Liam at 18 Months

Wow...a year and a half old already. This truly is a milestone month, as he is now halfway between his first birthday and his second birthday. Liam is a great kid! I think he's smart, too.

Stats: Finally, I have some stats since his 18 month check up was this morning.

Height: 34 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 27.4 pounds (70th percentile) Once again, I thought he weighed more than that. Still, he feels like a tank even though he's only gained a little over 2 pounds in 6 months. This was the first time he stood on a scale to be weighed instead of sitting on the baby scale.

No head measurement, but Dr. Porter confirmed that his soft spot has closed up, which means Liam is totally hard-headed now (as if there was any doubt).

Personality: I feel like I run the risk each month of just repeating what I previously wrote about his personality...or at least writing about the same things but with different words. His personality doesn't so much change anymore, but is fine-tuned as he gets older. Liam loves to play. He loves his toys (and anyone else's toys he can get his hands on). He likes to build with blocks, but he loves to tear apart block structures, especially ones someone else built. He's definitely more into the "taking it apart" instead of the building at the moment. Destruction is usually his aim, but it's not with malicious intent. I honestly think he's just curious if something will come apart, so he tries to take apart most things. That's why the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is currently in 5 separate pieces. Yes, it was possible to tear it apart, although he wore it down over time and made it fragile before tearing it in pieces. We keep it around because he does actually still like to look at it, and we look at the ABCs in the back all the time. I'm thankful I have that book memorized, and just recite it to him when we look at it. He likes to put objects on his head and call it a "hat." He does this all the time! Liam loves animals, and can identify pictures of many different animals and make many animal noises. The more recent ones are goat, squirrel, tiger, bee, rabbit, horse, and butterfly. He's still really gentle whenever he is given an opportunity to pet our cats (which isn't often since they HATE it). I think he does truly love animals. Dogs are still his favorite, though! Any animal he can't name is a dog. Other aspects of his personality include the fact that he is stubborn and determined. He's loud when he doesn't get his way, still screaming from time to time to make his grievances known. He's not timid (usually...he normally has to warm up to new situations and people, though). I'm hoping all these qualities just mean he'll be a good leader someday! He's still a fan of the word "no," but he at least knows how to say "yes" as well now! As for showing affection, he really stepped it up this month by finally giving us real kisses. He opens his mouth really wide and plants a wet one on our face and makes a sound like, "ahhh ah." He knows there's a smoochy sound with kisses, but he didn't know how to do that, so he just made up his own sound to go with it. It's extremely adorable, of course, especially when he does them without any prompting. Liam is super affectionate towards me, and less so towards Will and not really at all towards other people, unless he knows them really well. I'm sure the day will come all too soon when he decides to start planting wet ones on cute little girls!

Skills: I suppose for awhile, every month will be a language explosion! He seriously learns new words all the time and it's kind of hard to keep up with them all now. I know he can say at least 50 words. He definitely knows a ton more than that. He started putting together two words this month like "We go." or "Where go?" He's absolutely obsessed with going. He really just wants to escape and run free! He started really waving and saying "bye bye" recently. He's done it maybe a few times in the past, but he's really picking up speed with it now. He can answer simple questions, and the answer is typically "no." "Do you want to get your diaper changed?" "No." "Do you want to eat this food?" "No." Typical stubborn toddler stuff. But we can also ask him, "What's my name?" and for me, he answers "Mama," and for Will he answers "Dada." Then we ask, "What's HER name?" (pointing at a cat) and he answers something like "Geetch." Our cat Squirt's nickname is Skeetch, and one day Will asked him what her name was and he said "Geetch (for Skeetch)." We were impressed. He does not know Eleanor's name (and she probably prefers it that way). As I mentioned, he's really getting good at animal sounds and identifying animals. He says the name of some of them, like cat, dog, duck, and bird, but usually identifies them with the sound. For squirrel, he puts his hands up to his mouth and moves them back and forth (like a squirrel eats a nut), and for a rabbit, he moves his arm up and down and says, "Hop hop!" since rabbits don't really make any noise (that I'm aware of). Some other ones he makes the sound for include goat, tiger, lion, dinosaur, bird, and sheep. He will RARELY say "Woof woof" for a dog. When we ask him what a dog says, he almost always says, "Dog!" But he does pant like a dog and sometimes pats his leg, which is the sign for dog. He also started doing the signs for eat and baby this month, even though he says both of those words. He loves to see and identify babies! Baby is definitely one of his favorite words at the moment. Belly is also one of his faves, but it sounds like "behyee." Liam isn't so big on L sounds yet. He loves to lift his shirt these days and show off his belly, and wants to see ours too! One cute, smart thing Liam did the other day happened when he saw the Baby Signing Time dvd cover. He saw it and started doing the sign for baby and SINGING "Baby baby" in the correct tune of the theme song. It's so cute to see him start to figure out how to sing. He sings the the first two words of the baby song and the first two words of "Row Row Row Your Boat" now. I guess he thinks two words is enough! He's also finally starting to dance some. He's got his sway back and forth dance, but also occasionally busts out with some bouncing. Liam is also starting to try to repeat words we say. He learned "cookie" that way in about 2 minutes. Last night Will was reciting 1-10 in Japanese to him, and he repeated every number after him! Another thing with numbers: when we say "one" to him, he replies "two." He's also starting to identify letters like D, E, and O. He just randomly calls out letters sometimes. He is also starting to pretend objects are other objects, or at least they're cars. I've seen him pretend a block, a plastic container, and half a muffin were cars. All in all, I am amazed by Liam and how fast he's learning. He really does seem like a smarty too me (I hope I'm right!). Oh, and as far as sleeping goes, he has still retained the ability to fall asleep on his own! I don't want to jinx it, but bedtime has been super easy this month.

Food and Drink: Really there's nothing new to report here. He is STILL stubborn about drinking milk from a bottle instead of a straw cup. I'm ready to be done with the bottles, but Will doesn't think it's a big deal, and I asked the pediatrician about it today and he said it's not a big deal either as long as we clean his teeth after a bottle (which we always do). He said it's more important that he drinks the milk. Liam is still working on his spoon/fork feeding skills. He's improving all the time, but because of the personality he has, I still don't trust him to have a freely movable bowl full of food in front of him. Why? Because it ends up on the floor. I need to just lay down a tarp (his high chair is on carpet, remember?) and let him go at it. I'm not worried about that skill, though. It's there and improving and he's great at finger feeding.

Events and Firsts: There are blog posts about them, but we celebrated Halloween recently and had family pictures taken at the Arboretum. I've seen them, and they are adorable! Liam did sticker art and did some coloring this month to work on his art skills. He's still not really into coloring yet, although I'm sure he would be if I let him decorate the walls. That's what he kept trying to do with the crayons. We also went to the Texas State Veggie Fair, which was a nice little food fair where everything was vegan. We had some yummy food there and saw lots of Dallas hippies. One big event was Liam's first hair cut! A week later, I still like it so I think it was the best decision to get it cut. His hair is still a little wavy, so I'm holding out hope that the curls return. Yep, we will most likely let it grow out again (if it looks good). This past weekend, we made a trip back to Louisiana to visit family and friends. My friend Amanda had her wedding shower in Homer, and then I went to a slumber party with friends at a creepy house. It was fun! Will kept Liam by himself at my grandparents house and everyone survived!

Teeth: Still just the four, although the pediatrician confirmed today that several should be making an appearance soon! Two on top are about to pop through any day now. He said his molars were bulging as well. So yeah, Liam might have a toothier grin soon! To the chagrin of parents everywhere, we are still distracting him with cat videos on Youtube to get his teeth brushed properly. It works, and I am not ashamed.

Favorites:
- dogs (I have a feeling this will be a favorite for awhile!)
- the cat videos (He is an expert at properly making meow sounds these days.)
- showing off his belly
- putting everything he can on his head and calling it a "hat"
- go-going (Still wants to go every time someone opens the door.)
- eating cheese
- snuggling with mama

Grin!

I don't think that's the proper way to play with that.

Escaped with the leg

18 month birthday cupcake treat

He had no interest in cake when he turned one, but I guess he likes it now!

Hmmmm....dead grass

Annihilating a dandelion

That's a sweet face

"Tree"

I see kids playing.

Walking to the playground

Liam's First Haircut

I had been struggling lately with the idea of getting Liam's hair cut. I love(d) his curls and the fact that his hair was on the long side. I didn't like the fact that his bangs were usually in his eyes. I know it bothered him. Last Wednesday night, we decided to trim his bangs. This wasn't the first time we had done it. His first bangs trim happened on Labor Day, and it worked out fine and got the hair out of his eyes for awhile. This time, we weren't so lucky. We didn't cut them too short, but we did cut over too far on the side his bangs normally swooped. It was done shortly before bedtime, so I didn't fret over it too much. The next morning, however, I got a good look at his hair. It looked like one side of  his head had a short haircut, while the other side was still long, and it made all his precious curls in the back look like a mullet.

So I made the decision Thursday morning to get his hair cut later that day. I couldn't let it stay the way it was. As much as I loved them, and knew they would probably never return, we had to cut off his baby curls.

We took him to Cool Cuts 4 Kids and put our trust in a stylist named Jenny. Liam sat in the yellow car and started watching Elmo's World. Our other choice was Cars, but he'd never seen it before and I wasn't sure it would hold his attention. Jenny quickly got to work wetting and cutting his hair. I was praying he would stay calm and not freak out. Thankfully, the combination of the car and watching Elmo worked! He didn't have any meltdowns or anything. Liam pushed her hand away a few times and occasionally turned his head at inopportune times, but Jenny handled it well. Before we knew it, the hair cut was complete.

It was kind of a shock to see him with short hair at first. It took a couple of days to get used to it. But Jenny did a great job, and his hair actually still looks a little wavy, so maybe the curls will come back when we let his hair grow out again. The important thing is that we do not regret getting his hair cut!

Before: A blurry cell phone picture of Liam with his first (and only) ponytail.

Last moments with the curls

Ooh..Elmo

Mr. Noodle looks like he doesn't approve.

The back after the curls

Business in the front...

...Business in the back.

Halloween 2012

Even though Halloween officially happens tomorrow, for all intents and purposes, it is a past tense event for us. We won't go to any parties, or go trick-or-treating, or have a parade of costumed children knock on our door for some candy. Tomorrow will be a normal day for us. We've had our Halloween fun already!

Saturday afternoon, our church hosted its annual Pumpkin Bash and Trunk or Treat. Last year, we took our five month old Super Liam!, and two years ago I was there telling friends I was pregnant! Even though Liam is still too young for trick-or-treating (and candy...and staying still for just one moment...), we went anyway. In the weeks leading up to the end of October, Will and I decided Liam would be a monkey for Halloween, based solely on the fact that he does a great monkey impression (when he feels like it). I am not a fan at all of store-bought costumes, but I knew there was no way I could cobble together a monkey costume by gluing felt. Thankfully, the Carters brand monkey costume is basically just pants and a hoodie, and it's cute, so it was purchased.

I think our first mistake was that I had to wake Liam up from his nap so he could eat before we went to Pumpkin Bash. Our second mistake was that when we zipped up his monkey hoodie upon arriving at the event, we accidentally scraped off some of his neck skin as well. :( The worst part was that we didn't notice it at first (there wasn't any blood); Liam just started crying all of a sudden. We had no idea why, and I didn't discover his neck until later. But he recovered quickly, and in true Liam fashion, immediately started protesting the fact that he was being held. After we got through the entrance, Will put him down, and from that point on, it was basically a chase. We just followed Liam around as he ran wherever he could, and tried to keep him out of danger. Of course the first thing he headed toward was a generator powering a bounce house. A gate kept him occupied for a couple of minutes, and we had to stop him from walking into the pony ride area. Each time we picked him up, he screamed. He just wanted to go, go, go. Surely he's not the only toddler like this, right? We were able to walk around some and look at the trunks (with Will holding Liam), but we definitely didn't get the chance to really look around and take everything in or talk to many people. Liam was just in a bad mood, and when we let his feet hit the ground, he was running. Exhausting.

The last 30 minutes of the event, I did help out at the Moms' Connection baby trunk, where kids had to put a play cloth diaper on a baby doll to get some candy. That was fun, and I got to see more costumes that way, since I was able to stand in one place for more than a second! Will chased Liam solo at that time. He said Liam enjoyed looking at the ponies and he got him to say, "Neigh!" After that, we left. We were only there for the last hour of the event since I had an inkling it would turn into a toddler chase. Next year, Liam should be old enough to participate in more activities and do some trunk or treating!

As you can imagine, it was difficult to get decent pictures of Liam at Pumpkin Bash...but I tried.

Trying on Will's size 15's before going to the Bash

And he's off!

Mesmerized by the gate

That pretty much sums up how Liam felt about being held that day

I've worn that hoodie to the past 2, possibly 3, Pumpkin Bashes, so I decided to carry on the tradition. 

Walking to the car

Time to go!

Since I was unable to get good pictures of Liam in his costume, I took him to a nearby church pumpkin patch this morning to hopefully come away with at least one decent photo of him in his costume. Liam's friend Addy and her mom Brenda joined us. We were the only ones there and had the run of the place. Of course, Liam just wanted to run out into the parking lot.

"Get this off my head!"

"Hay"

Here it is, my one decent picture!

Two little monkies (Addy's monkey hat didn't fit)!

I don't think we'll ever get a decent picture of them together!

Liam was protesting having to sit on the bench, and Addy kept turning away from him because of the noise he was making!

What Liam Said Today

Liam says words all the time, and lately it seems he's always learning new words. I was curious to see how many different words he says in a day, so today I decided to make a note whenever he said a word.

Words he said on his own (no prompting):

1. oww (OK, probably technically not a word, but lately he's been hitting me lightly and saying "oww" when he does it.)
2. block (sometimes correctly pronounced, sometimes sounds like "bock")
3. hat
4. no
5. apple (He said this over and over and he now says it correctly and not as "pupple")
6. baby
7. belly (sounds like behyee)
8. go
9. mama
10. duck
11. ball
12. dog
13. eat
14. cracker
15. feet (but it sounds like "eat")
16. hop (sounds like "op")
17. cat
18. hey

Words he said with prompting (either after I asked, "What is that?" or words he repeated after me):

19. car
20. sock (sounds like "gock")
21. cheese (chee)
22. down
23. totoro (This one is a stretch. He says "to ro" or "ro ro")
24. bottle (sounds like "batah")
25. wow
26. clock (This was a new one. He hadn't said it before today, but repeated it after me.)
27. snack (sounds like "nack")
28. papa (What he usually calls Will these days)
29. row
30. strap (sounds like "dap")

Animal (and one vehicle) sounds he made today:

"ah ah ah" for a monkey (with arm motions)
"meow" for a cat
"kak kak" for a duck
"rahr" for a lion
"vroom" for a car
"bah" for a sheep

Of course, there was also lots of babbling and unintelligible words. I couldn't decipher the intended meaning of them. This isn't even all the words he knows. His vocabulary is growing everyday!

Picture Time at the Dallas Arboretum

I have a friend (Jamie) who is also a fabulous photographer. Actually, I have lots of friends who are fabulous photographers! But Jamie was going to be in town (she lives in OK) and offered to take some Liam and family pictures at the Arboretum this past Saturday.

So we got ready and headed toward the Arboretum. We'd been there a few times before, and I knew we had to get on 635 briefly and then take the Garland Road exit to get there. So we took Shiloh Road down to 635, and there ended up not being an on-ramp there! But we quickly figured out which way to go to get on 635, but I had already fired up the GPS on the phone to help us. Now, I knew there was a sign for the Arboretum telling you which exit to take, so once we were on 635, I started looking for it. We passed a couple of exits and I didn't see it. The GPS was telling us to take every exit we were passing. Finally I listened and told Will to take the next exit. We did and then discovered we were somehow in Mesquite. I don't think I realized Mesquite went that far over. Anyway, we had to turn on lots of different streets and in the process realized we had way overshot the exit we should have taken (where we got on 635 is actually where the exit we needed to take was. Doh.) But we got there with minutes to spare. At least we got to the vicinity of the Arboretum with minutes to spare.

The place was a-hoppin! Signs told us that all the lots connected to the Arboretum were full and closed. Our only option was to park in the satellite lot and take a bus to the front gate. Even the satellite lot was almost completely full, and there was a long line of people waiting to get on the bus! And it was hot. We were getting discouraged, but we got in the long line and called Jamie to tell her we were going to be late. Thankfully, the line moved pretty quickly and it didn't take too long to get on a bus, none of us in seatbelts, of course.

We got to the front gate and there were people everywhere! It was so crowded. Did I mention it was hot? Waaaay too hot for the end of October. We met up with Jamie, and she took us to a little area that wasn't crowded and started taking pictures of Liam. One day it won't be a challenge to get him to look and smile at the camera, right? Then I think we went to the pumpkin patch area that was completely full of people and she snapped some more pictures. Liam just wanted to pick up and move pumpkins. That was all he was interested in. We then moved on to a grassy area and attempted some family pictures. It was so difficult to make Liam sit still for even a moment! He kept running away. I think she got some, though. Lastly, she took some pictures of Liam in a secluded, shady spot, and that was it. It was quite the whirlwind photo session, but Liam had no patience for anything else, and Jamie had another family to photograph! Thank you to Jamie for photographing our family! I'm looking forward to seeing them!

After we were done with pictures, we decided to walk around and see the Chihuly glass that was being displayed throughout the Arboretum. In the process of doing this, we discovered that some parts of the Arboretum are not stroller friendly. But we came across the big pieces, and they were impressive. There were still people everywhere, no doubt there to see the Chihuly stuff. Did I mention it was hot? The sun was just blazing down on us. We went back to the pumpkin patch area so Liam could do some rearranging and so I could get a few pictures of him. Before too long, we decided to just leave. We were hot, tired, and thirsty. I think we had only been there about an hour. But we had a long wait to get on a bus ahead of us, and the park was actually closing soon, so it was time to go.

I had never been to the Arboretum when it was that busy, and honestly, I don't want to go when it's that crowded again. The Arboretum is a peaceful place and should be enjoyed at a slow pace. However, I have a feeling I won't be able to enjoy anything at a slow pace until Liam is much older!