December 8th - 13th

Learning how to carry a ball, with lessons from Nym

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This is serious photo. This is serious baby.

Checking out the Christmas Tree!

Yea, You!

Oh so very precise.

This week has been pretty busy! The van has been in the shop for a couple days, I have had Forest (the boy I babysit for) a couple more days than usual. Liam has been trying out some new things and making some new leaps in his learning. He can now say Doggy and have it sound like Doggy and not Daddy. He tried to say Giraffe the other morning. (we have stickers on his wall above the changing table and he likes to ask what they are, we have jungle animals right now.) He holds his own bottle when we have to change him in the middle of the night when he wakes up. This is pretty big for him as he never showed much interest in holding his bottle up before.

He also has been working on the cup drinking and getting that down pretty good and he can use a fork sometimes. We are having to teach him that he does not always get his way, much to his disappointment. He is learning though. It sometimes involves thrown toys or cups or other objects as he throws a little tantrum when he is denied. But he has to learn.

In the bath he now will put his face under water for a second, I am not sure if he holds his breath or just does it in the space between breaths. He also will wash his own tummy with soap and can open and close the drain stopper. He can take his socks off and shows that he wants to know how to put them on. Same with shoes. He knows that putting his jacket on means we are going outside, and he can go down small steps without going backwards. He also will try to get his arms through the arm holes in his shirts, usually without much success, and he lifts up his legs when you say "legs" and hold out his pants for him to get into.

And best of all, he gives kisses now. Sometimes even without asking for one, he will come up and press his lips into ours and it just melts our hearts. He gives hugs and waves bye bye now, sometimes even saying "bye bye".

He is almost running as well and makes up games with the puppy, chasing her or running with her. They are so sweet together. Nym even saw that he was getting close to the edge of the couch the other day and jumped up and pushed him back toward the back of the couch. She stood there and leaned on him so he would not fall toward the edge. If I had not seen it, I might not have believed she was smart enough to do that, but she did it. She watched out for HER Liam.