I want to pull the wagon

Liam is certainly in the 'I-want-to-do-it' phase. His emerging independence is both exciting and, at times, frustrating. Sometimes it is just plain cute - as was the case the other night at GG's.

Liamisms

Liam says some of the cutest things sometimes. I wanted to capture some of those before the day comes when begins to say things properly and we forget about how cute these Liamism were.

'Stink nochmal' - Liam's attempt to say the Janke family-ism 'stink normal'

'Zack! Zack Woyte' - Liam's attempt to say 'Zack! Zack! Leute' (which he picked up from Mami while she was driving)

'Ich wante' and 'Ich gette' - Liam has taken English verbs and conjugated them into German first person.

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After months of watching Tobias eat breakfast Liam finally realized Nutella was chocolate he could have for breakfast.

Lehrling

I mentioned yesterday morning that it would be nice to have a row of outlets on top of a cabinet for a charging station. This would allow us to charge all our miscellaneous things (phones, hands-free ear pieces, computers, iPad, etc) in one place. I was really just thinking out loud, but Tobias' response was 'OK. I'll do it today.'

Liam had a blast watching Papi work and 'helping'. Tobias (mostly) enjoyed having an apprentice.

Papi's helper

'I want to help!'

And this is what happens when Papi is busy working
and Liam sneaks off to play in the bathroom sink. . .

Wie eine Kaffeemaschine

Sometimes Liam says something and we know it is something we will not forget. Yesterday morning he was sitting on the potty. He looked down at himself peeing then looked up at me and said, 'Wie eine Kaffeemaschine' (like a coffee maker). I laughed and told him he was exactly right!! What a bright kid. ;-)

I just can't get going without my coffee (AKA orange juice)

Now I am ready for the day

Ingelbach fun, part II

The big hit during our visit was the Scoop (AKA Baggi) ride in Altenkirchen. Liam loved this ride and learned very quickly that he needed money to ride it. Any time he found a coin around the house he would say, 'That's for Bob the Builder!' By the end of our trip he would pick up my wallet and say, 'That's for Bob the Builder!'

Here is a video of his last ride with Bob and Scoop.

Liam also loved looking at the cows. He liked it so much began acting like a cow - complete with eating grass. Here is a video of our little cow. (Warning for viewers like TT who have a sympathetic gag reflex! Liam will gag at the end of this video.)

Translation for the non-German speakers:
Mami: Are you a cow? Liam, that is gross. Yucky!
Oma: Does that taste good? Hey, maybe now he will eat vegetables.
*gag*
Mami: Yeah, that doesn't taste good.
*gag!*

Liam still asks to go see the bell in Ingelbach. This bell is the old school bell. It is now located in the cemetery. It rings each evening at 600PM. We probably watch this video 20 times a day.

Ingelbach fun Part I

My posts now fall firmly in the category of 'better late than never.'

We had a wonderful trip to Ingelbach at the end of June. It was great to spend 2 weeks with family and friends in Germany and England.

To our surprise, Liam was a trooper and behaved incredibly well on both trans-Atlantic flights. Tobias and I did realize on this trip that we were both 16 when we flew across the Atlantic for the first time. Liam was on his second trip at 2.5 years old!

Here are some pictures and videos from our trip.

Our world traveler in Norfolk getting ready for
his 2nd trans-Atlantic crossing

Two sure ways to pass time in airports:
pay phones and moving walkways!

Getting ready for take-off

In Dulles, waiting for our flight
Liam kept saying, 'Ein riesengrosses Flugzeug!'

This time Liam accepted his earphones
and watched lots of Backyardigans

It's a nice life when you can actually stretch out on the plane and sleep!

In Ingelbach!!

Liam loved the cows so much he wanted to be one . . .

. . . so he started eating grass.
I have a video of this but it isn't posting for some reason.
I will keep trying.

A big hit! Jens let Liam sit on his tractor. Complete with light!

More pics and hopefully some videos to come in Ingelbach fun, part II!