21 Months : Toilets, Talking and Tantrums

I know I say this almost every time about my little bear but he amazes and surprises everyday.

He is just 3 months shy of being the BIG TWO and boy is he showing it!

He is so curious and clever! Where as before he would love to explore all things in his reach he now realizes he can extend his reach with the simple task of pushing a chair or step stool anywhere. He doesn't so much explore any more as want to be involved in everything. When I make toast, he wants to have his stool right there and put the toast in the toaster himself and turn the dial and even butter it himself. Most of the time he just ends up eating the butter off a butter knife but hey, it's a start.
I love that he is independant and wanting to learn and try new things.

He is talking SO much now it is unbelievable. Everyday there is a new word and he will literally try and say any word that we ask him to. Although, apparently his name is still "Bee-boo".
He is slowly but surely learning his colors. He realizes now that not every color is blue.
He knows that "M" is for mama and "D" is for dada but he doesn't quite say any letter on his own except "B". The ABCs are "BBB".
He is learning to count too! When we count together he puts his hands up and tries to use his fingers. He's gotten up to "one, two, three".

We have slowly been introducing him into the world of potty training. He goes pretty regularly on his little potty so I've been wanting to take it a step further and I bought him his first set of big boy undies. He looks SO cute in them! But alas, big boy undies do not make a child potty trained. I'm sure in due time he'll grasp this whole potty thing because I am so done with diapers and to be honest, he's outgrowing his cloth diapers and I really don't want to buy more!

We recently transitioned him into a big boy bed because he kept climbing out of his crib. It has been a learning process for the both of us! The first couple of nights he was all over the place. Rolling out of bed, rolling under the bed, waking himself and all of us up. Eventually we wisened up and put a pool noodle under his sheet next to the edge of the bed. He's slowly getting the hang of things.

He is such a sweet spirited loving boy. He brings so much light and joy into this house. We are truly blessed. He loves to read books, sing songs, dance, color (even if it's on furniture), play play play and has begun to show his imagination through his play.

He still struggles with sharing toys. He still likes to shove littles to see if they will fall or if they are trying to take his toys. We are REALLY trying to work on this.

When it's time to settle for bed, he loves to touch my neck. He calls this "dee" I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Sometimes this is nice because if he's crying I can put his hand on my neck and he'll instantly calm down but then most of the time this is annoying because he's all up in my business grabbing at my neck. What's odd is he doesn't do this for Mike, just me. I'd like to think that he's feeling my pulse in my neck making sure that my heart is still beating. Morbid?

I've now been writing this blog post for three days so I am going to say farewell and share the good stuff, photos!

18 Months: Strong Man with a Strong Personality!

Liam is really growing up to be such a spectacular human. I know I'm suppose to feel that way because he's my son but really, he's such a joy to be around.
He has this ability to make me want to be with him, next to him always. I hug him constantly and smell his hair and even his breath, I love the smell of his breath, especially in the morning and after nap. I know, I'm weird.
I want to treasure every second of this stage. I just envision him being an 18 year old in an instant want to snuggle my little bear while I still can.

I think the biggest and by big, I mean HUGE development that has happened is that Liam is now sleeping through the night!! I'm not talking about 6 hour stretches, I mean legit from 7pm-7am (well 6am after the dumb time change). I have Mike to thank fully for that. It took a few early mornings of Mike having to go in and calm him instead of me that he realized it wasn't worth getting up and stayed asleep!

He is also talking up a storm. He is using two, sometimes three words together at a time. "Up Please", "Bad Dog (this is Klauss)", "Mama Warh Warh (with a rolled R in there for water)".

He love motorized vehicles, no surprise there. He's a boy and Mike's son. His favorites are buses and semi trucks. If we pass any of these he gets very excited and points. If we pass a bus, we always have to start singing the wheels on the bus. He even does the wheel gesture.

He loves the alphabet. Who knew that those fantastic alphabet letters that everyone gave for his nursery would come in handy for educating him too! He calls all alphabet letters "B". I'll say "A B C" and he goes "B B B". I give him a B for effort. He'll wake up from his nap, stand in his crib, point to his alphabet wall and say "B...B...B..." He does know that D is for Dada and M is for Mama and W is for Warh Warh so that's a start!

He loves, I mean LOVES to read books. His favorites change on a weekly basis which is nice. He hasn't fixated on one book that we have to read one million times. Although right now he's really into this peek-a-boo book and bathtime book that are starting to get pretty old.

He's become a little pickier with eating. He still likes most everything but he doesn't like a lot of veggies. Not too surprised, he is a one year old. He can still eat an entire container of berries though.

He is such a love. He gives hugs and kisses generously. He smiles and laughs all the time. He can be a bit of a bully at times with other kids though. His technique is that he will go up and give the youngster a hug then immediately shove them over. It's usually kids around a year old who are extra wobbly to begin with. I'm hoping it's a phase he grows out of quickly.

Halloween was about a week ago and we had SO much fun! I felt very prideful going up to those first few houses and showing him where to ring the doorbell and to say "trick or treat", he would say "pees! (please)" instead. Then afterwards he would say (well sign it) "thank you". He says "aah ooo" for thank you.

We've introduced a little potty in the house. It's by the bathtub so right before bath he sits on it to "go potty" before bath. He never actually goes but he'll sit on it. A couple of times I've caught him in the act of peeing and was able to get him to the potty in time. He hasn't quite grasped it yet but my hope is that by two he'll be more apt to learn. I am already tired of this diaper changing thing.

He weighs 31.5 lbs and is 36" tall I think or maybe it's 34".
He's in the 100% for height and 95% for weight.

Enough of this blabbering, here are the pics!

15 Months: Poo Master 3000

It is insane how much changes in just 3 months!
Liam could barely walk and now he's running! He can say loads and loads of words and says a new one almost everyday! Today his new word was "taco".
He is so much fun to be around.

He has lots of favorite things that he loves at the moment:
-Balls : pretty much anything that is round is called a "ball-ball" tomatoes, rocks, water balloons, peaches, you name it.
-Poo Poo : Hence the title of this post. He absolutely loves all things poo related. If there is dog poo in the back yard he will hone in on it immediately. He will run over to it, pick it up and bring it to me like he's found some lost treasure and say "Poo! Poo!" Then I typically say "Eww, yucky Liam, no poo poo!" Then we either put it in the trash bin or down the toilet and he gets so excited to say "Bye Bye poo poo!" as he waves bye bye to the little log. He now lets us know when he has a poopy diaper too. "poo poo diaper" then when he gets changed he says "bye bye poo poo" so we can go flush the poo down the toilet (we use cloth diapers so it must get flushed). I am really hoping this phase ends soon. We are running out of hand soap and I can only handle so much poo in my day.
-Bananas : Like, a lot.
-Trucks, the real ones that are loud and impressive. Trash trucks, ambulances, semi-trucks, monster trucks, he loves em' all!
-Anything farm animal related. His favorite animal song is this youtube video: http://youtu.be/t99ULJjCsaM he could watch this thing a million times and not get bored.
-WATER! I am so happy he's a water baby. Mostly because it's crazy hot here and being in the water is the place to be. We got him a floaty vest thing and he has become fearless in the water. My hope is to have him ready to swim by next summer, or at least able to make it to the edge of the pool by himself.
-Reading : I was doing something downstairs when I realized I hadn't seen Liam in quite some time. I thought "oh great, there has got to be dog poo involved or clothes in the toilet" so I snuck upstairs to find the deviant only to find him sitting in his rocking chair reading his books. My heart melted right there on the spot.
-Shoes : Liam owns 5 pairs of shoes and loves all of them! Everyday he will pick out which shoes he wants to wear (sometimes matching, sometimes not) and will wear them inside, outside, everywhere! He'd even wear them to bed if we let him. He likes his hats too but not as much as his shoes.

The challenges at the moment are very minor. He's is going to sleep great...only for Mike. I still have to coax him into a restful slumber. It's pretty ridiculous actually. If he's crying and I go in there he starts wailing, then absolutely MUST be held. If he's crying and Mike opens the door and says "Shhh" he lays right down and goes to sleep!! Mike's got the magic touch.
Liam has also discovered tantrums and fits. These only happen when he's tired but happen none-the-less. I'm hoping once he's communicating even better he can express his frustration in other ways.
I have no complaints really. I love this boy more than life itself. He's amazing.

12 Months: Go Go Going!

I realize I am posting this past Liam's 12 month mark.
To be honest, once he turned one he's been a non-stop walking/running adventurous tike!
If memory serves me right, on his first birthday he officially started walking for REAL. Full steps without falling.
His first birthday was an absolute hoot!
It was viking themed and full of friends, food, toys and CAKE!
I'm posting the best pics below.

Another important, slightly sad event that happened just days after Liam's first birthday is that he slipped while crawling and chipped his front tooth.
It took me awhile to grieve over it's loss but now think it just makes him look extra adorable.

11 Months: First Steps!!

It has happened folks, Liam has finally taken his first steps!!
It looks more like a waddle and less like a walk but it is amazing none the less.

He is also talking up a storm! He mimics a lot of words and actions that we say and do.
I'm having to be more careful, that's for sure!

He is more adventurous than ever these days. There have been a few times I've found him in the backyard playing because Penny (our cat) opened the backdoor and he just let himself right out!
He's gotten quite good at going up and down the stairs. I've been downstairs and noticed it was quiet and found Liam upstairs in his room reading books. I love that he can play independently.
He also LOVES going to the park. He is so good at climbing and is fearless when it comes to going down any slide. This gives me heart palpitations but I secretly love that he is so brave.

In just a little over 2 weeks our little man is going to be a year old!
I remember this time last year I was trying everything in my might to get this baby out. I was walking about 2 miles a day, eating spicy spicy food, and doing lots of squats. He came at just the right time though. Bluebonnets will be in full blossom, butterflies will be gathering around the bright green grass and it won't be scorching hot outside.

I am attaching pictures now. Let it be known that this was THE best monthly photo shoot up to date. He is such a ham!

Posing for GQ (I mean BQ) magazine

The Money Shot

10 Months: A Real Little Boy

It's wild to think that in about a month and a half I will have a one year old.
I am writing this post late as usual, but also while Liam is sick. This is the sickest he's ever been and it's breaking my heart. He's had a fever for two days now and most of the time he seems to be in discomfort. I wish I could just absorb any pain he is feeling. It makes me want to treasure his well days more!
On his well days he is a bubble of joy and energy. Always smiling, adventurous and so so curious!
He's been able to climb up the stairs but now even more importantly, he can climb down them safely! Much better for my nerves.
He is talking up a storm. He says Mama, Dada, Ruff (for dogs) or panting for dogs, Quack Quack for any bird, Moo, He makes a tic tock for clocks (if he sees a picture of one, we don't actually have a ticking one), Yum yum for food, I've caught him a couple of times saying hello but it's only been random and rare.
He waves pretty consistently if you say hello or goodbye and is great at giving hugs and kisses. Probably too good with the kisses which is most likely how he got sick from Mike.
He loves to climb, dig in dirt/ eat dirt, go down slides, story time at the library, torturing the pets, exploring everything and playing with other kids.
I can't wait until it gets a little warmer so we can go swimming!
He is also getting closer and closer to taking his first steps. He has been able to stand on his own for a couple of weeks now and just today he sort of fell/stepped towards me. I'm not going to rush him but it's exciting to think of a walking Liam.

9 Months: Into Mischief

Liam is now 9 months old!
This year is flying by so fast! It seems as though my child has skipped the rest of his baby time and gone straight to toddler. He is getting into EVERYTHING!!! The toilet, toilet paper, dog food, dog water, trash, recycling, all electrical wiring, important papers stacked on the table, you name it he'll probably find it. He doesn't destroy things..yet, just curious about all of it.
He is getting closer and closer to walking. He's stood on his own a few times and cruises around the house holding onto furniture. I give him 3 more weeks.
He is talking so much more now too. He addresses Mike and I as "Mama and Dada" now too which is really heartwarming. Well, except for the fact that he only calls me Mama if he's really tired or hungry and he calls for Dada when he's alert, awake and ready to play. Oh well, I'll take it.
Liam is also a HUGE lover of books. It is the most precious thing to go into his room and see him quietly reading (well, looking) at his books.
At his doctor visit this month we discovered that he is 26 lbs and 31" long. He is now only in the 99% instead of 100%. He's shrinking on us!
It has gotten to be so much fun being around this guy. He is almost always happy with a smile on his face. He really is like having a ray of sunshine in this house.
Enjoy the pics! As you can see, he is moving constantly!!