He remains horse obsessed. He got a beautiful soft rocking horse from GG Metz for Christmas last year, and he would like it and occasionally ride it. Then in the spring he was sick, and we let him watch movies while he wasn't feeling well. And when Terry asked what he wanted to watch, Liam said he wanted a "horsey movie" so Terry found some that were available to stream on Netflix, including Misty, a 1961 drama about a brother and sister who work together to save up money to buy one of the wild ponies from Assateague island. Drama and adventure ensue, along with some good ole fashioned "roll up your sleeves" kid work ethic, and a fair bit of questionable gender morals. But Liam fricking LOVES this movie. When he was sick he watched it almost on a constant loop. He would watch it twice daily still if we let him. And while he watches, he sits on his rocking horse. And any time the ponies run, he rides with them by moving his horse along energetically. As a consequence, he doesn't so much rock back and forth on it, like a regular kid might, as ride the thing like a jockey in the Derby, bouncing up and down in a crouch occasionally shouting "hyah!" or "neigh!"
As a surprise, just after the move we took him to a nearby horse stable that does lessons for kids as young as Liam. He was thrilled when he realized we were at a barn with horses. And he fell madly in love for the tiny pony outside the barn. But when he saw the big horse that was saddled up for him to ride, he was more unsure. Then when she took out the black velvet riding hat and I put it on him, he really flipped out. We eventually got him calmed and he sat on the horse for 30 seconds, but then he flipped out about the hat again and tore the chin strap off, so he had to come down.
We discovered the South Bend zoo, which is really lovely, has a barn area that includes a pony and two horses that kids can ride. Well, they get to sit on the horse while the keeper uses a lead rope and leads them around a big circle twice. Liam watched a series of other kids do it, and I think that helped him feel brave. The first day he wanted to ride the littlest pony, but after that first time, he's gone back several times and wants to ride the big horses. I walked around with him the first time, but he didn't even want to hold my hand. He held onto the horn of the saddle like such a big kid and he kept his seat like a champ.
He still eats just about everything, and at the end-of-summer picnic his new school Directress came up and said she was really amazed, that she's never seen another child with such a diverse palate and so willing to try anything new. That always makes me smile. His new teachers are all so warm and wonderful, we feel really lucky that he has such a great place to transition to.
His new friend from school is a girl named Presley. I believe she is four going on five. She has curly blond hair a bit lighter than Liam's. Evidently they are attached at the hip in school, and she has taken to helping him learn the ropes. We got to meet her when we came for the end-of-summer picnic, and she was a firecracker! Tons of energy, but the teachers report that she has really exerted a lot of self control to tone down so that she can help Liam.
One of the Montessori concepts of self mastery in the classroom, and respect for others, is the idea of walking away from a situation. "Just walk away" is a phrase you might hear in a Montessori class anywhere. Liam now spouts this around the house too, so if Terry or I are trying to get him to do something he doesn't want to do, he'll often say "Walk away daddy. Walk away."
Liam still seems to really miss his friends from Nashville. Sometimes when he walks away or walks out of a room I'll ask him where he's going and he very casually says, "Nashville." Or when we are in the car of in his bed at night, and I'm trying to talk to him about his day at school and have him name his friends, inevitably the first person he names is "Elliot" his friend from Nashville. It just breaks my heart when he says "Ett. Ett. See Ett. Go Ett house. Play." It is the response to every question. I used to be able to ask "Where do you want to go" and know that he would say the zoo. Now when I ask the answer is always "Ett house." I feel terrible because I think the concept of a long move is confusing to him, so he just things Elliot still lives across town and we are somehow just not taking him there.
He has his own blue lunchbox for school. It has his name on it and is decorated with horse stickers. I don't think I could pick out particularly favorite foods. He was a big fan of blueberries for a while when they were in season. He sunned the delicious ruby red bing cherries for days and then once he tried them he was crazy for them. He's been enjoying almonds as a snack. He's also developed a crazy taste for string cheese, which Mama here views as the harbinger of a lifetime of junk food (but I'm trying not to over react).
He has been having a really good time with sushi lately. I make california rolls or shrimp rolls for him sometimes to take to school in his lunch. The other night we went out for sushi at a restaurant. I ordered the seaweed salad, which Liam and I both love. We were sharing from the bowl, with him scooping up heaps of the seaweed on his chopsticks like a shovel. He contemplates me eating from the bowl for a while, and I think he's trying to observe my chopstick technique. But then he quickly shovels all the remaining seaweed salad out of our communal bowl and onto his personal plate. Then he very comically looks into the bowl and says, "Oh no! All gone!"
While we wait for our sushi order to come, I take him over so he can watch the men make the sushi. We look at the different cuts of fish and I name them for him. Then I point and say, "Do you know what that is?" and he promptly answers "Octopus" (only when he says it, it sounds more like aww-po-pus). He looks at it again and then asks, "Sleeping?" and I say, "No sweetie, that isn't a sleeping octopus. That is just his arm. That is octopus meat." And he smiles and says, "Oh," and then immediately, "Eat it!" That's my adventurous little eater.
He has picked up a seemingly endless array of casual off-hand comments. These are things that you never think twice about when they come from an adult, but which are somehow hysterically comical when they come as comments from a kid. If you ask him a question he's likely to respond, "sure." If he tells you something, it often ends with that good ole midwestern "okay" as in "Imma have chocolate milk, 'kay?" And he's too cute when he stands there, asking you to follow by saying "c'mon mom, 'mon" while he opens and closes his little hand waving at you.
He also from time to time picks up on what Terry and I call each other, so he will randomly say, "C'mon Terry! Potty!" or say "Honey, more juice." There is a near 100% chance that if we are in a Target and Terry has walked away from the cart, Liam will start bellowing "TERRY!" at the top of his lungs, cause evidently that is how we find Daddy at Target.
We have really been practicing manners a lot lately, especially please, thank you and you're welcome. He's really taken a liking to saying "you're welcome" lately. The other day in Mass we were all standing going through the service, and the whole congregation says "Thanks be to God" and in the silence that follows, Liam says quite clearly "You're welcome."
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