts. Unless you count going to the Dollar Tree to see if they have Play-Doh (they don't, only generic) or Paint By Water books (they don't, only regular color books) but I did find some small pylons that Liam uses in soccer (KAPOW!) with nice, little Disney Princess decals on them. Don't worry, I bought them anyway because I forgot to mention yesterday that Liam's favorite color is PINK. And I also got him a little bug collection container just to Boy him up some after the pink, princess pylons; which for the record there were NO boy pylon options.

Then we came home & ate lunch (still with the blueberry cottage cheese) and since he scarved that down I offered him a "meat & cheese" Lunchable that he proceeded to scarf down also. His appetite has picked up since we've be gone & most notably he has really started to eat Mama & Dada Dinners about 95% of the time! He's still a Pain in the Ass Eater but not nearly as bad; he will still refuse the silliest of things but has become very good at trying new things & eating his entire meal. He will eat all types of meat (including lamb), and still loves his green veggies (but not raw or in original form), and will also eat up fruit products (but not raw). Weirdo.

Then I put his ass down for an early nap because he was in bed with me last night (cough was keeping him up) and then woke up at 6:07am for the day. He still likes one of us to be in the room when he is putting himself to sleep & I really don't mind at all. Mostly because he just wants to me to "stay & read" and let me tell you, I've probably read around 7 books since the new year because of it!

But let me tell you something - this Fellow has got quite a little iTouch obsession going on here, folks. He has his own apps, he takes care of his own iPuppy, has memory games, ABC flashcards & shapes/colors games. LOVES that thing! Me? Not so much.

And with that, I must go continue playing with Play-Doh! We've got pink cars to cut, people.

He's growing flippers!

In another episode of the Outgrown Phase, Liam has outgrown his shoes, like over the weekend. His sandals no longer fit and we were quite lucky to last just about through the summer with them anyway.

But upon trying new sneakers on him yesterday, we've decided that He's Growing Flippers! His sandals, which just barely don't fit him, were a size 5. His new sneakers are a SIZE EIGHT. Wha?!?!

He got three new pairs of shoes - a real honest to goodness pair of sneakers, a pair of tan ones that look almost identical to the ones we got him in Argentina, and a pair of "fun" sneakers.

Also, I think he might be ready to go up a size in diapers into a size 6 now!

And! He's no longer in his HIGHCHAIR! We switched it to the booster seat on Saturday & he's doing really good with it! I give him a place mat that's easy to wipe down and he goes to get it when it's meal time & then puts it away when we are done; my little big helper. He's still got to learn the No Standing Up Allowed rule but we're getting there.

That's all I've got for now since Liam was up at 6:14am, and didn't finally fall asleep until 1:30 for his nap. I'm tired, y'all.

For the Scorekeepers at Home

Have you noticed I have not mentioned much about Liam's meals lately? That would be because once I finally took a step back & relaxed about it all, I realized that he was doing just fine.

It seems he has taken to not rejecting his Big Kid food on a regular basis now, even so much so that when I toss in a new food he doesn't lose his ever-loving-mind and more importantly, neither do I!

I do personally cook up veggies 1-2 times a week and mash them up as we are still not eating whole pieces of (mostly) veggies. So I steam some broccoli & baby carrots or bake some sweet potatoes or asparagus in order to insure he is getting his proper dosing of veggies.

We alternate between chicken, fish, pasta & veggies for dinners these days, and are still in our deep adoration of apple sauce, yogurt (although that's waning a tad) & cottage cheese. Pancakes & French toast still top our breakfast menus while peanut butter STILL gets scrapped off his tongue with his fingers.

I introduced a new food to him last night - new that he'd never had this version of it before but had eaten (and loved) everything that it was made of - vegetarian broccoli pancakes. And it ate it up. And he had to chew to do it. He also ate some cookies this morning (oh hush) that he had previously been refusing & he actually preferred them over his typical goldfish & stars!

He feeds himself with a spoon or fork for every meal & every food too! We have been putting his yogurt & cottage cheese in bowls for him as they are easier to handle that way and he sits very happily and eats it all up. I'm very happy with this turn of events also because he actually enjoys & prefers feeding himself - such a grown up little boy!

We got him one of those divided plates & use them with dinners and even though it's just one thing on there at the moment, he really enjoys his Big Boy plate and eats well off it instead of dumping all his bowl contents onto his tray to eat off of there - Dada is not a fan of eating off his tray so something flat helps him out & I guess let's him feel as if he's eating off his tray at the same time. Soon, I'm going to start offering multiple foods with his dinners & I think he will really like the divided plate option. I can picture him taking one bite from there, another bite from here at his own leisure & his own pace.

We've also started basically only giving him milk with his meals; once I began reading his cues a little better! He really wasn't drinking his milk when I was offering it to him before his meals & finishing it up while eating so I just gave up that "fight" and started putting it on his tray for him. He only drinks his milk now (without a meal) when we are out & it's his mid-day dose and his pre-lunch cup usually ends up being drank while we are out playing at a event or something...

So that's the status of our Meal Time Struggles!

Because he can TOTALLY do it!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Bottomless Pit!

Now, I know it's going to sound ridiculous that I am going to "complain" about how much Liam is eating, oh but I am not going to let that stop me. This could be another growth spurt, this could be just something to do or finally this kid has just started to really, truly put some food away.

This is what he has had this morning between 8 & noon:

• 7 oz of milk
• 4 ounces of peach medley apple sauce
• 4 ounces of apple yogurt
• 1 piece of cinnamon french toast slathered with butter
• 4 oz of strawberry apple sauce
• 5 oz of peach cottage cheese
• 7 oz of milk
• numerous snackies

Before the day is done he will probably have 2 more apple sauces & another yogurt on top of his milk intake & dinner entree. I'm really not taking issue with how much he seems to be eating but rather with oh my god, could I please do something other than wrestle spoons out of his hands, wipe apple sauce off of every surface or more so WHEN CAN I STOP FEEDING THIS KID AND LET HIM GO ON AND FEED HIMSELF ALL THE TIME?????

Seriously, I'm getting kind of sick of feeding him. Is that bad? Or just weird? Or both. Cause you know it could totally be GOOD in a WEIRD way. And I'd be ok with that. I would. I totally would.

Is my child too healthy??

Is that possibly the silliest question you've ever heard? Hear me out though, please!

Every day I worry about Liam's weight & his food in-take. Twice last week, I had two separate moms comment on "how light" he is. And it's not that those comments make me worry more it's just that I feel "outside" people are noticing how slim he is. He's always be on the skinny side, never below 50% on those charts though and he is on the tall end so it's common sense that he's a little slight, but not underweight.

He has some picky eater issues, which apparently that apple doesn't fall far from the tree & we still have our more-on-than-off Dinner Struggles but overall when he eats, he eats. When I actually go through & list what he does eat, it's not a bad list - I think everyone might want their kid to eat more or differently so I don't think that's odd or me over-thinking the issue.

My title comes from me starting to wonder if I'm going TOO health food conscious on him & therefore creating a healthy, skinny, light Fellow. Not malnourished but actually just the opposite since all that he really gets is good for him, from the ground up type of food with the foods that are the least organic or health conscious is his cottage cheese with fruit & his fish sticks- everything else is organic or pretty near to non-processed and as close to "natural" as we can get.

My question is when does being health conscious actually work in reverse and may even be preventing him from gaining the weight I think he should be gaining?? Should I just pack him full of the artificial ingredients, the shelf-life extending preservatives, the refined sugars, processed, not found in nature "foods"? Would I not just be creating an "obese" toddler with bad eating habits (not picky eater issues) who cannot appreciate real, natural, wholesome Foods? Is it a fine line or a clear decision? Are you able to cheat a little & give the fatter foods every now & then just to pump them up or would that erase all the good works we are striving for?

I really want to give Liam the best start to his best possible life that we can give him. I strongly believe that the foods we have been preparing him & giving him are helping set those foot stones in place. He does not show a preference towards the over-processed foods over his more natural foods we serve him, so I don't think it's that he is refusing foods or participating in Dinner Struggles because he doesn't enjoy what he is eating (or not eating); honestly that's where the picky food issues jump into the fray. His food is not dull, not bland, not exciting enough as you might think some of the more healthy choices would be; I have actually come to see that the easy, fast food options are more bland and tasteless than what he is eating so I can also cross that off the list...

Should I just throw it all out the window & simply give him food that will add pudge to him or stick with our chosen path? Obviously, I feel strongly enough to stay on our chosen path but I do think I owe Liam the option for discussion...

So, please, discuss!

Growth Spurt or Hungry Hippo?

Before his nap Liam ate the following:

• 7 oz. milk
• 4 oz. yogurt (he didn't want the banana one so put it back & got the vanilla one...)
• 1 whole packet of blueberries & cream oatmeal (new food alert!!)
• 7 oz. milk
• 5 oz. cottage cheese with raspberries
• ~5 oz. . apple sauce

This was all between 8am & noon. I hope he keeps it up cause I don't mind all the eating (although I would prefer a little less apple sauce...) & I'm hoping that he will keep accepting new foods!

This Little Piggie

Superbowl Sunday, Liam decided to eat himself out of food - he ate about 5 meals that day, ASKING for the food throughout the day. At first, we thought growth spurt but I wasn't under the impression that those lasted for 4 days...it was at that point that I decided he just wanted to EAT.

Here's a glimpse into his "old" Menu on any given day:

Breakfast ~ 4 oz. milk and either 3 mini pancakes or 1 piece of French toast slathered in butter then 1/2 a banana

Lunch ~ 4 oz. of milk and either 1 yogurt or 1 cottage cheese with fruit

PM Snack (after nap) ~ 7 oz. of milk and gerber snacks - definitely not what I would consider a Meal

Dinner ~ 4 oz. of milk and either a jar of food or one of those TV Dinner-looking things from Gerber

Now here's what his Menu looks like:

AM Pre-Breakfast Snack ~ 7 oz. of milk & 1/2 a banana (sometimes a whole one)

Breakfast ~ Pancakes or French toast & maybe the rest of the banana

Lunch ~ 7 oz. of milk and either a yogurt or cottage cheese AND an apple sauce

PM Snack ~ 5 oz. of milk & an apple sauce, or yogurt, or cottage cheese - he picks his own food out of the fridge now so it all depends on his whim. And yes, he will tell you no,no,no if he doesn't want what you have chosen for him.

Dinner ~ 7 oz. of milk plus some adult food! He's gotten really good at eating table foods (not always what we are eating cause that's not always ready...) so we've pulled back on the jarred food route & are keeping him with adult food & those Toddler Entrees that look like TV Dinners. And then usually he'll have a yogurt or an apple sauce.

He constantly has snacks at his disposal throughout the day so he's always got something to eat. And this is a big kick up from the total amount of food that he was consuming - strange too cause they say that Toddlers eat less but I'm seriously considering the fact that he heard me tell the doctor that I would like him to gain some more weight ;)

I'm very pleased with this turn of events though cause I would like my little slim jim to put some pounds on even though there's nothing to be Concerned over, I would just like him with like 2-3 more pounds on him. He only gained like 2 pounds since he last check & I just didn't feel like that was enough, you know?

He's been eating really well with his "real food" though - eating 1/2 boxes of mac & cheese, fish & chips that Matias made, chicken fingers (again) & just generally being really good about trying new foods! I'm trying to shove as much new stuff in him while he's on the this eating spree cause who knows how long it will last!

Yesterday was a Smart Day

Liam had a really, really, good Smart Day yesterday & not to say that I don't think every day is Smart Day around Casa Nino but there was something about him that was just on fire!

Here's a quick list of the Smart Day Things he did yesterday alone:

• put his puzzle together multiple times + using sounds for the animals
• stacked blocks (3-5 blocks) consistently multiple times a day by himself
• goes to the fridge to ask for milk, goes to his drawer to ask for a bowl for food & goes to snacks to ask for snacks
• signed an entire sentence to me - it consisted of 'water, no milk then car' in my statement to him of "finish your milk then we can go in the car"
• signed 'fish' while checking out the bottle of white wine with a fish on the label in the fridge while getting his milk
• colored successfully without eating much of any crayons - only one bite
• tells me when he has a 'dodo' (dirty diaper)
• signed Mommy for the first time (!)
• helped me pick up his toys
• signed 'dog' for the first time
• starting to 'count' - especially before jumping/throwing himself backwards - usually he 'counts' to five before doing anything
  

His language seems to be in a growth spurt too these days - adding 'no' & using it appropriately along with 'water', 'the aforementioned 'dodo' (which I highly prefer over 'caca'), and he has started to sing more songs than the Elmo's World theme song. He enjoys Twinkle, Twinkle & the Empire carpet song ;)

I think he's sprouted up in height too, simply because some pants are fitting better in the length these days. We weighed him at Camp Carolina & he's just over 25 lbs. as of Christmas! I let his hair stay long for Christmas cause I know Nana! prefers it to be Little Boy Long but it's time to get the Big Boy Short Cut again cause his swirl is getting out of control & its hanging over his brow & ears.

I have no pictures to show from our Epiphany Celebration in CT because the camera never left the car. He did receive the sorting bags I wanted for him though from Cecilia & Butch and we are slowly working up our interest in them - it was a big plus that the circle bag included a clock!

I've switched from making his pureed foods while still keeping a few options in the freezer, I have officially switched him over to mostly store bought jarred toddler foods. We are continuing to have Major Dinner Struggles with him - not real sure what sets them beyond introducing new foods & new forms of previously enjoyed foods - but a struggle it is. I feel like I've copped out on this one to an extent though because my argument for the change was basically "I'm too tired & do not feel like making his food simply to endure this nightly struggle with him and remain happy about it". Although, I do not feel as if I will ever get over throwing perfectly good food out simply because of some issues with it - so that totally sucks. [another] Although, once you finally get him to eat the food, he DOES eat it all. Weirdo. It also helps to have an Elmo sippy of seltzer water for him - we play the "take two bites & you get some water" game with him & I think that's a fair trade-off for eating your dinner! Funny thing is breakfast & lunch as non-struggle meals AND he self-feeds himself breakfast! Dinner is my Newman. And after a long day of Toddler Wrangling, I cannot summon the energy that I sometimes feel it takes to be the Homemade Baby Food Queen of yesteryear. And I am OK with that!

Also, I think I've figured out that he doesn't like crunchy foods - nothing to heavily breaded or dry - like Cheerios or nuggets. But basically, like every Feeder before me, I know that we all figure it out in the end & make amends with the quirks each toddler has. Some days, I wish he ate every thing I put in front of him & other days I'm thankful that he's getting the proper nutrition & food choices that come along with planning things out & knowing what I'm putting in him. Sure it's neat & fantastic that some toddlers eat Chinese food & pizza but at what cost?

Progress on the Self-Feeding Front

Liam has been doing really well feeding himself but of course it's still a work in progress but we are making some more progress with using his spork & Big Boy Cups lately.

He's been able to stab at his pancakes successfully enough that he can actually get some food in his mouth with his spork! I let him eat each meal with a utensil in his hand but he's best at using it during breakfast. The hardest part for him at the moment is getting the food on the spork but he has pretty good success getting to his mouth - he was using a short cut & just taking it off the spork with his hand and then shoving it in his mouth but now he's doing quite well at putting it in his mouth off the spork!

He is constantly asking for water/drinks lately & he's increasingly asking for drinks in regular (kiddie) cups with no sippy lids. He's very good at drinking, with some assistance, but lately he's been not wanting the assistance and he's been pushing our hands away. You can imagine the outlook of these attempts but he is quite adept at it since I don't give him much to sip on at a time. He's no where near drinking from a cup for his Milk Cups but water is working out well, if not a bit messy for him.

He's down to drinking only, on average, two of his Milk Cups from bottles daily. I start his day off with a bottle but he usually gets 2-3 sippy cups throughout the day depending on his schedule! I also tend to give him his big 7 oz. bottle of milk in a bottle (not sippy) cause that's an awful lot to "handle" in a bottle as opposed to a sippy.

It's a slow process, of course, but we are getting there! I'm not pushing him towards total independence here as he still is my Little Big Boy but I do want him to learn his new skills & practice at being self-reliant in some areas.

Now if only he would change his own mid-morning poopy diapers - that's a new skill set I could get behind.

Back to our regular scheduled programming

Sorry for the lack of substance the past couple days but I have good excuses!

Sunday was Matias' birthday & we enjoyed ourselves a little too much that night with some (ok ALL the wine in the house & then some vodka) wine & some Dave and Tim Radio City DVD action until 3am. To say we were under the weather Monday would be an understatement & it reminded me why we normally do not do this unless we have Fellow Sitters here to help us out the next day! Tuesday was the day of the 40 minute nap followed by the fabulous Snot Hose Nose - Liam's got another cold & blowing streams of snot out of nose every chance he gets. The Little Fellow is quicker than me now & reaches the Snot Stream way quicker than I can get our Snot Rag (a lovely burp rag) to his face, hands & clothes. Today seems to be a little better or maybe that's just because Matias has him in his Office up in the bathroom with him while he showers...then it's noni time & he better sleep for longer. And also throw into this mix the fact that he has not slept through the night for the past two nights.

So without further ado...here's our Dining Out story!

I think Matias has a little fear of dining out with Liam, which is understandable when you come from a family of 11 children, with you being the oldest - the days of eating out are over in that situation. Amazingly, Matias & I have not eaten dinner out with Liam EVER (not counting the rest of my family being present). So Sunday night we ran through our Kid Friendly Options & decided on Caraba's - somewhere we had gone with my family before. The restaurant is loud to begin with so any toddler noise would be dinned by the rest of the noise already present & he really only squealed twice but even those didn't turn any heads. I would say what turned the most heads was his NEED to drink out of Dada's beer mug - forcing Matias to drain his beer (which if y'all know him in person, you know he can chug a beer in about 4 seconds flat), I think also leading to quite a nice buzz by the time we left the place.

Liam had his first meal off the Kids' Menu! Sadly, Mama forgot to order it for him so I had to grab the waitress on the way by. I suppose I'm not used to ordering for my child. sigh He had ravioli - and ate two full huge ones! Along with some bread. He totally turned his nose up though to mussels, but you cannot blame him on that one...I love them but I'm not so sure a 15 1/2 month old would :)

He sat in his highchair with no fuss - something that has been a struggle when I've been out with him with my family sans Matias. We had him situated between us with his back to a family there with two older girls but hopefully, we prayed, they still remembered the stage we were in & wouldn't give us many dirty looks. I brought his little lunch pail with some of those awesome plastic animals that he loves & he played away with them when all the food was gone, beer was drained & bread basket was empty.

We left right at his bedtime, which I was hoping to get home before it so we didn't feel rushed getting him all ready for nightnight but he managed it well & thankfully didn't fall asleep in the car on the way home - which would have been dreadful! Next time, we'll go right around 6 so if there is any wait or a long dinner service, we will still make it home before any meltdowns have time to occur.

All in all, it went really well. It helped that both of us where there to handle anything & everything that he might have thrown our way - also allowing us to both actually enjoy our dinners!

I'm sure we'll be eating out (at least some lunches) in Argentina so this was a good practice run to see how he handles such things :)

Another Milestone!

No, he didn't call the White House to lodge his complaint about insurance for all children...

Liam is now self-feeding!!!

I swear there is something in this kid that hears what I am talking about with others & then decides that this will just not cut the mustard and starts doing whatever it is I have been talking about! It was the same with sleeping through the night & I'm sure some other things along the way...

Last week, a family friend with a little 2 1/2 year old girl Ella, gave me the advice to eat along side with him, something obvious but something I wasn't doing cause feeding him takes two hands & two eyes on him so that falls solely on me BUT when I heated myself up some chicken bites he wanted them RIGHT AWAY, something he has never indicated before! So I gave him some & he ate them all by himself and attempted to use his spork! We decided that TGIFriday frozen food was not very good fare for our boy so we got some organic nuggets & he's been eating 3 of them for lunch and even added ketchup yesterday! Last night he fed himself [organic] Mac & Cheese [for about 70% of the time] - and he's so very proud of himself! It's adorable & such a fantastic step ahead :) Mama is very proud of him! He's self-feeding banana pieces also, whereas before he was eating them smashed!

I know this post is full of exclamation points but I'm so very excited about all of this! Table foods! Eating with his fingers! No more spooning purees into his chew-hole!

I think I'm done with making anymore purees too! I had no issues with doing that so although it's a great thing that he will not need this anymore, it's yet another milestone that I have to go past & say goodbye to, so it's a little sad for me here. But I'm loving the "free time" during meal time now!

He's also asking for something to drink - although not using a 'real' word for it. He will go over to the fridge & ask or go to his drawer to indicate that he would like something, please&thankyou. He's also been asking for something to drink with his meals - this is a new thing because I am a firm believer in "don't fill up on milk or you'll ruin your dinner" line of thinking so he's always gotten something to drink before dinner but now that he's eating more table foods, I agree to help him along with a little something to wash down all this chewed up food!

Now, I have to figure out what to feed him :) I'm probably just going to continue with the same foods he's been eating in the pureed form - broccoli, squashes, ground meats, all his fruits, etc. But I think I might have to come up with some more Meals, like 3 Squares a Day kind of Meals. I have the Super Baby Food book and although I really liked it, I didn't quite need to use with when I was doing purees, now I think is a good time to revisit it! I'm also going to start giving him more of what we are eating & see how that goes over too.

So YAY to Self-Feeding!

Don't believe the hype

I laugh at the 'no-spill' labels on bottles, sippy cups and such!

I'm about to get on my hands & knees to scrub up all the milk spots from the so-called NO SPILL MY ASS bottles & sippy cups.

Not one of my favorite things to do - close second to peeling banana chunks off of the floor & highchair.

Funny Fellow

I gave Liam some red grapes today to see if he might like those better than the white grapes I've been giving him and watching him toss overboard...

Turns out he does like the red ones better but with a twist.

He eats all the meat out of the quartered grape & hands the empty skin back to me. Guess he doesn't much care for the skins...but you can bet your tuckus I'm not peeling grapes for him!

I tried to take pictures but it was difficult...so I might have evidence of it later. Right now, we have about 6 pieces of empty grape skin sitting on his tray.

New Meal added to menu!

Last night I tried the pasta again for Liam - this time I made the alphabet noodles thinking it would be easier for him to chewchewchew & well that didn't go over very well - he didn't quite like the taste of the pasta & butter SO we added carrots & spinach to his pasta & he GOBBLED it right up!

I'm cooking up his turkey for him this afternoon as soon as it defrosts & I think I might make him some "baby lasagna" complete with pasta, cheese & turkey - I swear I don't know where my little big boy has gone. He's so grown up now :(

another Photo Essay - Favorite Pictures from the Last Two Weeks Part One!

Mama getting a Beso from her Stink
Please note the very important things on her desk - phone, coffee & Stefan (calendar)

The Cutest Little Two Piece PJ Wearing Big Boy Playing with his Learn & Groove Music Table EVER!

At the Mommies Group VA Division Picnic Liam decided to "fill his pants" between the coolers containing all the grill fixin's!

After the picnic we went to the Manassas Railway Festival to see Nothin' Fancy play - Liam spent some time on Grandpa's shoulders dancing & watching the band!

Dinner got a little messy.
First time I've had to strip him while he was still in his highchair.
Please note: Mama was NOT feeding him!

Quick recap

Liam has been busy keeping Mommy on her toes so I haven't had as much time to devote to my ramblings here but here's a quick recap of things that have happened this week!

On Friday Grandpa's flight got canceled from Dulles to home so he rented a car and stopped on by & decided to stay the night :) He fed Liam his dinner, napped while he napped & just generally hung out & hugged & kissed on him the entire time! Grandpa has the same double cough that Grandma has & the copying was in full force again & now even when we cough (and poor Matias with his allergies...) he mimics us :) It's too cute! He's not quite sure what to make of the 9 sneezes Daddy manages to get out in a row though! You can see his little brain working away to figure out how to copy that noise!

Saturday we went to Lowe's to get a freezer for the garage - our little freezer doesn't cut it with all of Liam's foods & Matias' Favorite Food (Meat!) so we got one for the garage. And then browsed around looking at the patio furniture & bought some PLANTS! Matias planted an herb garden after successfully growing his own basil for quite some time now & I actually planted some flower pots! Liam hung out outside with us in his Pack n' Play - making that the first time we've used the Play portion of that device! He watched us but mostly spent his timing watching the landing pattern for Dulles :) The boy loves his planes!

Sunday, I held my Memoranza (CM's equivalent for National Scrapbooking Day/Month) so it was a Liam & Daddy day! They spent most of it at the mall while Matias got new tires & brakes & he hung out in his stroller most of the time. Matias said he had a good time and that he took a nap while they were wasting time. He's got quite the little crush on one of my friends/customers Jodi & he hammed it up good for her whenever he got the chance!

The yeast infection pretty much cleared up over the weekend as well - and along with that the FLIPPING STOPPED! I'm assuming he was in such discomfort that flipping was one of his ways of dealing with it - whatever it was I'm SO GLAD it has disappeared!

Also, since we've been giving him Heartier Meals I've started offering him water in between bites - he basically refused to use a sippy cup & will only drink from a cup - assisted, of course. He's getting much better at each meal & only dribbles the tiniest bit on himself & I really do think he appreciates the chance to cleanse his palette ;)

Another milestone that I've noticed him reaching has been Sorting - he puts things into their proper place, he puts his Cheerios into the "cup holder" on his tray & has mastered the cubes for his farm, along with fitting the circle in the circle hole - the triangle is giving him some issues but I'm sure he will work it out in no time! It's really cute to watch him put his finger goods in his cup holder :) He also hands me things now - the remote, his bottle, the phone(s), a book...and that is just totally adorable :) I say "thank you" every time he hands me something & I think that encourages him to hand me more things...

And that brings me to something else - having to tell him "NO". We've, of course, had to start telling him "no touch" once he became mobile and he wasn't REALLY grasping the concept until the past handful of days. He listens about 90% of the time but the ONLY downside is when he stops touching the thing, I say "thank you, that's a good boy" & since I've praised him for doing what I've asked, he does it again to hear me say "thank you" - you can see where that is leading...he reaches out for the forbidden item & smiles at me, waiting for me to say "no touch" & "thank you". So, I do it. Again, I'm the demented parent parrot saying "no touch", "thank you" & "open/closed". It's no wonder I cannot speak in full sentences anymore ;)

The Cruising is increasing daily :) Please someone give me a cute Liam Fellow term for Cruising - I can only think of gay boys at a truck stop or Tom Cruise - oh wait, those are the same thing...anyway I digress...the Cruising is getting much better although he's still working on his confidence - he reaches out to the ottoman from the couch & just barely cannot make it so instead of just letting go for that brief moment he sits & crawls two paces to get there. But when he Cruises on one piece of furniture, he's much more confident about it & now goes all along the couch, daybed downstairs, Pack n' Play & he walks around his Office (now refusing actually go IN it). I'm sure it will just be days before he lets himself take that plunge and releases one hand to grab his next piece of Cruising material (refraining from making Katie Holmes joke here...).

Liam is blowing raspberries on ME now - usually my thigh/knee area or upper arm (the nice flabby sections!) and also attempting to hit his open mouth on me to make the Indian Sound.

And for a quick recap, this got awful long :) Don't fret I'm wrapping it up as LOST is on! Tomorrow, I will talk about my need to clean out & sort his baby toys from his Little Big Boy toys & more exciting things like Gymboree sales & polo shirts!

OH! and also

I have bumped Liam up to 4 oz. of fruit & veggie at his meal times - thinking/hoping that would help with "sleeping through the night".

There is seriously just some sort of Witching Hour Siren he must hear at EXACTLY 11PM every.single.night. I wonder what kind of Super Hero Club or Shakespearean Into the Forest Gang he belongs to. I have searched for his membership card and any special markings on his body but have yet to discover anything...

Plus, I'm jealous I havent been invited yet.