Liam is 8 months old!

The past two days were busy ones - Liam's first Valentine's day (which he celebrated by getting two shots... booo) and Liam turned 8 months old!! My mom was up here to spend the days with us and I was so glad. It's AMAZING how much more I can get done with another person here. I even got to...gasp...take a long shower!

So at 8 months, this is what Liam is into:

-crawling EVERYWHERE. He beelines it to the cat food and cat water whenever he can. If he sees one of the cats, he kicks it up into turbo crawling to try to get to them. He also likes the stroller wheels, but he doesn't really try to lick them like Eli did. He also hasn't (yet) discovered where the kitty litter boxes are.

-pulling up to stand on EVERYTHING. Me, the couch, any toy he can find, his crib, his toy box, Eli's chair....everything. This kid loves standing. He's still in the process of figuring out how to get down and isn't too graceful yet. He holds on with only one hand and is able to play with a toy in one hand while standing. He's not QUITE technically cruising, but he can take a step or two sideways and is getting good at pivot turns. It's much more scary when Eli knocks him down from a standing position, so I have to keep a much closer eye on the boys these days (meaning...no more washing dishes, etc.).

-laughing whenever we tickle him or kiss his belly/chest

His favorite toys are his:

-Leapfrog table (that lights up and has music) that he can stand up to play with

-little plush NYPD car

-Sophie the giraffe

-little music box that Santa gave him

-little plush football that he likes to eat

-two balls with holes (that he will crawl anywhere to get)

He HATES:

-hats (and always pulls them off)

-sitting in my lap

-getting dressed (he muuuch prefers to be naked)

-getting is diaper changed (it's getting REALLY hard)

-being in his stroller (about 70% of the time)

-being in his car seat

He's still a pretty good eater and is eating three meals a day, with about two servings of food per meal. For breakfast, I try to give him a breakfasty-type fruit (cantaloupe, apple, pear or banana) and some form of cereal (he prefers oatmeal to rice cereal). For lunch, I try to give him either yogurt and a veggie or a veggie + fruit and for dinner I try to give him two veggies. I've started to try other foods, too... like lentils, pasta, etc. He's getting better with finger foods and has finally figured out that he is supposed to pick them up and put them in his mouth. (Before, he was just swatting them around or smashing them or knocking them onto the floor). He likes puffs and cheerios (though more make it into his bib pocket than his mouth). I've also given him sliced black beans, lentils, and peas as finger foods.

He LOVES bath time. We've just started letting them take baths together, and for the most part, Eli is pretty good about not splashing him. Liam LOVES splashing, trying to eat all the bath toys, and trying to grab the water from eli's fountain toys.

While Eli would go to anyone, Liam's definitely afraid to go to people other than me or Mike at first. After a few minutes of being around people, he warms up...but if you put him into someone's arms, he'll just burst out crying. He's a very sensitive little guy and cries a LOT throughout the day if something doesn't go his way or if he falls down/is knocked over.

After 8 long months of breastfeeding, I finally decided that the time has come to wean him. My milk supply isn't what it was and he's also not been as interested in breastfeeding...often pushing me away. He gets distracted VERY easily by Eli and wasn't drinking very well during the day. I gradually lowered the feedings to two times a day and then one... and now I think I'm done... I haven't breastfed him in 38 hours. I still have some milk in the freezer (that I was saving for my guatemala trip), so I've still been giving him at least one bottle of breastmilk a day. I'm sad that I couldn't make it to a year like I wanted, but this is definitely the right choice for both of us. I'm super, super proud I made it to 8 months and can honestly say it's one of the hardest things/biggest accomplishments of my life.

Liam, you're my sweet little teeny guy and I love you so much!!!

Grandma's coming!

My mom is on her way here and I couldn't be more excited. Eli has been talking about her coming up for the past WEEK ("Grandma is coming to my house???") and he's going to have so much fun playing with her. Plus, she'll get to see Liam crawling, and I will have help at the doctor's office tomorrow (Liam has to get his 2nd flu shot). Our plan, if all goes well, is to hit the Children's Museum right after the doc appointment, and if all goes REALLY well, I might head over to Ritz to print out pictures of Liam (for his scrapbook) after that.

And Mike and I get to go out tonight....to dinner and a movie! Wooohooo!!!

Today, when we were grocery shopping, Eli tried to get this couple's attention by screaming "HI?! HI HIIIIIII." They didn't realize he was talking to them, but he didn't realize that. He then said "HI! This is mommy and this is Liam. They're my friends." It was SO CUTE. He also told me (when I told him it was lunch time and he'd better come sit in his seat or he'd have to take a nap).... "No mommy, I'm playing with Liam. He's my friend." :)

I got Mike and Eli teeny little light sabers for Valentine's Day and gave it to them early since Mike most likely won't see Eli on V day. When Liam saw them, he was SOOOO excited. Mike handed him one and his face lit up - he was SO excited. The boys were battling it out with light sabers for a while and I got a few classic pictures. :)

Dual monsters

So today has been an...interesting... day so far. Both boys woke up with runny noses, and not in the best moods. (Though they did both sleep in til 7:30!!!...though liam woke up at 4:30 to eat). Eli is usually pretty cranky in the morning... he'll be bright and cheery UNTIL the moment I lift him out of his crib and then he turns into terror-crank. I usually just have to ignore him while he's throwing a fit about not wanting to get dressed, not wanting to wear the RED shirt, wanting to wear the red shirt, etc. He's usually appeased by getting to watch a show of his choice. This morning, on our way to the living room, he had a full out tantrum about not having socks on (Well excuuuuuuse me, I would have put socks on you if you had let me). This is how the conversation went:

Eli: I neeeeeeeed soooocks. Put on my soooooooocks.

Me: Ok, let me go get your socks

Eli: NOOOOOOOOOOOO I don't waaaaaaaaaant socks.

Sigh.

What's a mommy to do? Either way, I lose. I don't get the socks and he sits there whining about how I didn't get the socks. I get them, and he doesn't let me put them on. sigh. I chose no socks, turned on The Backyardigans, and tackled breakfast.

We were supposed to have a play date with Sawyer and Jasper today, but seeing as how the boys were runny-nose crank monsters, we cancelled. I decided instead to take them to the library to drop off our books and try to sit through the free music class called Bilingual Birdies. Eli was definitely the oldest kid in the room, and it made for interesting times when allllllll of the other (20 or so) kids were sitting nicely in their mommy's lap (whaat? how???) and he was the ONLY one running circles around the room. There was a nice semi-circle happening, and he decided he wanted to stand in the middle of that semi-circle and dance. I'm glad he's cute enough to pull these things off, but still... I'm sure the other parents in the room were thinking - man, that kid is crazy. Liam was in desperate need of a nap, but I managed to wrangle him and keep him content for most of the program. He REALLY liked the guitar.. I'm going to have to have Mike play to him more often. Well Eli was definitely not feeling well, because several times during the class, he laid down on the floor and started tugging his ear (his signal that he's ready to take a nap). Sure enough, as we were heading out, he had a FULL OUT tantrum and I'm sure everyone in the library was glad to see us go. Sigh.

What I really wanted to share, before I forget, was what happened BEFORE the library. Eli was playing with his prized Spider-Man house and Liam was sitting playing with one of his toys. I decided I'd be safe to hightail it to the bathroom, alone. Surely, I could have 30 seconds of alone time, right? HA. As sooon as I got in there, this is what I heard.... "Don't be scared. It's all part of the plan. I'm going to lift you HIGH into the air." My heart stopped. I decided to wait 2 seconds before sprinting out of the bathroom, and thankfully, I realized he was playing with his spider-man toys, talking to THEM, not Liam. Whew. Still.... scary!!!

Since Liam is pulling up on everything (and not steady enough to always lower himself down nicely), I REALLY can't leave them alone anymore at ALL. Having Eli knock Liam down from a standing position is a whole different story than from a sitting position. So I found a new way this morning to make shower time work for mommy. They both woke up at 7:30.... I threw some toys in Liam's crib, dropped some books in Eli's and told Eli I'd be right back...that I had to get a shower. I took a super quick shower and wala - clean mommy and no injured boys. Solution!

:)

I have dinner in the crock pot already.... let's see how the rest of this day goes!

Conversations with a two year old

As Eli's vocabulary grows daily, we're having more and more interesting conversations. Yesterday when he woke up from his nap, his mind was on amusement parks. He was telling me all about how he wanted to ride the roller coaster, but it was scary so he'd rather stay on the ground. He then told me he wanted to ride on the big choo choo train with Grandma. Daddy could come too, but not Liam because he is too little and would be too scared. Liam has to ride on the little choo-choo train, and mommy can ride with him so he's not by himself. Eli would take Liam on the bumper cars with him, and for the bumper cars, Daddy could not come because Daddy is too scared and too big. Mommy, however, is cleared to go. When I'd ask him if various people could come (Tito Ben, Tita Ann), he'd put up both hands, think about it, and say in a high pitched voice... um, sure! Sure he(she) can come! It was so funny I was laughing out loud.

Also yesterday, we had people stop by the apartment to look at our faucets (from a company the building hired to save money on the water bill). Eli was SO excited to see them and did not stop talking to them from the moment they arrived to the moment they left. Sometimes the things he said were funny... "Hey, Man! I have tools, too! I fix my motorcycle with my hammer!" and sometimes the things were just embarassing... "Mommy, that guy looks mean! I don't want him to beat me!" (By beat me, he meant as in racing... but the man didn't know that and was like - oh my God, why would you say that?).

Eli has been HUGE into reading the past two days, in part cause I got new books from the library with the crinkly covers. At first, he wanted them OFF (he alllllways rips the cover off the book we are reading), but now I think he kind of likes the novelty of it. We read 23 books today (sometimes several times in a row) and it took us about an hour and a half (thank you, Liam, for taking a good nap today). He's still BIG into the curious George series and has to stack them all up PERFECTLY in a big "tall tower of books!" and dole them out to me, in his chosen order (God forbid I go out of order). He's also loving fairy tales, like goldilocks, little red riding hood, etc... It's fun to go back and look at the absurdity of all of these fun little stories. (I mean really.... we're going to cut open the wolf's belly with SCISSORS and take little red riding hood out?....).

After nap time today, we're heading up to Rachna's to play with Dexter/Quinn... I'm so excited!

Things Liam Hates

I'm often talking about the things the boys like to do... thought I'd devote a post to things Liam HATES:

-getting dressed

-getting his diaper changed

-Daddy yelling at the TV (football)

-getting into his car seat

-being in his car seat and not moving (...stopping at red lights, waiting for mommy to get Eli's shoes on)

-sitting in my lap (for story time... any time I need him to be still....)

-wearing hats of any kind

-being put in his crib to go to sleep

:)

And before I forget.... Yesterday, Liam figured out how to pull to stand!!! He's been trying for weeks but finally got it yesterday! Pulled himself right up on the couch. Now he's standing EVERYWHERE. And now, just one day later, he can stand with just one hand, reach for things, and he even pivoted over to stand up at his little play table. This kid is going to be walking FAR too soon.

Mama!

So today, Liam said Mama for the first time!!!! I thought I heard it this morning when he first woke up, but brushed it off as me being tired.... but he has said it many times today! (mostly when he's crying... mamamamamama). Of course he doesn't yet associate it with me, but it's fun to hear since we've been hearing dadada for so long now.

Liam had fun at his first Super Bowl Party this weekend.... (and was even sporting a Giants jersey in hopes that daddy's team would win!)... he pretty much spent the whole time crawling around, being carried by different people...and passed off between mommy and daddy. In the 3rd quarter, Mike yelled really loudly when the Giants scored and it scared Liam to death. After that, it happened anytime anyone screamed or cheered. Someone would yell, and then everyone would say "oh no!" and look over at Liam.... he'd put his best pouty lip out and then burst into hysterics. I told everyone it wasn't that he was scared, it's just that he's a Redskins fan like his mommy and wasn't thrilled about the Giants scoring. Lol. Both boys stayed up for the whole game, which we really didn't think would happen! Eli spent the entire game going up and down Maninoy Gerardo's steps, making mommy follow him up and down and up and down. We played various games like... hide spiderman on the steps and watch him fall, watch Wolverine (who he still calls Mulverine) slide down the railing, hide the guys (in plain sight) for mommy to find (and then point out where they all are, as if I couldn't see them laying right there on the floor), surprise mommy (who had NO idea that Eli was waiting at the top of the stairs) when she got to the top, slide down the steps on our bottoms, etc. HOURS of fun. So no, I don't go to the gym, but I do sometimes spend 2 or 3 hours doing exhausting chase Eli activities. :)

Several times today, Eli has told me "I love my little brudda." Awww.

Today, we went to storytime at the library for the first time, which also marks the first time I've taken them to a place where Eli was intentionally let loose WHILE I was holding Liam. It was scary at first, but when I saw all of the other 2 year olds running around, jumping, etc, I relaxed. Many nannies/mommies were there with babies as well, so I was in good company. And it was FREE. Eli followed the librarian for all of the songs and was able to repeat her dance moves, etc. He sat still for one story and ran around for the other 2. Afterwards, he sat and played with a little boy for about 20 minutes... and Liam happily crawled around eating musical instruments. Success! We'll definitely be going back.

Eli is completely obsessed with reading Curious George books again. I really can't stand Curious George, but I do appreciate that they are the perfect length. I don't mind reading them to him since he loves them so much. (He usually brings me a stack of 8 of them to read, his favorites being Curious George at the Chocolate Factory and Curious George and the Dinosaurs).

Today, when I asked Eli if he wanted to finish his blueberry bread from the morning, he looked at it and told me "No, it's sharp." Lol - i LOVE his little Eli logic when he's trying to explain things that he doesn't have the vocabulary for. What he was trying to say was that it was hard...it had been sitting out all morning and was stale. He also often tells me that his milk is "muddy" when it doesn't taste right. On Sunday, when we asked Eli if he was done eating Goldfish, he told us, "No, there's a lot of more left."

Today I caught him pouring his milk in my soup. What was he doing? "I'm putting cement in your soup!"

When something doesn't go Eli's way, he still tells us how we should or should not be feeling. Like, if I get angry and yell at him, he will say "No, you don't want to get mad at me." If I take something away from him because he's not using it right, he'll say "No, you don't want to take that away from me." He's even upped the ante lately, adding in "you don't want to take that away ever again." He repeats himself over and over until we agree with him.

Eli loves helping me take the trash out. He holds onto the red handles of the trash bag and walks it down the hall with me. He holds the door open for me while I throw it down the compactor, and then he sprints back to our door with me chasing him Green Goblin-style.

I have a couple of really big boxes out in the living room right now, and Eli LOVES hiding in them. He gets in there, asks me "Can you please close the doors?" and then wants me to say "Liam, where did Kuya Eli go?" so he can bust out and surprise us. This could go on for an hour if I let it.

Eli's favorite shows these days: The Backyardigans ("the ha ha one".... neither of us knows why he refers to one episode as that), Thomas and Creaky Cranky, and Fireman Sam.

Annnnd nap time is over.

Memories

A few odds and ends...

One of Eli's favorite singers is Katy Perry. He's always liked her. When he was little, he used to ask me to watch that clip of her on Sesame Street with Elmo over and over on Youtube. Tonight, he was dancing to "The One That Got Away" and kept asking me to play it again. When I explained to him that it was on the radio, and we couldn't just play it whenever we wanted to, he got REALLY upset.

Liam's mission in life right now is to pull up to standing on any and every object. He can't do it yet... and only succeeds in getting to a high kneeling position.... but it's very cute to watch him try.

Liam hasn't been eating so well this week. Before this week, he could eat an entire banana mashed up...or half of an avocado...or two of the stage two baby food containers.

It was Mike's birthday yesterday and we went out to dinner at our favorite Ethiopian place and then went to see Wicked! Thanks to Kathryn and Tommy for watching the boys. Earlier in the day, since mike had the day off, we took the boys to the New York Hall of Science. Fun times.

Ok...I got 3 hours of sleep last night (got home late from the show), so I'm fading fast.....