The chicken is in the pot...

We have Liam's birthday present! Well, about 95% of it, we have to go back on Saturday to get the remaining bits & pieces :) I'm not going to tell y'all what we got him until I can post pictures of the full set! I don't think I've mentioned what we are getting him & Nana you hush your mouth since I told you EVERYTHING we got him today, OK?! So excited! He's going to LOVE it!!

It's a little bit more than I was originally expecting/anticipating but it is really grand & I'm really not as worried about the long run as I thought I would be...am I being vague enough?

How about we do a Present Pool? Who can guess what we got Liam! If you guess it, I will send you an honest to goodness prize, cool? BUT I won't reveal a winner (if anyone even joins in!) until I post the "reveal pictures", OK? Also, just in conjunction with the phrase "reveal pictures" we are planning on doing a Reveal for Liam! We plan on having the 95% covered (yeah right, wish me luck with that one) until Saturday when we have his party and when he is napping we will get the remaining 5% and have it all ready for him upon his waking from his noni!

GIGGLE! SO EXCITED!!

As an aside; Christmas will be batshitcrazy in this house in the coming years. If this is how I feel about ONE present can you imagine the insanity that will occur with Christmas?!?!

Another aside; I've always been very thrilled that Liam's birthday falls smack dab in the middle of the year; just enough time between batshitcrazy seasons. I think that is just about all I can handle & "just right".

So yeah, Birthday Season is definitely upon me & I've caught the Fever. I've also got about 1/2 the work left to do on his Favor Tags but I do think that those are going to be extra-super-duper-adorable, yo. (that was for you Amanda)

Super Saturday at Super Target!

Since my little Liam Fellow was up at 6:07am this morning & had already been outside playing since 7am this morning, I decided to just go on to Target & get every thing done this morning. I was planning on going this morning but not quite at 8:45am, sadly, this is when Liam is having his breakfast, but we had already accomplished that goal by 7:30am so I got us 'dressed up' (as Matias says) and in 'Mama's car' (as Liam says) and we headed to Target with a fun list of Things I Need Before His 2nd Birthday Party Next Week.

I'm really excited about the favors I've rounded up for him & nothing cost over a DOLLAR. Nothing over ONE DOLLAR, people! I did forget to get some tissue but I can pick that up easily at the party store when I go to get our plates & stuff this week.

Here are the contents of Liam's "All Things Water" water themed 2nd Birthday Party...

Inside a blue or orange bucket will be in the following goodies:

1. Fish Tank Bubbles
2. Fish/Ocean Animal Squirty Bath Toy
3. One of those "gets real big when you add water" ocean critter
4. Fish/Ocean Animal Squirt Toy (notice I didn't use the word 'gun', my son might have tea parties but he will not have a toy gun)
5. I *might* add some good old goldfish, but I think I'm doing ok at the moment...

I'm so excited about it all & I was really stoked that everything was pretty well priced (can you tell?). I just have to make the tags for the buckets with my little Thank You note (for coming, not the thank you cards I still have to make!) & I think I might have talked myself into more work than I have originally planned for those little guppies (keeping with the fish/water theme here). I had a really cute idea but thinking it through more when planning how to do it all, I think I came up with an even cuter idea, if that is at all possible. It's not a lot more work & it's not like I'm making 54256 of them either, and with my nifty CM Tag Maker I'll get it all done right quick.

I realized last night that I neglected to post a (really crappy) picture of the actual invitation that I sent out! I didn't want to send until people who read this had received them & then I think I just forgot after that point BUT I do want to show y'all how they turned out because I was truly frightened about my ability to do good hair stamps! They came out quite close to how I envisioned them & I don't think they look bad at all - which is a mortal fear of anything I do to give to other people - doing crap for myself is OK but giving crap to other people is just embarrassing SO I was actually thrilled with the outcome!

For those who are curious, I scraplifted the idea from a forum that used the same stamp set & then altered it to fit my ability & design desires. I got the stamp set from Stampin' Up & it's called Eat Cake. I used Stampin' Up papers (Jersey Shore) because I LOVED the colors. I used my Circut for the scalloped circle on the front, the goldfish, & the tag on the inside. I used my CM wavy cutter for the piece of 'water' at the bottom & my scalloped corner rounder for the edges of the cake on the front. I used a box of cards from Michaels that came in a variety of colors, so I just choose 3 that went with the colors in the papers/themes/inks & went with it. I changed up some of the papers that I used to make the 'wave' depending on what card I was using as the background stock. I then got a bee in my bonnet and decided during the night that I wanted to use that cake stamp so I went on and stamped the envelopes too!

When I get the Thanks for Coming tags & Thank You cards done, I will post pictures of those if y'all are interested!












































P.S. I still cannot believe I am one week away from his 2nd Birthday Celebration!

This Time TWO Years Last

Was my Official Due Date.

And thinking about Christina & her rough past times being this late in the game, I remembered I totally went into Radio Silence Mode for a couple days at a time. Not answering the phone, the door (mostly deliveries of last minute bebe things), just battering down the hatches and waiting for another to open ;)

So we all know due dates come & go and it's tough to get through the waiting game but it's so quickly forgotten (not the labor portion, not yet forgotten) and you have such wonderful things ahead of you...

...with that said "Happy Due Date Day" to me (and Happy Anniversary to my parents - 45 YEARS!) and "Happy Upcoming Due Dates" to Christina!!

We're all pulling pushing for you!!

Friday Five!

This week, I'm going to wrap up our week with some things we did this week :)

Five Things Liam did this Week Friday Five Edition

1. Went to the pool twice & refused to go in the Toddler Pool & stayed in the Big Boy Pool for the whole time!
2. Woke up before 7am every single day
3. Decided to push his bedtime back to 8:30 (or 9pm depending on his mood)
4. Helped me do the laundry; he likes to help load the dryer article of clothing, by article of clothing
5. Helped me feed the cats their dry food and then proceeded to dump the whole bowl & sweep it up with his own broom (new word!)

Independent Thinker & Directed Play

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

Thing the First: Directed Play

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

Thing the Second: Independent Thinker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What a Difference (less than) a Year Makes

The 1st shot is from Oct. 2007 & the next one is from July 4th 2008.

I cannot get over how different of a little boy he is in such a short amount of time. I know this basically stems from his birthday approaching & how much time I feel has passed so quickly and, my word, how much time is still left with him to learn & grow & explore and continue to play with water! It really blows my mind this "growing up" business these kids are into these days. I wish I could better express myself but it's a combination of the first year being so quick & full of wonder at every corner and then the second year settling into your life together, with solid routines & schedules and events and fun adventures and yet every day there is something to marvel at. And then, it hits you that this little boy standing in front of you, swiping a spider web away and saying "bye bye bug" is the same little boy who used to laugh himself silly over the puppets on Baby Einstein and that tomorrow and next year I will be remembering the little boy that is now and I have no idea what I will be doing with him then! Although, I'm pretty sure it will involve water, that much I can be sure of.

I've been doing a lot of thinking (read: stressing) about Birthdays, our children's birthdays more specifically & I'm amazed that some parents don't make big deals out of them (and I am not thinking of anyone I know, just in general) and it kind of sort breaks my heart for some strange reason. And this coming from the person who really didn't enjoy her birthday OR being sang to BUT I really enjoy the thought of Celebrating (with a capital C) the year that was and the year that is to be. There so much that they've accomplished & become that how can you not bake them a cake (or get your sister to!) & shower them with love and wishes and icing and toys they don't really need but good lord do you see how much fun he's having with them??? It makes me heart swell in places I didn't even know I existed.

And I just might be a hugely sentimental person who loves to look back over the years & see how far we've come & how far we've gone and who's been there with us year after year after year (...bobbing head..) and I just might be a person who loves to get together to celebrate all of that TOGETHER. Is this really surprising anyone? This feeling manifests itself in my work with Creative Memories (hello!), my Freak Gatherings, my need to Tour & continue to hit certain venues with certain people...it's all a part of Me...

...and the year between my son's 12th month & his 24th month is something to Celebrate people!

...and to think this started out innocently enough with just wanting to post those two pictures side-by-side to show how much he's changed and how much he's stayed the same.

All I know is I cannot wait to watch everyone (but Nana & Mama who are smarter than the average bears) get hosed down from the feet to the sky by a Fellow with a Hose next summer. I think we're going to be in trouble then. I think not only will he be beyond operating the hose properly but he will be able to unlock the door with a key he's stashed away somewhere outside & bring that hose inside with purpose & intention.

I'll be waiting with a towel & a camera. That much I do know.

Total Cop-Out

Things We Have Done in the Past Week

1. Hosted an asado at our house for 20 of our closest friends & went to an awesome (albeit probably the last show of the tour for Roi...) DMB show
2. Went to Camp Carolina with Nana & Grandpa, Mystic (yes, the cat) & Liam
3. Went to a really cool playground down the street, practically, from Camp Carolina
4. Went to a park with a train & a merry-go-round! Two FIRSTS for Liam!
5. Celebrated CANADA DAY!
   
6. Liam went to his SECOND DMB SHOW! He didn't fall asleep until about 10pm (Smooth Rider, I believe) & then woke up less than an hour later to finish off the show.
7. Had a sleepover at Auntie's!
8. Learned how to say "money"
9. Started an obsession with the GARAGE. What is it???
10. Celebrated the 4th of July! Our fireworks got rained out 15 minutes before they were supposed to start! And we kept the Fellow up for them! Liam has never seen fireworks...last year they got rained out in CT also!
11. Went for a ride in a 1921 Ford Model T - totally awesome & totally recommended!
12. Went back to the amazing park & ran across the Squeaky Bridge 427405 times.
13. Got some much needed (and CHEAP!) jammies at the Carter's Outlet (please note, the 3 piece sets ((shirt, shorts & pants)) are $5.99 right now!!)
14. Introduced Liam to the rocket ship shopping cart at grocery store
15. Learned how to say "green beans"
16. Started to learn how to ride a trike!
17. Helped bake a cheesecake
18. Was attacked by a shark AND a bear!
19. Liam had his outfit changed TWICE before Mama figured out finally to just put his swim trunks on him already for the love of god.
20. Charmed & bamboozled everyone with his loving Fellow ways

We had an awesome week at Camp Carolina & I wish I had the time (and energy) to write more details about it all & maybe I will throw a quick story up every now & then but I wanted to get it all down before too much time passed (Bonjour Montreal!) & then other adventures happened...

We've got his birthday coming up in just about a week and a 1/2 (WHAT?) and then Jen & Matias get to go to Deer Creek for some Adult Time! So we'll be busy & doing fun fantastic things, that's for sure!

Summer is definitely in full swing!!

REAL quick!

There are about eleventy billion new pictures from the last week up on Dropshots if anyone is interested!

Here's a random favorite to entice you with ;)

Liam & Mama at the Nino's 3rd Annual DMB Asado!

Thursday Things Only Mothers Know!

I often think of these Things that Only Mothers Know & consider that I never thought I would be knowing them myself so I'd thought I'd share & see what y'all have to add!

1. That Dora, the Explorer's, head is too big for her to sit down without falling over backwards.
2. That you actually have to clean their toys EVEN IF they use them. I thought the actual use of them would keep them free of dust and such. Silly me!
3. That most of the trash in my car would NOT be from me!
4. That Cookie Monster burps after every cookie he eats. And I get pissy when they thinking having him say "excuse me" makes it "ok".
   
5. That I am so cheap. I don't buy anything that isn't on sale or practically above $7. I cannot stand spending more than $20 on toys. I don't think I'm "thrifty" either, I'm Cheap. But I'm OK with it, just didn't realize just how cheap I was.

If you give a Fellow a Shovel...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Shortest Phase on Earth?!

I don't want to say that the hitting has stopped but since I posted this (Liam must be reading also...!) he has only hit me three times - PROGRESS!

I am doing the hands at his side, talking to him at his level & direct eye contact thing. Either it's working or this is the shortest "phase" ever - whatever it is, I'll take it & keep working with him!

I can say to him "if you do that again (throw a toy), you will get a time out, do you want a time out?" to which he will respond "no, no!" and he doesn't do it again. I like that the treat of time out seems to have an effect on him and just the other day he actually sat in time out by himself, crying and carrying on but then when it was over, he was fine & gave me the standard "I'm sorry" hug.

Thanks for the encouragement & support - it's times like these that we all need to hear "keep it up, it works, you'll come through it" or else sometimes Mama needs the time out too :)

Entering Terrible Twos Territory - need help!

I need a little help with some discipline suggestions as Liam has started to hit us in the face when we have to pick him up to make him do something he doesn't want to do. He even hit the beloved Nana last week when she was struggling to get a wiggling, non-cooperative Liam on the changing table! I do not like being slapped in the face & the other day he hit me hard enough for it to smart for a good 10 minutes afterwards.

At the moment, we are sitting him down, looking him in the eye, getting down to his eye-level and telling him very sternly that you never, ever hit someone. And he has even been known to hit us when we are telling him this!

I think there has got to be a way to discipline him firmly without having to spank him but I've yet to find it. I have started just dropping everything I am doing and sitting him down right away and having the little talk with him because I know that consistency is part of the key here & even though the reason I've picked him up to begin with is because we have to do something right then but stopping it all to set him straight has to be the main focus at that point.

I should maybe point out that he doesn't act out because we've stopped him from doing something, it's always usually because we have to change his diaper or put him in his highchair.

I also don't think that the Time Outs on the stairs are working seeing as he doesn't sit & we have to sit with him. I might try the "corner" approach like Rach does and see how he handles that. I don't want to make a Time Out Chair cause I don't want him to start resenting chairs and not wanting to sit on one during normal play time so I thought the top stair would work but now I think the corner will be a better option for us...who cares if he hates the corner, right?!

How did you guys get your precious one to stop hitting? I know it's a Phase & natural (rolls eyes) part of exploring and testing (you don't say?) their boundaries but I do not enjoy getting hauled off on & slapped straight across the face. I really don't think "waiting it out" is an option, I do think I have to punish him for his actions I'm just kind of at a loss...I'm not one to believe that spanking him in response to this is a great way of showing discipline cause hitting for hitting isn't really moving us forward towards a resolution, no is it? You hit me, I hit you doesn't make much sense for me so at this point I'm trying to reason with a emerging terrible two-er while making sure I've not got a toddler sized hand print across my cheek!

Happy Dada's Day!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Picture(s) of the Day

Nana & Grandpa got Liam this ultra-cool Roots hat.

This is Liam in mid-back-pat-hug with Nana. She had been dying for one of this since she knew of their existence. And yes, they are an entity of their own; the amount of Precious involved in them gives them that right.
I think Nana can attest to that.

Friday Five!

Another quickie edition of Friday Five for y'all. I need to wrap up our Montreal trip (have 2 1/2 more days to cover!) & I need ample time to sit down & do that but I'm running low on ample time this weekend so don't keep your fingers crossed for anymore Adventures with the Fellow before Monday (although, I will indeed try!).

Five New Things Liam is Doing:

1. He goes & gets his "bibbie" when he eats his apple sauce in his chair in front of the TV. He says "bibbie" also with this really cute little boy lilt in his voice
2. He says "meat" (guess who taught him that one, Nikki!) and it is the hands-down-cutest thing recently. He smiles when he says it too! We were at the grocery store with Nana & Grandpa and we passed the meat section & I just put some chicken in the cart and he kept turning around saying it but they didn't know what he was saying & I turned around and said "yes, that's meat! it's chicken!" and they just started laughing that he was saying "meat" and especially since he was correct about it!
3. Lately, Liam has been "blessing" himself with various liquid-y substances! When Matias takes him to church he does cross himself with the Holy Water before entering & leaving the church so he's familiar with the concept BUT we've caught him "blessing" himself with toilet water, cottage cheese remnants & split water. We've got a budding blesser on our hands here! He's got the across the chest movement down but he's still working on the head portion (whoops, typed potion!) of the maneuver!
4. Now he calls the playground down the street "HOT!" when we drive past it because of the time earlier this week I took him and the slide was burny-hot and he screamed burny-murder when he sat his little bum down on it. Whoops, my bad. I told him it was too hot out, think he'll listen to me now? I kid.
5. When we went out to run errands a few days after being home, he said "Ge?" (airplane for the Liam to English translation) and then when we told him no, we weren't going to the airport today, he then asked if he could see "Nana, GG, Barbara and/or Wow-Wow". Matias asked him if he wanted to go back to Montreal & see everyone and he said "yeah" (sounds more like a grunt but he's saying "yeah") and it was one of those moments when you know you did the right thing by dragging him along with you to a different country to throw him off schedule & have him refuse about 90% of the food you attempted to give him in order for him to spend time with your family :)

Montreal - Sunday

Sunday morning we had to head back over to The Condo so that Carol could go to church & we were with GG so after breakfast we packed up our stuff for the day & again, said goodbye to the "wow-wow" & Barbabra (a name Liam picked up real quick!). We let him run around and play in the car before heading over - the rental car had one of those new fangled keys that looks like a USB stick but that did not deter Liam from figuring out how to start the car himself!

This is Liam's International Sign for Charlie Brown!

Running around outside of Wright Base. I absolutely ADORE this picture.

After Liam had lunch & was put down for his nap, my dad & I headed over to Canada Drive-In for some smoked meat sammiches! Total Montreal classic right there & although they are not the most stellar offerings, they are very good indeed & it was Matias' first introduction to them. I had brought an Mini Everyday Easel for GG to put up in her room complete with a very cute picture of Liam playing at the playground so I gave that to her & she seemed to enjoy it very much. My plan is to send one every other month and then she can put the old one in an album and at the end of the year (or so) she will have a completed album of what Liam has been up to.

Liam ready for lunch at The Condo. Carol had borrowed a highchair that was a tad on the old fashioned side because I think it was old! He loved banging on the metal tray though & I think the pink seats nicely compliments his coloring.

We were heading back over to Wright Base for a BBQ dinner with Mike's sister, Pat & her husband Allan so when Carol got home & Liam was up from his nap, we kind of left in a whirlwind of activity. For some reason, Liam got up & wanted to GO, he wanted to specifically go in the car, like RIGHT NOW. So, I grabbed all his stuff & we dutiful followed the Fellow out back to the car! I don't know what comes over him sometimes but when he is ready to go he is Ready To Go - he'll go grab his shoes, his bag & find the keys and off to the car we must go. Like right that minute or it's a quick trip to Meltdown City!

Dinner was fantastic & Matias was very pleased with the menu of Meat - his favorite food, you know! Liam played and played and played with Casper some more - Christian & his girlfriend, Kristy were out back with him playing and eventually Casper let him RIDE ON HIS BACK. Which, I'm assuming was a very big hit. For some reason, Liam had started drinking all sorts of juice, something he normally doesn't do at home but he totally chugged Christian's limeade in about 4 large chulps - even before Christian got a chance to have any himself!

Me with Auntie Barbara and of course, The Meat.

We put Liam in his stroller when we had dinner, hoping it would motivate him to eat with us & actually have something other than yogurt or his beloved apple sauce. He did manage to eat about 6 or so bites of SHRIMP! Very much warmed Matias' heart that his son enjoyed those god awful creatures - Mama had a hard enough time touching them to feed them to him! He started to get a little squirrelly & Casper started getting a little too friendly with the easy access vantage point of the stroller being at Lick Level so we put a Charlie Brown on for him & he chilled out while Casper was sent outside (hot-side as Liam calls it!).

From left to right around the table -
Jen, Kristy, Nana, Allan, Barbara, Mike, Pat, Grandpa & Christian. You can spy Liam in his stroller!

After dinner the women flocked to Liam's side as he watched a Baby Einstein - it was so cute to see Barbara, Pat & Nana adoring him & just generally loving on him. Meanwhile, the Men Folk had retreated to the basement for a game of darts! I put Liam to bed but happen to fall asleep myself (it was one of the Butt Crack O' Dawn mornings) but managed to pull myself out of bed (it was one of those Will Only Fall Asleep in Bed with You night-nights) and join everyone downstairs.

It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone and not have to worry about what Liam was up to or if he would behave properly - he was so great about everything. He never touched anything he wasn't supposed to - minus the little donkey statue that he tried to ride but, come on, that would tempt anyone! He was well behaved with Casper, learning to turn away when the licking got too much and was even beginning to throw his toys for him to fetch. It's always so sweet to watch him warm up to other people & how he favors Nana above all else (even me sometimes!) - even though he will pull the If I Go to Nana I Will Not Get in Trouble Card - which, hello, doesn't work Charlie, sorry! I didn't have to worry about him 'offending' anyone with his Toddler Ways or throwing any tantrums because the boy was happy the entire time & that always makes Mama happy too!

Montreal - Saturday

Liam slept through the night in his own bed (which is a word he says, btw Track Keepers!) on Friday, leaving Mama & Dada with enough rest to face the day ahead of us! Typically, Liam will not sleep through his first night in a place away from home, regardless of how many times he has stayed there before. He will normally wake up between 11 & 1am and only fall back asleep when he is put down in our bed leaving us to sleep with him the rest of the night. Thankfully, most normal people have larger Queen size beds than our puny Full size bed at home so we do have more room & are more comfortable BUT Liam will also wake up at Butt Crack O' Dawn and stay awake whenever he is in the same room as us or in bed with us. It's almost as if he cracks his little eyes open, spies us there & is UP for the day. Usually this occurs between 5:30-6AM. It seems this trip he alternated his Butt Crack O' Dawn wakings with his Normal 7:30 Please Jesus Stay Asleep wakings - this was new for him but surprisingly routine by the end of the 5 sleeps!

Anyway!

After a lovely breakfast of eggies in a cup with fingers/chimneys/ solders/whatever you call slice of toast you dunk into your soft boiled eggies (Christina, ask Kevin what he calls them!) at Barbara & Mike's we organized our Stuff so we could head over to The Condo to spend the day with GG & tour around Greenfield Park.

Liam played around in the morning & took his nap on GG's bed - a first for him to sleep by himself the entire time in a "normal" bed & although I was a little worried about him rolling off & freaking out when he woke up, I was interested to see how it would go. I don't worry too much about him rolling off since he already has his Pillow with him & I spread some others around his perimeter and, of course, laid him sideways to sleep.

We had lunch with GG & hung out until Liam woke up, catching up on everything & about everyone in The Park. It was great to see Liam interacting with GG, "helping" her with her walker, hugging & giving kisses and not being shy around her. He loved showing off all his wonderful signs that he knows & is real quick at learning people's names so that when you say "Where's GG?" he will point right to her! This also helps earn some "points" with the family, but really when you are that cute, that's just icing, right? :)

"Helping" GG with her walker!

When he did wake up, he merely called out for his Mama and stayed in the middle of the bed, sitting up but not budging to get down & fall off! I was hoping that would be the case & he just wouldn't get down (although he could) and come on out, I would like it if the same thing happened when we transfer him to a Big Boy Bed (which is not on the horizon, just saying) or we might be in trouble come 5:30 Butt Crack O' Dawn ;)

We decided to go for a walk around Greenfield Park showing Matias all the sights - he remarked numerous times that "y'all have history on every street, on every corner, on every block" and yes, that's just about spot on. Greenfield Park is a small suburb, with old families there (both in age and amount of time they have lived there) and lots of intertwined histories because of it. Example - my parents both grew up on Fairfield but on different sides of Churchill - if you ask my mom she'll tell you that my dad was from the "wrong side of the tracks". The pool I learned to swim in is down the street. The Canadian Legion where just about everything happens is across the street from The Condo. So and so's son bought so and so's house and look at all the renovations they've done is a common conversation starter. If the house didn't stay in the family, some other established Greenfield Park family bought it.

Mama, Nana & Fellow (still in a good mood) walking around The Park

We went by the church my parents got married at and there was a wedding that had just ended! We walked by Grauntie Jean's house, we stopped and gawked at all the houses that are so out of place with their over-the-top tacky-ass renovations, took pictures of all the cats we passed that were outside lounging, smelled blooming lilacs, found rocks & tossed them in puddles as we passed by.

Collecting rocks for Liam to throw into puddles. Here he expertly chooses the perfect one for the task.

We went past my Grannie & Poppy's house (my dad's parents) that has stayed in the family and now one of my cousin's family is in it - a lot has been changed on it, that's for sure, but I'd like to think I'd still recognize it! Unlike the house we used to live in that we passed TWICE and still didn't recognize it until I finally convinced them that it WAS the right address! Then we went down to see Grandma's house, I will always refer to it as Grandma's house even though a different family lives in it now - it was hers for 63 years, and in my mind it will always be hers. It's the house my mother grew up in & it's the house with the Haunted Room. And I wish I were kidding with you. That room is haunted, for real. It was a relief to see that next to nothing had been changed since the title switched hands - only windows & doors had been replaced but nothing had been torn down. I saw someone in the dining room and lingered as long as I could without looking creepy hoping they might come out since we were taking pictures and all...but no such luck. I would have liked to have shown Matias around - maybe next time though, right? We got our picture in front of the tree though so I'm pleased about that - three generations in that picture - not too shabby, eh?

In front of Grandma's House on Fairfield
Haunted Room is upper left one!

By this time, Liam had had it with being strapped in his stroller. He was begging to get out but we couldn't let him run/walk/do an Irish Jig because there's just too many "busy" streets for him to run out in (and plus, we are still working on the whole hand holding thing). We let him out for a bit to throw some rocks in a few puddles but man, did he get cranky! Once we got back to The Condo, Matias took him out to run (he sounds like a dog...) but when he brought him back in he clearly was not done with Being Outside so my mom & I took him on a walk across the street to discover the playground there. He had a blast on all 5 of the slides - they do their parks right there, let me tell you that much! Finally got him tuckered out & got him all Fresh Air-ized to the point that he finally calmed down & was back to being his typical Fellow self instead of this maniac brute throwing himself on the ground for 5-10 seconds at a time! We had fun too, chasing him around & playing with him on all the different set ups they had :)

We had dinner with GG & Carol (a nice lasagna, if you are interested!) and headed back to Barbara & Mike's (we'll just call this Wright Base from here on out for my lazy typing sake, ok?) for the night.

Grandma & Auntie Carol fixing the salad -right before Nana heckled GG into sitting down right this minute or I'll sit you down myself ;)

My mom came back with us this night & we got to Party It Up Crazy Canadian Style until 1:30am! I believe this was a 6am wake up call from the Fellow morning but we don't let him leave the room until 7:30 at least so that other people can still sleep so we usually end up watching Charlie Brown in bed until we hear someone else go into the bathroom :)

It was a nice, slow day - just the right kind to ease you into your vacation full of Touristy Things in your hometown! We had a lot more walking & sightseeing in front of us & this day simply consisted of the 4 blocks surrounding The Condo!

I can watch him throw rocks in puddles for hours.

We interrupt this broadcast...

I started a Twitter for Liam a LONG time ago & didn't like it and it used to run REAL slow so I just up & quit!

The last couple of days, I've found myself with short, funny & very deep snippets of things to say from Jen (NOT Mama) but didn't want to take the time (stop rolling your eyes) to start blogging for myself again - it wasn't that deep, or that funny but it WAS that short so I decided to take over Liam's Twitter for myself & link it on this page!

So now you will find Jen's Short Adventures in Her New Reality below Liam's Friends List :) I think this will work out well as we all know Mama's New Reality actually does consist of SHORT adventures these days! Be warned though, since this is a Jen Thing, I will swear occasionally & I might even turn up after a few glasses of wine so don't necessarily expect it to have the same voice as Liam's posts, OK? OK!

Montreal - Friday

I will now attempt to recap our Montreal Trip before I let too much time pass & plain forget certain things in my old age :)

We left Friday morning, right at nap time & sailed through Dulles & customs in less than an hour setting us up with perfect time to get Liam some lunch & ready for his nap when we boarded the plane. Everything went really smoothly, minus the 1/2 hour delay of traffic getting the 5 miles down the road past 66 on the way to the airport. Liam is a really champ & loves to fly - laughing & smiling the whole time during take-off! He slept from right after take-off (cannot miss any action) until they announced we would be landing in 20 minutes - the flight is short (just shy of an hour and a 1/2) so his nap was on the shorter side but knowing he was going to see Nana & Grandpa and have lots of family members to meet & new places to explore, I didn't quite worry about his abbreviated nap.

We got through the airport without any delay & our luggage was there waiting for us and Nana was outside! Liam hadn't been told he would see Nana on the flip-side cause I didn't want to cause any "nananananana" action on the plane & whatnot so he was pleasantly surprised to see both her & Grandpa waiting for us outside!

Nana, Fellow & Mama on the road in Montreal. He seems not as thrilled as he actually was, I'm sure he's just his reaction to Grandpa's Quebec Driving Skills & rush-hour traffic across the bridge. Please note the hand on leg positioning indicating duress and 1/2 cocked eye-brow that is Liam's signature Thinking Cap expression.

We went first to Barbara & Mike's (my dad's sister's family so my Aunt & Uncle & Liam's Great Aunt & Great Uncle) house so that Liam could meet the wow-wow (dog) Casper & get acquainted with where we would be staying instead of showing up at bedtime & expecting him to roll with it and then go to sleep for the night. We went straight outside to the backyard so that Liam could stretch his legs & enjoy the space to run around in & we had some lunch.

Dada keeping Liam "safe" from Casper until they could become quick friends!

Liam & Casper took an obvious liking to each other from the start, Liam just had to learn how to deal with such a large, playful dog who has as much energy to burn off as Liam does!

After our late lunch, we headed over to my Grandma's assisted living facility to visit with her for a bit before taking her to the condo, where Auntie Carol lives, for the weekend. For those of you who have not brought a young person into an older person's living facility I must tell you that they will be loved on & coo'ed over & have their arms, face & hands rubbed with the certain affection that only exists between the old & young. And I'm here to tell you that it can overwhelm the young ones :) Liam is great with people though - very generous with his hugs & kisses, a great waver & loves blowing kisses on his way out the door. There is one very friendly woman there, Madeline, who was a nun & a teacher and is now cursed with Alzheimer's who, of course, took a liking to Liam (and my mom!) - Liam was very sweet to her, he even leaned in to give her a kiss goodbye when we had simply 'asked' him to say goodbye. It made her day. Grandma (or GG, for Great Grandma, as the Great Grands call her) was so happy to see us all & her spirits were very high.

When we got back to the condo, Auntie Carol was just getting home from work so we all settled in & had some famous Miss Italia pizza! Matias, my dad & I went to pick it up & enjoyed our first Canadian beer of our trip while we waited for our order to come up :) We hung out some more, just letting Liam get familiar with everyone & everything but he's such a great little traveler that it doesn't take him long to feel comfortable with both his surroundings & the people occupying those surroundings!

Jen & Dad outside Miss Italia waiting on our order

We headed back over to Barbara & Mike's a little after Liam's bedtime but I don't recall having any major issues getting him down to sleep - we'd been able to borrow a pack & play so he had his own bed in our room. My mom had stayed at Carol's condo that night since it was GG's first night home for the weekend & we were heading back over after breakfast to hang out with GG while Carol ran her Saturday Errands with friends. We stayed up a bit talking & catching up with my Aunt & Uncle (they were at the wedding, for the track keepers, Auntie Barbara did the blessing of the meal at the reception) and just plain chilling out after an afternoon of traveling to Montreal & getting settled into our Greenfield Park digs :)

Thankfully, I hadn't forgotten anything and my mom was wonderful enough to go Fellow Shopping for us & had stocked BOTH Barbara's fridge AND Carol's fridge with everything Liam loves (and needs!) so we didn't have to run around to get anything to make our stay easy & pleasant. I'm telling you, everyone needs a Nana - just NOT MINE, ok? :)

Someone enjoys flying

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Hey! We're back!

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We arrived safely after the tornado warnings had passed in VA but my Mama is still recovering from eating her way across the island and through Greenfield Park. She promises to have something more to say about our fantastic trip to MONTREAL tomorrow! But for now, she's put about 200 pictures up on dropshots for your tour viewing pleasure :)

Out & About with the Fellow

Liam has some funny, amusing quirks he does when we are out & about in the car and whatnot & I thought I would share them with you bulleted list style :)

• He knows how to turn my car on! He can only get it to the auxiliary position but that's enough to work the sunroof & stereo. I had no idea he knew how to do this until he was in the car (in the driveway) with LeNelle and I heard him turn stuff on; it was quite a surprise for both of us, to say the least!
• When we are at a stop light; he is _thisclose_ to saying "red means no & green means go!!". You've heard him say "GO!" in his baby powder episode video and he's working on the "red means no" part. Every stop light he goes through this routine where he says "Mama?! GO!" to which I respond "we can't Fellow, it's red!" and then he sits there and repeats until the light is green "...GOOOOOO!!!"
• He always wants to drive with the sunroof open which I happily oblige :)
• He points out other Jettas/Passats as we pass them by calling them all "Car de Mama"
• He knows the following locations: Toddlin' Time, LeNelle's house, Pool & Playgrounds
• He will alert you to the fact that you have not gone in the particular direction to take him to one of the above mentioned locations - loudly.
• He knows how to snap his seat belt together all by himself, but thankfully doesn't know how to unsnap it!
• He knows Dada doesn't have a sunroof so requests that we turn the light on for him instead
• He knows how to unlock the car doors from both the inside & the outside (complete with using the automatic key lock & the regular old key)
• He will go to the car unless I have his backpack ("bag!") with me & will go and get his shoes as soon as you tell him we are going in the car!
• He also thinks the word "Jersey" is pretty funny as we discovered upon entering New Jersey & me saying "Welcome to New Jersey!" - he laughed his tiny bum off & continues to do so every time I say "Jersey"

Memorial Day Weekend Round-Up

It seems that we have been busier than ever these past weeks or so but it's all been so much fun & so active for Liam that even though I'm butt-tired by the end of the day, I know we are just going to wake up the next morning & do it all over again!

Here's what we did this weekend & I think it's 100% safe to say that everyone enjoyed every single minute of it; minus that one time Liam managed to douse me with the hose.

On Saturday, we headed out right after breakfast for the Farmer's Market on our quest for plants for our deck. We took the wagon with us thinking he would much rather prefer to sit in his beloved wagon than his not-so-beloved stroller and walk around Old Town. He did enjoy it & we went all around, even making a stop at the lovely shaded park before heading home for lunch & nap! We got some wonderful plants & I'm going to do my best not to kill them before summers' end; I'm also going to try & curtail Liam's enthusiasm for watering them full blast with the hose. That afternoon, we didn't make it to the First Day the Pool was Open but instead we waited until Liam was awake to have him plant the garden with us. I'm glad we waited cause he just loves helping us out & he also likes to have free range of the backyard to play with his toys.

Sunday, he went to Mass with Dada right after breakfast & made a quick Target run for swimmie diapers (and another crop table! and toilet paper too, if you must know...!), came home in time for lunch & noni with a promise of going to the pool when he awoke! I've taken to saying P-double O-L when referencing the large amount of water that we will take him to play in since he will lose his mind if we say POOL aloud! Also, we don't say "wagon" but spell that one out too; so a typical conversation between Mama & Dada goes something like this "let's take his w-a-g-o-n to the P-double O-L when he's finished with his milk, ok?"

The water in the big pool was beyond freezing so we didn't last long in there (maybe 10 minutes) but he had such fun exploring & gaining his confidence alone in the baby pool! He did get a little cold over there with the breeze blowing on his bare upper torso so he asked to put his shirt on & we spent most of our time like that. He was blowing bubbles from a standing up/leaning over position & was very proud of himself, as were Mama & Dada! He was _thisclose_ to jumping into the foot of water all by himself but still wanted Mama to do it with him, as I'm sure that's just a whole lot more fun too! We had estimated that we had been there for only about an hours' time but when we got home it turned out we had been there for close to TWO HOURS! And the boy was STILL not tired!

Yesterday, he woke up ass-crack early (6AM!) and Matias was nice enough to get up with him since Mama had strained her back in a weird sleep position. They went down to the lake & fed the baby Canadian Geese and watched some Charlie Brown together - he know says "lake" followed by "water" and when you ask him how to say Charlie Brown he simply raises one arm up into the air (weirdo)! He likes to throw rocks & sticks into any body of water (and puddles qualify) so he has a blast on his outings - he also now says "rocks"! Mama was finally up when they came home at 9am so I took over Fellow Duties which basically consisted of going out back to play & eating anything and everything in sight!

After his noni, we took him for ICE CREAM! He's not a big sweets eater AT ALL. Offering him ice cream is like shoveling lava down his throat but this time he took a liking to it & shared my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream :) He didn't overly care for Dada's Butter Pecan but he did enjoy licking his cone! His first ice cream cone & we only had our camera phones...tsk, tsk!

Then we went to the park before picking LeNelle up for dinner at our house & he ran around, climbing all over & just generally having a great little boy time at the park. It was more crowded than usual but I suspect the picnic grounds had something to do with that & the large amounts of families present. We were there for about an hour before heading out to get LeNelle & head back home. We played outside some more before dinner & then finally it was bedtime & our long weekend had come to an end!

I feel like we've been doing so much lately & I cannot believe how much we can fit into one day! He has so much fun doing everything that it's hard NOT to take him out every chance we get - I'm exhausted though by the end of it all!

And just a quick program note - we will leaving for Montreal on Friday morning so it's safe to assume that posting will be light! We return on Wednesday with a full weekend of Single Parenting for me on tap...

With that said, I will try & update Drop Shots as we go along on our trip but I'm not sure of the internet connection speeds so I might go MIA for a week or so!

I'm off to get some "housework" done before Liam gets up from his nap so we can go to the pool this afternoon if this weather stays nice!

A Son's Love

Liam & Matias have been going out for wagon adventures just about every evening after work & before dinner. They are gone for long stretches of time, exploring the "river", the woods & clambering around the adjacent developments playground as it is superior to ours.

And they seem to have a new ritual added into their adventures & it's one I'm loving very much. Liam has been bringing me home a lone flower, plucked from neighboring gardens or along their wagon trail! He presents it to me each time with a very proud "Mama!", hands it to me & gives me a hug & a kiss. I put each and every stem in a bud vase on our mantle & every single time I look at it or spy it out of the corner of my eye, my heart expounds & I smile knowing that my son was thinking of me & brought me home a gift of love.

He's getting so big, so smart, so caring, so affectionate these days. The hugs are harder, complete with little 'back pats', the kisses are louder & juicier & the words "I love you" (I believe) are close to leaving those little lips of his. I cannot wait for that day.

He tells me he loves in many, many ways. The little flowers handed to me with huge smiles shows me his love. I treasure them for we all know that little boys do not continue to give their Mamas stolen flowers for the rest of their lives, but he's reaching out now giving tokens of his love & I accept them gladly, with a larger smile on my face & such pride in my heart.

Mama loves you too, Liam Robert.

Pimping CM

I made this after we got back from the pool with our StoryBook Creator Plus software - it's an 8x8 page print that will fit in my new frame & mini-easel. I could not love it anymore than I do. This is going to be so much fun, I cannot stop thinking of the endless gift possibilities!

Bestest Way to Spend a Sunday

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And I'm sorry...

...but is there anything cuter than your little one calling out "Mama" when waking up from their naps?

Dance & Jump!

Liam has really started to break into a little boogie whenever he hears his music now & I think it's because he really enjoys the music from the Charlie Brown movies! He's trying to snap his fingers but while attempting that he clicks his tongue to simulate the sound. He dances to Ring Around the Rosies also and sometimes likes me to sing for him & sometimes he just spins and drops all on his own accord! He finds it very amusing when Mama dances like the Charlie Brown characters & gets up to do it with me - so very cute, indeed.

I've been trying to teach him how to jump & he's trying very hard to do so but ends up stomping with one foot more than trying to launch himself off the ground :) We practiced our jumping on the little trampoline (with handle bar) at Toddlin' Time today & he had a great time jumping with assistance! He thought it was really funny yesterday when Matias & I were hugging & I told him to jump on the count of 3 - he laughed really hard when he saw us jumping together & asked for us to do it multiple times. He's getting braver jumping with two feet off of things & is taking the opportunity to jump off just about anything; it doesn't matter how high it is or to be honest how low the jump is, he just bends his knees and takes the leap!

We're having a lot of fun here lately; going on a ton of outdoor adventures, learning new things, practicing to perfect other things & just generally enjoying our time together!

I'm in the midst of planning/designing his 2nd Birthday Celebration (!) & I cannot believe where the time has gone...it's so tough to keep up with his present & future without forgetting the wonderful past that we have come from together - now THAT'S something to Dance & Jump about!

For the Scorekeepers at Home

Have you noticed I have not mentioned much about Liam's meals lately? That would be because once I finally took a step back & relaxed about it all, I realized that he was doing just fine.

It seems he has taken to not rejecting his Big Kid food on a regular basis now, even so much so that when I toss in a new food he doesn't lose his ever-loving-mind and more importantly, neither do I!

I do personally cook up veggies 1-2 times a week and mash them up as we are still not eating whole pieces of (mostly) veggies. So I steam some broccoli & baby carrots or bake some sweet potatoes or asparagus in order to insure he is getting his proper dosing of veggies.

We alternate between chicken, fish, pasta & veggies for dinners these days, and are still in our deep adoration of apple sauce, yogurt (although that's waning a tad) & cottage cheese. Pancakes & French toast still top our breakfast menus while peanut butter STILL gets scrapped off his tongue with his fingers.

I introduced a new food to him last night - new that he'd never had this version of it before but had eaten (and loved) everything that it was made of - vegetarian broccoli pancakes. And it ate it up. And he had to chew to do it. He also ate some cookies this morning (oh hush) that he had previously been refusing & he actually preferred them over his typical goldfish & stars!

He feeds himself with a spoon or fork for every meal & every food too! We have been putting his yogurt & cottage cheese in bowls for him as they are easier to handle that way and he sits very happily and eats it all up. I'm very happy with this turn of events also because he actually enjoys & prefers feeding himself - such a grown up little boy!

We got him one of those divided plates & use them with dinners and even though it's just one thing on there at the moment, he really enjoys his Big Boy plate and eats well off it instead of dumping all his bowl contents onto his tray to eat off of there - Dada is not a fan of eating off his tray so something flat helps him out & I guess let's him feel as if he's eating off his tray at the same time. Soon, I'm going to start offering multiple foods with his dinners & I think he will really like the divided plate option. I can picture him taking one bite from there, another bite from here at his own leisure & his own pace.

We've also started basically only giving him milk with his meals; once I began reading his cues a little better! He really wasn't drinking his milk when I was offering it to him before his meals & finishing it up while eating so I just gave up that "fight" and started putting it on his tray for him. He only drinks his milk now (without a meal) when we are out & it's his mid-day dose and his pre-lunch cup usually ends up being drank while we are out playing at a event or something...

So that's the status of our Meal Time Struggles!

Liam made a mess (I blame it on Swistle!)

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You Really Cannot Go Back (not that I really fucking* want to anyway)

I'm really pissed off right now at some friends that invited Liam & I over for dinner tonight. I ended up leaving before dinner even happened & I ended up getting terribly upset with Liam when, of course, he didn't deserve the brunt of it.

I'm Single Parenting this weekend, which is part of the equation. I'm tired, psychically & emotionally; although those are not reasons for losing my patience with Liam they are my excuses.

When invited over to someone's house who does not have children, do yourself a favor and do not expect them to understand what it's like to have an almost 2 year old. Yes, sometimes he screams after the cats but that doesn't make him a bad child nor does it give you the freedom to yell at my child. It's not an act that he gets away with at home with his own cats so don't go thinking that I think it's cute or acceptable; you don't see me laughing, do you? And if you are someone who happens to spend a lot of time with Liam, someone who Liam adores, do NOT change your tune & expect to get your Grown Up Time simply because you think you should. Do you really think HE knows the difference? Do you really think that he's going to understand "not right now, I'm eating"? What kind of response do you think that will generate from him? Certainly I hope you weren't expecting a positive one. Do you really think he can turn off his Object of Affection Adoration like a light switch simply because we're in a different location? Is that really fair for you to expect that from him? How could you do that to him? Why would you do that to him? I'm going to say it again he doesn't get it.

In less than 5 minutes, Liam got yelled at by someone other than his parents, told by his objection of affection that she didn't think he was funny & she wasn't laughing & had my other friend tell his other two EIGHTY YEAR OLD guests that he "loves Liam, but taking this 24 hours a day...well he just couldn't handle that". I'm embarrassed to admit that I lost my patience and took him upstairs to try & calm him down where I promptly spanked him when he lost his temper with me. I was embarrassed of his behavior when there was nothing to be embarrassed about. He's [not quite] two years old. And the worst thing he did was holler at the cats.

I think the only person who learned any sort of lesson was me. Just because someone says your child is welcome at their house when they invite you over for dinner doesn't mean they are comfortable with the actions of an [almost] two year old nor familiar with them. He didn't touch anything, break anything, didn't even hurt the cat he was screaming at; he simply offended them by being excited about the cats. I suppose that's a crime & Liam certainly did get punished for it but he shouldn't be the [only] one who gets chastised.

To say that I smothered him with kisses & hugs when we got home would be an understatement. To say that I didn't hug him all that much tighter to me when I said good night to him would be a lie. To say that I'm embarrassed for my actions & getting upset with him when the people who really deserved got away with nothing [for the moment] would be an disservice to Liam (and [almost] two year olds everywhere).

To say that I'm mad at myself for expecting Liam to act the way they wanted him to act is easier to admit than you'd think. To say that I'm going to forgive myself sooner rather than later would be misleading. To say that I'm going to mull it over a second longer when an invite is extended is not far from the truth.

To say that I probably learned the most tonight & not the little boy who was only acting his age is the most humbling, shameful admission to date would not be a lie.

I'm sorry, Liam Fellow. I'm your mother & I should have done better by you. It's not going to happen again & I'm not going to let this pass without speaking my mind. If someone is not a friend of yours then they're no friend of mine.

* edited for Nana's sake

Friday Five - The Cute Edition

Five New Cute Things Liam is Doing:

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

Excuses, excuses

If I need any excuse to explain why I haven't been around every day - the evidence is below. We are outside almost non-stop when Liam isn't eating or sleeping! I have a list of really fun things to write about but the list just keeps growing & no posts are getting written. I plan to do a nice write up of our adventures last week & Liam's progress with his sentence construction, signing & general adorablness. Notice how I didn't say it would be nice &s short! Until then, know that we are outside somewhere, playing with water somehow, and sliding down slides until we knock ourselves out or need to replenish our calories!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

XTREME! Peek-a-Boo!

Liam & I went to the park this morning to burn off some steam, we went alone cause he's got some productive sneezes & I didn't want to get anyone from our Mommies Groups infected possibly also...

...so he's tromping around; playing with his sticks & twigs & rocks and every single other thing that Little Boys play with when all of a sudden he spies an ant scurrying around underfoot.

He points to it innocently & I tell him it's an ant, then he tries to pick it up, which Hello? how Little Boy can he be all at once? But anyway, I tell him no, leave him be & he does, until XTREME! Peek-a-Boo! goes into effect!

He steps on the ant! and then, this is the best part & my best story I've gotten in a good few days or so... he lifts his foot up and says PEEK-a-BOO! and slams his foot back down!

Poor ant, never saw it coming. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he had smushed the ant in his XTREME! PEEK-a-BOO! playing and all I could do at that point is just laugh, because seriously, that's some funny Fellow Antics right there.

I'll tumble for ya...

Liam was taught how to tumble on Sunday by a nice, new friend, Sean while we were over at friends for dinner.

It's so dang cute, y'all.

At first he would just throw himself on the ground and roll after we counted to three but now, he comes over and stands in front of you, puts his hands on the ground and we get to flip him over!

It's so dang cute, y'all.

I cannot decide which is cuter though. The loose interpretation of a tumble or the assisted tumble...

On one hand it's cute to see him try things on his own & get a kick out of accomplishing it independently. On the other hand, it's cute to have him ask for help in order to accomplish something properly with a little assistance.

Trying new things on your own is a fantastic trait. Asking for help to complete a task you cannot handle on your own just yet is another fantastic trait. I like both of them & encourage them at every step with Liam, I think I just like the fact that he is doing each & both of those things on his own. No one verbally told him how to tumble; he watched Sean and did it his own way. No one offered help to him; he came over and asked for it himself.

I love that he knows his limits but doesn't let that stop him from attempting anything, even if he does need a little shove in the right direction.

I'm serious here...

...it's all water, all the time.

Friday Five!

It's been a while, hasn't it? In my lame defense, we had Nana & Grandpa here for a bit & then I got sick on the tail-end of that and could barely do anything for a handful of days there...

But let's see if I can manage a Friday Five Round-up Style of Liam Happenings!

1. New Word: Wagon - Liam LOVES his wagon & asks to go out in it everyday. Stands by the garage & says "wagon" until Dada relents & takes him out! They go everywhere in it - to the pond to throw rocks, to the little stream to throw rocks, to the slide in the neighboring development cause they got a twisty slide...he's usually out & about for over an hour when they go exploring!
2. New Word: Belt - Liam got a belt for his skinny bum in Argentina but didn't really need them for his winter pants but I've been using them for some of his shorts and he LOVES it. He carries it around with him, points out other people's belts, and tells us (mainly Dada) to put a belt on when getting dressed. I think he would sleep with it if we let him!
3. Favorite Song: Wheels on the Bus - I got him a CD set of kids songs & this is the first track on it. He sings "round and round" in his little Fellowese whenever he sees a vehicle larger than a car - a truck, a bus, a firetruck, a digger - you get the point. He asks to listen to his song over and over throughout the day. This morning we had it on for about 3 hours throughout the morning! He knows all the motions for the words but doesn't do them all the time. Right now his favorite is the WAH WAH WAH where he will scrunch up his face & say WAH WAH WAH and then he makes me do the HUSH HUSH HUSH part along with him!
4. Favorite Video: Charlie Brown & the Great Pumpkin - Matias let him watch it earlier in the week & the kid just laughs his bum off at it! His favorite is Linus at the moment but he thinks Snoopy is funny too flying around on his doghouse.
5. Give Me Big Hug: When you ask him for a Big Hug he throws his arms around your neck and squeezes and says in a very tight, hard, squeezing voice "bill a bill a bah"! After his Big Hug he will plant a LARGE kiss on you complete with the loudest, longest kiss smacking sound you ever did hear!

I should be back on my game next week & will get more of anything & everything up in a timely manner!