Liam is 3 years old!

Just a quick edit to put this post in it's proper place behind the December/January posts.

Although I'm a few months behind on the blog, I wanted to prioritize this post since it was such an important milestone. Our big boy Liam turned 3 years old!

Liam's favorite breakfast is pancakes with syrup (must include syrup and low sugar syrup is not acceptable). So, of course for his birthday, I made him pancakes!

Neil worked from home the morning of Liam's birthday so we did presents first thing. Liam continues to love Buzz Lightyear and the whole Toy Story gang so he was thrilled with his new Potato Head pieces.

He also loved the camping Playdoh kit. Here he is roasting a marshmallow on his Playdoh campfire.

I have to say, the camping Playdoh set was a lot of fun for me too. I made bacon and eggs!

We attended many birthday parties over the past few months and after each one, Liam let me know that he was going to have a Diego birthday party. Here's the Diego cake (chocolate of course)!

We had 10 kids over to celebrate Liam's birthday!

Liam has a huge Diego coloring book so we had fun making our own Diego decorations!

Here's the Diego and Dora decoration made by Liam!

 "When is this party going to start? We're ready!"

Neil played the Diego Theme song throughout the party and the kids had so much fun running around the house, dancing to the song. One parent asked, "Are you going to play this song over and over? I just need to prepare myself." At least the kids loved it!

Blowing out the 3 candles!

Enjoying the birthday cake and chatting with friends!

Rocking out on his new doggy guitar. It actually woofs the notes.

Opening more presents the day after the party. Liam got his first digital camera. Here he is taking a picture of Neil. Also, notice the Lightning McQueen tent in the background. It was a huge hit with both boys. They played together in it all day.

It's hard to believe that our Liam is 3 years old already. But, then when we think about the fact that we're about to welcome our third baby into the world, it only makes sense that he's at least 3 years old! We are so proud of our funny, smart, active big boy and look forward to the next year of milestones and watching him explore the world through the eyes of a three year old.

All About Liam

The summer has flown by so fast and the kids are continuing to grow up at a rapid pace.  Since the birthday post was all about Dylan, this post will be dedicated to our awesome "big kid" Liam.

At the end of the summer, Liam is full of new tricks.  He keeps us quite entertained, impressed and proud when he:

• Recites sentences in the books we get from the library after hearing the story only a few times.
• Shows a whole lot of excitement for Dora and Diego.
• Sings the Spiderman theme song all day long.
• Rides on his scooter.  
• Mastered potty training thanks to his Cars potty with revving engine. 
• Hits a baseball that he throws to himself. 
• Tells us when he "likes" and "loves" things.  Especially when he says, "I love my mommy" and gives me a big hug.
• Drinks from a regular cup.
• Sings the entire "ABC's"
• Enjoys running.  Sometimes it's running away from Mommy which he thinks is a fun game.

Here are some more of his tricks with photographic proof!

Uses chopsticks while eating Hibachi.

Dunks his head in the pool.

Builds with Playdoh.

Eats shishkabobs.

Goes crabbing with Daddy.

Puts together 25 piece puzzles by himself.

Blows bubbles.

Tries to make us laugh.

 

Climbs into any space he can find.

Obsesses about birthday cake and won't leave the table until the whole piece of cake is eaten and the plate is licked clean.

Liam is full of energy and very quick-witted.  We are amazed by him everyday!       

Liam turns 2!

Liam turned 2 years old on February 17th!

The past two years have flown by very quickly and Liam has grown into such a fun and charming little guy.  To catch up the blog, here's a little info on Liam's first two years:

Liam loves music.  We find ourselves listening to the "Cars" and "Toy Story 3" soundtracks every day.  Neil tries to mix it up with Jethro Tull, The Who or Bob Dylan but Liam usually insists, "No, Daddy.  Buzz Lightyear music."  He hasn't even seen the movies yet but he's obsessed with all the characters and now the music too.  He still plays the harmonica.  His famous harmonica video will be in a future post.  He also sings made-up songs while Neil plays guitar.  The song, "Oh Momma, you are so beautiful, it's true.  Oh Momma, thank you for everything you do" is my personal favorite.  His first concert was Little Sammy Davis at Uncle Colin's bar, The Keltic House, in Fishkill.  At the Clearwater Music Festival, Liam wore the tie-dyed onesie we bought in Woodstock.  It was the first baby purchase we made after we found out we were pregnant.     

4 months old - Clearwater Music Festival

Liam loves the water.  Baths, pools, lakes and oceans.  Wherever he can find it.  Liam and I went to the pool everyday last summer, even with my 9 months pregnant belly.  His first underwater dunk was in Aruba when he was 7 months old.  A few tears were shed but he recovered quickly.  He likes to help with Baby Dylan's bath, which means that he gets a second bath because he always ends up soaked.  In addition to the water, he likes the sand as well.  Cleaning him up after the beach was a lot of work and sandy diapers are no fun.          

6 months old at Lake Sacandaga in the Adirondacks

Liam is very outgoing and social and my favorite thing about him is that he's a hugger.  Whenever anyone comes to our house, he runs over to greet them with a hug.  The hugging is slowing down for strangers, which is a good thing.  He used to hug random people in the doctor's waiting room.  He's definitely an easygoing child and an amazing traveler.  As you can see by his Halloween costume, he certainly isn't shy and doesn't get embarrassed by much.  Or maybe it's because he's too young to know how funny he looks.  

8 months old - Spongebob for Halloween

Already Liam is very courteous for a 2 year old.  He's very proud to say, "God Bless You, Baby Dylan", "Thanks, mom", "Excuse me" and the newest one, "No thank you".  Since he weighs a slight 24 pounds, the "No thank you" comment is usually around foods he doesn't want to eat or has had enough of.  We can't seem to convince him to take one more bite once he's politely declined.  Although he's been playing in the fridge since before he could walk, he isn't really interested in the food, except yogurt.   

11 months

Liam loves hiking with daddy and insists that the hike isn't over until he's seen some animals.  When you ask what he saw on the hike, he can tell you all about it.  Sometimes Liam's description takes some decoding by daddy.  He told me they saw a "coyote foot" which meant coyote footprints.  I didn't need further explanation for "deer poopoo".  But, oftentimes something funny will happen on the hikes and it's the first thing Liam remembers.  He was excited to tell me when Neil said "Whoa" when a bird flew out of the tall grass.  Another funny time was when Neil fell in a deep snow bank with Liam on his back while trying to pick a swamp reed for Liam to take home.

14 months - Hiking Bear Mountain State Park, NY

Liam loves to help with everything.  He's always saying, "My do it!"  He gets his own tissues, blows his nose and throws the tissue in the garbage with no help.  If we aren't fast enough with getting his breakfast in the morning, he will go to the pantry and get the Cheerios out himself.  He even gets a cup from his drawer, takes the milk out of the fridge and unscrews the cap.  I can't believe we haven't had any major spills so far.  We're taking a Mommy and Me cooking class right now and his favorite thing is to whisk.

15 months - making Mother's Day pancakes

Of course we think he's very smart.  Liam can count to 15, recites many nursery rhymes (Humpty Dumpty and Baa Baa Black Sheep), knows his colors, sings lots of songs and can actually hold a conversation.  However, his ABC's still need a little work.  This is his alphabet so far:  "a,b,c,d,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,l,m,n,o,p".  With two stamps in his passport so far, he's definitely learning about the world at a rapid pace. 

16 months - a snack at Stonehenge

17 months - driving the boat on Lake Sacandaga

Liam is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear, or "Buzz 'Ear" as he likes to say.  It all started with Buzz pajamas and a Buzz sippy cup that I bought around the same time.  He started to see Buzz everywhere when Toy Story 3 came out and he's been hooked ever since.  When I ask him what he wants to do today, he often says, "Go to the store to look for Buzz and Woody."  It's a game we play when we're at Target.  Let's see how many Buzz Lightyear's he can spot.  Every night Liam wants to wear his Buzz pajamas (he has 3 different pairs) with matching socks.  He tries to convince me everyday to let him wear the pajamas during the day too.  When I dropped my mom off at the airport, I told Liam that Grandma was going to her home on an airplane.  He added, "Grandma is going to fly like Buzz 'Ear".  Elmo is still a close 2nd as his favorite superhero.

22 months - A Buzz Lightyear Christmas

Liam survived one trip to the ER after falling in his booster seat.  We were advised to take him in when he started vomiting during his nap later that day.  He thought the ER was fun.  I guess the bracelet, special time with daddy and the tunnel ride (CAT scan) would seem fun to a 2 year old.  A few days after the fall, we realized that his vomiting was most likely due to a stomach virus and not a concussion because Neil and I both got the virus.  Too bad he wasn't wearing his scooter helmet!  

2 years - scooter fun

This year we learned that Liam is a birthday diva.  He loved all the attention and said "my birthday coming" all week.  He thought anything that was being opened was a present for his birthday.  He even sang "Happy Birthday to You" to himself when his cake came out before all the guests got a chance.  Now we hear "my birthday is over" every day.  We're not sure when the day will come that his birthday will not be mentioned in some capacity.  Two weeks later...

So, that's our Liam!  One amazing little boy.  We can't wait to write about all the great things to come in his third year.