Of course his feisty personality is still in place. It wasn't just a twos thing after all, ha! Liam is not what I would call laid-back at all. He's quite demanding and as he says, "I want all that I want." I'd be lying if I said we hadn't given in to his demands just to avoid a very loud display of disappointment! Of course, this behavior usually presents itself when he is tired. Everything is the worst if he's tired or hungry. He definitely gets "hangry" sometimes, but will still turn down the many options for food he's being offered. Anyone with children knows firsthand you can't reason with a three year old, especially if conditions are not perfectly perfect. That's why blogs exist of children crying with captions of perfectly nice and reasonable things you did for them that still resulted in tears. I know I write about this aspect of Liam in pretty much every post about him, but I don't want to think back on these times many years from now and, having forgotten most of it, think he took it easy on us. That just isn't true! I want to remember the good and the bad. Even though I am mentioning the bad, Liam really is good the majority of the time. He still enjoys going to church for different things, and he behaves really well there. So I know he's capable of it!
Some of Liam's favorites:
Food: His favorite meal is definitely veggie "chicken" nuggets and broccoli with sauce (aka ketchup). Every three year old loves chicken nuggets, right? He just gets the veggie version. Other favorite foods include PB&J sandwiches, breakfast time (which is oatmeal with pureed fruit and veggies mixed in. This is something he started eating a long time ago and he still likes it and it's easy to make, so therefore he still eats it.), cheese, yogurt, bananas, seaweed snacks, and any carb you can imagine. His favorite drink is water and that's pretty much the only liquid he will really drink. He doesn't like to drink milk or juice, but I will usually mix in some milk with his breakfast time.
Toys: He has quite the collection of wooden Thomas trains along with tracks. These are what he mostly plays with (if his room is clean and there's enough room to build a track!). Balls are also a fave these days, and he's gotten pretty good at throwing overhand and underhand. He's also starting to do well at catching balls, but that's a pretty recent thing. He's also decent at running and kicking a soccer ball at the same time. He finally got the play kitchen for his birthday (that we bought a year ago and never put together), so he likes to cook fruits and "begetables" too.
Activity: He loves to do art, whether it's painting with watercolors (the only paint allowed inside!) or drawing with crayons or markers. If he's freestyling, the art is definitely still abstract and he has to explain what he drew. But if I draw a picture for him to paint or color, he has started trying hard to stay in the lines and has also started coloring objects the color they should be. For example, he will paint a tree with green leaves and brown bark. His suns are always yellow, and his rainbows are all different colors (as they should be). Just a few months ago, he had no regard for correct colors. He's still a novice when it comes to scissors. We work on it regularly, and he's starting to get the hang of it, but he still wants to turn his hand upside down to cut or try holding the scissors with both hands, and he quickly realizes that won't work.
Person: I can easily say his favorite person these days is Gibson. For better or for worse, he always wants to be near Gibson. He loves hugging him and patting him on the head. He ends up getting a lot of warnings from us about being too close and smothery. He wants to play with Gibson's toys, lay beside him on the bed, and give him big hugs when he's in his bouncy seat. The love is definitely there; we just have to work on safe execution of displays of love. Liam will talk to Gibson as if he could respond. One day after Liam had to have a time out in his bed, he went over to Gibson and said (sadly), "Mama put me in the bed." He'll also tell him random stuff like, "I'm wearing a red shirt today, Gibson." He shows him his artwork as well. I love that he wants to include Gibson in his activities. He very much wants to play with Gibson, but that really just involves piling toys on top of him. Gibson seems to enjoy Liam as well. He usually gives him big grins, but sometimes he gives him concerned looks too! Liam has also gotten Gibson to laugh twice so far, which is the same number of times I've been able to get the elusive giggles out him as well!
Miscellaneous Favorites: playing outside in the dirt, playing with and talking about his friends (It's so awesome that he knows all their names and can remember details about them.), getting to watch TV (Lately he's been watching Go, Diego, Go and Little Pim Spanish videos.), eating treats like cake and donuts (very rare), putting together puzzles, reading books with mama or looking at the pictures and describing his version of what's happening, playing games on the tablet, and being helpful (He puts away his plastic dishes and cups from the dishwasher and is pretty good at retrieving items you ask him to get.)
Least Favorite Things: taking a nap, having to go to bed at night (although he'll typically sleep about 12 hours or more once he stops fighting it and goes to sleep), pretty much having to do anything that's NOT his idea, ha!
Skills:
-Counts 1-20 (still skipping 15), then says, "100, 0, 80." Sometimes he then goes back and counts 21-29, but he keeps going by saying, "20-10, 20-11, etc.)
-Counts 1-10 in Spanish (Thanks, Little Pim! We work with him on that too, though.)
-Can maneuver his fingers to hold up a number. This is easier with his right hand.
-Can count the correct number of objects in a group
-Sings the entire ABC song in the correct melody, warbling the LMNOP part
-Can write the letters L and I. This is a new skill we're working on
-Knows his full name and recognizes his name when it's written
-Can draw circles and lines, but not really any other shapes
-Can name plenty of shapes including square, circle, rectangle, diamond, oval, and star. He has trouble with the "gons" and usually calls them all "pixagons"
-Can stack block towers taller than his head
-Can jump with both feet off the ground
-Eats well with a spoon and fork
-Can drink from an open cup
-Speaks in sentences all the time
-Pretends to be different animals
-Can brush teeth, but we get a turn brushing them as well
-Can identify and name traits of many animals, including the sounds they make
-Correctly uses "this and that," and "here and there
-Can sort objects by size or color
-Knows all the normal colors
-Knows the difference between big and little, up and down, hot and cold, etc.
-Can pretend play and make up stories
-Knows our real names, but still calls us mama and daddy
-Can sing some songs from memory or makes up words to common melodies like Jingle Bells. He has his own version of Rick Rolling us where we ask him to sing a specific song and he busts out with "Ring Around the Rosy" even though that's not what we asked him to sing!
I'm sure there's more, but it's impossible to remember everything. Some of the skills we are currently working on or will be in the near future include potty training (I know it will be a disaster if it's not his idea, but I think he's close to being ready.), putting on and taking off clothes (still needs a little assistance), cutting with scissors, writing letters, and putting on and taking off shoes.
When he's upset (happens pretty often as he is quite the dramatic child), he will roar at us or sing the line, "Come again some other day!" Or scream. Yeah, that still happens. He will also run away, which is bad if we're in public!
I've been trying to write down funny things he says more and more. For Mother's Day, I got a Q&A book with a question a day to ask Liam for the next 3 years. He doesn't always understand some of the questions as I think it's meant for kids who are a little older, but I still try to get a response out of him. Here are a couple from the book:
What is the wildest thing you've ever done? I can turn into a roly poly. Like this. (on his back with feet on his face) Now turn me back into a boy.
If you could fly right now, where would you go? I can fly like a pigeon. I fly to get ice cream from the ice cream truck. (he's never gotten ice cream from an ice cream truck, btw.)
And some random quotes I happened to write down:
Wow, Gibson is growing up! (5-27-14)
I love piggy bank rides. (5-28-14)
(Waving his "magic wand") I will turn Gibson into a tomato! (5-30-14)
Me: Liam, where are you going? Liam: The wrong way. I'm going the wrong way. (5-30-14)
I want to jump in the TV so I can get some presents. (5-31-14) He talks a lot about wanting to jump into TV and books.
He's not a boy right now. He's a baby. (6-4-14)
His stats at his 3 year check up were 38 inches tall (50th percentile) and 32.6 pounds (50th percentile). So he is thoroughly average-sized.
The night before he turned three:
He's so beautiful. We joke that if could sit still and follow directions, he could be a child model!
These are some cell phone photos from the past couple of months. I need to do a photo shoot with him soon!
