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

Don't pull my tail!

"You're not going to pull my tail Mommy, I'm too far ahead!"

In response to my comment that I was "right on his tail" in a game of Candy Land.

Next summer's travel plans

Liam: When we go back to Hawaii, we'll need lots of hotel rooms.

Liam: You and Daddy can have a room.

Liam: I'm gonna sleep with baby Audrey. And Uncle Ryan can sleep with us.

Mommy: What about Aunt Judy?

Liam: She can sleep with Aunt Jen.

I want my money

A couple of weeks ago, out of the blue, Liam had this following request for Mama:

"Is my money still in the bank? I want my money. I don't want it in the bank. I want my money."

Bossy much?

On Mommy finishing up the last bite of our churro at Christmas on the Prado yesterday:

"You should not have done that! I AM STILL HUNGRY! Go get another one!"

Fortunately, Mommy took the crowd-acceptable path & laughed in his face, rather than slapping it.

All in all, we had a very fun time, and in the end, everyone had plenty to eat!