Liam is 15 months old but he thinks he's as big as the older boys. He remains very vocal, and his favorite word has been NO! this last month. It start out as this cute MO and has morphed into no. He loves to hear people say his favorite word. He perks up anytime we're out and he hears it and then he starts repeating it. He always says it with the same intonation too. The answer to everything, including when he wants it, is NO! We've started teaching him "yes." He bows his whole body when he nods and says yes. It's adorable. He also says "thank you." Any time he hands us something or we give him something he says it.
He remains a super picky eater. He prefers to nurse every time he sees me sitting down. I started to plan how I'm going to wean him after nursing him from 4:30 a.m. and on. He is finally doing better sleeping. He can *usually* make it from 7:30 p.m. til 4 or 5 a.m. before he has to nurse, and only 0-1 wake ups before then (Lamoni puts him back down). He toddles everywhere - goes up and down stairs, couches, outside and inside. His favorite activities include throwing balls, fetching them and then throwing them again, like a little dog. He also likes to walk around with a couch cushion and fall on his stomach onto it.
Liam is 16 months old. It's so fun to see him enter the toddler stage. His favorite person by far is Lamoni. In fact, yesterday he was at Charity's house for 5 hours, the longest (I think) that I've been away from him. When we picked him up I crouched down with my arms towards him and he shoved past me yelling "Dada!!!" Every day he waits for Lamoni to get home. The oven and heater sometimes sound like the garage. When he hears them he'll run to the garage door shouting "It's dada!" until he realizes it's not him. The only time he doesn't like Lamoni is at night when Lamoni goes to him instead of me. He's had a sleep regression this last week where the entire household ends up awake between 2:30-5 when I finally give in and nurse him til 6. It's lots of fun.
He is starting to say quite a few words. He points at any and everything saying "This". His other new words are ball and dog. Those are his two favorite things after Lamoni. He plays with balls almost exclusively all day, and when he sees a dog he will yell "dog!" until everyone in the family acknowledges it. He still enjoys saying No, but we have been teaching him to say Yes. When he says yes he nods with his whole body, so it looks like he's a little Japanese baby bowing.
Eating isn't going that well still, as is his constipation. He is such a picky eater. I have found that leaving him in his high chair with his food and a spoon has been working the best. He will not let me feed him ANYTHING but last week I got him to eat yogurt, beans and oatmeal by just leaving him. I was shocked at how well he can use a spoon, and happy to get something in him besides crackers and milk. He weighs 24 pounds now.
Benjamin was in Utah this week, so he got some good quality time with Peter and started to appreciate his constant entertainment more. I enjoyed my one-on-one time with Peter this week too. We read tons of books. Peter will sit on my lap with 15 books and sit still for all of them. I remember when he was a toddler he couldn't even sit through one book. We have been working on his focus and concentration and it's neat to see the results! On the other hand, Liam is very focused and serious by nature and will sit and read books on your lap for a solid 30 minutes already.
I started Peter in Kindergarten math in January and he is doing great. We're repeating his Pre-K reading book because he doesn't start Kindergarten until the Fall technically, and I thought it would be good to reinforce these skills before adding on. I'm glad we did because he loves it and can read everything so easily this time around. I am still working with him on piano and he is on Lightly Row. I'm not sure when we will get him another teacher, but this is going okay for now.
Benjamin had the time of his life in Utah. It was nice of my mom to offer to take him. They drove up early Tuesday morning and came back Friday. It was the perfect length. I kept busy with tons of projects so I didn't go crazy missing him. My mom said she would only see him at meal times when he'd run down to eat, and otherwise he was playing nonstop. He has been really emotional about everything since he got back. I think he has maybe not caught up on sleep and probably misses the carefree life of playing all day. He told me when he got back that he missed schoolwork but not cello. :-)
Lamoni has been really busy at work. I can tell it's been stressful because it takes him a few hours to be back to his happy joking self after work. He is on an education committee there and I luckily convinced him to turn down being the head of another committee. They had him covering his old job and his new job both, until they could hire someone new. They hired someone and now he has to train him. Hopefully it will get better after that. He applied for another position which would be a step up. It's not in counseling, though, which is what he's interested in, but would be a lot less busy and stressful. I hope he gets it, but if not, then he can stay here and get more counseling experience. He is also getting some valuable certifications in therapy training that will be useful when he goes private someday.
I am teaching about 12 students, which is a perfect number. I enjoy my quiet mornings reading scriptures, inspirational books, parenting books and exercising. I also look forward to working on my weekly family history call with Grammy each week. We joined a homeschool group, which is has been fun (minus the freezing cold hikes we've done all winter since everything was shut down for Covid and we're not allowed to be in groups in the city). I'm also doing Joy School with Peter. Between schoolwork, practicing, teaching, business and making food/cleaning, there isn't much leftover time! The remaining time is used with my church calling as primary president. I have been in the primary presidency for 7 years now. Lamoni is the Elders Quorum 1st counselor. Most weeks we have 6-8 church meetings between the two of us.
