Progress on the Walking Front

Although Liam has not started walking yet, I believe he is just taking his time to figure out exactly how to do it & then once he does he will be OFF - just like his crawling & about everything else he has learned thus far!

What he does do expertly though is stand alone and multi-task ~ which I believe to be a feat in and of itself!

He can drink his bottle while standing alone, he can play with his music table without touching it for support & he reads his books while standing up.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Grandma tries to claim she saw him take his "first step" while no one else was in the room & even though I "believe" her I am not counting that since *I* was not there to see it happen :)

He has let go of the chair, or his table and swiveled around, placed his foot in a different spot and reached for something new to hang onto - first steps? I THINK SO!

I've done something Evil and moved the ottomans further back from the couch. This makes him have to let go of the ottomans to reach the couch and TAKE A STEP. Evil, yes? But using my powers for good? Yes! Although now my feet don't reach them...but seriously, I am not spending my days lounging on the couch with my feet up! Alright, maybe between 3-4 when the Bebe is sleeping but even then I'm not lounging and it has nothing to do with my feet not reaching anymore :) I digress though...

He has started using his walker a little more but still favors pushing the office chair or music table around. He has also started showing more interest in walking with us holding his hands and even, within the week, has shown interest in "coming to Mama/Dadda" when we are about A (as in ONE) step away from him. He prefers that we be on his level and not standing & even yesterday CHEATED at this little task and POUNCED into my lap instead of taking that ONE step. I do not think he's lazy or not ready to walk, I think he's got a good thing going with this ZOOM!ZOOM! and won't give it up until he can master the walking thing with as much confidence as he has with ZOOM!ZOOM!

I'll keep you posted though - as we always have the camera set to video these days - just in case, you know?

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

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!

(Long) Easter Weekend

I figured I should get on this before his 9 Month GushFest is due at the end of the week & I have a lot of recapping to do before then!

My parents came into town on Wednesday to help us finish getting ready for GG & Auntie Carol coming into town on Friday. I had tried to do as much cleaning as I could work around Liam’s schedule hoping that we/they didn’t have much to do before our company arrived…we really only had Things To Hang on the Walls, vacuuming (with two long hair cats that is REALLY a project), and final cleanings on the kitchen and such. I hope it wasn’t too much for everyone involved but it was REALLY nice to have an extra set, or two extra sets, of hands on hand to help with Liam while I tried to get the work done. Grandpa hung all the pictures while I played Little Helper – they all look so nice hanging, so much better than leaning against the foyer walls! Grandma was a TROOPER and took on the vacuuming duties – what a freaking difference it really makes to get all that hair up – you have NO IDEA how much those kids shed in a day. I know other people who have hard wood floors and no matter how much I sweep, there is still a ton the next day. I don’t know what they do overnight but I’m sure it involves pulling off hair and throwing it around – that is when Monkey is walking around screaming to no one in particular. Weirdo.

Grandma & Grandpa had a great time with Liam – watching him do all his new tricks – and learning more every day, it seemed! It’s nice to have people who are eager to feed him, maybe not so eager to change the diapers, but help out nonetheless, get him up from his naps & play with him non-stop. He didn’t have any “stranger anxiety” when they came – I think it helps him when he’s in his own environment & not at a “new” place plus “new” people. Like I mentioned earlier, Liam got his first set of swim trunks, a little swim jacket cover-up thingie, some shorts, a couple tshirts & totally kick ass adorable two piece pajamas! THANKS AGAIN! They also got to witness the Fellow taking a bath – finally getting to see what we mean by him “thoroughly enjoying himself” in the tub! OH! And also! Grandpa put all the child proof cabinet latches on in the kitchen. That is still taking some getting use to! THANKS FOR THAT! I would NOT have had the patience (or the tools) to do it properly!

Friday afternoon GG & Auntie Carol arrived from Montreal at Dulles & neither Liam or I could accompany them due to the amount of luggage they brought with them – even the Explorer could not fit us all! Liam was a prefect Fellow for everyone – no big displays of anxiety – just the normal 5 Minute Meet & Greet and then back to normal Fellow mode. Everyone was really happy to meet him & finally be able to spend time with him outside of cyberland! It was great to see my Grandma with him – even if she was a little antsy about holding him due to the damage the stroke inflicted in her arm/hands. Friday night/Saturday morning was a little rough for Mommy, Daddy & Liam will all the new strange noises that were happening during our normally quiet sleep time, so some of us were crankier than usual (guilty!) and a little on the tired side. I think Liam was up 5 times that night – and it is a little difficult to practice the CIO method with two people sleeping in the guest room & two more in our Ghetto Guest Room (aka the formal living room) so we just sucked it up & made the best of it while trying to get him to sleep peacefully.

Auntie Leanne came in the early afternoon after driving through the Great Blizzard of Spring 2007 (we actually only got about an inch but she made it seem like she drove through 12 foot drifts to get here!) and commenced Operation Spend Time with Liam!

No one could contain their Easter gifts to Liam until Easter morning so after he went to bed, and Grandpa was snoring on the couch, we got presented some wonderful gifts for my Little Big Boy. I had been searching high & low for the Anne Murray children’s album There’s a Hippo in my Bathtub for over a year and Auntie Carol managed to find it up north! I was really excited to get this for Liam since it was my favorite album growing up & I wanted to be able to pass it along to him. My favorite version of Teddy Bear’s Picnic is on there along with some other wonderful songs – what a great treat – a Canadian musician from our Canadian family! Auntie gave him an adorable assortment of socks – they are all just TOO CUTE! GG gave him money for a US Savings Bond which we plan on putting forth to his college fund. Grandma was the only one who could hold out until morning to give Liam his gifts…

We spent the rest of the night listening to stories, decorating the Easter table & hiding Easter candy for our hunt/race the next day. Liam slept a lot better that night since the new “noises” were, thankfully, being held to a minimum. YAY!

Sunday, we all got up & started getting ready to go to church downtown for Easter Mass at Holy Rosary. It was a really nice Mass & I always enjoy watching Daddy with Liam in church. Liam is normally well behaved if we have books & puffs with us to keep him entertained. Now he has started “singing” along with the choir (don’t know if 3 people make a choir…) & it’s just really adorable since he REALLY likes to be the loudest singer there! Then he bit the priest. But in all honestly, you really shouldn’t put your finger THAT close to a teething baby’s mouth without expecting him to take a little nibble out of your digit. Totally the priests’ fault. After we went to the Dubliner (the Irish Pub that is in the hotel we had our reception at, for those playing along at home) and had a nice Irish brunch, complete with pints & stolen pint glasses! Liam was, again, really well behaved – he ate his lunch after we ordered & sat eating his puffs while we ate – all in all it worked out quite nice! We drove back down Independence instead of Constitution so that we might catch a glimpse of the snow-damaged Cherry Blossoms but it really wasn’t worth looking at since they were already past-Peak & been done snowed on and all…and we headed back home to get ready for our Easter dinner & late starting Candy Hunt/Race.

Liam spent a lot of time with Auntie on the Guest “Bed” in the Ghetto Guest Bedroom & he basically mastered his Standing Up Without Holding Onto Anything! And he was ESTATIC! Every time he let go, we would ALL yell “HURRAY” and “WOW” and “YAY!!” and he would scream with delight – by the end of it all he was ‘saying’ HURRAY along with us & continues to do that any time he thinks he does something HURRAY Worthy – which to an almost 9 month old, pretty much constitutes every thing & anything! He had so much fun & was being such a good Little Big Boy, I’m so glad Auntie got to spend that time with him.

We had a fantastic Easter dinner & I TOTALLY won the Easter Candy Hunt/Race of 2007…Matias managed to make himself sick by eating ALL of the jellybeans he received & gathered up from me once he found out I didn’t enjoy the bean. Liam ate dinner with us on his NEW Bunnykin “china” dinner setting – it’s too cute & just about prefect! It’s not the same design of my set but I don’t care about that, it was so great to be able to give that to him (THANKS GRANDMA & GRANDPA!) and share that little bit of our tradition with him! Now he has his own set of Good China to use on special occasions :)

Everyone was packing up & moving out on Monday afternoon so we spent the morning making sure everyone had everything they needed for the rest of their trip & just hung out getting in all the Liam Time they could! GG got to give Liam a bottle, he didn’t flip & flop himself all over the place as he has been known to do lately & Auntie Carol even fed him a few meals claiming it’s the First Baby She’s Ever Fed, but as you can tell from my capitalization of the Event I somewhat doubt it. Auntie believes she peeked the first signs of his upper teffie coming in but I didn’t really spy or feel anything until today, actually, so I’m not really sure about that one! But he definitely did get his second lower teefie while they were all here! After everyone left, it was amazingly quiet & I think I could have napped for the rest of the week, if Liam would only have let me!

I’m amazed at how well he acted & reacted to all the commotion & new people hanging out in his house – it was a joy to be able to host everyone for Easter & have my family come together – all FOUR GENERATIONS! Hell, I’m surprised at how well I acted & reacted to all the commotion & new people hanging out in my house J It was a fantastic time & I’m really glad that we all got to be together & spend some QT hearing stories from the Olden Days, about Yupie being an asshole, and people losing their fingers at work. And thankfully, GG did NOT throw up on Auntie’s Blankie - she is learning to make it over the phone with GG’s guidance!

I’m just waiting on pictures from everyone so that I can post some here – hint hint! But I think that is all, & I HOPE I am not leaving anything out! Correct me, if I am, please! Oh yes, the Great Eggplant Reaction of Spring 2007 – wowzers – I’ll let that be a post all of its own!

Another Milestone

Liam pulled himself up to standing on the ottoman this morning!

I'm counting this one as his "official" pulled to standing since I saw it happen :)

He's also successfully turning himself in circles (while standing) from the ottoman to the couch (with our legs straddling him like a cattle chute)! And he's also shuffling along either the couch or ottomans - the beginning of his walking phase!

He very much loves to try and pull himself to standing while doing anything but particularly when he is in bed with us in the mornings - he uses the side of my body and goes into his Downward Facing Dog position and then attempts to right himself without holding onto anything. Sometimes he searches for our hands as support but mostly he's just trying to launch himself up to standing!

The forward crawl is now his main form of mobility - BEEP!BEEP! has been retired for the moment unless he needs it for a simple thing, like reaching a book or part of turning around to ZOOM!ZOOM! in the other direction.

Today is Palm Sunday so we are off to DC for church & then possibly to take in the Cherry Blossoms depending on everything...

Where did my baby go?

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, mobility & achievements for my Little Big Boy Liam - and this morning there was something else.

He was standing in his crib when I went to get him from his nap.

That means a number of things, the least of them being that he was able to pull himself up UNASSISTED by other humans. Now I get to add "worry about him flinging himself out of crib even though you lowered the mattress" to my List of Things I Cannot Control But Obsess Over Nonetheless. Lovely. Seriously, I am going to be OH SO MUCH FUN when this kid gets his driver's license. Also means we should probably take down that mobile. With that said, thankfully it was a gift that was bought heavily discounted (read: ebay) considering we just got it for him for Christmas...since we havent gotten very much "use" out of it...

Photo(s) of the Week

Quick recap of our week - photo journal style

Liam playing in his house & getting one more wear out of that shirt

Liam drinking his dinner bottle ALL BY HIMSELF! So much by himself that he didnt even want me to hold him. That stinker.

Liam pulled himself up and hugged that banister like it was his new best friend!

Happiness is eating...

...and drinking! He's gotten so much better with his sippy these days! Actually drinking from it!

The cuteness, it just abounds

We took a TON of pictures yesterday that I've uploaded to dropshots. I'm still missing the Outside Snow Adventure ones cause I have to pick the best ones first :)

There's a video of him screaming for E-I-E-I-O, one of him out in the snow and playing with Mommy, and then one last one of him going from sitting to standing and back down again - he's really proud of himself when he does this & he loves to do it all day long!

I'm going to post my favorite pictures here from a bunch of series we have but I uploaded most of them so you can see all of them, if you are so inclined.

Last one! (for now)

See, Grandma, told you I was "standing"!