A few firsts

What, we haven't posted in over a week?! Lots to catch up on, then. It's been an exciting here during the last few days - Liam has had several exciting firsts which I'm pleased to report. Last Friday, Tara and I woke up around 6 am feeling remarkably refreshed, downright energized, even. We both knew what had just happened - Liam had slept through the night for the first time in his life. A full 11 hours of sleep from 7 pm to 6 am! I'm sure he woke up once or twice during the night, but his waking time must have been fleeting b/c neither of us heard a peep. He woke up naturally at 6 am, and had a really great and very happy day. We tried to figure out what we did the night before and nothing unusual popped out - other than I made what I thought was a radical and dicey choice - to put him down without the aid of his pacifier. It worked, he went down quietly, but I doubt that was the reason he slept all night. We didn't get our hopes up for a repeat performance, which is good, as he is now back to getting up once in the middle of the night and once ~4 am. Not to bad, considering other stories I've heard, but sleeping through the night felt REALLY good on Friday morning.

The other exciting first is Liam learning how to clap. T and I have been working on clapping for a while now, demonstrating and helping him move his hands in a clapping motion. Then out of the blue as I was getting him into his car seat on Friday morning, I thought I spotted a rough looking 'clap'. I stopped, clapped broadly, and he did it again once or twice. I called Tara down and we both tried to get him to clap a few more times, which he did with a big smile. It was a great way to start the day. We've been clapping all weekend - Tara and I will clap, we'll look at him and say 'your turn!', and then he'll clap 3 or 4 times. Sometimes he'll miss wildly, which is cute, but so far this seems to be the first discrete thing we've taught him - and, the 'your turn' command seems to be the first direct response he's made to a verbal command other than 'where's daddy', 'where's mommy'. The other cool interaction is when he's lying on his back and I put two fingers in front of his hands, he will grab my fingers and sit or stand up from lying flat (depending on how much I pull him).

The final big event of the last several days was a short XC ski trip yesterday afternoon. MDI finally got some decent snow this weekend, so T, Liam and I headed to Jordan Pond, which is one of our favorite places to XC ski. Before we left I had to apply some new kick wax appropriate to the temperature. People who have skied with us before will tell you that I have a bad track record in picking the right kick wax. Even with all the wax wizards and temperature guides, I always seem to pick the wrong one. ANYWAY, with the skis freshly waxed, we were on our way. Snow conditions weren't great so we picked short 1+ mile loop just to test things out. Given the Bjorn and the baby backpack, we picked the Bjorn for Liam, and I strapped him on my chest. Even as we set off, we knew the conditions weren't ideal. The snow was a little icy and it was wicked fast. Fast - like I wish my XC skis had metal edges and fixed heels fast. I think it was on the first decent - and this is a decent so gradual it would be pretty boring on sled - that I fell. I fell like I was sliding into home (but much less dramatic), and landed on my side cradling Liam into his Bjorn. So Liam was fine - he was very safe and didn't get upset at all - so we kept going. As it happens I fell like this three times in total, all on account of the fast icy snow, my skittishness with Liam, and the inability of my stupid skis to steer or stop like downhill skis. On the third fall, Liam started to cry, so I figured that was enough sking for one day. I walked back with Liam in his Bjorn and skis over my shoulder. The snow was so slick and my wax job so bad, that the pace of my walk was much faster than the pace of Tara on skis. So she walked too. We got back to the car, not willing to call it a day. We surveilled the local sledding hill, and ultimately decided on something a bit more mellow for a Sunday afternoon in February... Oh, and for future ski outing swith Liam (least XC skiing), we could really use one of these (the Chariot would be fine, thanks).