Zoo Day

The weather at the tail end of September is better than any we've had all year. The sunny, warm day beckoned us to come out and play. We went to the zoo!

When we arrived, we were met by a peacock. Liam was mesmerized by the 'bird'. Courageously, Liam crept closer and closer, until the peacock hobbled away. He had a foot injury, which only added to Liam's intrigue.

We played for a few hours, mostly at the new children's zoo. We ate our picnic lunch before catching a glimpse of the elephants, who were snoozing. We also saw the sharks and monkeys, both favorites.

It was a fun day.

The Good Doctor

Today we were watching MSNBC to see a repeat of Keith Olbermann on David Letterman. John McCain ditched Letterman to chill with Katie Couric and he told Letterman that he was on his way to the airport to go directly back to Washington. Olbermann stepped into his spot on the Late Show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Std7W74RlTg

Countdown is the only show we watch regularly, and it's on every day. So it's fair to say I like my politics with an Olbermann bias. Jon Stewart's pretty good too, but it's satire; infotainment. Countdown is more comprehensive and less biased; but heck, it's still very liberal-flavored. So why am I putting all of this on Bean's Blog? Well first, when he gets to be older, I want him to see how important politics is to his parents. Second, as we were watching MSNBC this morning, an ad comes on TV featuring the doc who delivered Liam!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlWmZ_aD8cc

I knew I liked her. I suppose she doesn't really care if a patient goes elsewhere because of her views, seeing as she delivers something like 300+ babies a year. Plus, in Seattle, I think most women would be in favor of keeping emergency contraception legal and readily available. From my experience, she was incredible in her willingness to allow me flexibility in my difficult pregnancy, even when the others ordered me to bed rest. I'm glad she was the one to catch little Liam as he flailed into his tiny new life. And it was a nice surprise to see her on TV this morning.

No Place Like Home

Liam was so happy to see Mommy at the airport yesterday. He was sitting on Daddy's shoulders, looking around... then he saw me, and his normal inquisitive expression broke into a giant smile, complete with a giggle. He reached for me and wouldn't let go. Running through Dulles Airport (full sprint down two whole terminals) to make the tight connection and get home before his bedtime was so worth it.

While I was gone, Liam's new choo-choo arrived. He loves watching it go around all by itself. Plus it sings songs and teaches him letters (we'll see about that).

Another unwelcome guest arrived while I was gone. Liam's ear infections are back. The doctor today suggested the Ear specialist, who will likely suggest ear tubes. We'll know more on 10/2. Liam is really grouchy today, and I think he's in a lot of pain. Poor thing no longer responds to oral antibiotics, so he has to go in today, tomorrow and Friday for an injection in each thigh. We really *hope* that does the trick.

Happy Birthday Nana

Today is Nana's Birthday. Happy Birthday... maybe next year Liam will be able to say it... or even sing it!

Liam's at home with Daddy. I'm in New York for a seminar. This is the first time I've been away from Bean more than one night. I miss him so much. It's nice to be here in Syracuse though. I'm constantly reminded of good things. Tonight the seminar took everyone to Skaneateles Lake where Daddy used to dive... In the winter... Because he's a little crazy like that. Mommy and Daddy met in Syracuse.

I've learned a lot while I was here, so it was worth it to be away from my true loves for a little while. Plus I hear they have been having a little fun while I'm away. I can't wait to see Bean though. His laugh does not the same over the phone.

Liam's Language Grows

We now have a full list of 25; words Liam knows and uses daily.

In order:

1. mama
2. more
3. ball
4. book
5. baby
6. bye
7. dog
8. D (for Devin)
9. cheese
10. fish
11. nana (means banana and grandma)
12. cracker
13. car/beep
13. juice
14. cookie
15. bar (means cereal bar)
16. choo-choo
17. teeth
18. hot (means hot and cold)
19. baboo (means bubble)
20. bapu (Means daiper) [ He also says poo-poo.]
21. wash
22. cow & moo
23. hoo-hoo (owl)
24. ah-ah (sheep)
25. ca-car (tractor, farmer, barn)

This doesn't include his signs: all done, airplane, eat, more, milk, sleep, dog, bird, different; flower, turtle, fish, bath, hot, car, kitty, and no.

He has started using mama and dada to refer to us, but not all the time. Someone pointed out to me that I call Lester by his name most of the time, and he calls me Lisa most of the time. If talking to Liam, we use mommy and daddy, so that explains why he's just now starting to use these words. Also, Liam rarely uses no, but he means it when he says no. Most of the time he uses it when he doesn't want a certain food or toy. He also shakes his head no, but that can mean no, yes, or I'm tired.

In a very cute way, Liam has named his favorite books, even the library ones he really likes. So there's the choo-choo book (random story about a train), the aroo book (I'll teach my dog a lot of words), the ah-ah book (farm book), the bay-bee book (photos of babies smiling, frowing, etc.), the Knut book (about Knut, the baby polar bear in Germany), la la (moo, ba, la la la, by Sandra Boynton) and there are tons of others. We read a lot.

Daddy's Birthday!

Nine years ago, I took Lester on a week's vacation to Alaska for his 30th birthday. He flew in a single-engine bush plane over Mt. Denali while I hiked in the national park. (Hiking was the safer route; I'd likely get sick in the bouncy-bumpy puddle jumper.) Lester watched from above as thousands of Elk herded in the Alaskan Wild. I ran into a bear (almost literally) and her cubs, and had to hike miles back along a loop trail to avoid any trouble. I also felt the warm, stinky breath of a moose, who was hiding so well I could only hear and smell him breathing in the nearby brush.

This was long before little Bean, obviously. However, this birthday shared a few characteristics with the one nearly a decade ago; they both were entirely spontaneous and both involved animals in their natural settings.



On Saturday, Lester's 39th birthday, we first met up with Zinta and the crowd. It had been too long since we had last seen them. Also, we missed Imants' birthday a few days ago, so a visit was certainly in order. Guy and Cara met us at ZAGI Headquarters, where a big playdate kept all kids occupied for hours.





Guy and Cara, joined us on a trek to Monroe Elementary School, where thousands of birds circle above before swirling into the chimney all at once. Liam said (and signed) bird, and caw-caw, over and over.



You can't really see the birds here because of the low light and small image size, but you do see the crowd, the sunset, and the school. Watch the video (link below) and you'll see why this was so amazingly cool. This video gives you an idea, but I think it was filmed at a school in Portland. The same thing happens in Monroe.

This article is from last year, but it explains the event:
Swifts by the thousands target Monroe chimney

Monroe is only a few miles north of Joya & Wiley, so afterward, we stopped for a few minutes to say hello. Liam slept in the car the whole way home. With such a busy, fun-filled day, he was exhausted!

The wonderful day started me thinking about what to do for Lester's next birthday; the big 40! We could take another spontanuous adverture together, with or without Bean. (It would be more difficult for different reasons either way.) We could relax on the beach somewhere, but that's not Lester's preference. Plus relax=beach+Liam is an invalid equation. We could hear back to our roots, and have a stale roll and a pint of whatever at the Inn-Complete. I don't know if alumni are allowed in. Heck, I don't even know if it's there anymore. Only time will tell, and I have 362 days to plan.

On September 5th Liam weighed 26.8 pounds and was almost 32 inches tall.

Happy half-birthday Bean!

Liam is old. He's a little boy, clearly a toddler. We forgot to sing, in fact with it being a holiday, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Though this is interesting; for the first time in his life, Liam's age has caught up with his clothing size, at least with jammies and pants.

He wore newborn until he was 3 months; 0-3 until 5 months, 3-6 thereafter, and then size 9 months at around a year. He was in 12 months all summer, though with shirts we usually went up in size for comfort (don't we all?) But now, as he turns 18 months, he's finally caught up. 18-month everything.

I'm curious to see how much he weighs at his doc visit on Friday.

Happy half-birthday Bean!