Liam v2.5

I've been meaning to do one of these for a while-- But today, after I spent much of the afternoon cleaning up poop off of Liam's bed, the floors & the walls, it seemed a necessary reminder of why 2.5 is such an awesome age (in addition to a tough one)!

When you look at it like that, it's a pretty amazing time.

I'm a lucky mama.

Thomas & The Great Paci Pass Off

There's no denying it-- there's a full blown Thomas obsession in the Blakely house.

It's hard to believe that less than 6 months ago, Liam didn't even know who Thomas was & now he can name dozens of the characters. Admittedly, I think it's really cute. The movies are boring, but I love watching him put the trains together, push them around the track, line them up and announce their names. He's building up quite the collection-- he gets a new train for cooperating at his eye appointments!

A few months ago, I saw an ad for A Day Out with Thomas and immediately bought tickets. We've been building up our visit to see "The Real Thomas" since January & he was so excited.

We've needed to take away his paci for months, but I've been too scared to deal with it. (Taking Jack's bottle away was a bit scarring.) But we really meant to get rid of them by two, and we've already passed 2 1/2. I thought, what if I suggest that he gives them to Thomas? About a week before the big day, I asked him, "Can you give your pacis to Thomas, so that he can take them to the babies who need them?"

He said, "Yes!"

That morning, we packed up all of his pacis in his Thomas backpack, which he insisted on carrying himself.

We played at the train tables, hit up the bubble station & rode the train.

Then, it was time for the big moment... We found the conductor, dug out the pacis and asked if he could give them to Thomas-- Liam handed them over & the conductor told him how proud Thomas was!

Liam was beaming.

That night, when we got home & settled him into bed, he said, "I need my paci!" and we gently reminded him that he'd given them to Thomas... and that was the end of the discussion! No begging, no crying, no big deal. He immediately went to sleep. I couldn't believe that he was so cool about it.

Over the next week, he asked a few more times, but he always seemed satisfied when we reminded them that he gave them to Thomas. I'm so glad that we were able to pass this milestone in a positive way-- he's still talking about getting to see "The Real Thomas!"

Wordless Wednesday: Here we go again.

We've all been well for approximately 3 weeks, so of course, it was time for this.

Liam and I have a date with the pediatrician tomorrow morning-- hoping that, whatever it is, it passes quickly. Liam and I have a trip to SC planned this weekend & we need to be healthy!

Update: Double Ear Infection...of course.

Update #2: Jack has one, too.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We've been really excited about our minor league baseball team (The Birmingham Barons-- a farm team for the White Sox) moving to a brand new stadium downtown-- we live less than 10 min away. The grand opening was last Wed, and we decided on Fri night to brave the crowds and take the boys to see their first game.

One of my favorite parts of the stadium is a grassy area at the end of the 1st & 3rd baselines-- instead of seats, there are two grassy hills for families to spread out picnic blankets and for kids to run around. While we didn't make it through the whole game, the kids lasted until the middle of the 7th inning (around 9:30pm)-- better than I thought they'd do.

Liam loved the stadium, especially the big digital scoreboard!

Jack had a blast, too: running up & down the hill & checking out the field:

 eating some french fries,

and making friends with the big boys.

 We had a great time and we'll definitely go back-- The bigger kids got a bit rowdy as it got late, so I think we may try an afternoon game next time, but I'm glad we took them. Can't wait to watch more games with them...and can't wait to watch them play in a few years!