Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Tara's 30th birthday! Happy birthday Tara! T is going to celebrate her birthday with a Thai yoga massage, which I think she'll enjoy. During the massage, Liam and I are going for a hike. Temps this week will be in the 50s, and I'm willing to bet we've seen the last skiable snowfall (at least on the coast). So, welcome spring.

Speaking of spring, I discovered this morning that Liam's first tooth is starting to emerge. Bottom tooth, left side from Liam's perspective. The crown is just peeking through the gums, and it probably cut through yesterday or overnight. I'd post a picture, but it would take three of us to hold him down, hold his mouth open, and snap a picture which would inevitably be blurry. Sounds humane. But it's exciting that he's on the breach of another new development.

Liam's is getting better and better at crawling around the house and we are learning to be very watchful. I think just as kids slowly learn to move around and explore and satisfy their curiosity, so does 'parental radar' develop and become more refined. So by the time a kid is 16, the radar is pretty much like a walking NORAD station.

Liam is crawling between rooms - going from the living room to the entry way where he can play with a big pile of shoes. Yesterday, he criss crossed the kitchen as I was trying to bake Tara's birthday pie and cake - going from the shelves on one side to the trash can on the other to the stack of cookbooks, and then in the middle of the floor, I put a wooden spoon and few other toys. I was baking and redirecting and saving him from potential pitfalls all at the same time. It was more fitness than baking. He's also starting to get into a crawling position and push himself up by his feet into a brief quasi-downward facing dog position.

We're also hearing a few new sounds like mamamamama and Brian and I are almost certain he said Emma. As Tara was holding Liam the other day, she and I swore he turned around and gestured with is hands and said 'hi'. Probaby a great coincidence though. Not sure if anything qualifies as a first word, but Tara is pretty excited about mamama.

Finally, I know who's going to protect me from the neighborhood toughs now...