July 4th to Autumn

Liam nonchalantly observes a passing fire truck in a 4th of July parade while casually holding his "iPhone."

Before Liam's first haircut (other than the ones I've given him).

First official haircut wraps up and everyone is happy!

Liam and me at Luray Caverns.

Liam ready for his first day back at Montessori school after a fun summer at camp.

Liam and I pose together before I take him to his first day back at school.

Mommy says goodbye at home, but will pick up a happy Liam when school ends.

A rare shot of all three of us - thanks for taking this Joe!

Today we went to a farm to do mazes, see pumpkins and animals, slide down huge slides and take a hay ride.  Liam and I also shot an apple cannon together and hit the target twice!

Liam and I were "matchers."

Disney

We recently went to Universal Studios and Disney for a great family vacation.  My parents and sister came too, which made the trip easier and more enjoyable for everyone (thanks!).  Liam had a wonderful time and is already trying to convince us to return for a "3 week" vacation there.

Liam in full Cars regalia, ready to fly to Disney.

First stop: Universal, where Seuss Landing was the biggest hit, especially the rides One Fish Two Fish and The Cat In The Hat.

After two long, hot and humid days of walking at Universal, we bought a little stroller for Liam, which he *loved* and saved us lots of time and effort!  He now refers to this as his "big boy stroller" despite being smaller than his other one.

Let the "Magic" begin...

The "Dumbo" style rides were some of Liam's favorites and there was one in every park.  Here Liam and I ride the Triceratop Spin.  He was thrilled to be able to control the up and down movement of the ride.

The happy family in front of the "Tree of Life" which houses the terrifying "Bug's Life" movie (just one of many shows I would end up leaving early with Liam)!

Wearing Cars and posing with them, Liam liked EPCOT a little less than I expected. 

Although EPCOT did get him warmed up to greeting characters.

He was a character-greeting pro by the time we met Jessie and Woody outside Splash Mountain.

Post-meeting with Jessie and Woody, Liam excitedly recounts his adventures so far.

One of Liam's favorite rides was actually the set in front of Winnie The Pooh.  Here, he explains all about Pooh's honey to grandmom.

Double excitement - the Dumbo ride during fireworks!  He raved about both.

Watching our second "Electric Light" parade of the trip.

Watching the Pixar parade at Hollywood Studios under the precious shade offered by a vendor's stand.

A brief moment of relaxation during his adventures in Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground.

C ya real soon!

Entertaining Day

Liam had a very busy day Saturday. In the morning, he and I went to our weekly music class together where we pretended to make cookies, played with a slide whistle and danced around. Liam always enjoys this class and looks forward to it every week.

After coming home for a little lunch, Annika took Liam to the mall where he gave his Build-A-Bear a "bath" at the store, picked up Toy Story 3 and played at the mall playground.

When they got home, we got ready and Liam and I went to see the Wiggles in concert with our neighbors. Liam is a huge fan of the wiggles - we listen to them non-stop on every car ride, watch the DVDs, and sing two Wiggles songs each night before bed. This is a picture of Liam when the Wiggles first got onstage tonight:

He was smiling, bouncing, singing and dancing through the entire show and had a terrific time. I was very impressed with how sincere the Wiggles themselves are. They walked through the entire audience and collected cards, flowers etc. from the kids and took the time to read every single sign out loud. In my opinion, they put on a great show with a mix of greatest hits, improv, acrobatics and audience participation. When talking about the show tonight, Liam seemed to be most impressed with when they sang Twinkle Star with the lights off and everyone's cell phones on as the "stars." I think I was most impressed when the 57 year-old Jeff Wiggle did a slow-motion head-stand while singing a song.

But wait... there's more! When we got home, after listening to yet more Wiggles in the car, we all watched Toy Story 3 while eating dinner. We reminded him that he could ask to skip any parts that were scary, but Liam watched it all the way through despite some darker scenes. One of the parts that seemed to trouble him most was when Woody loses his hat :)

As we put him to bed, we reviewed the day with him and covered all of these things. At this point, we said that was it, but he said "no! I also jumped on the bed four times." So I would be remiss not to mention that here too, for the record.

Dancing with Ernie

On a trip to find a good toy airplane for Liam, we found out that the toy store can be quite a party! Sadly, we did not find a suitable toy plane.

Liam and I had a terrific weekend while Annika was out of town. I think my favorite parts were our walks to and from the local park talking about fall, walking in the grass and playing the stop-go game (or as Liam says: "Bop, doe").

Tree Yellow Down

Liam and I took a nice walk today and learned about fall. On the way
home we played the stop-go game: Liam periodically freezes and then I
freeze until he starts walking again. We both had fun :)

Rainy day

It was a rainy day today so we played inside at playwisekids.

Fun at Target

Liam had a great time exploring Target last night and trying on some merchandise :)

 

Playing in the basement.  When Liam sees this picture he says "Down.  Ball."

Pivotal Moments

Liam enjoys a bubble bath by putting the bubbles all over his head

Liam comes to the rescue of his friend before she is cooked by the witch.  One of a few such scenes at a local farm where we got a pumpkin and some expensive apples.

About a week ago, Liam started putting words together in two-word phrases.  The phrases take the form "no kitty" or "bye-bye daddy."  The leading word in these phrases is called a pivot word - it can be used in many contexts preceded or followed by an open word (e.g. bye-bye daddy, bye-bye mommy, bye-bye kitty).  These short phrases are referred to as "telegraphic" speech because they resemble the short-cut wording of a telegram.

He's really interested in letters now and will point out an M, O, etc. in random words that we see.  He identifies yellow (la-lellow) and blue.  At first, I thought he might be red-green color blind, but he can point to the right color when asked, he just doesn't seem to be able to say those colors.

Sitting in a stroller can be a real drag, so Liam has taken to walking along with us while we push an empty stoller (which is just a bit slower).  Here he is preparing to walk the dog:

Mommy was recruited to add the video, so while I was here, I thought I would also share this picture, which shows what a difference a year can make. You can see from last year at the farm, he was not only smaller, but he didn't get the "put your head in a circle" thing. This year, he even smiled for the camera.

Number of signs, words and phrases Liam can express over time (months old).

Liam's First Trip

Liam had his first trip out of state Thursday and his first plane trip. He was upset in the airport as we waiting for our delayed flight, but went to sleep soon after we boarded and stayed sleeping for the entire flight. It was a bit awkward to have so much stuff along with carrying the baby, but overall, it really wasn't bad. I think Liam was pretty happy with it and barely cried any more than he would normally at home. We arrived really late Thursday night and, after a short introduction of Liam to our hosts, we went to sleep. Liam only got up once during the night and then we got up and went for a 6 mile walk with the extended family. We strolled along the esplanade and saw downtown Portland a little. That evening we went to a wedding and Liam was, once again, very "well-behaved" (i.e. quiet and happy) during the ceremony and slept through most of the reception. He was up for a while though and got a fun ride in the Moby with his "fisherman" hat. He slept through the night last night and continues to be wonderful on this trip.

Stronger than yesterday

Even though Liam is an early roller, he hates being on his tummy. While face down, he makes a lot of uhh and ehh groaning noises which are usually followed by cries. While he still prefers lying on his back, he has started to at least tolerate being on his stomach. My friend Mariel and her mother bought Liam a nifty little tummy-time tool which resembles putting Liam on a clock so he can spin around and see 5 different play stations. For the first time this week, Liam might have enjoyed himself while spinning around. His neck is getting much stronger and he is realizing that his arms can help him lift up. This is great news for his parents, who, after getting a second opinion from another doctor, have decided to let Liam sleep in the crib instead of a chair at night.
He is also getting more coordinated and is actually holding onto objects. While he still is not grabbing at his toys, he will, when an object is placed on his stomach, grasp it and put it in his mouth. It doesn't seem like much, but the books say this is helping him develop hand-eye coordination...something this parent has always lacked.
While we might not have a soccer player on our hands, we do have a music lover. Today, during mommy and me, we had a music teacher who inspired the infants with bells, drums sticks and fun little ditties. Liam loved the whole program, especially the part where we banged on sticks. I have a feeling I better lock up my pots and pans.

Mommy and Me

Liam and I have been exploring our world lately. We have been so adventurous that we have made it to the mall twice, Target and the grocery store once, and even to my office a few times. He is getting to the point that you can count on him not to cry for at least two hours. Getting out seems to be good for both of us--the activity mat can only be so entertaining for so long.

Once a week, Liam and I go to a Mommy and me support group sponsored by the county that we live in. There are 4 other moms and babies in the group and we mostly just sit around and talk about the progress of our children and what issues we are personally dealing with. We usually have a guest speaker such as a nurse practitioner or a baby massager. During the meeting, I can't help but notice how active and alert Liam is. He seems very interested in all the other babies sleeping in their mom's arms and I think he gets a kick out of making me walk around so he can see everything. Every time I go, I am also struck with how big Liam is...he always looks like he is ready to eat the other babies for breakfast. The pictures don't seem to show the enormity of the weight difference, but some of these babies (all older than 5 weeks) don't even weigh as much as he did when he was born. One thing this group has taught me is that all babies are different.