Liam's Half-Birthday **updated**

Our day dawned earlier than usual, and warmer. It was five degrees two night ago and today it's nearly sixty. This may be why I am magically not pissy today.

I'll update this post later with more about Liam but here are his 18-month Christmas pictures from Saturday, December 6. Happy Half-Birthday, my love.











xoxo!

**The update**
Liam's vocabulary: book, dog, woof, ball, duck, wack (as in, "What does a duck say?" - "Wack!"), Daddy, Mama, no, bug, onk (as in, "What does a pig say?" - "Onk!"), sshhhh (his way of saying shoes and cheese), walk, hi, bock (as in, What does a chicken say? - "Bock! Bock!"), block, whoa! and door. He also knows how to say balloon and bottle, but hasn't lately because he hasn't seen any. He's currently learning how to say bird. He's able to identify an endless amount of things he can't say by pointing.

He'll squeal, "No, no, no, no!" in glee sometimes when he's playing with Gabe, but he'll also chant it sadly when something doesn't go his way.

He knows how to get into trouble, and thinks he knows how to get out of it. Lately, he'll turn his chin into his left shoulder, purse his lips, and scowl. That's his "But, I didn't mean to," face. Or if he's poking at the DVD player or something else he knows he's not allowed to touch, and he gets caught, he'll look away really quick and pretend he was playing with something else, like lint in the rug.

He's officially off the bottle for good and on sippy cups full time. It was an easier transition than I anticipated and I would have done it a lot sooner had I known. Over the summer he self-weaned from his pacifier during the day, using it only for sleeping. When he got sick in September I gave it to him for comfort and he's been using it during the day still, even though he's been fine for three months. This time he seems to want and need it more when he didn't before, so I've begun a long, slow process of providing less access to it, and he seems ok with that.

When he sits next to me on the couch, he'll sit as close as possible. He'll reach over, take my hand and hold it in his lap. Sometimes he leans his head on my shoulder. When we get up in the morning we are both feeling a bit sluggish. We come to the living room and lay on the couch together, watching kid's shows until breakfast. This is such sweetness.

Liam loves, LOVES playing with Gabe because Gabe's the daddy and will play in ways I don't- more swinging, more upside-down, more tickling. They are the best of buddies. He comes to me more for the cuddling and reading and calmness, although he does show that softness and vulnerability with Gabe from time to time, and it's really beautiful to watch.

If we say the word monkey he makes his version of a monkey sound ("Ha! Ha! Ha!") and waves his hands above his head. When asked what an elephant says, he sticks one arm up like a trunk and if we're lucky he trumpets his lips a little. He knows what bears, lions, tigers, dinosaurs, and most other big animals say: "Rawwwwr..." he growls deep in his throat.

His hair is getting thicker and longer and required his first haircut in the middle of November. I just cut his hair that was getting in his eyes, but I have to trim the sides and back now that they're catching up.

Liam's favorite books are Good Night Moon and The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, and The Rooster Struts by Richard Scarry. Most things with animals will get his attention. Also on the top of his hobby list: dancing. He dances to any music, and sometimes even the swish-swish of me brushing my teeth and the chug-chug of the washing machine.