April Update - 24 Months

They say that time goes by fast when you have a baby and truly it does! Hard to believe that this past week we celebrated Liam's second birthday, he really is a little boy now. On Tuesday 21st, we dropped him off at daycare with cupcakes for all the kids and they made him a "Liam is 2 today" hat. We celebrated with a big pasta dinner (since "noodles" as Liam likes to call it) is his favourite and ice-cream cake which resulted in him zinging around the house until 10pm. Granny, Grandpa and Aunty Caylin spoiled him with a fire truck, dinosaur fork & spoon and a proper wheel barrow for the garden, while Aunty Jo bought him a ton of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff including train sets and acd which he went nuts for. Now when we're in the car we sing Thomas all the way to work. From Mommy & Daddy Liam got an outdoor climber and slide and a 6 kid Thomas tent which he had a great time in since he LOVES Thomas and LOVES tents.

The following Saturday was his birthday party and the theme was fire engines. We decorated the house and deck with red & yellow streamers, balloons and banners and put all sorts of riding toys, slide and the Thomas tent (also filled with balloons) out on the deck so the parents could enjoy drinks while the kids ran around and burned off some toddler energy. The weather turned out to be nice so everyone stayed outdoors and the kids had a ball. When it was time to sing "Happy Birthday", the kids crowded around the table oggling the cake while Liam's buddy Kai started picking off the smarties off and eating them. By then Liam had caught on to "blowing out the fire" and blew hard at the candles (with a little help from Gabby). There was total silence while the kids devoured their pieces of cake and then it was gift opening time. Liam got thoroughly spoiled with lot of reading and sticker activity books, a kite, a train whistle and more! That should keep him going for at least a few weeks.

Liam is talking like a two and a half to three year old in long sentences, his average is about 5-7 words long. It's amazing to hear him express himself or join in a conversation in his adorable hight pitched little voice. He'll say things like "I want to have that piece of cake" and is really into his "please's" and "thank you's". If you ask him to say please he says "PLEEEEEAAAASEEEE" really loud. It gets him what he wants most of the time, although he tends to know it and will say please if he wants something he shouldn't have. Then I feel guilty for not giving it to him when he's been so polite! He is also really into his singing, especially with nursery rhymes and Thomas, we'll hear him singing random exerpts from various songs and will join in like an off tune choir. I don't think I've sung songs on such a consistent basis since my school days. It's a great stress reliever (except when an encore is requested ten times for "Happy Birthday"). When we drive to work in the morning we have to play the Thomas CD and if it's not loud enough or we start talking Liam will say "louder" until the volume is to his satisfaction. 25 mins of Thomas every morning and every afternoon. No wonder I can't get the theme song out of my head!

This month we said a sad goodbye to our daycare lady Emily and Liam started his new daycare downtown. The first couple of weeks went fantastically as he was so stimulated by his new environment but now we are going through the "novelty is over, I'm going to scream my head off if you leave me" phase. Fortunately dropping off is Daddy's job so he has to deal with the trauma while I get to do pick up at the end of the day. Apparently it only lasts for a few minutes but it doesn't do much to calm Daddy's nerves. Since I did it for a year with Emily, I figure Daddy is due. Hopefully we'll get out of this phase soon for his sake and sanity!

This has been a busy month of celebrations with Liam's birthday and also Easter. Easter morning we heard a knock on the door and we we opened it there was an empty basket and a trail of eggs leading up the stairs to Gabby & Papa and Aunty Caylin's house. Since Liam had been exposed to chocolate "eggies" (as he likes to call them) from his outdoor Easter egg hunt with the daycare at the parliament buildings a few days before, he was ready & willing to pick up the eggs and stash them in his basket (at the same time requesting to eat them!). By the time all the eggs had been found his face was covered in chocolate and he was zinging around the living room. I think chocolate is by far his favourite food, he just LOVES the stuff! I can see Easter as being top on the favourite holiday list in the future.

Aunty Caylin is a HUGE Twilight fan and so Gabby & Papa took her & a friend to Forks, Washington (where the movie was filmed) for a weekend getaway. Along with the Twilight paraphanalia, they picked up the most adorable fireman rain jacket for Liam who wears it constantly. He loves anything to do with clips and straps of which the rain jacket has three so it kept him occupied for quite a while. Bonus - a jacket that entertains!

March Update - 23 Months

This has been the month of big changes. I have survived my first month of being back at work 9-5 and Liam has survived his first month of full-time daycare. All in all it has been a big success. Not only do I love being back to a more normal schedule but Liam is loving his time at Emily's and has an absolute ball. He doesn't enjoy getting up early (like his Mommy) but still wants to go to bed really late. Hopefully this will change at some point as it would be nice to have some time to ourselves in the evenings, but since he consistently sleeps through the night I guess I can't complain too much!

I know I keep on saying every month how Liam is talking so much more and how his vocabularly is leaping and bounding, but we have really noticed a BIG difference this month, especially in the last couple of weeks. He is talking like a 2.5 year old with his average sentence being 5-7 words long. He says things like "I don't want my pants on" and " I don't like the cheese" or "I want the yellow playdough". When Ian tries to wake him up in the morning he'll say "go away Daddy, I'm still sleeping". It's just adorable hearing all the funny things he comes up with. he can now say the entire alphabet and count to twenty without a hitch. I've been teaching him how to spell his name and simple words like "cat", I bought him some alphabet letters that stick to the walls of the bathtub so we spell while he's having a bath. he totally loves them. We've also been learning how to count to thirty. At this rate he'll be reading by the time he's three.

Potty training has become a challenge as Liam is interested in the toilet and talking about pee and poo, but still won't do anything when he sits on his seat. He does however enjoy taking off his diaper and throwing it onto the ground saying "I don't want my diaper on, take it off". I had draw the line when he made a number two and then proceeded to rip off his diaper and chuck it. That was not fun cleaning up! While Ian grabbed our brown child and madly scrambled for the shower, I scrubbed our beige carpet ten times over. Potty training when you have a beige carpet is not the best combination.

Liam has fallen in love with Thomas the Tank Engine, mostly due to the Thomas toys his buddy Easton has at daycare. We have gone off Noddy at bedtime and are now reading Thomas books. We also got him a Thomas train that sings the theme song and a Thomas set from the toy library. I can see the dollar signs flashing before my eyes. Thomas is a very expensive hobby! Good thing Thomas train tracks are compatible with oh so much cheaper IKEA train tracks. Bonus!

I have started party planning for Liam's second birthday which will be a Fire Engine theme. I ordered invitations and supplies from a store upisland that had all fire engine type paraphanalia so we will be set when the big day arrives! As an early birthday present (and due to a 50% off sale), we got Liam's first present which was a tiny tykes climber and slide. He went nuts over it and did about twenty slides in a row! Good for burning some late night energy. We have given up on trying to get him to bed early, he simply will not do it. Only problem is that he's super tired after daycare and gets really really cranky so it's a few hours of screaming and crying before he finally calms down and goes to sleep. Makes for a bit of a frazzled evening for us but what can you do! Napping on the weekends has also gone out the window. While nap time at Emily's is a total breeze, we have to go for a drive to get him to conk out. Then one person does shopping or errands and the other drives around in circles for an hour and a half. Bye bye free time!

So this is Liam's last month of being a one year old and we are definitely entering the phase of the terrible two's. It's like a switch suddenly flips and your sweet & innocent child is replaced by a Tasmanian Devil. Liam has a fiercly independent streak and will do the complete opposite of what you want him to. There is no way to reason with him and bribery does not always seem to work unless it involves chocolate. He loves chocolate! Almost as much as he loves saying NO! If he gets mad enough he lies on the ground and screams his head off or drags his feet so we both have to hold onto him to walk. Looks rather interesting when you're on a busy road. On the flip side he is a very funny little boy and says things that make us just howl. Plus he loves to dance and will turn into the boogie king when music comes on that he likes. Yes life is a constant up and down roller coaster but it's all worth it when Liam comes to me, gives me a big wet kiss and says "I love you Mommy"!