Fuzzy Love

Bad Parents, Good Grandparents

So, we probably shouldn't have, but we took Liam to see Santa today. Honestly, I suspected it wouldn't go well, since he takes a little while to warm up to new people, but we were determined to go through with it anyway. Here are the unfortunate results:

Now I feel guilty about subjecting him to this (actually, Santa doesn't look too thrilled either), but it honestly happened so fast; he was only on Santa's lap about ten seconds. But still, bad parents, to make Liam suffer like that. Speaking of bad parents, Liam ate a crayon the other day (a blue one, can't you tell?) while he was sitting on my lap. Can you say blue poo?

Anyway, Mary and Neil (Mark's parents) arrived on Saturday, having driven from Halifax. Unlike with Santa, it didn't take long for Liam to warm up to them. Neil is a big hit, as is his walker; every time Neil goes to the washroom Liam steals it and takes off. And Mary has earned major points by reading stories and pushing Liam around in Neil's wheelchair (explain to me how that is fun when a stroller is not?). We've been shopping and to the park, but so far it has been a quiet, talking, playing board games, and letting Liam entertain us sort of visit. Here we are at the local park.

And another.

Plus it was Neil's birthday on Sunday (Happy Birthday Neil), so we had cake and presents.

Only four days until Christmas!

Question of the Day

Why is it that Liam refuses to eat any vegetables other than carrots and peas, yet he will immediately down a kitty treat, no questions asked? Those cat treats (chicken flavor) have a nasty smell to them, but Liam, seeing one for the first time, popped it directly into his mouth and chowed down. Poor Fuzz was quite confused ("Those are mine, right?"). He'll eat Fuzz's everyday kibble too. I don't understand it. Another mystery is that he'll eat buttered spaghetti noodles without any trouble, but god forbid those noodles be of a different shape, say, rotini or those wide wavy ones. Uh huh, no way.

I know that only two days ago I was worried about his talking, but today he's been repeating everything I say. We hosted playgroup this morning, and I listed off to Liam who was coming and he echoed, "Em-ma, Ralen (Lauren), Dew (Drew), Ti (Tiff), Je (Jen), Hory (Holly). Not bad, right? Well, I'm feeling better anyway.

Here's something funny for you to look at today (you need sound). If, while checking out this page, you think to yourself, "is that it?", well, yes, it is. And it gets in your head: yesterday for lunch Liam and I had a bagel bagel bagel bagel bagel.

Christmas Prep

So, this week's worry is....(drum roll)...Liam isn't talking quickly enough. I know I'm not supposed to compare him to other children, but two girls we know (Lauren and Emma) are saying all kinds of words very clearly and Liam just isn't. So, I asked our pediatrician about it and, of course, I'm worrying too much. He said that the only reason to really worry is if a kid doesn't say 20 words by the time he is two years old. This was good enough for Mark, but I immediately started a list. I found out that Liam already knows 25 words (and has actually picked up a few since then). So the search for the next thing to worry about has begun.

I have some new pictures today, since we've been up to all sorts of Christmasy things (hence the long time between posts). Lots of cleaning and shopping and decorating and stuff. Mark's parents (Mary and Neil) arrive this weekend for a couple of weeks, so we're excited about that, although it means the house needs to be really clean. Not that they expect that, or would ask for it or anything, but whenever someone comes to stay I must pretend for a day or two that my house is always immaculate (which might imply, when I can't keep it up, that my house guests are the ones that mess things up). So I'm trying to clean out things that have never been cleaned out before (like the front closet).

At least Liam helps.

And Mark played his own game of Fear Factor and put the lights up outside (he doesn't like heights). I must take a picture of them on; they're really pretty.

All in all, we had a very Christmasy weekend. Because so much of what we buy for people has to be shipped, most of our shopping is finished now, so we can sit back and relax. Or, as we did, make cookies. Lots of cookies. And we even decorated them. I hate to admit, some years the cookies have been made, but they go undecorated. Have you ever eaten an un-iced sugar cookie? There's really no point. Liam went wild with the sprinkles (a very serious job, is the sprinkling).

And we decorated the tree. Nothing breakable in the bottom half, thank you very much. Plus, the tree is somewhat wedged in the corner of the living room, so I don't think it will be coming down very easily. Not that Liam has been bad about it; his major facination has been with the lights. They are hooked into a light switch, which is nice, but he climbs on a chair and flips them on and off until you stop him. It's almost like we have twinkle lights.

And I'll end with a joke today: What do you call cheese that isn't yours?
Nacho cheese!

Say it out loud if you don't get it. : )