Swimming, Christmas, and Cake Batter

Hello blog, remember me? Ah yes. But really, did anyone think that two procrastinators such as Tara and me could make it beyond one year?? So I guess we already defied the expectations. Hah!

Liam is rapidly approaching the 2.5 mark and astonishingly I see the first glimmers of little boy and less toddler as the weeks go by. He certainly seems taller, and he's a heck of a lot heavier, and looking over here at the door frame where we measure height, he's grown a good inch since his birthday in June. And he's grown in so many other ways - little milestones that he crosses that seemed so far away when he was born are now a matter of course. He is singing along to songs and and sit and can sit and look at books (for short periods of time). He can run - fairly fast too! - and he can hop around the house like a frog. This past weekend we went for free swim at the Y and he really took to the water like he never had before. He was extremely comfortable jumping in from the side holding on to my hands, and even going under the water as we traversed between lanes in the pool. He climbed on to my back and hung on as I swam a lap down to the deep end of the pool where we watched people diving in from the diving board. We practiced a bit of kicking and paddling, but my hope is he learns how to swim naturally. That just through time and experience, one day he just goes. A few weeks ago, Liam got his first pair of real downhill skis - handmedowns from a friend at work - but real bindings and real metal edges. We just need to find the boots. Liam is thrilled - he knows exactly what they are and what they do and the day we got them he was standing on them on the living room rug and asked to go sking. So between swimming and skiing, it is going to be an active and fun winter. Anything to get us through darkness at 4 pm.


And there have been some other milestones that cause us to pause. Such as the first time we think he had a nightmare and said it was a monster. Where does that come from? Learned or simply experienced and 'monster' - was the word he heard other people using? Who knows. I think the first monster he ever enocountered was the cookie one. Liam definitely wants to experience life first hand. His way of saying, 'I can do it', like when descending stairs, is to say 'my turn', and he does get frustrated when you say, no, it's not your turn, it's my turn and we have to get moving, so let's not dawdle and yadda yadda yadda. It's enouraging to see how he's taken on the concept that failure is not an endpoint but a reason to try again. He's likes to say 'try again,' or 'maybe next time' and tends to not get frustrated with immobile things in life. He saves that frustration for mobile things like his parents, who tend from time to time to hold him back against his will. I know, it's rough for 2.5 year olds.


Liam is extremely excited about Christmas; mostly for the lights and the music, and the shows, and less, I think, for the presents, which he hasn't mentioned and therefore, I don't think he really understands. The day after we set up the tree, he crawled underneath the branches to look up at the lights and later he decided to crawl in behind the tree, hiding himself in a corner, but probably in a world of colorful lights. He is also asking to listen to 'Christmas Songs' and seems to like just about anything we put on - JT, Martin Sexton, and the inimitable John Denver, of course. We're heading back to OH and NY at the end of next week, but before we leave we're going to try to have a pre-Christmas just to ourselves. Should be fun.

First Dentist

I can't think of a better reason to post on this blog than to tell you that Liam had his first trip to the dentist today. Unfortunately, the trip to the dentist was predicated by two trips of the other sort. In the first instance he tripped and landed face first on a ceramic bocce ball. That ended up in a trip to to the ER, lots of blood, a chipped front tooth, and a couple other teeth that were moved back a bit. Stove-up as they say in Maine. And then last Thursday, he fell down the basement steps. Again, the banged up his mouth and tore that little flap of skin that attaches your top gums to your upper lip. The ferenium, I think. More blood, but we did have him checked out and no head trauma, concussion, etc.

So, we made an appointment with a pediatric dentist at the suggestion of the ER, to have things checked out.

The dentist is up in Bangor, so it's basically a half-day outing. Liam and I arrived and I filled out the forms while he played with the many toys in the waiting room. Then we were led back into the exam room. They've obviously done this once or twice, and Liam being two, they were fully prepared for a full on rebellion. Which is what they got. But it was fairly gentle. I held him in my lap such that I had his legs wrapped around my waist and I held his hands in mine. The nurse/hygenist held his head and did both a cleaning and inspection. Then the dentist came in for a look. All in all, they said that his injuries were fairly minor and that they see much worse. We still won't know for a few months if the jacked up teeth have fractured in any way, and even that won't be known unless the teeth turn color or an infection forms. They didn't do an xray because there was no way Liam was sitting still. All in all, it was a good visit if not entirely satisfying for dad. But what can they really do? The damage is already done and all we do now is wait and see. In the end, Liam was extremely glad to leave and only partially pacified by the stickers, balloon, and free toothbrush.


And finally, I'll note that one of my great realizations of fatherhood has been that the songs 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star', the 'ABCs' song, and 'Ba Ba Black Sheep', are all the SAME TUNE. Who knew?? Well, apparently Liam has figured this out.

A Whole Lot of Catching Up....

As is abundantly clear, we have not done a very good job keeping up with the blog this summer. Therefore, some catching up is in order. Our summer was pretty good. The weather in Maine was nasty and rainy for a good part of the summer but we did manage to get in some good times. Over the Fourth of July weekend, we went on a fantastic kayak camping trip to an island off the coast of Deer Isle. It was a beautiful non-rainy weekend full of kayaking, swimming, yummy food and great friends.
In July, Liam and I went back to Ohio to visit our family. It was so nice to be home. Liam had an awesome time with his cousins. He was a total champ in the car to and from Ohio. Thankfully, I had our friend Kay Raplenovich with us on the way to Ohio and Mom on the way back to Maine. They both did a really good job of keeping Liam entertained.
With the beginning of August came a trip to Nova Scotia with Grammy and Grampy. It was so beautiful there despite some rainy days. We drove along the Cabot Trail traveling through the National park. It was so gorgeous! We also went to a really neat fort that was kind of similar to Willimsburg. Liam was a big fan of the fort aside from when the soldiers would play their drums and flutes. He seemed to find that pretty menacing.
Liam had a ball throwing about a million rocks into the ocean with Grammy and Grampy. He can throw rocks all day long and be perfectly happy. Good thing Maine is so rocky!

Liam is turning into such a little boy. His language amazes us as it seems so much more advanced then a normal two-year-old (every mother must say that though...). He cracks us up daily. Ever since his birthday party in June, he loves to yell out "Happy Birthday Cake!" The cake part is always tagged onto the end. He has recently taken to pretending to cook birthday for us and passing out imaginary pieces. We walked into the kitchen the other day and he had an oven mitt on one hand and a kitchen towel hung over his shoulder. He had the oven door open (thankfully, the oven was off) and turned around to pull his "cake" out of the oven. It was pretty clear that he had been doing a lot of observing of our cooking habits. Liam also amazes us with his ability to sing and remember songs. He loves to sing Moonshadow, Circle Game, Mike O's song I can Be Anything, and other songs like the ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle. He often comes out with lyrics that we had no idea he knew. It is pretty darn cute. He is so fun to interact with at this point in his life. I love two, if only we could rid him of some of his meltdowns and make him more pleasant to take out to eat. I guess we can't have everything. We are hoping to squeeze in another camping trip or two before winter is upon us. With any luck we will not only camp but post about it in a more timely manner!

A little home improvement

Time to play a little catch up here...

Grammy and Grampy visited over Memorial Day weekend, and when they are here, it usually means a project (or three). As you can see Liam was extremely helpful moving our large pile of dirt.

Or, perhaps a wheelbarrow is better used as a sedan chair.


Liam took his share of water breaks. It was a hot day.

Remembering

Liam and his Papa, July 2006.

This blog is ultimately a way for us to keep in contact with our distant friends and make sure that everyone can see Liam as he grows up. For Mike and I, this blog also acts as a baby book of sorts. That being the case, I want this entry to mark both the death of Dad but also a way to remember him so that Liam can return to this blog when he is older and feel a deeper connection with his Papa. But what do I know really? For all I know, right now, Liam is communicating with Dad in ways he will always hold onto.
Let me try to explain what I mean...
When Mom was staying with Liam while I was in the hospital (lest we forget what a terrible spring it has been for us here in Maine), she and Liam would play a game in which they would pretend to be on the phone with Papa. "Hello Papa" they would bellow out and then giggle away. Liam could play this game for ever and still find it hilarious. Well, Liam continues to have phone conversations with Papa but they seem to last longer now. Children, especially young children, seem so much more open and present then we are as adults. When Liam was an infant I was convinced he could see things that I was not aware of. He could sense changes in energy and light faster and more consistently then I. I noticed times when his hair would raise up like an animals when they are excited or sense danger. All these things about his perception make me wonder if he isn't communing with Dad on some more cosmic level- I really hope he is.
With all that aside, there is so much that I want to make sure that Liam knows about his grandfather. As Tyler said at Dad's service, you had to experience Dad. My hope is that without that possibility, Liam will experience Dad through the stories and actions of those who knew and loved him so well. I fully expect Trevor, Tyler or our cousin Byron to surprise Liam with his first wet willy. I hope that when we meet Dad's old fraternity brothers they will tell Liam why Dad was called Flapper. Some Christmas when all the cousins are older, I can't wait for Mom to pull out the Ungame and force them all to go through the "Frightful Forest." I wish that Cathy will help me take Liam on his first official cemetery hike. I hope for years of campfires in which Turtle's voice and Dad's favorite songs become as much a staple of childhood as they were for me. While I doubt I will be able to get a dog in a jar (ex-science teacher and Dad's sick humor sometimes made for a really strange mix), I hope that I can channel enough of that sick humor to leave Liam with stories that will leave his future friends wondering what kind of house he grew up in.
I remember vividly that when my great-grandparents and then my grandmother (Dad's grandparents and mother) died within a very short time of each other, he spoke of placing them each on a different star in the constellation Cassiopeia. He did this so that as he took in the night sky and gazed upon the constellations he would feel a deeper connection to those he lost. Family, both immediate and distant, were always important to Dad as was nature and the night sky. By using Cassiopeia, Dad was able to make sure that whenever we all gazed upon the stars, no matter how far apart we were, we would always be connected by the things he loved. My first night hike with Liam, I plan to point out the constellation and name each family member who resides there so he will know the strength of the family from which he comes.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. My hope is that it will take a village full of people who loved Dad to let Liam experience all the strange and wonderful ways that Dad looked at and took on the world. May Liam see the love Dad had for all people shine through each of you that we are lucky enough to have in our lives.

Mother's Day 2008

It is hard to believe that I celebrated my second Mother's Day yesterday. It was a beautiful spring day here in Maine. I started off my day on a walk with Angie, while our families made us a nice breakfast. The kids (mostly Eliza) helped cook some cute heart-shaped pancakes and Mike made a quiche. Liam had such fun playing with his buddies Sammy and Eliza that he was falling asleep on the way home. Following Liam's nap, Mike, Liam and I went to to the Asticou Azalea Gardens and then to Seal Harbor Beach to let Liam run around in the sun. He had a ball and so did we. Liam is a big fan of water and throwing rocks, sand, leaves or basically anything into the water. Once we got to the Seal Harbor Beach he was so happy just to be throwing and playing in the sand. He managed to get knocked over by some waves and was not too impressed by that. He did recover quickly and just became more weary of the water coming towards him. We certainly live in the perfect place for a boy who so adores the water. As always, we delight in watching him play. His enthusiasm for life is certainly infectious.

Slovenia

Liam had his first extended time away from us, or I should say we were away from him. Mike and I headed to Slovenia over my April break. It was an absolutely fantastic trip. I cannot accurately describe how beautiful we found Slovenia. The mix of mountains (the Julian Alps) and hillsides covered with vineyards was at times breathtaking. We were visiting and staying with our friend Kay Raplenovich. Kay and her husband Bob have been living in Slovenia the last couple of years.
Our time with Kay was simply wonderful. It was filled with good conversation, laughter and having Kay share her surroundings with us. We were right on the border of Italy and Slovenia so we were able to explore parts of both countries. One of the highlights of the trip was hiking around in the foothills of the mountains on one bright sunny day. Mike wanted to take a picture as we were driving so we stopped on the road side. As Mike was taking the picture, Kay and I started to follow the sounds of water. As we looked across the road we noticed a sluice way of sorts, which lead to a series of man made terraced waterfalls leading up into the mountain. We followed it a ways and ended up finding this natural mountain spring, just bubbling out of the mountain. Kay and I decided that it must be the spring from the book Tuck Everlasting- and we all drank.
After that little hike, we enjoyed a great picnic lunch at a church high up on a hill with the mountains as a backdrop. Another highlight of the trip was attending a choir practice with Kay. Mike and I attempted to sing with the choir but our command of Slovene made singing along very difficult. It was a fun attempt though. Following the practice the choir always retreats to the wine cellar for some excellent wine made by the choir director in his wine cellar. Along with the wine there was much good homemade cheeses, salami (mike loved this)and bread. Periodically, the group would burst into song and it could literally bring tears to my eyes.
Slovenia is a beautiful country and the culture is so healthy. I was so happy to see how everyone cycled or walked everywhere. Kay also reported that everyone makes their own food. In addition, people apparently have just what they need and don't kill themselves striving for more then what they need. Excess isn't something they reach for. It was so refreshing to experience a culture in which these things were priority.
Liam did well while we were away, aside from coming down with a nasty case of the flu just hours after we left. My mom was great about taking good care of him though! He has recovered and seems to be back to his silly self. When Mike and I returned Liam eyed us for about 30 seconds before collapsing into our arms for a huh. I am pretty sure that he was trying to decide if he was mad at us or happy to see us. I guess he decided that he was happy as he really hasn't wanted us to be too far out of his sight since then.
So now we are back in Maine and looking forward to the forward march of spring (yes, spring is just now arriving in Maine). Shops and restaurants are beginning to open just as the trees are starting to bud. It feels great to have our town coming back to life. Slovenia and its lush green colors and beautiful flowers has me ready for that all to happen here.

Elmo and words

Liam has recently developed a bit of a fascination with Elmo. So much so that we decided to get him a little Elmo toy/doll for Easter (see post below).  I have to admit I was surprised when Liam didn't immediately form a bond with the Elmo doll. In fact, I think within an hour of having Elmo, he was already throwing him on the floor.  At this point, Tara and I say sympathetically, 'Oh, poor Elmo. Did that hurt Elmo? Elmo, are you OK??'  At first Liam didn't know what to make of this, then he thought it was rather cute that T and I were lavishing attention on Elmo after he had been thrown around.  Now, he will throw Elmo on the floor and will pick him up and ask in Liam speak "You Kay, you kay?".  Then will bring him (Elmo) over to one of us for a hug and a kiss.  Liam will sometimes hug and kiss Elmo too, but he mostly prefers to throw him.  One reason is perhaps that Elmo has large plastic eyes that make a loud cracking sound when they hit the floor.  Ouch.

This morning, we had a critical moment with Elmo. As I was getting Liam ready to go. "OK, Liam, hat, boots, coat, outside" (is our current routine), Liam seemed to be hanging on to Elmo.  Given my great insight into minds of toddlers, I sensed that if I told Liam we had to leave Elmo behind, it would quickly deteriorate into something unpleasant.  I also didn't want Elmo to go to daycare thinking that something equally unpleasant might ensue the moment Elmo is 'borrowed' by one of Liam's daycare pals.  Thinking quickly, I suggested to Liam that Elmo is tired and needs to go night-night while we went off to Annette's house - his daycare provider.  At this suggestion, Liam paused for one moment, and actually agreed.  He didn't say so, but with my help, we tucked Elmo in under a blanket on the couch. A few hugs and night-nights from Liam to Elmo and we were off on our morning routine. Success!

Words are coming along fast, and for a while, we had been keeping a list.  Some recent words are 'puter' (computer), sorry, yoga (where daddy goes on Wednesday), tofu, tickle, smooshy face, and much to our surprise one day: 'I did it'.  The other big surprise has been his counting.  We usually count when we go up and down the stairs, and when we're reading his books that deal with counting.  The other day he offered up '8, 9, 10' on his own when I stopped counting at 7.  For whatever reason, he seems to leave out 4 through 6 when we count.  He goes straight from 3 to 7, or will repeat 3 until we reach 7.  Interesting.  

Here's a little smorgasbord video of 2 minutes in the life of a toddler...

Happy Easter!

We are going to head out for a Belgium Easter brunch at our friends Natalie and Rich's house, here in a little bit. There is some sort of Belgium tradition called Cocogne, it somehow involves smashing each other's onion died hard boiled eggs. Also in the Belgium tradition our brunch will consist of eating good cheeses, bread, chocolate and fruit. There is also be an Easter Egg hunt. We will post pictures upon our return.

In the meantime, We wanted to post a little clip of Liam dancing this morning with his new Elmo doll. He got Elmo as an Easter present. It should be noted that the song that Liam is dancing too is by our own dear Mike O. We got a package from him the other day containing a cd with his song, a movie he acted in called "Freedom" as well as some other fun surprises. Liam took to the song immediately. The Mckernan's are convinced that Mike O needs to make a whole cd full of kids songs. We happen to know how many people are always in search of kids music that adults like to listen to as well. Mike's music happens to be just that.

We hope everyone has a great Easter. Look for a new post of our Belgium Easter Brunch soon.

Photobooth

Blogger changes

Well, I decided to update to a new version of these Blogger templates. I'm not so sure that was a good move. I'm seeing a lot of strange margins and the like. Hmm... stay tuned for various small changes. Hopefully all for the better.

Children's Museum

This week is my February break, so I took the opportunity to take Liam to the Bangor Children's Museum with my friend Angie and her kids Eliza and Sammy. Eliza also brought her friend Catherine. It was a great day of fun at the museum. Liam was thrilled to be there with Eliza and Sammy, who he idolizes. He had no trouble leaving my side to wander the museum but would never travel far from the proximity of the his friends. Liam was a huge fan of the giant Lite-Brite that was in one of the sections. He was also really into the example of a 10 foot long earthworm that was/can be(?) found in the Australian Outback.
There was a Charlotte's Web room as evidenced by the picture of Liam and Sammy on Wilbur.

Other highlights include Liam running out of a giant mouth in a room dedicated to the human body. He thought it was a riot to run on the giant tongue.

You will notice some pictures of Liam playing in some flour. It should be noted that I was not intending to let him play in flour. Those pictures are direct evidence of what happens when you are not paying enough attention to your child. I was literally 10 feet away from him but my view was blocked. I happened to be loading up pictures from the museum to send to Angie and I noticed that Liam was being awfully quiet. When I peeked over the counter I saw Liam and a big floury mess! Enjoy.

Liam makes his pick

This photo appeared in an online photo gallery of one of our local papers. It was taken during the caucus the weekend before last. (Thanks for the tip, Chris!)

Liam's first ski

Liam had another exciting first experience today - downhill skiing! (on a first-time, toddler, scale of course). We spent the day at Hermon Mountain near Bangor. Mountain is being rather generous, it's a big hill with one lift, a t-bar and 7 or 8 trails. Not where you want to go for thrilling downhill, but great family skiing. Liam got a free ticket because of his age, and we rented him some tiny downhill skis. He seemed to do OK in the lodge while we worked on his boots, but for some reason, as soon as we went outside, it was an utter meltdown, which we're sure was boot related. So, off went the downhill ski boots and back on when his snow boots. Luckily, our friends brought a small pair of skis with a softer, strap-style, binding that worked well over his boots. That seemed to do the trick because we went right back outside and he commenced to 'ski' for a good couple of hours.

For a while, I just let him shuffle around in his skis so he could get the sensation of having them on his feet. Tara and I took turns hanging with Liam while the other did a couple runs, then we would swap. Both of us would fish-scale up a tiny grade, either holding Liam or pushing him up the hill. Then we would put him between our legs and ski back down to the bottom. Tara, who is the pro ski instructor for kids, skied backwards in front of him while he more or less skied down , facing Tara on his own power. The hill was so shallow and he's so light, that sometimes he needed a little push or tug to keep his momentum.

So, aside from the real ski equipment, he had a great time. It was a kick to get him out on skis. It was hard not to think about him becoming a confident little skier in just a few years, trying to keep up with his older cousins and friends and leaving his parents in the dust.

Little video below - you can hear Liam mistake the snowboard instructor for daddy.

Words and Songs

Liam was positively gleeful after being allowed to climb up the stairs in his birthday suit on his way to the bath. (the leaf is a bit of photoshop by the way, not a leaf stuck on with scotch tape)

It's been rather rainy here since late January, so we haven't had many skiing adventures with Liam, except for this weekend. He and I went for a ski on Sunday afternoon, and he happily rode along in the baby backpack. At one point, I heard him say 'uh-oh', to indicate that his shoe was falling off. Boy, was I glad he let me know his boot was falling off - it would have been a drag to ski back to find it.

Liam has been starting to find his voice over the last few weeks. When we go out and about around town, he'll say 'hi' to passing strangers, and people we meet. He will point and say something in toddler talk, and then we'll look together and try to learn the word. His new language acquisition is ramping up too. We taught him to say 'Obama' the other day, and 'touchdown', complete with arms raised in the touchdown signal. He's learning a couple of nursery rhymes - Twinkle Twinkle and Ring around the Rosie. Instead of 'Ashes, ashes', it's 'Ash-y, Ash-y, all fall down!' And then he needs s little help to fall onto his bottom. That and the refrain of 'Twinkle Twinkle'. Every now and then he'll shock us with some word or short phrase we had no idea he knew - like 'jack-in-the-box' for example. Today it was 'egg' and the other day 'cracker'. He already had 'cheese'. And he knows that 'outside' means he has to put on his 'hat', 'coat', and 'shoes' or 'boots'. And to our surprise, he said 'yes' this weekend; not, however, in response to a question, but in repeating 'yes' as he heard Tara or I say it. His favorite word, by far, is 'no'. Although half of the time, it's sort of a generic response to any statement from mom or dad that sounds like it might be a question.



We're also in the process of shoring up our babysitter pool. A friend of ours and professor at College of the Atlantic posted a note to the COA email-message board and we got five responses in just a few days. So far, we've met two of the students and they seem really nice. We're going to meet one more on Friday. Ideally, we want to find first year who will be around for a few years, and who doesn't have school nights or school athletics like our high school babysitters tended to have rather frequently.

Weekend Getaway

This past weekend we went to Sunday River in Western Maine with a bunch of our friends. We took this trip last spring as well. We stay at a great cross country ski lodge called the Sunday River Inn which has a very family feel. It is really low key and makes a great place to take kids.
Saturday morning we set out at 5:30 so we could get in a good day of cross country skiing. I demoed a pair of skate skis, with part of our group while Liam and Mike went sled riding with some of the others. Liam is getting to such a fun age in which he loves to hang out with the big kids. It is so fun to see him interact with Sammy and Eliza. He is also good about being very gentle with his little friend Anouk.
We got in some really fantastic skis and as always Liam was a total champ. He adores being outside, which is such a plus for us.
While he was great during the day, he did have a horrible night on Sunday night. He was totally against sleeping and spent a lot of time screaming and crying. I don't think Mike and I got much sleep at all that night nor did our friends who were sharing a chalet with us. Last night I mentioned bed around six and Liam went straight to our stairs to go to his room. He started climbing up the stairs intent on an early bedtime. After a weekend full of good friends, great skiing and one night of little sleep we were all ready for some extra rest.