January Highlights

Going for a walk with his "tay-bear."

This year has gotten off to a pretty good start. Over the past month I had fun getting to see more of Liam's budding interests and talents. He is fast becoming a little boy, interacting more with the world around him physically and verbally. He continues to develop his vocabulary and communication skills with a speed that I find fascinating. In just the past month he's gone from the occasional sentence to full sentences most of the time, and I'm constantly amazed at his vocabulary. The speed at which kids soak up new information is sometimes jaw-dropping, and is fun to watch.

Experimenting with scribbling on his LeapPad.

This month Liam showed a lot more interest in scribbling with whatever he could get his hands on. From his LeapPad to crayons to sidewalk chalk, he loves to make his mark. He is currently especially taken with sidewalk chalk--I think it's because he has complete free reign and a huge canvas to make his own. We've also had some fun with puzzles, but he is more concerned with just seeing the picture than figuring out what piece fits where. Over the past few weeks we've worked on learning colors, shapes, and numbers. He has picked up a lot, but doesn't quite have it all down pat yet.

I've noticed since Christmas his imaginative play has gotten more sophisticated, which is fun to see. For example, Curious George just has to go on a walk with us, and he has to use the potty occasionally as well. George used to belong to Daddy, but Liam has claimed him for his own. He even told me the other day that he "yuves" (loves) George. Too cute. 

Thanks to the MLK holiday, we had the chance to take a family outing to the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena for the first time. I had heard good things about it, so we made the drive over to Pasadena to check it out. It is definitely a cool space for kids, with a ton of hands-on exhibits and sensory experiences, but I think Liam is still a bit young to get a lot out of them just yet. He still had a good time, of course. Anything to do with water is always a hit with him, and he had a fun time with Daddy riding around on the little tricycles they had out for the under 5 crowd. We will definitely make another trip to Kidspace later this year.

One of the water exhibits at Kidspace Museum.

Shooting water at snare drums at the "Water Symphony" exhibit.

Around mid-January we also began attending a local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. Over the past five months Liam and I have done just fine, but I've known for awhile we need more social activities. I hope to make friends with some local moms, and I want Liam to have the chance to socialize with kids other than his cousins so he will be better prepared for preschool when the time comes. MOPS came highly recommended by my old college roomie Jenn (Thanks, Jenn!), and after the first of the year I finally got around to signing us up. I had looked into some other local moms groups, but none seemed quite right for us. I guess that was a good thing, because it turns out MOPS is a great fit for us. Liam gets to play and hang out with other kids his age, and I have already met some other nice moms in our group. Until I went to our first meeting, I didn't realize just how much of a positive experience hanging out with other moms who are in a similar place in life can make. There's no doubt these gatherings are time well spent.

New moms received roses at our first MOPS group meeting.