. . . Liam lately (17 months)

My sweet boy is only a month away from being a year and a half old -- where has the time gone?! Seventeen months hasn't been that different than 16 months, but here goes nothin' . . .

Merry Christmas!

Liam loves Mexican food!

Still no stats -- just a running, growing, crazy boy who makes me laugh every day! It's funny to see him next to his friends because although he is younger by at least 5 months (and up to 10 months) from the kids he hangs with the most, he definitely holds his own and is even taller and weighs more than a few of them!

His eating habits have stayed the same -- three full meals at 9 am, 12 pm, and 6 pm, and a snack around 4 pm after his nap. He eats what we do, and has done a great job feeding himself with a fork. The spoon is a little tougher because he hasn't quite mastered scooping, but he's working on it! It can just be a little messy at times. : ) His favorite fruit is still grapes and he loves roasted carrots.

Liam, Ryan, and Abby playing in the cabinet!

So . . . breastfeeding. I haven't written about it in a few months, but here goes nothin'. We introduced Liam to whole milk right around a year old when we started mixing it with his breast milk bottle each night. The next few months he still nursed every morning and afternoon and we slowly turned his bottle at night to full whole milk. By about 15 months we were down to one nursing every morning with whole milk in the afternoons and evenings. I'm happy (and sad!) to say that Liam officially stopped nursing the week before he turned 17 months.

When Liam was first born my goal was to breastfeed until a year, but I really would have been happy with any amount of time -- I know not everyone can do it (or wants to), but I did, and was so happy that Liam took so well to it. When his first birthday rolled around neither of us was ready to give it up yet . . . I wanted it to happen organically, not because I forced it or because you're "only supposed to to do it for a year." We continued as long as it was beneficial for the both of us. I know I waited the right amount of time for several reasons. First, Liam wasn't nursing very long at all -- and when he was done, he would ask for more milk (which we would get from the kitchen). Second, there were some mornings he would go straight to the kitchen with Dad and be just fine with it. Third, stopping gradually like we did helped me physically. I have had zero problems with engorgement or pain, which made it easy to stop. When we did finally stop he asked to nurse on the second and third day, but not any more after that. Coincidentally, right at this time he started calling milk "mama." So now when he wants milk he asks for "mama" and does the milk sign -- funny kid. :)

breakfast of champions

I think someone once told me that kids make big progress every three months, and I think that's sort of true . . . I feel like months 15 to 18 is all about communication for Liam. Every week that passes he makes strides in the words he's saying, his annunciation, and how he tells us things. Last month he was saying 25 words and now he's added bubbles (he even says the 's'!), apple, toe, down, shoes, boots, fish, puffs, and bee. Funny story about "bee" -- the actual word was easy to teach and Liam instantly recognizes a bee when he sees it in pictures. But being the teacher that I am, instead of teaching Liam that bee says "buzz," I taught him that "B" says "b" (as in the sound the letter B makes). Still cracks me up to hear him answer when we go through the animal sounds!

"What does the horse say?"
"Neigh!"
"What does the cow say?"
"Mooo!"
"What does B say?"
"Buh!"

The boys love Elmo!

At NoNo's Land for Catalina's birthday!

Liam wears size 18 months, 18-24 months, and some 2T shirts (in European sizes he's in size 86 and some 92 stuff). He wears size 5 shoes (or 22/23), and he is still in size 5 diapers though we are about to move up to 6 (and then what?? it doesn't get bigger than 6!). He is starting to have opinions on what he wears as well, though right now I can persuade him in my favor with strategic planning. But he definitely has his favorite shoes, and wants to wear certain pajamas at night. He is beginning to help get himself dressed and undressed as well, and his favorite thing to take off is his socks.

Liam finally got back into his regular sleep habits when we returned from Georgia. We also decided to go ahead and get rid of the pacifier while we were at it. He wasn't really sucking on it anymore anyway, just holding it like a kind of security blanket. He looked around it for the first night but hasn't even cared about it since. I can't believe it was that easy!  Liam has been taking one nap a day for a while now, and it had been about an hour and half, which was decent I guess. I say that because lately he has been sleeping about two and a half to three hours each nap -- holy moly does that make a difference! I don't know how long it will last but I will take what I can get! It's amazing how much stuff I can get done in that amount of time . . . prep dinner, fold laundry, catch up on my fave shows -- it's pretty awesome! I've even been known to take a cat nap every once in a while. ; )

Liam with his best pals, Abby, Colette, and Jackson!

We've had a great month, part of it spent in Georgia and part back in the Netherlands. We got to spend New Years with good friends, and Liam and Jackson LOVED the fireworks! A couple days before Liam turned 17 months it even snowed here . . . Liam was unsure of the snow at first -- fun to look at, but made him a little nervous. As soon as he spent a few minutes outside though, forget about it! He's obsessed now and says "NO!" for "snow" every time he sees it. First thing in the morning we open up his curtains and say good morning to everything outside, which now includes the snow for a few weeks! It makes him so happy to see it every day. :)

I am loving the little boy my baby has become -- he is sweet, funny, loving, and oh so smart (but maybe I'm biased). I am so proud to be his Mom and look forward to what the future holds for him. Every day is so fun with him by my side -- what did I ever do without him??

Love you Liam,
~Mom