Ah,Life: Liam Update May 2014

Oh William, William, William James.

You are such a joy. Your sweet little self existing in its adorable, precious way makes my whole heart happy. So happy. Jam-filling-bursting-out-of-the-doughnut happy.

Some highlights from the past several months:

*You and I had been snoozing together on the couch this morning when you hopped off the couch, pointed out the window, and said, "Mommy! Wake up! The sun is coming up! Then sun is coming up!" Then you pointed to the opposite side of the house. "And the moon is going down!"

*You have this really irritating habit of asking for food and then not eating it. One afternoon, at your behest, I had made you a sandwich, which you then refused to eat. When you asked me for something else to eat, I told you to the eat your sandwich. You started whining and I did one of those frustrated growl things that Mommies do sometimes. "No!" I said. So what did you do? You wrapped your arms around me, looked up with your gigantic blue eyes, and said, "I sawwy I angry you, Mommy. I sawwy."

*A few weeks ago you contracted strep throat. It hit you hard and you were pretty sick for several days. All you wanted was "Cudder Bear" (Color Bear), your blankie, medicine, sleep, and lots of cuddling. But the whole time you were so sweet and so grateful. "Thank you for getting me my blanket, Mommy," you would croak out weakly. "And for my pillow. And thank you for kissing me on the nose. You so cute. And sweet. I wuv you. I wuv you so much."

*I was sitting with you in Primary one week when you realized that there was another kid in Primary named Liam. This was a thrilling revelation. The Other Liam was standing up at the front of the room holding up a sign as part of the lesson and you were all, "Hey! Hey! That's my brudder! That's Liam! Hey Liam! I Liam too! One Liam, two Liams! Hi, Brudder! Hey! Hey!" Though the Other Liam did not share your excitement and was mostly trying to avoid eye contact, you were undeterred. When he returned to sit with his class, you followed him there. "We're brudders! We're both Liam! Hey! Look! Two Liams!"

*You can write your own name! It's the cutest thing! Though for a while you were convinced that your name was spelled L-I-Q-M. No amount of reasoning (at least from me) could persuade you otherwise.

*You love story time. But it is apparently unthinkable to read stories without also eating "nanas." Under great duress you might be persuaded to eat apples while I read to you, but if nanas are available, nanas will be consumed.

*You are a beamer. Whether you're excited about an accomplishment or begging for something, your little face shines like a star.

*You can bust some dance serious moves. While beaming like a star.

*You love to "play" the piano. I'm thinking about starting you on the Suzuki method. I can see that bringing you joy.

*One afternoon, you were drawing with chalk in the driveway. I had glanced out my bedroom window to check on you and noticed, with some mild concern, that two tough-looking "bigger boys" (maybe first graders) had stopped on their bikes and were talking to you. I couldn't hear what was said, but after a moment, you jumped up and ran to the garage. A minute later you emerged with the pink-and-purple Big Wheel that you like to scoot yourself around on, and the three of you rode off. It made me think of someone with a beach cruiser and a bell riding off with a couple of Harley guys.

*One night we were writing and sending off thank you notes when you took it into your head to write a "letter to Lisa (pronounced 'Isa')." "Who is Lisa?" I asked. "Isa's my girl," you replied matter-of-factly. You wrote her a letter and made sure to personally place it in the mailbox, even though that meant traversing across the slushy driveway in socked feet. I would like to meet this Lisa, inspirer of such devotion.

*On a particularly sunny day during February or March, you decided that you need to wear your "Party Flops" to the grocery store. Party Flops and a coat. That's style.

*Your favorite place in the world right now is a bunch of dirt hills in a half-finished housing development not far from our home. You refer to them as "the mountains" and love to play there.

*One night at dinnertime you were being really whiny. Finally I got impatient and snapped, "Liam! Stop it. Stop whining. You're driving me crazy." Then I got distracted doing whatever I was doing. A while later I realized I hadn't seen you in a while. "Where's Liam?" I asked Soren. He shrugged. I finally found you squeezed into a tiny space between the couch and the end table, knees pulled up to your chest, head down. "Oh honey!" I said, realizing that I had hurt your feelings. You immediately burst into tears. "Is your fault!" you wailed. We had a long cuddle session. Little pootums.

*One morning you were wandering around wrapped up in a yellow towel. You walked into the front room, smiled at me, and then threw it off. "Tah dah!" you said. I couldn't help but laugh. Delighted with my reaction, eyes full of mirth, you described the comedic scene that had just played out. "I had a towel...and then I went naked!" you said, laughing.

I love you-- fiercely and forever.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. For those of you intrepid enough to make it this far into this lengthy post, I present to you these Bonus Features:

A Story, by Liam (transcribed by Mommy)

A big brother took my bike, and my tooth fell off. His name is Boe-er. He's a big guy. And he killed my teeth. He punched my eyes and my mouth. And he killed a monster and he punched me in the water and he killed me a lot and a lot. And he killed and hurt my tooth and my eyes and my ears this morning-- both ears. Like that. He hurt me!

This morning he hurt my teeth. Five teeth fell off.

I killed him.

And then a monster killed ME. He punched me in the face again and again and again! Like that! And he hurt me in the face. And it was like, "Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam" and it hurt me a lot and it was like, "Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom" and it hurt me a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot. Like that!

And he put a bomb on me. Yeah, he did that. And the bomb went "boom!" And he got me with a shoot gun and it hurt my pants.

And he put milk on a wand and I got the wand and I got bigger, bigger, bigger hair and then the pencil turned into a snake! And I poked him in the butt with a pencil! And then he poked me and hurt me!

Disclaimer: Liam watches most of his television at Grandma's house. Just sayin'.

Quick Notes about Liam's health and development:

-First, he got his tonsils out almost two weeks ago. He's had some ups, he's had some downs. Mostly he's had a lot of stomach pain and has been throwing up a lot of phlegm. Not sure what to make of that. Makes me so sad.

-Second, he has some digestive issues that we're working on fixing. Not going to do too many deets here, since he might be all embarrassed about it later in life, but it's good to know there's something we can do to help that.

-Third, our family doc thinks that he might have mild cerebral palsy. I would never in a million years have considered a diagnosis like that, but now that I've learned a little more about CP, it does seem to fit. This is actually good news, because it's not a degenerative disorder-- and it can totally be helped with physical, occupational, and speech/language therapy. We're going to be hitting those hard over the next year or two.

-Fourth, I've decided to send Liam to a private community preschool next year instead of Kindergarten. His developmental preschool teacher and speech therapist thought I should put him in Kindergarten, but I just didn't find any peace in that option. My Mommy senses say that he is absolutely not ready for Kindergarten, though he is progressing in that direction, and I believe another year of preschool-type stuff will make a world of difference for him. It's scary to veer off the path prescribed by the professionals, but I'm doing it. So there.