Zoo trip

My most excellent college roommate Shira gave us a very generous gift when she came to visit: a family membership to the Nashville zoo. We have made heavy use of the membership already. We probably go every other week! In addition to beautiful animal exhibits, and the coolest gibbons I've ever seen, it has by far the most amazing playground known to man or baby.





Playing in the (extensively padded) toddler play area, checking out the other kids.


Liam found this tunnel suspended so it wiggles a little as you go down it. He spent 20 minutes crawling back and forth like a little ping pong ball.


In the petting area Liam was fixated on this one white goat (who eventually went under the rail to escape)


Liam loves the Americas exhibit featuring reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects. His favorite seems to be the long hall of water tanks with exciting things swimming in it.

Potty Training Update

Long before we got pregnant, a friend and mentor with several children said that she never really pushed potty training. She'd just let the kids run around naked in the backyard in the summer and work it out for themselves. This sunk in and made some sense, and has framed my approach to the whole potty issue.

I should warn you, there's some bold scatalogical detail in here. If you can't take the heat, get out of the potty room...

Our basic approach is something like this:

Phase 1: acclamation. Get him used to the idea that you don't only go to the bathroom in your diapers. Some moms I know report that their kiddos get so accustomed to going in their diapers that they hold it and won't go when the diaper isn't on. So I figured that before he gets too used to those diapers, we'd start introducing the idea of going on the potty.

Phase 2: bodily identification. Slather up that little Irish potato in sun screen, slap on his sandals, and let him loose on our back yard. Let him get used to identifying the bodily signals with the act of going to the bathroom, so he can learn to anticipate his urges.

Phase 3: give him some time to put two and two together. Make going potty a fun and grown up behavior that tickles his innate interest.

The Montessori book I read suggests that children's window of innate interest in potty training is approximately 12-20 months, or starting around the time they are competent walkers. So right around the time Liam really mastered walking and was walking 95% of the time, we headed out to Target to check out some potty chairs.

We ultimately decided on the floor based models because he could get into and out of it himself, which seemed to better support his natural development of independence. Also, they have better pee guards for boys and I didn't want to get squirted in the face while propping him up on one of those toilet-top models.

We started by putting him on the potty for about 15-20 minutes right after he got up in the morning and after breakfast but before his morning nap. We'd just hang out reading books (ones that are only for in the bathroom, therefore "special" books) and playing with some toys. If something happened during that time, we'd celebrate loudly.

This was all greatly facilitated by my friend and our fabulous nanny Ariana (mother of best gal pal Cora). Ariana has done "elimination communication" with Cora (you can google it) since she was little, so she's well experienced at recognizing the signs that a baby needs to go to the bathroom and encouraging going on the bathroom. She had great luck at giving Liam some potty time right after his lunch and before his nap. I'm sure his experiences at her house greatly facilitated his learning curve.

Turns out also that Liam's favorite part of the whole ritual seems to be when we dump the poop into the big toilet and he gets to flush it and watch it swirl down. Its so interesting to watch his fascination with something most adults consider complete mundane and unworthy of note.

In addition to some regularly scheduled potty time, (where we hope to get the timing right so he has to go and can reward the behavior and start reinforcing it), I also try to catch him if I can tell he's got to go. The poops are easier to catch than the potties because his external signals that he's getting ready to poop (stiffening his body, little grunts) are much easier to notice, even if I'm distracted. So if I notice him getting ready to poop I whisk him off to the potty, rip off his pants/diaper, and dash him onto the pot. Generally this works, though twice we've had malfunctions. Once he pooped just in front of the potty on the floor and once he actually pooped half on the seat and half in the bowl. But generally he sits on there looking for all the world like a little man. He reads his books and does his business, and when he's done he stands up (and sometimes signs "all done").

Today was a first, because today was the first time we got an indication that we may be moving into phase 2 or 3. This morning he was sitting by his toy box when he stiffened like he was feeling the urge to poop. He looked up right at me and then started crawling into the bathroom. I scooped him up, pulled down his pants and he sat on the potty and went to the bathroom. Dump the turds, flush the toilet, wash hands and then high fives all around.

I'm sure it won't be easy, but hopefully it won't be as hard as it could be. There's a really cute picture of him on the potty at Ariana's house. I'm sure he'll kill me in the future as a mortified high schooler, but I may try to post it later.

Swiffer

One of the most interesting things I read in the Montessori in the home book was that children become increasingly fascinated with mimicking household routines once they've mastered walking.

One of the first things that Liam became really fixated on was sweeping. As soon as he sees me take out the broom or swiffer he cruises across the room and wants to take hold of it and do it himself. It is just so incredibly cute. This is a video from one of the first times he did it.

Guitar with Daddy

Learning Life Skills

I have wanted to be more disciplined about posting something on the 30th of each month to reflect on all the new preferences and skills and personality traits that Liam has developed in that month of his life, but sometimes little moments are so fantastic, that I just have to write about them when they happen. It isnt even something bit or momentous this time. It is just a hundred little ways that he is becoming his own independent person.

For a while he has been demonstrating a desire to put things around his neck. At Miss Ariana's house there is a large wooden bead necklace that he is frequently wearing when we come to pick him up. He also loves to put goggles around his neck and let them hang there like a necklace. Sometimes he tries to put my sunglasses around his neck and then looks all confused and perturbed when they don't actually hang around his neck.

This morning he was doing the usual "around my neck" motion with a sock he picked up off the top of his dresser. So I took his t-shirt for the day and opened the bottom up so he could hold it in his hands, and sure enough, he put the shirt on and got it down around his head. Then he took it off. Then back on. Then off.

The Montessori book I had read emphasized that children learn meaningful tasks for the pleasure of doing them, not the pragmatic end result (getting the shirt on). That they repeat cycles of activity as a means of building up competency. And there he was doing it in front of my very eyes. He needed a little help for me to position the arm holes for him to (eventually) get the whole shirt on. But he could do it 80% by himself.

It also emphasized for me how much I think Montessori is right on in allowing children to move at their own pace, but also recognizing that it may mean that kids are ready for a real life skill way before current experts think they are. Liam can competently use a small fork all by himself to eat an entire banana, or any other food that is cubed and soft enough to pierce with the fork tines. Our Early Intervention Teacher tells us that is usually considered a skill for 2 year olds and higher. But he was actually able to use a fork the very first time we ever gave him one (around 13.5 months). Montessori lists "setting the table" as a skill for a 16-18 month old, whereas my Parents magazine suggests it is for a six YEAR old. Likewise, our teacher was impressed with how long he was able to concentrate on a skill. We were working with her music box yesterday trying to get Liam to be more precise in his signing of "more" and he worked consistently without getting distracted or wandering off for about 12 minutes. The teacher said she usually considers 2-4 minutes a victory. I've seen him work at the same task over and over for almost 20 minutes if he gets really absorbed by it.

I think it is fantastic, and it encourages me to stay back sometimes, not to hover over him and be constantly ready to provide parental entertainment and assistance, but to allow him to experience his environment and to figure it out for himself when he encounters a challenge.

Right now, what prompted me to write, is the sweet and consistent concentration he is giving to his shoes. While Grandma and Pops McDonnell were in town we went shopping and they bought Liam a nice pair of summer sandals with velcro. For the last ten minutes he has been patiently sitting on the floor undoing and redoing the velcro straps. Occasionally he will take a break from the straps and hold the shoe up to his feet as though he's trying to put it on. Once I also saw him set the shoe on the floor in front of him, get up onto his feet and then very carefully step his foot on top of the shoe. He will also sometimes try to step into my shoes or terry's shoes if they are left out where he can find them. Of course the shoe didn't magically afix itself to his foot, but that's some good thinking buddy!

First Words!

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.

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.