Go Browns!

This is one of my proudest moments of mommyhood!

Chit chat time!

Liam is SUCH a talker. I've been trying to get video of him talking, but all I got was this short snippet.  He loves the end of this video when he steals the camera!

Sesame Street

Liam is learning to sing.  Here is my awful singing and his cute super high pitched singing.  

Halloween

Liam LOVED Halloween this year!  We went to the pumpkin patch (or two).  We went trick or treating in Hudson on Main Street and got to meet Llama Llama!  We went to Boo at the Zoo in Cleveland for the first time.  The best part was Liam meeting Buzz Lightyear!  He loved wearing his Tiger/Tigger costume - I think he would have put it on everyday if he could.  

This video is us before we went trick or treating in our own neighborhood.  He learned very quickly that our neighbors gave out lots of extra candy and he liked it!  When we went over to the very kid friendly/busy neighborhood, and they only gave 1 piece of candy out, he would just hold his Elmo bucket and say "More candy!"  He also reminded everyone to "close the door" when we left!

Come on Daddy!

Liam and I were bored waiting in the car for Daddy, so of course I got the video camera out!  Here Liam says my name and Tom's.  It's sort of cute!

Just "hosing" around!

Liam loves playing with the hose outside.  This video may not be that funny to you and I, but when Liam watches this video, he cracks up hysterically!  I almost want a video of him watching this video.

"Um" is the word

Out of nowhere, Liam started saying "um" before EVERYTHING!  It started out of the blue one day and he's been doing it since.  You can also see the constant internal struggle Liam has over which is his current favorite character - Tigger or Kermit.

Little Gym End of Semester

As I have mentioned many times, Liam LOVES going to The Little Gym!  This week we celebrated the end of the summer semester and his 3rd semester there.  I think it is so amazing to watch all the new skills he has learned, especially since starting there.  Here are a bunch of short clips from our End of Semester Awards!

Liam the Dare Devil!

Our precious Little Liam has learned how to climb on just about everything!  About a week ago I walked into his room and found him just sitting on his changing table.  Since then, we find him every so often up there, usually in the middle of the night - he knows we come running into his room when we see him up there!  We wondered if he climbed the knobs or used the tv stand as a helper.  Here, you can see him demonstrate for me how he gets down.  I blame Little Gym!!  Just kidding, I love them!

Cleveland Zoo

Tom took a day off so that the three of us could enjoy a day at the Cleveland Zoo. We didn't get there until noon and had to park all the way back by the bears! Apparently 75 degrees and no humidity brings out every Clevelander to enjoy the beautiful weather! We had a fabulous time and stayed at the zoo until closing time. The animals were all very active so Liam really got to see them! He had so much fun, he even took a nap in the middle of our day out! Our favorite parts were when Liam got a little scared about some of the animals and would say "NOPE!" when he didn't want to be around them - such as the butterflies, birds, bats and crocodile!

He loved the tigers best of all, which is why that is what he is going to be for Halloween!

True Love?

Liam's Godmother stopped over for a visit with her beautiful daughter Natalie. Liam and Natalie played near each other, and even engaged in a rousing game of peek a boo together! But when we sat them on the couch for some pictures, they were so cute together, holding hands, falling over, and more. Here is the beginning of their love story...???

Finger Paint Time

Liam has recently explored the wonders of finger painting!
The other day I wanted him to color a picture, but he kept putting his hand down and expecting to see a hand print like when we do our holiday projects. So I busted out the finger paint and he was in love! He asks to paint a lot now, but the clean up is not always so fun. Watch his progression from timid painter to truly experimenting with the medium!

Happy 4th!

We took Liam for his first fireworks on Sunday, July 3rd (our 7 year anniversary). We ended up going to the Fairlawn fireworks and it was great - easy parking, short walk, great view! Poor Liam, an 8 pm bedtime, had to stay up until after 10 to enjoy the fireworks. Luckily there was a very nice little boy who played with him for over 30 minutes and kept him entertained. You can see him in the beginning of the clip. He wasn't really scared of the fireworks, but only really like the "grand finale" type fireworks. He was bored through the middle and then realized how tired he was, so we had to take turns walking him around the park. When it was over, he was crying for "more boom boom!"

Erie Children's Museum

Liam and I headed over to PA for the afternoon to play with Ben and Eli Iszkula, (and their parents too). We went to the Erie Children's Museum, which was this great two story toy mecca for Liam. He really like the big slide, playing in the water, and the big castle too.

Man on a Movie Mission

Liam is obsessed with Disney to say the least. His favorite movies include "Guy" (Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, although 2 is his favorite), "Puppy" (Bolt), Pooh, Cars and Monsters, Inc. Now when I don't "get the hint" that he wants to watch a movie, he asks for my hand and leads me to his DVD drawer. It's cute and funny, although I don't know if I'm thrilled that the child now leads me to get what he wants.

Liam the Musical Fireman

My son definitely is kooky and we love it! On this particular morning, he decided to wear his fireman hat and get out some instruments. I called him Liam the Musical Fireman!

Blowing his Nose

I feel like I've added one of these silly videos of him blowing his nose before, but each time he does it, it cracks me up! Of course he's not really blowing his nose, just making a good nose blowing sound. I also love his fake "AH-CHOOS!" When we read Bear Snores On at night, he loves the part when bear sneezes and adds the sound effect in each time!

Swim Lessons

Since Liam's Mommy is not the world's best swimmer, we decided we needed to get him into swim classes ASAP so that he feels comfortable in the water. We signed him up at the Macedonia Rec Center where he goes each Saturday for 30 minutes. Before and after the swim lessons, he can play in the baby pool which he loves!
P.S. Check out his new favorite word, "NOPE!"

Liam loves Disney

Liam and I went on a shopping spree at the Disney Store yesterday. He was in love the moment we walked in! He had so much fun showing Daddy all his fun toys last night, including Guy (AKA Woody), Jessie, Nemo (he never wants to watch it), Buzz and more! His favorite toy is his big Winnie the Pooh. They have one just like it at the Hudson Library. He starts yelling for Pooh as soon as you he sees the library and it's a fight to leave Pooh there when it's time to go. PHEW! Now we have one of our own!

ElephanTuesdays

As a "thank you" from the zoo for being a member, we had special tickets for ElephanTuesdays. It was not exactly a big thank you - we had to wait in line for 45 minutes before entering and were not allowed to walk around the rest of the zoo. BUT Liam did enjoy seeing some of the animals, especially the owl.

Little Gym Beasts Class

This year Liam moved up to the Beasts class in Little Gym. He just finished up his spring semester with Teacher Bill. Liam did a great job!

Tickle Time

We tried to teach Liam how to tickle. We emphasized the whispering part of when you tickle someone, but somehow that translated into yelling tickle tickle! He was cracking us and himself up!

Swimming

On Memorial Day weekend we took Liam swimming at my mom's pool. He enjoyed the baby pool much more this time. Unfortunately, he also got his first skinned knee in the baby pool! For 20.5 months I kept that boy skinned knee free...I guess it had to end sometime! He was a trooper about it and did not even cry! We didn't even noticed until we got in the car. He was fascinated with his "boo boo."

Blossom Time Festival

We took Liam to the Chagrin Falls Blossom Time Festival in May. The game and play area was a muddy mess, so we avoided that area and basically went straight for Popcorn Shop ice cream, funnel cakes and lemonade! Liam LOVED the lemonade, even though it would make him shake all the way down to his toes!

Liam the Talking Baby

Liam's vocabulary is expanding every day, but he has certain favorite words that he says a lot. Here are some of those words, including elbow, Elmo, Oscar, Big Bird, Oso, nose, eyes, hop, Layla and more!

Oh no Boots!

Liam loves wearing his too big fireman boots all around the house. Sometimes he gets a little caught in them!

Liam is Super Cool!

Liam loves trying on different shoes. Doc Martens are NOT the easiest to walk in for a little guy, but he pulls it off!

Easter Weekend

We had an absolutely fabulous Easter weekend, all kicked off with an Easter Egg hunt. Liam had so much fun looking for eggs on the farm. He loved their "PUPPY" dog! He was also so excited to see the "moos" (that would be cows). Here he is checking them out.

Choo-choo Time!

Liam learned how to say "choo-choo" and I am in love!

A Typical Moment in our House

Liam is perhaps the friendliest child in the world. Anyone that has gone shopping with us, knows that he says "Hi!" and "Buh-bye!" to EVERYONE in the store, sometimes 3 times over! Heinen's and Yours Truly definitely knows this is true! BUT, this is just a quick snip-it from an evening at our home, but a sample of what he is like in public.

Potty Time?!

I know it's early, but Liam has shown interest in the potty. So, we went and bought a potty chair for him. Within 10 minutes of setting up the potty, on March 27, 2011 he peed in the potty! YEAH! Since then, it's been on and off. Mostly, he likes stripping down and playing in the bathroom, but he also wants to go on the potty and hear his potty sing. One particular funny episode involved a bubble bath, pee pee time and a naked boy running around the bathroom! Regardless, I'm very proud of my boy for wanting to try. We're going to keep this up and our goal is that he'll be potty trained during my summer break!

Late March Snow

When it began snowing the other day, a late March treat, Liam and Layla decided they wanted to play with it. The first video is Liam yelling at Layla outside and attempting to say snow. I LOVE how Liam says Layla! He struggled for awhile calling her "yay-ya" but it is now a definite "Layla" and sometimes "Lila." He loves her more and more, and she is really trying to love him back!



After he stepped out in the snow, he didn't want to go back in!

Liam at Little Gym

Liam is still loving Little Gym SO much! He loves Teacher Katie and I think he is quickly becoming the teacher pet! He follows her everywhere and even asked her to pick him up last week! He's getting better at hanging on the bars and swinging. We just adore watching him each week!

Click on the link below to see him of his skills:
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/11ef4f279cde4a3d5dc846f4cd399995/video/75643091

My Little Irishman

We took Liam to the Knights of Columbus Hall after Tom worked the Akron Parade. Liam loved the Irish music, the Irish girl dancers and just chasing the other kids!

It's all about Ellen!

Ellen is Liam's new favorite woman. She has been for awhile, but now he can say Ellen, sort of. And he says it...a lot... This is pretty much his reaction each time he sees her:


Here he is coloring and then I put Ellen on TV. Watch how he notices the music right away and starts jamming:

He's So Vain!

This weekend we went to Erie, PA to visit our friends, The Iszkulas. At their new house, they have a closet with mirrors on the outside! Liam immediately went up to the "baby in the mirror" and kissed it! Too cute but also, very vain. But he is so stinkin' cute!

Xylophone Danger

Only my Liam would look at a xylophone and not see a musical instrument, but a climbing station! Watch him try to get to the top! Oh yeah, and the phone rings again!

Spoon vs. Plate

The other night Liam decided that a spoon just wasn't working for him, so he ended up using his plate as a big spoon to get food into his mouth! At the end, you can also see his reaction to when the phone rings...too cute!

Little Gym

Liam joined Little Gym in Brecksville a few months ago and has loved it! They had a big show at the end of the semester where we could invite family and Liam could "show off" all his skills! He also got an award at the end! Here are a few clips!

Liam and a Cup

Liam really wants to drink out of cup, but he's still got a lot of work to do! He was cracking me up this night, asking for more water then getting distracted and spilling water while looking at the other spilled water!

Liam Laughing

Here's just a great video of my little boy enjoying life and laughing!

Liam Loves Ellen

Liam is excited every time Ellen comes on TV. He can't wait to dance with her everyday. My goal this year is to get a great video of him dancing with Ellen. Here he is watching her dance on So You Think You Can Dance. Liam definitely knows how to dance and wiggle his butt!