11.04.09 ~ Show-Monkey Tricks

I’ve gotten a bit behind with the blogging lately. But I promise to catch up within the next few days. Obviously I need to post some Halloween pictures of Liam in his costume. Unfortunately, those will have to wait a few more days until I have Photoshop up and running on my computer again.

Ever since Liam started crawling, his little personality has really started to bloom. His likes, dislikes, and wants have become so much more apparent. Just seeing him crawl to where he wants to be is pretty telling. We’ve learned that he loves our shoes, loves emptying the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom, loves checking out what’s in the trashcan, and loves following us from one room to the other. And if you turn the radio on, he’ll drop whatever he’s doing and sprint-crawl over to it to dance. He loves turning all of the knobs and making the music come on and off. Here’s the dancing DJ:

The Dancing DJ from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

When Liam wants to be picked up he crawls over to one of us and either hovers over our feet or tugs on our pants. Once he’s in your arms he begins to point at where he’d like to go next. The pointing is really great because it’s such a clear form of communication. When we’re seated at the table eating dinner, he points to his cup when he wants more water or points to the food he’d like more of. Between the pointing, crawling, and Liam’s “talking” (which is more like a secret language than it is English), I feel like most of the guesswork has been eliminated from my job. Nine out of ten times I know exactly what he wants at any given moment.

We’ve also learned that Liam is a little entertainer. He’ll do anything for a laugh. In fact, if you laugh at him and he’s not quite sure what it was that was funny, he’ll start trying out different things to see if you’ll laugh again. Today at lunch he must have been chilly (or peed in his diaper) because suddenly I could see him get a chill as his little body quivered for a second. As soon as I giggled at him he looked up at me, smiled, and then shook his arms and shoulders trying to repeat the shiver. Then he burst out laughing at himself.

We’ve also taught Liam a few little show-monkey tricks. When we say “touchdown” he lifts his hands over his head, when we say “monkey feet” he claps his feet, and when we say “yay” he claps his hands. Jason also taught Liam to squeeze his nose when he says “honk honk”. Liam can also wave bye-bye and says “bu bu”. But only when he feels like it.

As we’re rounding the last corner before his first birthday, it amazing to suddenly witness this transformation from baby to one-year-old.

And until I have Halloween pictures to share these photos from Liam’s school from the first half of October will have to do!

Here Liam has ditched his diaper bin (behind him) and is playing with someone else's diaper.

The "dance space" is where they go when the weather is bad and they can't go to the park.

Self-help skills = very wet shirt.

I swear his head doesnt look this shiny in real life. He is getting some hair - promise.

10.12.09 ~ Crawling in the "Country"

Liam is finally crawling! Really crawling. On all fours. It started last Thursday morning at school. As I was dropping him off in the morning, I set him down to put away his coat and lunch, and he got on all fours and crawled toward me. Before that morning, he had been doing it for a few "steps" every now and again. But that time he covered about 4 or 5 feet of distance on all fours. He must have practiced a lot around his childcare room on Thursday, because when I picked him up that afternoon, brought him home, and set him on the floor, he just crawled off. Since then he's been getting steadier and faster. I think his progress was accelerated because we were at Kim and Greg's house in the "country" (in Suffern) this weekend. We went because we hadn’t seen Kim and Greg in ages, hadn’t met Ethan yet, and wanted to do something outside of the city for Jason’s birthday. There Liam honed his skills, since he had new toys (well, Ethan's toys) to crawl to and lots more space for exploration. Now he's pretty fast and also pretty pleased with himself. I imagine that being able to get to the shoes by the front door, the computer cables, and the trashcan whenever you want is pretty liberating. Of course our job of keep him safe (and relatively clean) just got a bit harder. But the delight of watching him get around on his own far outweighs the extra work.

Liam and Ethan were pretty adorable together this weekend. Ethan is such a cute baby and has such a laid back personality. He's friendly and smiley and easy going. On the other hand, he is also ambitious. He enjoys being on his tummy and is already making moves like he wants to crawl (or run) away. I'm glad Liam figured out the crawling thing before Ethan is crawling circles around him!

We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and spent Jason’s birthday afternoon pumpkin picking on a pumpkin and apple farm. We have some pretty adorable pictures.

I love that face.

The birthday boy and happy Liam.

A Dragon sleeping in his cave.

Sarah!

Also here’s a video from this morning of Liam crawling. In the background we’re listening to our latest WhitMix. Thank you, Whitney!!

Liam's crawling!! (and playing fetch with himself) from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

10.08.09 ~ September at RG

Liam's teachers just sent out the pictures from September in the Infant Room. There were over 50 pictures of Liam, so I picked my favorites to share.

Liam hanging out with William and the shakers.

Liam with Monika - he is her focus child and I think they also might be best friends.

Liam is in love with this tambourine.

Two men and a baby.

I think Liam is pretty happy with his new found mobility.

Jello = hilarity.

Must. Get. Ball.

10.07.09 ~ Taking a Stand

Today I tried to get Liam to nap early so that he would have slept before his appointment with Dr. Zbar to get a flu shot. However, instead of sleeping, he talked to himself for half an hour before I went in to rescue him from the dark, boring room. When I opened the door, he was standing and holding onto the rails of his bed and beaming at me. That was the first time that he’s pulled himself into the standing position without help. And I could see the little gears turning in his head. He was thinking to himself “It was a lot of work to get up there, but clearly it worked. I stood up, Mom came in, and I didn’t have to nap.” I think we’ll be seeing a lot more standing from now on.

Liam has been doing so many new things lately. He can consistently get from the tummy down position to a seated position, he now moves from room to room with his little squirmy, swimmy, crawl, and every once in a while he tucks his knees under, pulls his belly up and crawls the traditional way for a few inches. He’s also saying Dada all the time now when Jason is around. It’s so cute because he definitely knows what he’s saying and is definitely directing it to Jason. And Liam has started to dance to music. When we turn the stereo on or sing to him he bops up and down and waves his hand to the beat. He’s got pretty good rhythm for a little white boy.

But in my opinion the cutest new thing he does is feeds himself (even some slimy things now, whereas before he would only feed himself dry foods like cheerios and puffs) and helps himself to his own drink of water. Liam got a new sippy cup with a straw in it so that he can pick the cup up and take a drink without having to worry about tilting it way up – which he was not able to do with the old cup. Now, when he’s thirsty, he reaches for his own cup and takes a drink himself. Nothing makes him seem more grown up to me than that move.

Here’s Liam with his friend Claire. Claire’s mom, Elisabeth, generously watched them both last week while I went for a run in the park. We plan to keep trading off so that we each get a chance to run or go to the gym. Anyway, she took these amazing pictures of Liam and Claire together and added in their hysterical dialogue. It had me laughing for days so I had to share:

No Parallel Play for Us. from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

09.28.09 ~ Making Progress!

I think that *technically* we can call this crawling. Notice how he isn't doing the roll-to-his-side thing anymore to move forward and is instead using his arms and legs. Though, I do feel confident that this is just a middle step and that he will soon lift his belly up for a proper crawl.

Making Progress! from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

09.25.09 ~ Liam is 10 Months Old Today!

The trick with the sign doesn't work so well anymore!

Last weekend Liam and I went to Baltimore to attend Hannah and Toros’s wedding ceremony. It was small since it was just Hannah’s Dad, Toros’s parents and brother, my parents, Helki, Aunt Martha, Liam, and me in attendance. Hannah had encouraged everyone else not to come so that they could instead attend the big wedding reception she and Toros are planning for next spring. So they kept this ceremony nice and simple. They were married at the courthouse in Ellicott City and then we celebrated by having cake at our parents house and dinner near Silver Spring. The ceremony was beautiful because Hannah and Toros both looked so genuinely happy. Hannah was gorgeous in her white sundress… it was just as beautiful, if not more, than any formal wedding gown. Liam had no idea what was going on – but I am happy that one day I can tell him that he was there when his Aunt Hannah and Uncle Toros officially tied the knot.

The weekend was a little rough on Liam’s schedule – as traveling usually is – because all of his naps and bedtimes were totally thrown off. He came out to dinner with us on Friday and was awake way past his bed time. However, contrary to my expectations, he handled it beautifully. Although he was tired, he was very happy sitting on my Dad’s lap and tasting all of the food from his plate. Every once in a while Hannah or Helki came and took him from my dad to go outside for a quick change of scenery. He chatted and played and didn’t fuss at all. It wasn’t until we got back to the house after dinner and I was trying to get him in bed that he got cranky and started crying. Saturday was also packed with activity since we met Hannah and Toros for a tour of the Butterfly Exhibit in Wheaton and then had lunch with them. Later that night we went to Aunt Martha’s house for dinner. Liam really enjoyed the park and the butterflies – and, again, was delighted at lunch when my dad let him try tortilla chips and refried beans. But by dinner time, Liam wasn’t holding up as well as the night before. Luckily it wasn’t a late night and we were home relatively early. He slept really well that night. Over the course of Friday and Saturday Liam and my Dad seemed to really bond. Liam was very happy sitting in his lap or exploring the yard with him. My Dad would scoop him up anytime he started getting fussy and would have him engaged him something new and quiet again within seconds. And Liam started looking to him like he does to me and Jason. For example, if there was a loud noise or a stranger, he would check my Dad’s face for his reaction to make sure that everything was ok.

On Sunday we went to Jason’s Dad’s house for breakfast and had a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast. Ron and Joan had a Ravens outfit ready and waiting for Liam - so we suited him up for game day. After breakfast we sat in the living room and played with Liam on the floor. Liam was on his back staring up at his granddad who had him cracking up just by making faces at him. Then Jason’s mom picked us up and we headed down to her house to see everyone there. Jessica, Gram, Aunt Bar, and Ethan and Emily were there so we took the boys out to the backyard to play in the warm fall weather. Liam’s Nana and Gram gave him a whole box of new fall clothes – very, very generous as they always are – to replace all of his now-snug summer clothes. Now Liam has cute, new – and warm! – outfits to wear to school. The afternoon at the Steeles flew by and soon it was time to go back to the train station. Tim drove as Carol sat in the back and tried to keep Liam awake until we got to the train. The idea was that he would fall asleep once we were on and sleep for a good portion of the ride. Yet, despite all her best efforts at performing and entertaining, Liam fell asleep in the car anyway. At the train station we successfully moved him from the car seat into the Ergo carrier, said our goodbyes, boarded the train, and found a seat without waking him. But as the train started moving I noticed (much to my horror) that we were sitting in the quiet car. This was ok as long as Liam was sleeping, but within a half hour he was awake and squawking. I collected a few of our things to serve as a placeholder (and left all of our luggage in the quiet car), put Liam back in the Ergo, and started wondering around the jam-packed, standing room only, train to find a new (and baby-squawking-appropriate) seat for us. We walked all the way to the back of the train and to the front again and found nothing open. On the way back to the dreaded quiet car, I noticed a family of three (parents and a baby) sitting in the four family seats that face each other. I explained our situation to the mom and practically begged to sit with them – even though it would be crowded. Of course they said yes, so I put my purse on the seat and went back to the front to retrieve the rest of our luggage. As soon as Liam was out of his Ergo and settled into our new seating arrangement his mood lifted and he stopped fussing. It turned out that the baby we were sitting with was only a week apart from Liam in age so her mom and I had a lot to talk about and compare. The rest of the train ride went by quickly and peacefully.

All in all I’ll chalk this weekend up as a success: Hannah got married, Liam got to check in with all of his grandparents, and I had managed to travel to get Liam to and from Baltimore in one piece all by myself.

P.S. Liam had a doctor's appointment on Monday. He measured 18 lbs 11oz (13th percentile) and 29.5 inches long (85th percentile). We're pretty sure that there is a little bit of measurement error in either this length measurement or the last since it's quite a jump in percentile.

09.15.09 ~ VEGAS (without) BABY!

This past weekend I left Liam overnight (for two nights actually) for the first time. I flew to Vegas for Pia's bachelorette party while Jason stayed home with Liam. It was awful to have to say bye to him and leave for the airport alone. But, when I went to bed Friday night (in a cozy hotel bed instead of our living room futon) knowing I wouldn't have to wake up until I wanted to, I have to admit that it was kind of nice. It was also nice to have drinks in the afternoon by the pool, get dressed up, go out, and spend time with my friends. The downsides were having to pump and throw breast milk down the drain and wondering the whole weekend what Liam thought had happened to his mama. Apparently, back in New York, Liam did have a bit of a rough time during the first night. After having been put to bed by Jason and getting his midnight feeding from Jason (yes, I'm publically admitting he still wakes up once per night), I think he realized something was up. He woke up at 4am crying uncontrollably. Jason had a hard time consoling him until he started singing Liam's song which seemed to help. Then, after that crying jag, Liam and Jason reportedly had a really nice weekend together. It was comforting to know that Jason was able to console him - but simultaneously disturbing that it only took one song to help Liam recover after the sudden disappearance of his mother. However, when I made my reappearance on Sunday evening, Liam's greeting did not disappoint. He smiled and squealed and basically hurled himself across the room into my arms. He has been very affectionate and cuddly with me ever since then. He's been giving me lots of his slobbery open mouth "kisses" and has been nursing for extra long. I thought maybe this would translate into separation anxiety when I dropped him off at school this morning. But he started playing and I walked out without him shedding one tear, as usual. And when I came back he was happy to see me and eager to be picked up - also as usual. It was Jason who experienced the big change. When he was at the door about to go to work on Monday, Liam spun around in his high chair, looked at his dad, and started crying. He was reaching for Jason and clearly didn’t want him to leave. It seems the weekend provided quality father-son bonding time!

I thought that maybe Liam would learn to crawl while I was away over the weekend, but no such luck. Liam still can't crawl... but maybe that's because he's working on talking instead!

Uh-Oh! from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

09.09.09 ~ Barely Mobile. Barely.

Barely Mobile from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.