Five Years Later

Once upon a time, five years ago....Liam was born.


One year later...


Two years later...


Three years later...


Four years later...


And NOW....five amazing years later...
THIS

...AND THIS...

...AND THIS!


Here is a poster we made for Liam's "All About Me" week at Daycare, celebrating his birthday. I am sure you can see the theme.


Here are pictures from Liam's two birthday parties. The first is from Kid's Junction, an indoor play place that allowed us to have screaming kids running all over the place but NOT in our house. Heh.




This was the Pirate themed cake that they made for Liam. It had really tasty icing...almost a cinnamon taste to it. I loved it (especially since I expected it to taste like run-of-the-mill party cake).





This is Liam and Maia, having fun playing at Kid's Junction.




Here are pictures from Liam's family birthday party, held later in the evening. This is the awesome birthday cake my mom made for him. It's the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship and Liam's favorite. It was a big hit!



Liam got more Legos...he has almost all of the sets from Pirates of the Carribean, and might almost be beating Matt out for number of sets.


This is an Ugly Doll that Liam got, Batty Ninja or something like that.


Here, Liam is modeling his new pirate robe, and pretending that it is Blackbeard's coat.

This is the "Heart of Davy Jones" that I knit for Liam. He had asked for one to put in his pirate chest, so...I surprised him with one. In the background, you can also see the Minion that I knit him (from Despicable Me).




And here are some random pictures from the last two months.
These are pirate cookies that we made together. He helped press them out, and decorated them (well some of them...Matt and I helped with a few others).



This is a picture that Liam told me to take of him, eating bacon. Don't know why he wanted it...he just insisted on it...so I complied.


And this is Liam's first trip to the library. Yes, I know, said that we waited until he was almost 5 to take him. We read him books every day, we just never actually went to the library with him. But we plan to do it more often now. Liam has his very own library card.

Happy 5 Years!

Today my son is five years old! No longer a baby or even a toddler, and maybe not even so much of a little boy. He's starting to become a big boy. And it's amazing to watch him grow. To hear the things he has to say, his opinions, how he interprets things. It's great to watch him interact with the world...his parents, his baby sister, his friends, and all the others around him. I love him so much, I am so proud of him, and I wish I had so much more time to post about him. It grieves me to see that I haven't made a post since the beginning of January. There so much to say about him, and yet I just haven't found the time. Even now, I hardly have time to post. We have parties to get ready for, stuff to do...so I will have to post later (probably tomorrow), and hopefully I can post lots of pictures up on the site.

Happy Birthday, Liam!

Snappy Dresser, Awesome Helper

You know how little kids get to that age where they pick out their own clothes and dress themselves, and the clothes are always mismatched and crazy looking? You know?

Well...
That's not Liam. Liam has been picking out his clothes for a while now, and EVERY single time he matches. He is good at finding actual sets that go together, but he is also good at making sure the pants color goes with the shirt color. I don't remember ever teaching him that, and he certainly didn't get it from Matt, who tends to pick out non-matching clothes for Liam. I recently asked Liam about how he picked out matching clothes, and he said that he just looked at the colors in the shirt and the colors of the pants.
Like this...he noticed black on the shirt sleeves, and so picked out black pants. He said that he didn't have red pants, but that if he did it would be TOO much red.


Liam has also gotten into more of a helping phase. All yesterday he followed me around, wanting to help with things. Wanting to clean up, wanting to maybe wash dishes, wanting to do anything to get the chores done. And at one point he even offered to clean something up so that I could knit instead. So awesome. He also offered to change Maia's diaper. He said that he didn't know how to change a poopy diaper but if I taught him how then he would know and then he could do it, so I should try teaching him. How sweet is that! I thanked him profusely but said that he should just stick to pee diapers and that MAYBE I would let him do a few diapers (don't think he knows what he is getting into).

Update on Liam

What can I say about Liam? There are just so many things, but they tend to be small everyday things...things he says, the way he says them, the things he notices, some small interaction with his sister...it's hard to write about them because they are so numerous it's hard to remember them all, and just one of them doesn't seem all that amazing to write about if you don't know him well enough to know it's special...and most of you reading this (ha ha...if anyone reads this) don't see him day in and day out.
But I will do my best to share his awesomeness.



He is so great with his sister. A bit rambunctious at times, over-loving, but he is like that with all things. She sometimes gets annoyed at his excess attentions, especially in the hug department, but mostly she loves seeing him and being around him, and watching/hearing him. He loves showing her how to play with toys, handing toys to her, praising her for things that she does, getting her a burp cloth and wiping up her chin (yes, he will do this for her), retrieving her pacifier, and generally just hang around her. Occasionally he asks to put her on his lap, but since she is getting pretty big and sits upright now, those requests will probably stop.




I took him to Target to pick out a Christmas present for Maia, which he did happily. He immediately picked out a house that has lots of switches and buttons and such for her to learn from. On Christmas morning, that was the first present he grabbed, taking it over to her and helping her to open it and then show her how it worked. He didn't even care about his presents first. He was tickled about the idea of giving her a gift.


He still loves bad guys, and pirates even more. Anything having to do with Pirates of the Caribbean is awesome to him. He loves Davy Jones and Blackbeard the most, but Jack Sparrow and Blackbeard are a close second. He also loves the Kraken, and pretending to be the Kraken and attaching his many pirates ships. He loves talking about the ships, and has a personal favorite love for the Flying Dutchman. He got a Lego set of the Black Pearl and was thrilled to put it together with Daddy.




It's so hard to explain how he speaks. I mean, it's probably just the same as any other almost-5-year-old. But to me it's neat to hear him talk the way he does, expressing the ideas that he does, understanding the concepts that he does. His reasoning, his feelings, and his theories. He appreciates my knitting (just today he complimented me on the sweater I had knit for Maia, recognizing that she was wearing something knit by me...and he has also asked me to knit him a Mailbox Monster - more on that in a later post when I have pictures of the one I am currently knitting). I got a new ball winder and swift and he gladly helped me use it.


I was eating tacos at dinner, and upon taking a bite, the whole taco shell shattered and spilled everything onto my plate. I made a loud annoyed noise, and Liam asked me what was wrong. Upon explaining that my taco shell had broken up, he said "well, that's just what tacos DO!", as if it was a completely normal thing and I should KNOW that.
He has a fascination with drawing, as well, although sometimes his drawings feature things like tornados. Heh. Here is a drawing he did for me, with the Grinch in it (and then him modeling his Grinch shirt).



Okay, now I am blanking on details. I KNOW I have so much more to talk about. I just suddenly can't think. It IS late, and I spent today going through lots of pictures and posting two other blog posts, trying to remember what has been going on. I will definitely have to post more about Liam, as memory returns to me, and as he does stuff. For now, though, here are some more pictures of my wonderful son.

My little man

Just a few pictures of Liam, since I haven't been keeping up with things. He is awesome. A pain at times, but awesome. He is great with Maia, and loves to get her laughing. She loves him. And he's smart. And loves to drawn pictures apparently.

My little man, looking so snazzy. (Thanks to Thomas for allowing Liam to try on the hat)


Here is Liam trying on the headpiece of Maia's costume...which was HIS costume when he was a baby. A bit small for him now.


This is a family picture that Liam drew. From left to right: Liam, Maia (in her car seat), Mommy, Daddy.





Here are a bunch of sibling shots. God, I love them! My kids, that is...not the pictures...though those are nice too.

Halloween Parade and Halloween

A quick post with pictures from Liam's Halloween Parade at Daycare, as well as a few good shots of him in his costume.








And here's Jack Sparrow! Totally awesome costume, huh? We got a lot of "things" to hang on it, to look more like Jack Sparrow and not just some random pirate. He had belts and sashes and a compass and even a "chicken foot" that Matt made for him out of black wire/twisty-tie.

Our Family

While at Daycare, Liam drew a picture of our family. I didn't actually realize he could draw something that could be identified as a person. Probably because I have never asked him to draw stuff like that while at home. Shame on me. But after seeing this, I totally want to see him draw more pictures.


Anyway, this is a picture of the four of us. Can you guess which one I am?
(Hint, I am not either of the two little ones...Liam and Maia...nor the one that is supposed to be Matt on the far right...heh)

All Pirate, All the Time

Couldn't help sharing this picture of Liam...he totally loves pretending to be a pirate. And not just any pirate, but one of the big ones from "Pirates of the Caribbean"...any of the movies. Usually Davy Jones, but also Blackbeard or, as pictured here, Captain Jack Sparrow. Occassionaly Barbosa, but he specifies "Barbosa with the peg leg". He's got a thing for peg legs. Ha.

Pre-K

Another step was made in Liam's journey through life. Today he left his preschool class and moved to the classrom next door. Today he got new teachers. Today he starts a new chapter in his life. Today...he started Pre-K! A precursor to Kindergarten. And while I know it's not as big a milestone as Kindergarten, it's still a big step. He is one year away from "school age". My Liam...my little baby boy, not so little and babyish anymore. Not that has has been a baby for a while. But still...
The note in his cubby said to include a folder for homework. HOMEWORK. Wow. I know it won't be a huge deal, but it's still the beginnings of having work to do that he brings home. And he is to bring in a coloring book to keep him busy when he doesnt nap...which means that he is getting old enough that they don't enforce naps anymore.

Its crazy, I tell you, this growing up thing. Of course, how will I feel when he goes to Kindergarten next year. Eep.