Liam at 18 months old!

There are several moments every day where I am struck by the fact that Liam looks more like a little boy these days than my little baby.  At 18 months, he is SO SO SO active.  He will rarely sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time and is always on the move.  He LOVES riding around on his little bike.... back and forth and back and forth.  He sits on it to watch TV, takes it into all of the rooms, likes to sit and spin in circles on it..... he LOVES it.

He's moved into size 4 diapers, though I still try to fit him into size 3s since we have some left.  He's in 18 month clothes consistently now.  From time to time, I try to squeeze him into something that's 12 months, but those things are generally too short for him.  He LOVES putting on his shoes and always eagerly runs off to get his shoes if he knows we're going out.  He still doesn't like wearing hats, but there's a little green hat I have that buttons around his chin that he rarely tries to take off.  

He's trying harder and harder to talk, but most of his words are "WOAH" and "UH OH" or "EH EH" as he's pointing to whatever he wants.  Over the last two weeks, he's really trying to copy us more....and to our surprise, we found he can say things like "Cat" "Daddy" "Car"... its obvious he's trying his best.  He sometimes calls Eli "Yaya," which is really cute.

He is a DAREDEVIL.  He loves jumping from things and will do ANYTHING that Eli does. He climbed out of his crib at 17 months!!!!!  (Luckily, he fell hard once and didn't hurt himself and hasn't tried since... there is NO WAY he's going to stay put in a toddler bed).

His favorite books right now are Peek-a-Who, Green Hat/Blue Hat, Goodnight Gorilla, Batman and books about Spider-Man.

Trains are his life.  He loves building train tracks and pushing his trains around... He loves pushing his trains along the edges of tables, etc.  He LOVES pushing them to the edge and runs over saying "EH EH EH!" pointing at his trains.  He wants you to say "OH NO! It's going to fall off the cliff!!!"

He LOVES fitting himself into small boxes, carrying boxes around, putting boxes on his head.  He constantly dumps out the baskets I keep the diapers in so that he can push them around.  He LOVES emptying his boxes of toys.  Sigh.

He's gotten much better about sleeping by himself at night, and sleeping through the night.  He used to have to sleep with us for SOME part of the night, but now he really doesn't need to.  Nights where we do have to sleep with him (sleeping at someone else's house) are pretty rough...he kicks and thrashes and moves a LOT at night.  Granted, his schedule has been very, very off these past few weeks with the holidays, and he's been getting to bed closer to 9 instead of 8, but he's generally been sleeping in til after 7am!  WOOHOO!

He's still taking two naps, and definitely needs that morning nap (2 to 3 hours after he wakes up), but he fights the second nap a lot.

He LOVES bath time.  He gets very upset if he hears the bath running and he's not in there.

Annoyingly, he is ALWAYS pushing the chairs and his little table all over the apartment so he can do scary, daring jumps or climb up onto something he shouldn't be on.  I have to tell him about 40 times a day to get off the table.  He LOVES scaling the back of the couch and flinging himself over to the other side...repeat...repeat...repeat.

The boys play together a LOT, which is usually fun to watch. Liam has really learned how to fight back and has gotten into the bad, bad habit of hitting Eli on the head with trains, blocks, etc.  He's also been biting him and hitting him in the face a lot.  Both boys consistently put each other in headlocks and pull the other one down to the floor.

Annoyingly also, he LOVES climbing up onto our bed (whenever I have to do something important like fold laundry) to turn on the light and mike's radio.  He will do this OVER and OVER and OVER and if I take him off the bed, he will just open our drawers to climb back up.  If I put him outside the room and close the door, it is the worst thing to ever happen in his life and he stands there screaming his head off.

He always plays superheroes with Eli and his favorite "guys" seem to be Buzz Lightyear, Captain America, Iron Man and Venom.  He gets really excited if he ever sees a picture of spider-man.  His favorite toy to bring in the bath is Buzz Lightyear.

Food-wise, he hasn't had as much of an appetite as he used to.  He's big into berries, applesauce, yogurt (boy, this kid loves yogurt) and cheerios are usually a sure bet.  Bread is now hit or miss.... the only meat he'll generally eat is the meat in empanadas (like Eli)...   He DOES like things with sauce, unlike Eli.  Things ALWAYS taste better when they are on mommy's plate.

He loves coloring (or doing whatever it is that his big brother is doing), but he still frequently tries to eat crayons/markers.

He throws toys ALL the time.... we get very mad at him for that, but he doesn't care and ALWAYS continues to do it.  Grrr.

He's showing more of an interest in Basketball and likes to shoot the ball at the basket and pass to others/imaginary people.... but he still gets VERY mad if you don't give him the ball.  He'll collapse to the floor, screaming and banging the floor if you don't give him the ball.  Taking turns is not a concept he enjoys.  He DOES enjoy taking toys that Eli is playing with and running away with them/throwing them.

He still LOVES the cats, but instead of being nice to them like he used to, he likes to spider-man blast them or throw toys at them.  Cliffy is terrified to go anywhere near him.  Riley tolerates him for about 5 seconds and then runs away.

His hair sticks straight up in the back.  He definitely needs a hair cut, but he does not cooperate with hair cuts, so we're in a quandary.

He really likes playing with toy food, just like his big brother, and especially likes the play ice cream we have.

I could go on and on... but that's a pretty good picture of Liam at 18 months!  Apparently, he's in the 78th percentile for height (don't believe that, though I do think he's gotten a lot taller) and 11th percentile for weight.

Bedtime Story Part Two

.... so they break in the windows to get the bad guys.  The bad guys are always shocked to see the good guys there, and they scurry down the tree and escape the good guys.  Green Goblin always finds his sled in the bushes and flies off...usually to the woods.  Firestar and Ice Man are always waiting at the bottom of the tree and quickly, Firestar shoots a fire ball at Mr. Freeze and melts him.  (Occasionally, Eli interjects that Mr. Freeze gets Firestar first, and then Iron man has to come over and carefully melt off the ice with his repulsor blasts before she can get him again).  Then, Ice Man freezes Electro and Firestar uses her Fireblasts to melt the ice, causing it to turn to water.... we all know water is no good for Electro, and it also makes him melt.  Iron Man and Wolverine then turn their attention back to Green Goblin, and here, the story always changes.  Sometimes, Green Goblin relocates to a new treehouse which becomes surrounded by hungry wolves...sometimes, he goes to the river and joins Dr. Doom and Vulture or Scorpion (who always appear at this point in the story) and builds a pirate boat or a raft that goes over a waterfall and is then eaten by sharks and whales.... sometimes, he goes to Dr. Doom's house in the woods and ALL of the good guys (Thor, Hulk, Invisible Woman, Spiderman, etc) appear to fight off the bad guys.  When ALL of the bad guys finally meet their doom, we hear "FE FI FO FUM!" and a giant climbs down the beanstalk to get Wolverine and Iron Man.  They have a plan, however.  They make a path of kit kat bars leading to the same pit where Juggernaut bit the dust.  The Giant LOVES kit kats and follows the whole path, eating them along the way.  When he arrives at the pit, he looks over and that's when Thor and Hulk push him with all of their might into the pit.  The animals are hungry again and they are happy to eat the Giant.  Wolverine, ever the quick thinker, quickly uses his sharp claws to chop down the beanstalk so the Giant cannot climb up it and so no more giants can climb down.  Sometimes, Eli decides that the beanstalk regrows itself, and in this case, Thor has to come and knock it down with his mighty hammer.  Last night, Iron Man also had to step in with his repulsor blasts to knock it down a third time.

THE END.  Quite the bedtime story!

Eli's Bedtime story

I am soooooooooo behind in blogging, mainly because of a combination of two things:  the holiday season, and my need to SLEEP or just chill online doing mindless things at night after the boys go to sleep.  I have a million things I want to say, but I'm going to start little by little in hopes of getting a few things jotted down.

I've been wanting to post this for a while....  Our current bedtime routine:

Every night, usually around 7pm, I tell the boys it's time for stories.  OH...first, we get into our jammies, which both boys protest.  When Mike and I are both home and not busy, we turn it into a "contest".... Mommy and Eli vs. Daddy and Liam (or vice versa) to see who can get into Jammies fastest....  It's amazing how Eli will go right along with it when it's a contest. :) Eli is allowed to pick out three stories (2 regular stories and one "bonus" story) to read.  I try to read one while Liam is hopefully running around playing.  The alternative is Liam crawling alllll over me and Eli.  It's nice on the days when Daddy is here, because then Daddy can read a story or two or 16 (Liam's attention span is about 10 seconds) while I am reading to Eli.  When I'm reading stories 2 and 3, it's time for Liam's bottle and he usually cuddles with me and feeds himself.  When stories are over, we go to brush our teeth.  Both boys stand together on the stool (even though they don't both fit) and I hand Liam his toothbrush with toothpaste and he goes to work.  God forbid I put water OR toothpaste on Eli's... he MUST do that himself.  After Eli brushes (and gets toothpaste intentionally all over his face), I finish up for him.  It's VERY challenging to get a toothbrush into Liam's mouth and I am only successful about 25% of the time.

Then we head to bed.... Liam goes into his crib, demanding usually to press the button for his music (Eli gets to push it half the time and Liam gets to push it half the time).  Liam also demands a sticker.  It's amazing how comforting stickers are to him.... put one in his hand and he instantly pops his thumb in his mouth and cuddles with his sticker.  Most of the time, Liam is down for the count, though he sometimes protests by crying for a few minutes.

Eli's routine is a bit more involved.  He has to be the one to turn off the light, and then of course he can't see to get to his bed, so I have to hand him a flashlight so he can make it there.  Once he gets into bed (God forbid I put covers on him), he hands me the flashlight so I can charge up his Glowworms... (old school ones...) that he then lines up on the windowsill next to his bed.  Then, it's story time.  I have to tell him a variation of the exact same story every night.  It always involves Wolverine and Iron Man and always involves a factory of some sort.  It has evolved from a simple goodnight story to a massive tale, and usually takes about 15 minutes or so to tell.  If I try to divert from the story, he'll correct me, so it's always the same basic thing...every...single...night.  It usually goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time, Wolverine and Iron Man were going to the.... (then Eli fills in the blank.  It's either the blueberry factory, the ice cream factory, the chocolate factory, the pie factory, the kit kat factory, the gingerbread boy factory, the lollipop factory, etc...).  We'll go with the pie factory...  So then they parked their car and went inside and asked the manager if they could see how the machines worked.  So then they went downstairs and saw the big machines.  The first machine mixed all of the ingredients together (he lists the ingredients) and the second machine pours them into the pie crust...the third machine bakes the pies (sometimes he'll tell me the temperature or how long, which is usually something like 7,000) and then the machines put the pies into boxes, which are then put into bigger boxes and shipped out to pie stores.  THEN... all of a sudden.... (and it always has to be this order).... it gets very coooold in the room, the lights go out, and they heard splat splat splat on the ground.  Who was there?  (If I say the names, Eli gets angry... HE has to be the one to tell me that it's.... Mr. Freeze, Electro and Green Goblin.  Juggernaut is always waiting outside in the parking lot with the getaway car.  The make of the car is always decided by Eli.  It used to be a black van, but now it's usually a purple or white Limo...so they can all fit.  Then the guys run out of the room carrying all of the boxes of pies and jump in the car and Juggernaut drives them to his house as fast as he can.  Wolverine and Iron Man take off after them as fast as they can.  Once the bad guys get to Juggernaut's house, they unload the stolen goods into his house and eat them.  Juggernaut always gets VERY full and sleepy and lays down for a nap, and the other guys always decide to leave and go to Green Goblin's tree house.  Most nights, this is where Dr. Doom and either Scorpion or the Vulture or both appear.  They always decide to go to Dr. Doom's house in the woods.  While Juggernaut is sleeping, Wolverine and Iron Man finally make it to his house.  Iron Man breaks the lock on the front door and Wolverine uses his very sharp claws to dig a huge pit in front of Juggernaut's front door.  They then fill it with animals.  Eli lists of the animals (quite the collection):  Buffalo, spiders, lions, tigers, Dubaks (from Star Wars), Tyrannosaurus Rexes, snakes, and a variety of other animals.  Then Juggernaut wakes up from his nap and wonders two things.... where are his friends and why is his lock broken?  He goes to investigate and to find his friends.  He opens the front door and falls into the pit and OH NOOOO all of the animals eat him up.  That is the end of Juggernaut.  (Each bad guy has to be killed off before we finish the story.  Some nights, bad guys just keep appearing....those are the really, really long nights).  Then Wolverine and Iron Man decide to go down the road to Green Goblin's treehouse.  Wolverine uses his very sharp claws to climb up the tree and when he gets up there, he knocks Green Goblin's sled off into the bushes (this was my attempt to not have a getaway plan for Green Goblin, but even if the sled breaks into a million pieces, Eli always makes him fix it and fly off).  Then he signals for Iron Man to fly up and join him and then together they break through the window to get the bad guys.

Uh oh... naptime is over.  To be continued....

Liam is 16 months!

Time keeps on flying by and now Liam is 16 months old!!!  Here's a snapshot of his life right now:

-He can now say "Car" and says it frantically and furiously whenever wanting one of his "cars" stickers.  He is OBSESSED with stickers.  He looooves cuddling with them.  As soon as I give one to him, he puts his thumb in his mouth and rubs the sticker all over his head and face and is instantly comforted.  We now have to give him a sticker when we lay him down for naps and at night time.  Sometimes, he will stick them on his cheek or forehead to save it for later.

-He LOVES trains.  He loves Thomas and Percy.  He carries them around for a lot of the day and loves saying "WOO WOO" when playing with them.  I got him a pair of Thomas jammies and he loves wearing them.... he always gets very excited and points to them all, saying "WOO WOO!"

-He now knows to look up in the sky if I say "Airplane" or "Helicopter."  He loves seeing subways go by.  He also loves trucks, especially garbage trucks.

-When we go out in the double stroller, he very much enjoys sticking his leg out to try to hit things (walls, the elevator, etc).

-He likes the rain

-Still in size 3 diapers (4 would fit fine, but 3s are cheaper!).  He wears size 5 shoes (though they are a bit big), size 12-18 everything else, though closer to the 18.  At his 15 month check-up two weeks ago, he was in the 7th percentile for weight and the 46th percentile for height.   I didn't write down the actual numbers and have already forgotten what they are.

-He copies anything that Eli does.  If Eli climbs something, he's right there, climbing.  If Eli lays on the ground, he's right there.  When they watch TV, they sit RIGHT next to each other, always.

-He still loves Cookie Monster and enjoys seeing Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird and Grover, too.

-He MUST climb whatever he can find to get up to the kitchen table.  If I push the chairs away, he pushes them right back.  At least I can hear him!  He also learned how to climb up the bookshelves this week.

-He still loves shoes.  He loves carrying shoes around and getting me his shoes when it's time to go outside.

-We finally got him a new car seat!  WOOHOO!  We went with the Radian cause it's the most narrow, and we'll be able to fit all three kiddos in one row.  He seems to really like it!

-Picky, picky eater.  Hard to tell what he's going to like from one day to the next.  He usually love strawberries, but he has been throwing them the last few days.  (When he doesn't like what you give him, he throws it, sometimes across the room).

-I took him to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last week to meet up with my friend Jocelyn and her baby Zahra, and Liam could NOT stop kissing the baby!  It was very cute.

-He LOVES giving kisses and does it all day long.  I love that.

-He can now tell me what a cow, pig, dog, sheep (sometimes), cat and snake say!  It's very cute to hear him trying to talk.

-He's a very smart little guy.  He's good at figuring things out.... to get up on the bed, for example, he will pull out the drawers we have underneath, so he has something to climb up on.  If there is something he wants (to splash in a mud puddle, for example), no amount of distraction will deter him from going right back.

-He very much enjoys painting and coloring, though they are very messy activities.  He likes coloring on the table and tray.... and loves painting himself.

Can't wait to see what surprises this month have in store for us!

Eli in September (at 3 yrs, 4 mo)

Eli's a busy little guy these days!

He's HUGE into superheroes, and every day we watch things like... Spider-Man, The Mighty Avengers, Iron Man, etc.  He loves being Iron Man and loves showing me his repulsor blasts. That's still how I get him to eat most of the food he doesn't want to eat... by telling him his repulsor blasts are weak and (fill in the blank) will strengthen them.  Last night, I got him to eat 5 raviolis because I told him they were Iron Man Repulsors.  

He's back into watching Fireman Sam and still occasionally watches the Backyardigans.  He's still big into Dora and Diego.  

He loves pulling things around with strings.... he loves tying up his action figures (most often spider-man) and having them fly around/hang around.  I need to remember to get that kid a thing of yarn...he'd be in seventh heaven.  He also continues to love tying spider-man up in his basketball net. 

He's back into playing with cars and especially loves the rescue vehicles. His most favorite is the police tow truck... he tows everything around with that thing.  

I must watch EVERYTHING he does.  "Mommy, look!  Mommy, look!"

He got his first really big cold last night... Sept 18th.  He was up most of the night coughing, poor guy.  Today, he told me that "something is wrong with my neck! In the throat part!"

He LOVES reading.... his biggest favorites this month are:  zomo the rabbit by Gerald McDermott, Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise, Curious George and the Ice Cream Shop, Curious George makes pancakes, any books about Superheroes... books about dinosaurs and books about insects/spiders.  He LOVES talking about dinosaurs and can spurt out facts like "He has four sharp spikes at the end of his very powerful tail." Yesterday, I heard him telling Liam that a certain dinosaur was "60 feet long."  Grandma gave him a dinosaur placemat and he LOVES it. He is fascinated by spiders, mainly because he knows that Grandma hates them.  Every time he sees a picture of a spider, he tells me "Grandma wouldn't like that!"  

He's big into puzzles again and it gives me a nice break when I'm trying to cook dinner.  He's really good at them, though, so I need to look into getting more!

He loves playing Dora Candyland and is now starting to get upset if he loses.  NOT COOL.  

He loves playing hide and seek and even though he hides in very obvious places and giggles or pops up, I pretend I can't see him.  We alternate hiding.  Liam always gives me away.  

He's still in size 5 diapers.  I just read a book about how to potty train in one day and we're going to go for it. I was going to try this week, but it's not going to happen with him being sick, etc.  Maybe next week!!!

Yesterday on the train, he told me his name was Eli Rylan Flores, Liam is Liam Rhys Flores, I am Jenny Rylan Flores and Mike is Daddy Rylan Flores.  :)

He's back into being a pirate and has dressed up in his pirate outfit the last few days.  He is now telling me he wants to be a pirate for Halloween instead of Spider-Man.  

Ok... Liam's nap is over and Eli's trying to tackle him, like usual, so off I go to referee!

Liam is 15 months old today!!

My little chia pet monkey is 1 5 months old today!!!  (We are letting his hair grow out for the upcoming cold seasons and he TOTALLY is rocking the mini chia pet afro).

What's my little guy up to at 15 months???

-He climbs EVERYTHING.  His main mission in life right now is to climb up/onto the dining room table.  We have to literally put the chairs away in a different room so he can't climb up there.  If I merely turn the chairs on their side or push them to another corner of the room, he knows how to push them back over to the table.  Climbing up and down from the couch, up and over the couch....he does approximately once every 2 minutes.

-He LOVES sitting at the table, pushing around his trains or playing with the toy garage or spider-man house we have.  He LOVES trains.  If you ask him what a train says, he says "oooh-oooh!"  If he sees a train outside, he also makes his little choo choo sound.

-He still loves pushing around his little car.  He is now finally figuring out how to sit on it, but he can't quite figure out how to make it go when he's sitting on it, so he prefers to get off and push it around.  He's now tall enough to get up onto Eli's motorcycle, but because he's fallen off a few times, he doesn't really like to do that.

-He's still in size 3 diapers and wears 9-12 month pants and 12 month shirts.  He can still fit into 12 month onesies, and occasionally 9-12 month onesies.  He currently still wears a size 3 shoe, though I bought him two pairs of 4s for the fall.  (One of which is a pair of cookie monster shoes...he was SO excited when I put those on him!).

-He drinks 3 bottles a day... one 10 oz bottle in the morning when he wakes up, one sometime before or right after his second nap, about 6 oz, and one at night before bed, anywhere from 7-10oz.

-My amazing little eater is no longer an amazing little eater.  He prefers to throw most of his food and won't even try things if they don't fit his ever-changing list of favorites.  I can only get him to eat a handful or so of cheerios (though he does eat quite a few more off of the floor).  He's very selective with his fruits... right now really only going for watermelon, strawberries and grapes.  He used to really love blueberries, but now most of the time he throws them.  He will occasionally eat a fish stick or a chicken nugget.  He likes pancakes and/or waffles and/or bread about half of the time.  Cereal bars are an occasional hit, an occasional toss.  Pasta, he will usually go for.  He definitely likes ice cream and screams if he sees Eli eating it and he doesn't get it, but he definitely has a threshold and turns his face away after about 10 or so bites.  He still LOVES yogurt.

-He LOVES watching Dora.  If he's in another room and it comes on, he'll go RUNNING to the TV and start dancing.  His dancing is very cute...he always does the same thing... stand still and twirl in a circle.  He also very much enjoys the spider-man themesong.

-His favorite song is Kookabura!

-His favorite Sesame Street character is cookie monster. He LOOVES cookie monster and makes this funny growling grunting sound whenever he sees him.

-Last week, he surprised us by answering what a cow says (he says booooo instead of moo) and what a monkey says (oooo oooo ooo).  He's still pretty non-verbal so far.... only really saying dada and boo.  (He used to be able to say mama and up).  He doesn't say uh oh as much as he used to, unless something in his little world has gone terribly wrong.  He definitely knows how to get our attention, though, and has his own little language for what he wants... "ah! ah!"

-He still LOVES hanging out with Riley and gets excited whenever he sees either one of the cats.  He understands how to pet Riley "nice, nice" so they have become little buddies.

-His favorite books are Peek-a-Who, the first 100 animals book (he makes that same funny little grunt/growling sound whenever he sees an animal like a bear or a tiger), and a few books about machines.  He also REALLY enjoys books with Sesame Street characters, especially the ones with monsters.

-He HATES being in the carseat or stroller when not in motion.  He is not an easy guy to travel with.

-He LOVES hanging out with big brother Eli and often copies exactly what Eli is doing.

-He looooooves walking around outside and even at this young age refuses to hold my hand.

-He's currently cutting 4 molars, so he has been miserable when it's time to put him down for a nap!  He's also been waking up super early (in the five hour) again.  Hoping he sleeps a little better when these teeth finally come in!

Happy 15 month birthday, Liam!!!!

Names

We asked Eli what we should name his baby sister.  Here is his list:

#1 choice:  Turtle
2) Lobster
3) Octopus
4) Whale
5) Crab

What do you think?

It's a GIRL!!!

Not sure if I've blogged here yet about Baby #3, but it's a GIRL!!!!!!  We had our early anatomy scan on the 10th and found out (after about 30 super looong minutes of checking out other stuff...) that it's a baby GIRL!!!  We asked the ultrasound tech if she was sure, and she said yes.  We later confirmed it with my regular OB, telling him we knew the gender but weren't going to tell him until he told US.  He also said GIRL.  WOOHOO!  Mike and I are really excited.  It's sure going to be different raising a girl, but we're ready (I think?!?) for the challenge.

She's due around Valentine's Day.  The official due date is Feb 15th, but I'm betting on the 12th. :)

Ocean City 2012

We had SO much fun at the beach this year!  We went Mon thru Friday...  Monday and Tuesday, we were joined by my mom and my cousin, Emily... And Tues thru Friday we were joined by Mike's parents as well as his sister Ann and her family.  I was worried the house was going to seem too full, but it was perfect and everyone had a good time.

My biggest wish was to get to the beach every day, and we did!  Almost, that is.  We didn't go on Friday.  Monday, we went with my mom and Em to Assateague and it was amazing... we had SOOO much room to run around on the beach.  Liam had a great time running on the beach, chasing the sea gulls.  He was not a fan of the water and much preferred being held while WATCHING the water.  I was wondering how he would do with the sand...he LOVED it.  So did Eli!  Eli loved jumping the waves and wanted to spend much of his time down at the water.  We had a ton of fun.

That night for dinner, we picked up food from Panera since we left the beach late.  After we put the boys in bed, my mom stayed with them while me, Mike and Emily went to play Putt-Putt.  Let the record show that I CREAMED Mike this year.  I think I beat him by like...12 points.  It was amazing.  We got home late and immediately went to sleep.

The next morning (my birthday...wooohoo!  what a way to spend a birthday!) , we woke up and went to the beach in Ocean City.  It was much smaller and much more crowded, but we thankfully got parking right next to the beach and got a good spot.  We had a lot of fun and stayed til almost 2pm.  Subs from Tommy's for lunch!!! Mike's family arrived and we hung around until dinnertime.  We took the kids to a restaurant called Dead Freddy's.... it had a pirate themed playground for the kids, a brilliant idea!  We had nearly an hour wait, but it didn't matter since we had the playground!  Eli and Jaymin chased each other all over the place and Liam loved sitting in Jaymin's lap to go down the big slide.  The meal was great and I had a great night.

Wednesday, we also got up and went to the beach.  We had tons of fun and the little kids loved hanging out in the baby pool. Sandcastles, trips to the water to jump waves, etc.... it was a great, great day.  That afternoon, we took the kids to Baja where we went on go-karts and the kids rode rides.  Ben and I took the kids home and had taco night while Mike, Ann and his parents went to Phillip's for a nice seafood meal.  Another successful day.

Thursday, we went to the beach and as we were leaving, hit the pool.  Liam fell asleep RIGHT as we got to the pool deck, so he spent the hour sleeping on Lola's shoulder while she and Lolo watched from the pool bar.  Eli had TONS of fun jumping into the water, having us catch him.  He was shivering and his lips were turning blue..... otherwise I think he could have stayed there all day!  We came home for a little rest and then headed out to the boardwalk.  Both of my boys were so knocked out that they even kept sleeping while we took them out of their car seats and moved them to the stroller.  We had a nice stroll on the boardwalk and stopped for Thrasher's Fries and Fisher's Popcorn....and fudge/candy at Candy Kitchen!  We ate at the Dough Roller for dinner and then the boys woke up.  A trip to the Kite Loft didn't disappoint... I LOVED that store when I was little and it's still amazing.  We then took the kids on the rides and they had a blast.  Liam rode the choo choo train with Tita Ann and the SUPER FAST carousel... and Eli rode the carousel, the fire trucks, the cars, the helicopters, the bumper boats, the bumper cars (!!! by himself!!!!!)...and had a blast.  We were intending to go to the horse races after the rides, but we stayed much later than expected and headed home.  Long, successful day.

Friday was a chill day.... Mike's parents left after breakfast, and Ann and Ben and the kids left around noon.  We spent the day relaxing and left the house around 4 or so.  We headed into ocean city and stopped for dinner at Grotto's Pizza (I've been craving that for months!!!!).  We drove up route 1, admiring the houses along the beach, and stopped at a few of the outlets.  The drive home was pretty uneventful and made for a nice end to our vacation.

I can't wait to go back!!!!!!!!!!

Those silly guys

So Liam has now taken to cuddling with little pieces of paper.  It's hysterical.  Whenever he finds a small piece of paper, he starts sucking his thumb and rubs the paper all over the top of his head, cuddling with it.  I keep trying to get him to cuddle with a stuffed animal or blanket, but nope...he wants the paper.  Obviously, I can't let him go to sleep with those...

Liam also has a little cold right now and appears to be cutting his molars.  Needless to say, he hasn't been in the best mood the last couple of days.

Eli keeps busting out rememberable phrases.  Two nights ago, I was trying to get him to try his mashed potatoes, and he matter of factly stated "Last year, my Grandmother made it, and I didn't like it because it was golden."  First of all, he never says Grandmother and second of all... whaaaat?  Lol.  Yesterday during lunch, I told Eli that Liam had already eaten a chicken nugget and he needed to eat his if he was going to catch up.  He looked at me and said "I think I'll hold off on that."  Haaaaa.

Today, we're off to the zoo!  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!

A snapshot in August

Eli in August:
-wants to watch the same things on Netflix all the time.... The first episode of IronMan (his new favorite.  He's always telling me that he is Tony Stark, and he refers to a lot of his different toys as Rhodey).  He refuses to watch any other episode of Iron Man... just the first one.  And he's just as excited each and every time.  He points things out to me as if I haven't also seen it 20,000 times.   He also wants to watch this cow episode of some barnyard show, the "muddy truck" episode of some toy trucks show and the superhero episode of The Backyardigans.  He's not very much into movies right now.  We tried watching The Lorax today and we only got through half of it before he asked me if we could finish the movie tomorrow and start watching the muddy truck show.
-loves having things tied up.  He always loves toys that have strings because he likes to connect them to things and pull them around.  I tied a string around Wolverine today and he was THRILLED.  He "flew" him all over the apartment, had various superheroes hanging onto the string, and kept showing me.  Daddy had a good idea to tie the string to Spider-man's helicopter and that was a HUGE hit.
-is still in size 5 diapers.  He refuses to let me pick his diapers out.... he insists on going to get his own diaper.  No hope for potty training any time soon.
-loves drinking milk...and loves showing me that his cup is empty
-insists that i watch EVERYTHING he does.  I hear the phrase "Mommy, look" about 73,000 times a day.
-insists on putting on his shirts by himself.  He can take his pants off but can't figure out how to put them on.
-much prefers playing inside than outside.  But once we GET outside, he's thrilled to be out.
-still says "Go Diego, go Diego, Go Diego, GO" when he runs anywhere.
-still has me be the Green Goblin multiple times a day.  Though now, he really likes to have me run and then throws a spider or a snake in my way.  I then scream and say "OH NO... A SNAKE!" and run the other way.  He usually says "Wait, mommy, wait..." and runs ahead of me to throw the snake where I"m going... and then I see it and scream and turn the other way.... repeat 50 or 60 times.
-is obsessed with touching Liam's face and ears.  He is forever touching his face or trying to poke him in the eye.
-says "Don't speak!" when he doesn't like what I'm asking him to do.
-can be convinced to eat many a veggie if I tell him that his spider-man webs are too weak and won't work unless he eats it.  I then pretend to be SUUUUPER impressed at his AMAZINGLY STRONG webs after he eats whatever it is that I want him to eat.
-loves reading.  We read for at least 30 minutes, sometimes a lot more, a day.  Two days ago, we read 20 books while Liam was sleeping.  He likes longer books now...and some of them even have a few chapters.  His current favorites:  The Fly Guy series, curious George (everlasting favorite), superhero books (especially books about iron man), and any books about halloween.  We found a few more Fred and Ted books and he really loves those.  OH...and books about bugs..and dinosaurs.  He's huge into dinosaurs right now.
-still says funny things.  Today, I was watching the olympics and the men's heavy lifting competition came on.  I told eli to LOOK... He did, and then proceeded to tell me "That's a big boy, mommy."  lol.
-can count solidly up to 15 but always thinks 19 comes next.  Today, we were going through numbers up to 30.  When he got to 20, he paused for a second, saw the zero and said "zero teen." Ha.  Love it.

Liam:
-screeeeeeeeeeeches whenever he doesn't get what he wants.  Blood curdling screaming.  It's really getting tiring to listen to.  I can't take him to restaurants, etc, because of it.  He also screams if he's in the stroller and I stop, if he realizes he's getting into the car (although he really likes the new minivan and hasn't complained yet about being in there!), if he realizes you are eating and he's not, if he's tired, if he's hungry, if Eli hurts him, if Eli takes a toy away, etc etc etc.
-looks adorable with his growing out buzz cut.  His hair stands straight up (unlike Eli's) and he really is starting to look more and more monkey like.
-loooooooves yogurt.  He loves feeding himself with a spoon.  He does great for the first half and then gets frustrated he can't get to the second half and gives up and uses his hand.  It's always very, very messy and always results in an outfit change. He also likes feeding himself applesauce and cottage cheese.
-throws his food very far away when he doesn't want it.  Right now, he's not into bread, vegetables, certain types of fruit.... Things he LOVED yesterday, he'll throw today.  He used to devour chicken and now I can't get him to eat more than 1 piece.
-has been a much better sleeper!  He will sometimes wake up crying in the middle of the night, but most of the time puts himself back to sleep right away.  He usually sleeps until about 6:30am now...woohhooo!
-still takes 2 naps most of the time, but the second one is sometimes hit or miss.  He usually gets pretty tired about 2 hours or so after he wakes up in the morning and will sleep for about an hour.  Sometimes, his afternoon naps will last 45 min, sometimes 3 hours!  There is no rhyme or reason to how long he naps.
-loves climbing over the back of the couch to stand on the table we have stowed back there.  Today, I gave up trying to stop him.
-loves pushing his little car around and loves ramming it into things.  He's started trying to sit on it but can't quite figure out how to make it go forward that way.  He usually quickly hops off and reverts to pushing it.
-always goes to pick out a book (after knocking most of them off the shelves...one of his favorite pasttimes) and then carries it over to the couch, climbs up and "reads" it.  His favorite book right now is Peek-a-Who.  He always laughs hysterically when we read it, and always likes looking at himself VERY closely in the mirror at the end of the book. It's super cute.
-is in size 3 diapers and fits into 6 to 12 month onesies.  (the 6 month ones are pretty tight, though).  He still wears size 4 shoes.  He also likes to constantly remove his shoes.
-Joins me in the bathroom within 3 seconds of me getting there and loves to climb the stool up to reach the sink, where he knocks over the hand soap, the lotion, and the decorative candles we have in there.  He also enjoys throwing things (especially daddy's flip flops, if he leaves them anywhere near the bathroom) into the tub and attempts to frequently throw things into the toilet.  He hasn't been successful yet but he's been SO quick.  I usually have to wash my hands with one leg stretched over to hold the toilet seat down.  His obsession with trying to take things out of the trash can seems to be dying down a bit.
-used to say a few words, but now really only says "dada" "gaga" and endlessly... "uh oh!"
-laughs at Eli a LOT.  It's really cute to see them laughing together.
-is tall enough to reach up onto the table and knock bowls, papers, food, drinks off.
-learned how to pet riley nicely and so she now lets him come close. :)

I love my boys!!!!!!

Liam and Eli

Liam is a HUGE handful these days, as he has taken climbing to a whole new level.  He has always joined me in the bathroom within 3 seconds of me arriving there, but now he knows how to climb up on the stool (currently there to block him from getting to the toilet paper, trash can and toilet brush) and reach all of those things (he loves getting into the trash can), as well as playing with anything he can find on the sink (the toothpaste, the soap, the candles we have up there...anything).  It's lovely.

It is his LIFE MISSION to get behind the couch, where we have our big furniture stored.  He does it about 50 times in a 10 minute period.  There is no distracting this kid... if I were to take him down and put him in front of all of his toys, a mile away, he would navigate that mile back to the couch in approximately 2 seconds.  It's very, very frustrating.

His other LIFE MISSION is to get everything he can into the kitty litter box.  He likes throwing all of his toys there, and today I found him PLAYING in it.  Lovely.  Looovely.

Eli has taken to reading books about hospitals.  Today I had to operate on his alligator injuries (he kept jumping in the river where the alligators bit various parts of his body).  We read a book about how Grover went to the hospital to get his tonsils out, so now Eli is constantly telling me that he has "Throats" and needs to go to the hospital.  It's hysterical.

Everything these days is super hero related with Eli.  Today I was Dr. Doom, Electro, Juggernaut, the Green Goblin, etc.... over and over again.  At one point, he became Dr. Octopus and wrapped his octopus arms around me to trap me, and then proceeded to call the spider friends on his imaginary phone to have them come rescue me.  Cutest conversation ever: "Hello? Um, hi.  Yeah, Mommy is trapped by Dr. Octopus and needs someone to come rescue her.  Will you come? Ok.  See you soon!"  lol.  Very cute.

Eli continues to take everything Liam is holding away from him, and then Liam lets out bloody murder shrieking.  It's lovely.

Ok... I'm being summoned to read Eli's favorite book... Bert and Ernie's "don't forget the oatmeal!"

No more Target

So the three of us (me, eli and liam) go to Target about once a week, mainly because it's the perfect place for us to go while we are waiting for the street cleaning hour and a half to be up.  On the days when I have to be out of our spot by 8am, there are virtually no spots available til close to 9:30.  So we head off to Target (less than a mile away) and try our best to be out of there by 9, so we can be back in time to get a prime spot in front of our building.

As I got the boys out of the car in the Target parking lot this morning, I painfully remembered that our trip last week was awful, thanks to Liam's new practice of "I will absolutely not sit in the cart, no matter how tight you make that strap. I must stand at all times."  I sucked it up, because we were already there, and hoped for the best.

The best was not to come.  Liam again refused to sit down, standing up approximately 43,000 times during our trip.  He's too heavy for me to carry him the whole time, especially since he doesn't want to be carried and squirms and squirms and squirms to be let down to walk.  Thank you, Target of NY, for not having shopping carts where two boys can sit, so Eli has to usually go in the back.  This means that he either disrupts the items in the cart, throws them at liam, or stands up in an attempt to grab things from the aisles or harm his brother in some way.  Today, we tried with him standing on the back of the cart holding on, but this was a disaster, because every time he saw something he wanted (every 5 seconds), he would jump off and run toward it, or jump off so that I partially ran over him.  Lovely.  That ended quick.

I was the crazy mom yelling at her children every 20 seconds in Target this morning.

My highlight, of the morning, however, was when I handed Eli a bag of M&Ms (we decided to make M&M cookies, and they were on sale...perfect).  About 5 minutes later, I looked in the back and saw brown drool everywhere.  On his mouth, on the bag, on the other items in our cart.  Yes, Eli had EATEN THROUGH THE BAG and was eating the M&Ms.  You can imagine how happy I was to discover that, and how happy I was to have to explain to the cashier why the bag looked the way it did.

Long story short... there will be no more trips to Target for Mommy and the boys in the near future.  No siree.  Nope.

Eli quotes

Here are a few Eli quotes from a few days ago:

I told him it was time to change his diaper, to which he replied:  "No, I don't want to change my diaper.  Sorry, but I can't."  He then continued playing.

Later that day, I asked him:
"Are you going to be a good boy?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you because you keep hurting your brother."
"Well, I think I'm a good boy.  Look at my face!" (cue sweetest smile ever).

The Flores Boys in July!

I've been horrible at updating this lately... time just goes by so quickly these days!!!

Here's what the boys are into these days:

Liam:
-looooooves touching his index finger to other people's index fingers (ET style) and noses.... it's his greeting, and if you do it back to him, he bursts into laughter and you are instant friends
-loves grabbing books and bringing them up on the couch to "read."  His favorite books are Peek-A-Who, a book about trucks, and a book that has baby faces.
-loves dropping things behind the sofa and LOVES trying to climb over the back of the sofa to get them
-loves pushing his little car all over the place.  He refuses to ride it, but loves pushing it around
-fights like CRAAAAZY when it is time to change his diaper or snap his onesies
-is in the bathroom in 2 seconds after I go in there.  He loves being in there and throws a FIT if someone goes in and closes the door, locking him out
-wakes up anywhere between 5am and 6:15am every morning
-is still taking 2 naps, though he often gets shortchanged if we have places to go
-screams a high pitched girly scream if he is eating and runs out of food before you give him more.
-screams bloody murder the million times a day eli pushes/kicks/hits/knocks him over
-likes dancing to the dora and diego theme songs
-likes to take his shoes off whenever we are outside or in stores.  We've already lost three pairs.
-loves climbing ANYTHING and everything.  I look him to the playground this morning and he's getting pretty good at going up and down stairs.
-must stand on top of things (books, boxes, toys) when he is playing.

Eli:
-is super into Dora and Diego these days
-loves watching this Madagascar Christmas special.  It's brought Santa back into the picture and when he starts misbehaving, all I have to do sometimes is pretend to go get my phone to tell Santa.
-loves, loves, loves reading.  Right now, his favorite books are the If you give a mouse a cookie series, a book called "The Lion's Share" and any books about Batman or Spiderman.
-loves talking about animals (mostly because Diego rescues animals).  The other day, he asked me... "do chincillas have eyes that see in the dark?"  He then told me what they looked like, sound like and what they eat.  (Thanks, Diego).
-takes naps for Grandma and Daddy, but never for mommy
-wakes up several times a night, crying for mommy.  Sometimes he is coherent, and sometimes he is not.
-is getting better about brushing his teeth (we had his first dentist appointment 2 weeks ago!.. she told us his teeth are very close together and he will most likely need braces due to crowding. lovely).
-still likes to wear his fire hat all the time
-loves riding his scooter
-makes me tell him a story involving all of the spider friends and all of the bad guys every night before he goes to bed
-loves painting!


Fun times in the Flores house!

Sweetness

Tonight, as I was heading out to church, I said goodbye to Eli and gave him a kiss.  He then surprised me by saying "I love you, Mommy!  Even though you sometimes go to work or church or the grocery store, I love you a lot."  VERY cute.  :)

Three things

1) Liam learned how to climb up onto the couch today
2) Liam smashed his face into the headboard on our bed and had a gushing bloody wound to his mouth.  Stopped bleeding after about 5 minutes and part of a popsicle...am hoping all is fine. No teeth appear to be loose.
3) Eli has entered the stage where saying "poopy" to everything is the funniest thing in the world.  Sigh.

Liam at one year

Liam at one year, you are:
-19.2 lbs, 29.5 inches
-Still in size 3 diapers, though I can put you in 4's and it's ok.
-A teeny little guy!  You are currently wearing clothes/onesies that are for 6-9months old, even though you're 12 months!
-The WORST when it comes to changing diapers or clothes, especially when it's time to fasten the diaper or onesie.  You never, ever, ever stay still and it's hard to change you even when there are two of us.
-A little CLIMBER!  You like to climb everything, especially the strollers, the couch, the toy boxes and the STOVE.  I want to get you some little things to climb on, but we don't have the space for it!
-Much happier all the time, except for when Eli pushes you over, squishes your face, kicks you or steals toys from you (most of the day).
-Perfectly content to walk around and explore/play on your own.
-in love with your new rollercoaster toy that Kuya Eli gave you for your birthday.  You're happy to sit and play with that for 5 to 10 minutes at a time.
-Too short to sit on the little ride-on car you got for your birthday!  Your feet don't touch the ground so you can't push yourself!
-NOT a fan of mushy baby food and only want table food.  You also only want to eat fruit.  When you're DONE with something, you dramatically fling it off of your tray or throw it on the ground.  Sometimes, you follow this up with "uh oh."
-Happiest when you are in the bathroom.  When anyone opens up the bathroom door, you are in there in less than 5 seconds.  If one of us closes the door, you stand outside and scream BLOODY MURDER until it is opened.  Mommy is not allowed to take showers in there alone (according to you).
-Like the theme music to Dora and usually start to dance when it comes on.
-Do NOT like being in your stroller.  If we stop for more than 3 seconds, you attempt (and are usually successful at) climbing out.  Because you are such a little guy, you can usually wiggle out of your stroller straps.
-Do NOT like being carried.  You want to walk. Everywhere.  You walked all the way home (4 blocks) from the library yesterday.
-Like to be held for about 5 minutes after you wake up from naps
-suck your left thumb and pull on your shirt/lapel with your right hand when you are hungry or tired.
-love playing with cars or anything that wheels around. You love pushing around your own stroller, Kuya Eli's scooter, and your aforementioned little car.
-Are less shy when other people are around, but you still prefer to be held by mommy.
-Love bathtime, but are now constantly trying to do things like pull the plug, stand up, etc.
-No longer like bananas, bread, veggies, etc.  Your favorite food appears to be strawberries. You also really enjoy pear sticks (pears cut into stick form).
-Only have one word you use consistently: Uh oh!  You use it appropriately, whenever something falls or drops.  You can also say UP, DADA, and very occasionally MAMA.  You also have a word that sounds like THIS... but comes out more like DIS. I haven't decided if you are using it appropriately.
-You appear to be left handed, carrying most things with your left hand, sucking your left thumb, pointing with your left hand, but it's still too early to tell.
-You like coloring, but you also really enjoy trying to eat the crayons.
-You LOVE sand.  I can't wait to take you to the beach.
-Every time you are finished eating, you rub your hands through your hair. This has been consistent since you were little.
-You like when I touch your nose and say NOSE.  Same with your toes.  You love playing this little piggy went to market.
-Your favorite song remains the ABCs.  When I sing that to you, you usually stop what you're doing and watch me, smiling.
-You are drinking 4 bottles a day, usually 7 ounces a day.  The doc wants us to cut down to 6 oz or 3 bottles... we'll see.
-You've been able to drink out of a water bottle and cup, though most of it still ends up on your shirt.
-You like watching trains go by and point and scream "OOO-OOO!" when they do.
-You still enjoy chasing Riley around everywhere, and when you see either of the cats, you wave and say "Hiii."

I could keep going forever!

Too good not to write down

Eli just said "Uh oh! I have something in my teeth!"  When I asked him what it was, he said "goldfish sauce!"  (He was just eating goldfish).  He then told me that he needed to get the " mental floss" to get it out.  :)

20 seconds later, he was sitting on the couch and I heard him singing "Mommy and Daddy love me so.  Off to Grandma's house we go!"  (No idea where he got this!)

Two days ago, he told me his first (that I've heard) knock-knock joke:
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Chicken!
Chicken who?
Chicken with fire!

Yesterday, he asked me to get a helium balloon down from the ceiling.  The string is missing, so he couldn't reach it.  I told him I would get it one time and only one time, and that if he let it go, it would just have to stay up there.  He agreed and I stood up on the back of the couch (poor decision, mommy) to get it.  A few minutes later, it was on the ceiling again, and of course I looked over to see Eli standing on the back of the couch.  I asked him what he was doing.  He replied, "I'm investigating!"  A few seconds later, I heard him say he was looking with his "investigative eye."

You can't make this stuff up.

Eli's First Movie!

Yesterday was a super fun day.  Both boys had their doctor's appointments (Liam's 1 year appt and Eli's 3rd year) at 11am, and Mike took the day off to help me.  It's SO nice having an extra pair of hands in the morning.  It makes breakfast time so much easier and even allowed me to get a nice, long shower!  :) Liam MUST be in the bathroom whenever I am, so most of the shower consisted of him standing outside the door, banging and screaming...but still. :)

It was also very nice having an extra pair of hands on the subway, especially since both boys insist on sitting on the seats.  We made it to the doc and only had to wait about 30 seconds before they called us back.  Both boys had to get their fingers pricked, and both did great!  Liam is up to 19.2 lbs, placing him in the 5th percentile, and 29.5 inches, placing him in the 39th percentile for height.  He's only a little short of where Eli was at one (19.8 lbs and 30.25 inches).  Eli is in the 29th percentile (I think?) for weight, at an even 30 lbs, and the 33rd percentile for height (though she suspects he is actually a little taller since this is the first time Eli stood UP to be measured) at 37 inches.  I have to remember this for when Eli tries to go on the rides this summer.  Both boys are looking good.  She told us a lot of interesting things about three.... she said her belief is that you should always try to avoid arguments whenever possible.  Meaning... don't even bother saying help me clean up these toys, because it's just going to cause a fight when they don't help you.  She was like... just clean up the toys.  You can teach him to help you when he's 4 and he's done being as defiant.  She said that if he gives me a hard time about getting dressed, just let him pick out whatever the heck he wants to wear, even if it means we go outside in a pair of shorts over top of a pair of pants.  Lol... luckily, we're not that bad off (yet).

Both of their iron levels are ok, which is a relief to hear since neither of them really eats meat.  Yay!

Liam's next appointment is at 15 months, in October, and Eli's next appointment is at 4 years!

After the appointments, we trudged through the crazy heat (100 degrees!) to go to the movie theater.  Daddy took Eli to see his very first movie in the movie theater!  Madagascar 3!!!  Aside from getting up a few times (Daddy suspected the booster seat wasn't very comfortable!), he did great and really enjoyed the movie.  He was so tired afterwards, that he actually came home and took a nap (naps are out these days!).

In the meantime, I took Liam over to the children's museum for some mommy and Liam time.  It was SOOOOOOOOO much easier going to the museum with only one child!!!!!  When I only had Eli, I definitely didn't think it was easy taking him places, but now I have a whole new perspective.  Just one child to look after and chase around?  AMAZING.  Liam had a great time.... he got to explore and walk around at his own pace, looking at whatever he wanted to.  Usually, he gets to look at things for two seconds before being swept up and carried away to wherever Eli ran off to.  It was really, really nice having the time with just him.  He LOVED putting his hands in the sand... can't WAIT to take him to the beach this year!!!

It's going to be another scorcher, so other than going out in a little bit to move the car, I think we're going to spend most of today inside!  Hopefully this heat wave lets up soon... it's only JUNE!

Liam's FIRST Birthday!!!!!

Oh my little monkey... you are ONE today!!!  We're so lucky to have had you here with us for a year so far!

This morning when you woke up (early, as you like to do), Mommy spent some time playing with you before we woke up Grandma (she was staying over so that she could celebrate your birthday, too!).  Soon, Kuya Eli and Daddy joined us.  I made you cinnamon pancakes as a treat, and you wanted nothing to do with them.  Oh well!  We opened up a few of your presents (you had zero clue how to open them and had no interest whatsoever in trying... Kuya Eli quickly took over).  Mommy and Daddy gave you a play phone (since you love to play with Mommy's so much!) and Kuya Eli gave you a fun roller coaster toy.  Grandma gave you a book, a super fun tunnel that you and Kuya Eli can climb in, and something else fun that totally escapes my tired mind at this moment.  Aunt Maureen gave you a fun airplane toy!

Mommy, Kuya Eli and Grandma went out to get you a ton of helium balloons while you were napping and when you woke up, you were excited (and confused!) to see them.  (later that night, mommy, daddy, tito tommy and tita kathryn had great fun breathing in the helium to make funny voices for you!)

We were going to go out and do something really special for your special day, but we were having a lot of fun just playing together inside, so that's what we did.  After your second nap, Tita Kathryn and Tito Tommy came over to join us for dinner, and they gave you two really fun books!  You had your first cake (which you smashed between your fingers and threw to the floor... it was a lot of fun!) and loved it!

It was a special day with a special boy.  We're going to have a 1st birthday/father's day BBQ at Tita Ann's house on Sunday with Lolo, Lola, Lola Lumen, Lolo Willie, Tita Jenny, Tita Ann, Tito Ben, Kuya Jaymin, Ate Linamarie and maybe more!  It will be fun!

Cute things Eli has said

Eli's been saying a lot of cute things lately and I haven't been as good about writing them down.  I'll try to be better about that!

Today, he jumped off the couch and then told me "I was able to fly, but then I fell down.  Where are my wings?"  I told him I didn't know he had wings, and he said "Yes, like Buzz Lightyear!"

The other day, we were reading Curious George goes to the Zoo and got to the part about how people were trying to get the balloon down but couldn't reach it.  Eli said to me... They need Inspector Gadget.  I asked him why, and he said "because of his go go gadget arms!"  Yes!!!

Yesterday, I was changing Liam's diaper on the floor and he started screaming and crying and trying to get away.  Eli ran over and took a blanket and started throwing it at Liam.  Wondering where this was going, I stayed quiet.  Moments later, Eli said: "Don't worry, Liam!  I'll rescue you with my lucky, lucky lasso!"  :)

Liam, the little climber

Liam, oh Liam... how you love to climb things.   I don't know if it's because he has an example in Eli or if he is just naturally a climber, but this kid is in/up everything.  (Speaking of up, that was his new word for the day!  He can now say "uh oh," "up," "baba," and "dada").  Every day, I catch him climbing into the toy boxes and sitting there.  He also now climbs UP the stove (holds onto the door and puts his feet up on the broiler part).  I neeeeed to get a stove lock.

He also loves climbing over ME if I'm laying on the floor, loves climbing over things on the floor like Eli's motorcycle, boxes, bags, etc.  He always climbs up boxes to stand on top of them.

Poor Liam gets knocked over 7,000 times a day by his big brother.  His life is a constant war zone.  He never knows when the enemy will attack.  He also gets whatever object he is holding ripped out of his hands 50,000 times a day.  My poor little buddy.

Today, we switched over to whole milk because we ran out of formula and I don't want to buy more since he's going to be turning 1 in only 10 days!  He took to it right away and didn't even flinch when he tasted it.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay for cheaper feedings!!!! :)

Other things I've been wanting to say but kept forgetting:
When Liam is tired or drinking his bottle, he always takes his right hand and plays with his collar/top part of his shirt.  He's done that since he was a little baby.  Whenever he is tired or hungry, he starts sucking his thumb.  He usually puts himself to sleep by sucking his thumb.

Whenever he wakes up from a nap/sleep, his hair is usually standing straight up.  He gets REALLY sweaty when he sleeps (and when he eats!!!), so I think that's why this happens.

No matter where he is in the apartment, if he hears the bathroom door open, he's there in less than 3 seconds.  Once he's in, he MUST close the door.  He does not like doors being open.  He then books it for the toilet bowl brush or the plunger.

He's started standing up over and over during his bath time.  Bathtime has been shorter for him as a result, because it's just too crowded in there to deal with him standing.

He really loves playing with the baseball, soccer ball and basketball.  He loves throwing the ball and then chasing after it.

He continues to love pushing cars/trucks around.

He's FINALLY interested in books, for real.  He will let me sit him in my lap and read 5 or so little books to him.  He's started carrying books around, too.  FINALLY.

My little guy.... Love him so much!

What I spend my days saying...

These words come out of my mouth at least 20,000 times a day:
-We do not sit on Liam
-We do NOT hit Liam in the face with that.
-Give it back to him
-Give it back, now
-Don't say no to mommy
-Please give it back
-If you don't give it back to him, I'm going to throw it in the garbage
-We do not throw our toys.  Go get it and hand it nicely to Liam.
-No, I said hand it nicely to Liam.
-Well you have to share.
-I don't care if you don't want to, he was playing with that and it's his turn.
-No, he wasn't giving it back to you.
-Don't hit him in the face with that
-Take your hands off of his neck
-Please do not sit on your brother
-Do NOT headbutt your brother
-Stop running into him with your head
-Give that back to him
- That wasn't nice
-Say you're sorry to Liam
-No, go look at Liam and say you are sorry
-You do NOT SAY NO TO MOMMY
-Go sit in the corner
-I told you to go sit in the corner
-Stop screaming
-I can't hear you when you're screaming
-Go sit in the corner until you are done screaming
-I told you to stop screaming
-I can't hear you when you're whining
-Talk to me when you're finished screaming/crying/whining
-Please do not throw the ball at Liam's face
-Don't throw it at his back, his face, his legs, his head, his arms or any part of him
-If you throw that ball at him again, I am taking it away forever
-did you hear me?
-Do you understand what I just said?
-Tell me what I just said.
-No, I told you NOT to do that.
-Fine, then don't eat it
-leave it on the table
-I told you not to throw it on the ground
-Are you a baby?
-NO, you can not have ice cream
-I said no
-I told you NOT TO HIT LIAM

Repeat. repeat. repeat.

Eli's Favorite Things at 3

I came upon a good idea that I'm going to try to remember to do each year for the boys on their birthdays.  I'm going to make a scrapbook for each kid for their birthdays from 1 to 18.  (18? maybe 20? who knows).  On one side, I will have pictures of the day, and on the other side, I will have their completed answers to the same set of questions (I will ask the same questions every year).  Obviously the question part doesn't work until they are three, so this is the first year I was able to do that part with Eli.  Though it would be fun to write his answers here:

How old are you?  THREE!
What makes you happy?  When I do bad things.  (I don't think he understood the question...but then again, maybe he did).
What is your favorite animal?  A giraffe
What is your favorite thing to eat?  Ice cream
What is your least favorite thing to eat?  Worms.
What is your favorite thing to do?  Jump.
What is your favorite TV show? Dora.
What are you really good at?  Jumping.
What is your favorite movie?  Monsters!! (Monsters, Inc)
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite song? Old MacDonald
Who is your best friend? Woody.
What do you and your mom do together?  Go to the zoo
What do you and your dad do together? Do the iPad
What is your favorite sport? Baseball
Where is your favorite place to go?  Playground
What is your favorite book?  The Little Engine that Could
What do you want to be when you grow up? Bigger (LOVE that answer!)
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cantaloupe (um...not true. he rarely has that for lunch)
What is your favorite place you visited this year?  The farm/Grandma's house
If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it?  Get chicken nuggets and french fries and apples and a toy!
What do you like learning about? Basketball.
If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted, what would you do? Anything. (He didn't understand this question)
What is your favorite dessert?  Cookies!
What are you scared of? A dinosaur!
What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Get ice cream.
What is your favorite holiday?  no answer...he didn't understand.
What is your favorite snack? Grapes.
What is your favorite cereal? The bugs one.  (???)
What is your favorite drink?  Milk.
What is the most important thing you've learned in life so far?  Eat. (I like it! I didn't think he'd understand that question and still don't think he did, but that answer works!)

Liam is 11 months old!

One more month and my little buddy will be a year old!  A lot has changed in this last month! Over the past week or so, he went from taking a few tentative steps here and there to charging all over the place!  He can make it back and forth across the room (and pretty fast, too!) and is working on his turns and obstacles.  Lol.. I remember this with Eli... it's so funny that at this age, they totally don't understand that they should step OVER or go around obstacles...they just charge right through, completely oblivious to the things on the ground.

He's starting to say Mama and Baba if you ask him to, though he still doesn't know what they mean.  He also repeated "yesss" to me the other day by saying "essss."  He loves watching Dora (we were TV free with Eli for two years but that's impossible with Liam) and likes to dance (bop up and down) to the theme song.  He's upped his bottles to 5 a day, taking anywhere from 5 to 8 oz per bottle... but on average, 6.

His favorite foods are cheese, blueberries, pears, peaches and cheerios.  He doesn't care for meat, though I have gotten him to eat a few pieces of a turkey meatball.

He still LOVES chasing the cats around and is constantly torturing/chasing Riley.  His daily mission remains to be one of the five following things:  picking up tiny things that he's not supposed to eat and showing me that he has it in his mouth/denying me access, hightailing it to the kitty litter, chasing riley, getting to the toilet plunger, and playing with the computer cords.  We're such mean parents for not letting him play with any of these things.  He KNOWS he's not supposed to, either, because he ALWAYS looks back at me with that sly "look at what I'm doing!" look before he goes for it.

Liam MUST have all doors closed.  When he follows me in the bathroom (he can be anywhere in the apartment and fully immersed in something, but if he hears me go in there, he's in there in 3 seconds... remember...one of his main purposes in life is to get to that plunger!), the first thing he ALWAYS does is close the door.  If any cabinets are left open, I don't have to worry about him getting in there... because he closes the doors.

He is a SUPER climber and is even better than Eli ever was at this age.  That scares me for the future.  He went up and over the edge of the tub the other day and I caught him centimeters before his head hit.  He can also climb up the back of the couch and would go over if I let him.  If I am laying on the floor, his favorite thing ever is to come and climb up and over me over and over and over.  If there are any boxes around, he will climb into them.  I should really get some baby gym equipment to keep him happy.

His sleep patterns have changed a bit.  He goes down at around 8 (we always try for 7:30, but life gets in the way) and sleeps through the night (WOOOHOO!) with an occasional wakeup (booo) in the middle of the night.  The awful part ?  He is up for good at 5:15ish.  He used to get up that early and go back to sleep after I fed him, but pfffft.  Now he's up and running, literally.  It's like his battery is charging overnight and he wakes up fully charged and REAAAAAAAAADY to go.  Because he's been getting up so early, he's usually super whiny and cranky and ready to go down for his first nap by 8.  He's been taking longer naps in the morning, sometimes stretching to even 2 hours!!!!  Seems like the average is about an hour and a half, though.  His second nap is with Eli, and that's usually around an hour or an hour and a half, around 1:30 or 2.

I don't know how much he weighs cause we don't have a scale, but he's for sure still little!  Despite the fact that he's a good eater, he's constantly on the move and is no doubt burning off every calorie.  For the most part, he's in 9 month clothes, but he still fits comfortably into 6 month onesies!  I pulled out Eli's first shoes... a size 5...  and compared them to Liam's... size THREE!

He's still in size three diapers, though I occasionally stick him in Eli's size 4.

He's much happier and is, for the most part, a pretty happy little guy.  He's always laughing and it's very easy to make him laugh.  He loves being tickled and looooves jumping up and down, being thrown into the air or going fast.  He HATES being in his stroller, especially if we stop or go into a store.... particularly the grocery store.  Typical man.  Lol.

He fights BACK when Eli takes his toys now and lets out a crazy high pitched scream if he's mad at Eli.  He also is super overdramatic when he gets knocked to the floor by Eli, which is understandable since it happens about once every 10 minutes.

He loves biting people's toes.  If I am sitting on the couch, reading to Eli, he frequently wanders over and bites our toes.  Strange little guy.  He also LOVES teeth.  He tries to touch everyone's teeth.

Stranger anxiety is, for the most part, gone.  Well, not gone, cause I doubt he would go readily to people he doesn't know, but he's not so clingy to mommy anymore and goes readily to people he's seen before.  He does NOT like it, however, if he sees mommy or daddy leave the room.  He gets over it very quickly, but he tries to run after us, crying.

He loves running cars all over the floor.  He's still not into reading, though I can get him to sit there and open/close books for a few minutes now.  He loves wandering over to the bookshelf to knock as many books off as he can and will occasionally sit there flipping through one or two, but I can't ever get him to sit in my lap to "read."  Still hoping that will change soon!

One more month til he's one!!!!

Eli is THREE!!!!

Happy Birthday, Eli!!!!

You're THREE!  You've been practicing saying it for weeks and we've been building up to your "big boy birthday" forever... and here it is!  Last night, Daddy and Tita Kathryn put together your big boy bed and you were so excited you could hardly stand it.  You were literally standing there with your pillow and blanket, waiting til you could sit on the bed.  You had no problems giving up your crib to Liam (thank goodness!) and slept pretty well for your first night!  Your bed is right next to my side of the bed, and at one point, I looked over and saw that your legs were on the floor and your head was on the bed... like you were kneeling... but you were fast asleep.  I gently helped you back into bed and you fell back to sleep immediately. :)

We celebrated with Grandma and Tito Tommy/Tita Kathryn last night and had a FULL day of celebrating today!  When you woke up, we gave you our big present (a scooter and a Spider-Man helmet!!) and you opened a bunch of fun presents from Grandma and Aunt Maureen.  Daddy made you a special breakfast of all the things you like (bacon, waffles) and then we headed to Muscoot Farm for your party!  We met up with Tita Rachna, Tito Nick, Dexter and Quinn, Tita Heather, Sawyer and Jasper, and Tita Jamie and George!  Grandma came, too, and we had TONS of fun.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a really nice time.  We walked around with the kids and saw all of the animals.  You had a ton of fun running around with Sawyer and after we ate and had cupcakes, you ran around with Sawyer and Dexter some more, playing ball and running and jumping off of high walls.

After the farm, we got in the car and headed to Staten Island for your SECOND party.  We  went to a really fun place called Miller's Field, where we set up in a picnic area with a grill and had a BBQ with Tita Ann, Tito Ben, Kuya Jaymin, Linamarie, Lolo & Lola, Grandma, Lola Lumen and Lolo Willy!  We played on the playground, ran around and played football and soccer, had more spider-man cupcakes (both parties were spider-man themed) and you got to fly your very first kite!  We topped the day off by getting you some strawberry ice cream, your favorite.  You also had some bites of mommy and daddy's italian ices.

It was SUCH a treat to get to spend the whole day together, and even more of a treat to have Grandma with us for the whole day!!!

You're THREE!  I'm so proud of the little guy you are... mr. social, mr. funny, mr. happy, mr. smart guy.  You're a super cool kid and I'm very glad you're mine!  I love you very, very much!
Love,
Mommy

Almost 3

In 3 days, my baby is going to be 3.  He has thought that every day this week was his birthday and has been asking for cake/presents or a combination of the two.  He's gone to a few birthday parties in the last few months and is very confused about the way they work.  He keeps asking, for example, if he can go to Alex's birthday party again tomorrow.

All three parts of his new big boy bed have arrived... the frame, the mattress and the sheets... and he is super excited about it.  We're going to build it tomorrow after he goes to bed and set it up in the room on Friday so that he can spend his last night of being 2 in his new bed.  I'm excited that this also means Liam will graduate from the pack n play and get to sleep in a real crib!

I'm also super excited to give Eli his scooter and spider-man helmet.  It will be super fun to be able to take him outside with his new toy :)

Eli has taken to saying "double rats!" when something doesn't go his way.  I have no idea where he got that from, but I absolutely love it.

He was acting super cranky this morning and fell asleep in the middle of me reading a book to him... so I knew something wasn't right.  Whenever he gets quiet (SO not normal for him), we instantly take his temperature.  Wala... 103.3 degree fever.  Motrin, cool compress, strip down, tv on... check.  By the afternoon, his fever was gone and he was acting more like himself.  PLEASE let this be super brief and not affect any of the rest of us!  It would be awful for someone to be sick on Eli's birthday!

Eli's independence

Just a quick note so I can get the exact day jotted down..... Today was the day when Eli decided he wants to be the one to pick out his outfits.  Everything has been "I'll do it MYSELF" lately (opening doors, putting on his shoes, taking off his shoes, getting into the car....) but this is upping it to a whole new level... can't wait to see what outfits he starts picking out for himself.  Today, he wanted to wear a superman shirt... Ok, I said... until I realized that it was Liam's shirt. Ha.

Jenn has been here (from Guatemala!!) for the past three days and it's been SO amazing and great having her here.  Yesterday, we went to the zoo and spent a looong time there.  Today, we had a low key day and went on a long walk through a local park.  The highlight of our day, however, was decorating cupcakes with faces. :)  Good times, good times.

April Happenings

I feel like I have less and less time to post these days because I have so much going on.  I'm trying super hard to save money wherever we can, and that kind of planning (coupons, etc) takes time!

The boys and I have been having fun as usual.  Yesterday, we met up with Rachna and Baby Quinn at the Palisades Mall.  Eli was thrilled because I let him go on the "rides" (seriously moms... when those dinky things cost a dollar... WHY are you ruining it for the rest of us by putting coins in???  Your 2 year old does not care if it's "going" or not going... they think they are riding it!) and then let him run around like a crazy person in the lower level (huuuuge open space).  It was fun to see Rachna and we're cherishing our visits before she has to move to Chicago in a few months.

We've been trying HARD lately to get Eli to be interested in potty training, but to no avail... he really wants nothing to do with it.  One day, I put him in undies and he was SO not impressed.  "Get these things OFF, mommy!"  I checked out a ton of potty books from the library and reserved a bunch of potty DVDs.  Eli asked to watch "Potty time" like three times in a row this morning... I thought that was good news until I realized that he was actually pooping in his diaper during the "only babies wear diapers" song.  Lovely.  I told him that three year olds don't wear diapers anymore, so we'll see how that goes!  Two weeks to go, buddy.

Since we'll be in this apartment longer than we'd hoped, it's time to get Eli a toddler bed.  Poor Liam has been sleeping in a pack n play since he was born, and it's only fair to let him sleep in a crib for a while.  Eli is jazzed about sleeping in a big boy bed but NOT happy about letting Liam sleep in HIS bed.  Hoping this goes smoothly... we're pushing it as a big exciting thing to happen when you turn three... sleeping in a big boy bed!  I found cheap beds ($50ish) at Target and was reluctant at first, but pfffffft.... we don't have room for a full sized twin bed and this is perfect for our needs right now.  I asked him if he wants Toy Story or Spider-Man and he said he wanted "CARS!"  Um.. cars?  Dude, you've seen that movie once.  "Are you sure, buddy? What about spider-man?"  "NO! CARS!"  Ha... so we'll see what we end up with.

Eli's also been doing a very cute thing lately... when he wakes up in the morning, he likes to tell me what time he woke up.  Since he has no idea what time is or how to tell time, he either wakes up at "35s!" or "4 and 5's!"  I just asked him what time he woke up this morning and he told me "five millions!" lol.

Eli has drastically improved in his ability to count in a row over the past two months or so.  He can solidly count to 16 and then things get a little dicey.  He's also really good at the alphabet except for the obvious LMNOP part.  Lol.

Eli's now allowed to watch two things a day (the TV watching was getting out of hand again) and this week, he's been picking the Camouflage Carla episode of Sesame Street and either Inspector Gadget (woohoo!), Woody Woodpecker, or Dora.

:)

Liam's first steps!

Today is quite the momentous day.... Liam took his first steps!!  Monday, April 23rd, around 6pm, right when Daddy got home so we were both there to see it.  He's 10 months and 8 days old.  He's been SO close for weeks now and I was sure he'd walk when he was 9 months.   For the past few weeks, he's been able to walk holding onto just one hand, and today, he was walking around holding onto my finger.  He also likes creeping up behind me and holding onto the back of my legs...walking around.  Ha.  Super cute.

So all day today, I was trying to get him to take steps alone, but he just kept looking at me like "HA!  I know what you want me to do!" and then he'd sit down.

When Mike came home, we took him over to the living room and tried to get him to walk in between couches, like Eli did for his first steps.  He'd take a STEP, but I don't really consider that walking.  Then, we took a little baseball away from him and used it as bait... he SO wanted that ball.  The next thing I knew, he let go of the couch and took a few steps!  He grabbed the ball and then stood there chewing it for a few seconds before taking a few more little steps to mike.  I got it all on camera and am super excited!

I know he's going to just take OFF in the next couple of days!  My life just got a wee bit crazier, methinks.  :)

Liam is 10 months!!

My little baby is really turning into a little boy. Today, for the first time, when we were at the Bronx Zoo riding the Bug Carousel, I looked at him and saw the beginnings of a little boy. He was sitting there (more on his own accord), holding onto the pole, looking around, really noticing everything. He was smiling at me, getting the concept of wheeeeeeeee, and just having a blast.

He is DAYS away from walking, if not hours. He can stand on his own for at least 10 seconds now, though he still chooses to hold on most of the time. He looooves walking around holding Mommy or Daddy's hands, and I've even started walking him just holding onto one hand.

MOST of the time, diaper changes are 100% better and he will lay there still, playing with his feet while I change him. Wiping his face or hands after eating, however, still remains the WORST THING IN HIS LIFE. lol. His bangs have gotten so long (daddy won't let me cut his hair til he turns one) that they are perpetually in his eyes, and when he eats, he ALWAYS rubs food into them. We almost always need a bath after dinner these days. :)

Speaking of bathtime, Liam still LOVES getting baths and has now started standing up in the tub. Whenever he does that, or his favorite (crawling over to the litter box), I say "No no no, baby baby!" and he giggles and stops for a few seconds before starting again. For some reason, I've taken to calling him "baby baby" lately.

For the past week or so, he's been sleeping through the night, waking up right around 6am. WOOOHOOO!!!

He's still in size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes (and can sometimes squeeze into 6, but he's really too tall for that now), size 3 shoes.

He drinks 7ish ounces at a time, and has 4 bottles a day. He's a good little eater, most of the time, and really enjoys feeding himself finger foods.

He seems to really like trains and cars and enjoys playing with them until his big brother comes around and rips them out of his hands. The boys have really been playing together a lot lately. Eli LOVES spending time with Liam, and vice-versa. I love when the two of them make each other laugh. Their favorite thing to do together involves cars. Eli will push a car and wait til Liam goes to chase it. Riiiight when Liam gets there, Eli runs over and gets it, pushing it to a new location. You'd think Liam would get mad or upset, but he usually just laughs and turbo crawls in the new direction to try to get it.

The cats bring Liam endless joy and he will drop whatever he's doing in order to chase them. If he's crying, I just have to bring him in view of one of them, and he stops and laughs.

Liam has the BEST laugh and I love tickling him to hear it. He loves it, too. :)

He has 5 teeth... three on top (two middle and one on his left side) and two on the bottom. It looks like a few more are threatening to make an appearance, so I hope they don't mess with his sleeping too much!

Liam appears to be a natural climber. He was outside crawling around and encountered a stair case for the first time. He instantly just climbed right up!

Two days ago, I was in the kitchen preparing something and opened the broiler drawer of the oven (where we store things...we don't use it for cooking) to get out a cookie sheet. Liam was thrilled to see the inside and started banging away at the muffin tin. I decided to let him bang around for a bit. Well, the next thing I knew, I looked down and he was INSIDE the drawer. The little monkey had climbed up and over (silently, because I was right there!) and gotten inside!

His hair in the back stands straight up, especially right after he's had a bath, and I love it. Everyone does... they comment on it all the time. My little fuzzy monkey. :)

He's started biting us a lot... me on the left shoulder, Eli and Daddy's toes.... he also likes to try to poke Eli's belly button whenever he sees it. He LOVES playing with my keyboard and comes over and bangs on it whenever he sees it. He seems to be fond of the symbol keys, frequently sending instant messages to my friends comprised mainly of symbols. :) He's FINALLY starting to show an interest in books and loves going over to the bookshelf to knock them all down. I often catch him flipping through books... he prefers the paper ones, mainly because he likes to eat them.

Liam, you're a fussy little guy but you have the best smile and laughter ever! You are a total joy, and I love and cherish all of the time I get to spend with you. 2 more months until you are a year old... I can hardly believe it!

The differences between Eli and Liam

I've heard the phrase "every kid is different" soooo many times, and I thought I'd take a few minutes to post about the differences between my two little guys.

Eli is super outgoing and always has been. He will go up to any stranger, say "Hi Lady! My name is Eli and this is my mommy and my brother, Liam." Anyone. He never had stranger anxiety, went to anyone without fussing and never noticed/cared when we left a room or the house.

Liam is shy. He prefers to cling to mommy or daddy and will crawl after me crying if I put him down and try to go into a different room. Not only will he not go to any strangers, but even if strangers come up and start talking to him, he'll start crying. This also holds true for family members he hasn't seen in a while.

Eli is a tough kid. He used to fall and bump his head 50,000 times a day and would rarely ever cry. If Liam so much as taps his head on something, he screams bloody murder. He will just sit there crying until someone comes to get him.

Eli was a HUGE eater, downing 10oz bottles. Liam has a smaller appetite and only drinks about 7 oz per bottle.

Eli liked the cats, but Liam LOOOOOOOVES them. It is Liam's main mission in life to chase riley around.

Eli was an amazing sleeper, always taking 2 hour naps and sleeping 12 hours at night (from when he was liiiiiittle). Liam is not such a great sleeper. He takes 30-45 min naps and still wakes up once a night. I think the longest he has ever slept has been 10 hours... but it's typically 7-8.

Eli was always very active, but Liam is much more so. He turbo crawls EVERYWHERE and did everything earlier than Eli did (crawling, standing, etc). Liam was even more active when I was pregnant.... never ceasing his kicking, moving, etc.

Eli was always a happy baby, very rarely upset. Liam is upset a LOT, but laughs a lot more than Eli ever did.

I feel like Liam is much more verbal than Eli was at this age, but I could be wrong.

Liam HATES being put into his stroller or car seat and is not a fan of riding in the car... Eli never minded.

Liam is just now starting to look at books... Eli always LOVED books.

Liam cries soooooooooo much more than Eli ever did.

Eli was never outwardly bothered by his teeth coming in. Liam can't deal with it.

Liam is much more cuddly than Eli ever was.

Liam plays by himself a lot more than Eli ever did. Whether this is a result of nature or just based on the fact that I have to ignore him a lot when I'm spending time with Eli...we'll never know. (I suspect the latter!)

Pretty different!!

Liam's first Easter!

I've been a little behind in getting anything done these days because it just seems like there is so much on my plate! Getting ready for Easter was a huge feat, as we have the entire family come over here every year. It was great and went off pretty smoothly...the food was well received, the fun kit-kat/m&m cake worked well and everyone was happy. We dyed (died?) Easter eggs with Eli for the first time and he had a ton of fun. We kept it very basic... no multicolors or stickers or glitter, etc... but he had a blast. It was fun to have my mom and Tommy and Kathryn over to help with the eggs. I let Liam hold a white egg for a few seconds and he was so happy, giggling away.

(That's one thing about Liam... he laughs a LOT. He loves to laugh, and it is the cutest thing in the world when he does).

The kids were still kind of young to grasp the whole concept of Easter eggs, and there were definitely some goldfish (stuffed inside) explosions because obviously, the concept of opening a plastic egg carefully is not there. It was so great to have my mom here and she gave the boys wonderful little presents, books, etc.

I want to write a lot more, but I'm pretty wiped and am heading off to do mind-numbing activities. I have one more post in mind, so maybe I'll work on that...

Eli's Favorite Things

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about a few of Eli's favorite things right now. We've been going to the library a LOT (got him his own Library card 2 weeks ago!) and getting stacks and stacks of new books. This has been GREAT for both of us... Eli cause he loves all of these new stories, and mommy cause we don't have to read Curious George over and over and over and over.

He's been playing pretty sweetly with people his age and that's fun to see. He has a little buddy from the playground, Elias (ironic, no?) who we also saw in the library. They play nicely together, running after each other and egging each other on to do daring things. There was no hitting and only minimal yanking away of toys, so that was nice. When they were in the playground, Elias let Eli hold his bat while he pitched the ball to him. They never connected bat to ball, but it was super cute to see them try. Yesterday, at the playground, Eli was playing with a little girl and they were both being pretty good sharers. They were taking turns rolling big cars down the slides... that was cute to watch.

Speaking of watching, his FAVORITE thing to watch right now (and what he always asks for as he's going to sleep) is The new Woody Woodpecker. Hilariously, he calls it "Woody and Pecker" no matter how many times we've tried to correct him.

He has sat on the potty several times (Mike said one time for 45 minutes!) but has yet to go. Sigh. He wants nothing to do with the fun toy story/batman/superhero underwear I bought him. I put a pair of Batman undies on Liam, over his diaper, and Eli wanted them "OFF! THOSE ARE MINE!" But he still refuses to wear them. He prefers to go poop in the corner and if I come anywhere near, I'm told to "Go away! Stop watching me! Don't look at me!"

Everything these days is narrated with "Suddenly...." If he's looking at pictures in a book, he'll add "Suddenly, the wolf CRASHED into the tree." etc etc. Suddenly usually is connected to crashing.

He loves wolves. Wolf stories are his favorites. Whenever we see fluffy dogs outside, he thinks they are wolves. Yesterday, he saw a siberian husky type dog and was like - OH NO, MOMMY! Look - there's a HUNGRY WOLF! I told him 75 times that it was not a wolf, just a doggie, but he responded each and every time with "No Mommy - that's a WOLF."

His other favorite book right now is Three Billy Goats Gruff.... He LOVES trolls. Now, whenever he sees a bridge, he calls it a troll bridge (which sounds just like he's saying "toll" bridge) and looks for the troll.

We're back into watching Toy Story (The BLUE ONE!) and he likes to show me that he's buzz lightyear when he's jumping off the couch. He first presses his invisible button (to activate his wings) and then closes his eyes, puts his arms out, and says "TO INFINITY.... AND BEYOND!" He then jumps from the couch arm to the couch, usually doing a tuck and roll too.

He's been a really good eater recently. I had been complaining that he's a picky toddler eater, but really he does pretty good. He'll eat carrots, broccoli, edamame, peas, cheese, pasta, breads and any fruit he sees. He still doesn't care for sauces, but we can now get him to dip things in ketchup from time to time. He's more apt to eat things if I come up with fun names for them.... hence his spinach pasta circle things are called "truck wheels." Last night, I introduced ziti as "pasta tubes!" and he gobbled them up. He's still not big on meat, but we're going to try chickpeas again today... wish us luck. :)

He's been given the green light to eat all nuts (except for those that pose a choking hazard) by Dr. Grant, because he's so verbal. she said she doesn't let non verbal kids eat them cause then they can't tell us if their throats are feeling funny. Dr. Grant was impressed with his vocabulary and asked him to draw her a rainbow picture for his next visit. Ha - little does she know that he's still going through this interesting phase where he refuses to have more that one color on a page. I got him to use purple AND green yesterday, but that was a rarity. A rainbow should be interesting.

He LOVES "playing" with Liam but since Liam is a little more stable these days, the tackling/kicking down/hugging to the floor has gotten more intense. The two of them can giggle so much when they are together - it's very cute to see.

Eli learned this week how to open doors. Sigh.

He also learned that he can climb up his crib, stand on the rails and then climb up on his dresser. Lovely. He did this 43 times yesterday instead of taking a nap. Each time I would come in, he'd say "Sorry mommy" and lay back down. Sigh.

He's upped fake crying to a whole new level this week. It's awful.

Let the adventures continue!