What he's doing

Liam really wanted to feed himself breakfast this morning. He actually used the bowl end of the spoon quite a bit of the time. Then he experimented with eating yogurt and prunes with his hands and the other end of the spoon. Maybe he won't starve before he figures this out.

Liam remembers what's in different books. Today when he wanted me to read him "Green Eggs and Ham" he made the lip smacking motion I make when the guy tries the dish in question. If you tell him to get "the shark book" he knows which one it is. He's really been favoring Dr. Suess lately, which is kind of funny because we have several books around that are actually geared toward babies and Suess definitely isn't.

He is still not walking, but he's "cruising" much more now. he will sometimes walk while using a vertical surface for balance, but he still seems pretty unsure of that. He's climbed up on the couch once and is using his big car to push around and walk with.

For two nights I slept with Liam to see how we were doing on the night weaning and to give Allen a break. Liam went about three hours between feedings, which is better than before, but still not what we're going for. Last night Allen slept with him again and Liam woke up every hour. Not sure if he just wasn't feeling well or if he was confused by all the switching.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the whole family - Grammy and Grandpa (AKA Mom and Dad), Isaac, Cindy and Benjamin, and Titus. I was especially thankful for all the help from Mom and Dad in getting ready.

Liam enjoyed seeing Grammy and Grandpa face-to-face after a couple of months of Skype contact only. He wowed them with his language skills and shared lots of kisses with them. He got them to read as many stories as he could.

We also enjoyed seeing baby Ben after a couple of months. Naturally he has gotten lots bigger and is staying awake more. He even blessed us with some smiles.

Kisses

OK, I admit that this picture was taken the same day as the one with baby food all over Liam's face. But it shows something else that Liam does a lot these days - he leans toward us for a kiss. Sometimes he alternates between getting a kiss from Allen and getting one from me. He goes back and forth, accompanying the kisses with "mmm" sounds that we join in on.

When Liam sees Allen and I start to smooch he often tries to get in on the loving too. And when we had some friends here the other day and they started getting "lovey" he leaned over to see if he could get some of that too.

Today at the park we saw a little boy we know from the library. When the two boys ended up in the toy car together Liam's friend tried to give him a kiss. Liam didn't realize what was going on right away, but when I said, "Liam gives kisses too," he leaned forward for a kiss. They didn't manage to get coordinated, but it was sweet anyway.

Parade!

This morning when I got up and opened the bedroom window I noticed unusual activity in the street behind our house. Eventually I realized that today was the Bowling Green "Holiday" Parade. When Liam saw the fire truck passing on Poe (one street over in front of the house) he got really excited. So on the spur of the moment I decided that Liam and I would go.


We made it out just as the parade was starting and got a pretty good spot. Liam really seemed to enjoy it. He liked seeing the horses, the bands and lots of cars and other things that say "beep." He started out in the stroller, but ended up on my lap. I sat on the curb. Part of the time Liam stood in the gutter. He wanted to crawl on the street, but I nixed that one.


Lots of the parade participants threw candy. I collected some of it since otherwise it would have just sat on the street. We now have a large bowl full of candy looking for takers. Liam thought that the cool thing about the candy was that people were throwing it. He tried to throw some back.

Physical Therapy

We took Liam to physical therapy yesterday. It was a pretty positive experience. He started to get upset at the beginning, but calmed down when he realized that no one was going to make him get naked. He really warmed up to the therapist by the end of the session. I think she got a good idea of how he's doing. She said that he's functioning at about a 12 month level (he's 15 months), but that's because of the walking issue and she expects him to start walking soon. She gave us lots of ideas to help him with balance and walking. We have another appointment in a few weeks, mostly so she can give us some more ideas.

It was nice to talk to someone who gave us lots of positive feedback. She said she didn't think Liam would need much therapy, which was too bad because she thought he would be lots of fun. She also said that he had better concentration than her two year old! As a bonus, the building wasn't too smelly.

She did say that his muscle tone is a little low, but that he will most likely outgrow that. She said that since his verbal skills are so good he's probably focusing on that and making less progress with gross motor.

Adventures in fine eating

In the interest of trying to get Liam to put something in his mouth (foodwise) at supper tonight I put the bowl on his highchair tray and gave him the spoon. He did lick the spoon off, but then was a little confused about how to get more onto it. While I spooned more food into his mouth he tried picking it up with his hands - and spreading it over the highchair tray and eventually his face.

Also, on the subject of messes, Liam had his first try at coloring with markers today. Actually it wasn't too much of a mess, although he got his hands pretty much completely covered with ink. He was a little confused about how to make the markers write on the page. It made more sense to him that the plastic end would write than that the tip end would write - despite all evidence to the contrary.

New sleeping arrangement

We have been talking for some time about weaning Liam from night time feedings. So for the past couple of nights Allen has been staying with him in bed while I go and sleep on the futon. The first night he went four hours between feedings and the second he went five and a half. This is something of a record for him. It's really tiring for Allen, but hopefully it will pay off in the future with better sleeping for all of us.

We actually managed to get together with our gaming friends today. It was the first time in a couple of months. It was kind of hard to remember what we had been doing, but good to get going again.

Word for the day

Liam's new word for today is "baby." He says it pretty clearly and can point to a picture of a baby in a book. A man came with a flier selling windows and Liam pointed to several of the pictures of faces on the flier and said "baby." So he may not be quite clear on the difference between a baby and a person, but that will come.

He has also started to look at books and tell the story. His current favorites for that are "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark," complete with a low growly voice for the shark and a high one for the little fish, and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," which is a singing book.

Yikes!

As usual, Liam started crying as soon as we started taking his clothes off at the doctor's office yesterday. He even tried to climb off the scales and almost fell on his head. The doctor says he's doing great, other than the not walking part. She said it "wouldn't hurt" to have him checked out by physical therapy. I'm not really worried, but I don't mind checking. Haven't made the appointment yet.

Today we went to the library for story time. Liam was very interested in a baby sitting next to him. Afterward he played with some other kids. He wanted to play with whatever anyone else was playing with. Thankfully he was able to share. He also discovered the joy of knocking over towers made of blocks today. I was a little worried about a little girl who wanted to play with Liam. She kept putting her hands on his face, which with all the flu going around didn't seem like such a good idea to me.

Fifteen Months!

Liam is fifteen months old today. He has started to "read" himself stories. He will look at a book and rattle away in his own little language. He also will make appropriate animal noises with some books. In the book pictured an owl says, "Hoo, hoo," and Liam really likes to make that noise. He also goes to the end of Green Eggs and Ham and says, "Thank you," on the page where the character says that.

He's been working on saying some things more clearly. For a while now he has said "diaper" as "daidee," but the other morning he actually managed to get a "p" sound after the "dia" part. He's also making signs like "shoes" and "more" more clearly. He likes to make all kinds of animal sounds - roaring for lions, growling for bears, quacking for ducks. Of course the favorite is still "ooo" or woofing for dogs.

Liam is still not walking, although he can accomplish a lot while standing. Removing the big cooking spoons from their drawer, and pulling anything off the table that happens to be near the edge spring to mind. He's also a big helper when it comes to closing things like the dishwasher and even kitchen cabinets that Mommy still forgets and leaves open.

Liam is a big fan of getting out of the house. Whenever he sees that I'm getting ready to go someplace he sticks to me like glue. Often he will stand up, holding onto my leg and "uh uh uh" at me. Seems he's worried that I'll leave him behind - even when I'm the only other person here.

Yes, "uh uh uh" is still his favorite way of requesting something. This is often accompanied by handing us a book or looking intently at something on the table. He has no problem letting us know if what we offer him was not actually what he wanted. He either pushes it away, or drops it on the floor.

Tomorrow is his fifteen month wellness visit at the pediatrician. I know he's gotten taller. We'll see what else they have to say.

Pictures, finally

Here are a few of the pictures from our trip to Michigan:


We had a pretty good trip home, with Liam sleeping most of the way. We are still trying to get the laundry from the trip dealt with.

Winter wonderland

We woke up this morning to snow! It really looked beautiful with the sun shining and a few flakes falling. Later the snow fell more thickly and it looked like the inside of a snow globe. Eventually we could hardly see to the other side of the lake and it seemed ominous to me, but the sun came out later and most of the snow has melted.

This afternoon we went over the Jeremy and Phylis's and Liam and I got a tour of the house. Allen had already seen it. The wooden beams and walls are beautiful. It's nice to finally see what we've been hearing about all this time.

Now Allen and Phylis are getting a few things done and Jeremy is playing with Liam so that I can get a few things done. They are having fun reading stories and playing with blocks. Jeremy is very patient with Liam as he changes his mind about what stories he wants to read and what page he wants to look at.

Northern Exposure

Well, we've made it to the Upper Peninsula! The trip took about seven hours, not counting stopping at the grocery store in Newberry. Liam did pretty well. He got pretty sick of being stuck in the car toward the end, but I couldn't blame him. I was pretty sick of it myself.

The cabin we're staying in has a beautiful view of "Halfway Lake." Liam and I took a walk this morning - Liam was in the stroller. It says it's an all terrain stroller, so I was testing it out. We got all the way down to the lake. Later we took a walk with Jeremy, but it had rained in between and the stroller had a harder time of it.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees here, but there is still some pretty fall color. If we had more time it would be fun to take a canoe onto the lake - another time!

We have a slow internet connection here. I don't know if I'll be able to upload pictures while we're here. Might have to wait 'til we get back to Bowling Green.