Entertaining Liam

There is a book out now called, "Naptime is the New Happy Hour". Unfortunately for me, that is all I get--one hour. Liam likes to take two 1/2 hour naps a day and he also likes someone to interact with him at all times during the periods that he is awake; this can be very exhausting for his caretaker. For this reason, we have a colorful assortment of chairs, toys, pillows and bouncers sprinkled around the house for his enjoyment. As he gets bored with one method of entertainment, we move him to another. His latest (and I think greatest) gadget is the jolly jumper from his grandparents Luke. We have a small video of Liam being "jolly" but I don't think it shows how much fun it really looks. The other video shows how we have to get creative with playtime since he is up for about 12 hours a day.

In other Liam news, he officially says Ma-Ma. This is not as wonderful a milestone as it sounds; I do not think he associates it with me and seems to only say it when he is frustrated and wants something. I think this might be why women are referred to as Ma-Ma: back in the day, cavemen must have been sitting around when suddenly their little one would get frustrated and call Ma-Ma. The men would probably look at each other, grunt, and say, "Woman, I think he is calling for you."

Fall has fallen

This past weekend, Liam went to a local farm where he met up with some friends, saw his first pumpkin and helped his mom and dad pick some apples. I think the main reason you take your 7 month old out to a place like this is for the picture opportunities. Lugging a 22 pound baby through the apple orchard does not making picking fruit any easier, but it does make it more fun. We met up with the other babies, moms and dads from the mommy and me group. It was funny to see one parent with a baby in a carrier and the other with a big bag of apples. It was also neat to see how consistent all the babies were; at the beginning (around noon), all the babies were wide-eyed and excited, but by the end, some were sleeping on their parent's chests and others were fussy--anxious to get back in the car for their 2:00 nap.

As it has been a while since we have posted, I will do double duty on this post and show some video as well. Liam seems to be picking up on the rules of peek-a-boo. I can't really tell if he really understands or if his arms are just in automatic flapping mode and I happen to be saying the phrase at the right time. He has given us several repeat performances, so I am going to say that he is a smart baby and understands this game perfectly.

Happy 31st, Daddy!

Steve turned 31 on Friday and Liam has been busy celebrating with his Daddy. We started with a trip to a steak house and because Liam can now sit in a high chair and is on a somewhat predictable schedule, we were able to have a good family meal out. We just have to be sure to be home by 8 for bedtime (Liam's rules, not ours) and have a diaper bag filled with toys and some baby food. We also celebrated by having people over on Saturday for games. Liam loves being around a bunch of people who will oogle and make funny faces in his direction. We closed the weekend with some time with Steve's mom, dad and sister where he saw his first birthday cake--after this picture was taken there was a nice little baby sized hand print in the icing! Happy Birthday, Steve--thanks for being born and thanks for giving us Liam.

Out of arms length

At our last doctor's visit, the doctor encouraged us to start baby proofing the house. While it seems ridiculously early to make sure that all cabinets and drawers can not be opened, we do have to do a bit a baby proofing every time we sit Liam down. As he takes a seat, we must now look around and see what is in his radius and ask ourselves "should he have access to that." He grabs everything. The problem, as these pictures show, is that even if there is nothing within his reach, sometimes an animal will accidentally cross his path. I have seen Liam literally throw himself on the poor creature. So far, all pets have been amazingly patient while he grabs a tuft of hair or an ear. He also can't seem to get enough stuff in his hands. In this last picture, he has a small ring in his mouth while he uses his hands to toy with the bag it came in.

The 6 month doctor visit was uneventful. The doctor said he is perfectly healthy. He is still big (29 inches long and 20 lbs), but not as big--he has gone from the 97th percentile to the 95th. As Steve says, that is still a solid A.

Back from Bean-Town

Steve had a conference up in Boston these last couple of days, so Liam and I decided to join him so that we could visit our old (and one very new) friends. Liam was once again an excellent traveler and enjoyed the hour long plane ride trying to figure out how to unlatch the tray table in front of him.

Liam seems to be very extroverted and is enthusiastic about being around people. He was thrilled that our friends Kitty and Jamie not only have a new friend for him to beat up (6 week old son Luke was not harmed during the taking of these photos), but Jamie's parents were also in town and he really put on a show for them.He was so wound up from our days hanging out with friends, he had a hard time going to sleep in the hotel room. We would give him a bath and put his pajamas on him, but he would just sit on the bed ooohing, cooing and sucking his toes. When we returned last night, he was very excited to tell his Papo (thanks dad for watching over our house) about his trip and forgot all about his 8 bed time.

Happy 6 month Birthday

To my little (or not so little) Liam:

The days and months seem to be zooming along and every day I wake up and am thankful you are in my life. On a daily basis, I love to look at you and watch you grow. To steal some words from my own mother: "You are like a prism--I want to hold you up to the light and see all sides of you." You are becoming your own little fascinating person: curious about all things including tv screens, people and paper. It is funny what a mother becomes proud of. I am proud of your chubby little hands, your ability to sit up at a young age, your amazing growth, but especially your smile. I love to make you laugh. Some words that get you going are boggles, boggie-woggie-woo and odd mouth noises. I like to play "where's mommy" and hide from you for a few seconds only to see your look of delight when I reappear. We also play "stack the blocks." I can stack about 6 blocks before you reach out and tear the whole thing down. I fear for the house and the animals in a couple of months; the girls in your play group lightly touch and reach for their toys while you seem to be on a seek and destroy mission.
Happy 6 month birthday, Liam! You took all the expectations I had about becoming a parent and threw them out the window, but you are so much better than I could have imagined.

Telekinesis

Liam is getting really good at sitting up on his own. He started out trying to sit up a while ago, but can now really sit on his own for a couple of minutes and interact with us, play with toys, and turn around a bit.

It's really interesting to watch his learning process. Right now, he's learning how to coordinate his movements - something we all take for granted once we're past a few years old. At first, he would concentrate hard on moving his arms and hands to grasp things. It is cool to think about it from his perspective - it must be like slowly discovering you have telekinesis ("hey, I can move these things on the end of my arm with just my mind!"). He is still sometimes fascinated with his own hands and how he can literally manipulate them.

Now he's learning about moving his legs and feet in a similar way - it started with random-looking leg movement when he's excited, but each day the movements become more purposeful. He can grab a toy between his two feet and bring it up to his hands, which then put it straight into his mouth. I can see the early stages of crawling as he lifts himself off his tummy onto his knees and elbows, and then almost pushes himself forward. One of the cute things he does now is to lift his head off the mattress while he's on his tummy and peek over the crib wall to see me. This, of course, usually draws me right back over to the crib to continue playing instead of letting him go to sleep :)

There's a similar process with his vocalization. It started with random sounds when he's excited, but is starting to get a little more speech-like at times. At first, his favorite phrases were "ra" and "la" but he now loves to say "bthv." Of course, without more than his two teeth, the "th" is very fuzzy and cute.

Speaking of teeth, he's got some coming through up top. The middle two, and the two on either side are starting to show. Beware of offering a finger for him to hold, it's likely to be thrust straight into his mouth for a nice bite!

He always makes me smile. No matter how tired I might feel sometimes, I brighten up when I walk into a room and see Liam. He's got an extroverted, easy-going and sometimes bubbly personality and an infectious laugh and smile. He's become very cuddly too, which I love. My favorite thing is to make him laugh. He loves to laugh at funny noises and faces and getting tickled or kissed on the cheek.