All About Liam

Saying "Cheese!"

Playing with my dad - "Papa."

Getting SO big!

I thought that I would do a post for each of the kids, updating you all (and recording for me) what they are up to at this stage in their life. In case you didn't catch on by the title, this one is about Liam!

Liam is now about 3 1/2 years old (Ha- I just wrote 2 1/2 at first - he is growing up so fast!) and full of energy. We safely made it through the "terrible twos" with throwing fits and such. Not to say that he doesn't ever do that anymore, but it is rare. I guess after enough training from his parents he realized that it is not worth it to throw a fit, since it doesn't get him what he wants anyway. Yes, we said good bye to fits and "hello" to whining. He whines quite often and I now realize how much I HATE whining! It really gets on your nerves! I told my mom I was sorry for all my whining I did since I now know how she felt about it! So, we are working on that area in our character building.

He is still majorly into Thomas the Train, and has almost all of the characters from the show to play with. Anyone who will sit down with him for even 5 minutes to "play trains" with him immediately becomes his best friend. When my parents were here last month, I think my dad spent hours playing with him. It was so cute to see them play together, and Liam LOVED it. He still talks about it! We don't allow him to watch much t.v, and the shows he watches are very limited, but more often than not, when he is allowed to watch a show, he will choose Thomas. I think that I have the theme song to it pretty much constantly stuck in my head.

Liam's vocabulary is very good, and I love having conversations with him. He understands things so much better than he did even a few months ago, and can understand things like, "tomorrow" or "in a few minutes" so it is easier to explain things like, " we are going to church tomorrow" or "you can play that for a few minutes, then you have to go to bed." I found that giving him countdown "warnings" to things (like - "you can watch Thomas for 5 more minutes" or "you have 5 minutes until bedtime") is a big help to him. That way he knows something like bed time is coming, and when I say it is time, he isn't surprised by it.

He is very curious about everything, and is always asking questions. I don't know how many times a day he comes to me with a book (or 5) and asks me what the title is. He will say, "Mommy, what is this?" and will continue to ask me until I answer if I don't answer right away. He is a little confused on when it is correct to us the words "he/him" and "she/her." He will say something like, "Is he a girl?" referring to Libby. I am trying to set that straight. He is also becoming quite bossy. He loves to tell Leila what to do. A couple times I have heard him tell her that she needed to obey or she was going to get a time out. We quickly remind him that it is mommy and daddy's job to tell Leila what to do, and not his. He doesn't seem to think so.

Each day, he is allowed to play for a while on the computer. At first we just started out at the Curious George website that has little games with colors, shapes, numbers, etc. for him to play on. But we have added Thomas and Mickey Mouse to his choices. At first, I had to stay right by him and guide his hand with the mouse and show how to click and everything. But now, he has it all down and doesn't need my help. I have the sites bookmarked, and he gets on them all by himself and plays on his own. I have shown him the only things he is allowed to click on, and he is very good about only sticking to those things. He loves playing it, and is learning some from them, so I don't mind. Plus, it occupies him while I may be busy with the girls or supper or something.

We have started getting Keys for Kids in the mail for him, which we read each night. They are still a little over his head, but after reading the story I put the lesson on his level in my own words. He really likes doing that at night. He still loves music and loves to sing. He corrects Leila when she sings a song wrong. He actually is pretty good at singing. We think he has the musical talent in the family (Leila singing is a different story - but we will talk about that in her post!).

I can hardly believe it, but I will be starting school (K4) with him in September! What? School already? It just doesn't seem possible. He already is doing well with learning. He knows all his letters, and pretty much all their sounds, and can recognize them all. Now we just have to learn to put them together and then he can read!

Liam is absolutely in love with Libby. He always wants to see her, to know where she is. He asks all the time if he can hold her and will watch me give her a bath and change her. He gives her kisses all the time. If she is crying, he will just sit there and say over and over, "Libby, Libby, Libby!" I tried to explain to him that it really doesn't help her for him to do that, but he seems to think it does! :-) He often goes up to her and says, "Hey pretty girl!" (Matt and I say that sometimes to her.) He definitely is a good big brother and will be the protector of our family. When Matt and I first knew we were pregnant with him, before we knew he was a boy, we prayed that we would have a boy to be the protector. That is why we named him Liam - it means "Handsome protector." And that he is.

We love our little boy, who is growing up so fast. He is still a "mommy's boy" - in a good way. I can always count on him to give me hugs and kisses. He is a very sweet and tenderhearted boy. We are so blessed to have him and are doing our best to raise him to be a gentlemanly, godly man. We pray that his day to receive Christ is not to far in the future, and that he will grow to serve the Lord, in whatever vocation God has for him.