Greetings from the land of Liam where there is always something flowing, be it milk, drool, pee, or poop.
Liam continues to charm and entertain. He’s quite the smiler and will even giggle on occasion. Especially if you tickle his jaw line, he just loves that. He also loves the arpillera that hangs over his diaper changing station and the ceiling decoration that we finally got up. Just now, as I’m typing away with both hands and bouncing him in his bouncy seat with my left foot, he’s discovered the cat poster that I took down from the wall for his viewing pleasure. He’s looking at those 100 cats and giggling away.
I was prompted to sit down and write just this moment because in our morning smile session I noticed that my handsome son seems to have discovered his eyebrow moving muscles. The first demonstration of this occurred sometime in the past couple days, but today his new trick is completely integrated into his repertoire of facial expressions. He’ll look at me with a furrowed brow as if considering whether to grant me a smile and then let one loose as to say, what the heck, it’s easy enough.
This past week I’d noticed that Liam was a bit frustrated with facing my chest in the carrier while we were out and about so I decided to turn him around for our Tuesday afternoon farmers’ market visit. Boy did he make use of his new position to charm the farmers and shoppers alike! Being that I couldn’t see him, I was left out of the fun as my son got to know our world as his own person.
Liam continues to grow at a healthy rate and as I suspected, he’s a Winston Churchill, bowling ball variety of baby. Most people who take in his double chinned visage remark that they can picture him 70 years from now – with a few more wrinkles, that is. So, if you haven’t had the pleasure of holding our sweet babe yet, beware: strong arms and quick reflexes are needed!
Why the quick reflexes? Liam is almost always waving at least one arm or kicking at least one leg and often his entire periphery is in motion. In the past couple days, he’s taken to arching his back in a nice long back bend. He also pushes himself up to standing quite frequently. It’s quite a lap dance! Since constant motion is Liam’s preference, David and I can both be found rocking or jiggling a leg even when we’re not holding Liam. After countless sessions of bouncing his son on the ball while I took a shower or completed some other daily ritual, David rigged up a bouncy bungee basket for our boy. The first rig was meant to be temporary and sadly it was because one evening (Sunday August 21st to be exact) the rigging snapped and flipped our sweetie on the floor in a flash. David was standing right there and didn’t even see the fall, it happened so fast. That is the story of Liam’s first bungee jump, he ended up with a bruise on his forehead and a shiner that lasted about a week and a half, but was otherwise just fine. We’ve both processed our parental guilt and continue to be on the lookout for other dangers in our little world. The newly strengthened bouncy chair is about to need new bungees to accommodate Liam’s ever-growing mass!
Gotta go, Liam just rang the feeding bell. Next week we head to Michigan via plane, please send us germ fighting wishes!
