Liam: 4 yrs. 4 mo.

I figure I need to hurry and write Liam's update before much more time goes by. He turned 4 years, 4 months old on April 7th. He is doing really well in school. His teacher that left in January gave us some advice at his first parent/teacher meeting. She said to get the DVD from Leap Frog titled 'Letter Factory'. This particular video made ALL the difference for him. He perfected all of his letters, and sounds, and a few weeks after watching this video he was starting to read. His new teacher Miss Kelli started him on a reading program that they do at his school, where they take a book home, and read it till they are really good, and then return it for a new one. He's on the 2nd book now, and is doing amazing so far. He is on Spring break now, but he just had his graduation pictures done last week...we hope that he smiled good for them because he's in his goofy smile phase when we ask him to smile. Amazingly, we were able to get a great family picture done at the Easter party. Erica said that he kept doing goofy smiles, so we didn't expect that one turned out, but it did, and we are very happy about it...it has been a year since all 4 of us have been in the same picture. So, anyway, Liam is also learning his numbers and a little math too. He can count to 100, and probably beyond that too. He quantifies his love and our love...he will say I love you 'twenty forty'...how much do you love me? It's pretty funny, and he has Rowan saying it too. He has learned a new game that one of Mike's co-workers created...It is a timed game to see how many spiders you can squash. He's pretty good at it, and he mentioned to dad that he wanted to have a count of how many he got, and Mike mentioned it to his co-worker, and he added that feature in. It has been a great way for him to learn his numbers above 100 too.

We opened up a savings acct for the kids the other day, and when I told Liam that we opened up a savings account for him to save for college, he got really sad, and said he didn't want to leave us. He wasn't even sure what College was, just that all the toys from Toy Story 3 were so sad when Andy was going away to college. Another cute thing that happened recently was one night Mike went in to turn off Liam's light after he fell asleep. Liam woke up, and Mike tried to convince him he was just having a dream. Liam said 'I am?' and Mike said 'Yes, and you should tell your dad about it in the morning'. As Mike was leaving the room, Liam said 'Hey dream Dad, I like my light on'.

Knock on wood, he has become a much better eater lately. We can usually convince and/or bribe him to at least try something. And more often lately he is actually liking more things. Which has been a welcome relief, since Rowan has swung in the opposite direction!! I don't think we could handle two picky eaters at the same time...it's frustrating enough with just one!! He has been LOVING Mike's smokey potatoes lately...Which actually kinda surprises us because they are a bit on the spicy side. He tried Mike's made up pasta which had red bell peppers, and asparagus, tomato sauce and a quorn (fake chicken) in it and he loved it, and ate it all too. Although we do have to catch him in a good mood and not too tired, or it's game over.

He has totally been into the Thomas wooden trains lately. He doesn't want anything to do with his metal ones anymore, and he wants to know how expensive they are...and the more rare and pricey they are the more he wants them. He has added a ton to the 'wish list' on Amazon, and also the 'watch list' on E-bay. We actually won a few of them for him on E-bay that were in England...it does seem his obsession is getting a little less as the weather is warming so hopefully having some outdoor time will help distract him from always wanting a new train. We have put a limit on what and when he can have a new one....and we usually save them for when he passes off his stuff at school, and earns a wrist band. Although, even after he earns his new train, he wants the next one...hopefully we can teach him to be grateful for what he has. Speaking of that, one day a commercial for 'Operation Smile' came on. It's an organization for kids around the world that are born with a cleft pallet. I took the opportunity to tell him he should be grateful for what he has, and asked him if we should donate some money to the cause...He was pretty disturbed by the images, but when he remembered it a day or 2 later, he reminded me that I should send them money, so I do think that it is sinking in a bit. He really is a sweet and thoughtful kid, and we just have to keep teaching him when the opportunity arises.

comment by mom/grandma on 04/10/2012
He is such a sweetheart. He is really enjoying Owen & Miles and has been a really good helper. He counted to 320 for me last week, he said he wanted to count to 10,000, but he got tired. When we hunt for tiny balls, he adds them up, he's got all the adding to 10 down. He's a blast to be with and we love him 20 40 infinity:)