Yard work

We are starting to see early signs of Spring. We took Liam outside and let him play in the dirt for the first time. This was Liam and yard work this time last year . . .

. . . and this year

Some of my favorite things to do

Here are some pictures of Liam from the last couple of days doing some of his favorite things . . .

Playing in his cabinet (literally)

Stacking anything and everything (including food,
drink cups and whatever else he gets his hands on!)

Our little hoodie
This is new, and may only be for today . . .
Liam wanted his hood on inside. He is running a low grade
fever so it may just feel better to be warmer

The 'ikaner' in Deutschikaner

After having a colder winter than usual, we finally got a beautiful mild day today. It was 67 F (14 C) this afternoon which gave us the chance to take Liam for a walk on the Noland Trail. We came across a little league baseball team practicing at Williams Field and Liam got to watch his first baseball practice. He laughed every time someone hit the ball.

In a 'it's a small world' moment . . . Sam Avery was one of the coaches of the little league team. Sam's family were neighbors with the Crippens when Tobias was an exchange student living with the Crippens.

I can do it myself

Liam has finally started trying to feed himself. For months he has held the spoon while I fed him. Today he grabbed the spoon and did it all by himself. (Interestingly, until today he always used his left hand. When he grabbed the spoon today it was with his right.)

Wolverine . . . or a broken nail?

Nana had a nasty surprise when she went to get Liam up from him morning nap. When he was waking up he put some nasty scratches on his face - - four on his face and one on his eyelid.

What caused this? We asked. One possibility - Liam Wolverine??

It turned out to be a broken finger nail. The scratches bother us all more than Liam. They don't bother him at all.

17 months old

Liam is 17 months old today!!

Ahhhhh cup

Liam is now very interested in drinking from our cups. 'Bias shared his water with Liam tonight.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What you can't see in the pictures is what happens shortly after Liam drinks seltzer water . . . he belches. Tobias and I have to learn not to laugh when he does it but right now it still very funny to hear a 16 month old belch like a frat boy.

Big boy breakfast

It has only taken about 17 months but Liam is finally eating eggs. He now eats scrambled eggs for breakfast. This morning he had a 'big boy breakfast' of eggs, toast with butter and milk. Best of all . . . he fed himself (with minimal food on the floor)!!

Sometimes you just have to give up . . .

We have tried to baby proof the kitchen, but there are two drawers that Liam still managed to jiggle open. The spice drawer now has two locks. I have finally given up on the utensil drawer. I tried putting the step stool in front of it but Liam quickly figured out how to push it back. I have now removed all knives and sharp objects and just go with the flow.

Stacking blocks

Liam loves stacking . . . everything. It is very amusing to see all the things he tries to stack. One thing he is getting very good at is stacking blocks!

Mono, molars and 'muh'

I think everyone is ready for Spring, but no one more than we. Sickness is all around and we are ready for dry, warm weather and time outside!! Tobias continues to deal with mono. Officially, it is a viral infection in the mono family but not mono. The symptoms and treatment are the same as mono so it's just easier to say 'mono'. (I have learned that 'mono' in German is Pfeifferisches Druesenfieber. Now THAT is a good German word.) At this point his fever is gone but he continues to struggle with low energy and an allergic reaction to an anti-biotic he was put on before they knew he had a viral infection.

Liam is teething. Pretty much the normal teething stuff, but I think I am just noticing the irritability more because Tobias is also sick and Liam requires constant attention. The poor little man is cutting 4 teeth at the same time (that we have counted so far) and 3 of them are molars (Backenzaehne). For that reason he gets a pass on the fussing, crying, screaming, etc. Along with teething usually comes a cold for Liam. He has a full blown cold now with a lot of congestion. He can't breath well when he lies down so he is not sleeping more than 2 hours at a time.

And now for the 'muh' - Liam is really starting to walk well. He now toddles between objects and tries to walk to us first. He should be really steady in another month or so. Despite his cold, fatigue, fussiness, and general crankiness, he still can communicate which foods he wants. He LOVES Veggie Straws and he begins repeating 'muh, muh, muh' as soon as he sees the bag. He normally doesn't get many of these since they are glorified potato chips, but he's getting a few more than normal these days since few things in life make him happy right now. I also gave Liam a blueberry muffin yesterday. Like Tobias he LOVES them. They also gets cries of 'muh! muh!'

We are asking for prayers for Brett and the Powers family. Brett had pneumonia which turned into Brochiolitis which then revealed RSV and an ear infection. He is now in CHKD because he could not maintain his oxygenation during a breathing treatment in the ER. He has been sick for nearly 3 weeks and RSV is very serious. Please pray for a speedy recovery for Brett, and endurance for Traci and Bruce as they deal with another hospitalization and a very sick boy.

Liam is becoming our official toy tester. This turtle is one of his new toys. He loves playing on it. Each time I tried to get a picture of him he saw the camera and wanted to get to the camera. After many tries I finally got one. This is a nice picture considering it came at the end of a day when Liam was NOT smiling very much!

Look, a camera!

I really want to play with the camera!

OK, I'll stay here and let you get a picture