Light and Shadows

Perhaps one of the simplest joys of childhood is playing with your shadow. Twice now, I have caught Liam experimenting with the way light and shadows work. Since his birth he as found pleasure in watching the tricks of light. Now he has found that he can manipulate light and make it work for him. This morning as the sun shone in our living room window, Liam played with his shadow. He sat with the light on his back holding forth with the light as if it were his orchestra. With arms raised he played with the light and made his little shadow friend dance. Mike and I were lucky enough to be witness to this shadow play. I truly will never tire of watching this boy learn and delight in new things.

A photo tribute to dinner

Hi Friends - just this weekend, Liam tried two new things - pickles and tofu (that's little bits of silken tofu mixed up in his sweet potatoes). He loved both. In fact, he was downright rebellious when we took away the pickle he was gumming. He's also become a rather squirmy little fellow, which adds a new element of action when it's time for dinner. He eats willingly, but T and I have to be fast to get the spoon into his mouth instead of on his face or into his eye as he scans his surroundings looking for something to grab or shove in his mouth.

6 month checkup

Liam had his six month check up yesterday. We're pleased to report that he's doing great, right on track, and even doing a little better in terms of his weight. At 6.5 months, he's 27.5 inches (85th percentile), and 16 lb. 2 oz (30th percentile). I don't recall his head size, except that it's grown 1 inch since his last check up a couple months ago. We had a nice discussion about his sleep patterns - he's still getting up a couple times a night. Perhaps this weekend we'll try to work on that a bit. He also had 4 shots - yuck. He's really got the hang of sitting up on this own, and we can sit him in the middle of the floor relatively confident he won't topple. He can turn from his back to his stomach in one twisting move. Once he's on his stomach, he can work is way around 360 degrees, but hasn't quite got the forward and reverse down. Overall, he's squirmier than ever. He loves to move, flap his arms and clap them down. It's amazing how much he's grown in just two months.

Youngest member of the Academy

There was an interesting article that appeared recently in the New York Times. Their chief film critic, AO Scott, encourages parents to take their kids to the movies. And not just the kids' movies, but the movies the parents want to see. I say, great idea! As appropriate, of course - Apocalypto and Borat, perhaps, not the best movies for kids. But, he says parents have an opportunity to teach their kids the magic of watching movies in a theatre. Scott quotes another article that says today's kids will grow up watching movies via netflix, tivo, cell phone, internet, rather than at the theatre. Of course, that's regrettable, given that movies experienced in a darkened theatre can be magical indeed. The experience is simply heightened, and all senses absorbed. And you don't fall asleep on the couch. Liam is certainly too new to comprehend much of the movie going experience, but that hasn't stopped us from taking him along with us to the movies (well, maybe saving babysitting $$ has something to do with it too...). The first few were easy - he slept right through. The last few more difficult as he becomes more squirrely and susceptible to what he sees on a screen. It will be nice when he's older to go back and view *again* some of the movies he's already seen (in order, according to Tara's and my best recollection):

Inconvenient Truth
A Prairie Home Companion
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Monster House
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Wordplay
Islander
Little Miss Sunshine
Flushed Away
Happy Feet

Holiday Madness

Hello All-
We are back in Maine after being in Ohio for the holidays. We had a wonderful time seeing family and friends. Mike gave you the update all the way up to Christmas. Following Christmas we spent some fairly low-key days visiting with my family and enjoying the time catching up with friends.

Little Liam was finally able to meet some little friends that he didn't know he had. We got to spend a couple evenings with our dear friends Leah and Steve Bechtol and their son Wyatt. It was such fun getting to see Liam and Wyatt play together in the way only babies and toddlers do. On the 28th we also go to meet up with three friends from high school and their families. Lindsay and Rick were in Ashland from Bath, Maine. Claire and Jay were passing through Ashland with their son Jack and Julie met with us with her daughter Mya. It was a joy to see them all again and to be amazed with the passing of time. It truly doesn't seem so long ago that we were in high school together hanging out at Malabar Farm, skiing together or just hanging out. How wonderfully odd it felt to met for lunch with our husbands and children.

We left Ashland on Friday the 29th. We got to the Columbus airport only to find out that our flight was canceled and that we were on a much later flight. We called my parents back to the airport and got them to take us out breakfast. Then it was back to the airport for a long day of waiting. We waited for the flight out of Columbus, and then waited for our flight out of Cincinnati. Liam was a champ through the whole thing. He even managed to sleep through both legs of our flight again. We finally arrived in Maine at 10:00 or so. We stayed at Lindsay and Rick's in Bath and then the next morning woke up early to start our drive towards Northern Maine. We had plans to meet up with a group of friends for a New Years celebration in the woods of Maine. We finally met up with our group and headed to the wilderness camp at which we would spend the next couple of days.

We had a great time at the camp. The cabins were rustic but provided us with heat and relatively comfortable beds to sleep in. We were able to play in the snow, hike on the Appalachian Trail and enjoy hanging out with a great group of people. Liam had only one major meltdown the entire trip and that was midway through a long hike. He was pretty hungry and probably a bit cold. One feeding him he fell right back to sleep and we enjoyed the rest of the hike.

We rung in the New -Years while playing games and having good conversations in the woods of Maine. One can't complain about that. We are so lucky to have gotten to know so many good people in Maine who help us to provide great experiences for Liam. I once heard that the way you spend your New Years is indicative of how your year will go. If this is the truth then we are in for a great 2007.

Christmas trip to OH

Merry Christmas to everyone in Who-ville! We're currently in Ohio enjoying a Christmas vacation with Tara's parents. We arrived on Wednesday, flying from Portland to Columbus through JFK. Liam did a great job during his first flights. He was a little fussy when we left PWM, but then he fell into (we think) a stress - induced sleep. The rest of the flights he slept through from takeoff to landing. I was glad I didn't have to pass around earplugs to our fellow travelers (I had some just in case). Perhaps on the flights home. My recommendation to fellow travelers - avoid JFK, especially Delta at all costs. The terminal is nutty and overcrowded, and most flights are delayed. As we waited at JFK (our flight was delayed ~2 hours), Liam was doing his usual happy pterodactyl-esqe screeching. A recently studied-abroad and "cosmopolitan" college chick cleverly observed that 'babies in Europe are so much quieter than babies in the US'. T went into mother wolf mode, and said that if she said another word, there would be issues. Luckily for the college chick, she kept additional observations to herself. It was a long travel day, but we arrived in Ashland safe and sound.

Liam's having a great time meeting new friends and family members. We actually celebrated Dunlap Christmas on Dec. 22, when everyone could get together before going separate ways for Christmas Eve and Day.

Liam was baptised at Trinity Lutheran in Ashland on Saturday evening. We had a private ceremony with family and friends. Tara's brother Tyler (an ordained pastor, but not practicing), performed the baptism. Liam was good until I passed him to Ty, and he was pretty displeased until Ty passed him back to me. After the baptism, everyone had dinner in the church home (an incredible turn of the century mansion donated to the church). Thanks Sarah, Leanne, and Terrie for putting everything together!

Tara, Liam and I had Christmas Eve with my parents at my uncle Scott and aunt Linda's house. It was wonderful to catch up and see aunts, uncles, and cousins some of whom I hadn't seen for several years. It was a great evening - good wine, food, and catching up with everyone.


So, it's Christmas Day and the house is fairly quiet. The big event for the day will be making Hungarian nut roll and chicken paprikash. Nut roll is pretty involved pastry to make - part of the process is rolling the dough on a bed sheet, lifting one end of the bed sheet to create a hill, and letting gravity take over to roll everthing up into a log. I'll have to post some pictures later. It's a pretty neat process.














Tara and Liam and I wish everyone a very happy Christmas. We hope everyone is having a warm and cheerful celebration wherever you are.

Delish!

Sorry we have been a little lax on posting lately. I think we're still pretty close to one post a week, which isn't entirely embarassing. OK, only three posts in December is actually pretty lame. We have a few things to tell you about our weekend and some local Christmas happenings. Stay tuned. And stay tuned as well for what I'm sure will be an interesting post about Liam's first airplane ride and our first airplane ride with a baby. We fly PWM to CMH, connecting JFK on Wednesday. I'm less concerned about his behavior than I am about connections and delays. Usual air travel unpleasantness. Today's post, though -- food.

Overall, Liam is a great eater. His veggies include carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, and a somewhat ambiguous (but organic) blend called GREENS. I think it's green beans and spinach. His favorite by far are sweet potatoes, carrots and peas he can handle pretty well. The greens, however... I'll let this little still-camera based video speak for itself. (I think you need to have quicktime installed and your browser properly configured to see it. If you can't see it and still want to see the video, say so in the comments and I'll send it along)

Sorry, I just tried to figure out how to post video directly to blogger and it seems I'm not smart enough right now. For the time being, you are welcome to view the video here.

In which Liam plays in the snow

Once upon a time there was a very cute little boy named Liam. Now Liam had never seen snow before. To everyone's delight the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine were covered in snow when they greeted Friday morning. Friday was a blustery day, not at all the type of day that small boys should be out playing in the snow. So dear little Liam had to wait until Saturday morning to truly experience his first snow fall. Saturday morning finally came and little Liam got suited up for his outside adventure. On went his long johns and warm socks. Then came his Kelty snowsuit and finally his hat. Liam and his mom and dad then went right out to their yard to play. First they made some snow angels. Liam wasn't so sure about that but he played along anyway. Next they made some snowballs. Liam even threw one at his daddy. Finally, Liam and Daddy played the game in which Liam is thrown into the air and his daddy catches him. It was so much fun he just couldn't stop giggling. As with all good things, the fun had to end. So Liam and his mommy and daddy went back inside to sit by the tree. Liam had another idea though. He thought a nap was a much better option after so much fun.

First Tree and a visit to Santa!

On Friday, Liam, Emma, Carolyn and I took a trip to see Santa. The rec center in Soutwest Harbor had free pictures with Santa. The line once we got there was pretty long but Liam slept almost the entire time. I thought for sure that he would have a fit and would not grace us with one of his adorable smiles. I was so wrong though. He got to Santa and his face lit up. I didn't have our camera as it was a last minute decision to see Santa. Once I get the picture from the Rec center or Carolyn, I will be sure to post the picture. I love how having a child brings the magic back to holidays. I can only imagine how each passing year will only enhance the experiences.

Well, we finally got Liam's first Christmas tree this weekend. We picked it up on Saturday. Liam slept through the picking out of the tree but he woke up just in time to charm the sellers of the tree. We got the tree home and a few hours later began to decorate. Liam was pretty interested in the lights and the tree itself. He also got a kick out of listening to the Muppets Christmas cd.

After we put up the tree, Mike and I began to prepare for a Christmas party we were attending. Now I realize that when you hear that we were attending a Christmas party you may picture people standing around in nice clothes drinking holiday drinks. This party however is different. This party is annual and has a costume theme to go with it. It also has an 80's dance party room and a room to play old atari games. This year the theme was aliens. So, Mike and I threw together (with the help of our friend Jen) some Star Trek costumes. We had a babysitter for Liam that night. I have to say that while I adore my time with Liam there are times when it is very nice to enjoy a night out. Sadly, for Mike he had to fly to Texas on Sunday morning for work, so his night was not as stress free as mine.

That leads me to the fact that as we speak I am flying solo with Liam. I thought that we would never get out of the house this morning. I am so used to having Mike around in the mornings to help get Liam ready that I was having serious trouble getting us both ready to leave the house. It is really strange not to have Mike around to share Liam's funny antics. He comes back on Wednesday and I know both Liam and I are more than ready to have him home.

Thanksgiving with Mimi and P-paw

Liam had a great first Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to have Mimi and P-Paw come up to Maine to celebrate the holiday with us. They arrived on Tuesday night. Mike and I had to work on Wednesday so Mom and Dad got to watch Liam for the day. Mom just couldn't get over how much Liam eats. Since starting solids, he has pretty much chowed down on everything we will give him. The only thing he really hasn't liked is a green pea, spinich and green bean mix. It really makes him gag. His favorite seems to be sweet potatoes. He is also a fan of avacado, bananas, applesause, oatmeal and rice cereal.
Anyway, on Thursday we spent much of the day preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. We had plans to have Thanksgiving with our friends Brian, Carolyn and Emma. Members of both Brian and Carolyn's family were also up for Thanksgiving. They also had invited some other friends so in all there were about 18 people including five kids aged seven on down to Liam. It was festive to say the least. It was a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving.
On Friday, we went to Freeport home of L. L. Bean for some shopping. There are many outlet stores there. We had a good time though it was tiring at times trying to beat the shopping crowds.
The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the quiet of Bar Harbor in post tourist season. We played with Liam, enjoyed the ocean and took a nice Sunday drive.
With another holiday down I get more excited for Liam's first Christmas. It will be so wonderful to get back to Ohio so that Liam can meet all of his family, spend time with his Grammy and Grampy McKernan and meet some of our good friends as well. I am sure it will be here before we know it.

Determination

I don't really have much to report but I thought I would post this cute picture of Liam. I think it really captures how hard he works when having tummy time. He is getting so good at pushing up on his still scrawny arms. I love the look of determination in his eyes.

template changes and suggestions

So, I've been playing around a bit with the template of this blog. Thought I'd try to give it a little character and make it look a little less prefab (which it is, of course). You'll notice the banner image at the top, and I've added height and weight tallies on the side. I'll update H & W after his checkups. I have a few other ideas - maybe a rotating 'picture of the day' thing, or I thought an occasional poll would be fun. Maybe a new foods checklist. Any other suggestions for this blog? Anything you've been staying up at night thinking 'jeez, I wish they would just do X'? Maybe I'll try to look around at some other baby blogs to see what other parents are up to.

OK, enough blog stuff. Liam is growing and changing weekly and daily, it seems. Just in the course of two weeks he is learning how to grab things. Two weeks ago, he would reach out with his hand in kind of a claw shape - hoping to hook whatever was in front of him and reel it in. Not so effective. A couple days later, he figured out that his hands could work as a grabbing tool, and for the last couple weeks, he's been practicing grabbing hair and small toys. He's particularly tenacious when it comes to hair. One really interesting thing he does is grab the thumb of his opposite hand and splay out the fingers. I'll have to post a picture, if I can get one of him doing this motion. It's like his right hand is out saying stop, but his left hand is grabbing his right thumb. He was helping me cook the other day when I watched him reach over from this right side, grab the top of a loaf of bread and drag it over to his chair. It was incredible. It was very purposeful, he knew exactly what he wanted to get and he did it. In other developmental milestones, he's much better at tummy time, he's starting to push his torso up with his arms, and he's getting better at rolling. Right now we're practicing sitting up - which we hope he'll have a handle on by Christmas. No pressure, though.

Boo!

Well, Liam had his first Halloween. We celebrated by carving pumpkins, going on a pumpkin walk at the College of the Atlantic and going to a Halloween parade in Southwest Harbor. On Halloween night we dressed Liam up in his little pumpkin costume and headed to the street in Bar Harbor that gets all of the trick-or-treaters. We didn't actually go begging for candy but we did walk around the street and enjoyed the festive feel of the night. The Bar Harbor police shuts down the street to cars so it will be safe for all of the kids. Doing this makes the street have the feel of a street fair. We talked to some friends of ours, who live on that street, about 1.5 hours into the night. They had purchsed 75 dollars worth of candy and they were already out. They ended up getting more from the Baptist church that is next to their house. After getting our fill of that scene, we went to our favorite restaurant/pub. The Lompoc also had a festive Halloween feel to it. Liam and his little friend Emma were the hit of the place in their very cute costumes.
Liam's first Halloween was great all around. I have always loved holidays but having Liam makes it so much fun. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Headless Horseman

On Saturday, we went to watch a showing of The Headless Horseman put on by a local puppetry troupe called The Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. They are not only great people, but they are really talented at puppeteering. We watch their shows every year at Christmas and Halloween. It was a real treat to be able to take Liam to his first puppet show. He was entranced throughout most of the show. He fell asleep for the last fifteen minutes. Other than that, he was up and watching carefully to the action on the stage. Watching him soak up new events is such a treat. One of the best parts of going to these shows is to listen to the children in the audience as they laugh and clap during the show. The joy that these puppets bring to small children is well worth the price of admission. I look forward to the days when Liam is a bit older and can give a big belly laugh to the puppets antics.
After the show, we went up to see the puppets first hand. Liam was pretty enthralled with them. It makes me wonder what goes on in his head. How does a little mind even begin to sort through and make sense of a puppet?

Sunday was another gorgeous fall day. We enjoyed a very relaxing morning and then set off to find a letterbox. No, this does not mean that we were shopping for a new mailbox for our house. This does mean that we were searching for what is known as a letterbox. Letterboxing is a fun activity, which we have just recently learned about. It is much like a treasure hunt. People all over the United States and England who are into Letterboxing hide little containers, which hold a stamp and minature notepad. Then they post clues as to where these containers are hid. Then fellow Letterboxers follow the clues to the box. Usually, Letterboxers carry with them their own stamp pad, stamp and notebook. Once you find a Letterbox you stamp your stamp into the logbook and then take the Letterboxes stamp and stamp your notebook. The notebook from the hidden container acts as a logbook to see where fellow Letterboxers are from.

The Letterbox we found was hidden at the Indian Point Blagden Nature Conservancy right here on MDI. It was well hidden and contained stamps from people all over the United States. This is only the second Letterbox Liam and I have found and the first for Mike. I have a feeling that as Liam grows older this could turn into a fun family activity. It appears to be the kind of thing that you could do no matter where you went in the US.

After finding the Letterbox, we continued down the trail and landed at the ocean. We enjoyed walking on the beach and then took a small fire road back up to the car. On our way up the road, Mike spotted a little cemetery set back in the woods. As most of you know, I have a love of cemeteries. Finding one hidden in the woods is pretty exciting to me. We stopped to check it out. What we found was pretty interesting. There seemed to be two main families represented in the cemetery. It appeared that both families lost many of their children in 1863. Our guess is that some sort of epidemic swept through the island at that time. I hope to have time to research that theory. Finding the cemetery added even more fun to our day. I have very fond memories of going on cemetery hikes with my dad when I was a kid. He taught me so much on those hikes and started a love for history and genealogy that I carry with me today. I hope to be able to pass on the same to Liam as we continue to explore cemeteries together.

Pumpkins & Cranberries

Last weekend we did two very fall like activities. We got Liam his first pumpkin and we went cranberry picking.
I am a nut for holidays. Because I am a nut for holidays I find it very exciting that with Halloween we are starting in on what I feel is the beginning of the holiday season. To me this starts with buying a pumpkin and ends when you take down your Christmas decorations. It is so easy to see the ghosts of Christmas future. A little Liam in footed pajamas sleeping under a lit up Christmas tree. I love the image that brings to mind. Needless to say, I couldn't wait for us to go pick out pumpkins. Of course this activity was really for my benefit and not Liam's. Mike and I have very different feelings towards getting holiday decorations. I am of the sort that is ready to get our pumpkins as soon as I see the first ones being sold at a roadside stand. I also always want to pull out Christmas decorations and buy a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Not Mike. He likes to wait. I believe that he might like the anticipation of waiting. It will be interesting to see how having Liam helps us to create our own holiday traditions.

With pumpkins purchased, we decided to try a new fall activity. We have heard for years that there is an area on the island to harvest cranberries. So, we put the canoe on the jeep and headed out to find them. The weather was quintessential fall weather. Just the perfect amount of chill in the air. The sky was blue and made the perfect backdrop for the colorful leaves. We paddled for a bit and took a small tributary towards our cranberries. We had been told the general area in which to find the cranberries. True to the directions given, we found the berries on low bushes not far from the shores of the creek. Mike and I both tried to pick them at first but Liam was not impressed with being held in the front pack while I was bent over picking cranberries. So, Mike took a turn sitting with Liam as I searched for the berries and then we switched jobs. It was harder work than we anticipated but it was also fun. It was almost like a mini treasure hunt trying to search through the bushes. Hopefully, we will be rewarded for all of our hard work with a cranberry tart that Mike plans to make.

First Food

As Mike said, Liam has been started on rice cereal. He seems to really enjoy the act of eating. It cracks him up to try to grab the spoon and help to put in his mouth. The funny part is that when he nurses he has to push his tongue out. This is exactly opposite of what needs to happen when he eats. This being the case, he ends up pushing much of the cereal out with his tongue. He was starting to get the hang of it last night. Connie, Liam's babysitter, reported a more contented kid yesterday. We are guessing that having a belly that is full is a major plus.

It has been hard getting back to work. Having to be away from him for so long is sad. He seems to be adjusting just fine though. The lack of sleep is starting to get to me though. It figures that the week before I started back was the week he decided not to sleep as well. It is difficult to go from him only waking up once during the night to waking up multiple times.

Even with being tired and having to juggle going back to work. I couldn't be more thrilled with the little guy. He seems to learn new things every day.

The pictures for today are of him eating. I also added in a funny picture that was taken this past weekend. Liam makes a pretty funny mad face!

Love those three day weekends

Another fantastic three-day weekend, and was it ever a beauty. Warm and blue skies and turning leaves. A perfect autumn weekend in Maine. As you can see, my parents visited for the weekend, making the 11 hour drive from Rochester. We managed to squeeze in a lot of activity, including practical stuff (insulating the new bathroom, installing the dishwasher (hooray!)), and fun stuff too. We tried to get into the park every day. On Saturday, we hiked the Witch Hole Pond Loop, Saturday it was Day Mountain (a beauty neither Tara nor I had done), and Sunday was a seaside hike from Otter Point to Thunder Hole. The tide was high so Thunder Hole wasn't exactly thundering. But that didn't stop the bus throngs from gathering at the top of the Thunderhole walk-down - digital cameras ready - to snap that perfect shot of splashing seawater. It was a rather hilarious sight.

In less positive news, Liam has not been sleeping all that well of late. It seems like he is up every hour, crying for food. Tara had been feeding him, but we decided today to get him started on solid food a little early - rice cereal, and he seemed to like it. Milk alone didn't seem to be satiating him, and maybe a little bit of rice cereal will stick to the ribs and allow him to sleep. Will have to post pics of the first solid food tomorrow. I take it for granted that he only knows how to eat one way - suction. This whole chewing thing is more like swishing the cereal arounnd in his mouth, and kind of swallowing half (or hiding it in the crease of their neck). T will post some pictures tomorrow.

Camping at Baxter

This past weekend we went on what we thought was going to be a canoe camping trip. We decided that we would leave early so that we could get up to Baxter State Park early. We wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to paddle. Well, we set off on time but we had quite a time trying to find the best place to paddle and camp. Once we got near Baxter we decided we would try a lake right out of the park. We traveled down an access road in an attempt to get to what sounded like a beautiful lake. The lake might have turned out to be gorgeous but we weren't able to get to it due to the state of the access road. It took a good hour to travel just over 2 miles and we still had 2 miles left to travel. So, we headed up to the access gate for Baxter. We arrived to find out that the only campsites available were 17 miles into the park. Baxter is a very pristine park. It has only one narrow dirt road that winds though the park. The speed limit on said road is 20 mph. Needless to say it took us awhile to get to our campsite. Once we finally arrived we set up camp and then took a short hike. It started to get dark so we headed back to our campsite and got there just before total nightfall.
As always Liam was such a trooper. I swear he sleeps better in a tent then in our house. I woke him up once during the night to eat otherwise I think he would have slept the entire night without waking.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast then packed up our campsite. We decided to drive all the way up to the north gate in order to check on another possible camping spot for future trips. The drive was amazing. The fall colors were so bold. It was well worth the drive to see them. We stopped along our way to take a short hike down to a river to eat lunch. We put Liam down on some rocks and he slept for a good 45 minutes with the sound of the river in his ears. Again, he seems to like napping on rocks better then in his Pack-n-Play. Crazy kid.

Even with our lack of canoeing and the insanely long car trip on the first day, we had a great trip. I can't get enough of watching Liam soak up his time outdoors. He is a true nature lover.