Life with Liam: May 2010

It has been a busy month or two around here. Liam is just busy all by himself but we've also been out and about, finding a new place to live about 20 min from where we are now, trying to get my student teaching set up for fall, and a cross country trip to Seattle! Liam was a great traveler, but thank goodness for our portable dvd player, it really helped with flying with a toddler. Our flights home were the worst, we had a connection in Denver, and there were high winds there, so our flight to Denver was delayed by 3 hrs and our flight out of Denver was delayed over 5 hrs. So all in all, we got to the Seattle airport at 10 am on Monday and didn't make it home to Philly until 5am Tuesday! Liam lost it a little on the last flight, but it was totally understandable, considering he had only napped for about 45 min and it was hours past his bedtime. Seattle was beautiful, and the weather was much nicer than the 90+ degrees we came home to. We also took a day trip up to Vancouver to check it out and go to the aquarium. One day Liam and I got to meet up with our friends Carolynn and Eliana, Liam and Eliana are exactly one month apart. Liam had so much fun he's still asking for Ellie. We went to the Pike Place market, had yummy clam chowder and fish and chips and took in other sights of the city. We may even move there someday, Ben loves it. We found a pretty area near the mtns and a lake, it's like his happy place. I have to admit, the idea is growing on me, Seattle may rain but it was nice and cool compared to what we came home to, I'm not a fan of hot and humid.
Other than our big trip, we've just been going to the park, library, playgroup, that sort of thing. Oh and we started a weekly mommy and me swim class, he wasn't too sure at first but now he loves it. His favorite part is kicking and jumping in. His version of blowing bubbles is still trying to drink the water. Liam has been learning so many new things and words. His favorite new word he learned on our trip is "bomb." No idea where he got that one, but he even makes a bomb sound affect after he says it. On our way there, we're sitting on the airplane and he says, "Airplane. bomb. Kaaaa (his sound effect)." I was praying he didn't say it while we were going through airport security, I'd have no idea how to explain that one. He also knows how to say thank you now, or rather "fank you." I know it's probably just coincidence but sometimes I swear he can spell. We've learned there are certain words to avoid unless you are going to give them to Liam immediately, such as "einsteins (little einsteins, the only show he'll really watch) and yea (or slide, yea is his word for slide), so one day I thought I would be tricky and try to spell them instead, no such luck. I spelled, e-i-n and Liam shouted, "Einsteins!" I have no idea how he knew that, I don't think I've ever spelled it before. Same thing happened when I tried to spell slide. I thought that it would be a little longer before spelling wouldn't work anymore. It's cute to see sometimes you can just see his little brain working as he takes everything in. He will put his hands together to say his prayers. He can point to shapes, and he's getting better at numbers and letters but he'll still only say O and 2. He loves cars (or vroom vrooms as he calls them) and likes to touch them as we walk through a parking lot. He's very interested in animals, although most he will only call by their sounds (woof woof for dogs, meow for cats, moo for cows, etc.) Actually it was pretty funny, we saw chickens at a park in Seattle and he ran after them shouting quack, quack. I guess he thought they were ducks because they don't cheep, cheep like the books say, but more like cluck, which sounds more like quack. At least that's what I think, whatever he thought, it was pretty funny. He likes to help push the cart at the store instead of sitting in it. Oh and he has also decided ow or ouch is funny, I think I can blame Ben for that one. It's good in a way because he doesn't freak out over every little bump, but isn't great because he doesn't seem to understand that sometimes ow means someone is really hurt, I guess we'll be working on that one. He's getting a little more mischievous but for the most part he's a good happy boy. Anyways, that's the update and here are some pics.

Swinging at the park