playdough

Liam has been difficult to keep happy lately. He is still working on cutting in that stubborn molar, which seems to really bother him. He has needed his pacifier and his blanket a lot lately...But sometimes I think he is just bored. Especially with me. So I have been trying to be extra creative and come up with new things for him to do.

Playdough experience round 1:

I cooked up a batch of playdough for him to try out. At first he seemed a bit uncertain.

Do I eat this stuff?

But with a little help, he got the idea pretty quickly.

It was especially fun to hammer and smoosh the balls of dough.

All in all, this gave me about 5 minutes of happy and entertained boy. And then the grouch returned.

Other ideas we've tried:

• Putting fabric scraps in a basket he can sort through. He especially likes to feel the different textures.


• Letting him help me cook (translate: throw flour all over the floor)


• Playing dress-up (this seems to be a favorite)



• Playing dress-up with Dahlia.

I'd be happy for any other suggestions :-)

walking

I was starting to wonder if Liam would ever learn to walk, but at 15 months, he finally decided he was ready. Just further proof that I need to let him learn at his own pace, which is always just right for him...

Liam started taking his first real steps while we were on our trip. Since then, he's been getting more and more confident.

Since I'm goofy and can't seem to remember that I can't turn the camera to take a video, you'll have to watch this one sideways. Sorry.

since then

Here is an update from the past couple of weeks since our trip to New Orleans:

Liam - teething, temper tantrums, and general grouchiness...

Me - compassionate, patient Mama giving way to exhausted, frustrated, just-please-stop-crying Mama

Getting stuck under the couch

Making really big messes (I intentionally let him do this one...on a particularly fussy day when I was desperate for a few moments of peace and quiet. It worked for abut 30 minutes, but then I had to clean it up)
A new haircut. Suddenly he looks so much like a little by. Maybe that has been his problem the past few weeks? Growing up can be a difficult thing :-)

4th of July watermelon

Story time with Daddy. Liam has become very interested in books again. His favorites are ones involving flaps and puppy dogs.

Still managing to be cute, even with the necessary pacifier in his mouth (he usually just gets this while going to sleep)

Here's to hoping for happier days...soon!

Down in the Swamps and City Park

Here it is: the last New Orleans post. This has taken me embarrassingly-long to get around to finishing. Oh well.

Our favorite part of this trip was when we actually left New Orleans and drove south about 30 minutes to the Jean Lafitte National Park.

Crossing the Mississippi aways seems so monumental.

From the visitors center, there are several trails to choose from. Most of them meander through the swamps with these boardwalks, which put us just inches over the wild. We never saw any alligators, but not because we weren't anxiously keeping our eyes out for them. We saw some fresh tracks through the murky areas, and a few suspicious splashes in the distance, but mostly it was just a steady hum of insects, birds, frogs... it was surprisingly noisy.
Walking through so many cypress trees dripping with the moss was beautiful.

We walked for a couple of miles before turning around. On our way back we were horrified to realize that in all of that time we'd spent scanning the swamp below for danger, we had missed the humongous spiders in webs spun across the boardwalk, just over our heads. They were frighteningly large.

Eventually I'll get around to posting more about all of the crafting I did in preparation for our trip over on my blog; but for now, here's a shot of the dress I made for the trip.

One of the mornings we drove up to City Park. Let's just say that nothing in New Orleans opens before 10 am, including park attractions. But we had a nice time admiring the ancient oaks an meeting some overly-eager ducks.

They all came waddling at us with surprising speed.

This one was especially bold.

These Canadian Geese apparently have decided to hang around all the time. It was neat to see some up close.

The history of the place seemed to be the most dominant theme in New Orleans, everywhere we went. As if the city is clinging to a bygone era. What a great opportunity to get just the smallest taste of it for a few days. I'm glad we went.

I won!!!

I'm a bit of an online contest junkie... If I see a giveaway for something I'd like, I always enter. And now I've won the best thing yet: A Husqvarna sewing machine!!!

You can see the official announcement @ www.sewmamasew.com/blog

Thank you Sew Mama Sew.

Uptown to the Zoo

While walking the French Quarter was a lot of fun, taking the St Charles streetcar Uptown was even better. The breeze through the open windows was almost refreshing, and sitting back and watching was a great alternative to all of that walking.
The streetcar went along with traffic, so there was a lot of stopping and going. We had to hold on tight.

This streetcar was an antique. It was neat to watch the operator pull the different levers.

And then we stopped at a corner and the operator hopped out and stepped into a corner market. He was gone for a good 10 minutes, without giving a word of warning.

Then he came back. With his lunch. And we kept on going.

The line went though the Garden District, where this was the average home. Gorgeous.

Liam took a snooze on the way.

We got off at Audobon Park and walked the mile to the zoo. They have a "shuttle", which is really just a small SUV that can only take 4 people at a time... There were others, so we walked.

We're glad we did. This park was beautiful. Full of these amazing trees.

Liam was really happy to get to the zoo. It had been 6 months since our San Diego Zoo trip. He enjoyed it then, but he seems to be old enough now to really get excited about the animals.

Here he is, pointing out our first stop.

Growing up with the San Diego Zoo as my standard, I guess some may call me a zoo snob. I was so impressed with this zoo. It was beautiful: lots of bronze scultpures, incredible landscaping, gorgeous fountains, and, most important of all, great animal exhibits.

Liam thought this little elephant was just his size.

Getting to touch the real elephant was a little scary for him, but he smiled when he felt the elephants bristly skin.

It was such a hot day that most of the animals were napping, but a few were still out and about. It was so much fun to see Liam eagerly look for animals in each enclosure.

But it was sure a hot day to be outside in the sun.

The reptile house seemed to be one of Liam's favorites. Besides the fact that it was dimly lit and air conditioned, it was full of snakes, lizards, and turtles. Liam really enjoyed looking and finding the creatures in each tank... I'm afraid he may be one of those boys.

Because we're in Louisiana, here is an alligator:

And because we're in New Orleans, well...

He thought this was realy funny. Being a seal.

And then he tried to climb through it...

He wasn't so sure about touching the snake. They're definitely better behind glass. That's right.

Meeting some goats in the petting zoo.

He felt safer petting the sheep behind the fence.

And because we were roasting hot (have I mentioned that yet?) some sorbet was definitely in order. It was too much of a cold shock for Liam at first.

But he settled into it just fine.

there's a first time for everything

including bee stings...

Yesterday was Liam's day.

We were in the backyard. I was sitting on a blanket, knitting as if to convince myself it wasn't 95 degrees outside. Liam was crawling around, saying hi to the chickens, over and over, then investigating the ashes in the fire pit, when all of a sudden he started whimpering and made it over to my lap in record time. I held him while he cried, trying to figure out what was causing so many tears. When he finally calmed down, I saw the stinger sticking out of his calf.

Let's just say he wasn't a model of bravery and gracious behavior. He screamed and clung to me. But after the past few weeks of needless temper tantrums, discovering he can hit others, and just being a stinker, him wanting his Mama was fine by me.

The good news is, he doesn't seem to have any bee allergies....

Now, back to New Orleans. Maybe I can finish it up today.