Life with Liam

We've been very busy since our Seattle trip moving. Our lease was up on the place we were at and it wasn't working that well so we found a better place in a nearby town about 20 minutes away. We have a little bit more space, including a basement to use as Liam's playroom. It's farther away to work for Ben but it worked out well for me, the elementary school I will be student teaching at in the fall is less than 10 minutes away. Now I just need to find someone I feel comfortable with to watch Liam. A few days after we moved in, we had the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen, with lots of wind, and a huge tree in our yard came down and landed on the neighbor's truck. Probably not the best way to meet your neighbors. I took a few pictures of the tree but it doesn't show how big it really was. We're thankful the wind wasn't blowing the other way or it would have landed on the house. Now we just have to unpack! You'd think we'd be better at moving since we've done it so much but no, I think it actually has gotten harder, maybe it's my 2 year old "helper."

Liam is doing well, he surprises me just about every day with what he knows. Like yesterday we were outside and he goes, "le-lala" (umbrella), and points to another one "two le-lalas." Woohoo! He can count! Ok, it's only to two but I was still impressed. And tonight he handed me one of his fridge magnet letters and said "D" and it actually was the D. Before now, he only knew O. Or one time we were reading a book and he said the first 6 words of it before I could. I would love to think he can read, but he probably just remembers from the many times we've read it. And he started helping me put his bath toys away after his bath without me even having to ask. He is talking a lot more and it's starting to make a lot more sense. His new favorite word is "nope," but he will say "yes" when you do. He's getting pretty good at drinking from a cup. He is very interested in ceiling fans right now because our new place has a couple. He figured out how to open the gate in our new yard in about an hour (yeah, we had to get a lock for that). He loves to "drive" (pretend and in our own driveway with no keys) mama's car. He's starting to learn how to throw a ball. He's learned how to take his diaper and pants off (lots of fun for mama...I think we may try potty training later this summer). We're taking a mama and me swim class and he's getting pretty good at grabbing the wall and kicking. Still drinking water instead of blowing bubbles though. We haven't been able to do as many fun things this month but we have lots of fun planned for this summer, here's a few pics of what we've been up to.

Our new place

Hanging out at the park with playgroup

Not as fun as driving mama's car but it will do

Desperately needs his 2nd haircut, even more so thanks to static electricity, we're getting to it this week, I promise

Other kids are happily playing, Liam's trying to figure out how the water fountain works...I think he gets this behavior from Daddy

Finally thinks his power wheel is fun!

And now he's trying to figure out how it works...

And if he can stand on it...

Maybe he's trying to catch fireflies? They are pretty cool

Or maybe just clapping for fun...What's up, mama?

Chillin' outside

Maybe he'll mow the lawn for Daddy?

And the infamous tree...

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