This will be a quickie post because I'm in Evanston preparing for a presentation for the department, but I wanted to be sure to let everyone know: Liam said his first word!
Sunday night it started with him imitating the "woof woof" sound in his Boynton "Puppies barking and counting" board book. Every time I got to "five dogs woof woof" he would say very quietly "woof" and when we got to "9 dogs in the moonlight aahhhhooooo" he would say "aooo" We were thrilled that he was imitating sounds he heard. And we didnt have to wait long.
The next morning there was an orange on the floor in the kitchen that I had been letting him play with. He saw it, and the entire time he was crawling towards it, he said "bah, bah bah" and when he picked it up he proudly said "bah!" and held it out to me. We put him through the paces, putting several different things on the table in front of him and saying "Liam, which one is the ball?" and each time he would pick up the ball, hold it out and say "Bah!"
This morning while feeding him breakfast before we headed to the airport I could swear he started to say "more" as well. We do the baby signs religiously at every meal, so he signs for "eat" and then "more" when he wants more. I asked him "more?" and he made the sign and said "mah." Each time he repeated the sign, he said "mah."
What an awesome little baby. No video yet though. He is too enamored of the camera so when he sees it he stops what he's doing. Will keep trying.
side note, in case you are wondering: I'm glad for the help the early intervention teacher gave us to really get signing and language practice going for him. And even if this would have happened on its own without any help from us, I'd still rather be wrong (about him needing help) than too stubborn or proud to get him help he may have needed. My understanding is that we continue with the Early Intervention teacher once a week for at least 6 months when he will be re-evaluated, and that if at any time we want to quit the program before then we may.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Darth Baby
Liam went through a weird phase where he seemed really interested in breathing through objects. We gave him one of those long decorative plastic straws that is sort of crinkled like an acordion all along its length. He quickly learned that he could breathe out it rapidly and make a sound like a flute. But mostly he liked sitting around and breathing deeply through the straw like some creepy crank caller.
Ditto when he managed to pull down the wine aerator off the shelf. He plopped it right in his mouth and started that silly deep noisy breathing. Darth [breathe, breathe] I am your baby.
And yes, I supervised his use of the aerator the entire time and shortly after this video I took it away from him and removed it to a higher shelf.
Ditto when he managed to pull down the wine aerator off the shelf. He plopped it right in his mouth and started that silly deep noisy breathing. Darth [breathe, breathe] I am your baby.
And yes, I supervised his use of the aerator the entire time and shortly after this video I took it away from him and removed it to a higher shelf.
Monkey Joes Slide
Remember me talking about how much Liam loved going to Monkey Joes, the kids place full of inflated play areas? This clip gives you a little idea, though without a separate camera man, it was hard for me to capture the look of total rapture on his face. you can sort of tell by the way he tries to climb up the slide on his own at the end...
Peekaboo Pantry
I would say that Peekaboo is, hands down, Liam's favorite game. He loves all forms of the game. He likes hiding his face behind the curtains while I change his diaper and then peeking out. He likes hiding under a piece of laundry that he steals from the couch while I'm folding a load. His favorite book is a peekaboo book where he finds things that are hiding behind other things, and every single time he uncovers the elephant and I read "peekaboo! braaaloooo" he laughs like he's never heard it before.
He likes crawling up on the bed in the morning and uncovering Daddy's sleeping head from beneath the covers--peekaboo alarm clock. And he will even on occasion hide behind his own hands and play a straight peekaboo game. People who try to play just the hands part of peekaboo, hiding and uncovering their face silently, that's okay. But throw in a good enthusiastic proclamation "peekaboo!" and he falls over in gales of giggles. If it is his first discernible word I would not be surprised.
But by far and away his favorite incarnation of the game is peekaboo pantry. Whenever the pantry door is even slightly ajar, he crawls inside, gets himself seated, and...well, I won't spoil the rest. Just take a look for yourself.
The other thing that I find precious about this video is that there are not a lot of domains where it seems clear that he is reacting to verbal speech in a particular way, but in this video you can see that he opens the door when I talk about "where's Liam?" and the one time I wait for a while without saying anything, he also waits inside without opening the door.
He likes crawling up on the bed in the morning and uncovering Daddy's sleeping head from beneath the covers--peekaboo alarm clock. And he will even on occasion hide behind his own hands and play a straight peekaboo game. People who try to play just the hands part of peekaboo, hiding and uncovering their face silently, that's okay. But throw in a good enthusiastic proclamation "peekaboo!" and he falls over in gales of giggles. If it is his first discernible word I would not be surprised.
But by far and away his favorite incarnation of the game is peekaboo pantry. Whenever the pantry door is even slightly ajar, he crawls inside, gets himself seated, and...well, I won't spoil the rest. Just take a look for yourself.
The other thing that I find precious about this video is that there are not a lot of domains where it seems clear that he is reacting to verbal speech in a particular way, but in this video you can see that he opens the door when I talk about "where's Liam?" and the one time I wait for a while without saying anything, he also waits inside without opening the door.
Pbllllllt
For the life of me I cant recall if I already posted this, but it seems like not. Its from December 11th, before we left on the great holiday tour of 2009. This was the first time we saw Liam doing intentional mimicking, so I like to think of it as the dawn on baby communication.
The Great Nashville Blizzard of 2010
As previously mentioned, the day of Liam's first birthday was a massive snow storm in Nashville. It was Chicag-style snow. It threatened to derail the party, but thanks to some hearty playgroup friends, the party went on! Here are some cute photos of Liam experiencing snow for the first time...
Liam and Terry in the snow in front of our house
Liam's first experience with snow...
...which, like everything else, mostly involves asking "is it tasty?"
Crawling in Snow
Tasty tasty snow
Liam continues to struggle valiantly to crawl. Cora decides it is probably much smarter to sit like a lump in her marshmellow suit
Gal pal Cora with her Mama Ariana
Two of the most stoic babies I've ever seen
Because we have no sled, I get all mac guiver and repurpose a box
When the box breaks down, Grandma takes turns carrying Liam home from his snowy walk.
Liam's First Sled Ride
Liam and Terry in the snow in front of our house
Liam's first experience with snow...
...which, like everything else, mostly involves asking "is it tasty?"
Crawling in Snow
Tasty tasty snow
Liam continues to struggle valiantly to crawl. Cora decides it is probably much smarter to sit like a lump in her marshmellow suit
Gal pal Cora with her Mama Ariana
Two of the most stoic babies I've ever seen
Because we have no sled, I get all mac guiver and repurpose a box
When the box breaks down, Grandma takes turns carrying Liam home from his snowy walk.
Liam's First Sled Ride
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Baby crawling in the yard
Something about this video reminds me of video installations you might see in a museum. Small baby trucking diligently across the yard.
This was an unusually warm and sunny day, even for Nashville. Or maybe this year I should say especially for Nashville, because we had the 11th coldest February on record. We took advantage of the warm day for Erin to set up our composter and Terry to build the raised garden beds, and for Liam to have some free time to cruise around the yard experiencing nature.
This was an unusually warm and sunny day, even for Nashville. Or maybe this year I should say especially for Nashville, because we had the 11th coldest February on record. We took advantage of the warm day for Erin to set up our composter and Terry to build the raised garden beds, and for Liam to have some free time to cruise around the yard experiencing nature.
Friday, March 19, 2010
WALKING!!!
This one seems like such a big one, so it is fun to post.
Last night Terry went over to a colleague's house after work to watch the Vanderbilt NCAA basketball game. It was a nice evening, so I was letting Liam play on our enclosed back porch with the door open while I prepped his dinner. I went out to the porch to call Liam in, and he was standing on his own by the table. I crouched down and said, "Come here" and instead of getting down to crawl like he usually does, he took three pretty steady steps towards me and then lunged into my arms. It was ADORABLE. He was clearly totally proud of himself.
Terry was super sad to have missed it (and Liam was in bed when he got home) so we took him out onto the porch this morning before Terry left for work, and sure enough, Liam took steps to Terry too. I have since seen him take a few little independent steps around the house, though our living room is small enough that I think it doesn't really encourage him to walk larger distances, as one step usually takes him from the coffee table to the couch and back.
Today was also his first day with his Early Intervention teacher. She taught me some good tricks for helping him build confidence to walk independently (she said he clearly has the strength, he just needs to chuzpah), and we worked on signing and we think that he started signing back the sign for eat and more. Terry and I will be doing exercises all week to help reinforce his learning of those signs.
What a busy little guy!
Last night Terry went over to a colleague's house after work to watch the Vanderbilt NCAA basketball game. It was a nice evening, so I was letting Liam play on our enclosed back porch with the door open while I prepped his dinner. I went out to the porch to call Liam in, and he was standing on his own by the table. I crouched down and said, "Come here" and instead of getting down to crawl like he usually does, he took three pretty steady steps towards me and then lunged into my arms. It was ADORABLE. He was clearly totally proud of himself.
Terry was super sad to have missed it (and Liam was in bed when he got home) so we took him out onto the porch this morning before Terry left for work, and sure enough, Liam took steps to Terry too. I have since seen him take a few little independent steps around the house, though our living room is small enough that I think it doesn't really encourage him to walk larger distances, as one step usually takes him from the coffee table to the couch and back.
Today was also his first day with his Early Intervention teacher. She taught me some good tricks for helping him build confidence to walk independently (she said he clearly has the strength, he just needs to chuzpah), and we worked on signing and we think that he started signing back the sign for eat and more. Terry and I will be doing exercises all week to help reinforce his learning of those signs.
What a busy little guy!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Quick Development Update: Open cups, pointing, and almost walking
Just a few quick updates (especially since he's hanging around right here trying to help type).
This morning I was motivated by the Montessori in the Home (0-3) book I've been reading, so I started teaching Liam to drink from a regular open cup. The book recommends that a shot glass is a good size for small hands, so I used the plastic shot glasses that we have, and I poured a little bit at a time, and much to my surprise he was great! He picked it up with two hands, and took a big gulp. The only problem is that he's like a little Ghanaian. When Ghanaians perform a ceremony honoring their ancestors, they drink from a common cup and then the last person pours the rest out on the ground as a "libation" to the ancestors. You get the picture already. Liam drinks about half of the water and then like a Ghanaian pouring libation, he tips the cup upside down and pours the rest out on the tray of his high chair.
We also seem to be very very close to walking. There are a couple times when I have caught him taking a step or two between the couch and coffee table. But no amount of excited persuading will get him to walk between me and terry. The minute he isnt holding onto one of us he looks at the distance, judges it too great, and carefully gets down onto his knees to crawl. But he has gotten progressively steadier when walking with assistance (using his push cart) and can now walk well just holding one of our hands at his side.
The other thing we've been working on is intentional pointing. Part of getting his communication skills going is him giving intentional indications of what he wants. Even if he isnt doing the official signs, pointing will get going. So today I started a game of excitedly pointing at the Cheerios box during snack time. I made super enthusiastic faces and said "Cheerios? Cheerios?!" and pointed at the box repeatedly. First he just laughed at me, but as soon as he pointed to the box, I rewarded him with cheerios. We did it three times and each time he eventually pointed at the box. I'm hoping with consistent practice he'll become a pointer, and we can use that to start to make sense in his head that he can use sounds and gestures to communicate his desires to other people.
This morning I was motivated by the Montessori in the Home (0-3) book I've been reading, so I started teaching Liam to drink from a regular open cup. The book recommends that a shot glass is a good size for small hands, so I used the plastic shot glasses that we have, and I poured a little bit at a time, and much to my surprise he was great! He picked it up with two hands, and took a big gulp. The only problem is that he's like a little Ghanaian. When Ghanaians perform a ceremony honoring their ancestors, they drink from a common cup and then the last person pours the rest out on the ground as a "libation" to the ancestors. You get the picture already. Liam drinks about half of the water and then like a Ghanaian pouring libation, he tips the cup upside down and pours the rest out on the tray of his high chair.
We also seem to be very very close to walking. There are a couple times when I have caught him taking a step or two between the couch and coffee table. But no amount of excited persuading will get him to walk between me and terry. The minute he isnt holding onto one of us he looks at the distance, judges it too great, and carefully gets down onto his knees to crawl. But he has gotten progressively steadier when walking with assistance (using his push cart) and can now walk well just holding one of our hands at his side.
The other thing we've been working on is intentional pointing. Part of getting his communication skills going is him giving intentional indications of what he wants. Even if he isnt doing the official signs, pointing will get going. So today I started a game of excitedly pointing at the Cheerios box during snack time. I made super enthusiastic faces and said "Cheerios? Cheerios?!" and pointed at the box repeatedly. First he just laughed at me, but as soon as he pointed to the box, I rewarded him with cheerios. We did it three times and each time he eventually pointed at the box. I'm hoping with consistent practice he'll become a pointer, and we can use that to start to make sense in his head that he can use sounds and gestures to communicate his desires to other people.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Early Intervention Services
This is a strange bittersweet thing to write. But then again I suppose much of parenthood is, almost by definition, about the strange and unexpected convocation of emotions.
Some of you may know already that I have been pressing to have Liam evaluated for delayed communication. Many people have told me not to worry, or that there is nothing wrong with him, or that I am over-reacting and he will develop in his own sweet time. At times, I have doubted myself, because I certainly don't want to be some infant version of the soccer mom incessantly pushing him at all times. But I couldn't shake this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.
In lots of areas he seemed on, or at least keeping pace with his due date (in which his "adjusted age" will be one year in five days). He was crawling well, pulling up, scooting around on furniture, and showing every sign of interest in walking soon. He uses his little fingers to manipulate small objects. Cognitively, he seemed like a little baby engineer (with perhaps a speciality in hydraulics): he can turn on the faucet, make the tub go from faucet to shower, flush the toilet, turn off and on the light switch, turn on Terry's XBOX on the console or using the remote, turn on the television with the remote, and make the phone's ringer volume go up by pushing a button.
But for the life of me, he does not show signs of communication. I have been doing baby signs with him since he was 7 months old. Terry and his other caregivers do as well. We consistently sign "milk" "eat" "more" and "all done." I have now been doing this for six months. He shows not an indication in the world that he either understands the signs or wants to sign them back. (Though I should mention that terry swears that last night he signed milk back to terry before his good night sippy cup of milk).
He does not seem to understand any verbal communication, though he does react to the words "no" and "Liam." But other children his age seem to be displaying an increasing understanding of a variety of nouns, which they show by their reactions or movement (looking towards the book, crawling towards the book, showing a facial expression at the mention of the word book). Liam is attentive to people when they talk, but the content of what they say doesn't seem to produce any variation in the expression of that attention.
So it was with all that on my heart that I pressed our pediatrician to submit him for evaluation in the Tennessee early intervention program. In the initial short screening, he showed that he was delayed on communication, but doing fine on everything else. So he went forward for a full evaluation. The caseworker just called today to tell me that his evaluation shows him to be 40% delayed in communication, but on target for everything else.
The good news is that 40% is the magic number that means we will qualify for TEIS to pay for his therapy services. Which I suppose it far better than finding out that your kid is 38% delayed, and so wont qualify for state aid to help cover the therapy services. But it is a horribly bittersweet thing personally. I pushed for this because if my son needs it, I want him to have everything he can have to enable him to be the best Liam he can be. But as his mother my heart is so very heavy and sad and guilty to have in front of me objective "proof" that he is developmentally delayed. Somehow I want soon to feel free of the terrible burden of guilt that I felt when he was born early, when my body betrayed us both and I couldn't keep him in for as long as he needed to do the developing he should have done. And most days I don't feel the heavy burden of that guilt the way I felt it in the early days. But now it is weighing on me again, because somewhere between his preemie start and whatever nurturing I have given him, it just wasn't enough, and so somehow both of those things feel like my fault.
I felt such a strange mix of emotions hearing her tell me he was 40% delayed, and that she was going to come by the house on friday so we could set goals for his next year and talk about getting "services" in to help him reach those goals. And I was so happy for him that he will get all the help he needs and that I don't have to worry that he needs help but we can't afford to pay for it privately. And it wasn't until later, calling to tell my mom the news, that my chin started quivering and my voice broke and I cried a little. I suppose I wasn't really crying for Liam, I'm not sure he knows yet what he is missing. And he's such a happy little guy. So maybe I was just being selfish and crying for myself. Because more than anything I want to know this little person. I want to know what he thinks about, and what he wants. I want to understand him and let him understand the world around him, and understand me.
Some of you may know already that I have been pressing to have Liam evaluated for delayed communication. Many people have told me not to worry, or that there is nothing wrong with him, or that I am over-reacting and he will develop in his own sweet time. At times, I have doubted myself, because I certainly don't want to be some infant version of the soccer mom incessantly pushing him at all times. But I couldn't shake this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.
In lots of areas he seemed on, or at least keeping pace with his due date (in which his "adjusted age" will be one year in five days). He was crawling well, pulling up, scooting around on furniture, and showing every sign of interest in walking soon. He uses his little fingers to manipulate small objects. Cognitively, he seemed like a little baby engineer (with perhaps a speciality in hydraulics): he can turn on the faucet, make the tub go from faucet to shower, flush the toilet, turn off and on the light switch, turn on Terry's XBOX on the console or using the remote, turn on the television with the remote, and make the phone's ringer volume go up by pushing a button.
But for the life of me, he does not show signs of communication. I have been doing baby signs with him since he was 7 months old. Terry and his other caregivers do as well. We consistently sign "milk" "eat" "more" and "all done." I have now been doing this for six months. He shows not an indication in the world that he either understands the signs or wants to sign them back. (Though I should mention that terry swears that last night he signed milk back to terry before his good night sippy cup of milk).
He does not seem to understand any verbal communication, though he does react to the words "no" and "Liam." But other children his age seem to be displaying an increasing understanding of a variety of nouns, which they show by their reactions or movement (looking towards the book, crawling towards the book, showing a facial expression at the mention of the word book). Liam is attentive to people when they talk, but the content of what they say doesn't seem to produce any variation in the expression of that attention.
So it was with all that on my heart that I pressed our pediatrician to submit him for evaluation in the Tennessee early intervention program. In the initial short screening, he showed that he was delayed on communication, but doing fine on everything else. So he went forward for a full evaluation. The caseworker just called today to tell me that his evaluation shows him to be 40% delayed in communication, but on target for everything else.
The good news is that 40% is the magic number that means we will qualify for TEIS to pay for his therapy services. Which I suppose it far better than finding out that your kid is 38% delayed, and so wont qualify for state aid to help cover the therapy services. But it is a horribly bittersweet thing personally. I pushed for this because if my son needs it, I want him to have everything he can have to enable him to be the best Liam he can be. But as his mother my heart is so very heavy and sad and guilty to have in front of me objective "proof" that he is developmentally delayed. Somehow I want soon to feel free of the terrible burden of guilt that I felt when he was born early, when my body betrayed us both and I couldn't keep him in for as long as he needed to do the developing he should have done. And most days I don't feel the heavy burden of that guilt the way I felt it in the early days. But now it is weighing on me again, because somewhere between his preemie start and whatever nurturing I have given him, it just wasn't enough, and so somehow both of those things feel like my fault.
I felt such a strange mix of emotions hearing her tell me he was 40% delayed, and that she was going to come by the house on friday so we could set goals for his next year and talk about getting "services" in to help him reach those goals. And I was so happy for him that he will get all the help he needs and that I don't have to worry that he needs help but we can't afford to pay for it privately. And it wasn't until later, calling to tell my mom the news, that my chin started quivering and my voice broke and I cried a little. I suppose I wasn't really crying for Liam, I'm not sure he knows yet what he is missing. And he's such a happy little guy. So maybe I was just being selfish and crying for myself. Because more than anything I want to know this little person. I want to know what he thinks about, and what he wants. I want to understand him and let him understand the world around him, and understand me.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A day in the life...
Today was a great and tiring day.
First I got up and went to the gym for my saturday morning ritual: Zumba at the YMCA. It is a class of approximately 120 folks shaking it and getting down to loud latin and hip hop music while sweating profusely but generally smiling.
I got home to quick shower and then head out with Terry and Liam to drop Liam off at the house of another mom from my mom's club. We have a babysitting coop in the club, so we can swap free babysitting with each other. Although he is sometimes showing a bit of separation anxiety, he was immediately in love with the whole family. He's met Lauren (the mom) and Lottie (the daughter) and Lem (baby) before, but this was his first time meeting Hank (the dad) and Liam had an immediate man crush. He made a goofy grin, crawled right to Hank, and just started playing.
Then Terry and I went off for a nice relaxing couples massage. An hour later I felt almost drunk I was so peaced out. Blissful and more relaxed, we went out for lunch. I've been plotting this lunch for seriously months and months. As part of my ongoing "lose the baby weight" campaign (yes yes, it has been too long. I don't want to hear it) I decided I would get a Five Guys Burger when I lost half the weight and kept it off for a set period of time. So today was the day to celebrate that halfway point (actually more than halfway now). So Terry and I got Five Guys, and split a coke and cajun fries. It was a near religious experience. I have never eaten a burger so slowly, eyes rolling back in my head from total joy. It felt a little strange to get a massage at a wholistic healing spa with scented oils and a vegan yogi giving the massage, and then transition to high fat fast food burger, but man, divine.
Then we went to pick up Liam who was up from his nap and playing with Lauren, Lem and Hank. Liam was sitting in Hanks lap happy as a clam knocking down block towers. We wound up hanging out at their house and talking for more than an hour. Turns out they are both also graduated Wahoos (University of Virginia) so of course Terry was immediately bonded. They are just fun wonderful people who are easy to talk to. It made for a wonderful way to pass the early afternoon.
We got home and poor tired Liam went down for nap #3 of the day. He has been down to two, or sometimes one, naps daily. but he only took a short mini-nap while at Lauren's, so he went down for a third. It was a beautiful afternoon, seemingly the first true spring day in Nashville.
So Terry fired up the baby monitor, mixed two margaritas, and we went outside to sit on our deck in the sunshine and soak in the 50 plus degree day. I put my feet in his lap and we talked for a while. it was just slow and nice. Then he got the genius idea to play bocce ball in our clover-overgrown lawn...so we did. We have a sort of bumpy, uneven, sometimes soft lawn that is a thicket of clover that is probably 4 inches high in places right now. It has random hills and small valleys all over the place, so half the time you couldn't even see where the little yellow ball landed. Terry was beating me early on, I made a dramatic come back, got within one point of winning, then he came back and took the game in the end. It was fantastic.
Then the baby woke up, and it was still sunny, though a bit cooler, so we decided to take him to the playground. While I was putting his shoes on, he got impatient and slammed his head back into my jaw while trying to squirm off my lap. As I write this six hours later it still hurts like heck. So after some ice and Ibuprofen, we took him to the playground near our house for about 45 minutes of swinging, sliding, climbing, and chasing the older kids. Liam is enamored of older kids, especially older boys. He likes nothing better than chasing after them and trying to do what they are doing. So he crawled up to the stairs where some kindergarteners were running around. I explained to the kids that he came over because he really likes older kids. One of the boys was particularly interested, and fully of questions: why did he like school kids? why did he want to do what they were doing? And he took a little liking to Liam as well, making fun faces at him and seeming quite pleased when Liam smiled and goooed at him.
We got home and I made Liam a little baby version of Indian curry (thats what Terry and I were having for dinner later on, but ours was spicy and not remotely ready to eat yet). I mixed up steamed carrot, red pepper, peas, and potatoes with brown rice, mixed curry powder, ginger powder, garlic and garam masal together with plain yogurt, and stirred it all together. He's been practicing more and more with using a spoon, but he doesnt yet understand the concept of balancing it upright, so I try to offer him things that are thick enough that they are easy to get onto the spoon (eg by dipping rather than scooping), and hard to get off of it (eg by flinging or tipping upside down en route to his mouth).
After dinner he was a terrible mess. But I've made peace with the idea that in order for him to have room to practice and learn life skills, there will be some mess involved.
So I took him into the bathroom to wash his hands (and face...and ears...and hair). And on the way out he started squirming towards the wall. I stopped walking, and he reached out...and turned off the light. WooHOO!
Months ago, after he showed such interest in turning the water faucet on and off, I tried for a while to teach him about turning the lights on and off. But at the time he didn't seem interested. While I was trying to hand-over-hand him into turning the lights, he was turned around looking at the faucet and trying to reach out for it still. So I call out to Terry excited to tell him about the lights thing. And he calls back "Oh yeah, I was showing him that and he started doing it yesterday or today." All casual he says it. And I just smile, while the lights phase on and off, on and off. The baby just goes in slowly and carefully with his little pincher grip out, grabs the switch, and carefully flipping it up and down. Can we say ADORABLE?!
First I got up and went to the gym for my saturday morning ritual: Zumba at the YMCA. It is a class of approximately 120 folks shaking it and getting down to loud latin and hip hop music while sweating profusely but generally smiling.
I got home to quick shower and then head out with Terry and Liam to drop Liam off at the house of another mom from my mom's club. We have a babysitting coop in the club, so we can swap free babysitting with each other. Although he is sometimes showing a bit of separation anxiety, he was immediately in love with the whole family. He's met Lauren (the mom) and Lottie (the daughter) and Lem (baby) before, but this was his first time meeting Hank (the dad) and Liam had an immediate man crush. He made a goofy grin, crawled right to Hank, and just started playing.
Then Terry and I went off for a nice relaxing couples massage. An hour later I felt almost drunk I was so peaced out. Blissful and more relaxed, we went out for lunch. I've been plotting this lunch for seriously months and months. As part of my ongoing "lose the baby weight" campaign (yes yes, it has been too long. I don't want to hear it) I decided I would get a Five Guys Burger when I lost half the weight and kept it off for a set period of time. So today was the day to celebrate that halfway point (actually more than halfway now). So Terry and I got Five Guys, and split a coke and cajun fries. It was a near religious experience. I have never eaten a burger so slowly, eyes rolling back in my head from total joy. It felt a little strange to get a massage at a wholistic healing spa with scented oils and a vegan yogi giving the massage, and then transition to high fat fast food burger, but man, divine.
Then we went to pick up Liam who was up from his nap and playing with Lauren, Lem and Hank. Liam was sitting in Hanks lap happy as a clam knocking down block towers. We wound up hanging out at their house and talking for more than an hour. Turns out they are both also graduated Wahoos (University of Virginia) so of course Terry was immediately bonded. They are just fun wonderful people who are easy to talk to. It made for a wonderful way to pass the early afternoon.
We got home and poor tired Liam went down for nap #3 of the day. He has been down to two, or sometimes one, naps daily. but he only took a short mini-nap while at Lauren's, so he went down for a third. It was a beautiful afternoon, seemingly the first true spring day in Nashville.
So Terry fired up the baby monitor, mixed two margaritas, and we went outside to sit on our deck in the sunshine and soak in the 50 plus degree day. I put my feet in his lap and we talked for a while. it was just slow and nice. Then he got the genius idea to play bocce ball in our clover-overgrown lawn...so we did. We have a sort of bumpy, uneven, sometimes soft lawn that is a thicket of clover that is probably 4 inches high in places right now. It has random hills and small valleys all over the place, so half the time you couldn't even see where the little yellow ball landed. Terry was beating me early on, I made a dramatic come back, got within one point of winning, then he came back and took the game in the end. It was fantastic.
Then the baby woke up, and it was still sunny, though a bit cooler, so we decided to take him to the playground. While I was putting his shoes on, he got impatient and slammed his head back into my jaw while trying to squirm off my lap. As I write this six hours later it still hurts like heck. So after some ice and Ibuprofen, we took him to the playground near our house for about 45 minutes of swinging, sliding, climbing, and chasing the older kids. Liam is enamored of older kids, especially older boys. He likes nothing better than chasing after them and trying to do what they are doing. So he crawled up to the stairs where some kindergarteners were running around. I explained to the kids that he came over because he really likes older kids. One of the boys was particularly interested, and fully of questions: why did he like school kids? why did he want to do what they were doing? And he took a little liking to Liam as well, making fun faces at him and seeming quite pleased when Liam smiled and goooed at him.
We got home and I made Liam a little baby version of Indian curry (thats what Terry and I were having for dinner later on, but ours was spicy and not remotely ready to eat yet). I mixed up steamed carrot, red pepper, peas, and potatoes with brown rice, mixed curry powder, ginger powder, garlic and garam masal together with plain yogurt, and stirred it all together. He's been practicing more and more with using a spoon, but he doesnt yet understand the concept of balancing it upright, so I try to offer him things that are thick enough that they are easy to get onto the spoon (eg by dipping rather than scooping), and hard to get off of it (eg by flinging or tipping upside down en route to his mouth).
After dinner he was a terrible mess. But I've made peace with the idea that in order for him to have room to practice and learn life skills, there will be some mess involved.
So I took him into the bathroom to wash his hands (and face...and ears...and hair). And on the way out he started squirming towards the wall. I stopped walking, and he reached out...and turned off the light. WooHOO!
Months ago, after he showed such interest in turning the water faucet on and off, I tried for a while to teach him about turning the lights on and off. But at the time he didn't seem interested. While I was trying to hand-over-hand him into turning the lights, he was turned around looking at the faucet and trying to reach out for it still. So I call out to Terry excited to tell him about the lights thing. And he calls back "Oh yeah, I was showing him that and he started doing it yesterday or today." All casual he says it. And I just smile, while the lights phase on and off, on and off. The baby just goes in slowly and carefully with his little pincher grip out, grabs the switch, and carefully flipping it up and down. Can we say ADORABLE?!
Friday, March 5, 2010
MOMs Club
Since we moved to Nashville, I've been active in the MOMs Club of East Nashville. It is a pretty amazing organization that is a super active group of about 40 moms and kids. They have activities almost every day of the week, including playgroups for each birth year, large group activities, story time, picnics, stroller walks, craft activities and more. There are weekly brunches, a pizza making pot luck, a morning muffin party and a monthly night out for the mamas (last month I went wall climbing!).
I worked with a friend to put together a website for the club, so I thought I would share the link so any of you who are curious could see a bit more about what it was all about. If you are interested, you can check out the national organization to see if there is a chapter near you.
I worked with a friend to put together a website for the club, so I thought I would share the link so any of you who are curious could see a bit more about what it was all about. If you are interested, you can check out the national organization to see if there is a chapter near you.
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