Eli at 2 years, 8 months

Spending all day with a strong-willed 2 year old can be both maddening and wonderful... equal parts, I'd say. Most of the time, our days go relatively smoothly except for the following areas which is is NOT well-behaved:

-any time I have to change his diaper

-any time I try to get him dressed

-any time we have to leave the apartment "I don't waaaaaaaaaaant to go outside!"

-any time I want him to sit at the table to eat

-any time I want him to stop squishing/rolling over/being rough with Liam

-any time I want him to clean up his toys.

Those moments are the most frustrating in the world for me, because I KNOW he can hear me and I KNOW he knows the right way to act... but he will just look at me (or not even acknowledge me) and stare right through me.

The watching TV thing was getting out of hand, so I decided a few weeks ago that he would get to choose ONE show per day (usually for when he wakes up in the morning) to watch. This has gone surprisingly well. He'll fight it for about a minute, but if I really put my foot down, he will move on and start playing with something else. Yay! The ONE show he gets to pick has been Fireman Sam for the past 2 weeks. He is in LOVE with that show and even acts out all the scenes, now.... always hopping on his motorcycle "firetruck" to "get Norman out of the water!" or "save Dyllis's shop!" or "rescue the cat from the tree!" He jumps all over the couch, slides down the side of it (calling it the fire pole) and then hops on his little "fire truck" to go solve whatever fire problem he's facing. He sometimes takes the jaws of life with him and sometimes needs an extra ladder. I love it!

His other most favorite game to play is the green goblin game. He gets dressed up in his spider-man costume and I am the green goblin (wish I had a costume!). As the green goblin, it is my role to stay in the kitchen until he comes close, then chase him all the way to the couch while saying "I'm going to get you, Spider-Man" in my green goblin voice. Sometimes I make it o the couch and can tickle him before I get webbed/frozen by spider-man. As soon as I am frozen, I have to return to the kitchen and we start the whole process over again. The cuuuuutest part of this game is that he stops and whispers something to Liam (I can't quite make it out, but I think it's something like - wait right here...I'll be back) every time on his way to the kitchen. :)

Funny things he has told me....

Today he said, "Come here! I have a secret to tell you!" He motioned for me to follow him to the kitchen. When we got there, he informed me that "James is a REALLY fast engine." Nice.

He's obsessed with reading The Little Engine that Could (and even read it to himself out loud on Tuesday when I was driving... I was so proud that I almost cried!) and now tells me "If you don't help us, the good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain won't have any good food to eat or toys to play with!" whenever he wants help with something. very cute.

He's still in size 4 diapers, 24 month/2T pants and shirts and is trending toward 3T footed jammies.

His diet consists of:

-any and every fruit (except grapefruit)

-peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

-cheese (occasionally)

-a YoBaby yogurt

-waffles

-pancakes

-bacon

-beef empanadas

-cinnamon toast

-chicken nuggets (sometimes)

-peanut butter crackers

-an occasional veggie like celery, carrots, broccoli, spinach

-pasta/noodles sometimes

-rice

He will try things if we really force him to, which is nice sometimes. He will never eat more than that one bite, though, even if you can tell he really likes it.

Much more to say, but he's up from his nap!

Things Liam Does

At 7 months, there are a lot of things Liam can do that he couldn't before. He can (and will):

-Take off any hat you put on his head

-Sound just like an eagle screeching

-Need a diaper change every 45 minutes

-Drink a 7 oz bottle in 5 minutes

-Sleep 9 to 11 hours at night

-Crumble up an important paper in 2 seconds

-Almoooost crawl

-Collect an insane amount of fuzz in his hands

He LOVES:

-watching his brother

-eating his little plastic Bert toy

-eating the tag on the back of Eli's toy story chair

-watching/listening to water

-flailing his arms up and down (like a really hyper wave)

-holding his ball that has holes in it (for grip)

-playing with Eli's toys...especially the Thomas trains

-watching the cats

-being tickled on his tummy, chest or feet

-having us blow in his face

-getting a bath

-eating!!! Favorite foods to date: banana/papaya mix, yogurt and apples

-pulling Mommy's hair

Mr. Squirmy is getting harder and harder to hold these days. When he makes his mind up that he doesn't want to be held, he will twist and fight you as hard as he can. About two weeks ago, he'd snuggle with me a little bit after eating, but now he wants no part of it! Sad! He's still my little buddy, though!

Liam is 7 months old!

Two days ago, Liam turned 7 months old! In my mind, 6 months and younger still means baby baby...but 7 months and up mean older baby. Crazy!!! Here are some facts about my little man at this stage...

*He is now officially off the chart for weight, meaning at 14lbs 11 oz, he is super, super light for his age. He's in the 20th percentile for height and the 5th percentile for head size.

*He's still in size 2 diapers, thought they are definitely snug and the only reason I haven't gone up to size 3 is because you get more size 2 diapers for the same price as less size 3 diapers.

*He is able to scream/squeal like an eagle sooooooo loud that I'm actually surprised neighboring eagles don't come by to see what I've done with their family member.

*His eating pattern is as follows: Breastfed when he's up (typically in the 6 hour)... then given breakfast (has been cantalope, bananas, oatmeal... usually one serving of two things) about 30 min to an hour later. He then gets a 6oz bottle of formula around 9:30 or so and then HOPEFULLY goes down for his first nap around 10. This nap is usually only 30 to 45 minutes, but some days he will surprise me and go for 1-2 hours. When he wakes up from his nap, I breastfeed him again and then around 12 he has his lunch (which consists of 1 serving of 2 of the following: peas, plums, zucchini, green beans, sweet potato, carrots, yogurt). Around 2:30 or 3, he has another 4-6 oz bottle of formula and then goes down for his afternoon nap. (It's glorious when I can align this with even part of eli's nap). He'll again sleep anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hours. Around 5:30, I breastfeed him again and he joins us all around 6pm or so for dinner (which has been pretty much the same as lunch). He has a 6 oz bottle at 7 or so and then he's out for the night!

*Favorite toys: A small bert from sesame street Grandma got him, anything with music/lights, any of Eli's action figure toys. He also thoroughly enjoys trying to eat books.

*He is sooooooooooo close to crawling!!!!!! He is now on all fours, rocking back and forth, picking up one arm into the air. He is able to move one arm and one leg forward, and then plops down mad. He gets right up and tries it again, though. He's hours/days away from figuring it out and then there will be no containing him.

ok...i'm tired so off I flee!

My first real mommy and Eli date

Last night, I had the BEST time with Eli. My friend Erika got us free tickets to the Gazillion Bubble show, which was playing down in the theater district. I knew that Friday night at 7pm could be pushing it, but also knew that if he got a good nap in him, he'd be ok. I told him about it Thursday night, and when he woke up on Friday, one of the first things he said was "Can we go to the bubble show?" Allllll day long he was asking when we could go, and when, in the afternoon, I told him that we could go as soon as Daddy got home, he actually went and sat in his stroller and told me he was going to sit there until Daddy got home. SUPER cute.

Daddy got home a little later than normal, but as soon as he got home, Eli and I left. It was freezing cold, but neither of us cared. I dressed him up in a nice shirt and told him that it was important to wear something nice when you're going to the theater. :) We were planning on having a sit-down meal at McDonalds (I wanted to take him out to dinner, too) and he told me that he wanted "chicken nuggets, apples, french fries and a TOY!" Since we were running late, we had to take it to go...but he totally didn't care. When we were waiting in line, he held my hand (unheard of!) and told everyone around him that "My name is Eli and this is mommy." He was super excited to go on the "Choo choo" and it was the first time it's been just the two of us (sans stroller, even!) on the subway since before Liam was born. He loved sitting next to me "like a big boy" and loved looking out the window at each of the stops, asking me "what that one number is." He also very much enjoyed pointing out the sleeping people on the train (very loudly.... "Mommy! That guy is SLEEPING over there!"). He was so excited that he ate his entire meal (I could have fed him anything and he would have shoveled it in...not paying attention). We transferred trains and made it to the theater with about 10 minutes to spare before the start of the show. It was fun to get off the train and walk out into times square.... Eli was like - "It's night time, mommy??" I carried him to the theater cause he was walking slow and it was cold....but he would have done it if I let him.

As soon as we got in the lobby, he saw Tita Erika and Tita Susan and instantly turned into Mr. Performer... dancing around, showing off his ninja moves, twirling and spinning. He was VERY excited. Susan asked the usher... are you guys ready for him?? to which he replied - oh yeah!! We walked down the big staircase and headed to the theater, where the usher gave us playbills (Eli's first one!!!) and we found our seats. The theater was pretty empty... there were maybe 50 people there and at least 1/2 of them were little kids. We had seats off to the side, with the row to ourselves, which meant that if I sat in the aisle, Eli had about six seats and then a wall all to himself...so he could run around back and forth to his little heart's content, without distracting a soul!

When the show started, Eli was super excited. I was so proud of him for not being scared of the dark parts or loud parts. He was pretty much mesmerized by the bubbles. There were definitely some low key parts when they were setting up, and I thought we were going to lose him there, but luckily I was able to distract him enough and he never yelled out "I WANT TO GO HOME!" Lol. I had a few favorite parts of the show:

-When tons of bubbles started coming from everywhere and Eli jumped down from his seat and tried to go punch them all. It was like his little mission... he was just punching and hitting with such a serious face. Super cute.

-When the laser part of the show came and I told him Luke was up there with his light saber. He was SO excited. When he got home, he told Daddy he saw Luke!

-When he called out - "I want to pop a bubble, man!" to the bubble man.

Oh it was just so much fun. It was the perfect amount of time - just under an hour and a half - and he truly had fun the whole time. Near the end of the show, he was starting to get tired and actually came and sat in my lap for a while. Eli is not, and has never been, a cuddly child...so when I have those rare moments of cuddle time, I cherish them.

Coming home was fun, too. It was just fun to walk through the city with my little guy, take the train, see things through new eyes, etc. I WISH it hadn't been so cold outside, cause I realized he's never seen times square at night!!! But it was just too cold for that to be fun for him.

I really had the best time spending the night out with Eli. I'm going to try to do it at least once a month, hopefully more often, from now on. :) Next stop (hopefully) will be the motorcycle show with Daddy next weekend.

Funny Eli quotes of the day

Eli was a great little guy today and we had a really good day together. I've decided that he is only allowed to watch one TV show (he always selects fireman sam these days) a day (cause things were getting out of hand with his watching) and it's really working out great... we're getting to read more stories, play more games, etc. He's been SUPER SUPER lovey with Liam lately, and they're really starting to "play" together. Yesterday, Eli lined up all of his guys and then said "Look Liam! Those are my guys! Want to play with them?" It's SUPER cute to see them together. Eli is also, however, trying to play really rough with him (he likes to tackle him, roll over him, etc) which is a challenge. He's not doing it maliciously - he just doesn't get that you can't be so rough with a baby.

Anywho - today, there were several really funny/cute things Eli said.

At the doctor's, when she came in, she said - Hi Eli! How are you? To which he replied... "I just talked to the black lady!!!" AWKWARD. lol. What he MEANT was the lady in the black shirt, but no one but me (and the lady in said shirt) would know that. Lol. That's just like the time he told me he wanted to play with the white (shirt) boy. Nice. Anywho - we had a good laugh about that one.

Tonight, when the boys were done with dinner, I took a moment to try to wash a few dishes. That's when I heard "It's ok, Liam - I'll rescue you!" I paused, to see what this was all about, and then heard "Mommy! He wants his seatbelt off! I'm going to take it off!" Mental note: Do not leave Eli and Liam alone when he's sitting in his high chair.

Another scary thing overheard..... I left them both in the living room, Eli engrossed in his fireman sam show and Liam happily playing with a toy on the floor.... to take 30 seconds to go use the bathroom. When I was in there, what did I hear? "Mommy, I want Liam to sit next to me." This, based on previous experiences, meant that he was going to try to pick Liam up to put him on the couch next to him. Needless to say, that's the fastest I've ever peed. lol.

Tonight when we were reading his bug book, Eli asked me if I liked a certain spider. I said NO - he's scary! Eli looked shocked and hurt and said - But mommy, he LOVES you! lol. After that convincing argument, i had to reverse my previous answer and declare my love for the spider as well. We also came upon a picture of two ladybugs...one big and one little. He told me that the big ladybug was MAD. I asked why? He said... because the baby ladybug had to go sit in the corner! Haa - the little one WAS on the corner of the page. The corner is where HE has to go when he's in trouble. Hahaha. Gotta love the way their little minds work.

Also when reading a book about different breeds of dogs, I came upon a picture of a yorkie and told eli what it was and said - isn't it so cute?... to which he replied... "YES! Just like Liam!" awwww.

I have a pretty cool job.

Tough Day

So today was the day I've been fearing since the subway elevator went out last week. The doctor's appointment. How was I going to accomplish this without a subway elevator? Daunting, yes, but I knew that when push came to shove, something would work out in my favor and I'd be ok. The appointment was at 11, a perfect time.... pre-nap time yet late enough in the morning that we wouldn't have to be rushing around.

The obstacle: moving the car. We were parked in a spot that we had to vacate (for street cleaning) by 11am. Since we would be leaving at roughly 10am for the doc appointment, I decided to get the car and bring it in front of the building to the spots that would open up between 9 and 9:30. The thing I didn't expect: a craaaaazy rain storm.

Have you ever tried going outside with two kids in a double stroller in crazy rain? And putting them in the car and folding up the double stroller to put in the trunk? I wish I could have had video of us running down the sidewalks. Liam was covered as best as could be in his little section and I held my umbrella over him for extra insurance. I put Eli's mini rain cover over him and handed him an umbrella and we were off! lol. We were all soaking wet (well, not Liam..he was ok) by the time we got to the car. LUCKILY (cause I would have lost it if all the spots were taken), we got a spot right in front of the building. Now, you're supposed to wait until 9:30 (there's no parking there from 8 to 9:30 for street cleaning) or you could be ticketed. But as we pulled up at 9:15, I thought - pffffft - there is no way I'm sitting with my wet self in this car. We made it upstairs by 9:30 and with quick outfit changes for everyone, I fed Liam and then reloaded for our second trip out. That's when I decided to look in the closet to see if the ceiling was leaking (as it often does when it rains. Lovely, right?). Well yes, it was, and yes, all of the CDs were in water. Is this something I felt like dealing with at that moment? NO. Sigh. I was about to lose it, but finally pulled everything together and made it out the door. The angels were smiling on us because for the 10 min it took us to walk to the subway, it stopped raining. THANK YOU!

When we got to the subway, my plan of having Eli get out and walk like a big boy failed miserably when he declared he was NOT going to walk and wanted to RIDE. Great. I was going to ask someone, anyone, to help us down the stairs, but no one was there. Somehow, I figured out that if I hold the stroller backwards, I could carry him down the stairs without squishing Liam, and it worked out great! We got on the train and that's when Eli decided he wanted to be a big boy and sit next to mommy. Here goes nothing, I thought, as I unbuckled his seatbelt and let him climb up next to me. Surprisingly, he was SUPER well behaved and sat next to me without trying to escape or make any crazy moves. YAY! I was so proud of him! We even made a train transfer and he held my hand and didn't throw a fit. WOO! When we got to our destination, I thought it would work out perfectly that he was out of his stroller, cause now I could have him walk up the stairs. It all worked! AND a super nice man (who definitely is a daddy) offered to carry my empty stroller up the stairs AND open it for me! WOO! Eli got in without a fight and we made it with 5 min to spare.

At the doctor's office, when we all have to take off our bags, coats, etc, I ALWAYS feel like a crazy bag lady. Especially with all of our extra rain gear (blankets, umbrellas, etc). The people at the office are super nice, though, and helped me get settled in a room.

Then it was time for the big weight check. Did Liam rise from the 3rd percentile? Da da daaaaa...no. SAD. He is now (at 7 months!) 14lbs, 11 oz, which means he's not even on the chart anymore. My teeny tiny little guy. He's in the 5th percentile for head size and 20th for height. After I explained that he's a great little eater and drinking at least 30 oz a day and eating three meals, she decided she was ok with him being little and thinks that's just who he is. Little Liam. She said she wasn't concerned about a thyroid problem cause that would have shown up in his hospital tests and said that he's too little to have something like Celiac's disease. His motor development is far ahead of where it should be, so clearly he's thriving... he's just LITTLE. And so he will remain for a while. She said when he gets a little bigger, we'll start trying to pump his diet full of healthy fatty foods... like avocado (which I already tried with him and he HATED) and oil and stuff. Can you imagine having the problem of needing to put weight ON? Sigh. All else was well and three shots later, we were out the door...in the rain. We made it home a little wet, but hey - clothes dry and we made it. YAY! I feel like I earned another mommy badge today. Every time I do something like this that I think is going to be impossible, I check it off my list and know that there's not much I can't do if I really put my mind to it. :)

New sleep schedule for Liam!

Well, I decided that getting up 1-3 times a night to feed Liam was sooo last year (ha), so this week, we decided to sleep train little Liam. He's been good about going TO sleep (we lay them both down, turn on the night night music and say goodnight.... Liam only cries for about 4 to 5 min, and it's a whimper cry, not an all out cry), so we didn't have to tackle that. It was the getting up thinking he needed to eat (which was my fault for starting/continuing) that we needed to conquer. The first night was rough...he got up two times and cried bloody murder for 45 min each (I would have caved. I'm glad Mike slept out in the living room with him!). The second night was better... the third night better... and last night, he was only up for 10 min and then slept all the way from 10:40 to 6:15! WOOHOO! I'm hoping this continues, cause it's VERY nice being able to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time (and in my own bed, nonetheless!). WOOHOO!

Liam's SO close to cutting his first tooth and SO close to crawling! For the past few days, he's been getting up on all 4s and rocking back and forth. I think within the week, we're going to have a crawler! (Noooooooo....I'm not ready!).

We go Thursday for Liam's 6 month check-up (even though he'll be 7 months old in 5 days!). I can't wait to see how much he weighs. We've tried weighing him on scales here, but the accuracy with that is something to be desired.

In other news, there was a HUGE fire last week (Oh... I also forgot to mention that I worked last sat through wednesday - the longest stretch of days I've worked since before Eli was born!) on the day when my mom was up babysitting. It knocked out an entire row of businesses about 6 storefronts down from our church. My bank is GONE. There are no branches in walking distance. Lovely. Also, and even more tragic... the elevator i use to get on the subway is on that corner, and it is blocked off for fear the building could collapse. They are going to demolish the building on Friday, so hopefully they'll be able to erect some kind of fence and get that elevator up and going again. As I said, I'm going to Liam's doc appt on Thurs and now I'm really scared for how I'm going to get there. Sigh.