liam, the toddler

i know you are a toddler now for many reasons. one is the fact that i can no longer do laundry without inspecting every article of your clothing for dirt, markers, strawberries, etc. and then pre-treating said stains. this is something new for me, but i'm getting used to it.

you are changing so much! for the last few months, your answer to all questions was an emphatic "yeah!" now, it is interspersed with no, yes, and truck. you certainly know what you want and do not want. you shake your hand out of my grasp, stating "self!". this means, "no thank you, mom, i would like to do this all by myself." i oblige you as much as possible, as long as you are safe.

the reason for today's blog was to write down this thing you do ALL THE TIME that kind of drives me crazy, but once you stop, i know i will miss it. you are still nursing, and this is how you prefer to fall asleep for naps and nighttime. when we are lying together, you put your little fingers all over my face until they find the little mole above my lip. this comforts you. it annoys me. but if i move your hand away, you unlatch and say "mole!!". so that is all, little liam. i probably do many things that annoy you, and when your vocabulary is adequate, you will tell me what they are. when i stop doing them, maybe you will miss them, too. maybe not.

in the grand scheme of things concerning toddler behavior, i think your dad and i have it pretty easy. you are a really neat kid, and we are lucky to have you in our family. your mole obsession and all.

blog? what blog?

apparently it takes having a sick kid at home and doing absolutely nothing all day to get me to blog. we have had a super busy first half of 2009. this has included:

• a trip to mexico
• buying our first home
• liam and i starting to work at our fellowship in the afternoons
• me increasing my commitments to LLL

the new house is great and spacious. we have had many, many house guests already. i am glad that we can be a place for people to visit, relax, and recharge.

liam is 20.5 months old and incredibly amazing. he wins hearts and makes friends where ever we go. he loves his friends of all ages - but mimi is definitely his best friend. it is always a better day when we can spend time with her and missy. he loves tractors, trucks, airplanes, and all construction equipment. his gender identity seems pretty solidly "boy". he is combining words into sentences:

• more wabi! (this means more ice)
• there you go
• help, mommy
  
• i can help you
• water too hot
• daddy car all gone
• daddy at work
• drink water
• other side

well, you get the point. i have stopped listing the words he knows. it's a lot. it makes everything so much easier. especially today, when he is sick. he is able to tell me when he is hot, thirsty, what he wants to eat (ice and soup) and when, and what hurts (his hair [he probably means head] and his tummy).

liam's illness is what really prompted this blog today. i am so grateful that colin and i have chosen to structure and prioritize our life the way we have. this morning when liam awoke at 6am with a fever, all we had to do was focus on making him comfortable. i got him some ice water and ibuprophen, then followed his lead on the rest of the day. he wanted to nurse around 7:30, and we ended up sleeping until colin came home for lunch at 11. housework is abandoned for the day while liam and i snuggle on the couch watching movies about tractors and farm animals. we will clean later, run errands later, cook real food later. this down time together has to do as much good for him as the ice and ibuprophen.

others who choose a different family structure are forced to miss work, possibly argue about who has to take care of the sick kiddo, who did it last time, whose time is more important, etc. this path is not always easy, but i wouldn't trade it for anything. thanks, colin, for supporting our family in so many ways.