Genius At Work

Or maybe it's play. With Liam, those two terms are not mutually exclusive... and I hope that's always the case.

This kid loves to learn. He is desperate for it. And we find opportunities everywhere, in every minute, to help him grow as a person and MENSA candidate (wink, wink). Though as you can see, he's probably the teacher more often than not. It's wonderful to see the world through the eyes of this young man.

Here are just a few of his bright, shining, moments of brilliance...

1.  This first video (still diaper days back then) proves Liam has a future as an inspiring fashion designer... or a Boy Scout (prepared for anything, topping it off with a hardhat from Grandma Toni and Grandpa Chet):

2.  This next video reveals his compassion and empathy... he asked Mr. Bear if he was okay after the first time he dropped him. Since Mr. Bear did not object, Liam continued dropping him.  Fair enough.

3.  When Grammy and Pappy came to visit last month, one of Liam's favorite things to do was make them smile, laugh, or just get tickled with how cool he is.  He really put out all the stops for them.  Good example? Story time. We barely ever get to read to him anymore, since he likes to take the lead.

4.  Fast forward to just a week ago.  It has been HOTTT here -- 80s during the day, high 60s at night, and night lasts only from 11pm until about 345am.  Not much chill time at all.  We invested in a few fans, and Liam makes sure to point out every single fan we see every single place we go. (He calls them "fands," which is hideously precious and I hope he never stops... makes me think of my sweet niece Jesse and how she used to say "resturnaut."

The fan in Liam's room?  "Liam's fand."  The one in our bedroom?  "Daddy's fand."  Looks like Mommy doesn't get a "fand."  At least Daddy's nice enough to share.

5.  Grandma Bobbey and Grandpa Marty sent a fabulous care package recently and included in it some of my old, loved, cherished books.  One of my favorites of all time was Go, Dog. Go!  It has quickly become one of Liam's Top Requested Stories At Bedtime.  After reading through it together twice, he started recognizing words.  He's always been phenomenal at memorizing things, but this time, it's different.  He recognizes some of the words whenever they show up throughout the book -- and anywhere else when he sees them!  Thank you to P.D. Eastman for a brilliant children's book.

PT, Day 03 (Ode To Liam)

Liam. Is. Amazing. (Ooh, shocker!)

Muttertag (Mother's Day) was gorgeous, wonderful, relaxing, and fabulous. Zeke, Liam, and I strolled through downtown Bamberg, had a lovely lunch at one of our favorite local Biergartens -- the Schlenkerla (they're the ones with the smoked bacon beer that we adore), and then came home and had a normal, perfect family day. As in... Liam refused to nap, then stayed up until after 10pm, and every time we tried to leave him in his room he would scream bloody murder for his Mama to hold his hand or touch his back or rock him.

Happy Mother's Day, indeed *sigh* (you know I loved it).

Especially when, after attempts at rocking and hand-holding and back-scratching did not end his suffering, I asked him for the nth time:  "Liam, why are you upset?"

He finally said, "Mouth hurts."  I asked where, he opened and pointed, and it looks like our second 2-year molar is gearing up to bust through the gums.  A little dab of Orajel and one more minute of rocking sent our sweet little guy to Dreamland... and Mommy and Daddy to a well-deserved sleep as well.

The following video is of a scene downtown -- this moment is a typical (yet unexpected) find in Bamberg; this moment is why we love living here; and this moment is why we'll miss Bamberg terribly when we have to leave:

NOW ON TO THE IMPORTANT NEWS...

LIAM

IS

POTTY-TRAINING!

The morning after Mother's Day, Liam woke up cheery and ready for an exciting day.  I had planned on an adventure at a local playground, but while Liam and I were showering, he let me know his plans:  he wanted to start POTTY TRAINING!  While he peed in the shower, I let Liam know that there are two main places in which it's okay to do that:  the shower and the potty.  I also told him that if he peed in the potty, he would get one gummi bear, and if he pooped, he would get two gummi bears. As an aside:  I am not a pressure-cooker kind of mom.  I haven't been pushing Liam on this issue or trying to meet some weird, artificial, you-must-train-now-or-never calendar.  As one of my dear friends recently mentioned, it's not like he's never going to use a toilet.  Eventually, we all find our way to The Throne.  But in the baby steps towards potty training that we have been taking, it was time for that conversation... you know, the "foretaste of the feast to come."

After the shower, I asked Liam if he'd rather go to a playground with slides and swings and sunshine, or if he wanted to learn to use the potty, and he shouted, "POTTY SEAT!"

Our day was set.  The #1 rule in potty training is that you, as a parent, must sacrifice your every whim and pay attention to your little learner.  He or she can't do it alone, and they certainly won't think it's important, special, or worth doing if you don't give them your undivided attention in the learning process.  Plus, last time I checked, toddlers aren't usually equipped with the necessary tools to hoist themselves up on toilet seats and have at it.  Mommies, Daddies, your kids need you, now more than ever.  Nothing else matters.  Ignore the dishes, let the floors get a little dirty, and for the love of all that is right in this world, don't worry about how up-to-date your Facebook status is.  Potty training can be a fun, happy, exciting time -- not stressful or full of angst -- as long as you just let go and enjoy the process right along with your kid.

PT, Day 01 (Potty Training, Day 01): Monday, we spent all of Liam's waking hours hanging out near the bathroom, playing with toys and talking about the potty every 30 seconds.  Liam had a total of four accidents on Day 1, which amounted to maybe a few tablespoons of pee on the floor.  Thumbs up!
Liam says, "Bye, Potty," before he flushes, and he makes sure to state he "made a circle" every time he puts enough pee in the potty to make a circular puddle in the bottom. Hilarious.

PT, Day 02:  A total of 2 accidents.  He caught them both early on and was able to finish in the potty. Standing ovation!
He also stopped caring about the gummi bears.  We still give them to him accordingly, but it's like an afterthought for him.  He's too excited about his accomplishment.  Every time he goes, he looks down at the potty seat and shouts, "YAAAAY!"

PT, Day 03:  A total of ZERO accidents so far. Even while we were running errands and while he was in "watch care" during my church board meeting.
Liam is already telling us ahead of time if he has to pee, and he even HELD IT while we waited in line at the store.  GOLD STAR!!!!

Funniest moment of the day?  When Liam said, "Balls in the way," as he tried to position his privates to pee in the potty seat.

I know, I know... he might revert, today was a good day, every day is different, but come on people.  Let Liam have his gold star.  In this moment, he is the greatest, smartest, most amazing child God ever put on this beautiful Earth.

(And he has always been and will always be that, to me and Zeke, every moment of every day.)

A video of The Dude rocking his big boy underwear:

Deutschland über alles!

Where in the world did April go?  It has been a busy and fabulous month here.  We were lucky and had some serious quality time together with Zeke having some time off from work, and two weeks ago we galavanted around Germany with Grammy and Pappy, aka Zeke's dad and Maralyn.  Lots of fun, lots of pictures, and lots of posts to follow.

Until then, I thought I'd re-introduce everyone to Germany, seeing how it's been so long since our last post.  I was going through my old emails and came across this winner, courtesy of my mom (from her forwarding friend Don).  She sent it back in 2009... who would'v guessed just how relevant this would be?

***

"The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English."

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c."  Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k."  This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f." This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.  Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v."

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.  Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru!

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas."

BE A SUPERHERO!

(Or just get stuff done.)

Perform monumental, earth-shattering tasks!

Strip yourself of your daily inhibitions and work even harder than your bosses!

THAT'S RIGHT!  Move a box!  File a folder!  CLIMB A LADDER!

Man, these Europeans don't know what endless possibilities they're missing out on without 5-Hour Energy at the ready.  I bet the Euro crisis would be over in, oh, say, 3 1/2 hours if they caught on to our secret!

Sticks and Stones

Liam has a thing for sticks these days.  Pretty awesome, since they're free and in excessive supply around here.

Weird (but typical) German playground structure. Usually you'll see a handful of "animals" constructed out of fallen logs, misshapen rocks, what have the architects.  I think this log is a snake. 

After perusing the available pieces, Liam makes his selection

Hogwarts student in training?

"Immobulus!  Ha!  The Harry Potter spell works -- the snake is not moving!"

"Ahh, yes, my wand is of superior quality"

Occupation shift: from Hogwarts wizard to Gandalf's apprentice

LoCash Cowboys!!!

Liam is probably the most user-friendly toddler ever created.  As you all well know, we have taken him places most parents wouldn't ever imagine bringing even their pre-teens for fear of the misbehavior that might result.  But since the day Liam entered this world, we've held true to the belief that as long as we're calm, encouraging, and optimistic about his ability to handle new situations, he'll exceed our expectations and be a rock star.

Speaking of rock stars, I just added another Ridiculous Place To Bring A Toddler to Liam's list:  a country music concert.  We met up with our fabulous pal Felisha (who also happens to be one of Liam's leading ladies) for an awesome night.  Currently, Armed Forces Entertainment is sponsoring the LoCash Cowboys to perform free concerts at many (maybe even all) U.S. military bases in Europe.  These guys put on a show last night that I would've been happy to pay for -- they were amazing!  They're not just straight country; LoCash has elements of blues, R&B, classic rock, and funk.  With the sound they're cultivating, LoCash has the potential to be in lights until long after they're too old to dance like they did last night.

LoCash performed some of their own hits and threw in a diverse collection of classic rock, country, and even oldies songs ("My Girl"!).  Liam was nervous at first, with all the lights and noise, but I held him and danced him around and he started warming up.  His face finally broke into a big grin and he began bouncing in my arms and squealing when LoCash covered ZZ Top's "Tush."  (Again, he is SUCH a smart kid, right?)

Tearing up the dance floor at LoCash

Lovin' us some C-O-U-N-T-R-Y!

While the concert wasn't as packed as it could have been (with so many soldiers away for training), it was still a fabulous show.  An aside:  The LoCash Cowboys wrote the new hit single "You Gonna Fly," performed by Keith Urban.  Chris and Preston (the head honchos of LoCash) performed the song for us last night and proved it was their song from the start.  These guys have a whirlwind tour throughout the summer, hitting venues all across the country (even Alaska!), so check them out and see if you can join the ranks with us lucky folks who can say, "We rocked it out with LoCash!!"

Some fun video dialogue you might not have been able to hear clearly:
1.  Liam said, "Everybody falls."  Instead of crying or whining, Liam says that whenever he trips or hits the ground.  Such a stellar dude!
2.  Liam tried to whistle.  His attempts strongly resembled those of King Julien from Madagascar.
3.  In a moment that made me think of Grandpa Marty, Liam shouted with a smile, "I made that!" when the lights started flashing and changing colors. (Because anyone who knows Grandpa Marty knows he wrote every good song, designed every cool bridge, and thought of every fabulous idea.  He is, after all, Grandpa Marty.)
4.  And yes, you also heard correctly -- Liam said, "That's cool."  He's so right -- the concert was cool!

After two solid hours of killer music, LoCash came to the back of the venue and signed autographs, took pictures with the fans, and cracked jokes.  Both on and off stage, the guys of LoCash are hilarious, talented, approachable, easygoing, and down-to-earth.  And it looks like they've got their hearts in the right place, so I'm hoping these guys stay as cool as they were last night, even when they're accepting all the awards I'm sure await them in the years to come.

"Chris, man, you have got to tell me where I can get me one of them hats."

Possibly LoCash's littlest fan.  Definitely LoCash's coolest fan.

Bedtime Story

We have a bedtime routine, as I'm sure everyone in the world does.  And, like most parents, we include a few bedtime stories in the routine.

As you can see, Liam is making our job way too easy.