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!

food fun

I am trying very hard to instill good, healthy eating habits into Liam. At home, we try to eat well-balanced meals with lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. (You might not be able to tell that given the extra padding I have acquired but I attribute that to my weakness for pizza, ice cream, and wine).

When we first started feeding Liam pureed solids (isn't that an oxymoron??), he ate pretty much anything we put on his spoon. Peas, carrots, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, pears, avocados.

Once the teeth came and he graduated to soft solid food, he still gobbled up whatever we put in front of him. Pasta with pesto, gnocchi soup, and chicken stir fry were favorites.

The Little Man is 14 (and a half) months old. The old standbys- grilled cheese, cheese enchiladas, chicken, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese- just don't cut it. He snubs these foods just as top chefs snub anything canned or bottled. He now eats things like spicey shrimp tacos, asparagus, green chile enchiladas, bagels with salmon cream cheese, hummus and pita bread.

There are certain things we feed him that you would expect a toddler to eat- turkey lunch meat and turkey hot dogs, cheese slices, toast, waffles, mixed veggies and fruit. Lots of fruit. Especially bananas. He ate three yesterday, each in about 60 seconds flat.

I am pleased that Liam is interested in what we eat, however just when I think I have him figured out, he goes and changes his mind. Asparagus on Friday night was fine. Asparagus last night ended up on the floor. And so the battle continues...