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!

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).

And we're back

Its been too long since we posted anything here. Liam is still growing and staying awake longer during the day. His bedtime ritual is pretty established and we're getting into the eat-activity-sleep cycle on a fairly regular basis. We can now put him in the crib awake and he can fall asleep on his own. However, he usually needs to be picked up and walked around a few times before that happens. We're slowly phasing him out of the full swaddles and into sleep sacks (though he still gets a full swaddle for night-time sleeping). He tends to nap for about an hour each time except for one long nap usually in the mid afternoon. He's been getting to sleep by around 9 each night and still wakes up around 7am. Don't get me wrong, he still wakes up during the night for nursing, but 6-7am is his real wake up time - he usually sleeps through the midnight nursings. We take him on two walks a day and he loves those. He generally sleeps through them and it gives us a chance to just talk to each other. To protect his little bald head from the sun, we sometimes put a hat on him. Sometimes, the hat makes him look like he's a woman going for a swim in the 1920s like the one in this picture :)

We've read quite a few books to Liam already during his many activity times. He loves to lie on his "activity mat" and look up at the dangling toys and mirrors. This is a picture of Liam on one of those mats. He likes to bat the toys around with his hands and legs and look in the mirrors. We also still do the Elmo chicken dance every time (thanks again Beth!). Sometimes, we hold his feet so he can push himself along the ground by straightening his legs. He enjoys being able to move himself around like that.

He also loves to stand up (with us making sure he doesn't fall over). He's got strong legs. The main thing he's lacking is balance. A close second to standing is sitting up like he is in this picture. He looks so much older to us when he's upright and he looks much taller when he's standing up.

Better All The Time

Like the Beatles said: "it's getting better all the time." Liam is sleeping for longer stretches and when he's awake, he's more likely to be alert and curious than he used to be. He's also becoming more predictable:
7am wake up and eat a lot
1-2pm cranky for a bit and then a long nap
8pm get really cranky, take a swing ride and / or bath
8:30 - 9pm get into bedtime routine of sleeping with intervals drowsy nursing every 2.5 hours.

He's also been riding in his stroller on two walks each day with us and he tends to sleep through them.

This routine is good in a number of ways - he sleeps more at a stretch which means Annika does also; he sleeps more at night than during the day; and he's getting a bedtime routine established. His awake and alert "activity" times are becoming more fun because they are lasting longer and he interacts more by following objects and paying attention to things and faces.
This photo shows Liam during one of his activity times today, looking up at Annika with curiosity.


In this video, Liam is entertained by "Chicken Dance Elmo" a gift from my co-worker Beth. Note: Annika is off camera moving Liam's legs for him... he's not that coordinated yet.

One Month

Its been one month since we met Liam for the first time on his birthday. He's already grown so much! If he continues growing in length and weight like he has been, he'll be 131 feet tall and 1,568 pounds by the time he's 30! If he maintains his current length-to-weight ratio, he'll weigh only 36 pounds when he's 6 feet tall! That gives you an idea of how quickly babies grow at this age.

Over the past three days, Liam has gotten much better about sleeping. Its probably due to a combination of us figuring out how to meet his needs better, and him getting old and big enough to handle longer periods of sleep. Our friends Nate and Kris came over Saturday night for a wonderful dinner they prepared and a fun round of bridge. Liam was terrific throughout their stay. My parents came by Sunday and also brought Mexican take-out for dinner, which was delicious. As always, Liam was generally very sweet with the occasional crying fit. He seems to be cranky as we transition up to the bedroom at night and downstairs in the morning. He also seems to have an afternoon crankiness sometimes. Having just those 2 or 3 times a day is much more manageable than the less predictable patterns before.

We're also getting more competent and confident in soothing him. We've got the swing, Moby, rocking chair, pacifier, swaddlers etc. all ready to go as needed :) Taking him on a daily walk in the stroller also seems to help him calm down and sleep, and it helps us by giving us time to just talk like we always used to on walks. I think we're also finally starting to differentiate his hungry cries from his other cries which is helpful in quickly addressing his needs (and thus minimizing the crying). I'm very impressed with Annika's ability as a mom and I feel really lucky to have her taking care of Liam so much.

Out for a Stroll

We took Liam on his first stroller ride today for a couple of miles on our path system. Although it drizzled a little at times, it was a really pleasant walk and Liam slept most of the way. We kept him warm and toasty with a couple layers of clothes and a really nice stroller blanket from my cousin Mary. He was also introduced to a few of our friendly neighbors who have been really supportive. The stroller was given to us by my grandmother and is really neat. Its light-weight and folds and expands without having to go through the process required by most other strollers to do so (push this button with your right hand while pulling this lever with your left and stepping on this level with one foot... now bend to the ground and tie it off with your teeth). Instead, you simply pull on a handle in the seat to fold it up, and lift it off the ground to allow it to expand.

Makoto was well behaved on the walk - although he still doesn't like people with basketballs. I think he's in for a rude awakening when Liam starts bouncing balls around the house! Overall, Makoto is still very curious about Liam and Yuki is still very cautious. We'd like to keep it that way for a while longer until Liam is able to push the cat off if he decides to sleep too close. For now, we just keep the two separate.

Methinks this couch is a wee bit too big for Liam. However, he is getting bigger and bigger. He's almost too big for his newborn "union suits" (one-piece outfits that have feet).