Alligator Kisses and Bedtime

Last week the weather was nice, so Liam wore shorts and sandals. We cleaned up the garden; there's no grass in our garden, so it just needed a good spring cleaning. Boys will be boys though. Liam fell and scraped his knees. In effort to make it better with as little drama as possible, we kissed his knees, now known as the garden owies.

Every day since then, he's asked for kisses on his knees. Then he added the tiny speck of an owie on his thumb. Who knows how that happened... and then the imaginary owie on his ear. Each one needed to be kissed before bedtime.

Then one night, Liam knew just how to make Grandpa (who broke his hip better).

"Liam airplane Grandpa's house. Grandpa owie hip. Liam kissies."

Lester now reports that he has an additional bedtime duty. Before Liam will go to sleep, Daddy has to kiss Chomp-chomp's knees. All four, and finding an alligator's knees isn't easy.

Bedtime is usually pretty easy for Liam these days. He likes singing.
"ABC song first, Mommy."
I start singing. By the time I get to D, he changes his mind.
"No Mommy, Farm song. Piggie."His tone suggests I've committed a grave mistake.
So I switch, and by the time I get to "Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I..."
"No Mommy, Itchy 'pider. No Farm Song."
Then we sing and sign The Itsy Bitsy Spider all the way through.

Afterward, we count to ten. Liam knows how, but for some reason, he really likes 2, 7, 8. Sometimes he also says 17.

me: one
liam: two
me:three
liam: seven, eight
me: four
liam: two, seven, eight
me: five
liam: six
me & liam together: seven, eight, nine, ten.

Fun part is... then we do it again, and he starts:
liam: two
me: two
liam: three
me: three
liam: four
me: four
etc...

If you ask him how many ducks are in the picture, he usually says (you guesed it...): two, seven, eight.

Then once we finish counting, in effort to postpone bedtime, Liam wants to recite the alphabet. He recognizes L for Liam and M for Monkey. I remind him that M also starts Mommy, but he denies the possibility.
"No Mummy, M Monkey, not Mummy."

Finally, I tell him to read books in his bed until he falls asleep. In his perfect world, we would read to him until he fell asleep, but as we have learned, that could take hours. So he reads to himself, sometimes out loud, which is too cute. After ten minutes, he's usually asleep. Some nights take a few trips out of bed, not even to protest really, but to check on us. We turn him around, and tuck him in again. After two or three bouts, he's asleep.

Then when we go in to turn off the light, we find all kinds of contraband under his pillow: cars and airplanes, paper cups and socks.

Amen

When Liam was at church on Easter, he noticed people said 'amen' a lot. He would say it too, a few seconds after the congregation. Very cute. After church, Liam asked about amen, so I explained that praying was talking to God. I suppose I told him that we pray for people who need help. Liam wasn't sure who God was, but he must have figured it out.

Anyway, last night, as Liam was falling asleep, he asked about amen again. He wanted to know what it meant and I reminded him. Liam has been really worried about his great-grandpa, who broke his hip last weekend. So all on his own, last night, Liam said, "God help Grandpa. Amen." he thought for a minute, and then he added, "God help Suri. Amen." (Suri is Liam's friend who is currently waiting to be adopted.)

Liam has been asking to go to church again all week, and I have to admit, he behaved really well for a two-year-old. So the plan is to take him every week, now that he is old enough. I was reminded of sitting through church when I was little, fascinated by the rituals. How did everyone know do everything at the same time? I didn't understand much of what was being said, but I knew it was important.

I think Liam already understands the significance. Amen.

Happy Easter

Yesterday was Easter. Liam had a good weekend, full of friends, fun and treats. He hunted for eggs twice. (Yielding a total of six eggs, five of which contained candy unsuitable for a toddler.) Liam was very happy to see Suri and Joya who came down for a surprise visit. The two of them get along really well. They joined us while we went to another Gymboree play date. Liam has only been to this place once before, but he remembered the routine perfectly. He knew what was coming next, and reminded the teacher, just in case she forgot. :-)

He colored eggs at D's house after the play date, which he enjoyed.

On Easter, we went to church. Liam payed attention and sat still for nearly an hour. After his nap, he hunted for his Easter basket, which he found in the playroom, behind his train. Liam really liked the eggs that hatched into dinosaurs. We had to be careful not to mention the Easter Bunny though.

A few weeks ago, Liam and I were at the mall. Normally I don't take him shopping because he is a menace. However, he needed new shoes, and it's hard to take his feet without him. While strolling the mallway, we came across the 'scary bunny' who I have to admit, looked a little suspicious. He's a six-foot-tall dingy-grey rabbit, waving uncontrollably at little kids, wearing a jacket and hat, but no pants. Liam wrapped himself behind my legs and started shaking. I've only seem Liam really visibly scared of three things previously: a construction backhoe, the ocean and Santa. Add mister bunny to the top of the list. Weeks after our quick encounter with the rabbit, this topic is now taboo. If we don't mention the bunny, Liam doesn't panic. He likely thinks the basket was delivered by UPS. Fine with us.

We all enjoyed a nice Easter dinner with our friends, Matt & Mel and their two-week old daughter. (Like us, they are holiday orphans, with family in other parts of the world.)

It was a quiet, laid back kind of holiday. Perfect.