What mousse?

Look what happens when we turn our backs for just one second...? He's right in the chocolate mousse.

Snow Day!

I had my first snow day of the season. Mike and I can't remember the last time we had snow up here before Christmas. We kept hearing that a big storm was coming our way but we were being pessimistic about the possibility of us really getting snow. Low and behold, I got a call around 5:40 saying that school was canceled. It was so much fun when Liam woke up to take him to the window and let him see the snowy world outside. He was pretty mystified. He just stood with his head pressed to the window for the longest time. We got a call from Angie asking if we wanted to take a snow day trip to the pool. Liam and I bundled up and headed to meet Angie,Sammy, Eliza (and one of Eliza's friends), Natalie and Anouk for a little swim. All of the kids had a blast. Liam swam forever and was having such a ball. We were at the pool for close to two hours and by the time we got home Liam was exhausted. I tried giving him lunch but you can see by the posted video that he was just a bit too tuckered out for that.


Mike came home from work early. He reported that the lab was a bit like a ghost town on such a stormy day. When Mike came home, we all headed out for a little snowy play. Liam had fun with some neighborhood kids. He was a big fan of the snow and was pretty excited to be playing with the big kids.

Finally, Mike worked hard all fall to get the outside of our house looking good. I posted some pictures so you can see the fruits of his labor. Looks great, especially with the snow.

Lots to be thankful for.

It's become increasingly evident over the last month or so that Liam has become a little sponge. I was saying to Tara earlier tonight it's just amazing that not long ago he was a tiny baby, entirely dependent (still is, but to a slightly lesser, but really significant degree, you know). He seems to pay attention to things - to objects in the house and to both verbal and physical communication, and is irrepressibly curious. He'll actually stop, listen, and crane his neck and head in one direction or another to get a better view of whatever he's checking out, or to get a better view from around Tara's or my legs. Every once in a while, we catch him doing something completely independent. For example, he'll climb up on the couch, grab a picture book that is sitting on the cushion, and enjoy the book all on his own. He'll also pick up a book and back himself into my lap if I'm sitting on the floor. I don't want to take for granted some of the small but really wonderful things he's learned to do and say:

• Call out loud for 'Da' or 'Dad' to ascertain his location or ask for attention
• Growl like a monster from Where the Wild Things Are
• March around the house waving a little flag
• Say goodbye with a wave (still working on blowing kisses)
• Use his legs to shake off his pants when we're getting him undressed for the tub or for bedtime
• Say an approximation of Thank you
• Pretend with props- tonight we were pretending to mix up and taste using a mixing bowl and spoon
• Is *much* more easygoing about diaper changes. He now only cries and tries to escape about 50% of the time. Probably close to 0% at daycare, too.
• Can pull himself up into his highchair, turn around, and sit down
• Say the number 2 and understand it comes in sequence after 1
• Kisses

We're so fortunate. . .

Here's a new video from a hike we took this weekend in the Park.

Haircut

The other exciting event of the weekend was Liam's second haircut. I took him to Ray's Barber Shop (affectionately known as Razor Ray's), where we waited about half an hour for our turn. The fact Liam sat relatively still on my lap for 30 minutes waiting his turn was nothing short of astonishing. Unfortunately, the long wait + haircut extended through his lunch and into his naptime, so the moment he sat in the chair, it got a little dicey. Unfortunately, the best I can provide a is a photo from the waiting room, and then a video from this evening, so you can see a before and after shot (the before shot gives a nice view of his chompers, too). Liam was flailing around and having a fit for most of the haircut, so pictures were out of the question. It's amazing how a haircut can make him look so much older...

Before













After

Halloween!

Well, we may be a little late but here are some pictures from Halloween. Liam, as you can see, was a bumblebee. He wasn't sure about the costume at first but soon seemed to forget it was even on. We weren't sure how Liam would like going out and about to join in the trick-or-treating festivities but he loved it. The town of Bar Harbor wisely blocks off the most popular trick-or-treating street. Thus Ledgelawn takes on the air of a festival. People who live on the street go all out with decorations to make the event that much more fun. The street is so overrun by costumed children that there is literally candy donations for those who live on the street. A house could easily spend over 100 bucks on candy each Halloween. Anyway, as soon as we let Liam out of his stroller he darted off down the street. He had no fear and didn't care about us, he only wanted to see the other kids as well as the Halloween lights. He was so cute walking down the street in his little costume. So many people commented on him. We went to a few houses with Liam's friends Emma and Anouk and their parents, Carolyn, Natalie and Rich. Following our trek down Ledgelawn we went to the Lompoc for dinner. Liam had a ball their playing on their bocce court. All in all Halloween was a great night.

On a separate note, Liam has really continued to love books and reading. I am including a couple of pictures of him curled up with a book as the pics were too cute not to share.

Dancing in the Morning

Liam is quite a little dancer. He has also taken to playing a little musical instrument, which is really only the tube that helps blow up my exercise ball. We love to watch him march around like the Pied Piper and see the pure joy on his face when he is listening to music.

The sound of crunching leaves

Blogging from Oregon... Here a couple more videos from our Sebec trip last weekend. Liam experiencing the sound of crunching leaves and playing in the stream. No nature deficit disorder for this child!

Salamanders and Cranberries

Late September and October (thus far) continue to be relatively busy. I'm trying to finish painting the house amid rainstorms, falling temperatures, and other commitments. I'm off to Oregon today for a work meeting, leaving Tara and Liam behind for a few days. We have to get our iChat's going so we can videoconference our hellos.

We're really glad that Columbus 'discovered' America so we could be rewarded with a day off from work. Good job Chris! We celebrated his efforts with a trip to the Smith's cabin on Sebec Lake and a canoe excursion for wild cranberries. The cabin, as usual, was a wonderful retreat with good food and games with B, Chris and Joel. Last time Liam was there, he took his first bath in a kitchen sink. This time he took his first stream bed hike. Down the road from the cabin is a mossy streambed, with little pools of water for splashing around. It was the perfect place for salamanders, and we managed to find a few, which Liam (like me) found fascinating. When I let it go, Liam picked it up remarkably gently and was able to hang on to it despite wriggling and attempts to leap away. Yes, salamanders can leap. After Liam's attempt to taste or eat the salamander, we let it go. Much to it's relief, I'm sure. See the video below. We still have to be rather vigilant with what Liam attempts to put in his mouth. He tried a penny the other day, which he didn't like. I was able to snag it before it went any farther down the pipe. He made a rather hilarious sour/gross face, and I'm sure he was thinking 'I guess that's what 1000 pants pockets taste like'.

To round out our Columbus Day celebration, we went wild cranberry picking with Rich, Natalie, and their baby daughter Anouk. We took Liam cranberry picking last year, when he was a little less mobile. I remember he wasn't thrilled about being cooped up in the Bjorn while we bent over to search for cranberries. We canoed up Northeast Creek, into a what Rich described as a 'fen'. Liam was a great canoe passenger this trip, sitting in the middle of the boat, letting his hand trail in the water, and helping paddle. The ground up the creek is relatively firm unlike a swamp or a bog, so we got out of the canoes and searched on foot for cranberry plants. This was the perfect plan. Not only are the berries abundant away from the edge of the creek, but we were also able to sit Liam down on top of a cranberry bush and he could commence picking and eating to his heart's content (the report from his daycare provider is he had several bushels of undigested cranberries in his diaper the next day).

Liam's walking is starting to pick up speed, and he's making moves toward jumping, I think. He likes to stomp his foot, one at a time, and alternating. He's starting to climb up onto chairs and walks over to his booster seat when he wants a snack. His favorite perch is standing on top of a very low end table, where he has a view out the window. He's also starting to pick up a few more words (sock, shoe, hat, ball) and sounds (moo) since our last few posts.

Wandering around the green and the fair

Liam has been having a rough time the past few days. He fell out of his crib yesterday morning at about 5 am (I'm pretty sure he found a way to bounce his way out), he's got the start of a cold, and more teeth are emerging. His mood has been less than chipper. But besides that, we have been fun exploring the world in new ways now that he can walk. He's taken to squirreling away little things in random places too. For example, we'll find a shoe and a book and maybe a pen which he put into his bike trailer, or we'll open the pots and pans drawer and find his bottle hiding out in there. I'm trying to tell him not to use the trash can to hide his little possessions, but I don't think he's quite caught on to that yet. He's getting better at sitting and reading too. He'll now pick up a book and walk over, and I can pick him up and put him in my lap and we can read the book together. He really likes turning pages and his interest to turn pages rapidly means the book gets in snippets as the pages fly by. Here's a video taken a couple weeks ago when I took Liam to the village green to practice his walking. As you can see, he's really getting the hang of it. The green was blissfully uncrowded on a weeknight as tourist season is starting to wind down.



Last weekend we went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, ME. This was Liam's second time to the fair. He was *really* into it this year. We spent most of our time relaxing in the green in the middle of the fair and hanging out at the animal barns. We also took Liam to the children's area, but he was a little too small for most of the activities there. His favorite was the goat barn - I think he could have stayed there all day laughing and chirping and screeching with excitement. In the poultry barn, he was fascinated by the geese and started to mimic their honking sound. It's so cool to see him learn new things. So his repertoire of animal sounds now includes dog, kitty, duck, and fish (sucking sound with his lips). He tried a bunch of food at the fair including fried shiitke mushrooms, baked potato, strawberry cream puff, and a few varieties of heirloom apple they had in the kiddie tent.

Walking!

Liam came home from his daycare yesterday walking! It is true. He had been taking a few steps here and there the most being to dear little Eliza, who is the best little babysitter ever. She had him taking five steps to her one night when her parents Angie and Chris were watching Liam for us. Apparently, if we just leave Liam with other people, he comes back with new tricks. Yesterday though, he really took off. We took a little video of it tonight to show you all. It is the cutest damn thing to watch!

Vermont and Visitors

A few weeks ago now, Liam and I joined Mike on a business trip to Burlington, Vermont. Burlington is a great town located right on Lake Champlain. Liam did fantastically well the entire trip. One highlight for all of us was going to the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science center, which is located right at the water's edge. It was the first science center that Liam had been to. The center had a dinosaur display, which highlighted some big moving, sound making dinosaurs. Liam seemed totally unsure about the dinosaurs. He always seemed to keep one eye on them as if he were afraid they would start in after him. The science center also had a toddler room, which Liam adored. He made friends with the other kids in the toddler room and explored everything.
Burlington is a fantastic town as it has a nice little pedestrian street, which is blocked off to traffic. All of the restaurants on this street have outdoor seating making it really easy to have a little person with you. Liam and I spent much time wandering up and down this street exploring stores while Mike was in meetings.
When we got back from Vermont we had a couple of days and then Mike and I went to see James Taylor play in Portland. Our friend Barbara stayed with Liam making it our first night when neither of us was with him. We were so thankful to have a good friend whom we trusted enough to not have to worry about Liam and one who was willing to watch him! James Taylor was amazing!! We are thrilled that we got to see him.
A few days after coming back from Portland, Liam's Grammy and Grampy came to visit. We had a wonderful visit with them full of hiking, canoeing, good meals, playing with Liam and in general just good hanging out together. I believe that Grammy and Grampy were amazed by how active little Liam is. It is true that the boy never stops moving. Liam loved playing with his grandparents and was certainly sad to see them go. We all stood on the porch and waved goodbye and he gave us his very dramatic cry in which he is on his hands and knees and then drops his head and wails. The kid is born to be an actor!
The next day we picked up our good friend Mike Ostroski at the Bar Harbor Airport. Mike O arrived for the week ready to enjoy Maine in the summer. Mike gets up to visit every year to year and a half. This was his first time visiting in the summer. He was in love with how green it is here and how nice the temperature was. It was also his first time meeting Liam. He was great at entertaining Liam when Liam was sad. He would pick up the guitar and start singing to the little lad. Our favorite song of the week was kind of Greenday sounding called "Dancing with my Mom in the Morning." As with Grammy and Grampy's visit there was much good food, many good outdoor activities and in general just good companionship.
I started work last week. It was just teacher inservice days but it was getting back into the swing of things. Liam certainly knew that we were transitioning to a new kind of schedule and I am not sure he was thrilled. He has seemed really happy with his new daycare situation. I love picking him up and seeing him outside playing with the other kids. He loves being outdoors so I know he is happy.
Our camera was totally out of batteries for Mike O's visit and we couldn't find our charger so I will post pictures of that visit when we get Mike's pictures. Since we can't charge our camera all of our pictures with Grammy and Grampy are also going to have to be posted later. Stay tuned!
Finally, I have added a short video clip of Liam and his future drum career.

oops!

I am not sure how we did it, but we managed to forget to put up a post about Liam's first birthday party. We did have one for him, it was a little late but it was a great time. We attempted to make a Hungry Caterpillar cake for him but the face got a little melted. Anyway, the food was good, the company was great and Liam was as cute as ever.

I am also posting some pictures of the house. Mike has been slaving away painting the outside yellow and people have wanted to see pics, so here they are at long last.

Changes and Visits with Friends

It has been a busy few weeks since our last post. As you can note by the new pictures, Liam has had his first haircut and he is finally popping his two front teeth. They are so slow coming in but Liam is coping with it well. We are amazed with how much Liam's haircut has changed his looks. By having the trim he seemed to morph from baby to toddler instantanously. We would have pictures of him sitting in the barber's chair getting the cut but our camera battery died just as we got there. Liam did really well sitting for most of the haircut. The barber that we took him too is a classic old time barber shop down to the red and white striped pole outside the shop to the two older gentlemen who are inside cutting hair. It was actually intimidating to walk into the shop as it has the feel of a secert club. They were incredibly good with Liam though and there were a host of others in the shop there to witness the first haircut and to distract Liam. The shop is called Razor Ray's so I had to make sure to specify that I didn't want a buzz cut. I wanted some length left on Liam's hair and they honored my wishes.
A week or so ago, I met up in Belfast with two old and great friends. Lindsay lives in Bath, Maine with her husband Rick. Mike and I don't get to see near enough of Lindsay and Rick. For whatever reason the three hours between us seems huge. Lindsay is pregnant so maybe after baby Davis comes along we will try to get the kids together more often. Claire lives in Florida but was visiting her parents who have retired to Maine. Claire and her husband Jay have a litte boy named Jack. He is too cute and gave me a glimpse of what life will be shortly with Liam. It was great to see them all.
On Thursday of this week, Lindsay's parents called to say that they were in Bar Harbor and asked if they could stop by. I had a quick visit with the Pappas clan, which included Linday's sister and her husband. The Pappas' have a dog, which Liam could not get enough of. He loves dogs and was literally hopping with excitement. It was really funny.
The last of the big news this post is that I recently switched jobs. I will now be teaching in Southwest Harbor instead of on Swan's Island. It is still a special ed position but this one doesn't require a boat ride. It will be really great to have less travel time in my life. The position will have me working with kindergarten through fifth grade students. I look forward to having more time in the morning and afternoons to spend with Liam and Mike too!
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Canoe Camping

Last weekend we went canoe camping on Rocky Lake. It was a trip we took last year when Liam was just eight weeks old. We weren't sure how he was going to do this year being older and more mobile. I had tried him in his life vest around the house just to get him used to it. In the house he hated it so I feared a canoe trip filled with his screams. Thankfully, once we were in the boat and on the water he was perfectly fine with the life jacket. The best part of Rocky Lake is that we can camp on an island. This year we went to Rocky Lake with our friends Angie and Chris and their children Eliza and Sam. It is great to have Eliza and Sam around as they are fantastic at entertaining Liam. It is so cute to watch them play with him and take care of him. Sammy and Eliza are also great little campers. They had a ball swimming, canoeing and camping.
The downside to camping this time of year was the mosquitos. They were horrible for a period of about two hours. The kids all tried to be tough but they were being eaten alive as were the adults. Baby Liam as the kids call him, has quite a lot of bites on him now. One bite that I could have lived with out this camping trip was a leech bite. Yep, Liam had his first leech on his wee little leg. I had just told Angie the day before that it was no big deal if there were leeches in the lake. If one happened to latch onto any of us we would just pull it off. I was not so calm and collected when I found the leech on Liam. I might have yelled out like a girl and made Mike pull it off Liam's leg. Luckily, Liam didn't seem at all phased by the leech and continued to be happy to be out in the canoe with us.
We were totally amazed by how well Liam did sleeping in the tent. We thought for sure that he would not want to go down for a nap or for bedtime in the tent. Boy did he prove us wrong. He was amazing in the tent. He went right to sleep and seemed to be really happy hanging out in the tent. We are so lucky to have such a little nature boy.
Angie, Chris, Mike and I decided that since our Rocky Lake trip was such a success we would try Kayak camping later on this summer. Should be fun!

Rehoboth Beach Trip

Liam had his first trip to a real sandy beach. Beaches around here just don't count, really. We met up with the entire Dunlap clan for a week at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. My Uncle Jess and Aunt Linda have a condo there so they and my cousins Byron and Jenn as well as their significant others stayed in their condo while Mom, Dad, Ty, Leanne, Quinn, Colin, Trevor, Sarah, Ashton, Mattie, MIke, Liam and I all stayed in the condo next door. Boy was it crazy sometimes with all of those kids in one condo. As crazy as it was, it was fantastic to get to spend so much time with the family. I am not sure that Liam knew what to make with so many people around. He is used to the relative quiet of our three person home. Having the cousins around to entertain him and love on him was a definite pleasure though. He would trail behind them as they all went along their way doing the things that small children will do.
The first few days, Liam was not at all sure what to make of the ocean waves. He has been dipped into the frigid ocean waters of Maine but being near the waves of Delaware is an entirely different experience. The first few times we ventured near the water he would get quite scared of the waves rolling up towards him. Eventually, he grew to love them. On many occasions he would set off crawling away from out small village of umbrellas and towels and jet towards the wave without so much as a backward glance. We would trail behind him trying to determine what he would do. It soon became apparent that he was fully ready just to crawl right down to and in the water. We would scoop him up right as the water came sweeping past his knees and he would laugh. We certainly have a little water baby on our hands.
Liam was also a huge fan of the sand. He was perfectly content to sit and play in the sand and eat a ton of it as well. One would think that after your first mouthful of sand, you would not put more in your mouth. Liam seemed to think it was tasty as he would just keep shoveling more in. I guess he really believes in becomming one with nature.
Rehoboth has a nice little boardwalk that has a small amusement park for kids and grownups alike. Trevor was addicted to skiball the entire time that we were there and he seemed to pass on his addiction to Ashon. Liam just loved to got to Funland and watch the people and see the lights. Mike did take him on the Merry-go-round but he was not at all sure what to make of that. The rest of the cousins though were totally into the rides. At one point Colin, Mattie, Ashton and Quinn all were on these little kiddie swings, it was ridiciously cute.
I am sure that we will have many more beach vacations to look forward too. Next time I have no doubt that Liam will be ready to go all the way into the water and take on the waves.

Playing Catch Up!

It seems that I always think about needing to blog, but never quite do it. Since our last post, we have celebrated Mike's first father's day. We celebrated by going out to breakfast in Ellsworth, a town about 30 minutes from us. On our way home, we stopped by a field of lupine to catch some pics of Liam. The lupine blooms for such a small window of time but it is so beautiful while it is in bloom. You really can't beat fields of purple and pink. Liam seemed to really like the lupine but also seemed to want to try to eat the flowers.








Today, Liam and I joined our friend Natalie and her daughter Anouk for a trip to Birdsacre, a sanctuary in Ellsworth. None of us had been there before and it was really amazing! The are about 200 acres of per served land right in the heart of Ellsworth. The sanctuary has restored the childhood home of Cordelia Stanwood who was an ornithologist and photographer in the early to mid 1900's. In addition to being able to tour the home you can walk the trails on the 200 acres and enjoy the tranquility that you wouldn't expect to find so close to town. Birdsacre also takes in injured birds so Liam got to see many owls and hawks. It was a beautiful day and a fantastic discovery.

As many of you may remember, Liam will be turning one on Friday! It hardly seems possible that so much time has already gone by. So, here is the lowdown on Liam at almost one. He isn't walking yet but cruises around on the furniture constantly. He will let go and stand for a few seconds but will eventually ease himself to the floor. He is the fastest crawler around, really. He still only has two teeth, we are getting a little worried that the rest of his teeth will never come in. Perhaps we will get him dentures for his first birthday. He pretty much will eat anything so long as he is in control of getting the food to his mouth. He loves fresh fruit, kalamata olives, tofu, avocado, pita bread w/ or w/out humus and cheerios. His favorite books are Hop on Pop (still), The Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The only time he sits still is when we are reading, it is amazing. His favorite song is No Bad News by Patty Griffin. He dances to it every time. He already loves folk music, just like Mom and Dad.

We are heading to Rehoboth Beach to meet up with the Dunlap side of the family Friday after Mike gets off work. We are so excited to see everyone and to introduce Liam to a warm section of ocean, hot sand and real waves!

Closing in on the big day

We had a lot of fun with Liam in May during this large gulf between posts. I promise we weren't sitting around at home learning the abacus or something. Grampy McKernan came up for Memorial Day weekend and helped us get a huge start on the summer project (I hope it doesn't last all summer) to paint the outside of the house. I'm continuing to plug away on the weekends and after work.

Liam is excited because he has a new bike trailer in which to zip around, attached like a little wagon to my bike. A few Sundays ago, he was out on the Park loop road for about three hours - there was a lot of stopping - and he did great. He also enjoyed the carriage roads, which are gravelly and a little bumpy, and more for mountain or cross bikes than for roadies.

While I was painting, Tara took Liam and had with some friends a lovely picnic at the Wonderland area in Acadia National Park. This spot has somewhat flat granite blocks, which make up the beach, providing plenty of space for little 11 month olds to crawl around.



And speaking of 11 months old, we're getting close to the big day! It's just crazy how much he has changed in just 12 months. The two big things right now are learning how to stand and learning how to feed himself. Liam is now to the point where he would rather feed himself than be fed by Tara or me. In fact, when we approach with a spoon full of something pureed, he will try to whack it away with some baby jujitsu move. It's cute at first, but can be a little trying. I have learned to be wicked fast and to anticipate his moves, so I'm pretty good at feeding despite his defensive moves. He has also recently learned that food can be thrown (as he tests his parents' will and ability to modify his behavior). Food throwing was the next logical step after he mastered the art of food smashing - a surefire sign that Liam is full. "Nothing else can fit in my stomach, so whatever is left...it must be destroyed."

Anyway, the self-feeding works pretty well when the food is banana or avocado or Cheerios, etc. Not so much when it's puree sweet potato, squash, blueberry. You get the idea. I think we're done with purees and might instead opt for thick-cut steamed veggies. I'll have to try that this week to see how he fares. However, I suppose he has to learn how to use a spoon eventually.



Liam is starting to stand a little bit. It usually happens when he's pulled himself up onto something. Before he realizes what he's doing, he's been standing for 5-7 seconds, completely unsupported. Still haven't been able to capture it on film, as much as I'd like to have record of this milestone.