How to Eat Dinner if You're 16 Months Old

First, talk Mommy into bringing Bobble Head down to dinner with you so you can make sure that Bobble Head gets enough to eat. (Liam got this the night we went to the Mariner's game for my work, and occasionally becomes obsessed with it. It's not a toy -- it probably weighs 2 pounds and has numerous sharp edges and corners. Still. . .I bring it down to have dinner with him because the lack of sleep has finally caused me to lose my mind entirely.)


Next, ask Daddy for a cookie. What? No cookie? Come on, it's for Bobble Head.


See if you can finally get Mommy and Daddy to agree that the food should go in your nose. What? It really doesn't go in your nose? What about your hair?

Make sure Bobble Head gets enough to drink.

Look with suspicion at the green pea pod Daddy is trying to get you to eat. Really? Pea pod?

Explain to Daddy that the pea pod would go over better if it came with some "stars" (puffed corn or something like that crackers; Liam loves them).

Finally, take a bite of dinner. Okay. Now, do it all over again for the second bite. You would think this would tire him out and make bedtime easier. . ..

Birds!

Will put up bird feeders for Liam today, in the side yard outside the dining room window. After Liam's nap we went to the bird food store and then came home to fill the feeders. So, hopefully, in the next few days we'll have birds. Photo is the promised airplane-flying shot, and then another with both airplane and race car.

Liam is not flying the airplane, he is mad at the tape measure

We try to get good pictures of Liam for these posts, even though my photography sucks. (Although, today I came across some tips for food photography when looking for vegan recipes for Dave's granddaughters who are visiting next weekend---one can't eat dairy; the other is veg, so vegan seemed the safest way to go; also, of course, the most humane way and we all should eat that way even though I'm not person enough to start. I'm so excited about the food photography tips, because hopefully I'll be able to take viewable pictures of all the stuff I'll make over the holidays.) And, we're blessed and lucky that Liam, even with his very strong personality and rather touchy temperament, is basically a pretty happy little kid most of the time. Even so, this is what he often looks like---some version of frustrated, angry, tired, or unhappy about something.

In this photo he is mad because, I'm not sure I remember exactly, something to do with wanting to play with the tape measure but the tape measure wasn't doing what he wanted and so now he is grabbing my leg and screaming and I'm supposed to. . .not sure what; pick him up and wrestle the tape measure into submission I guess. Anyway, I was trying to get some pictures of him flying his wooden airplane. He holds it sideways over his head and spins in a circle and makes an airplane noise until he falls down. Very cute. I'll try again tomorrow.

Will is feeling better.

One of my intentions was to use this space to keep people updated about how Will's health is doing, and I've kind of been falling down on the job. So: Will is feeling better. He is taking two antibiotics, one inhaled the other oral -- no IVs! He thinks they're working. He even has gone rowing once and said it was "fine; normal." So, that's good news and makes us hope that all this was just a regular lung infection and nothing too weird. He's been very helpful this week, making dinner twice and going with Liam to the nanny-share family this AM (which involved getting up at 7:15, which is not what Will likes to do). Thanks Will!

We've had an eventful week

let's see, where to start. Monday, honestly, I can't even remember a single thing about Monday, except going to the grocery store at 9:30 PM after Liam was finally asleep to get milk because we were out and needed it for the AM. And Will made pea soup. Tuesday Liam spent his first morning at the nanny-share family. I guess it wasn't a total disaster, but close. Liam cried all morning. For 30 minutes straight after I left at 8:30 AM and then on and off until I arrived to pick him up at 12:15 PM. (He was sniffling when I arrived.)

So, the nanny-share family is a little put off, I guess, by us. Today Liam had his second morning there, and Will went with him to try to ease the transition. Will said Liam cried some, but also played pretty well with the other child and the nanny. They were supposed to go back tomorrow, but I got a phone message from the nanny-share family mother about what a hard day Liam had had and how she thought we should take tomorrow off. So, it remains to be seen whether we have been un-invited from the nanny share. I guess I'll call them later.

Tomorrow is my all day mandatory work retreat in Seattle. It's pouring down rain and has been for about 24 hours; can't wait to see what that does to traffic!

I tried to capture Liam experimenting with what he can and cannot do on the stairs. Besides working on going up and down (this is the only circumstance in which he will voluntarily hold hands), he will get on his knees and put his hands out and then wheelbarrow out, put his feet down, then back up, then go backwards. I used to take pilates back when I had a life of my own, and I think that kind of stuff is pretty hard. Liam seems just curious about it. What does the nanny-share family know, anyway; we think he's fine just the way he is.

Weekend Outing #2: The Zoo

We decided that it might be fun for Liam to see some real, live polar bears in action so today we were off to the zoo. The nearest zoo is about 30 minutes away and it does have polar bears.

As soon as we arrived it started pouring down rain. No fooling, wind and rain sideways, etc. We were undeterred, but did spend the first 30 minutes in the aquarium part of the zoo (indoors). Then it was on to penguins (okay), walruses (a big hit), beluga whales and sea otters (okay), POLAR BEARS (squealing, jumping and growling), caribou (no reaction), and meerkats (another big hit). We ended at the petting zoo, which consisted of one well-behaved sheep and a pack of very aggressive goats. Liam thought they all were a bit much and did not wish to pet. So we washed our hands and then on to the gift shop where, being the good zoo patrons that we are, we bought Liam a zoo pullover (fleece, on sale) and a $35 stuffed polar bear that is as big as he is. He made a bee-line in the store for it and wouldn't put it down.

Oh, the glamour of parenthood: lugging your 25 pound kid and his 35 dollars worth of stuffed polar bear up 4 flights of stairs to the car. In the rain. Liam was chatty most of the way home, ate a big snack in the car, and then went fast asleep as soon as we left the highway here in town. He sleeps away still.

Photos are: on the way to the zoo; watching the polar bear; watching the polar bear some more; telling daddy all about the polar bear; and, clutching the stuffed polar bear all the way home (hard to do this and eat goldfish crackers, grapes and cheese at the same time, but Liam managed; he also insisted that the stuffed polar bear have some water from the sippy cup).

Weekend Outing #1: The Park

This is our normal weekend, weeknight, whenever outing but for some reason Saturday's trip was particularly pleasant. Liam was really interested in the park and in playing and seeing everything. Will was feeling slightly better and seemed to enjoy the walk. And the rain wasn't even that bad.

Photos are: playing with Mollie; leaning to swing; trying to put the leash on Mollie; and our blue dot, I'm so pleased that Liam, who has a very cautious temperament is starting to be able to wander off from us with out upset. We watch him, of course, and don't let him get too far.