« February 2004 | Main | April 2004 »
It's been quite a day. During the crankiest part of the evening, when Liam was passionately expressing his dislike of dinner, I took a deep breath and asked Liam, "bath?" He happily replied, "ba." Hmmm. So I said it again, and he said it again. And again. So, just to see what would happen, I said, "mama." He said "mamamam." Finally, at my request, he said "dadadada" as well. Those are really all the little words he knows so far, but he's like a little Rich Little or something, wouldn't you say?
Here he is in his Pooh ears.
And these are some of what Mark sent me today. They're for keeping the home fires burning while he's jetsetting around the country. Is he great or what?
Finally, my brother James sent me this picture yesterday. That's him with his cat Yaz. He thought we should increase the fuzzy content of this site, so here we go.
The oddity of the day also came from James; if you have some time, check out Homestar Runner. There's some funny stuff out there. If you haven't been there before, click the button that says first time here. (Good thing I'm here to point out the obvious, right?)
It is a beautiful day here today; I think that it's getting up to 75 F or something silly like that. Liam and I will have to go to the park or something, since this is really Denver's best time of year (before the super hot heat of the summer). Liam actually has a bit of a cold today, so I'll have to see what he's up for. He's getting a bit big to carry the 1/2 mile back from the park (while pushing a stroller) because of an illness-related meltdown. Here's a picture, runny nose and all.
Mark has gone out of town (again) just in time. He's off to Ohio and Philadelphia this morning and won't be back until Friday, by which time I'm positive Liam will be back to his healthy and cheery self. This is the last trip for Mark for a while though, thank goodness; he hasn't been around for almost a month, except on the weekends. And honestly, those weekends are so madcap that we don't really get to spend any good time together. Plus he's getting tired (and, dare I say a mite bit cranky) from all the travel and long days with clients.
On the home front, Liam is finally getting into books. He'll not only sit through a few books, but he'll pick them up and flip through them himself. I'm very pleased, since there could be a book-loving gene and he might not have gotten it (Mark sure didn't). His favorites are the fuzzy, bumby, texturedy, types a la Fluffy Chick, Five Little Ladybugs, and Touch and Feel Kitten. Lifting flaps is always good too. It's especially fun for me as reading is the calmest activity that Liam engages in.
Here's Liam the other day bothered by an overabundance of patterns.
And here's something a bit odd for those of you who enjoy those sorts of things. Penguin sweaters! And, if you know a penguin that just has to have one of those babies, the pattern is also online.
Hope you all got lucky today.
Liam isn't really interested, even though I dressed him in green earlier in the day.
Okay, maybe he's a little interested, but it is almost bedtime. (That's a poor picture, I know - we need Mark to come back home).
And yes, those are big boy two-piece pajamas. I'm surprised and touched that you noticed. Right now he's upstairs sleeping with his little striped butt in the air and the top of his diaper sticking out.
Quote of the day:
"Yes! We finally captured Martha Stewart. You know, with all the massive and almost completely unpunished fraud perpetrated on the public by companies like Enron, Global Crossing, and Tyco we finally got the ring leader. Maybe now we can lower the nation's terror alert to periwinkle." —Jon Stewart
Liam had his nine-month doctor appointment last week. All is well: he is a happy healthy little guy. In fact, Dr. Gin was surprised that Liam hadn't been in with some sort of bug all winter; apparently most babies have been down with something, but Liam's gotten off scot free. For those of you who are into stats, he is now 2 foot 6 1/2 inches tall (that's almost off the charts) and 21 and 1/2 pounds. Big boy.
But that isn't the only sign that he's growing up; Liam is really starting to assert himself around here. If he doesn't want in the high chair (or stroller or car seat), he just won't bend and there's no getting him in there. Try to take a toy away and he objects (loudly). We really didn't have to take his wants into consideration before - needs, yes, but wants weren't really an issue. Now we do and it takes a bit of adjustment on our part. Hmmm, seems we are raising a little person here.
By the way, Liam's new favorite toy is the laptop. He's not supposed to go near it, but he's a fast little devil. He used to just pound on the keyboard but now he pops off the keys; so far we've lost a shift and something else (we've actually lost the key so I'm not sure which one it was). Has anyone read Ella Minnow Pea? That's what I'm dealing with here.
Do any of you watch What Not To Wear? Last Friday's episode might as well have been me: brand new mother with a new oddish body who used to wear dry-clean only clothing, but now is reduced to sweatpants and t-shirts. She wears baseball caps because she doesn't always get a shower! I even wear the same thing as her to bed: pair of Mark's boxer briefs and a worn-out t-shirt with the same scraggly leopard-print slippers. Okay, so I don't actually wear track suits, but that may have only been a matter of time. Talk about a wake up call. Eek. I went out today and bought cute little pink pajamas to save my self-esteem.
Well, we've really been back from Arizona for a week now, but it's been a busy week, so I'm just now getting back to the website. Mark has been gone on a business trip to middle-of-nowhere-and-damn-cold Minnesota (somewhere not far from Thunder Bay), so Liam and I have been hanging out together. Somewhat boring for Liam, lonely and tiring for me. Mark got back late on Friday and just left again, this time for the ol' UP of Michigan. Consider yourself warned: if you work for a company that makes mining software, don't expect to go to exciting places for your business trips.
Unfortunately, the trip to Arizona wasn't our best trip either. Let's clarify that: hanging out with Mary and Neil was fun, as always. I really get a kick out of watching them enjoy Liam (it's kinda cute), and we had lots of good food and talks and all of that.
But it just isn't all that fun to stay in a hotel with a baby, and there aren't many sights one can see with someone that requires a nap (in a quiet crib) every two hours. But the worst part was probably all sleeping in the same room at night, which is strange since I didn't want Liam out of our bedroom (and, for a while, bed) at home for so long. But now that he can pull to standing, he would wake up in his crib at, say, 3 am, pull up, see us asleep across the room, and decide it was time to play. For an hour.
Did I mention that Arizona was unseasonably cold that week? It was. But the best moment of all was on our last day, when one of the toilets overflowed in our suite. After a plumber was called, and after we spent an entire afternoon banished to the lobby, and after the flood seeped into the carpets, the hotel decided to send us all to another hotel for our final night while the mess was cleaned up. The new room was so small that it was difficult to set up Liam's crib and still be able to use the washroom. Since Liam goes to bed around 7:30, and we don't, Mark and I spent a bit of time that evening quietly huddled in the dark waiting for Liam to sleep deeply enough for us to risk a light.
We did have one day that was nice enough for a bit of swimming, which Liam and Mark really enjoyed. Mary and Mark went to the pool store and picked out this lovely loungey boat with sunshade so that Liam's fair skin would not be at any risk. Note he is still wearing long board shorts, a t-shirt, a huge hat, and half a bottle of lotion.
We also got to visit the zoo, which Liam really liked. He does think that anything fuzzy that moves is pretty funny, especially if he can get close. Phoenix has a great zoo, with all the expected lions, tigers, and bears, but also a complete farm animal set up with a huge red barn. Guess they don't have a lot of farms down there. Liam particularly enjoyed the giraffes; they had one huge baby giraffe that was born just after Liam.
Here we all are. Note that we are slightly bundled (but still happy).
By far, the best toy down there was Neil's wheelchair. Liam spent a lot of time crawling and pulling up all over it, pushing buttons and pulling on things. Neil had to be careful to turn the thing off each time, or Liam would have sent them both careening off in a random direction; the joystick seemed to be the best part.
I also got to go to a great local yarn shop, a spectacular local shoe outlet store, and an In and Out Burger (a socially responsible fast food chain). So there were lots of good things that happened on the trip and I'm sure it will be better next year (less required naps).
I have to mention that there is a new baby in the world today! Our friends Hadar and Liza (see the last post for a picture) had a little baby girl last night. Her name is Lia, and she's beautiful. When Mark gets back, we'll pack up a ready-to-eat meal and head off to meet her. Welcome Lia Freehling!