Easter Egg Hunt

Compared to last Easter, when Liam was only a little over five months old and could barely sit on his own next to his Easter basket, this Easter was action-packed. Although the idea of an "egg hunt" still escapes him, he totally got into the idea of running around the backyard with his cousins, basket in hand, and (occasionally) picking stuff up off of the ground. Luckily Mommy and Daddy were there to help him out, and there were even a few times when he followed through, picking up an egg and putting it in his basket. But for Liam, the hunt was mostly about running back and forth across the grass with his basket. He had a blast, and all of that running around helped tire him out for his nap--score!

As I mentioned in my last post, Liam is doing his best to test out his new sense of independence, which for me is simultaneously exciting, amusing, and frustrating. My frustration is mostly a result of my limited ability to communicate with my tenacious toddler, but there are signs that things might get a little easier very soon. For awhile now Liam has been able to follow basic verbal instructions or directions, but in the last two weeks or so he has started answering questions with a nod--that's a full-body nod, leaning back and forth--or a "Nooooooo!" or even "No, no, no, no, no, no!" Clearly, the boy has "no" down. As much as I try to introduce the word "yes" into his vocabulary, I think "no" will continue to dominate conversations with Liam for now. Consequently, when he answers a question I'm not sure if he truly means what he says, but we are at least one step closer to breaking through another verbal communication barrier. Until then, we'll take what we can get, and try our best to give "yes" a fighting chance to break into Liam's ever-growing vocabulary.