Liam is mail backwards...

We spent Sunday afternoon at Prospect Park, helping friends celebrate their son's 1st Birthday! We were a little late (damn Belt Parkway traffic), but made it just in time for the festivities. Everyone was camped out on their little blankets, children running around playing games, women mingling over food/refreshments and men playing an impromptu game of touch football. It took Liam some time to perk up and join in all the fun, but when he did, he was the quite the charmer. He was working his magic on all the ladies (little girls too)!

We were so excited to help Dina and G help celebrate the 1st Birthday of their son Noah! And now that we know how nice Prospect Park is, we'll be visiting more often...especially the playgrounds!!!

Liam finally got a new pair of glasses! We had been hunting for the perfect frames for weeks and had finally settled on a beautiful pair from a local children's specialty optical shop...unfortunately our insurance didn't cover any portion of the $350 pricetag. So I decided to do some research online and found a much more affordable option at ZenniOptical.com for a fraction of the cost! The only catch was the hingeless flexible glasses we found, only came in green! We decided the $30 frames were worth the risk and went ahead and ordered them.

Two weeks later, Liam finally had his glasses! To our surprise, he wore them without any problem. He even exclaimed "glasses" when we put them on him for the first time. We slowly acclimated him, an hour each day, and finally got him to wear them for an entire day! I don't know how much improvement we'll notice with his strabismus, but trips to the playground have been much more exciting for our little adventurer!

In the course of a week, Liam will use the following words and phrases…never all at once, he hasn’t mastered the art of forming sentences, yet! Before you know it, he’ll be having full blown conversations with us…so far it’s mostly gibberish, with a few real words thrown in. I hate to sound like the typical "Mom", but my son seems to have advanced language skills for a toddler?! I know one day, I'll wish he couldn't talk back...ha ha!


GREETINGS
1. Hi (1st word at 7 months)
2. Bye
3. Goodnight (night)
4. Goodmorning (morning)

QUESTIONS/ANSWERS
5. Open
6. No
7. Yes
8. Please
9. Thank you
10. OK
11. Alright
12. Good

PHRASES
13. I see you
14. I did it
15. I got it
16. See you later (seea later)
17. I love you (I uv you)
18. How are you (Howr you)
19. Pee-ew, stinkey feet
20. Boo
21. Whoa
22. Wow
23. Peekaboo
24. Mine
25. Funny…ha ha (says fah-ee)
26. Bumps on the floor (says boomps on flah)
27. Don’t touch

PEOPLE
28. Momma
29. Dadda
30. Papa
31. Nana
32. Gigi
33. Tinkerbell (Binkabell, our cat)
34. April
35. Joe
36. Jake
37. Karen
38. Isabelle (iz-bah)
39. Baby

PLACES
40. Outside
41. Bedroom (says behroom)
42. Upstairs

THINGS
43. Book
44. Paper
45. Pen
46. Plane
47. Sky (says skyyy)
48. Helicopter (lcopter)
49. Boat
50. Swing
51. Slide
52. Ball
53. Floor
54. Rockie Rockie (aka Rocking chair)
55. Chair
56. Fan
57. Phone
58. Ring Ring
59. Keys
60. Light
61. Guitar (says geetar)
62. Clock
63. Cucko Clock
64. Bell
65. Block
66. Mirror
67. Car
68. Vroom
69. Beep Beep
70. Bike
71. Truck
72. Bus
73. Schoolbus (says skoobus)
74. Ice Cream Truck (says iceceam tuk)
75. Blanket (says blankie)
76. Bath
77. Water (says waterrr)
78. Bubbles
79. Hat
80. Head
81. Hair
82. Eye (says eyyye)
83. Nose
84. Mouth (Mouf)
85. Teeth (says teef)
86. Ear
87. Neck
88. Belly
89. Body
90. Pee Pee
91. Arm
92. Hand
93. Fingers
94. Foot
95. Sock
96. Shoe
97. Pant
98. Shirt
99. Jacket
100. Hat
101. Zipper
102. Button
103. Buckle
104. Watch
105. Bracelet (says bracet)
106. Rubber Band (says band)
107. Glasses
108. Bottle
109. Spoon (says poon)
110. Cup
111. Food
112. Milk
113. Water
114. Cereal
115. Cheerios (says chee-os)
116. Cracker
117. Bagel
118. Cheese
119. Apple
120. Chicken (says chi-kin)
121. Flower
122. Tree
123. Leaf
124. Grass
125. Stick
126. Cactus (says cack-tus)
127. Piano
128. Music
129. Pooh
130. Eyeore
131. Elmo (says Em-o)
132. Tissue (says tiss-ew)
133. Balloon (says bah-oon)
134. Garbage (says gah-bage)

ANIMALS (AND SOUNDS)
135. Cat
136. Meow
137. Dog
138. Woof
139. Elephant (says elebant)
140. Phff (elephant sound)
141. Bird
142. Tweet Tweet
143. Horse
144. Bear
145. Grr
146. Lion
147. Roar (says rah)
148. Cow
149. Moo
150. Duck
151. Quack
152. Pig
153. Oink Oink
154. Turtle (says tuttel)
155. Fish (says fiss)
156. Sheep

VERBS/ADJECTIVES
157. Up
158. Down
159. Stuck
160. Off
161. Round and Round
162. Hot
163. Gone
164. Done
165. Empty
166. Dance
167. Wee
168. Yay
169. Eat
170. Poop
171. Toot
172. Brush
173. Running
174. Jump
175. Standing
176. Sit down
177. Ride (asks for piggy-back rides)
178. Kiss
179. Kick
180. Circle (says cicle)
181. Turn (says tahn)
182. Help (says Hope)
183. Yuck
184. Danger

COLORS
185. Blue (says bue)
186. Green (says gehn)
187. Red
188. Yellow (says lellow)

COGNITIVE SKILLS
Counts 1-10 (starts with 2, since he was 14 months)
Sings ABCs (slurs the letters together, but gets the right tune)
Recognizes numbers (ex. car license plate)
Recognizes colors...points to stained glass window and says blue or green
Recognizes sound of truck/car driving by and plane flying can tell difference withou looking
Sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Gives High-Five when prompted
Gives and/or blows kisses when prompted
Waves when prompted
Say's good/fine when asked "how are you?"
Say's good when asked if food is good
Blows nose when asked to blow nose
Kicks when asked to kick
Splashes when asked to splash

We had a wonderful evening at our neighborhood playground on Thursday evening...I can't believe how adventurous my little Liam as become. He has no fear when it comes to climbing the jungle gym...up and down the stairs...scurrying over and under...examining every nut and bolt. I can't imagine what trouble he'll be getting into this summer!