Talk about Fat Tuesday

From LiamLife

You may think it is slightly rude (even inappropriate) to make fun of a young baby's chunk. He's husky. It's baby fat. He'll grow into it. That may be so, but most babies do not turn to cannabalism (Liam has been now to take a bite out of loved ones) or eat their best friends (here are a couple of pictures of Liam with his best bath friend, Monsier Frog, moments before he would have his first taste of frog legs - cajun style.

From LiamLife

From LiamLife

Battle Royale Deux

Last weekend, Liam and Kayleigh had a rematch. It wasn't intended.

Everything started out nice and happy.

From Liam Pictures

However, while Mom was looking onward, Kayleigh went in for a hug and Liam thought it was an attack:

From Liam Pictures

Liam struck with a sharp hook:

From Liam Pictures

In retaliation, Kayleigh grabbed Liam by the binky tether and gave him a solid headbutt:

From Liam Pictures

From Liam Pictures

It was horrible.

Liam is a good sleeper

Liam is a good sleeper. The reason that I bring up this rather mundane fact is that every mother that I meet - this is the first or second question she will ask. Just as consistent is the disgust and resentment you can see on their face when you say your child sleeps through the night. I think it is similar to the face I would pull if I found out some one I knew won the lottery. It is for these mothers I offer with great relish that Liam is going through a growth spurt this week and has been waking up during the night (one night when we were figuring it out - 8 times.) I know it won't last forever, but we can enjoy it while its here.

New Photos of Liam

From Liam in Janua...

From Liam in Janua...

From Liam in Janua...

From Liam in Janua...

From Liam in Janua...

Why Grandmas Have Plastic Sofas

I have never understood why grandmas use plastic covers to "perserve" their furniture. It sticks to you in summer. It makes awful noises every time you move. I just didn't see that the sofa was worth the pain. However, Liam has become a spitter over the past month.

Last night, Liam started a new stage of life - he went to the regular babysitter (Grandma) for the first time. I stopped to pick him up when he was starting his evening bottle. After two minutes, Mount Liam (he has gotten chunky) erupted on to Grandma and (lucikly) her leather chair. The leather wipes down easy - Grandma probably not as much.

Our couch (that we bought only a couple of years ago) looks like desert camoflauge - tan on tan. I suppose I could offer it up for the war effort.

In any case, Liam has taught me new apprieciation for plasitic sofas and ponchos.

Liam's New Year Resolutions

Liam has worked feverishly the bast three days (between three hour naps) and here are his New Year Resolutions:
1. Walk more
2. Play more
3. Quit smoking
4. Crawl more
5. Go on a diet
6. Spit up less
7. Learn to drive
8. Learn French
9. Stay in better contact with family and friends
10. Breakdance more

We hope your holidays were great and you are looking forward to the new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas has come and gone and Liam is looking forward to the new year. Some pictures of the Christmas excitement / embarrassment:

From Liam Pictures

From Liam Pictures

From Liam Pictures

From Liam Pictures

From Liam Pictures

Liam at Play

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

On Smiles

Childcare hasn't been that tough. Okay, it has been a little difficult, but, in all honesty, no more difficult than any new endeavor. Granted, K- and I likely have it easier than some other parents, and K- is still shoulders the lionshare of responsibility. However, given the sturm and drang that experienced parents gave me in the run up to delivery, I was expecting something on par with a disaster film.

In reality, the first couple of months had a certain mundane quality. Sure, there were problems (why is he crying, how do I change him without being covered in unmentionables, etc.), but there were few surprises and more rhythm than melody.

That is until Liam began handing out the smiles. He has been doing it for weeks now - more and more every day - and there is nothing regular about a smile (Well, except maybe the smiles of flight attendants and Disney employees).

The smile of a baby is all the more a small surprise, because it is really the first positive communication you get as a parent. You get plenty of cries and whimpers to flag problems, but you rarely get an attaboy - especially from someone that is pre-verbal. Granted, 25% of the smiles are gas, another 33% are likely something shiny behind you, and at his age they are all indiscriminate, but a smile is a smile and
it is the small difference that breaks the every day.

Baby Summit / Battle Royale

Kaleigh and Liam had a baby summit over the Thanksgiving holiday. The conversation was brisk and positive at first.

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

However, like many summits, things turned dark. Shamefully, Liam threw the first blow, knocking Kaleigh back.

From Liam Birth

Kaleigh recovered quickly, hitting Liam with a hook.

From Liam Birth

It ended amicable in a draw, but I got the sense that this is not over.

Grandma Kathy's Thanksgiving Visit

Grandma Kathy (thankfully) visited during Thanksgiving, giving us a night out and giving Liam a bunch of kisses. Here are some of the photos of their first meeting:

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

Catch-Up

You may or may not have notice that I have been more than derelict in my duties. I blame it on Liam. He is two months this week and I think that is more than old enough to take over his blog. He hasn't seen it this way.

Along with Liam turning the big 2 mo, other big excitement this week is K- going back to work and me watching Liam all on my own on Mondays and Wednesday through December. While a new challenge for every one involved, 3 days are down and things are already finding a new order for things. While K- will likely never now stop missing Liam every second of the day and I will never be able to decipher all of the giggles, grunts, and cries that K- can, Liam is still growing - healthy, wealthy, and wise.

I will spend the next couple of days trying to catch up on the back log of photos I have.

Do they know its Christmas?

For any new parent, you find yourself making certain compromises to get everything done. To make sure you have clean clothes, the bathroom doesn't get clean. To make sure you have food in the house, you don't wash your car. Every day is negotiation or outright robbery - robbing Peter to pay Paul (sorry Jesus).

With the holiday season coming, responsibilities multiply and so do the justifications. When the baby is just starting to smile and stare at the mobile, any new parent likely has to ask themselves "do they know its Christmas?"

More to the point, will he really know if the Christmas tree isn't up? Does he even know what Christmas lights are anyway? Can't we just set up a small set for photos, so that he doesn't think in the future that his parents were a bunch of scrooges.

Liam to join the Jewish-Mexican Soccer Team

To be filed under parental Rorschach tests:
Liam has a pair of Osh Kosh Big Top Pajamas in a lovely bright green - pictured below:

From Liam Birth

After a sleepless night or some other new parent excuse, I noticed that the jammys were the same color of the Mexican national soccer team jerseys. Then, I looked closer at the print, specifically the big tops. What do you see?

From Liam Birth

Probably nothing. However, if you squint and look at the big top upside down, you get an early Hannakah greeting - a lovely menorah of osh kosh glory. Buy your season tickets today.

From Liam Birth

Happy Thanksgiving / Happy Halloween

I know these are a little late, but Liam really didn't feel like dressing up for Halloween. Two weeks later however (with Thanksgiving fastly approaching), he got into a festive spirit.

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

Liam's First Cold

Another milestone! Liam has been infected with his first cold!

Part of this weekend's communication silence on Liam Life can be blamed on time spent suctioning snot and soothing. It is hard to be a shine on some apples, but there has been some upsides:

- More coos per second: The best coos coming after a violent sneezing fit.
- Well, that is about it. No one really likes being sick and it is probably worse when you don't know what it happening to you. I would imagaine it would be something like if (during my next cold) my mucus turned blue and pine-flavored.

I would like to blame this cold on the schools, but I think it might be a bit premature. They'll get theirs though soon enough.

German Pacifiers are taking over the world.

I know I might be venturing into Lou Dobbs or even Andy Rooney territory here, but you have been warned. As you can tell by nearly every post, parenting (while rewarding) is not the stuff of excitment. A lot of waiting and watching with brief bursts of activity.

During all this waiting and watching, I noticed that all of Liam's pacifiers are made in Germany. While they are lovely pacifiers, I have to wonder how Germany came to corner the pacifier market. Have we fallen so low America that we can't fashion our own pacifiers? Is pacifier technology so advanced that we may need to introduce an Apollo program just to catch up? Will our sons and daughters first words be mutter or vater? I ask you.

Trickle-Down Happiness

As a Reagan youth, I remember the hearing about Reaganomics or Trickle-Down Economics. In a nut shell, if you lower taxes on business and the rich, they will then spend money, making everyone rich. While not a cynical youth, I was skeptical. I had an intuition that something just didn't add up. One person who could put my intuition into sentences was economist John Kenneth Galbraith who called the approach "horse and sparrow" economics: "If you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows."

However, I retract my skepticism after seeing the practice in real life. You see, Liam has been in a much better mood lately - the crying to cooing ratio has switched dramatically. This (in turn) has made K- ebullient. We are talking joy to spare. This happiness(in turn) has made its way down to me. Whether it is horse happiness or sparrow happiness, I cannot say, but beggars can't be choosers.

Young Jeremy Bentham

Since Liam is starting to hold down food, I have started to think about education and I thought about young Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a famous late-18th century personality - a philosopher, social reformer, and a man requesting to be stuffed and mounted at University College London (albeit with a wax head). He was also a child prodigy, reading history as a toddler and learning Latin at three.

As an adult, Bentham also tutored John Stuart Mill, early 19th century, philosopher, social reformer, but not stuffed at any university. Mill learned Latin at three, Greek at 6, and had a breakdown at 20.

The moral of the story: while Latin will make you peculiar, Greek will drive you nuts.

Liam and Mom: Gas Does Not Have to Be All Bombast

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth

From Liam Birth