6 months Update

As of Nov. 25th, Liam has been with us for 6 months.   It is amazing to me how quickly this time has flown, but it is most amazing to me that Liam simply seems like he has been a part of our family since forever.  

Liam's growth and development has been nothing less than ultra amazing.  Language continues to develop in leaps and bounds.  He still uses "hmmm" for almost all verbs, but is starting to use a few verbs here and there.  His sentences have become longer and more detailed. 

Liam still refuses to wear shoes, but it has become even worse.   He has gone from refusing to just melting down.  We definitely need a remeasure - I keep saying that - it's just a matter of getting to the shoe store!  So I carry him in and out of places and he walks around everywhere in his socks.  Outside, he has started to wear his fireman rainboots.  That's a good sign since we're not far from snow here and it's getting pretty chilly out there! 

Liam's love for Sophie has continued, but he has become a bit aggressive with her periodically. This is grounds for a time out followed by Liam apologizing to Sophie.   Sophie continues to be the perfect dog - tolerating Liam's behavior by simply walking away and, of course, loving Liam with licks and tail wags whether Liam wants them or not.  

Liam continues to have a wonderful imagination keeping us in stitches as he assumes different roles throughout the day and acts out little scenes.  One that seems to often play out is he is first the fierce lion roaring, then he's a scared baby kitty who comes running to mommy kitty for safety.  I love this one as I'm hoping it's symbolic of his feeling of safety with me. 

Liam has developed an "addiction" to all things from the movie "Cars" and to the movie itself. He also likes to act out scenes from the movie which usually has all of us in stitches.  For anyone familiar with the movie, my favorite scene he acts out is the tractor tipping scene which I have yet to get on my video (although I think Craig may have captured it on his).  He appoints someone to be Mater or Lightening and he's a tractor.  You either honk or rev your engine depending on who you are and then he leans over backwards making the same sound that the tractors make in the movie when they tip.  The first time he did it, I simply cracked up.  He is such a little ham!   

On the day before Thanksgiving, Liam got his first haircut.  He was perfectly behaved -sitting in the chair like a little man. 



Until the end, when his true personality came out!  What a handsome, funny little man he is! 

A Thankful Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Most of all, we're thankful for our two healthy happy pilgrims.

Liam's First Thanksgiving!

Our Kindergarten Pilgrim!

We're thankful for LaLa and her delicious food!

(but she's not allowed to cook next year - she always overworks herself.)

We're thankful that Uncle Travis learned how to make mashed potatoes!

They were delish Uncle Travis!!!

You're elected to cook the whole meal next year ; ) !

We're thankful that Uncle Andrew gave us a great big Thanksgiving surprise - himself!

He showed up on Thanksgiving Day when I didn't think he was coming. 

Without Uncle Andrew - it would have been "the worst Thanksgiving ever!"

It was a very Happy Thanksgiving!

One of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving holiday was when LaLa let the kids make edible play dough.

Hope your Thanksgiving was as happy as ours!

Think Pink????

OK, the pink thing is getting out of hand.  Today, while Kyra was at school, I dropped in to the Gymboree store (my favorite store for kid's clothes) to return something and they were having a huge sale.   I held up several shirts for Liam to look at - one with an airplane, one with a penguin, etc... - and he said, "No!" to every shirt.  Not really a surprise since he doesn't like to wear clothes, so I picked out what I liked and went to the counter to pay.  Liam decided to look around on his own a bit and  then came to the counter holding up a hanger sporting a pink shirt with a pink furry hooded vest and proudly announced, "For Liam!".   Argh.  

Partners In Crime

Kyra and Liam are quite a pair.   She has the ideas - he goes along with the plan.  Liam's pink polished toe nails were OK (well, Craig wasn't thrilled about them), but the pink hair spray that Kyra dug out of my office????  (It was purchased for Kyra's birthday party but after I figured out it came off her hair onto everything - I ditched that idea and stashed it in my office)  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...partners in crime.

I made her clean up her mess.

Then I cleaned up the bathroom...

What Are Little Boys' Nightmares Made Of?

Liam hasn't cried in his sleep for quite awhile now.  But a few nights ago he started crying in the middle of the night.  I tried to comfort him telling him "Mama's here" and silently fretted over what might have triggered the return of his nightmares - what had made the trauma of his little life appear in the night again.   Then suddenly, Liam sobbed, "Turtle...bite...Liam."   I smiled.  He likes to pretend that our stuffed animals have bitten his finger so I'll kiss it.I told him the turtle was all gone and kissed his finger.   He slipped back into his steady snores.  This is what little boys' nightmares should be made of. 

 

5 Month Update

As of Oct. 25, Liam has been with us for 5 months.   What strides he has made in such a short time!    

He's obviously much bigger all over.  He has the same clothing problem Kyra had.  A pudgy little Buddha belly, but overall, pretty short.  His 2T's fit perfectly in the length, but only his more expensive pants will still snap comfortably.  He's headed into a 3T, but everything is ridiculously long.   We'll be rolling up a lot of pants!  

His hair has grown - he's already had 2 unprofessional trims over his ears and it's getting long in the back now.  

The most remarkable progress has been his language.  He has gone from a single noun to putting strings of nouns together.  And now he has added something new to that.  He knows a word needs to go where the verb goes, but doesn't know what it is, so he just says "hmmmmm".  For instance,  Daddy hmmmm work car.  (Daddy goes to work in his car.)  Kyra hmmm school. (Kyra went to school or Kyra is at school.)  It's really interesting to watch how he has developed this "substitute verb".    His enunciation is improving as well.  

The most amazing thing about Liam is his imagination.   It's actually beginning to worry me  because Liam is rarely Liam.  He's usually daddy, often a baby kitty and sometimes Lightening McQueen.  If he's daddy, then Kyra is mommy, I'm Kyra and Craig is Liam.  If he's a baby kitty, I'm mommy kitty or his owner, if he's Lightening McQueen, he tells me if I'm Tow Mater or a Race Car.  Sometimes I'm Handy Manny and he's a tool or sometimes vice versa.  He's always driving the "game".   Today, I was daddy and he was actually Liam.  It's very cute to watch him try to play his imaginative game with Kyra.  He'll be Daddy and keeping calling her "Kim, Kim, Kim,Kim" , when she finally says "what"  - he tries to come up with something to say - it's usually "Daddy  hmmm work car".    He's just precious to watch in his pretend world.

Liam is sleeping through the night so much better.  He rarely wakes up and if he does he cries briefly.  He's more likely to wake up at 5 am and ask for his bottle.  I'll give him his bottle in bed, and he rolls over and goes back to sleep.   (Exactly what would make the dentist cringe..)

He loves his sister dearly and she loves him dearly.  They continue to compete for my attention, my lap, for me.  They struggle with sharing and Kyra still hits and pushes him when she's angry regardless of what consequences or reward system is in place.  For the first time though, Liam gave her a dose of her own medicine.  She usually refuses to let him in her room, shuts the door in his face and yells, "My room!"  I've always said this is her space and he needs to respect that.  This morning, as Kyra came toward Liam's room, Liam yelled, "My room!" and shut the door in her face.  Kyra suddenly decided he could come in her room from now on.  Regardless of what has transpired between them, at the end of the day, there is always a hug and kiss - "Good night ,Liam"  "Good night, "Dyra"

We are so blessed.

Happy Birthday + Lost and Found Sheep

Kyra celebrated her birthday Friday starting with opening presents as soon as we were out of bed.   

For dinner, she chose to go to an Italian restaurant - not that the pasta with butter and cheese is better than any other restaurant, but because she likes their bread!  She was quite thrilled to have the wait staff sing Happy Birthday in Italian though!

Happy Birthday to my 6 year old!

On Thursday, 2 days before Halloween, I started running into Little Bo Peep's sheep that she lost...

at the grocery store....

on Friday, at lunch...

and at Target!

He refused to wear anything except his sheep costume for 3 days. 

We finally found Little Bo Peep at her school Halloween parade!

They met up in the front pasture.

Little Sheep and his Sheep Dog

Happily at Play!

Little Bo Peep and her sheep took a birthday trip to Toys R Us so Kyra could wear a crown and get a balloon and spend her birthday money.  Ending with a ride on the hot dog truck.

Little Bo Peep and her sheep's costumes made it to Halloween - a bit dirty, but wearable.

No - I haven't aged quickly - Craig did!

Liam took to Trick or Treat like a sheep to pasture!  He walked up to the door and when they opened it, he kept walking right in to their house!  When I'd tell Liam to say thank you...

he'd baa.

It was a Very Happy Halloween!

adopt your own virtual pet!