Our new Must Read!

When we fly with Liam, I normally pack only books & some small pocket toys since those are his most favorite things that also keep his attention the best BUT this last trip we discovered the ultimate take-away 'book' from the plane!

The in-flight 737 Safety Instruction brochure! He loved reading it - loves the water involved in the emergency water landing, the emergency slides, the water landing information, all the plane pictures - he just loved every single thing about it. So we both stole one and shoved them in our bags.

And now he has to read it every time before we go to bed. He points out all the water, all the slides, all the planes & is so very excited about it all! It's so cute to watch him unfold his brochure and point every thing out and have it rest on his tummy - he actually kicks his feet up in the air to prop the tri-fold up so he can read it better!

This is not the same one we have but I failed to find the matching one...

It's really amusing to me the things these kids pick to latch on to - he goes through these phases of his favorite things not really being toys or for babies to play with but yet there isn't anything wrong with them so we just play along. I'm sure years down the road he will be in therapy discussing how his mother & father used to read Safety Instruction manuals to him before bedtime & somehow we caused major duress to him regarding in case of emergency your seat cushion will double as a flotation device circumstances but until that time comes, I will be his favorite flight attendant!

Culling from MY issues with planes, bridges & heights, I would like to note that reading from the Safety Manual is much more humane and not as apt to cause long term damage as say yelling while crossing a draw-bridge that THE BRIDGE IS UP OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO FLOOR IT AND JUMP IT THE BRIDGE IS UP WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!! Cause, Grandpa, I'm looking at you & sending you the bill for my therapy and vertigo ;)

Liam does, in fact, have a nose!

And, get this, he even knows where it is!

Who knew you could get so excited about their bebe toddler finally discovering his nose and actually pointing to it on demand like a trained monkey?!?!

Well, I am not ashamed to admit that I find it exhilarating & this is being proclaimed without any influence of cold medication. Although maybe that might help my exhilaration tone itself down a tad...

Not only can he correctly point out his nose but also his eyes (!), his mouth (!), his ear (!), his other ear (!!) and his hair (!) - Matias is working on eyebrowS at the moment - I submitted the request for TWO eyebrows because thankfully at the moment he does actually have two & I would like to celebrate that fact.

He knows his hands (!), foot (!), other foot (!), and belly (that's an old one so no ((!)) for you).

Stink that he is, I tried to get him to show Nana! and Grandpa this abuse of talent on the web cam the other day but the little trick monkey didn't want to perform.

Another really endearing thing he started doing this week was during one of our many readings of Goodnight Gorilla he started reading the Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, Goodnight, goodnight page out loud to himself BUT he reads it the same way I do and of course I had to rush over to him & slather him with kisses and squeezed him until his little eyes popped out of his head.

So sweet.

I love watching Liam just sit on the couch or his chair when he is reading to himself. Often now, he reads "out loud" and it's just so sweet to watch him sit there contently & read.

Thought of the Day (and possibly week!)

Why do publishers not make board books of ALL the Caldecott Medal books?

I would have every single one & then buy them all again for when he can read non-board book books.

It's a goldmine & they are ignoring it.

I am going to have a Caldecott Corner in my Boys Boys Boys clothing store. Right next to the dressing rooms & belts.

Heavy Handed Reader

Liam is not aggressive with his books BUT he does wear them out - his Goodnight Gorilla died a painful death of a broken spine & then pages just falling out & now his special Easter book from his Auntie has met a similar demise! Since he flips through them ALL the TIME & with great gusto (but not roughly) the spines just aren't holding up very well! I'm going to nicely tape this one back together but I am also going to put it away for "safe keeping". Better late than never, right?

Did anyone else have any experience with their little readers being a little too excited about the page turning?He's not damaging the books on purpose - they are just being well-read! I know you have to teach Book Respect but you also have to foster the Book Love & I think we are entering the Combine the Two Stage here at Casa Nino...

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!

All is right in the Fellow's World

We acquired a new copy of Goodnight Gorilla yesterday :)

He read it all the way through Target - happy as can be! When I handed it to him he "oh'ed & awe'ed" over it - it was too cute!

Sad News

Liam Fellow tore his Goodnight Gorilla in 1/2 the other day. I fear we have to retire it but not before getting a new one - that would be catastrophic!

Can we all give a moment of silence at bedtime for the loss of our first favorite book?

Few other things

While I'm on a posting streak I might as well fill y'all in on some other little things that have been happening or said lately...

• We no longer have to ride in the back seat with Liam on trips around town! He loves his new car seat and is happy looking out the windows (we keep one slightly open for some wind, which he loves) or sleeping peacefully.
• Matias asked "how old does he have to be before we can put skates on him?" GIGGLE.
• Liam is picking up his Gerber Puffs and feeding himself :) Still mostly using the grasp in the hand & open entire hand inside mouth maneuver but slowly learning his Pincer Grasp also!
• Matias said the other night "His Z is for Zamboni is like War & Peace for him" Which is totally true & utterly amusing to me. It's a long book with lots of words so right now he's really only getting to "C is for coach..." before searching out another book.
  

Book Shopping

We took Liam to B&N today and spent an hour and a half there! He LOVED every second of it and really only started getting whiny when we'd obviously been there too long for any activity.

We went through all the board books to find the ones he really loved. And he sat on the floor with Daddy & "road tested" them all before deciding on 4 books. 2 Baby Einstein, one that he cried when Mommy was holding it & a Animals Peek A Boo by the same person who did the Animal Kisses one that he loveslovesloves. And then the piece de resistance - Z is for Zamboni & it's an alphabet book ALL CENTERED AROUND HOCKEY! I used a gift card that I was holding onto from Grandma & Grandpa that they had given him for Halloween & I LITERALLY jumped up and down and hugged it to my chest when I found it.

Dork? Ah, who cares :) My SON has a hockey alphabet book :)