This past month has definitely been a time of learning for Liam. He says more words and can identify a lot more objects than he could just a month ago. That brain is working hard!
Personality: Liam loves life. He loves to explore and learn. Sometimes he likes to explore places he shouldn't, but I suppose those times are learning opportunities as well. He has a very curious personality and wants to check out everything. He still runs away the second we let his feet touch the ground in public. There is no fear in this one. At least not yet. Animals and dogs in particular are some of his favorite things. As mentioned in previous posts, he's had opportunities to be around animals lately, and he loved it! Too bad our cats still avoid him like the plague. We will sometimes hold a cat and let Liam pet her back. He's very gentle when he does it, and it's exciting for him. The cat usually hates it and only tolerates about a minute of petting from him. So sad. Hopefully one day he and the cats will be pals. He's still showing more and more affection all the time. If I'm on the floor with him, he's most likely in my lap. He also still gives his stuffed animals smooches when prompted. He also likes to lay down on the floor for brief moments with his blanket or anything else snuggly. It's super cute. He loves to go. When we're about to leave, he stands by the door, does a little stompy dance, and says, "Go, go go!" In the past couple days, Liam has entered the "No" stage. A week ago, I had heard that word come out of his mouth once, maybe twice. Now I hear it all day long, in all kinds of situations. He uses it correctly about 95% of the time. The rest of the time, I think he's just saying it to hear himself say it. He has a really sweet voice, so it actually sounds cute when he says, "No, no, no." I have to keep from smiling, though. I usually just reply with, "Yes, yes, yes." His sense of humor is being sharpened all the time, and he laughs at things that are actually funny. I truly love him and his sweet (most of the time) personality.
Skills: Liam is definitely going through a language boom right now. Bana or nana for banana, hat, eat, peek boo (leaves out the "a"), cracker (crackah), and chee for cheese are some of them. He says something that sounds like "pupple" for apple (not the color). I think there's more, but I'll have to remember them. He says "meow" when asked what a cat says, and "choo choo" for a train. He will also say "baa" for a sheep. Lately, he's learned to identify squirrels and apples. The apple thing surprised me. I'd shown him pictures of apples a few times, but never really focused on it. A couple weeks ago, I just randomly asked him to go find an apple (our little fetch game), but I wasn't expecting him to find one since I didn't think he knew what it was. He went off to his room and was in there for a long time (well, like 5 minutes...which is a long time for a toddler to be alone, but we could hear him making noise). I finally decided that was long enough, so I got up to go to his room, and out he came carrying a picture of apples on a tree. I guess he had to really dig for it! I was impressed! A few weeks ago, the only body part he identified was his feet, but now Liam can point to his feet, head, belly, hands, teeth, and usually toes and sometimes his nose. He usually puts his hand on his mouth when I ask him where his nose is located. It seems like almost everyday he learns a new word or sound, or can identify a new object. He will sometimes try to repeat a word we say. If we say "cockadoodledoo" when showing him a rooster, he will usually say, "cadoo," but that's a long word to attempt! I love this learning stage. It's fun! One GREAT skill that Liam has learned this past month is falling asleep on his own all the time! That goes for naps and at night! I think there's been 2 or 3 times in the past month where he wanted to be held to fall asleep at night, but that's it. It's been wonderful. I'm super proud of him for learning this on his own. I feel silly now for trying to force it upon him a few months back. He's also doing a great job of sleeping through the night. He recently had a rough night where he woke up about 4 times, but that's been the only time that's happened recently. He usually takes close to a 3 hour nap during the day.
Food and Drink: There's not really anything new to report in this category. He's maybe a little better when it comes to feeding himself with a spoon or fork. He's not great at scooping yet, but he's got the putting the spoon in his mouth part down. He still eats most things with his hands, and will still allow us to feed him with a spoon. We let him do it if he wants to (and he usually wants to), but sometimes he has no interest in using the utensil. He still, yes still, refuses to drink milk out of anything but a bottle. He never liked regular sippy cups, but drinks from a straw cup (full of water) all the time. The moment I put milk in the straw cup and he takes one sip, he throws it on the floor and refuses to drink anymore. I've tried lots of different cups, and they all get thrown on the floor. He is quite stubborn in this area. As for drinking from a regular open cup, he does a great job of taking a sip...if there's nothing in the cup. But if I put water in the cup (that's all I've attempted so far), it's like he forgets what to do and just ends up pouring out the water before it gets anywhere near his mouth. Oh well. We're working on it. If there's anything I've learned as Liam's mom, it's that he won't do anything until he's ready. I can show him how to do something over and over, but what usually happens is that it just clicks one day and he starts doing something all of a sudden. I'm really hoping that's what happens with the milk in a straw cup. Surely one day that will be acceptable to him!
Events and Firsts: October has been a busy month for the little guy. First festival, pumpkin patch (for something other than just pictures), and state fair. He had his first bite of funnel cake. He didn't seem impressed. We've played at the park many times. He likes to climb up to the top of the tallest jungle gym. I have to go up with him, of course. Then we slide down together. He loves being outside. We've gone on lots of walks lately since the weather has been much bearable. He's had close encounters with dogs and ducks this month, and seen lots of new animals in person for the first time. He got a new carseat, a Britax Marathon, that he will be sitting in for years. He's still rear-facing since that's the safest, plus he doesn't really know any better yet. So far October has been a busy month, and there's still more fun things coming up the next couple of weeks!
Teeth: At this point, I'm pretty sure Liam is just fine with being able to count the number of teeth he has on one hand. Yep, still just four teeth. I'm assuming more will come in at some point, although I sometimes have my doubts. (Not really...I can see all the bulges on his gums.) Tooth brushing had become quite the struggle, so we started showing him the Meow Mix commercial on Youtube while I brushed his teeth. I know, I know, some may think it's shoddy parenting, but I thought it was genius. For the past two weeks or so, tooth brushing has been a breeze. Liam even asks for "Meow Meow" when he's got his cozy pj's on and has had his milk. He knows it's coming. Unfortunately, the past couple of nights, the magic has faded. He still enjoys it, but is starting to squirm a lot again and push my hand away while I'm trying to brush. So this great era may be ending soon. Or we may need to find a new video to entertain him. I'm ok with that as long as his teeth are good and clean!
Favorites:
- "Meow Meow"
- dogs
- playing with a cardboard wrapping paper tube
- "go, go, go-ing"
- identifying body parts
- making diaper changes difficult (It's become quite a physical and mental event. I now have to think of something that will distract and amuse him long enough to get it changed.)
- playing with his new FP Little People barn
ETA: I can never remember all the new stuff he has learned or done when I actually do these posts. I thought of a few things, so I'm adding it here. He can identify his ears. He can say kitty and wow. He can identify trains (by saying choo choo). He locked himself in his room for the first time recently. That was pretty scary for me for a few minutes. Thankfully, we figured out that there is a way to unlock it from our side, so if it happens again, we can quickly unlock it.
These pictures were taken yesterday at a park in Plano. It was chilly! Liam turned his head at the last second for most of the pictures, since he thought if he got too close to me I'd pick him and keep him from walking around. He just wanted to go!
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| Most of the pictures I took are like this one. |
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| The park was right by a school. A PE class was running laps outside. This is Liam chasing after them. |
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| Swinging before it was time to leave. |
