Liam {15 Months}

I have really been terrible at blogging the past few weeks. Sorry about that. I've got a few posts in the works, but can't seem to find my writing MoJo lately. Even my Bachelor posts were hard to write at the end.

I thought a great way to get back to it would be to give a Liam update! Because who doesn't love Liam updates?! I actually have a lot of Liam updating to do. Since I stopped doing monthly updates when he turned the big ONE (I don't even think I did a 12-month update), I thought now would be a good time to post some recent pictures and share a little about what he's up to (Hint: EVERYTHING). I'll have to do a whole post altogether with his 1-year photos, and about 10 posts with just cute pictures. You know, the important stuff. ;)

Always flipping the bird, this kid.

It's so crazy how when they turn 1, they seem to go from baby to toddler overnight. All of the sudden these helpless babies turn into walking, talking toddlers. I feel like I have said it every month, but truly, every month with Liam gets more fun as he gets older. He is super verbal, active and he is just such a sweet, happy kid.

Stats

Liam's got his 15-month well checkup next week, but during our (many) doctor's visits last week, he clocked in at 33 inches, and 24 pounds. So he's getting taller, and maintaining weight despite how much more eats! I think it has to do with how active he is (aka, he is ALWAYS moving).

New Milestones & Skills

• So many teeth! He's got at least 10-12 teeth in there now, and his molars are on the way! I will not be sad to see the teething phase of life go.

• Walking/Running: He was zombie walking and wobbly around 1, but WOW is it amazing how fast they pick it up. These days he runs/trots everywhere and gives me heart attacks every day because he can't seem to figure out how to avoid corners and walls, and he is constantly face planting.
• Climbing: He climbs on to our ottoman/coffee table with ease, as well as the pouf in his room and pretty much any surface off the floor. See above re: heart attacks.
• Opens doors: Like, literally is tall enough to reach our door handles in the house and open. We don't have traditional door knobs, but we have the lever-type handles, so we're not quite sure how to childproof these. For now, we keep the doors locked at all times (including the oven door).
• Makes different facial expressions: He just learned to "smile" when I ask him to, and he also likes to experiment with different faces like furrowing his eyebrows when he's mad or making a sad face. All faces are the cutest. :)

• Imitates: He is very into repeating what he sees us doing, especially around the house. This includes brushing our teeth and hair, throwing trash away, picking up toys, putting things in the dishwasher, cooking, etc. He is into it all and we love letting him help and experience with new activities!
• Master of animal sounds: Name an animal, any animal, and there is a 95% chance that Liam knows and will tell you what sound it makes. 
• Hugging & Kissing: He will give you both if you ask him super sweetly. When he blows kisses, it's accompanied by an audible MWAH!
• Tantrums! Oh boy, the tantrums. We don't get then ALL the time, but they are frequent and always over silly stuff. Thankfully, he can be easily distracted, and we just try to explain why we aren't letting him do something. He's not a stranger to timeouts, and we also like to explain his choices and hope he makes the right choice! 

Words

Liam is super verbal! He's at an age where he will repeat anything we ask him to say. Most things come out as "Ba," or "Ca," but he does get some discernible syllables in there pretty often. I used to always wonder how the hell other women could understand their children when it just sounded like babble to me, and now I know! 

Whispering sweet nothings :)

It's also interesting to me that even though he can't communicate perfectly with words, he understands everything we say to him. We can ask him to put something away or tell him what room something is in, and he does it, and then communicate either by trying to repeat what we said or pointing, etc.

Some words in his repertoire: Hi, bye, mama, dada, Addy, cheers, paci, no, yeah, that, car, bath

Likes

• Animals - He's always liked animals, but it's reached a new level. We have countless books about animals, and his absolute favorite is a National Geographic book for kid all about animals. We look at it at least 5 times a day. He even hugs the animals in the book! There's also a channel that has 30 minute segments dedicated to individual animals, he just loves them.

At the zoo with a hippo!

• Books- We have at least 50 books in our house. He has us read them to him, and he reads them alone. :) 

• Running- Why walk when you can run? (And fall every.single.time?)
• Being outside - He knows what it means now when we say we're going in the car or on a walk and is super anxious to get his shoes/socks/coat on, and GO! There are usually tears when we come inside.
• Addy- Every time he sees our dog, he says "Hi Addy," with a wave, and he gives her hugs at least 10 times a day. He will also wag his finger and say, "No, no, no!" when Addy tries to take his food. :)

• Snacks - He is will aware where the snack cabinet is, and goes there every day asking for "bears" (Teddy Grahams) or "ca" (cookie and/or cracker). 

• Chewing on everything (books, wood, tissues, etc) - I joke with my husband that Liam has PICA disorder (you know, where they eat things that are not food). But seriously! We've had to throw away books because Liam will have taken bites out of the cardboard! He also likes to naw on wood, and put toilet paper in his mouth. {monkey covering eyes emoji}

• Cleaning: A boy after my own heart. We give him a wet paper towel and he wipes his hands and faces, then wipes the surface he's eating on. Also loves helping me Swiffer. :) 
• Timeouts: At our 12-month appointment, the doctor told us it was fine to do 1 minute timeouts in his crib, so we do. Usually when he is really not listening and we know he's doing it on purpose (aka, when he dangles handfuls of food over the side of his chair and looks us in the eye while we tell him no thank you, and then does it anyway). Anyway, he finds timeouts to be hysterical and just laughs while he's in there, so those are working out well for us. ;)

Dislikes

• Changing table - Yes, still.
• Sitting still for too long - Meal times are a little more challenging, but we have to have a lot of tricks up our sleeves when we go out in public! Usually at some point, one of us has to get up and walk around with him.
• Mom - Just kidding. But he's in a major daddy phase (still) and some days, he does act like he doesn't like me. (Full blog coming soon...)

Eating
We say goodbye to bottles in January and now Liam eats just like the rest of us, plus water and whole milk throughout the day. He loves most every food, and usually prefers healthy food to anything not "healthy" (like bar food). He loves his snacks!

Sleeping
Still sleeping from about 7:30pm to 7:00/7:30am, thankfully! We go through some rough patches with teething and sickness, but mostly he is a champion sleeper and napper, and OH how that makes a difference.

This phase of life is too much fun!

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