Curiosity

The other night, Liam and I were out for a walk (up the neighbor's driveway) when we came upon a set of muddy footprints leading out of the grass and across the drive. I'm trying to be more purposeful in engaging Liam in spontaneous learning opportunities and this fit the bill perfectly. We examined the footprints, counted the toes (4), compared the size. We hypothesized on what animal may have made the prints - it was bigger than a cat, smaller than a dog. We eventually decided it was probably a racoon.

All that I've been reading and learning lately about preparing children for future success has pointed to the importance of curiosity. It sets the stage for a love of learning. The funny thing is, as I try to encourage Liam's curiosity, mine's growing as well. I want to learn more about how he learns and get interested in the topics we explore (those footprints were pretty neat!). I'm fortunately to have such a lovable little teacher!

Something's missing...

Liam's been really interested in learning his letters and numbers lately. Every time he sees a letter, he asks what it is. He's able to identify several letters now:

L for Liam
D for Daddy and Uncle Dan
M for Mommy and Mimi
P for Papa

He's still working on counting. Right now his counting goes like this: 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10. And if he has more than those, he just repeats 6, 7, and 8. He recently started saying 11 and sort of 12. I'm not sure why 2 and 3 don't make the list.

Buttons

I'm always entertained when Liam learns about something new that I generally take for granted or didn't realize he didn't know. Yesterday, in the car, Liam grabbed my coat and pointed to a button asking "what dat?" When I told him it was a button he put his finger on it saying "press button." I realized his only interaction with buttons are on electronics! I showed him how to put the buttons through the buttonholes to close the coat - he thought it was pretty cool. He insisted on buttoning up my coat, my suit jacket and my sweater.

More stories...

Liam has to know the name for everything. He's always asking, "what dat?" or "what dat name?" My favorite example is when he's asked me the names of three monsters in our Sesame Street book. I knew the name of one, Harry, but not the other two. Liam now points to that page and says, "that Harry monster, don't know that one name, don't know that one name either."

Liam and were playing in his room and he was trying to fasten the velcro on the doors of his tent. I asked if he wanted help and he said yes. After I helped close the tent door he told me to go lay on the floor with a blanket and take a nap. As I was getting settled, Liam poked his head out of the tent and asked, "want help Mommy?"

I was tickling Liam the other day. He laughed and laughed until he then started yelling, "dat 'nuff! dat 'nuff!" (That's enough)

Over snack the other day, Liam told me he "eat frog!" I responded with a sufficient amount of disgust which made him laugh. At dinner that night, Liam told me again he "eat frog." I replied, "eew, no, don't eat a frog!" Liam then said, "no Mommy, say 'no way!'" Apparently I have a script writer now.

Playlist

These are some of Liam's favorite songs to sing....

"Had a farm...moo here, moo here, moo here, E I E I O."

"People bus...up and down, up and down...all town."

"Row, row, boat...stream...merry."

"A, B, C...H, I...M, P...X, Y, Z! Yea!" (Followed by clapping) Another variation of this is: "A, B, C, beef, beef, beef...yea!" (Again, clapping and hysterical laughter)

I love some of the Liam-isms that sneak into Liam's speech. For example, he pronounces his name "Me-um" and an ambulance is a "an-dance."

Our parrot

I can't keep up with Liam's language development. Every day he has some new phrase that I don't even know where he picked up! Here are two of my recent favorites:

A couple weeks ago we were walking through Trader Joe's and Liam was trying to point out a picture of a fish on a price tag. It took me a little bit to figure out what he was talking about - to the point where he was getting frustrated with me. When I finally figured it out I said, "I'm sorry Liam, I wasn't paying attention." Liam then looked me in the eye and said, "Mommy, pay attention." Yes sir!

Yesterday, in the last minute rush to get out the door in the morning, Geoff was trying to get Liam's shirt on. Liam fought him and yelled "Wait a minute!" That's the first time I've heard him use that phrase - too funny! Last night when I was giving him a bath, I was trying to shampoo his hair while he was playing with some toys. He grabbed my hand and said, "wait a minute, Mommy."

TMI?

OK, this may be too much information but I get the sense from other mommies that nothing is off limits with infants and toddlers. This weekend, Liam (17 mo old) decided he wanted to "use" the potty! In the last few months, he's started waving his hand in front of his face when he has a dirty diaper (as in, I'm so stinky!). When he did his little sign this weekend, I checked his diaper and he was clean. I asked if he wanted to go potty. He then stood up, walked to the bathroom, lifted the lid of the toilet, and attempted to pull his pants down. I thought, what the heck, so I took his pants and diaper off and sat him on the toilet. He thought this was hysterical - he got a big kick out of it. Nothing happened but when I stood him on the floor, he took a piece of toilet paper, threw it in the toilet, and then flushed. He was so proud of himself! I made a big deal of it and we ran upstairs to tell Daddy. Liam enjoys being a big boy!

Green!

Monday when I picked Liam up from school his teacher was excited to share that Liam is learning his colors! They have a set of 10 bears - mommies and babies of all different colors. When Ms Mary held up the green bear and asked what color it was, Liam was the first to yell out "geen!" He did it again yesterday so I'm thinking its not a fluke!