from the woods of vancouver to the beaches of wellington liam has grown in the past year from a baby to a little boy. it's amazing how much change there is in a year at this age... well, amazing only to those of us who haven't experienced it first hand before i guess. liam is now just shy of 2.5 and he goes very happily to creche 3 mornings a week for 2 hours, has had his first hair cut and has now gone 2 weeks with no poos or daytime pees in his diaper! he's an amazing kid.... so sweet and so smart. he loves books, knows just about every animal there is, all of his vegetables and fruits, can count to 12 with no problems and sings almost the whole alphabet to himself when he thinks no one is paying attention.
in an effort to really take advantage of the spongy-ness of his little brain i have started french classes with him. i know, i know... seems kinda crazy but in lieu of having a native speaker of another language at home it was the best i could come up with! we sing songs and read books in french and liam has come out with a couple of words on his own as well as some song lyrics. he seems to love it when i speak french and asks me all of the time for "french songs." who knows, it can't hurt and maybe we are making some extra pathways up there! apparently baby sign does the same thing so that's cool :)
liam really loves airplanes and has said he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. not surprising given how much travel our family has done in his short life! the airport is not only home to the ever arresting giant birds but is a mysterious place where people arrive and disappear... for a while during the hobbit crazy hours he thought papa worked at the airport and i know he thought nana and shamim lived there ;) liam is also fully obsessed with skateboarding and "doing tricks." when he's stumbled or fallen down a step lately he tells me in all seriousness and w/o upset that he is "doing tricks." he likes basketball- of course- and our newest and latest best thing ever is legos (duplo). he makes planes and robots. a lot. his favorite animal seems to be the giraffe. a gentle giant.
he's just now becoming afraid of things.... sharks and tigers and hogs- specifically the stuffed one at te papa museum who snorts- are "scay-ye." we've had to remove large dolphin and shark from the bed for now. so far no scared of the dark tho he did tell me that where the wild things are- my old fave- was also too scary for him. i think the age of monster fear is around the corner.... hopefully we can reassure him that it's all in good fun... if anyone has any advice on that one, let me know!
and liam is in love.... his first girlfriend henry joan is a real spitfire of a 4 year old and he is smitten. happily they have had quite a few chances to play together over the past 6 months even though her family lives an hour and a half up the coast. their relationship only grows stronger as liam becomes more able to communicate with her and less likely to just mess up whatever she's into in the moment. we spent a lovely beachy christmas with her and her mom and dad, tom and ann, at their sweet little home on the beach. when we left liam and henry joan had a long hug and kiss fest. there's incriminating video.
how strange that it is 2014 here and still 2013 over there.... i hope you all have a fun, safe night and a wonderful new year. we are heading off on a little 3 night camping trip tomorrow. chasing the sun and summer heat up the east coast to the cute little art deco town of napier. hoping to do a holiday recap post next and then on to the future! big hugs and lots of love from wellington.
