3 Years Old

Thinking back, I would make monthly updates on all the new things Liam would do and they would be quite lengthy.  I am trying to sit back and think of all the cool and exciting things Liam can do now and I am just overwhelmed.  He has gone from being an infant to a toddler and now into a preschooler.  It is easier to make a summary of the things he can't do at this point, but here is my attempt at his milestones as we see him right now!

•  Potty Training is in a pretty good place.  He is using the potty very reliably at home, less so with #2 at school, but still the process is solidly in place :)  Most naps he keeps his pullup dry and at school they don't even put one on him anymore! 
• Liam is able to catch and throw so well... in fact just this morning he threw his socks (a commonplace morning activity!) almost the whole way across his room! Catching requires more luck and slower throws, but he is just so proud when he catches something!
• Liam's speech and language skills amaze me.  I haven't broken down and tested him yet, but he uses all sorts of developmental grammar and language markers including words like 'because', irregular past tense verbs and all sorts of other goodies.  His articulation is good, right on target.  I keep trying to get him to say his /s/ sound in clusters (spoon rather than poon), but I think I have just created the best way for Liam to 'play with' his mommy!  Of course, naming him with an 'L' name, he says 'w' for 'L', but he is stimuable... enough speech pathologist... enough!
• He loves, loves, all things vehicles.  Trains, cars, trucks, diggers... anything that moves.  Tow trucks and Thomas trains are all the rage right now and have been for awhile.  We just recently watched his first movie Cars, which has no launched a whole new avenue of toys for him.  He loves mater and lightening mcqueen, but loves playing with all his Cars cars :)
• He still continues to love books.  They are his go to activity almost everyday.  He latest must have was "I love my white shoes" a Pete the Cat book.  I keep waiting for him to outgrow books, but really all his old favs are still in the running.  He certainly has lost interest in reading board books, but those he still loves to pull off the shelf and now he reads them to mommy and daddy!
• He has the silliest moments of dancing and singing.  He made up his very own song "Plowing up the field" which started at just a few verses and has now grown.  It also includes a dance number to go with it... on my list to get a good video of!
• He has just recently started getting out of bed on his own when it is morning time (signalled by his Thomas night light turning off in the morning), often times coming into mommy and daddy's room to crawl into bed with us!  Just this weekend though he woke up from his nap and came downstairs all on his own.  Jon and I have been amazed how well he follows rules and doesn't get out of his bed on his own.  We had to do a lot of encouraging to get him to be ok with crawling out of bed without calling for mommy or daddy and I know it sounds funny, but really it is easier and time for him to be doing this on his own now!
• Liam is sooo excited about becoming a big brother!  He hugs, kisses and talks to baby brother every morning and night.  I know his world is going to turn upside down when the baby comes, but right now it just melts my heart to hear him talk about how he is going to help and all the things he is going to teach baby brother... just love it!
• He is still napping most days, although naps are hard at school at times.  He starting to be ok some days with skipping a nap, but other days he just becomes an emotional mess and certainly would have benefited from that nap!  He goes to bed somewhere between 7:30 - 8:00 and sleeps until 6-6:30 most days. 
• He can count to 11 quite consistently, but needs some help from there.  He recognizes all his numbers up to 10 and can count with 1-1 correspondence up to 10 most times.  He knows most of his letters and has just started working on upper to lower case matching.  He amazes me when I sound out words that he can start to blend them together.  He uses the first letter sounds for some of his favorite letters (l, w, m, k, j, a, v, b) and has several sight words memorized.  He knows that he lives in sussex and on partridge lane.
• He loves maps and directions, always asking if we are going north, south, east or west and likes to pick his route different places :)
• He is able to undress himself pretty well, with only minor help and he is starting the process of dressing himself when mommy takes the time to be patient :)  He can put his shoes, socks, underwear, pants and arms through his sleeves very well.  The shirt over the head still is hard and buttons are of course pretty difficult! 
• He is just doing so much all on his own and everytime we challenge him with something new... he justs amazes us
• He is still our shy boy, who likes to watch things for quite awhile to figure out how they work, but he is growing into a spunky personality as well.  While I may be biased, he just rocks our world, amazes us with all the things he does and we can't even imagine our world without our Liam in it.  We love you!

 

Three Years Old!

 



Two Years Old

 

One Year Old