Luminati

As of yesterday, Liam’s new fun thing to do is slam his head into things. We went to the park and he rammed his forehead into a metal pole. He looked at me like “WTF! That kinda hurt!” so I gave him a hug, patted him on the butt and told him to knock it off. So ran over to the next pole and whacked his forehead on that one, too. And proceeded to go around to EVERY pole and do it. Then when he ran out of poles, he squatted down and headbutted the gravel. I have no idea what he’s doing. At home he tried the floor, the couch, the coffee table… Today it was the plexiglass in front of the electronics.

I’ve read that this is a phase that a lot of kids go through. But…why? What purpose could it possibly serve?

Going to the old folks home today to hang out with Great Grandpa and check out the icecream and pie social. The old folks love Liam and it’ll get us out of the house. Plus, free icecream and pie!

Everyone is doing well, thanks for asking!

Liam has been sleeping like a champ. He’ll go to bed around 8 and wake up around 7 or 7:30! And his naps are anywhere from 1 1/2 hrs to 2 1/2 hrs long! We occasionally have to fight him on bedtime or naptime but that’s usually because he’s already overtired. B and I trade nights on putting him to bed which frees up a little more of my time.

I can’t believe how milk tolerant he is now. It’s crazy! Makes me wonder if I really had to give it all up for 7 months. Little punk. I’m enjoying my ice cream freedom a little too much now though because I’m starting to get a little pudge around the middle. And that sucks. I don’t want to start getting fat now!

Liam still isn’t talking. Occasionally he’ll say a word that SOUNDS like a word but isn’t quite there yet. So I’ll praise him and say the word and in response he’ll just go “DAT”. Yeah, ok. We’re working on it. He’s very vocal now though which is fun. He used to be the quietest kid ever. It’s like someone just flipped a switch a month ago and he’s a totally different child!

We tested out the new pool I picked up at Target last fall on clearance and he’s been having a blast. Unfortunately if you leave it running it floods the yard so we don’t let him play in it for too long. He also went swimming tonight in our neighbor’s pool. First time in a big pool! He just hung out with Dad because he didn’t want to sit in his floaty thing. Seemed to have a blast, because he screamed when we took him out and left!

His favorite foods seem to be yogurt, baked beans, oranges (or any kind of fruit, really), and chik nuggets (soy). My baby who LOVED pureed veggies turns up his nose at them now! He’ll occasionally have a meal where he’ll scarf them down but usually he only picks at them. He enjoyed B’s spinach naan from The Oven, though, so maybe I’ll have to learn how to make that to incorporate some green into his diet :b\

He still loves being outside but would rather walk on his own than sit in a stroller or wagon. This makes things difficult for me because he’ll walk all the way to the park but then wants to be carried back. Hard on my back, for sure!

I need to make these posts more often because I forget half of the things he does and then he stops doing them. Meh.

Check out the video in the 16 month gallery. Liam has decided he likes to squeeze the shit out of his peas. He actually gets red in the face he’s straining so much!

I actually went out last Saturday night with “the girls” from the Lincoln Mommies group. It was a blast! And the first time I’ve been out in a long long time. I can’t wait to do it more often!

Things are going well! B’s putting Liam down for naps now too and it’s great! I had to pump for a few minutes this morning but I went 48 hours without any of that so I’m hoping that means my milk production is next to nothing now.

Liam’s also started throwing fits. But it’s all good. Because his fits usually include throwing himself to the floor and laying there. That’s it, just laying there. It’s actually pretty cute and funny :) Today he started rolling back and forth on his back in the middle of a fit. I had to hide my laughing.

I need to update his photo gallery because I’ve got some really good kiddy pool pictures and some tub pictures too.

Today I decided to be productive. I cleaned the windows and did some yardwork (until the mosquitoes got the better of me), did the dishes, cleaned the Diaper Champ and folded clothes. I feel somewhat accomplished. Now if I could only get the rest of the stuff crossed off my to-do list…

We’re eating ice cream too much, but I really don’t care. I like ice cream. Especially Campfire Marshmallow.

Last episode of the first half of the season (that’s a mouthful) of BSG!!!! Things actually happened!! It was too awesome. I can’t wait to see how they play it out. I do NOT want to wait until 2009, though, so I hope they decide to air the last 10 episodes earlier than that.

Gotta go make my pasta salad for the picnic tomorrow.

Also, I’m glad we’re getting a break from the rain/wind/tornadoes.

YAY!!!!!!!

(and sad)

My baby just gave up nursing! Two nights ago Liam only nursed for a short while and then wanted me to rock him to sleep, so I did. I think the only reason he nursed was because the sirens were new to him. Yesterday I tried nursing him for his nap and he nursed for about 2 minutes then bit me. So I said “no” and took him away from it. Well, he never went back. He actually went so far as to pull my shirt back down to indicate he wasn’t having any of it.

Funny and yet frustrating. Because he’s always nursed to sleep for his naps. ALWAYS. I think there’s only been one or two times in his entire life where he didn’t. So yesterday he just decided he wasn’t going to nap. I let him cry in his crib for a while but it was just so painful to hear that I went back in. End result: cranky baby still awake at 3pm. So I met some moms for a walk around Holmes Lake. He ended up falling asleep in the stroller for about 20 minutes before he was woken up by another child crying :( So he only slept for 11 1/2 hrs yesterday, which is CRAZY for his age. Anyway, I took him home and fed him dinner and he ended up being a happy bouncy baby for the rest of the night!! And he stayed up until 8pm!! (Yup, that’s a 13 hr stretch with only a 20 min nap in the middle. I was going INSANE)

We took Liam to his room, I gave B a cup of whole milk (which Liam’s taken to like candy the past couple days) and said, “ok, night night!” and left. I’d never felt so free in my life. I think this is the first time that B has ever put Liam to sleep. He’s gone in and put him BACK to sleep, but never to sleep to begin with. And we were successful! Another happy moment! He woke up around 10pm for about 15 minutes but we let him cry himself back to sleep and he woke up happy at 6:45 this morning.

Today I thought we were going to have another no nap day but I was firm with it. After he refused to nurse (just kept shaking his head) I gave him a bit of milk in a cup then put him in his crib with a book and a teddy bear and said “take a nap, I’ll see you in a while” and left. He cried for 20 minutes but I refused to go back in there. And that’s all it took! He’s been asleep since 11!!!

I’m a very happy Mama :)

Liam had his 15-month check up yesterday. He weighed in at 20 lbs 8 oz. so he’s not gaining weight very fast. But if they measured him correctly, he’s grown 1 1/2 inches in the past three months. I thought it seemed like he was getting taller! He can reach door knobs and drawers he hadn’t been able to in the past. Just when you think you have everything toddler-proofed…

We also discovered that instead of the 3 teeth we thought he was was working on, he’s been working on his 4 molars, too. No wonder he’s been crabby lately! 7 teeth at once! Also the Pediatrician said not to worry about his feet yet (his feet curve in and he walks on the sides of his feet) and to give it another 3 months before we see a specialist. I’m very ok with that. I’d like to think this can correct itself, but who knows. I had to have special shoes when I was a baby.

In other more painful news, we’ve decided to go the cry-it-out route. There is no reason he should need to nurse twice in the middle of the night and it’s causing some animosity between us and that’s not cool.

I nursed him to sleep at about 7 like usual and then we waited. He woke up at 11:35 and kinda ‘talked’/whined for about 15 minutes, then he started crying. After 5 minutes of crying B went in to reassure him we were still here and that he could go back to sleep. I’m pretty sure THAT was a mistake. He ended up only crying for 20 more minutes, though so I think we probably got off easy. It was the LONGEST 20 minutes though. 30 minutes after he put himself to sleep, he woke up and cried for another 5 minutes. 10 minutes after that he cried for another two, and then we didn’t hear him again until 7am. He slept through the storm, too!

Of course I was up once every hour worrying and fretting. And the funny thing was, I didn’t burst out sobbing until AFTER he’d put himself to sleep! I guess I was just trying to keep it together like he could tell I was ok with this even though I was a room away. Silly, I know.

He was VERY clingy all morning and refused to take a nap until noon (and took a 1 hr, not 2 hr nap) but after that seemed his normal chipper self.

Tonight I nursed him but not to sleep–he didn’t seem to want it that badly so I didn’t push it. I rocked him to sleep but he would wake up every time I put him in his crib so I just said ‘ok, it’s time to go to sleep.’ And then he started throwing a fit. So I just sat there next to his crib and watched him roll around and whine in his incredibly sleepy state until he fell asleep. It reassured me to see that in all his whining/crying that he wasn’t really dying or something :b But even though it was nice to watch him fall asleep, I think we’ll stay out of his room tonight.

The storm last night knocked another huge branch out of our Cottonwood tree. But again, it didn’t land on anything! It somehow did a 180 and landed between the shed, the trees…everything. It was crazy! But we’re not complaining! And it was a limb we were hoping to have taken out anyway because it was growing over the maple in our backyard. Now all we have to do is take out the one over the katsura tree (because I will NOT lose that beautiful tree!) and I think we’re golden. Well, at least until the tree decides to drop a limb on our NEIGHBORS yards again.