Friday Five - The Cute Edition

Five New Cute Things Liam is Doing:

1. He was listening to his Wheels on the Bus song (fav at the mo) while Sesame Street played on mute. When Elmo's World came on, he actually turned the volume down on the stereo so he could sing along & watch Elmo's World!
2. Nana taught him that candles & coffee is hot, for a good long while everything was HOTHOTHOT! Mama's [coffee] HOTHOTHOT. Pointing to an unlit candle; HOTHOTHOT, all his food; HOTHOTHOT
3. He speaks French. Most of his sentences have a French grammar structure & sound to them. Go de car de Mama is a prime example.
4. He loves belts. Have I mentioned this before? Loves to wear them, loves to point out who else is wearing them, loves to show me belt de Dada hanging in the closet...
5. He gives Mystic kisses on the top of her head. And she lets him.

Stuck in the Moment with You

While in Argentina we discovered a line of popular music converted into "baby music" & had to have the U2 for Babies - I've had it in the CD player since we got home but we rarely make it through the 3 Liam CDs that currently reside in there so I haven't played it in a while...

It came on this morning & Liam is ENTHRALLED. Even to the point of going to his music set & pulling everything out to play along! And I could just get all weepy over it, you know?

A little Mush for the moment

Yesterday was rough again as Liam had his first fever & slept for a total of 30 minutes during the day. He just wasn't himself & it broke my little heart to see how badly he felt. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and my patience was tried. So instead of dwelling on the bad day and sickness, I'm going to get a little mushy here for a minute.

The other night, I believe it was Tuesday night, when he was just getting sick he wanted me to put him down to sleep at night. And lately when I've been putting him down he has been giving me his chupie (I put it in backwards) & then pointing out all my facial features. But there was something different about that night, something tender & deep about his touching.

He was looking me right in the eye and I could just feel the deep, primal love coming from him. I had my hair down & it was actually done that day and Liam absolutely loves playing with my hair when it's down & straight and that night he was pushing my hair back from my face & smiling and then letting it fall on his face and he would close his eyes and hug my face to his and smile. And I could feel this overwhelming emotion coming from him & then he would look into my eyes & I just got this click into place feeling that he loves me. Not a love born out of necessity - like a feeling towards a Provider - but a love that has emerged from deep in his heart & soul and it was like he was seeing me through new eyes. It's so hard to explain, this connection - it's not unlike when a mother falls in love with their child and you do see & feel that in return but it's different now. And although he's only (nearly) 16 months, it's a more mature love I feel from him, like not only do I Provide but also that he likes me and he wants to be close to me because of who I am not what I can do for him.

Even the look in his eyes, that had spread across his whole face, was different than his "normal" expressions of joy & happiness; there was a sense of incredible Peace, of Knowing You are Home, of Knowing You LOVE & are loved. Maybe it was the lighting in the room, dark with a hint of night-light, lullabies playing in the background and a tough day of Not Feeling So Well, I don't know but it was a magical combination that night.

And this moment has stayed with me & I almost search it out now when I put him down but I try not to be greedy with it knowing that it's just as undying as the love I feel for him.

And all I could think of at the moment was song lyrics. And I know now that I will probably well up every time I happen to hear this song.

Look into my eyes & you will see what you mean to me. Search you heart, search your soul and when you find me there you'll search no more. Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for, don't tell me there's nothing I want more..."

How to do this quickly...?

LIAM IS WALKING. I REPEAT, LIAM IS OFFICIALLY, FULL-ON, WALKING.

Right now, it's at about 75% of the time that he walks over crawling. The extreme long distances are still accomplished with ZOOM!ZOOM! but otherwise the Fat Person Waddle (TM Matias) is in effect. Very, very exciting!! There's a video on dropshots of him taking a handful of steps at Camp Carolina - he has taken more steps than that but it's the best video I have of it :) So far. HA. Yesterday he walked while he drank. Blows my mind. He can also turn around, pick something up while squatting & stand again to continue walking, and take a poop while standing without holding onto anything.

Also, he's clapping :) And actually making a CLAP!CLAP! sound with his little tiny, toddler hands while doing it & it's so damn cute I could almost cry every time I hear him do it. And let's not forget to mention that he CLAP!CLAP! to Michael Buble on TV the other morning - with NO prompting!

And I think to myself...

i've seen trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me & you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

i see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

i've heard babies cry, i've watched them grow, they'll know much more than i'll ever know

Our Adventure with Mr. Don

Last week, or so, I took Liam to the local independent coffee shop to watch/listen to Mr. Don, a local preformer of childrens songs...he was a maniac.

I tried to sit in the back with the other mothers of 9 month olds, that lasted for about 2 minutes when Liam decided to get down & explore his immediate surroundings. I would you to note that the little girl who was 9 1/2 months & the little boy who was born on the same day as Liam rarely left their mother's laps - IN FACT - the little boy NEVER EVEN BUDGED. Sure, he smiled & possibly laughed but he did not move one inch. My little boy on the other hand had to CRAWL ON CEMENT to the front & hang out/dance/explore with all the little kids. He even got an instrument to play with. When he wasnt crawling (mainly because Mommy picked him up so that he didn't get run the hell over when other kids were doing the Conga) he was in my arms with my dancing away like a crazy lady WHILE ALL THE OTHER MOTHERS STOOD THERE AND WATCHED ME. If this wasn't my son's blog, I would use very bad words here to tell you how I feel about people staring at me for dancing with my son because he is enjoying himself. But it is his blog, so I won't :)

With that said, Liam had a fantastic time! I'll be taking him back the next time Mr. Don graces us with his presence - this time I'll have the $5 suggested donation that my Mommy's Group neglected to tell anyone about in the posting of said event. He squealed & cheered after almost every song & throughly enjoyed the Extended Version of Old McDonald - got extremely squealy during the "sheep" part which is something new for him - normally the cow really does it for him.

It did take him a long time to unwind to take his nap - he was already pushing nap time back as it was & then he didn't end up going down until about an hour later than normal. I'm just chalking that up to not being able to calm down :)

And since this was one of the first Mommy's Groups event I could attend with Liam actually participating in it only seems right that no one else showed. Unless those women staring...

Drool.

My word.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cribrock2

They let you play the whole song in winamp. I'm in 80s HEAVEN. Oh damnit, it's not the whole song. Only 2 minutes.

Hungry Like a Wolf though is fantastic.