Orlando - Day 1

We decided to go to Orlando as part of our annual visit to Florida.  We always come down to see Nana and Grampy Conley.    Shawna and the girls are also coming down, so we will have all the Conley grandkids on site later today and then grandparents up tomorrow.

Today we went to Animal Kingdom and had a nice day.  The park was not very crowded as the weather is cool (50's).   We got to see everything we wanted without much wait at all.   Safari is probably the best part, but the Lion King and Nemo show was fun too.   As expected (and warned) Liam was scared at "A Bugs Life" and so was every other kid his age that was there.   Liam was great and we had fun with him there.  Hopefully later in the week when we go to Disney World he'll be good too.

16 Months Old

We are in Bar Harbor for a little holiday break -- although watching Liam 24/7 is hardly a break at all -- in fact working is much easier than keeping him occupied. That said, the purpose of this trip is to ensure we get to spend some good quality time with him alone. It is something we've managed to do every few months since he was born, but it is the first time it has been a lot of work (yes, welcome to parenting I'm sure many of you are saying). He is a bundle of energy and is up at 6am every day ready to go. He's napping about 1.5 -2.0 hours and then is asleep around 8pm. During all the awake time he's mostly eating but also doing a fair share of toy playing, chattering, and lots of roughhousing.

Liam still loves his binky and has started to be a blankey boy too, but mostly just uses his bibs as blakeys. He needs both to go to sleep.

Over the holiday's he seemed to get a little extra brain power as he is now identifying his eyes, nose, ears, head, and belly. Last week he couldn't do any of that, so it is an amazing change in such a short time. It is almost as if a light switch went on and woke him up to it all. He is doing lots of grunting and babbling, but words are still hard to come by. But it is clear that he understands a lot of what is said to him as he follows lots of instructions like picking up toys, throwing things in the trash, and surprising us all the time with new examples of him doing what he's told. On the flip side, he laughs like crazy when we say NO. He is a crazy stair climber, bed bouncer, and just out-and-out daredevil -- we try to keep up and say no, but he just laughs at us and gets a greater kick out of the attention.

Yesterday we were grocery shopping and he was playing with an apple. Next thing we knew he was eating it whole. It was first time he'd taken a bite of a whole apple rather than the normal slices we'd been giving him. Just another example of his great love for food. Fortunately most of what he likes is fruit and vegetables with a particular fondness for grapes lately.

We watched video of him over the last year and it is incredible to see all the changes. He is so different, yet there are still lots of personaltiy that is a carry over from his early weeks and months. We are very blessed and are so thankful for all the love and joy Liam has brought to our lives.

The Official Santa Photo 2009

Liam visited Santa at the Burlington Mall on Saturday. He was extremly well behaved but just got shy when it came time to sit on Santa's lap. It was nice not to have him cry, but we wish he'd have cracked at least a little smile. Merry Christmas to all!

Almost 15 Months

It is amazing to see how big Liam is (about 28 pounds) and how much he's developed in such a short time period. Here are a few of his key things these days...

• Running. He is all over the place with his mobility. Loves to run around and be chased by anyone.
  
• Swimming. He has been in swim lessons for the last couple months and absolutely loves the water. He is holding himself against the pool wall, doing a little kicking, but overall is just very comfortable being in the water.
  
• Eating. Always a Liam strong suit, he really eats just about everything. Lately his favorite is bananas.
  
• Bath Time. A bit of a pain as he likes to stand all the time. Has little interest in just sitting in tub playing. He actually enjoys showers almost more than a bath these days.
  
• Climbing. Any place he can, he's climbing. He must have a dozen eggs on his head from all his falls (just small falls, no DSS please). He flies up stairs when crawling, but also likes to do it via walking. He can come downstairs, but doesn't have as much interest.
  
• Talking. Not doing anything much. He is starting to babble a bit and has some sounds he repeats. Loves to yell in our back stairwell as there is a huge echo. Still no official first word.
  
• Health. Overall he's really be a super healthy kid. He has primarily needed Tylenol for some tooth stuff, but not much else... well until this week when he got his first ear infection (a double at that). But to his credit, he bounces back pretty quickly and doesn't seem to let anything keep him grump too long.
  
• Sleep. For the last few months it has been the same basic routine. He goes to sleep real easy at 8pm. Sleeps sound until about midnight. Then one of us grabs him and moves him into futon to sleep with us. He then stays there and moves around quite a bit but sleeps pretty good.
  
• TV. Very little interest in tv/dvd's etc. He has little interest in sitting still to watch tv for a while. The only place it at all works is in the car, but even there he really doesn't stay focused on it for long.
  

He is fantastic and we still plan to keep him. He brings us joy each and every day!

Happy Halloween

Our little Monkey Boy is all dressed up for day care today. He'll do a little trick-or-treating tomorrow.