Dino facts

Liam's current obsession is dinosaurs and it completely replaced his obsession with sharks.  When he wakes up in the morning, he lies there and whispers facts about dinosaurs to himself.  He is so weird.

The Influence of NFL Training Camp

Since we got NFL Training Camp (for the Wii) as a gift from Mommy last Christmas, Liam has become an expert on jump squats, bag hops, crunches with punches and other fun things.  He also learned to how to do planks and bridges and he likes practicing these moves wherever he can.

Liam practicing a bridge in our hotel room in Chicago

One other thing he's picked up from NFL Training Camp is saying "Come on!" when he thinks it's appropriate.   We were wondering where he picked up this phrase from when I heard it last night from the game's trainer. Of course he picks the worst times to use this phrase like when we're frustrated by the way the MapQuest app directed us to a dead-end street when we were trying to get on Lake Shore Drive so we could get to the Midway airport on time for our flight.  I've noticed that he likes to use "Come on!" when were in the car.  Mommy especially does not like this.

Go Fish!

"Grandma, do you have a yellow tang?"
"No."
"Thanks for nothing!"

Good grief!

From Liam this morning: "good grief!"

From Daddy: "you got that phrase from Mommy"

Liam: "I'm full of good griefs!"

Blogging on the go!

From time to time, Liam's half dozen fans ask me why there have been no blog posts lately... The easy any answer is, I'm lazy. I don't use the PC at home much, so I don't post many updates. But now the good folks at Google have made an app that will let me post from my phone. Whoo-hoo! Many more Liam stories are on their way!

I never knew how wrong I was…

A guest entry from Aunt Jen

I never knew how wrong I was…

So I got to babysit for my little Boo last night. I was looking forward to it and feeling really confident about my ability to keep him safe and entertained for a few hours. Well, I managed the safe & entertained part, but I overlooked one crucial detail: I DO EVERYTHING WRONG.

Pretty much from the time the folks’ left for dinner, every decision I made did not meet the exacting standards of my four year-old dictatorial nephew.

Art project error: I brought some fabric pens and plain white tees so Liam and I could do art projects. But apparently Mommy hadn’t told me that Liam’s progressed from 3T to 4T. I was properly chastised for my inaccuracy: “Don’t you know I’m bigger now???”

Potty error: He had to pee. Rock on, I can handle that. Into the bathroom we went, where he wholly climbed out of his shorts and undies. Peeing commenced; peeing completed. I thought, “Heck, it’s 6:15. All we’ve got left is dinner and bath time. Let’s just put the undies back on and throw the shorts in the hamper.” BUT NO. One cannot eat dinner in just undies and a tee shirt. It is unheard of, and

unacceptable. The look he gave me reminded me of disdaining manor lord in a PBS Masterpiece Theater presentation. So of course, we dressed appropriately for supper and headed to the dining room.

Dinner time error: I made his sandwich wrong. How did I mess up a basic turkey and bread sandwich? I asked him how many slices of turkey he wanted. “I don’t care,” he lied. I put three slices on for him. Automatic rejection: “I don’t care” translates into exactly four slices. Now you know.

Dessert error: Cookies for dessert! I hand him the little snack-size bag and tell him to eat them at the table, over his dinner plate to catch the crumbs. “I don’t eat cookies over my dinner plate! I’m done with dinner. I eat cookies over a napkin!”

Bath time errors (oh yes, more than one). Into the tub my grungy little Boo goes. I figure we’ll play for a bit and then get down to serious cleaning business. Bath toy fun commenced. A few minutes in, I decide it’s time to wash his hair. “You were supposed to do that first!” What kind of loser doesn’t know the proper bath time agenda?

But my gravest error of the night: I USED THE WRONG TOWEL. I didn’t know not to use the towel from the towel rack. Liam has his own towel, which is of course hidden two rooms over in Mommy and Daddy’s closet. Seriously, the look this kid gave me when I tried to wrap him up the big green towel. It was like I’d grown a second head, but neither one had enough brains to properly dry a wet kiddo.

There were additional mistakes over the evening, of course: I brush his teeth wrong. I floss him wrong. I put bath toys away wrong. I put on his PJ pants “weird.” I read books with the wrong voices. But dag-nabbit if we didn’t have the best time hanging out together. I have never had so much fun being so

wrong.

Bugs & Roses

Ladybugs are out in numbers at the park near Lola's house. In between flinging a frisbee and taking batting practice, Liam has been looking through the weedy, er, wildflowery field for ladybugs. He named one lucky creature "Doozablab." Its mates are "Dowsabel" and "Cholmondely." I wonder where he gets it.

Liam often waters the flowers in Lola's front yard. He is quite familiar with a bush featuring light red roses. Last summer he watched two locusts grow to adulthood on its branches. Last fall, armed only with a spray bottle filled with water, he constantly battled aphids laying siege to the ancient plant. (Lolo planted it in the 70s.) Yesterday, as he was about to water the roses, he exclaimed in surprised, "There are yellow flowers on the roses!" Several yellow irises had bloomed behind the rose bush and their tips were visible over the upper branches.

Submitted by Ninang

That's Audrey's birthday!

We were watching one of the Harry Potter movies during dinner last night and an ad came on for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2".

At the end of the ad, the movie's release date, "July 15" comes up. Liam looks at it and says, "That's Audrey's birthday!"

Yes, Liam, you're absolutely right!

"I got a googol!"

Liam is really into counting lately. He's counting up to one hundred and also doing some addition and subtraction. He even noticed that 6+1, 5+2, and 4+3 were the same thing yesterday. He's also asking us what the biggest number is. It's hard to explain that there is no biggest number but we did tell him about really big numbers.

Heather sent me this message yesterday:

Heather: Liam & Jonah are playing catch. Jonah just awarded himself a trillion points. Liam trumped him by giving himself a googol. Go, math boy!

Me: Liam remembered the term? Impressive!

Heather: And he remembered that it's bigger that it's bigger than a billion or a trillion.

Me: Smart boy