Liam's 1st Birthday

        

 

How has it already been a year since Liam entered our lives?  Isn’t that the reflection of most parents for their children’s 1^st birthday?   Since having kids it’s hard for me not to ask the questions like: where has the year gone, how are they SO big now, and will you please slow down on growing so fast? This birthday has been no different in my book. Every time I turn around Liam seems to be learning a new skill.  I loved this stage with Amelie and am loving this stage of life with Liam as well. It’s hard to keep up with his newest cute thing and I find myself watching and giggling at him all day. To give you a clearer picture of Liam here are a couple of fun things to know:

·      He started taking a couple of steps a week before his birthday. After a week or so he was walking everywhere with little assistance.  He toddles on the sand, which is adorable.  His cuteness is made evident by the crowd of people he attracts that enjoy watching him and marveling in his ability to walk in the soft sand. His walking skills have advanced so much so that he will walk straight into the ocean with little regard to any waves.  At the Shrimp Festival he liked to walk in the opposite direction of us and go exploring.  He also loves the game of us chasing him. As he continues to be more and more mobile, he is going to keep us running! 

·      He loves to cuddle.  He can hardly contain himself when it comes to soft things: soft blankets, soft stuffed animals, soft real animals…you get the picture anything soft.   He strokes his face as he is going to sleep with the bunny ears on his beloved stuffed animal, the bear in a bunny costume. 

·      He follows his sister everywhere and wants to be involved with whatever she is doing. It is fun to see them playing together and entertaining themselves even if it is only for short periods of time. Their newest thing is to take turns screaming.  Amelie will scream a high pitch scream and then Liam will follow suit…it is fun how they match each other’s pitch…well, fun for us (sometimes) but not for our neighbors. (Luckily we have not had neighbors in many months…we do try to be considerate.) 

·      He enjoys rough housing with Bobby and Amelie.  In the evenings the three of them spend time wrestling with each other on the bed.  This is something we have to keep an eye on because a couple of times we have seen him charge Amelie out of nowhere and knock her down.  We are using this as leverage right now with Amelie to encourage her to make wise choices as to how she interacts with him because we warn her that one day he will be bigger than she is.

·      He loves to eat.  He often eats more food than Amelie. Fortunately, we do not frequent dining establishments very often because he screams at you until you put something in his mouth.  I’m hoping this is a phase.  We taught him the sign language for more so how he screams while signing that he wants more.

·      He loves dogs.  He will point and scream “Dogh, Dogh!” at the sight of every dog. He also likes all the birds around the beach (seagulls, pelicans, cranes, etc.)

·      He waves feverishly at all planes and helicopters.  This has also turned into waving vigorously at boats and cars too.  It’s a whole arm motion across his entire body.

·      He is watching and mimicking social cues now. If we are laughing, he has to join in as well.  If Amelie is crying/whining, he will do a sad but fake cry too.

·      He is very content and pretty patient.  There have been times where he will sit in his bike and watch Bobby and Amelie fish (or clean fish) without getting upset.  He loves his bike!

·      For weeks Liam would carry his Mickey birthday balloon around the house.  He also loved the Mickey card  the Lums gave him. He would open it and “read it”.  I would sing Happy Birthday to him when he would get it and he would crack up.

·      He loves books.  Right now his favorites are Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?  He loves to turn the pages himself. 

So, to celebrate him on his birthday we threw a beach party. Amelie helped me bake and decorate cupcakes and cake into a beach scene.  Although our party was small and the food not elaborate, we had a lot of fun together. The weather was absolutely perfect…warm, good breeze, and calm clear ocean water.  We spent time swimming together in the ocean because it was so calm and clear.  Being able to see dolphins, manta rays, electric stingrays, crabs, and little fish was also a huge highlight.  We missed not having our friends and family around to celebrate with us, but we enjoyed the phone calls and face time with grandparents to have others apart of the big day.

We are incredibly thankful for our little guy and look forward to the memories the next year will hold!  I am sure this time next year I will be asking the same questions of how quickly time has flown by.  I am determined to cherish and treasure each moment along the way.