Liam stories of the week

I have a few things to share about Liam, before I forget them!

• He loves to color.  If I need him to stay occupied and out of “trouble” for 10-15 minutes while I do something else, one of the best ways to do that is to sit him on the floor with some paper and a box of crayons.  Last night, Liam finished his dinner before Nathan and I even started ours, and he was not content to sit in the high chair while we ate.  I got out some crayons and paper so we could try to eat our meal in peace.  All was going well until I happened to glance down and realized our floor had purple crayon scribbles all over it!  Thankfully, we are smart enough to use washable crayons, and it came clean quite easily.

 

• Yesterday, I was glancing at a few ads, and Liam was looking at them with me.  We came to a page that had this family of four standing around the outdoor furniture that was being advertised, and Liam pointed to the man and said “a dada”!  Sometimes it takes me completely off guard when I realize how much he has learned about his surroundings in the past 16 months.

 

• His language skills are really starting to pick up.  A sample of the words he says includes “mama”, “dada”, “cracker”, “banana”, “all done”, “mine”, “yeah”, “cat”, and “dog”.  In fact, the other day we were going on an evening walk, and as the neighbor’s dog started barking at us he pointed and said “dog”.   He will repeat most anything, at least in some form. He obviously can’t speak everything crystal clear at this point, and still does a lot of jabbering, but it seems his communication skills are changing very fast.  In addition, the jabbering he does is much more purposeful than it was a few months ago. 

 

• He loves to “cook”.  Another easy way to distract him for a few minutes while I prepare dinner is to give him a pot with a lid and a wooden spoon.  He’ll stir the pot, take the lid off, put it back on, and has a great time doing it.

I think that’s all for this week!  I have been taking pics, and will try to find the time to load them this week!

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16 months

On May 1, my little guy turned 16 months old!  As I look at him, I see the last remaining glimpses of his babyhood disappearing as he transitions full force into toddlerhood instead.  I thought he was starting to look grown up at 12 months, but looking back at pictures from that month, he looks so much more babyish than he does now. 

He is so full of energy, constantly running around from one place to the next as he decides what part of the house to destroy.    And he continues to learn so much every single day.  We love watching him explore the world around him.  Well, for the most part.  Lately he has learned it is great fun to stand on things that aren’t particularly stable.  Like child-sized lawn chairs that tip very easily.  Or the inside of his Cozy Coupe, as the top half of his body hangs out its side window.  I am hoping his interest in doing such things will quickly wane.  (We do, of course, immediately sit him down and tell him “no” when he does this.)

One of his favorite things to do right now is jump.  He hasn’t quite figured out how to jump into the air without help, but he is trying!  For now, he simply walks over to Mommy or Daddy, grabs onto us, and starts bouncing very hard, which is way of saying “please jump me!” 

He still does a lot of dancing, but he has learned a few new moves.  He always danced by moving up and down.  Now he moves up and down with more force, but he also sways back and forth.  In addition, he tries to copy anything we do, so if I start bobbing my head to the music, he will too.

Another thing he has been doing lately is walking around the house while clapping.  He’ll take a step, and then clap, and then open his arms all the way to his sides, and then take another step, and then clap again.  It is very rhythmic and dance-like.  I’ll see if I can capture him doing that on video one day soon.

He loves cleaning.  He sweeps the floor, puts things back where they belong (after getting them out), is very interested in the vacuum cleaner (which no longer frightens him like it did as a baby), and if we give him a wash cloth, he will start wiping things.  Maybe he will always enjoy cleaning, but I have a feeling that this is one hobby he will outgrow. 

When it comes to food, he is so unpredictable.  One day he’ll clean his plate.  The next, he wants nothing to do with eating or drinking either one.  I have found a few new foods he absolutely loves:  apples and lasagna.  I peeled an apple and gave it to him whole a week or so ago, and he absolutely loved eating it.  He has had a few since.  He can’t finish an entire apple, but it is an easy, healthy snack to give him!  As far as lasagna is concerned, he probably won’t be getting that as often as apples.    But he has had it twice in the past week, and both times he ate every single bite, which is very rare for him.

I know I’m forgetting some things – I’ll see him do something and think “I need to document this on my blog”!  I should start taking better notes.  Because if I forget something over the course of a few days, I can only imagine how much I am going to forget by the time he is grown!

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