cookie monster

Liam is quite the chatterbox lately. He knows a lot of words, and each day surprises us with new ones we didn't know he would remember.

For example, he pointed to one of his books the other day and said "bee." I was so proud of my little guy because there was in fact a bee on the cover of the book (clearly he is a genius). When we opened to the first page of the book, he pointed to a picture and said "mole." Sure enough, he was right (future doctor here).

Several new words a day are expected of an 18 1/2 month old learning to talk but it always amazes me how their little brains pick up on things so quickly.

Liam's FAVORITE word, by far, is "cookie." This child probably says cookie 100 times a day!! The other night we tried to teach him to say "broccoli" at dinner. It sounded more like ba-ki, but he was really trying. He even attempted to use it in a sentence (mind you, his version of sentences are one or two words that are clearly audible mixed with a bunch of babble).


But he tries...you gotta give the kid that.

So as he's eating his broccoli, he says something like:
"I like ba-ki ado mama okie....cookie!!"

In an instant, we go from broccoli to cookie.

Clearly he has a one track mind.

Here is a video of Liam with one of his beloved cookies:

Don't even think about asking him for a bite:)

cookbooks and mall cops

One of the blogs I follow is The Pioneer Woman. My friend Megan turned me on to her blog (and more importantly her recipes) a year or so ago and I have been following her daily every since. Don't think I'm a stalker though. Twenty million other people follow her amazing life as as a rancher's wife, homeschooling mama, photography expert, and cook extraordinaire. I have to admit, I am a bit envious.

PW (that's short for Pioneer Woman) came out with her first cookbook and had a scheduled appearnce the Mall of America. Megan and I thought we'd wait maybe for an hour, or even two for our chance to meet our favorite blogger and get our cookbooks signed.

Boy were we were wrong.

We arrived at 11:30, an hour and a half BEFORE the signing, and were promptly told that the end of the line was behind the stage. Apparently a thousand others in Minnesota love her just as much.

Luckily I left Liam at home with Dad. They went to happy hour, which he probably enjoyed much more that being stuck in line for 5 hours.

But Megan brought David. He was an angel.














Finally! Ree came to the stage. She walked right by us, but I didn't have my camera ready, so this photo of her signing someone else's cookbook will have to suffice.














We made friends with the guys ahead of us. They were here from Seattle for the Vikes/ Seahawks game but promised mom-in-law they'd get some books signed while in town. They sure are nice guys!














I told them they'd be disappointed. But not with PW. Only with the outcome of the game (and they were). SKOL!

Here are their friends (pretty sure they spent the afternoon at Hooters):














Did you know TLC is filming a show called Mall Cops: Mall of America?

I didn't either, but here is the star:














I thought she had on a bit too much makeup for a mall cop.

You wouldn't think much can happen at a mall, but according to one of the security guards I chatted with, it's another world out at the MOA in Bloomington, especially after hours.

So four hours later, we're still in line. At this point I had made a few trips to the lovely restroom in Nordstrom. And along the way found the PERFECT outfit...except I didn't have $750 to put it all together, so I had to leave it for someone else.

Finally, we were getting close.














Sort of. We still had another hour to wait at this point. But we did get to see the mall cops in action. They had to make sure that a diaper bag gone astray did not contain any bombs.

And then, the moment we had been waiting for- thirty second meeting with none other than Ree Drummond...














She was gracious and very lovely (even after signing 300,000 cookbooks).

Was it worth it? You betcha!

treats

Eli and Liam checking out the treats in the dessert case at Ole Cafe in Northfield.

Liam thought everything was a cookie. Just like he thinks all animals are puppies.

What a sweet moment!

punky the monkey

Liam was a monkey for Halloween, which is totally fitting since he will eat five bananas a day if we allow him to. Seriously, I have to hide them in the grocery cart or he will scream for them all the way through the store.

Instead of doing the whole trick-or-treat thing, our friends had a party for those of us that have babies.

Here is a pic of the moms and babies:

Notice my child would not sit on my lap nicely like the other kiddos. What he really wanted to do was play with Lynley's birthday presents (she's the one in orange).

And another with the dads and babies:
This is just plain chaos!!

brusha, brusha, brusha

Remember that clip in Grease of Jan at the slumber party singing the jingle? Check it out here if you don't....

Every time I brush my teeth, that song pops into my head. No kidding, since the first time I watched the movie in like 1980. "Brusha, brusha, brusha get the new Ipana." It's actually quite annoying. But I digress.

It's only fair that Liam learns the song now that he is a little toothbrusher.

As soon as he gets his pj's on, we tell him it's time to brush his teeth with Spongebob. He runs right into the bathroom and points to the sink chanting "Ba-bob, Ba-bob."

First we help him brush:

And then he does it himself:

And then it's nigh nigh time.

17 months

A picture of our baby one year ago (5 months):

Notice the drool on the left side of his sweater vest? It's so cute!

And this past weekend (17 months):

Definitely not a baby any more, but a sweet little boy! I wish he would stay this way forever!!!!!

Liam's favorite things du jour:

To watch:
Spongebob, Diego, and Dora
Football and baseball
Hank and Piccolo playing fetch

To play with:
Blocks
Balls
Stuffed dog (looks exactly like Hank)
Remotes, cell phones and PS3 controllers
Books, books, and more books ("ooo go, ooo go")

To eat:
Cookies
Bananas
Spaghetti
Taco soup
Peas (what??)
Goldfish crackers

To help with:
Loading the dryer
Putting away his cups and spoons
Brushing his teeth
Shutting the car door

Words:
Cookie
Mommy
No, no, no, no, no
Hi and bye
Football
Touchdown (he even knows the sign!)
Doggie and puppy
Thanks

monkey see, monkey do

Liam is in that toddler stage where he mimics everything we say and do (which means mommy has to stop swearing at drivers on the road).

Where do you think he learned this?

uh oh! spaghetti!

It must be fall because Dad and Linda made the trip big city a few weekends ago (you know who doesn't leave DL in the summer). We had a family dinner at Maggiano's in Edina on Friday night. This is a great family restaurant and perfect for crazy toddlers. It is very loud and the servers were so taken by Liam and Eli's cuteness that they didn't care about the mess that was left on the floor after we were finished.

We ordered a family style meal that included two selections each of appetizers, salads, pastas, entrees, and desserts. By the time the pasta came the table was full, and a pasta bowl ended up right in front of Liam. We gave him a little bit on a small plate, but as you will see, that was not enough for him. He had to have the entire bowl.


Here he is just kind of playing with the spaghetti



And then he started to shove handfuls into his mouth


Next he learned to slurp it


Finally, as happens at every meal, we have spaghetti hair

scottsdale, az

Highlights from our Labor Day weekend trip to AZ (started this two weeks ago but couldn't get my pics loaded- darn technology!). This was Liam's second plane trip. He was an angel and, as usual, charmed all the ladies sitting around us!

Fountains at Kierland Commons

He had a fit when we went to leave, but ice cream solved that problem!

Ice Cream!

Giant golf ball at PGA Tour Superstore

Big or small, he likes them all!

Thomas the Train Set

Peek-a-boo

The carousel at McCormick- Stillman Railroad Park

With Nana and G-pa Dan at the house

More ice cream!

Throwing rocks in the pool

Posing on the big cat statue at DC Ranch

look who's walking now

Our Little Man is on the move...finally!!! I should clarify that he has been able to walk for a few months, he simply chose to crawl. Until last weekend. He's now a walkin' machine!

oh (expletive meaning poop) moment

A few days ago Phil and I had our first "Oh Crap" moment as parents. Actually our first two- and I'm not talking about little things like forgetting to bring a bottle when you are going to be away from home for six hours or leaving an entire can of formula in the grocery cart only to realize it when you are already home. These are scary "something really, really, really bad could have happened and then the whole world would think we are horrible parents" moments.

Liam uses a booster chair and has decided that he no longer wants to eat his food off of the tray. It has to be on a plate, and the plate has to be on the table. Great, he's learning to eat like a big boy.

Yes, that was really great until he decided one night that he was done eating, kicked the table and fell backwards still strapped in the chair. We have an entire wall of mirrors in our dining room (it's very 70's retro) and his head missed that wall by about 1/2 of an inch. Oh, Crap (the other word sounds much more natural for this situation, but I'm trying to keep it clean!).

Lesson # 1: Don't put the booster chair in front of a mirrored wall.

Our second "Oh, Crap" moment came a few days later. Liam loves to play knock-knock on the storm door because he can see through the window to daddy on the other side. It's soooo cute...he even knows how to say "knock-knock."

The other day Liam scooted over to his books behind the chair. I didn't think much about what he was doing because this is his typical after day care routine- find the "But Not the Hippopotumus" book and make mommy read it eighteen times before dinner. Not that day. That day I heard him playing knock- knock on something that sounded like fragile glass, not sturdy window glass but fragile, breakable, dangerous glass.

See the glass china cabinet in the background that is full of glass stuff? THAT is what he was playing knock-knock on...with a metal container of lip salve (where he found it, I have no idea!). He threw a knock-down, drag-out toddler fit when I took him away. It was a really fun moment, let me tell ya. And that leads to....

Lesson # 2: Dispose of all glass objects in your house when raising a toddler.

Something, some day will get broken. I realize this. But these two little instances made my heart pound because Liam could have been seriously hurt. I am usually pretty careful about watching what he is doing, but this just proves to me that I cannot even turn my head away from him for a few seconds.

These occurences reminded me of two little boys who made my mother utter the phrase "Oh Crap" more times than I can remember. I am pretty sure that my little boy is following in the footsteps of his favorite uncles- Oh Crap!

go joe go!

Liam has been quite chatty lately. It's mostly babble, but we actually understand a few words: tank you, duck, ball, mama, dada, da (dog). My personal favorite, however is "Go Joe go!" which is fitting since Joe Mauer is my favorite Twins player.

Last Friday we took Liam to the Twins v. Indians game. We didn't know how he would do since it was a night game and he is generally pretty tired by the end of the week. But he LOVES to watch baseball (and golf and football) on TV so we thought we'd give it a try.

Liam enjoyed seeing the Cleveland pitchers warm up, TC Bear shooting shirts into the crowd, flirting with the girls around us, and clapping when everyone else did.

Here are a few pics from his first (and probably last game at the Dome):


On the plaza before the game with Daddy


TC Bear and friends

#7- need I say more?

Feeding Daddy goldfish crackers

Mmmm!

Bye bye, time to go home!

summer fun

Biking and snacking with buddy Anthony!

Lunchingwith Grandpa John and Linda at Zorbaz!

Feeding the ducks with Nana at Lake Calhoun!


Chilling in my new wagon at the G-parents!


People watching with Grandpa Dan at Tin Fish!


My cousins Mimi and Emmy!

at the grocery store

Thank you Byerlys for providing these cool shopping carts:


Makes grocery shopping with a toddler a breeze!

As we were cruising through the store, Liam was making "vroom vroom" noises. No idea where that came from but most everyone that we passed thought he was hilarious!

bento!

Often I find myself wishing Liam would hurry up and learn to do things: sit up, crawl, feed himself, walk. But then I stop and realize that all too soon he will be "big" and I will miss the days when he relied on me for everything.

Today I stumbled across this blog that made me wish I could send Liam to kindergarten, if only so I can pack these really cool lunches.

Bento. What the heck is that? In Japanese it means meal in a box. The concept is great- send your kids to school with a healthy, creatively packed lunch. With major emphasis on creative.

These are not your mom's brown bag lunches:

And then there are the over-achiever-bento-makers:

Halloween Bento

Starbucks Bento

Eiffel Tower Bento

Wow, I'm happy to have four more years to practice my bento making skills!