Liam, the destroyer, part 2: no box can hold me!

Jeremy is leaving for a conference on Saturday for SIX DAYS! I am a little terrified, but I have already planned out my streamlined dinners (soup- for three days! pasta with peas! Jeremy hates peas!), so I can do my work for school and the Göttingen opera at night, thus making some kind of getting-work-done-lemonade. Our fantastic babysitter is coming three times as well, making it less likely that I will lose my mind. AND I can focus on our mini-trip to Brussels right after he gets back.

But Liam is going to miss his papa. You should see the way he army-crawls over to the door when jeremy comes home in the evening.

Baby Banana Grabber

8 months

Liam is eight months old today!! He is, of course, an amazing and beautiful child. And so chompable! That belly!

His sleep is SLOOOOWLY improving, just in time for the 8-10 month sleep regression (oh, yes, I have read a bazillion baby sleep websites), teeth! and more teeth!, and separation anxiety setbacks. But we are on the right path, and I am happy to wake up and feed the little lamprey twice a night for a while yet, if it means I can get 3-4 hours of sleep in a row. He doesn't get super fussy--per se-- when he doesn't get enough sleep, but he is extremely bright and smiley when he does.

Since the naps are also starting to become more predictable and I no longer have class on Wednesday, I've been able to take him to a playgroup. The first time, he was stealing all the toys away from the other babies and then creeping away with 2 toys clutched in each hand, but this time there were a few more older babies and he had to contend with toys being taken away from him. He was just like, "huh? ummm, ok."

Mashed banana does make a great hair product.

I keep forgetting to bring in the video camera before he starts chomping and mashing. And because it is not so warm yet, we have designated a banana outfit instead of stripping him nude.

This t-shirt is from Uncle Kris and Aunt Stephanie, and it says 12 months, but I cannot imagine a 12 month old who would be able to fit in it! Because the bug is hiding it, I'll tell you that it is-- a picture of a button-down shirt with suspenders, glasses held together with tape, and a pocket protector. I don't know WHAT Kris and Stephanie are trying to tell us.

A view from the safely-lowered-all-the-way-to-the-bottom crib.

Jer and I went out to dinner last Saturday, and Liam approved of my fancy-pants shoes. The kid loves red and he loves shoes, so this was the best moment of his young life.

the new trick click

Liam has started imitating me! I find this to be actually the most amazing development yet-- I can see his little brain whirring as he tries to do something.



We're also starting finger foods-- time to strip him down to his diaper and get out the tarp.

Oh. No. Yay?

Someone is very pleased with himself.

Mr. Excitement

Liam is starting to really like playing all by himself, ESPECIALLY in his baby jail. What a nut! Sometimes I can wrangle him into reading Pat the Bunny with me, but otherwise he is off exploring.

In disappointing Germany news--- the woman at the butcher shop scammed me!!! I asked for a quarter kilo of beef in two pieces, and the scale read 500g. Upon gently reminding the woman that I had asked for a QUARTER kilo of beef, she said in a huff, "yes, a quarter kilo is 500 grams". I became flabbergasted and doubted my metric abilities, and paid up for the HALF kilo.

(1 kilo= 1000g)

Bad, bad, bad. You win this time, lady. For shame, taking advantage of a foreigner.

(PS- the word for quarter in German sounds nothing like the word for half. I'll admit I have an accent, but that wasn't it)