Category Archives: The Boy

Lunch Out

For anti-cabin-fever therapy, we took Liam out this morning to explore parts of the toy store we’d never seen before and then out lunch with us for the first time post-infant seat. He thrilled us to bits with how calm and self-possessed he was in the restaurant. He sat straight up in a high chair pulled right up to the table without the tray attached, charmed the waitresses with his poise, and very obviously enjoyed being at the table like we were. I’d prepared his lunch at home and packed a wide-mouth Thermos of hot water in which to warm the little containers up at the table. He ate all his own lunch neatly, snacked on crackers and a glass of water that the server brought him, nibbled bits of the chicken HRH had for lunch, and had his first taste of vanilla ice cream from my dessert (sometimes his reaction was “More!” and other times it was “Ew, it’s cold.”) I really wish we’d had a camera, because to see Liam sitting so neatly at the table was terrific and so heart-warming. It makes me wish the high chair we have at home was less bulky and more table-friendly.

He’s growing up so fast. Next week he’ll be ten months old. I’m not sure where the time’s gone.

Liam Update

Today is official Ruin Liam’s Fun Day. Everything he tries to pick up or pull up on, we take away from him. Poor kid.

I may have to move my computer tower to the other side of my desk where it’s under the shelves and less accessible. He’s becoming interested in the slots and buttons, and has already unplugged the router twice this morning. Everything’s at his level, which makes it especially fascinating.

Two days ago he said “Dada” to HRH, who was totally cooled out. HRH had been trying very hard not to be jealous of the fact that Liam had “Mama” down a week or so ago. So now we have Mama, Dada, Hi!, and Cat. Sometimes they’re even strung together (Hi cat! Hi Dada!). He doesn’t say it often, or every time he sees something, but he assigns the right word to the thing he’s seeing when he does say it. Or he’ll say the word and then look around for what he’s named.

He’s getting really good at pulling himself up on things like the chesterfield, the coffee table, my printer, and his toy basket. The funniest thing lately is that Liam keeps trying to give Maggie his toys. He holds them out to her with an eager expression on his face, and she just sort of looks at them and then looks away. And he’s got the mobility thing down pat, which is great. I can put him on the kitchen floor when I’m working in there, give him a couple of Fisher Price Roll-a-Round balls, and he chases them all over the room.

Nap News…

Liam has slept for seventy minutes so far for this morning’s nap. I am very pleased. It has, however, made him late for his Friday with his grandma.

I don’t know how much longer he’ll sleep, though, with all the banging from the people upstairs who are moving a second batch of heavy furniture out with no respect for the walls in the stairway. Good thing the stairwell is being scrubbed and painted after they’re gone. Which ought to be Sunday, by the way, and we are pleased about this because it means we can leave the car in the driveway all day.

Daffodils!

After a couple of good nap days, today has been a complete disaster with Liam waking up after twenty minutes of sleep on the dot every time, at that brief awakening point before the sleeper sinks into deeper sleep. HRH took him for an hour-long walk, and while he didn’t nap it mellowed him out, and that plus a bottle once home again seems to finally have put him to sleep. We’re currently at half an hour of nap and counting. Thank goodness, because Liam was getting as frustrated as I was about the lack of sleep, poor kid.

And I forgot to record that he said “Mama” the other day. Go figure.

Liam and I went grocery shopping this morning, and on the way out of the store I saw a man at a little table with two vases of daffodils. Every single year I manage to miss the cancer-awareness daffodil fundraiser. Not this year!

I chose two that had only begun to unfold, and one that was still a tight bud. It’s so warm that they’re opening already. I love them; I so rarely have fresh flowers in the house. And since they give out stickers now instead of pins, Liam has a daffodil sticker on his cap.

And there’s Liam now, waking up after forty minutes of nap. Well, that’s twice as long as he’s slept any other time he’s been put down in his bed. Every little bit helps.

Liam News

HRH finally saw Liam pull himself up to stand by the coffee table last night. And, of course, today was his first movement-related ouch: he pulled himself up, overbalanced reaching for (what else) a cat, and hit his head on the corner of that coffee table. It had to happen; both his parents did it at least once as babies too. Liam caught the edge of his eye socket, but other than a red mark that’s a bit swollen and injured pride, he’s fine.

I think I forgot to mention that the pacifier is a thing of the past. His original one was getting worn at the bottom of the bulb from those new little teeth chewing on it, so I took it away and tried to give him another one of the same design. He wouldn’t take it. Apparently to the other one was worked in just so, and he wasn’t going to accept any substitutes. So he cried a bit at bedtime for two nights, and then la la la, it’s like he’d never had a soother, ever.

We have a new car stroller courtesy of his paternal grandparents (thanks!), and it rides like a dream.

He loves playing in the sun that comes through the front living room windows in the morning, and he loves watching the shadows things make, too. Thank the gods for spring. Walks are ever so much more pleasant. And the sun that pours into the house at various times in various places makes me want to curl up in the sun puddles like a cat.

We’ve ascertained that Maggie actually plays with him. Now that he’s mobile, he galumphs after her wherever she goes. In the kitchen the other night she had him doing lengths of the room for half an hour, simply by strolling to the back door, sitting down and watching him galumph towards her, then sidestepping and walking past him to the kitchen table while Liam drags himself around and heads off towards her again, cackling with glee. He slept beautifully that night.

Okay, enough of an update. I don’t get online much any more thanks to the New Improved Mobile Baby, so when I do I throw a bunch of stuff down into the journal to keep at least somewhat up to date.