Let the Wild Rumpus Start

16 Months, 3 Weeks

Hey ya'll!  This one will be fast, because it's finally GORGEOUS outside and there's no time to write when you're digging out the stroller for the first big walk to the playground!

This week we added some frames to the house, a few adult decorative things that we intend on keeping (unbroken) and at his level.  It's been...interesting.  Liam likes to visit the pictures, pick them up, and talk to them.  He had a different favorite picture everyday and would often kiss them. 

 

 

We also LOVE the mirror.  Especially when he feels like being testy and seeing if Mommy will in fact say no to pulling it off the wall every time or just once in a while.  When he's feeling especially feisty, he'll shoot me a smirk, put his hand on it, and wait until he's sure I'm looking and running over before he yanks on it.  

Ah, I look forward to those delightful twos coming my way.  

 

I also put away the high chair and got a booster seat.  He loved it immediately!  He visits it during the day and often buckles and unbuckles the straps. 

He loves his new placemat too. Liam will often take a bite, chew for a minute, then start roaring like a lion while pointing frantically at the picture.  Like, LOOK it's STILL HERE!  LION!  ROAAAAAAAR!!!!!

Then, back to eating. 

We love animals lately, and spend most of the day reading about or playing with them.

 

A little nap wakeup fun with the Littlest Man:

We returned to Grand Rapids to see Joanna Newsom, one of our favorites.  She plays the harp and plucks the strings more like a bass than the traditional strumming, and it's really incredible how she manipulates her face and voice to make such interesting sounds. 

I was also able to grab a bite with friends.  I love watching Liam, Cosette, and Theo together.  

 

On Saturday, it was Dylan's 22 birthday, so we all met for a little drink before his night started. 

 

Good to buy your bro a shot, right?  

Totally. And look how he takes it like a man. 

Nice job, bud.  Nice job.

The next morning, it was my cousin Camille's wedding shower.  It was vintage beautiful and really great to see everyone!  I cannot wait for the wedding in May; it will break all of my wedding records for best of... everything!  

Then the drive home.  A sweet sweet six hour drive with a toddler.  Liam usually does well, but this time he would only fall asleep if I was holding his little hand.  For two hours, he clutched my finger like this.  And if I managed to slide it out of his little paw, he stretched and searched in his sleep to get it back.  So sweet. 

I love that little boy.  Speaking of, he's up!  So, I'm off! 

Much love, more next week! 

16 Months, 2 Weeks

See, told ya I'd be better about writing! 

This week Liam's vocabulary really exploded.  It was a few new words everyday!  Some examples are feet, sausage, and horse. 

About a half an hour after Liam wakes up, he is the biggest cuddler.  He is so loving, gentle, and sweet as he kisses everything.  When he woke up Thursday afternoon from his nap and I brought him downstairs, he kissed everything in the room.  And I mean everything.  He kissed his red monkey, the chair, the tupperware top that was next to the chair.  It was really nine or ten things that he kissed with a big "mmmmmmuah."

Liam is a very funny eater lately.  He has his preferences, "turkey," "cracker," and "brea" (bread), but is also branching out to new things.  This week I made a spicy ginger and curry lentil stew and Liam really loved it!  Hopefully this love of food continues through the picky years that lie ahead! 

It's fun to share the food making process with Liam now.  I've been pulling out a stool for him to stand on while I chop veggies or stir things.  It allows him to taste a few new foods and watch the process.  He rejected the raw green pepper, but loved the chicken empanadas that we ate when it was all finished! 

 
Also, here is Liam in his finest
"please."  The more he wants something, the farther his head will tilt.  I don't even remember what he wanted here, but man, it must have been important...

 

We LOVE LOVE LOVE dancing to Feist's song 1234 and spun and played to it for over an hour. 

If we weren't dancing to Feist,  we were reading our favorite book Goodnight Gorilla. It is a great book with no words so you can change and morph the story with each reading or as the child gets older. It combines Liam's great loves - monkeys, bananas, and just this week we noticed that one of the animals that the silly gorilla lets loose is the armadillo.  And what does the armadillo have in his cage? Why, a paci and Ernie doll of course!  We now have to furiously flip through the book and point to it with unbridled enthusiasm.  He points to the paci and then points to his own paci (that we only use at naptime/nightime now) and says "paci."  It's so sweet, I can hardly stand it. 

We love to play our sleeping game, where we pretend snore with an "ahchew, ahchew," then "waking up" with a big smile. 

This Friday we went to a local toddler gym.  Oh my goodness was that THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!  Liam absolutely loved it with all of the slides, balls, balance beams, kids, and our super duper favorite DUCKS!  Wherever we are, Liam finds the ducks.  Consider it a talent.  :) But really, we got to a friend's house and he collects them from all over the house and plays with them all.  We went to this gym and lo and behold, he finds it -

 

On Fridays we have also been having playdates with some friends from the Mom potluck.  It's been great to see all of the babies together and have some adult interaction at the same time (what is that anyway???)

  

It's great to see friends, but it's even better to eat their toys and look guilty. 

 

See that glint in his eye?  He has this right before he throws himself off the couch or tears up the stairs before you even know he's gone.  This boy is fast. 

This morning Liam and I went to the Olbrich gardens spring garden show, where he enjoyed looking at all the flowers and climbing on all the benches.  This didn't last long, however, with naptime coming Liam shut down fast.  

See this?  This is one wiped out little man.

Now it's naptime and time for Mommy to make a big ol cuppa coffee for the afternoon!  Grocery shopping and Oscar Night!  Woo!

Much love, more next week!

16 Months

February sucks!

Ack, February sucks and so does my photo taking/blogging!  In Liam's sixteen months, I only took a shocking 75 pics as opposed to my usual 400.  (I know, 400 is a bit much, but I like pictures!)  Here is a brief summary of this month:

 

Playing with Daddy's phone

 

Giving Liam lunch one afternoon, and he fell asleep mid bite.  He slept through pulling him out of the high chair, going up the stairs, and getting into the crib. 

 

Playing with Mom's notebook and pen.  He later colored all over his face with it.  My little artist. :)

 

More sign.  

 

We watch the bike bath like it's our own tv - only MORE FUN!  We identify every bike, person, what every person is wearing (hat, boots, coat, gloves...), car, animal, and all of the noises that those things make.  This will be super fun when the bike path is full of people!

 

Walking on the frozen Lake Monona, where Liam had his first sentence, "Bye Dog."  We went sledding by Olbrich...

 

...ate snow...

 

...looked perplexed at the playground...

 

...and ate snow. 

We learned how to take all the cushions off the couch, jump on the cushions on the floor, run all around, spin the the song 1234 by Feist and the Do De Duck song with Ernie.  We have learned SO many new words like paci, cracker, keys, moo, meow, book, EIEIO, and SO many more.  Liam knows how to throw and catch a ball, put together a cat, dog, and fish knob puzzle, and build block towers.  It has been a long month with the winter, but a great month with my littlest man.  I am so proud to be his Mommy and so proud to watch him grow up. 

Other than that, I am preparing my photo stuff and training for the 60 mile walk in Chicago in August.  I run three times a week and am up to 60 miles in training.  It's so incredible doing this and preparing for this journey.  John is doing his school thing and preparing for a conference in March. 

I promise to keep up better now that it's getting nice out! 

Much love,

More NEXT WEEK, I promise!