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.