18 Month Check-in

We had our 18 Month Check-in today & here are the little Liam Fellow's stats:

Height: 34" - 3/4" growth
Weight: 24.3 - less than a pound gain
Head Circumference: 19 1/4" - 1/4" growth

There is no concern about his weight since he is tall & healthy. There is concern about getting him off the bottle, which he has now become attached to - my new plan will be to fill all his cups up in the morning & put them back in the fridge, when it's drink time, he will choose his own from the already filled cups. This came to me this morning after putting a toddler cup with milk in the fridge last night that I knew he wasn't going to drink...this morning we opened the fridge for milk & he grabbed the cup out & drank it no problems. This way he can make his own decision without a bottle being in sight. I will also take his bottles out of his drawer so that he simply does not see them anymore.

I got asked the ominous question of "can he stack 3-4 blocks" and was able to answer a secure, resounding YES to that one! Score One for Mama! The whole "body parts" question was approved since he can point out MY body parts but only his own belly & man parts - there's no concern that he has zero awareness of his own nose at this point.

There was a long wait between seeing the doctor & getting our shots and during that time we had one of biggest little melt-downs to date. He just wanted to go to the car and put some clothes on and he cried big crocodile tears about it & wailed away about it - all of which I let him do (no amount of calming helped him) so that maybe they would hear him & hurry their asses up. He got a TB test since we traveled to Argentina & couldn't receive his chicken pox vaccine because those two conflict so when we go back on Friday (oh yay!) he will get his TB checked & his chicken pox. Fun times. Thankfully, Dada has volunteered to come with this time. He was a clingy little koala bear to me though throughout the whole immunization process which was endearing but made it wholly impossible to get out of there and to the CAR with any ease.

He's got a touch of eczema (that's what the rough patch was during his infection) so we have been advised to switch soaps & go with the Dove non-scented/non-perfumed liquid variety and move on up to the Adult Washing Supplies and further away from my little Wee Nino Johnson & Johnson Lavender Scented Goodness we have been using.

That's about all, I think, I have to report back on that :) I did successfully give him another toddler (elmo!) cup when we got home though so at the moment the score is:

Bottles: 0; Sippy Cups: 2 for the day!

Water

Liam is signing "water" in this picture - he's looking at the picture of him & me in DC.

Look! The Moon is chasing me...

Liam discovered the moon last week during the full moon cycle & he gets so giddy pointing it out to us in the sky at night, I love it...

In his ABC album I made him, I used a moon picture for M & now he sits & calls it "moon" every time he flips to that page. He's even started to call his Earth picture a moon :)

His vocabulary is coming along nicely, I think he is a little on the shy side so he's a boy of few words but his gibberish is expanding too! Liam is one to choose context over content any day - meaning he will use his words properly and not just repeat a random word out of context. He calls a cat a cat & a banana a banana, you know? He has also really grasped the concept of Water & will sign it whenever he spots any source of water - if he sees rain on a video, a pond, a pool, if you have the faucet running, etc.

Playing With Himself

My Little Big Boy has really started to get the hang of this Self Play business every one talks about. He's reading out loud to himself here but that Path of Destruction that is beyond him is just the calm before the storm - this Hurricane Season is not over yet, folks.
Mr. Destructo strikes again.

admit it, Mom, you thought I was going somewhere else with that subject title.

Too Smart for His Own Good; The Grocery Store Edition

Liam's a Watcher, an Observer, a Studier. Then he's a Doer & a Helper, no doubt about it.

Lately, he's been catching on to Things You Do in Steps; his favorite being the Grocery Store Check-Out.

He will now help load things onto the belt, calling the item by name, if he knows it & it's all very helpful until he tries to load something like the milk & then we all get a little nervous. I let him try & offer my help with the larger or more delicate things (think eggs) but he's very determined to do it all on his own, which I do let him do with as much hovering as he will tolerate.

Now he has to hand the discount card to the cashier & shows his disapproval if you happen to forget this step & usually it's me forgetting since Dada was the one who taught him how to do it so I have to apologize & hand it over so he can hand it back to the cashier who always, very nicely, re-swipes it for his pleasure.

Beyond having to be in charge of the discount card, he now has to swipe the credit card through the machine all on his own or else the wrath you will face is much stronger than when you simply forgot to let him swipe the discount card. It's not pretty, folks. And you pretty much know you're up a river since you cannot very well swipe it again without messing with your transaction. Typically, when Mama has forgotten this Cardinal Rule the cashier is nice enough (we have some regulars who are very friendly with Liam and accommodate his cuteness) to pretend to swipe the card for him themselves.

And again, it was Dada who taught & encouraged this new behavior but Mama who always forgets cause she's too busy arranging everything else occuring at the same time so often times I simply forget to let someone else be in charge. I'm trying to be better about letting him participate outside the house - he's involved in everything we do around here (save sweeping & litter box changing [but that's another story actually]) so it's only natural that it begin to extend outside the home, I'm just [once again] slow on the uptake; whereas my son is light years ahead of me & will probably figure out my forgotten ATM PIN long before I do.

A New Developement I'm Not So Thrilled With

In recent weeks, Liam has taken to throwing things at Mystic & I am not too pleased about this, for many reasons.

1) She's my cat
2) She's old - 15 1/2
3) She's sick - diabetic
4) She's not too thrilled about this

He usually throws his Leap Frog Fridge animals at her while she's eating on the other side of the baby/cat-be-safe gate & his aim is unusually good; hitting her about 1/2 the time and usually right about the head. Not good! When he's downstairs with her he tends to throw discs at her; granted those probably hurt a lot less but with some good trajectory he has been able to smack her square in the face, at short range, with good speed.

I fail to be able to 'punish' him accordingly because it really upsets me so I have passed this task onto Dada to handle without being as emotional about it as I appear to be. We've taken away his magnet set & have limited his access to discs but he enjoys putting them in the disc drive so there's that to contend with also. Monkey seems to have escaped this attention simply by becoming a recluse & not leaving the confines of a safe compound found upstairs far behind the baby/cat-be-safe gate; thus making him a somewhat lonely & Needy (yes, a capital N) Monkers when naptime & nightnight times roll around.

Beyond the obvious "take the offending items away" & telling him "no throw at Mystic" does anyone have any suggestions for our little Fellow?

Lost: One Monorail Train

One little boy searches for his lost monorail train -



Don't fret - Mama moved the ottoman & retrieved it for him!

Praise

Liam received the Light & Sound Town from Constructive Play for Christmas & he LOVES the snot out of this toy. His favorite part of this is the monorail train that is magnetic & pulls itself up the other side of the mountain (unseen) to shoot through the tunnel, repeat...
Sometime last week the train stop pulling itself up the mountain but was still sticking to it & then earlier today the car stopped going around the track. Total bummer. And the Fellow was bummed about the situation - constantly, nicely, asking me to make the train go when it wouldn't preform for him after pushing the little orange lever. Sadness abounded!

I looked on the website & found a 'orders inquiry' email & an 'all other inquiries' email so I emailed the 'all others' last week and didn't hear anything back from them. I emailed Nana! & Grandpa last night to see if Santa left a manual or product information card with the toy over Christmas and he hadn't but they also didn't have any fix it suggestions for me so I decided to email the 'orders inquiry' email and see where that got me. If they told me to email the 'all others' I could safely proclaim 'no response in a week' & then see if that got me anywhere.

Turns out I didn't need to take it any further! Within five minutes I had received an email from them stating all they needed was a zip code & last name where the product was delivered & they would send me a REPLACEMENT along with a paid return shipping label for the defective product! HURRAY!!

All of this happened within 10 minutes as I emailed them back with the needed information & a new toy is on its way today! I'm really happy & appreciative that they took such quick action with barely any information needed & I will gladly order from them again & highly suggest this toy, especially, to anyone out there with a little busy body who loves trains & cars and little things to make them go. The price is really good for all the happiness this has brought Liam & I'm even more thankful that it's all being taken care of so easily!

Go forth & purchase from Constructive Play!

Too Smart for His Own Good; the Chupie Edition

Liam has 4 chupies that [are supposed to] stay in his crib after we get him out. We just throw them down after he's been picked up & there they stay until another sleep. Pretty simple, right?

He's got a blankie that he sleeps with & a thick blanket that I line the crib with to stave off the coldness from the cotton sheets - so usually his chupies are on the blanket.

When we play in his room & upstairs, he goes into his crib through the rails & grabs for his chupies - the new Too Smart for His Own Good twist on this is that now when the chupies are out of reach & on his blanket he just pulls the blanket through the rails until the blanket brings the chupies within reach!

In my mind this shows a lot of thought & action/reaction thinking on his part ~ first he knows he cannot reach it & without asking us for help he deduced how to get it on his own. He knew that by pulling the blanket, it would bring his chupie closer & that he would reach his goal. Gone are the days were he has to ask for big help with these things & can now sit & figure out for himself how to obtain his goal.

Of course, like every Mother, I just think he's brilliant but it is really exciting to watch it happen right before your eyes & I'm always thinking that he's doing these things way ahead of schedule but I fear it's just way ahead of my schedule!

First Snow with Mama

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Now with More Whine!

The whining today is really, seriously about to push me over the edge. Just about 11 hours of straight whining every single time he opens his mouth. And there's nothing wrong, well minus the whole issue that he cannot go outside any single time he pleases not ONLY because it's snowing but also BELOW freezing & you just got over a infection that included a 103 temp.

Driving me nuts. My jaw is killing me from clenching my teeth & now I have a headache because of it. He finally calmed down but would only 'allow' me to sit on the couch or else the whine would return for me to do something else that we were not going to do.

Like watch another video. Or throw puzzle pieces at Mystic. Or play in the pantry. Or the fridge.

New Rule: No videos on the TV or computer before 9am and after 6pm.

He's got plenty of awesome toys & he needs to play with them.

(can you hear me saying that to him fifty million times with my jaw clenched shut?)

Now with More Snot

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Mystic snuggled right up with him (yes, that's considered snuggling for Mystic) and insisted on a blankie for herself (I'm so not even kidding here) and sat with the Fellow for a morning cat nap! His hair is a mess because it is encrusted with snot. But he's happy & charming, as usual so I'll take it!

And plus, don't we all need a snuggle with a kitty cat when feeling particularly snotty?

Stuck in the Moment with You

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

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

What Day is it?

Thankfully, Liam slept through the night last night in his own room!! I think this is our road back to normal. I honestly don't know what day it is & the whole house has been running off of very little sleep since Friday but I think we are on the mend!

He's got some funky hair - we are guessing it's loaded & stiff with snot. Lovely. His PJ top had a ton of snot on it this morning as reported by Dada. He's doing a little mouth-breathing but I cleaned his passage ways out pretty good with a nice warm facecloth so I hope he's all clear to breathe a little better today.

I feel much better myself - getting an uninterrupted nights' sleep really does do wonders for your own mental health & your ability to deal with a toddler who also isn't napping well. He really wanted to go full force yesterday but I knew he wasn't ready so he would go 100% for about 5 minutes going bat-shit crazy then crash out for the next 1/2 hour or so. I am hoping he gets his appetite back today too!

P.S. The quarter sized rash on his belly is winter eczema not Roseloa! That's pretty much cleared up also, thankfully.

Extended Hours

Thankfully our doctor does extended hours tonight for Liam's fever, which had abated all the way down to 98.8 has risen this evening to 103.1!

He was doing fine today - took his regular sized nap - but then got lethargic around 5pm. Lethargic to the point of falling asleep in my arms. When he woke up he was warm but we couldn't tell if it was body heat from sleeping tuckled up against me. Matias took his temp while changing him 20 minutes later to discover his temp had risen the highest yet over the last 3 days.

We are going to the doctor in about 30 minutes - I will keep y'all posted.

I wish they had something earlier but am SO SO SO thankful that they have anything at all tonight & we aren't faced with the emergency room.

EDITED: He doesn't have strept but it is a viral infection. Nothing they can do for him except let it run its course & Motrin. His cough is horrible though makes me cringe every time I hear it.

This Weekend We Bring You - No Sleep! All the Time!!

So. Tired.

Liam's fever abated on Friday afternoon but was back up to 102.2 on Friday night so he went to bed with some Tylenol in his system.

Then he woke up in the middle of the night & wanted to cuddle with me, so I let him come back to bed with me (Matias was working on our server upgrade so was pulling an all-nighter). He slept peacefully until morning and woke up with a 98.8 temp so we thought we had cleared the storm.

Did I mention that on Friday he only napped for 20 minutes? And it took nearly 1 1/2 hours to get those 20 minutes out of the way?

I should mention that Saturday he slept for even less - he was awake before I was done with my shower & I take 10 minute showers. I could hear him crying in the shower. Then he didn't sleep anymore until bedtime.

Then night time was a joke. I had gone to Kym's to crop & came home before midnight to find Matias up with Liam. He came down about 15 minutes later with Liam upstairs crying for me - I go up & he's asleep before I can sit down with him. I rock him for 30-40 minutes for good measure since Matias had told me that he would nod off, stir & wake - lather, rinse, repeat - for the entire time that I was gone. I think he stayed asleep for a couple of hours until he didn't (yeah the brain ain't working) & Matias brought him into bed. Where he promptly stayed awake, crying (a really sad cry) with a slam-dunk-break-your-heart-ending of "Mama" after every crying jag.

Finally at 7:30ish I got him his bottle & brewed some sweet, sweet, Tim's and now, I am hoping that he has fallen asleep because I just had to go back up there & rock him before he threw himself back into his crib begging for sleep.

And to top it all off, we now have snot. Snotty sneezes have descended. Seriously, I think I would give my right arm (I'm left handed!) to be able to come home from CT without a cold. It's hard enough sometimes to come home from traveling & readjust to 'home-life' with a toddler but it's even worse when that toddler is sick & down for the count for the next week or so THEN add in, a possible, sick Mama & Dada & you begin to wish that the NJ Turnpike would someone collapse into the sound.

Today is a Sick Day

Liam has a little round rash between his belly button & top of his diaper which is not going away with any treatment of any lotion we have on hand & this morning he woke up with a fever of 100.7 OR 101.3 (done in the bum but the darn thermometer is never, ever consistent) plus he's extra cuddly & zero appetite minus drinking (HI! Run-on Sentence!) double bottles of milk.

I went to babycenter & looked at the fever symptoms & discovered that he might have Roseola - and there's nothing to be done about it. I'm going to call the doctor if his fever get worse & lukewarm baths don't help him. Basically all you can do is let it run its course as it is a viral infection that usually incubates for 7-10 days after contact. Once again, I think Liam got sick from being in CT. This would be the 3rd instance in a row of him or all of us getting sick after visiting Matias' family. I asked Matias to contact his sister to check on Luccia's status to see if she has it or alert her that she might be getting it.

Liam's only had one previous fever & you can just tell he's not himself even before taking his temp - right now he's wrapped up in his Toy Story blanket with Dada downstairs & I am not hearing a boo from him. He was in my lap constantly this morning (something I don't complain about) but coupled with him feeling hot, I knew something wasn't right.

I hate, hate, hate when he's sick like this - I just want to make it go away.

Remember it like yesterday

This was taken a year ago. And I do remember this day like it was yesterday. It was a great afternoon - weather not unlike we've had the past couple days - warm, sunny & just right to go watch Matias play soccer. We spent a fantastic afternoon on the blanket, bundled up together, playing with a soccer ball of our own, smiling at each other & playing with my hair as I let it dangle into his face ~ still a favored thing of his to do. He still gives you that smile with that little glimmer of mischief in his eyes, a little crooked, making you work for it always knowing that he's enjoying the special time spent with you. I often wonder where did my baby go but the answer is in my little boy's eyes all along - I'm right here, Mama, looking to you for more smiles & more hair dangling time, please and my heart stops aching for the past when he was just a Bebe and stops to refresh in the moment of now.

Yesterday was a Smart Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brrrr, it's cold!

Liam got his new winter jacket today & we just had too much fun laughing at with him over how cute he was waddling around! Here he is pointing out an airplane to us...

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Dialing Back the Einstein

Ok, not really. But I do find it peculiar that Liam is picking up a LOT of words from his videos, mainly Noah's Ark but not saying words he has heard every single day of his 17 month life!

Two days ago, while eating lunch he was watching a video (not a normal thing but lunch coincided with the video already being on...) and when we got to the The Outback portion he spouted the following words, clear as day:

Wombat
Lizard
Koala Bear
Kangaroo

And he has continued to repeat them even without the video on. Aren't those words a little difficult to say? A little more difficult than "up" or "chupie" or "noni"? And yet he doesn't say any of those words! He's baffling me!

I also found in his Animal Alphabet Elmo (and still says LA LA and not Elmo!) a two page spread with a Koala, Kangaroo AND Lizard on it - I'm sure we are fresh out of luck with the whole Wombat options and he repeated them again while looking at different images of the animals. Which only leads me to correctly assume that he DOES know what those animals are & is not simply associating with the video. Why those 4 though? Wouldn't cow, pig or lion be easier? He's pushing the multisyllabic (wonder who he gets his vocab from!?!? HA!) words before his one, easy as pie, syllable words & it's baffling me, people!!

Also this morning he has started to pick up "turtle", "octopus" & "dolphin" from his bath toys Santa gave him - don't judge, they haven't made it up stairs yet.

And...is it wrong that I'm teaching him to say "ding! Turkey's done!" when his kitchen stove timer goes off?

More later, of course! I have lots to share - just settling back in AGAIN! Photos might be on the plentiful side as they are easier to tell my story quickly - so my apologies in advance for those who cannot stand the sight of Liam any longer ;)

Top Chef

Number of Hours Spent Putting it Together: 5
Number of Tools Used: 2
Number of People Who Put it Together: 1
Number of Times that One Person Swore While Putting it Together: 4
Number of Time that One Person Made Themselves Bleed with a Screwdriver: 3

Seeing the Joy in the Fellow's Face when Playing with His New Kitchen: Priceless

This is Christmas

The Wonder of Christmas through the Eyes of a Fellow
upon discovering Santa had visited

Santa Claus!

Hewitt Family Picture with Santa

Such a good boy - no crying at all!

Papa Noel

Even in CA, I don't think we did Santa pictures in shorts & flip flops!

Riddle me this

Why would Liam not eat any of the delicious table foods (minus the yucky-to-me blood sausage) while we were in Argentina, even the fresh ravioli (but would eat the boxed mac & cheese), even the bananas BUT when we were eating our Thai take-out last night did he practically beg me for some spring roll & panang chicken and rice last night?

He ate it up. LOVED those spring rolls. Didn't bat an eye at the spiciness of the chicken or anything. I think he even might have disliked the whiteness of the rice, preferring the chicken & rolls over the rice.

Then he refused to eat his turkey & carrots that I had made for him. His tummy was full so we didn't push it. But I was anxious to get him back on his meats after being eye-rollingly annoyed that he dissed all the fantastic meats available to him in Buenos Aires.

And we're back!

Although still not in fully functioning mode as it took me three times to type that title up there correctly...

Eventually, I will get around to finishing up our daily recaps but for now I want to give y'all a shortened version of How Our 20 Hour Delay Occurred Upon Leaving Argentine or Big Middle Finger to You, American Airlines!

The airport in BA has no less than 7 check-in points before getting to your gate, be it security or simply practicing their English by reading our passports & tickets multiple times before sending us no our way SO this literally takes the allocated 3 hours you leave to check-in for an international flight. The FIRST time we checked in Luisita strolled the Fellow around while we waited in the first check-in line (over an hour) so he was "taken care of" and very happy. And also? Very loud! Never knew my boy was that loud until you could hear him calling out "Mama!" and "Dada!" over the enormous hum of the airport. The board said our flight was "on time" so we were feeling pretty dang good about our departure. We had no problems going through all the lines, paying the airport tax (separate line!) and going through security & customs (we got fast-tracked through customs because of The Fellow though) and finally getting to our gate.

Upon arrival at our gate, the board was stating our flight was delayed 15 minutes. No big deal, right? And thank you AA for telling us about the measly 15 minute delay, right? The 15 minute delay turned into 45 while we waited to hear if they could fix our mechanical problem. The Fellow turned into The Boy Who Cannot Sit Still & we let him run around (after putting his shoes on, thankyouverymuch) and he wreaked havoc on the Duty Free store. At this point, we decided to tempt fate & try to get into the Admiral's Club with my dad's card - SUCCESS! There was so much chaos in there they would have let Osama in there without checking his card first. We set him up with a bottle & a Signing Times video (or two) while we had some delicious snackies ourselves & waited out the "delay". I went out to the smoking lounge and watched the board and noticed that our flight was no longer there, as it was just a mere second ago. No notice of cancellation, no nothing, just gone! I ran back to Matias in the Admiral's Club who was watching the board himself & we gathered up our stuff in the midst of all the Business Class & Platinum people getting their flights changed inside the Club and ran back to the gate. Enter Mass Chaos. There was a flight leaving right then for Miami connecting through to JFK but all the Admiral's Club people had already gotten those free seats and such so us lowly Tourist Cabin folk had to wait it out, all the while they had STILL not "officially" cancelled the flight. It's about 11pm at this point & our Little Boy is not asleep or happy in his stroller anymore, thankyouverymuch. No one could have expected him to be, that's just crazy talk right there.

At this point they tell us we are being put up in a hotel in El Centro cause there are no hotels out by the airport (not that there was no rooms, there are no hotels!) & that we would be taking remises (not licensed taxis) to the hotel. We have to back out through immigration, as if we were arriving, and gather around the remis stations. Turns out those are all closed for the night since no other flights are arriving. Lovely. About an hour later, they finally arrange car service for everyone & we are 2nd in line (behind an elderly couple) to get a car, thankyouverymuch nice remis man who noticed our child when AA could have cared less & basically told Matias as much.

We take the 40 minute cab ride to the hotel (the PanAmerican for those keeping track), checked in & were told that they had dinner waiting for us but that meant keeping Liam up with us (which he turned out to be fine with another bottle, of course) and by the time we actually made it back up to the room it was 2am. 2am, people! Liam fell asleep really quickly all snuggled up next to me like a Little Fellow & we didn't wake up until 9:30!

Left the hotel, after a very nice breakfast and stealing 2 bananas, milk & another yogurt, at 12:30 and got to the airport 1 hour before AA even opened. Bummer. The Fellow had fallen asleep in the car & was still asleep in his stroller until 2:30 rolled around when the check-in lines opened. Our flight was never cancelled, just "delayed" for 20 hours...and the new departure time was not a scheduled flight so all the AA people had to come into work early to check us all in. We finally got through security and all that rigamorow and couldn't find our flight on the board, we had no idea which of the three AA gates we were departing from & the fact that our flight wasn't listed on the board somewhat frightened us, but knowing that it was not a regularly scheduled flight kept our spirits up somewhat, you know? Our flight was delayed another hour or so due to heavy tarmac traffic & they couldn't get it out of the garage and over to our gate in a timely manner - it is quite typical of Argentine's to not leave on time OR leave enough time to arrive at the intended destination - y'all know this is you know my husband ;)

Finally boarded our 5pm flight closer to 6pm. Fellow was no longer a Fellow. He was a cranky bebe who didn't know what to do with himself but did know that he no longer wanted to be restrained or sitting. Welcome to our hour or more of crying on a plane. Signing Times saved the day though, as did dinner (more yogurt & milk along with a roll from my dinner - he turned his nose up at the pasta they were serving) and finally after changing him into his footed jammie he was sound asleep - and all the passengers rejoiced! I kid - they were really good about him being so cranky because who wouldn't understand his situation after all, we had all been through it ourselves & who wouldn't want to cry & kick and scream over it all, right?

10 hour flight & 2 hour time change difference, a fast-tracked trip through customs (thank JFK!) and we were collecting our luggage at 3:30AM. Matias' parents made the 45 minute drive to collect us & thankfully Liam slept on the drive home & went back to sleep relatively easily at 5:20AM on Monday morning only to awake at 9:30AM to start his day! Matias got up with him (as if our "agreement" - when at your parent's house, you are the Parent in Charge...) & allowed me to sleep until 11AM. Liam went back down for a nap at 12:30 and slept for two more hours but really hit a wall around 7PM (9PM Argentina time) and we had to shovel food into him & get ourselves all gathered up & packed into the car so that we could leave before a meltdown occurred OR before he fell asleep in the house. He slept the entire time in the car, came home & was a little overwhelmed about finally being Home (also it was 1:30AM) and we thought we might almost have to have him in bed with us to comfort him but he did end up falling asleep after 2AM in his own crib & waking up at 6:30AM (8:30 Argentina time)! Yuck. I brought him back to bed with a bottle hoping he would chill and go back to sleep since it was still dark outside but he wouldn't - so I put him back in his crib & crossed my fingers that he would soothe himself back to sleep and with only 5 minutes of crying he resigned himself (maybe?) and just fell back asleep until 10:30! YAY! Then he actually took a 3 hour nap later which was a blessing for us cause we were/are exhausted, as you can imagine!

In all a normal 10 hour flight (with 2 hour time difference makes it a 12 hour flight) took over 36 hours to complete. With an 16 month little boy. Our new nickname for him is Little Trooper - and he earned it, he's such a great little guy & I couldn't have asked for anything more from him (well maybe to eat more table foods...) on this trip - especially considering our "delay".


I obviously have more to say about our time in Argentina but I am still trying to catch up with "normal life" & getting ready for Christmas (!!) so I'll try and be current with everything & detail more about our trip as time allows :)

It's great to be home, I missed everyone immensely & cannot wait to Celebrate Christmas at Camp Carolina!!!

Listo!

I'm still here! Just lacking in computer time & energy but I'm uploading another batch of 70 odd pictures to dropshots so I thought I would update here too so that I could give you come more background behind the pictures :)

The past couple days have been a little quieter during the days but our nights have been late (for Bebe) and busy but very nice. Pepe y Lusitia take "siestas" for real so we've been finding ourselves sleeping along with them & Liam. Thankfully, Liam has been taking nice long naps (about 3 hours) so we've been out & about in the mornings & again in the evenings, then we come home, have dinner, a sink bath & go to bed - notice a routine here? It's good though - I'm very happy he's napping so well but the naps I've been taking have been screwing with my night time routine & I have found myself unable to go to sleep before 2am at times...and then up when Liam's up in the AM!

So let's see if I can remember all that we've done in the past few days!

Today we:

• went to UniCenter (again) - Matias bought his birthday present from his parents (a fountain pen) & we got Liam's picture taken with Papa Noel (Santa!)! He was a little freaked out so we are in the picture with him. We pick them up tomorrow & if you can believe it or not it only cost $8pesos (divide by 3 to get $USD)!!
• had lunch & took a siesta
• went to Recolta & shopped around these way too high priced (think Rodeo Drive) stores which I cannot stand
• went to San Telmo (one of my favorite areas in town) and walked around for a short time because all the stores were already closed for the day. I really want to spend more time there & just soak in the "vibes", it's kind of the artsy part of town. We went around to a few places & got a couple presents (!). I really wanted to stop & get some coffee and sit around for a little while but we ended up in flea market sort of place & got some peaches & squash for Liam
• went/came home, gave Liam dinner, a sink bath & put him to bed
• had dinner ourselves, sweated to death (it's over 90 today & no AC, mind you) & watched Capote

Yesterday we:

• walked a 10k - this is such a longer story but here's the gist of it - Mike was running in it in Tigre & we wanted to go cheer him on. Pepe couldn't find the train station where the ended so he just sort of randomly dropped us somewhere. Matias decided to follow some runners since they were obviously going in the right direction, right? Turns out we followed them around about 80% of the course. The train station was behind where we got dropped off. It was really hot, I had non-Croc flip flops on & jean capris (yes, mom my hot ass pants) & I was not in a happy mood at all. Needless to say, we never found Mike.
• we took the train home
• we went over to Mike's to celebrate Tomas & Maria's birthdays that are coming up. Mike made about 5 different kinds of specialty pizzas - they were fantastic! Olives & blue cheese & onions - oh my! Then we had two kinds of cake AND about 4 kinds of ice creams (these Argentine's love their ice cream)
• we watched the Tigre vs. Argentina's Jr. soccer game
• we all got tired out from watching Liam run around & play with the dog - I cannot tell you how many times they asked me if he was always as active as he was being. The answer is yes, always yes. Then the next comment is usually "does he ever get tired?" or "does he sleep well?" - yes, yes he does. Thankfully!
• went to Txiki (she corrected my spelling! Matias actually spelled it wrong...) y Toto's to hang out & watch the Polo match from earlier that day.
• put Liam down for sleep & woke him back up to go home at 1am - he did really well with being woken up & taken somewhere else but didn't really go back to sleep very well when we got home
• ended up with Liam sleeping with us cause once he finally fell back asleep in the pack and play something fell over outside or the shutter slammed against his window & he woke up frightened but thankfully slept the rest of the night peacefully snuggled against his Mama

The day before yesterday we:

(I just checked to see the last time I updated & realized to my dismay that I haven't updated since Wednesday!! I might not make it all the way back till then tonight!)

• finally got some pictures of Liam drinking mate - he hasn't quite grasped the straw concept 100% yet but sometimes he does get some pulled through! He's also pretty much perfected drinking solo from a Big Boy Cup so we give him Soda (seltzer water) as often as he asks for it & that's quite often
• went to the grocery store for more Asado fixings - actually only Matias went & I stayed behind to put captions to the pictures & talk to my mommy
• went to the Polo game!! It was very exciting & we actually had FRONT ROW SEATS!! It's not like I know what's happening but, man, the sound of those horses running full out right past you - very cool! I'll go through the videos to pick out the best ones to illustrate that para vos! (spanish is just expanding daily.) Liam was in fact the Best Dressed Fellow there - sporting his blue & chocolate brown polo shirt & madras shorts with his bucket hat - there was no finer Fellow to be found!
• went/came home, went out to dinner, Liam had mashed potatoes (called pure here) & we came home and went to bed

I think that's about all I can handle for tonight (it's 1:30 our time) but I will try & get more written for y'all! I didn't realize I had been so lax about it, but I think it's because I've been keeping up with the dropshots :(

Tomorrow we are:

• going shopping in Tigre
• going on a boat ride along the river & (I think) it stops at some of the islands as well - one aunt & cousin are coming along with Pepe y Lusitia & us three
• going to dinner at Toto's cousin (they are DuPontes) who is the keeper of the Family Archive & wants to meet us as Matias is the First Nino Grandson & Liam is the First Nino Great Grandson

Busy busy! Just like my son ;)

Liam is definitely saying "chau" though & it's very, very cute. He misses his Nana! & his kitties though for sure & loses his mind when he sees pictures of Nana! and smiles until he face breaks when he sees any gatitos (kitties) [I should start charging a fee for these spanish lessons, people]. I am finding myself missing talking to people or more simply said speaking english so I do look forward to coming home to that!

P.S. the title of this post means Let's Go or Alright & it's my New Favorite Thing to Say.

Hold onto your hats!

I've uploaded 91 pictures from our first 24 hours here ;)

I'm going to do the next batch of 100 or so tomorrow as I am not so good at the laptop mouse (nearly typed moose and thought that sounded right...think I need to go to bed!) & I've made several mis-clicks which have caused some very bad words. Thankfully, Matias is the only other person in the room who speaks English.

Here's another quick update from the past couple days or whatever we are at ;)

Today we:

• went shopping in Martinez & bought Liam a belt (!), a play coffee/tea set to play with here (the toys, they are lacking) & a birthday present for Pillar.
• went to CASI Rugby Club to have lunch with Txixi y Toto & run around the rugby field
• went to Tio Negro's house & had a driving tour of Tigre - an awesome part of town that I had no idea existed - river front properties & markets along the banks
• went to Txixi y Toto's house to watch the Boca vs. Tigre soccer game which determined the numero 1 & numero 2 (see how my spanish is just expanding daily??) spot in the club soccer leagues
• came home to Pepe y Lusitia's where two Great Aunts were visiting - one works at a vet & brought 3 kittens over. Liam lost his mind. He very much so misses his kitties & he misses seeing cats everyday, I think.
• had dinner, had a sink bath & went to bed!

Yesterday we:

• went to Palermo (closest barrio to El Centro) & drove around a huge park while Liam napped
• had lunch in the park after Liam woke up
• walked through the rose garden & fed a duck all by ourselves (and by "ourselves" I mean Liam threw a graham cracker all by himself!)
• discovered fountains & Liam's undying love for them
• walked about 3-4 miles (not even kidding) into Buenos Aires
• had delicious lunch (Parillo = grill) & after asking for a GLASS of wine, I got the whole bottle & you know there's no such thing as left over wine
• walked about 2 more miles into El Centro & did some window shopping
• had coffee at my favorite place in El Centro
• walked about 2 more miles in the direction we had just come to catch the train home
• paid .30 for an hour train/metro ride
• had dinner, had a sink bath & went to bed!

As you can see, we have been REALLY busy! Liam has taken to napping in his stroller all the time & also in the car. He took his first nap before 11am this morning & then again in the afternoon while in the car touring around Tigre. I could not be prouder of him & how big of a trooper he has been through all the changes, excitement & traveling around he's been doing.

It sounds like he is starting to say "chau" & knows who his Great Grandparents are when you ask him. He has always given you his cheek to kiss when you ask him for a "beso" & it's really cute to watch him offer his cheek up when all his relatives ask for a beso!

Everyone has fallen in love with him & cannot get over how smart he is (their words, not mine!) & it's fun to watch him get fussed over in a different language ;) Also, I cannot count how many times I've been told "he never stops, he's always going, always touching & exploring" to which I simply nod my head & say "si".

I'll upload more tomorrow & update more as my thoughts come back to me! If you think it's tiring touring around like this on full steam by yourself, just wait until you do it with a toddler who doesn't like to sit still or stay in his stroller. Exhausted doesn't begin to cover it! But there's something about wine with dinner after the Fellow has gone to bed that helps get at least a 1/2 wind back under my belt!

I also never thought I would be scouting out good playgrounds or parks or places to let my child run around for a while & be free from their stroller. But, it's fantastic & I'm so glad we are able to do this, as stress free as it has been (knock on wood, bite your tongue, throw some salt...) up until now!

P.S. Matias' nose is peeling & I'm getting my hair cut on Friday!

Greetings from Buenos Aires!

We are here, safe & [mostly] sound!

Lots to talk about of course, but very little time - very busy making the rounds of visiting family & sight-seeing.

Quickly though - the flight was, I dare say, near perfect! Liam Fellow slept like a champ & he ended up with his own seat since we played a little game I call "buy the outside seats in a three seat row & pray no one buys the middle seat & give it to your child at no cost to you". We got many a compliment from other parents about how well behaved he was & I couldn't agree more!

His schedule is out the window though - which is somewhat to be expected during travels, time changes & new houses to sleep in. Or in our case, sometimes more than one house a day to make your bed, if you so chose. He napped for about an hour in his pack and play (loaned to us by a cousin - one of 25 or so) but then every single time we get in the car (which has been about 3 times a day) he sleeps the entire time. He normally doesn't sleep in the car at all at home so this is unusual for him - so we are not getting our nice 3 hour naps in but he's been really good about it all so I'm not too "upset" about it. Speaking of sleeping places he normally doesn't - he slept in his stroller today! He has NEVER done that!

There is NO jarred food here for toddlers - most babies go from nursing & cereal to table foods with nothing in between so his diet has had some holes in it but he has been eating some mac & cheese and I also got him some chicken tenders. Yogurt is plentiful here for bebes but I am a little worried that he's not getting a well-rounded diet, you know? And for some reason, he's given up bananas. And it's not because they are local either cause I brought one from CT & he wouldn't eat that either!

Liam's been spending a lot of time outside in his Great Grandparent's (Pepe y Lusitia) backyard & finding lots of "trouble" to get into, of course! Matias' new nickname for him is Rascal ;)

So far he's met all four of his Argentine Great Grandparents, 3 Great Tios & 1 Great Tia, 5 second cousins & 2 3rd cousins! He is taller than every single two year old we have met & Matias is "sick of hearing" how big he is from everyone ;)

He has already been to an Equestrian Event - the Military National Competition where his Great Uncle won the entire competition! He's going to an Asado on Thursday where Dada is in "charge" of making all the meat for everyone! He's going to CASI Rugby Club on Wednesday with his Great Grandpa & Grandma (Txixi y Toto)! He's going to his second cousin's (Pillar) 3rd birthday party on Wednesday! And on Saturday we are going to the Polo Competition with a General & a Colonel (Pepe)!

In between all of these exciting events, we are touring around town & eating delicious foods & drinking delicious wines :) Also, Liam got his first scraped knee (we took pictures of course & everyone laughed at us!) at the Military Club the other day - fell on the drive chasing after a polo ball that he and a little two year old girl, Valentina were playing with.

And oh yeah, I'm already sunburned!

When Matias empties the memory card I will upload some pictures here & on dropshots, I promise!

And Nana! He's still asking for you.

Hugs & kisses to all my Northern Hemisphere bound people :)

And then I took a nap

Liam spent most of yesterday playing with his cousin Luccia & boy, is she one bossy little girl! It's quite comical though but I'm not really a fan of someone YELLING for another person to come and do something for them, or stop doing something they are doing or just for a little smack down. They played really well together & even did a little bit of "time" sharing - one would be in the Flintstone car while the other helped me push them from behind & then we would switch! That worked out quite well until they both wanted the car & couldn't fit in at the same time & that was about 30 minutes into playtime so, really? It's not too bad :)

P.S. I haven't had coffee yet - it's sitting next to me piping hot just waiting for me to consume it. But it's quiet & everyone is at church (who know Thanksgiving was a Catholic holiday?) so I'm taking some me time.

Speaking of me time - Matias took Liam to Circuit City yesterday & I took a nap! While watching L&O on TBS! On cable! YIPPEEE!!

Liam & Mystic

I'm surprised at what good buddies they are these days - these mobile days. It makes me quite proud of both of them. Mystic has been coming around more these days during the "waking hours" than Monkey has & I'm not really sure why that is...

But Liam is really good with her - petting her very gently, not pulling anything, no more screaming in her face but he does that still with Monkey (which might answer my question...) & helping me out with her.

He will unlock the sliding glass door for her to go out back & "do her business", he was playing in the pantry yesterday and actually took down some cat bowls & put a can of wet food in it and stirred it with his spoon he had been carrying around! When she comes in from outside he goes over to the gate going upstairs and helps me open it cause she always goes upstairs to eat something when she comes in!

She will sit around in the family room & let him pet her - which, honestly isn't something she lets just anyone do. It's not like they are BFF or anything cause she will still high-tail it out of here if he gets too worked up around her but the amount of time that she spends in his presence is amazing to me. And that he helps her out & knows her routine shows me that he pays attention to her & knows what she wants before she even wants it.

I just hope that their relationship continues to grow & that he can continue to help me out with her through the years.

Progress on the Self-Feeding Front

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body parts

Liam is quite good at pointing to his body parts but it seems like this is something he likes to do in private and not for an audience!

I've been practicing this with him so we could "show off" for Nana! & Grandpa but he won't budge ;)

He can point to his eyes, nose, mouth & belly - and he also points to MY eyes, nose, mouth & belly (that's the fun one!) but has not done it with anyone else in the room - not even Dada!

I just have to get him to be a little more gentle when it comes to pointing these things out on my face - I have come away with bleeding scratches before!

We are off to CT tomorrow night for Thanksgiving then to Argentina on Friday, like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to try and post every day while gone but, of course, we will have to see how that goes.

Squirrel Boy.

I mentioned in the sidebar that I had lost possession of ALL four of Liam's chupies - I have never misplaced those chupies before & I sure felt a sense of defeat in losing them.

Today while showing my mom our portable car seat for Argentina, I noticed that Liam had put a soda (seltzer water) bottle screw top into this hole in the box. It's a hole about the size of a birdhouse opening & I think simply allows the consumer to touch the fabric or see the pattern - totally useless in other words.

Upon further inspection, I discovered TWO of the chupies squirreled away in the box via the viewing of the fabric hole. At first, I just glimpsed one & then after I dug it out, I realized that a second one was hiding behind!

When he did this, I have no idea - let alone the fact that he did it twice. Especially after I would repeatedly ask him where his chupies where & he would actually walk around looking for them. He did not hide them at the same time either because we do not allow him to bring his chupies outside of his room but I folded a little tiny bit (to which he took full advantage of) and allowed him a chupie downstairs when he was under the weather. So he knew where his chupies where because he hid them there, not once, but twice and I am totally not buying this innocent act he's going to try & pull on me.

This kid cracks me up though - and I'm just thinking now I should probably look there for the missing puzzle piece that he just received this evening so it's not like it's been missing for days!

Little squirrel boy, for sure.

Water, Water Everywhere!

Two new tricks courtesy of the Liam Fellow!

1. He now attempts to drink from the cat water bowls. While meowing.
2. Last night in the tub, he leaned over and dunked his face AND BLEW BUBBLES! We have NOT taught him this & he did it more than once with no care in the world!

I'm getting ready to go pick Nana! up from the train station in Quantico & I've been telling Liam all day that Nana! is coming on the train (woo!woo!) so I'm really curious to see his reaction when he finally sees his beloved Nana!

Everyone have a great Friday & a fantastic weekend :)

A little Mush for the moment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to our regular scheduled programming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firsts!

Here's a little grocery list of Firsts Liam has had this past weekend:

• First french fries! Five Guys, of course
• First dinner out with Mama & Dada!
  
• First dinner off the Kids' Menu! Ravioli & some bread
• First time he has shown us his belly AND poked at OUR bellies!
• First time he has pointed to his nose, eyes & mouth when asked where they are! He also points (or grabs fiercely) to my nose, eyes & mouth!

I've definitely got more to say about all these things but I wanted to get this out there before I run out of time today AND this way I also have something to work off of to elaborate on everything he has been doing lately!

Meow!

Liam has been meowing for a couple of days now, and of course I think it's just the cutest thing in the entire world.

He usually only does it when he is going upstairs, past Monkey's bowls with the cat paws on them. He will point at the paws & meow :) Still hisses at Mystic though, although I'm working on getting him to meow at them also.

Happy Birthday Dada!

Thank you for teaching me so many things but I really like it when we play outside & we get to play soccer!
You're the bestest Dada EVER!
I love you, Dada.
Besos, Liam Robert

Sink Baths

Liam will take sink baths if I'm not home or busy, like last night setting up for a crop for which no one showed up, since it's easier for one person to handle him in the sink rather than the tub.

Matias called me upstairs & told me to bring the camera - I had heard them giggling & such over the monitor but wasn't sure exactly what was going on.

I love these pictures that I got of him. Here's my favorite one right now, for the moment. It won't be long before he's too small for the sink & there's another thing slipping through our fingers as he gets older and grows from our wee nino to our little big boy to our big boy...

Shopping!

I had to rush out & get Liam some lounge around/everyday clothes since he seemed to only have "outfits" according to his father...

I decided to hit up Kohl's & Old Navy to see what they had on sale & I came away with some nice treats!

Kohl's had Carter's fuzzy footies on sale - same price as the outlet - and they also had their own name brand (Sonoma) on sale for $5 each piece! WOOT! So I got him a sweat shirt (blue with a red dino emblem), two sweat pants (red & orange), two turtlenecks (blue & a patterned "trucks" with orange accents), two footie jammies & two Elmo sippy cups!

At Old Navy they had all their rugby shirts on sale - we are a huge fan of rugby shirts in this house - plus their two piece jammies were marked down to $6.99! WOOT! I got him 3 pairs of jammies (robots, race cars & dinos), he can wear those through the spring, two rugby shirts (blue stripes & brown stripes), a white turtle neck, a striped (blues & oranges) onesie & slippers!

I was thinking about hitting up Children's Place & checking Target out but I think we are pretty well covered now for the season!

Happy Friday!

Too smart for his own good

Did y'all know that the lids from the Gerber Lil' Crunchies fit on the Take N' Toss bowls (not sure if they are Gerber!)??

Liam figured it out yesterday eating his snackies & playing with the empty container/lid. I didn't realize it until he brought it over to me since he couldn't get it off. And I was all "holy crap" I had no idea those fit onto these bowls!

Another thing that kind of makes me think he's too smart for his own good is when he is playing with his mouse or some other old piece of computer ware he will go over to a wall outlet and try to plug it in. How on earth does it he knows it needs to be plugged in (forget that they don't belong in the wall) OR that this is where he would accomplish this?

He has gotten pretty decent at screwing lids back onto the discarded seltzer water bottles too. Still cannot really undo them so he asks me to do that for him but he's got the screw back on part down! I haven't really caught him doing this but I know he's doing it cause he's bringing it back over for me to unscrew again for him!

It's also quite cute to watch him take his mouse over to the laptop media station & move it around the table like he's making it work :) He clicks away & mouses it around just waiting for something to pop up on the screen.

Looks like we've got a little Geek in the makings here!

Play Date!

Liam went to his first play date at someone else's house today! Kym, I don't count you cause we do it anyway regardless of making it all official like and everything ;)

He had a BLAST! This Mommy had so many toys! He just didn't know what to do with himself! But he gravitated towards the kitchen set up she had & we are definitely getting him that one for Christmas - I mean Santa is definitely getting him that one for Christmas. He loved the Thomas the Train pull toy & the Mega Blocks too! The two little boys that were there are both two years old BUT Liam is the same height as both of them - if not a smidgen taller.

He ran around playing & touching everything that he does in our house - from the dishwasher, to the garbage can, to the socket covers. Mr. Destructo was in full blown fashion but Heidi didn't care as much as I did so although I spent some time running after him most of the stuff he was allowed to destroy. She put out a whole bowl of snackies for them (actually like three bowls) which he only totally over-turned one of them ;) when I wasn't looking, of course!

He got along really well with Jack & Lucas - even as far as Jack & him chasing each other around and screaming! They were amazed that he is running so well already too. He loved playing with all the little cars & I think I'm going to pick up some more for him to add to his VW Bug he has gotten from Nana!

We ended up being there for 1 1/2 hours! And I had to sing & play with the sunroof the whole way home to insure he didn't fall asleep before getting home - he even "talked" to Nana! on the phone to keep himself entertained. The reason it's only his first play date is that everyone schedules them right at the start (or too close to) his nap time so we've never been able to go before but today it was at 9:30 so we were able to participate! I would love to host one at our house but I really don't think we have enough toys to keep more than 1 kiddo occupied at a time :(

It's not that I would LOVE more toys in the house but he is totally getting to the point that he needs more interaction with things. Long gone are the days of playing with his baby toys & even his house, I think, has seen its glory days. I've put a few things away that have not held his interest in a long time & now we are down to one basket of toys and even those hardly ever get dug into by him. I have a few things in mind (and on a list!) that I want to get him but if anyone has any suggestions for Must Have Toddler Toys for Boys, I would love to hear them!

Here's what is on my list at the moment:

• Kitchen - which Santa is taking care of
• Pull Toy - might get that Thomas the Train one
• Mega Blocks - he loves putting things in things

Toddler Wranglin'

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting


(dropshots was posting it to my other blog for some reason & it only took 5 postings of it to figure that out but now I cannot get it to post HERE!)

In this video we have one solo slide by Liam followed by a lot of running after him attempting to Wrangle him away from other peoples' doors & garages! At least he knows to knock on the doors before trying to enter them - all we need is a little Fellow breaking & entering record ;)

I'm rethinking my whole "no way in hell will I ever use a leash on my child" stance.

Jenga Master is definitely in his future

Liam is becoming quite adept at stacking his blocks - he can now stack 4-5 consistently & correctly!

He has two favored methods for knocking them down for sure though...one being the Full Body Throw Down where he just walks straight into the tower like a little Godzilla and knocks them down with his face first then goes crazy swinging his limbs all over the place. The second method he uses, I like to call the Jenga Master Method - he will poke every so gently at the top 1 or 2 box, get one of those down, walk a 1/4 of the way around the tower, pick his next block to knock down & slowly poke at that one to get it down. By then the remaining blocks are usually a free for all and he just goes nutso on breaking those down. But those first few are very well executed Jenga Master Method style.

This morning he did really well with stacking them back up - he discovered that the larger ones will fit over the smaller ones but also decided that this was not what he wanted to accomplish & would remove the smaller one & replace it with the larger (correct) one! And he would continue doing this on his own for about 4-5 more breakdowns & setups!

It's so exciting to watch their little minds crank around & figure things out! I've started doing things "wrong" so that he can have the opportunity to "correct" me & he's so proud of himself when he does it, I just cannot help but hug on him.

The Target Cart Story

LeNelle enjoyed this one as I recounted it for her so I thought I would share it here also...

It was a windy & blustery day, rain was falling & we had to make a trip to Target for diapers & wipes. As we walked (quickly)back to the car, Liam was loving having the rain fall on him - arms stretched up to the sky, mouth open, giggling so when we reached the car I put him in before loading up the trunk. Usually I would leave him in the cart cause he likes to watch me load everything in rather than being stuck in the car with no interaction, and usually he doesn't struggle with me while getting in his car seat but this time he did & this time it took longer.

And this time I heard a faint tink in the background so I turned to find my cart ACROSS the lane careening into a minivan and after bouncing off of it rolling further away from me. I hadn't yet finished buckling him in so I hurried right up with that and RAN after my cart still FULL with bags & his cart cover! I had my crocs on & while I LOVE those flip flops, they are for crap when they get wet so I'm RUNNING with wet crocs trying not to fall after a cart that has already hit one car, still has my stuff in it & now my baby is left in my car for anyone to steal. So I'm running, looking back at the car being mindful of Baby Snatchers and I find Liam LEANING OVER so he can see out the open door LAUGHING AT ME.

I finally catch the cart & do a quick scan around the lot to make sure a) no one was in the car I hit with the run away cart & b) checking to see who might have seen me running after my run away cart in the rain, fully loaded down with stuff. You might think that it was full enough (and it was) that it would have stayed put but with all the wind & blusterlyness I mentioned above, it was obvious at that point that the elements had succeeded against me with the evil plan.

And to top it off, my kid was laughing at me. He was not laughing WITH me, so please don't attempt that line on me ;)

Sadly, I am now still shell-shocked & hover over my cart & turn at the slightest noise franticly thinking my cart has gotten away from me again. The one thing I'm thankful for in all of this is that Liam was not still in the cart. But next time he laughs at me? Game on, little boy. Game on.

Sleep, we all need sleep.

Someone in this house is cutting another molar & possibly some eye teeth thus sending their sleeping through the night routine into complete disarray.

Sunday & Monday nights he woke up & it took him sleeping with us to get him back to sleep. That was not comfortable, nor what I needed since I had been away on a CM Retreat staying up until 4am each night. Tuesday & Wednesday he slept through the night. YAY! Matias got sick on Tuesday & ran a low, low, low grade fever thus rendering him useless for all of Wednesday leaving me to fend for myself, and I've also been sick for close to two weeks now. Wednesday he woke up again & I just brought him into the guest room with me where he finally fell asleep probably around 3 or 4am. I woke up with a swollen eye, complete with a burning sensation whenever I tried to open it, which unfortunately, was often. I was on the couch with a compress & tea bag tending to my blocked sinuses. Which in turn lead to a river of snot, forking right down my throat & my nose causing me to get sick. Vomiteous sick. Last night, he was up at 1am & I was with him until 2:30 until I could not take the crying & not sleeping anymore (after baby oragel, putting a blanket on his crib sheet to warm it up & bringing him to bed...) I told Matias he had to get him & there he cried until 4am, in Matias' arms. I didn't sleep through that, Matias didn't sleep through that & unless Liam can sleep AND cry, he didn't sleep through that either.

Thankfully, he slept until 10am and went down for his nap at 12:15. Matias is upstairs sleeping while I'm down here cleaning (and taking a break!). I finally got around to cleaning up his "painting" on the glass doors - also not so much fun to clean up milk off of glass. Liam is in a fine mood & for that I'm grateful cause the last thing we need is a house full of grumpertens.

I thought at first that his night-waking was a side-effect of Mama being away for 2 sleeps and 2 1/2 days, not to toot my own horn or anything, but sadly it appears that this is not the case. I can see a tip of the molar poking through so we can only hope that it starts moving quicker, pleaseandthankyou. And yesterday was his first day of not eating well, regardless of what I gave him so I heard him cry & scream & fuss ALL DAY LONG. And I normally do not tolerate this very well on a good day but when I've been fighting a cold (thanks sister in law!) for nearly two weeks now, I am REALLY not a happy person & I have a very short fuse, of which I am not proud of.

Like I said, at least he's in a good mood - he "helped" me dust this morning - which was way cute so that helped my mood a bit too. And he's interested in his toys again, so that saves me too. We got him some stacking blocks (he has some at Camp Carolina too!) & he is going to be the Master Jenga Player in a few years - he takes the stack apart with one finger pushing them - our kid is going to rock at game parties ;)

Morning Inspiration

Inspired by Christina's post about their new waking routine, I'd thought I would share ours with you because it warms by cold, dead, morning hating heart. And isn't that a story you'd all like to hear?

Ever since the Fellow was home with us we've done the same thing. Matias always went & got Liam to be nursed during the night with a diaper change prior to bringing him to me. We had the nursing chair in our room along with the cradle & I do not do well with walking around right after getting out of bed AND I am not the type of person who just JUMPS out of bed all chipper like to start the day so it worked best for Matias to go get him for me.

This continued into the sleeping through the night stage... Matias will go get him once I tell him after 54069 times that Liam is awake & to go get him. I might not jump out of bed, but I'm awake & hearing everything around me, whereas Matias hears nothing & can sleep-walk to get the child changed & back to bed safely with nary a complaint!

So every morning, I listen to Matias greet Liam, change his diaper, wish him good morning & ask him if he wants to see Mama. Then they come back to bed where I promptly get a hug & a kiss and settle in for a quick snuggle. After a few minutes, I lumber downstairs to start the coffee, feed the cats & bring Liam his bottle. Then I leave him with Dada so that they can have some quiet time together while I head back downstairs to empty the dishwasher & clean up the kitchen if anything had been left behind the night before (we eat late in this house & sometimes I don't feel like cleaning up 100% at 11pm or so!) and let Mystic outside to do her business. By the time, I've poured myself a cup of Tim's, read my emails & tidied up a bit from the Hurricane the night before Dada is bringing Liam downstairs to start his day. While Liam is upstairs, he's got his basket of toys & books in bed with him. Two of his favorite books have been so well read that we've had to replace them (Freight Trains and Dear Zoo). He LOVES reading his books in bed, tuckled up with Dada in the morning.

I LOVE this routine. I LOVE bringing Liam into bed with us when he wakes up. I LOVE that we have snuggle time every single morning together as a family. I LOVE that we don't have to rush off anywhere but can savor the Us under the covers. I LOVE that I get time to get stuff done without Liam destroying anything. I LOVE that I get to greet the kitties every morning without someone chasing them off before they have fully woken up & gotten rid of that sleepy eyed look cats can walk around with. I LOVE that I can get some coffee in me before having to be ON for the rest of the day.

And I LOVE the routine & comforting sense of Family we've created for Liam. Even if it was born from our hate of the morn. He'll never know that & even if he did, I'm sure he wouldn't care cause I know he LOVES it as much as we do.

Poop talk!

Since we've been giving (ok, let's be honest here, since I'VE been giving) Liam table foods his poops have taken a more adult turn for the yucky. They are now no longer the baby poops of yore, now more akin to marble rabbit poopies! And somewhat more difficult to wrangle off his bits & bobs than his typical poops.

I guess I wasn't expecting this so quickly, but it's definitely a change from the newborn Pimp Juice poops, the solids poop that were still quite manageable although stinkier and possibly dangerous if jarred food had been given!

And there seems to be more of them too! He used to poop 1-2 times a day but now in the past 24 hours he has pooped about 4-5 times! His new thing to do too is to standing & clinging to me while we got our pants changed, this new poop makes it a little more dangerous to do that with so we are beginning the struggle of wrangling a toddler who wants to be standing AND held while having their diaper changed!

Let the games begin!

[First post for NaBloPoMo!]

Liam has gotten very, very, very demanding with his Nana! (always the exclamation point) pictures on dropshots. And I do need to cut him some slack but, no offense Nana!, I'm getting kind of tired looking at your pictures & videos 65690 times a day.

A few things have to occur for his Nana! viewing session to be of complete enjoyment for him:

1) He must be sitting on my lap
2) My hand must be on the mouse
3) It has to be a video but sometimes still pictures will do
4) We have to watch it at least 5-7 times in a row before he crawls down & moves onto something else
5) I cannot be multi-tasking whatsoever

And when I say "must be", I mean must be. He will toss my hand back to the mouse if I happen to want to scratch my nose. He will yammer away & claw himself up into my lap signaling the beginning of a Nana! Session.

I know I shouldn't moan about this because hey, how cute that he asks to see his Nana! many, many, many times a day? He loves her & it shows and I should do everything I can to foster that relationship AND I DO but if I don't end up banging my head on the desk soon, I don't know what else might happen. Matias heard my griping the other night & properly chastised me - telling me that you never know how long this Nana! phase will last & we should encourage him to show his love, blahblahblah whatever you're right, I'm just about to go CRAZY about this!

I've requested that Nana! make some of her own videos and post them on dropshots - he doesn't have to be in them - just sit there & talk to him, sing songs, read a book! I DON'T CARE! We do have webcams that are functional & working but Nana! isn't at Camp Carolina at the moment (or all the time) but we do have to start being better about that...so that I can give him something else to fixate on!

I need to video tape his expressions when he sees Nana! It's just the cutest thing on this planet, so I know, I know, I need to suck it up & give him his Nana! But trust me, I do, it's just becoming a little much :)