Craft Playdate Results!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Super fun! Super easy! Super cute!

Liam helped spread the peanut butter & he rolled the slathered pine cone in the bird seed himself. He had a lot of fun doing it & has been very excited to see them outside.

I totally give this Two Mama Thumbs Up (obviously not at the same time as I typically only have one hand free at a time!) to this craft! Takes less than five minutes & just about zero clean-up. Give it a try next time you're searching around for something to do!

It's called Pretend Play for a reason OR Why I made a mad dash to Toys R Us yesterday

Liam has always been really interested in our kitchen stuff, he makes a cuppa coffee with Dada every morning, knows how to work the microwave & loves the toaster oven but lately this has become a dangerous obsession of his & I had to put a stop to it.

Coupled with this new love of all things dangerous, he has firmly entered the Terrible Twos Territory so when I ask him (nicely or not) to get down off the counter & stop turning the oven on, or leave the coffee maker alone, or constantly turning the toaster oven on to hear it ding, he YELLS "NO MAMA NO" and shoves his hand/fist into his mouth and either bites down or just stifles himself, I'm not sure which one it is. So this was going somewhere Bad fast.

Now he has a kitchen, a tea set & play food stuff but it just wasn't cutting it for him in the Real Live Kitchen Arena. So under Single Parenting Duress, I called Matias & told him we were going to Toys R Us ASAP to get him some toys that would quench his desires.

Let me just tell you how much I love the Just Like Home line that I think is a brand specific to Toys R Us. First off, everything hovers around $9-$11 placating my Cheapness dearly and second, these toys do everything Liam wants them to do. We made out like bandits & it was like Christmas in July August for this kid, but did he ever need it.

I got him a grand total of SIX new toy sets. That's, sadly, probably the most we've ever gotten him in one shot.

He got the coffee maker that drips water into the pot & makes a brewing sound. He got the microwave that rotates, has a light inside, has a actual working digital timer, various time settings & it dings (also came with food stuff). He got a cash register with monies, a conveyor belt, a scanner that dings, a scale, a credit card swiper, a working calculator as the main component of the register & a neat dinging drawer opener button. He got a dish set of like eleventy billion pieces with his own sugar bowl, tea kettle, creamer (all things he was going batshitcrazy over in our Real Kitchen and causing Mama to go into 'don't you dare break that' mode), etc. And he got a veggie & fruit chopping, dicing & slicing station complete with a cutting board, a knife & foods that you can cut in half.

Those last two items I didn't put out last night but put under our bed to save for another day. He found them THIS MORNING. I put the chopping board in my closet (sssh, don't tell him) & brought out a few pieces from the dish set for him. I'm going to have to find a really good Christmas present hiding spot if he found those in under an hour.

Liam has always been a huge Participator in the kitchen, he loves how things work, what you can make with things & using tools but since we've encouraged this participation in him now that the Terrible Twos have arrived he thinks he's big enough, bad enough, and right enough to go on and do all those things that he participates as a spectator by himself. Which, hello, no. I have never seen him play so well, so long & so happy with toys in my life as he has last night & this morning. He's quiet, thoughtful & engaged. Just like he should be. But I also have to deal with Matias & his buzzkill tendencies towards toys, the amount of them and the general existence of them. But yesterday, I couldn't take the danger, the tantrums and the Twos that were going along with his actions so I took my Single Parenting ass out and bought the farm. And I could not have made a better decision for EVERYONE involved here. This morning when I was making coffee, he went over and made coffee. That is how it's supposed to happen. Yes, it's good to show him Real Life Stuff but not at the expense of his ability to play properly with toys OR his safety [and my sanity]. He even takes it so far as getting tea bags and steeping tea with his coffee maker brewed water. You cannot ask for a more perfect outcome of Real Life & Pretend Play - harmless, adorable & intelligent.

Now can someone just recommend The Best Way to Store all this Crap Bounty?

Independent Thinker & Directed Play

Yesterday I noticed two really cool things starting to really flourish with Liam & it kind of blows my mind a little to see it all happening at such a rapid pace.

Thing the First: Directed Play

More often than not these days, Liam has a plan in mind when we play together & I use the term together loosely. I have to sit in particular seats/bed/area of floor & do nothing else but watch him play. Normally, I am not even allowed to join in but I can react & praise him when it is fitting; I tried reading my book while sitting on our bed but had none of that & came over to close it for me; I tried watching the news while still sitting on our bed & he went over to the TV and said "Mama, no!no!" so I had to turn it off lest my ears starting bleeding from the orders being barked from my miniature Director of Play. I have to sit in a certain deck chair outside while he plays with his bubbles or rummages through the recycling (something I am sure has a double intention since I am sitting I am also not able to get after him about the recycling!). At Tumbles yesterday, I had to sit on the floor in the specific area he marked when he ran through his Log Forest. I don't necessarily mind the direction it's just kind of annoying that I'm not allowed to do anything else during that time period. I suppose I have a lot of tea parties in my future, eh? (And yes, for the record, my son has tea parties and he LOVES them) I think it's amazing that he's assigning roles to me; that he's come to these conclusions on his own & knows how to make his mind known. He's known what he's wanted & is pretty good about letting us know which ever way he can but now it's moved onto something different, a little switch has been flipped in his head & instead of just knowing he wants to "play" he now knows that he wants to play in a specific way and how in the players in his world all need to be arranged and he's able to do that!

Thing the Second: Independent Thinker

Also since yesterday, I have noticed a huge leap in his independent thinking. We've been practicing jumping with him and he's just about got it. He's moved from the incorrect notion of going up first then down & is now on the right track with down first then up so he's real close to doing it correctly. Normally, we practice with him and have to ask him to "jump" and then he does but yesterday when we were upstairs engaged in Directed Play, I found him in the hallway practicing jumping on his own!. I had not said anything to him about it but he had obviously thought to himself "I think I want to practice my jumping now" and then completed that thought with action! It's one of the first times I've seen him do this that is not involved with some sort of play; sure he does it while playing in the his kitchen or with his stacking toys and Legos - he's got the whole Cause & Effect thing going on - but this was the first time that he had taken real action to do something completely on his own & I was left a little awestruck. Then he had to go do it again this morning...I've mentioned before that Matias usually has him pick me a flower when they go out on their adventures but it's always a prompted act of Matias telling him to pick a flower for Mama. This morning while he was free to play with the hose in the backyard, he came up the stairs (where I was watching from a safe distance) calling my name. He came over to me & handed me a clover he had picked for me, gave me a hug & said "flower, Mama"! It was so cool that he did that for me all on his own, with no direction or prompting, just a simple thought ran through his mind when he saw the flowers & it was like "I should pick a flower for Mama and go give it to her upstairs!" and he DID IT!

It so totally cool to see these things emerging in him & I know it's run of mill stuff for every single person out there but for me I am really blown away by it & I am really truly enjoying watching it happen in front of me! Like I said, he's had the whole A+B=C thing down for a while but it seems that it is reaching a whole new level of ability and skill and forethought and it's just so freaking cool.

It sounds silly to say (and to think it) but I never thought I could be continually amazed by the evolution of a little boy. We're hitting that 2 Year Explosion Point rapidly & I'm watching my Little Big Boy fade faster & faster daily into just, simply & wonderfully, my Big Boy.

Oh, J.W. Tumbles, how I love thee

A few weeks ago, I took Liam to an open house for our Mommies Group at a new gym thing for toddlers just to check it out & let him have a go at it. Well, he loved it & it was something we needed to do for him - he was starting to "out grow" Toddlin' Time or would be doing so very shortly - so I signed him up for a session. Compared to Toddlin' Time this place is like Harvard vs. Community College tuition wise BUT his ability to grow with the courses & learn new things far out weighed my initial gasp at the cost, plus Matias was fully on board ;)

Liam has always had issues with Circle Time (rolls eyes) because of a few things, 1) he doesn't like to sit still, 2) he would rather go explore all the cool things now that all those pesky other kids are out of his way & 3) sometimes I think expectations are too high on kids under a certain age to do things in Circle Time for extended periods of time - ok maybe that last one is my issue. At Toddlin' Time, no one was forced into participating in Circle Time so Liam rarely did but did join in on the activities he liked; bubbles, parachute, some songs & towards the end the maracas and since he was free to roam, he's never been scolded into fully participating. This is not the case at J.W. Tumbles & it is a struggle for us (also, I don't think they should do it at the beginning of class when the kids/Liam is still wired from a taste of Free Play) and he got a couple looks the first class & I was basically told that he needs to sit still, participate & get off those toys, which was SO MUCH FUN! We missed last weeks' class cause we were at Camp Carolina so I was a little nervous as to how he would readjust to Circle Time after only one class & then missing the next one and I was in for a surprise! Liam participated about 90% of the time on his own accord and he didn't even want to sit in my lap; he would push himself out and sit right down on the floor & clap his hands and do his little warm-up stretches and everything! One time I thought he was going to bolt but all he did was go over to another instructor and chill with her! Now he did get up a few times & bolt but I brought him back over & went over our Goals (HA!) and he would participate again. This is by far the best he has EVER done with Circle Time. When Matias came to Toddlin' Time he asked if Liam was always like that during Circle Time (man, I'm sick of typing that out...) & I nervously said yes (hoping he wouldn't "chastise" me for "allowing" him to run around) and he commented that that was exactly how HE used to be! I'm very excited about this improvement & hope that it continues in the right direction. It also doesn't help that the majority of the class (today it was just one other! We were missing 4 others!) are female thus making them better participants in Circle Time or anything stationary for that matter...

He did so very well in everything we did today and he tried everything, sometimes even more than once by his own choosing! We used a trapeze bar that they had to walk up stairs to & although he didn't love swinging he did try it a handful of times. We used uneven parallel bars to do a Bear Walk where you place your feet on the lower bar & then lower your body down to the upper bar & WALK sideways, shuffling along this little bar! He did that at least 3 times - even calling it the Bill a Bah! He went in the hammock chair with me & then by himself - he usually hates swings these days so him doing this at all is good for him.

But his favorite by far was the Log Forest! This thing looked like something out of that Wipeout show minus the water. It was awesome & I did get to try it as he wanted me to run through it holding his hand! They hang these punching bag type things (but way softer, duh) of various heights and tell the kids to run through them & it's so cool to see them duck & weave like little football players trying to stay away from the Logs. Liam loved to push them out of his way & hopefully get past it before it swung back around & slammed him. He did get bashed once but didn't fall over & laughed over it so I know he didn't mind it at all! He made me sit on the floor at the other end & would run through it, straight into my arms for a big ol' Back Pat Hug every single time. I want to set those things up in our basement.

The class is also 15 minutes longer than Toddlin' Time so he usually starts thinking about heading out around 45 minutes in but he had no problem heading back to play when they brought out the crab sandbox & filled it with balls :) Then I have to explain to everyone that we are big soccer fans in this house & so every ball is a GOL!

The thing I really love about J.W. Tumbles? That I know every single mother loves too? he is Exhausted when we get home. He drinks his milk in the car (today he finished it about 45 seconds after we left the lot - Kym it was before we hit the light at 28 & Linton Hall) & has his snackies, we come home, have lunch & go right to bed. He went down like a Log Forest today! Not ONE peep out of him & I only read to him for about 3 minutes before he told me "bed"! And come on, moms, you know you love it when you wipe your kid out without wiping yourself out in the process!

So, thanks J.W. - you've earned your overpriced cost of admission in my opinion!

Wiped out

We had School today & I don't think either of us were really quite in the mood for it. Liam woke up at 8:07 (to be exact!) and so we had to rush through our morning routine to be out the door at 9am. He cried through breakfast, mainly I think cause he wasn't all that ready for food yet having just finished his bottle. Then we quickly got dressed & left.

He was a handful at class (I really, really, really don't want to have one of Those Kids) & I know part of me thinking he was a handful was cause I wasn't in the best of moods either (thanks PMS!). I was running around, sweating, chasing him making sure he wasn't touching people wrongly, not going after the newborn in their carrier, or stealing toys from people. He's also discovered that he can MOVE the little basketball hoops & that's just not something I want him doing at all. He throws the blocks, which is ok, but he has no aim & just mindlessly throws them - of course always at other kids, usually smaller than he is - but let's not forgot almost everyone is smaller than he is.

He's climbing UP the slides & usually there's someone trying to come down it, the right way. There were a TON of kids there today too which didn't make moving around them any easier on me & him.

I'm sick of being covered in sweat from our excursions to the park (over 1 1/2 hours yesterday) & our fun little classes. You should have seen him at Mr. Don's last week - the man sang different lyrics into his songs just for Liam. He's all over the place, all the time. I found myself really losing patience with him today (mentally, not outwardly) & just wanted him to sit still for once, please. I know that's not going to happen & I do not usually lose my patience with him (just my breath!) when we are out because this is exactly what he needs. It's just so draining. And with the weather kicking back up towards the 90s the past few days, that hasn't made it any easier, for sure.

Any suggestions on how to tame him? Do I even try? What good "commands" do you use to help communicate how to behave in public play places like these? I do not want to just let him run wild, but he has to to some extent (and I try to participate in activities that encourage this) but since he's bigger & more active than others his age, it's hard to communicate with him what he needs to do, you know? It's not like he understands more than simple commands or even comprehends the whys behind my requests.

And the fact that there are 3 other Liams in the class doesn't make the listening to me aspect any easier - although I've resorted to calling him Fellow so that he knows he is being talked to.

I love that he is so active & exploratory but we are also in the "low comprehension" zone so there has to be a balance that I find before I curl up in the corner & let him run loose like Godzilla.

Liam at Large

Here's just a couple pictures from the park the other day - you will see how much TALLER he is than Joey.

Being very suspicious about something.

This is a good representation of their height differences & remember that Joey is THREE MONTHS OLDER THAN LIAM.

School Started!

Toddlin' Time was in effect today!

Continuing the conversation from the comments about clothes - Liam got complimented on his outfit *numerous* times this morning AND believe it or not, Dada dressed him up. Matching & everything ;)

Nana ~ he had on his striped Monkey Business shirt with the blue shorts from Gymboree - very cute indeed!

Now that we've gotten our First Day of School Outfit discussion out of the way, let me tell you about the class...

There were FOUR LIAMS IN IT. FOUR. I have not ever met another Liam (since ours was born) and there were FOUR of them right there. Three of them were blond, mine is not. One of them spelled it Lliam - in Argentina his family would pronounce that Jiam. None had Robert as their middle name. They ALL responded to anyone saying Liam at any given time. I took to calling My Liam - Fellow. Only ONE Liam responds to that :)

This boy of mine? Yeah, he's "spirited". He was still the only one running around making sure they touched everything (door stoppers included) & screamed the whole time. I was told he has a "bubble-ly personality" - I think I need a Mommy Thesaurus for that one cause I'm not quite sure what that meant. He's not rough or mean or a bully BUT he is still learning his "limits" on who can be touched (not EVERY Mommy will allow him to use them to climb up on to stand up) & how they can be touched (not EVERY baby enjoys being petted like a Kitty). So I'm running after him 100% of the time. I asked The Lliam Mommy who this class really intended to give the "work-out" to at one point when I noticed her wiping the sweat off her brow too. He's sharing pretty well, as can be expected for a 14 month old so that's promising to see.

I know that they do the songs & mellow out stuff at the end to mellow them out and have a cool down period but part of me wishes they would do that first cause it's hard enough to get Liam to sit still a book these days LET ALONE after he's been running around on fire for the past 35 minutes!

He's also the tallest in the class - way taller than any of the 18 month olds. By at least 3 inches. No one could believe he was as young as he is for how tall he is & how WELL HE WALKS. A lot of kids didn't need running after cause they rarely strayed from Mommy's side - yeah not mine. Seriously, I work up sweats chasing him around just to make sure he isn't wounding himself not necessarily because he's such a FAST walker/runner but because he doesn't hesitate and once he's on his way somewhere, he's really, no fooling around, on his way there.

Of course, I'm so happy I signed him (I mean US) up for this, he loves it & I think he's going to gain some [more] confidence by using their equipment that is designed for the rough & tumble tumblings of our Little Boy.

Now, if I could convince the lady to put a safety lock on the DOOR, I wouldn't have to race him to it every time he remembers it's there!

Boys of Summer

Yesterday was the last day the pool was open - where on earth did the summer go?!

We went to the pool in the evening & since the sun was behind the clubhouse, it wasn't too warm - we didn't get to stay very long cause Liam started to get cold quickly!

But...

...we did DUNK HIM UNDER!!

He didn't even freak! Was just a tiny bit shocked but handled it all really well - there's video on dropshots :)

Toddlin' Time

I signed Liam up for a 6 week session at our local Toddlin' Time (think Little Gym but WAY WAY WAY cheaper!) and then took him to the Open House this morning to see if he in fact would enjoy himself.

He did. He Fat Person Waddled around screaming almost the entire time when he wasn't actually playing with the toys and, of course, the speaker cord, door handles, speakers...

Then we proceeded to WIN a FREE SESSION! Since we already paid for the upcoming one, I'm going to hang onto it & use it for the winter session when I'm sure we will be out of the house a LOT since this little one LOVES to be outside (we have to spell it already...).

A few of the Mommies from my Mommies Group where there - Lisa with her little girl (same bday as Nathan) and Lauren with her mommy Julie - so that will be nice to be able to "connect" with them more. Lisa is one of my CM customers so I know her already but meeting other mommies is always good.

Thankfully, the class is between his breakfast & noni time so we rush home to jump into bed - hopefully for a nice long nap!

I really like the price of this place - under $50 for 6 weeks, where compared to Gymboree which is $70 a session with a minimum of 3 sessions (!) AND a registration fee...you really cannot beat this with a stick. Although, I hope beating things with sticks isn't part of their curriculum ;)

Water Baby

It was a beautiful day today - low 80s with zero humidity so I took Liam to the pool after his lunch & we had a great time!

He loves the water - zero fear - which I have to watch because he wants to dunk himself sometimes & doesn't really mind floating on his back but is still really suspicious of it.

He spent most of his time cruising around the perimeter of the 1 foot deep baby pool alternating between that & sitting in my lap splashing & kicking around. It was such a great, relaxing (minus the whole "don't slip, don't slip" chanting I was doing internally while he was doing all his cruising) time, I wish every day was a prefect pool day. I know I said I would go everyday with him but sometimes, as we all know, things don't work out like that for some reason or 549056 million other. I am going to work on being better about it because everything we do is so good for him that I should make a distinct point of doing that with him.

He also had great fun playing with my sunglasses - tossing them and walking/cruising after them & even bending over to retrieve them from the bottom!

One bad thing is he can get out of the baby pool. It's just like climbing up a big step for him I suppose, but it takes watching him to a whole new level. Now, granted, my eyes are never off of him & I barely ever/rarely don't have a hand or foot or leg on him physically but still...the slipping, just once, could do a lot of damage!

Another bad thing is the lifeguard rotation schedule they have for the Big Kid Pool - there's 3 guards working, one on rotation, the other 2 on "break" but they all take lunch at the same time for over a 1/2 hour & no one is allowed in the Big Kid Pool. Which is totally bad management. Why on earth do all 3 guards have to break at the same time? That's exactly why you have 3 guards & trust me, my 6 years of guarding has at least taught me that much. So once we got our fill of the Baby Pool, I was going to take him to the Big Kid Pool & let him hang out in his little floaty thing - he got tired out waiting for the guards to decide to start working again. So we came home & out he went for a 3 hour nap :) And the FOUR doors I have to maneuver with a stroller to actually get to the pool kind of get my knickers in a bunch too. That and the fact that I have to a) give them my pool ID card [that has my address on it] and then b) sign in on a form with my name, phone # and address [which hello, 2/3 of that info is on my ever-loving card that I just handed you].

Love the pool, hate the management.

He wore his trunks from Old Navy today - the ones with the flames on the sides of the legs :) Too cute. Sorry, no pictures but watching him is more than I can handle, don't even think about me handling a camera also!

Liam was being really cute though at one point...they have the tiles around the BABY POOL that say "no diving" and how deep the water is (1 foot) so he kept taking my hand over to them to tell him what they were...at some point, I added "how old is Liam going to be?" and I would point to the 1 :) I'm hoping that with in the next week (ohmygod) I can "train" him to respond with ONE when he's asked how old he is!

He also spent a lot of time watching the planes coming into Dulles - this time he started waving at them! Of course, he still smiles as he watches them in the sky and more specifically when he FINDS them. We always say to him, when we hear a plane, "where's the plane?" and then he looks up at the sky to find where it is and he smiles. And now he points :)

The Fit over the CDs

I'm uploading the video of Liam having his little fit (poor little guy) over the CDs not being books. Yes, I laugh at him & maybe I shouldn't but, come on, sometimes these things are funny!

For the record, putting it on my head has totally stopped the mini-meltdown (as far as Liam Meltdowns go, this is pretty bad for him) so I will continue to balance them on my head.

Enjoy!

Creative Parenting

For those of you who will surely run into this problem soon enough, I offer the following advice.

When your child freaks out & cries for 40 minutes because the CD is not a BOOK and then brings you more CDs to read the next morning, simply put the CDs on your head!

Then wait for them to bring you more & see how many you can balance at once. Right now, I'm only up to two at a time. I'm sure I'll get a ton more practice in my coming days. In fact, I'm typing this with two CDs on my head. I'm totally not even kidding.

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!

Liam Robert’s 9 Month GushFest

A week late but better than nothing! The other week when I was Thank You card shopping at Hallmark, I found a Willow Tree figurine that I needed for Mother’s day so I sent Matias the link & when I clicked on it again this morning this was the quote associated with it & it made me cry thinking of Liam.

Child of the world, Into my heart you came -- Bringing sun into my life, Making family our name.

The theme for this months’ GushFest is Active Verbs, specifically ING verbs as I will illustrate below. And this is also a warning for those of you with bebes who are just learning to crawl & assert their independence – you might not want to read any further – this could be considered worse than my birthing story.

Consider yourself warned! Let’s start with a nice recipe list of what Liam Learned to do this Month, shall we?

· Crawling

· Standing

· Flipping

· Climbing

· [more] Reading

· Exploring

· Eating [finger foods]

· Singing

· Sleeping

Crawling

Once Liam mastered the BEEP!BEEP! & sit maneuver it was not long (maybe ½ a week?) before he just went full speed ahead into his ZOOM!ZOOM! stage. We quickly baby proofed the house, especially the main floor where we spend most of our day & hoped that we got it done right! He is really just all over the place – I put a video up on DropShots to illustrate my point – and he’s having so much fun doing it all! He squeals in delight when he gets to a spot where he has had fun in the past. The windows in the living room/crop area where he spent quite a bit of time with Auntie practicing his standing & looking out the windows are one of his favorite spots to crawl over to & pull himself up to look out the windows & bang on them. We like to take a ball in there with us so that he can chase it all over the place – throwing/rolling it himself and then ZOOM!ZOOM! after it – he is only distracted when a Kitty tries to see what all the commotion is about then he goes after them – laughing the entire time while they scurry in fear. I think the only way he would sit still is if you velcroed him to the ground. He still loves to crawl after his train but now he has added putting things into his train! It’s really amazing (and cute) to watch him decide to put something in there…so most of the time the giraffe is banished and his blocks or balls end up in there to take a ride around the house! I think I mentioned before that he is into everything – the toilet, the cabinets with locks on them (they open just enough to drive him batty), the cat food, the recycling (thank you garbage can with lid!), the garbage (he knows how it works, he just cannot do it YET), pulling the DVD player off the shelf, pulling the wireless mouse off the table, pulling dirt out of the plants (thank you Spring for finally staying so I can put those plants outside!), yanking my corded mouse off my desk, going through all my work stuff (need to find a good place for that!), etc…that brings me to my next Active Verb…

Standing

The Fellow mastered standing about a split second after he mastered ZOOM!ZOOM! He’d been practicing a lot on the couch, bed & of course his crib but he REALLY just pulls up on anything he can wrap his little paws around now! Especially Mommy’s legs – cleaning the dishes & cooking his meals has become interesting with a 9 Month Old attached to my legs! He pulls himself up on the toilets, the windows & doors, his Office, his House, the computer chairs, all the cabinets, the garbage can, the recycling can, the ottomans, the TV stands…I promise you, anything he can grasp even just a teenytiny bit, he does & boom he’s up! Usually it’s always to reach for something he should not be getting at in the first place – I have mastered the art of Push that Thing as Far Back as Possible, Daddy is still working on remembering that – the camera on the computer/stereo table, the DVDs on top of the other TV table, anything on my desk and various cooking utensils (actually that’s when he is in his backpack with Daddy). I find it especially endearing when he pulls himself up and looks out the front veranda doors – its’ so adorable that he’s just gazing outside – I was able to snap a few really cute, nicely lit pictures of it but the memory card or stupidstupid Media Center OS ate them. The baby gates are the cats savior though BUT I do have to add that this Fellow loves to torment them once they are on the other side. Banging & Shaking them and squealing the entire time but they must know it’s better than him banging shaking THEM! If you give him a bottle on the couch, you cannot count to five without him already being in the standing position looking over the back of the couch, checking out what you might be possibly doing besides sitting next to him watching him drink. The nerve of me! This whole learning to stand anywhere & everywhere segues nicely into our next Active Verb – Flipping.

Flipping

I don’t know when it really started but I think it had to do with figuring out the light switch in his room but the Liam Fellow now flips ALL THE TIME on his changing table & I was NOT prepared for this. It frustrates me to no end, especially since I’m trying to treat this lovely yeast infection (that is clearing up nicely). As soon as you set him down, he arches his back, and flips, grabs the railings & goes for the light switch – sadly, this was endearing at first because My Boy! He’s turning the light on & off! How smart of him! Now, I’ve resorted to pulling the table into the middle of the room when he gets difficult about it & strapping him down…and strapping him down only does so much because he still manages to flip, it just takes more effort on his part. Matias always just tells me “give him lots of toys to play with” & I do! He’s got a handful of distractions at his disposal but once he’s thrown all of those Overboard he goes back to the Flip N’ Switch. And I only have two hands so one holds him while I bend down to retrieve the Overboard distraction – which is usually right about the time I have the ointment on my fingers & a naked baby who could possibly pee any second if he so chooses. Then there’s the issue of the poop going everywhere as he flips & struggles against me & the straps…I think he’s ruined his cheap-o Target changing pad cover with the Poop & Flip combination. I think I need to put some bungee cords across his chest in order to keep him fully restrained but then I think Child Services might get a phone call…flipping will only lead to more exploratory ways…which leads me to our next Active Verb…

Climbing

Liam has always had an obsession with our Flaming June print above our bed – we call her “his lady”. When he was a baby, he would coo & smile at her every morning but now he has taken that to the next level – he CLIMBS for her & grabs the frame while standing on our pillows & clutching the headboard. This is dangerous and not so endearing for obvious reasons & if you’ve ever tried to wrangle a Fellow while lying on your back, with him possibly using you as a launching pad, you will learn quickly that someone is going to get hurt & 9 times out of 10 it will be YOU. That other 1 time it will be Liam who has managed to grab the frame & pull it away from the wall then somehow slamming it back down on his fingers & if you ask me before I’ve had coffee I’ll probably just say “he had that coming”. He also figured out how to climb up (or stand in) his train to reach things that have been pushed back further on any tables so that they are Out of His Reach (HA!) – at first, I was all “that’s fantastic! He’s climbing! He figured out what needed to be done!” now I’m just like “oh my god, now I have to just REMOVE that item from his existence completely before someone kills themselves clamoring all over himself”. Again, this is where the “newborns are a calkwalk” thoughts come to my mind. Thankfully, he has yet to figure out how to LIFT his leg to actually overcome the obstacles but we all know that will probably happen tomorrow! Example – if he gets his knee/leg stuck in a pot or pan, he just drags it behind him until he discovers that it is quite difficult to get anywhere with a pot attached to him then he calls out for Maman to come to his rescue. And I do but not before laughing atwith him about the silliness of it all.

Reading

Liam still loves his books & has started to spend more time reading to himself/alone. He loves to pick out some books & sit there and just flip through them, smiling and giggling the entire time! It’s really cute to watch & I have to restrain myself from constantly sitting down next to him & reading along with him because I know it’s good to have time to play by yourself (notice I didn’t say WITH yourself? We’ve got that covered on the changing table…) so I just watch from (a very short) distance. He’s accepting new books quicker than he was just a month ago so it’s been easier to rotate in some new ones without being stuck reading a chosen few 54097524 times in an afternoon! He loves lift the flap books, animal books (particularly farm animals) & his beloved kitty books. Runaway Bunny has too many words for him & that’s ok with me because I’m leaning towards thinking that this book causes the horrible Mother/Son relationship that creates the “I’ll follow you wherever you go & nothing will be better than being with your mother” dynamic that sometimes seems to happen…so I will gladly describe the scenes & point everything out to him but not necessarily the portion of the story that deals with the Stalker Mommy Bunny. If the book happens to have a mirror in it he will LICK that mirror every single time! I *think* he is on the verge of pointing to things on the pages, unprompted, but I’m getting the sense that he is recognizing favorite animals & bits of the story & will any day now – laugh & point at Joe the Zookeeper’s Wife (I’ve named her Betty) when she discovers there’s a gorilla in her bed! He already kills himself laughing about it now I’m just waiting for him to point out what’s so funny.

Exploring

I really don’t think I need to add anything more to this subject since I think it’s clear that he explores anywhere & everywhere, all within my safe reaches! And it’s all GOOD, it’s just also all TIRING! And I do tend to leave the mess out until he goes down for his nightnight sleep because I’m just not all about cleaning it up to have him destroy it all again once he figures out its been put away! He has figured out, 100%, how to put his blocks in his farm & get them out of the little slot again – and he gets a HURRAY for that almost every single time! He knows how to spin the lids and other kitchen tools I’ve given him to make them create that noisy clanging sound – I could tell he was frustrated when we first showed him how to do that but now that he has got it, he just gets so pleased with himself when he does it.

Eating [finger foods]

Liam has mastered the pick up and shove motion to get his Gerber Puffs into his mouth & even picking them back up when he drops them down his front but now we are moving onto pieces of fruit & Cheerios and he’s adjusting quite well to the changes! I’m still leery of the huge mess that allowing to feed himself will bring so I admit I’ve been putting that off as long as possible, but now I’m stepping up to the plate & giving him more freedom with his food. He holds a spoon (not the one I’m feeding him with) and knows to bring it to his mouth (even the right end of it!) so I know it’s only a matter of MY time before he’s starting down that road of Feeding Oneself! With that said, meal time takes a whole heck of a lot longer when you have to sit with a Fellow who is chewing on some cantaloupe. I think paint dries quicker.

Singing

Liam sings along to just about any music he listens to – if he’s chilling out before his nap he hums along to his Beatles music, in the car he sings along to DMB (Stand Up & Old Dirt Hill are favorites) or the Jimmy Buffet kids album. It’s so adorable to listen to him enjoying the music. I cannot get enough of it & if you watched the video of him listening to his Hippo CD, you can see how he reacts to it – and that is typical of him. You put music on & shake your booty & he’s squealing his little head off. I can listen to him singing all day long.

Sleeping

He is no longer doing “that thing” we don’t talk about and is now doing “that other thing” we want him to do! I cannot spell it out for you if you aren’t able to figure it out simply because the kid can read my mind & I am forced to speak in code unless you want me “doing something” during “that time of day”…

All in all, I cannot get over how much Liam learned this month! There were times, I simply wanted to say to him, PLEASE SLOW DOWN! I was losing my Bebe quickly & I really don’t have anything to hold onto anymore from that time. He’s not nursing, he’s got 3 teefies, and he’s rapidly becoming independent from me. Guess it’s time to have another* Liam has learned so many skills in the past month that are only leading to his inevitable walking (I think that will happen before he’s 10 months) and more exploring & exciting play times! He’s a really sweet, funny boy he loves his Daddy to pieces & cannot wait for him to get home & knows the value of a hug after a good nap. He plays well on his own but would rather have me down with him discovering the world together and I’m just fine with that. Liam Robert has made us a Family & I (still) cannot wait to see what the day brings us, each and every day, through all the trying & frustrating antics that having a Little Big Boy brings, I’m thrilled with each new discovery that he encounters on his own & with my guidance. I never dreamed of being a SAHM but now, I would never dare to dream of anything else for myself & our Family. It’s what works for me, for Liam & for us & I would not trade that for any job. He’s my Boy & I love him dearly. Especially when he’s napping. KIDDING! But I do love everything about him – the times we spend eating & trying new foods, watching him chew his first bite of fruit, cuddling on the couch watching his DVDs, playing Peek-a-Boo with him, tickling his feet, struggling to keep that butt on the changing table & making sure he doesn’t scalp the kitties – it all brings me joy I never knew I would feel. I know I’ve ended a chapter of his life at this benchmark period of time & I’m so happy I was here for every single second of it. And I know he is thrilled about that also. And when it comes down to it, that is all that really matters.

I love you Liam Robert, my Little Big Boy, my Fellow, my Star of Wonder, my Pumpkin Eater.

* just kidding, I just wanted to see who was still reading & paying attention at this point!

Kids in Motion

Or as Grandma calls it "the crawling convention" ;)

This week I took Liam to another Mommy's Group event at Kids in Motion - basically a place where they can play around with all these inflatable things & toddler sized gymnastic equipment, balls, etc...without (much) fear of them getting injured. Again, he had a blast! He ZOOM!ZOOM! all over the place, I honestly think he went to every single corner in that place & then tried to climb behind anything in his way to get even further...

This time there were a handful of Mommy's there including Joey & Jacob who brought their Mommy Kym with them so it was nice to have someone to laugh at me while I chased Liam around. Brooke was there with her Mommy Lisa - she's a month younger than Liam (that is REALLY something to take into consideration) and she was still "controllable" - meaning, you set her down in one spot to explore and she barely went further than 5 feet in any given direction - ah, I miss those days.

Liam had a blast though - of course he went for things he shouldn't have - like the cross bars holding the child proof parallel bar up or the springs on the tiny child trampoline or reaching up for the net on the basketball hoop. To name just a few. He didn't show much (or any) fear, just when he started to get tired did he want me to hold him or be right there.

Once again, it took him a good long while to chill out once we got home BUT then he took a 2+ hour nap!! Good thing cause Mommy needed one too!

I will also be taking him back there for more Free Play - he had a great time & I'm sure each time he'll enjoy himself even more!

Picture(s) of the Day

Day at the park & Liam's first time on a SWING!

We went to Free Play at Kids in Motion & played/crawled all over the place!