You Be the Judge

I know that babies lack not only the intellectual ability, but also the physical ability to speak at this age. They start to make cooing sounds and "ah" and "goo" usually follow shortly after. They start to babble around now.

Babies usually say "da-da" before "ma-ma" because the "d" sound is easier physically to create. We could get into the hole conversation about phonemes and language, but we won't.

I know he's not actually saying what it sounds like, but it's still fun for me.

I'll let you be the judge.

Rollin'

He doesn't look quite as surprised as he did the first time he made it around, but...

The judges deducted points for getting stuck on the landing. Hopefully, he'll realize that if he just moves that one arm and puts his head down he'll roll all the way over.

Valentine's Day 2.0

Today is the second Valentine's Day Ryan and I have celebrated together. Last year was great. This year wasn't so shabby either.

Ryan brought home some red roses. A first. I've gotten lots of flowers...everything from sunflowers to orchids, but these are the first red roses.

He also brought home some Romolo's chocolates. I think this might have been a ploy to get some himself, but it was still sweet.


And of course, our old favorite...the Chateauneuf du Pape...the only red I like.


So we have a romantic setting for dinner. Wine, candles, roses, chocolates...

and a baby in a swing.

Now all we need is food. We decide that chicken stir-fry just isn't all that romantic and Ryan heads out to find some red meat.

I get a little bored waiting for Ryan to get back from the store and start playing around with the camera...

Soon we have a delicious meal. Steak au poivre with garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms. It might look familiar.

Here is one very lucky guy about to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

And here's a very lucky girl with a very lucky guy.

After Much Deliberation...

The first time Liam swatted the blue thing it was a a little random. He did it a few times in a row, but still...it wasn't a terribly deliberate effort. The swatting is a lot more deliberate now that he knows that he has hands!

After spending a month or so in the jungle, he has become quite the hunter. He kicks the jingly toucan, he smacks the rattly elephant, talks trash to the butterflies, and swats the blue thing with the fiercest intent.

And when he's done he stares at that handsome guy in the mirror.

Heads Up!

Back in the day, before the launch of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, babies used to reach a lot of tummy-type milestones earlier (lifting their heads, crawling, rolling over, etc.) because they slept on their tummies. Now these developments are delayed slightly because babies don't spend as much time this way (well worth the over 50% decrease in SIDS deaths in the last decade or so).

It has become increasingly important to give babies so-called tummy time to help them reach these developmental milestones as well as to avoid flat-head syndrome (that's a real thing...not some incredibly obscure dork reference to the old Zork games).

We spend a lot of time on our tummies here. Mr. Liam is going to be like mommy, though, and often falls asleep this way.

Our hard work is paying off, though.

According to my mom, it's taken this long only because his (rather large) head is packed full of so many brains.

Like Father...

Hopefully, this will keep some of our rabid readers satisfied for a little while...I'm working on it...


People keep asking me who Liam looks like. For those of you who question my answer...



I think he looks like Ry. He even has his crooked smile (although he does pout like me...I'll give you that).