march-- time marches on

we have a beautiful circuit we go on to collect firewood and wild parsley.  liam helps me pick up sticks and pine cones and usually munches parsley as we go along. we were chatting, having a real conversation- which is something that happens now!-  and he says to me, "parsley makes me strong. parsley makes me feel better.....and ice cream."

 i talk to him about food that makes our bodies big and strong and treats that we have only now and again.  here's a recent discovery of a classic childhood treat.

he's still a good eater- tho he definitely has a thing for fruit - and all things sweet really.  if sweet teeth are inherited,  liam is quite screwed.  most of the treats we have are homemade and pretty healthy but every now and then the world presents a naughty treat:  chocolate cupcake from a school bake sale. and you know what? every now and again that shit is just yummy.

liam also seems to be inheriting our love of music.  he sings snippets of songs- to himself, with me, along with music in the car or at home- songs that are new or old from steiner, french group, old music together or ambie's songs- rock and roll- we will often listen to music on papa's phone in the morning in bed.  so far the beatles and zepplin are a fave but his all time favorite is the "man song" by "frank and black"- otherwise known as los angeles by frank black ( the first line is "i met a man") this time liam ran to his room to get his uke. i honestly don't even know where that rockin' out face came from. it must be his dad.

the other weekend we had some friends over for brunch and everyone was gathered eating and liam ran from his bedroom with his ukelele and started playing for everyone- tapping his foot and all. seems to come naturally :)

papa doesn't perform but he def shows him how it's done

we had a mexican fiesta- first and only party of the summer-  we debuted papa's beautiful boat - authentic construction out of cardboard-  ate heaps of yummy food

and liam had his first swing at a pinata-- a little silver space ship made by imery and  filled with tissue paper butterflies by jenn and mini dinos from mama.   papa had to slam it eventually and it is a minor miracle that the boys did not whack each other in the head

me where i like to be

liam is very passionate about giraffes and pretty much all of his make believe and play is animal
based. a giraffe is pretty much glued to his hand- at the table, in the bath, in bed. when he's dressing he takes it from hand to hand but won't put it down.  

here's a shot of the kids at our french playgroup making little fruit trees - the theme was "les arbres."
notice what he has in hand:)














when i picked liam up from creche one of the teachers had a story to share with me:  liam had started playing with matthias- another blond, beautiful sweetie- and liam had offered to share his beloved giraffe with him. a bold move for a toddler!

inspiration

one guess what he asked for

we had a super fun trip to the zoo with liam's friend elise.  liam is  quite the expert and he enjoying sharing his favorite place

he loves the map

what not to do

really jumping! this is pretty new :)

room for 3

we seem to have hit true toddler now. liam is changing his mind every 5 seconds- lots of "no, no the sky's not blue, " telling us how it is and lot's of  "no, I don't want it" and  a second later
"I want it!!" papa and i can get him to eat anything by threatening to eat it instead. won't last forever so we are taking full advantage! i felt bad for lying or manipulating but really... this just seems to be the age of reverse psychology. i still try to be straight up as much as possible ;)

but along with this expected irrational behavior of the 2 year old we are also seeing spontaneous displays of affection. liam gave me a kiss- spontaneous and on the lips the other day and i wrote this one night mid month when steeped in a wash of love:

liam told me he loved me last week. it wasn't the first time- the second- that he really said it.
we had read books ( the pre naptime routine so he gets at least 6 books a day) and i wasn't sure how he was feeling...  if he needed to be in bed or wasn't ready for a nap yet and i said, rather randomly, "so now what" or something equally strange to say to a 2.5 yr old and liam said " i love you" plain as day and totally out of the blue.
beautiful. so fucking beautiful. i never could have imagined the feelings i feel towards this little human. he's changed me so dramatically and in so little time.
thank you for taking me out of me little one. sweetpea. you are one super cool, super tall, super swesome-o little dude.