lifewithliam

My little boy is an "army brat" in the truest sense of the word. He is asked to be flexible in a way that most children would never know. His world turns upside down at the drop of a hat and yet he carries on as if nothing has changed. As long as he has a few constants in his life (right now those number as me, the dog, and the cat) then he seems to deal well with everything else that comes his way.

In spite of that, it is so hard to know when I am going to have to uproot his world and move it somewhere else. We are in the process of doing exactly that right now because we are moving into a house on post. He is taking it with his usual ease and for that I am grateful. The nice thing about this move is that he won't have to change friends and that everything else will stay the same, but he will have a bigger playroom and a playground across the street.

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Angel:


Pirate:


Helper:

Someone remind me how much I wanted to have this little guy's speech start to catch up.

I now here "Mama, what you doing?" 5 million and 1 times a day. I am tempted to start making up things, but when I made the mistake of telling him that I was "playing with a kangaroo" he was mad that he couldn't play with the kangaroo.

"Okay, Daddy, I show you. Right dere. Behind you!" was also a popular litany heard over the last two weeks. It took Daddy a few weeks to get caught up on his Liamese and so Liam learned to work around the language barrier. His shining moment was when Daddy didn't realize that Liam was asking for a banana and gave him a piece of chocolate in stead.

"We need to find a band-aid, Daddy" was his solution to a rather gory injury that I sustained when my toenail ripped off (yes, it hurt). Band-aids are the miracle cure for any ailment, just so you know. Give it a try. It can't hurt, right?

All in all, it was a great visit with Liam's father who was home from war for 2 weeks. Other than a few instances of testing the limits, we seem to be settling back into our deployment routine.

I am slowly moving the posts from Liam's blogger blog to this one since livejournal has a nifty "backdate" feature. I will also be attaching all comments to the bottom of the moved entries so that they are not lost.

Liam is in charge of "putting the dog to bed" whenever we go anywhere. This is code for locking her in her kennel so that she doesn't make messes on the floor when she gets bored and angry. We tell her to "go to bed" and she trots into the kennel (sometimes less than enthousiastically, but who can blame her). Liam then flips the handle to lock her in. He is very good at his job.

Recntly, though, he has decided that the cat should also be locked up. I had to really work hard to convince him not to lock the cat into his kennel. See, the difference is that the cat will use his litterbox reliably whereas the dog will not hold things in if she is roaming free.

Even so, when we came home yesterday morning after a rushed leavetaking, it was for me to discover the cat locked in the kennel with the dog. While I was trying to get things ready, Liam had taken matters into his own hands. Thank goodness both the dog and cat are mellow of temperament.

Poor Liam doesn't understand the why certain freedoms are granted to the cat that are denied the dog, but he also hasn't had to clean up the products of the dog's freedom. He will learn someday. Until then, I need to keep a more diligent watch on things as we leave.

No, he isn't singing the song yet, but he does have a more than small interest in flashlights these days. It all started with a tiger flashlight and was quickly followed by a snake. He now has a small collection of battery operated torches.

Flipping switches is another obsession these days and one that has landed him in hot water a time or two when he has entered the bathroom and plunged it into darkness while it was otherwise occupied. He seems to find this funny, but I have another opinion.

It gets dark pretty early these days and the stars have been in full view a few nights as we returned home from one of our many activities. Three times I have had to wait a few minutes while he laid on his back (on muddy ground no less) to count the stars. Does it get sweeter than that? maybe when he says goodnight to them as we go inside.

He may just have a future as an electrician, a miner, or an astrologer.

Liam is getting into dressing up these days. It helps that he hangs out a LOT with my friend's 5 year old dd who changes into princess dresses as soon as she hits her door.

Right after Halloween I picked up a fireman costume from Kohl's for $10. He got to wear it for the first time last night. He was so happy and as soon as he was dressed he ran around trying to find the appropriate boots to wear. Said boots turned out to be his Thomas the Tank Engine slippers.

As soon as he was fully dressed he ran to the window and pulled up the blind. Then he looked at me and said, "mama, where my truck?". Apparently, all good costumes come with wheels.

But I think that this potty thing might be taking off. I just haven't decided who is really getting trained.

I am going with his teacher's advice to set a timer and take L at set intervals. So far, so good, but I can't help but wonder when he will start to let me know he has to go.

Today he is a big fan of the stickers on the chart approach. If he can fill up 10 spots with stickers then he will get a prize. Now I need to figure out what that prize is.

To satisfy his need for immediate gratification he also gets a jelly bean each time he produces.

Keep ya posted.

On the potty, that is. My stubborn and resistant to peeing (or pooping) on the potty little boy did just that (peeing not pooping) 4 times today in the 3 hours he was at school. There was just one accident resulting in a change of clothes.

I would be more excited, but somewhere between school and home (a whole 5 minutes) he peed in his carseat.

It's a start, though and I will take it!

Liam finally had his 3 year well child check up on the 30th of September. It was a hard one coming since the post changed its reservation methods and it only took 450 calls to schedule the appointment.

Height: 36 inches
Weight: 28.5 pounds

Overall, he seems to be doing great. His weight and height are finally registering on the growth charts again and his speech is improving. He will be screened for speech per my request, but at this age it is just fun and it can't hurt anything.

It is 34 degrees here this morning. I mention this because a certain 3 year old flipped the deadbolt when I took the trash out. It wouldn't have been much of a problem except that my neighbor who has a key to the house wasn't home.

So picture me shivering outside (barefoot in a tee shirt and shorts) begging my son to open the door.

I honestly think he was trying, but he didn't manage to make it happen until I got the cell phone out of the car and asked him if he wanted to talk to his friend Aileen. Thank goodness I had forgotten to lock my car last night.

Note to self: Put spare house key in the car somewhere.

Second note to self: Payback can be painful. I seem to remember stories of me doing this same thing to my grandmother.

Whenever Liam is asked "Where is Daddy?" his response these days is "In the polar bear, mama". I guess that is a little easier for him to deal with and understand than "far far away fighting in a war".

This is happening because Daddy made embedded a recording in a Build A Bear polar bear. Every day we listen to Daddy tell Liam how much he loves him and then Liam gets to eat one jelly bean from a jar that started off holding 400. Slowly but surely we are ticking off the days until our family is reunited again.

In other news, things are going pretty well. Liam started school again this week and is doing so well. He will be going 5 afternoons a week and I am so proud of how excited he is about everything. He also had his first gymnastics class without me in the room and he did a great job at listening and following instructions. Finally, I registered him for swim lessons which will start in 2 weeks. The idea is to keep busy without being *too* busy. We have to have something to do on those cold winter days when we can't go outside to play!

Liam has found a new relationship with the wildlife around the house. He feeds it!

The Birds

About a week ago we put a bird feeder in the tree out front. Liam picked out the feeder, helped us put the seed in and watched anxiously while Daddy hung it from a branch. He then proceeded to chase the birds around the yard. The conversation went something like this.

Liam: Hi, bird, I'm Liam.

Bird: hopping away warily

Liam: Come eat, bird, dinner's ready!

Bird: hopping further away

Liam: BIRD, COME EAT NOW! DINNER READY NOW!

Mommy and Daddy: giggling quietly while trying to look serious


The Squirrels

We also found a squirrel feeder to hang in the tree out back. This tree can only be seen from the window over the sink so it takes some effort to allow him to watch. Whenever we lift him up to watch the squirrels eating, he always says "hi quirl, I'm Liam. Eat. Yummy!"

I hope our critters will stick around awhile into the fall at least.

The lack of posts here are in no way an indicator that there isn't much going on in Liam's life. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. We are so busy having fun this summer that we barely have time to record anything.

Since his birthday, both sets of grandparents have fit in a visit (at separate times) and Liam is enjoying them more and more. He talks about Grandma, Grandpa, MeMe and Pop all the time. HE also asks frequently about Betsy (G&G's dog) and Isabelle (his cousin seems to be part of the package with M&P). He almost didn't forgive the grandparental units for coming to visit without their sidekicks!

In addition to the visits (and mostly coinciding with one visit or the other) we have picked strawberries, taken long boat rides to look at castles, visited Canada, played at the zoo and the animal barn, seen a calf in a stage of being born, taken swimming lessons, built a bear to help encourage potty learning (the bear has real underwear and we are teaching bear all about the potty), had a few pony rides, and continued to attend preschool 2 days a week. All in all, this is one busy little boy.

I am sure that as things settle down we will return to regular updates, but until then please know that there will be plenty to tell when we get back to a more normal schedule. Thank you for continuing to check in on us.

Liam is now a perch! That is swimming lesson speak for old enough to take a swim lesson with mom not in the pool!

So far so good with lessons under his belt. He follows directions and sits where he is supposed to. I am so proud of him and he enjoys it so much. Other than a few times splashing in the pool with Daddy, this is his first real experience with swimming. He isn't the fish that Daddy is, but he isn't as nervous around the water as I am.

I think he will do just fine!

I have really loved my time blogging Liam's life using blogger, but I have decided to start a new blog (really just a continuation of the original) here at livejournal because of security issues. I will feel more comfortable posting pictures of his life in an environment where I can control (to some degree) those who access it!

Thanks for coming over and checking things out.

Let me know if you would like to be added to the access list!

On this, your third birthday, I want to take a moment to tell you how special you are to me. Your father and I were blessed by your birth and you continue to shine in our days. You give the sweetest kisses, know just the right moment to tease Daddy, have learned the ways to wrap us around your finger, and amaze us every day with the things you learn and do.

This next year will not be an easy one because we will both be missing Daddy as he serves. We will continue to have fun and leanr new things, but we have to take that many more pictures and videos and I know that you will be up to the task. You never shy away from a performance.

Here's to a day of trains and friends to help you celebrate the beginning of your fourth year.

We love you and couldn't ask for a better little boy to be a part of our family.

Here is our weekend in pictures. Gabe ran the Ottawa Marathon on
May 29th. Our day started at 4 in the morning in the hotel.

Getting prepared for the race:




Daddy can't stress the importance of stretching enough!



Daddy is in the center of the picture in the green shirt waiting to start.


After the race started, Liam drove us to the halfway point. Okay, he actually just pretended to drive as we killed an hour or so in the car before walking to the halfway point.



Aftersuch an early start, it is only fair to expect a tired boy to get some rest wherever he can. In this case, it was on the street at the halfway mark of the race as we waited for Daddy to run by.


Liam did manage to wake up in time to hold the sign cheering Daddy on!


Halfway there!


Looking good at the finish line. 4 hours 32 minutes.


Liam and I are both very proud of Daddy

There are 42+ freckles on Liam's face as of yesterday. I guess he doesn't escape the freckle genes. I do admit I love to snuggle him to count them. He counted mine too. I have Tirteen.

After months of being told that he has to either "hold a hand" or "be carried" Liam finally wised up and locks his hands together thereby "holding A hand". Little stink. Mommy and Daddy are learning to be more clear in the choices we give.

3 weeks and counting until we get to go and see Tomti Train (aka Thomas the Tank Engine) in Pennsylvania. I think his head might explode from the excitement of it all.

Favorite places to go on an outing right now include (but are not limited to) the zoo, Old MacDonald's Farm, the ice cream shack for an I Cre Coneeeeee, Daddy's office where he has free reign of the dry erase board along with its markers and ERASERS, and the park.

School is going really well. I hope he continues to enjoy it. He really does like Miss Tracey a lot and I am so glad for that.

My baby will be 3 in 3 weeks. Can someone tell me where all the time has gone? He is getting to be so big and independent and I love it even while I miss the baby he was.