One Year Old

Luke turned one yesterday. We started the day with a long walk to the North End because it was such a warm day. On the way home, we picked up a cake and some ice cream at Johnny's our local supermarket. I didn't expect the cake to be anything special but it actually was pretty good. After naps and dinner our neighbor Case came over. While we were waiting for Daddy to come home, the boys thought it would be fun to sit in the pan drawer under my oven.

It was hard to scold them for it - they were just too darn cute. Finally at 7 pm Daddy came home. We could have cake! Liam was remarkably patient about the whole thing. I don't think I would have been. I fully expected Luke to go to town on his cake but I think by that time he was too tired. He just had this bemused look on his face and didn't even finish his piece. Cake coma!

Seeing Santa

Christmas is right around the corner and we have been busy getting ready. We put our tree up last weekend after I hauled it out of storage. It is a very sparse fake tree that I bought at target last year when Liam was just starting to walk and I was about to burst with Luke. It doesn't look too bad if you are blinded by all the lights so that you don't notice the large gaps. Every morning when we get up (for some reason this week Liam has been up at 5:30 every morning!) Liam insists that I put the tree lights on and also turn on the snowman decoration with the ever changing rainbow colors. I don't blame him, a lit christmas tree in the dark makes me smile too. Even at that early hour.



Yesterday afternoon we met the Scannells at the annual Christmas party at CBC where Santa arrived by boat! I thought that this year, with Liam being two, he would enjoy sitting with Santa. I had even coached him a bit asking what he was going to ask Santa to bring him for Christmas. (A choo-choo of course!) Deep in my heart though I think I knew what his reaction would be again this year - sheer terror. Maybe next year?

Almost One!

Its really unbelievable that Luke will be one in just a few weeks. I feel like his infanthood has gone alot faster than Liam's. I suppose that's for a few reasons, mainly second child syndrome. With the first child you spend alot of time obsessing about every little detail. With the second kid, you've been there and done that so every milestone is not quite the big deal it was the first time around.

Of course Luke is not suffering at all. He has quite a strong personality all his own. He will grab anything Liam is playing with and if he sees anyone eating anything he will demand to have some too. If he doesn't get his way he will cry. The good news is, he is an excellent eater. He has been feeding himself for months and will eat EVERYTHING put in front of him. I have never ever seen him choose not to eat something in particular unless he is full. (And sometimes I wonder if he eating after he is full much like a dog.) Liam on the other hand was more difficult to feed as a baby and would often not eat something that he had eaten previously. He still is picky about what he eats and often doesn't seem to eat as much as Luke does. I can always count of Luke to finish his own meal and PLUS Liam's leftovers.


The last few weeks have been busy with Thanksgiving among other things. We spent the holiday in Worcester and the boys enjoyed spending time with their "Mia" and aunts, uncles and cousins. The picture shows Mia giving Liam cake or potatoes. She loves feeding him both!

We also have had some fun playdates with Ava Scannell who brought Liam his first playdoh and then joined the boys for a bath. Since then Liam has requested her presence at every bath. We will definitely be using the photos to blackmail them when they are 16.

Play ball?

Luke has been amazing us with his dexterity and skill doing all kinds of things recently from trying to pull himself up on the kitchen table in order to grab something on top of it to standing for a few seconds without assistance before slowly lowering himself to the ground. But what he came up with last night is really the best.

He just started playing with the ball, throwing it forward once or twice but mostly just tossing it over his shoulder and then going after it to do it again. He was playing catch with himself! He was at it again this morning and I believe I may have heard him say "ball" but it could have been anything. He's only 11 months old! Daddy may have his baseball player afterall.

Halloween Parade

This Halloween we went to Charlestown's annual parade and I neve realize how just many kids there are in Charlestown until we get there. Its crazy! The parade route goes around the Bunker Hill Monument and is led by a brass band. People who live around the monument decorate their houses and hand out candy. It is quite the scene! Liam went dressed as Elmo. It was a red furry pullover (sans arms) with a hood that had Elmo's eyes and nose on top. Liam absolutely refused to wear the hood for most of the night so he looked more like a red carpet. Happily though, everyone knew who he was - esspecially all the kids - and they all said "Hi Elmo!" I think he liked that. Luke wore Liam's green and red dragon costume from last year and looked just as cute. For some reason no one was smiling in any of the pictures I took!

Signs of Fall

The Head of the Charles was this past weekend and the boys spent a great deal of time working with their mother at HOCR central during last week. On Wednesday afternoon, the visiting Olympians from New Zealand were there while Liam was running around. They were absolutely amazed by Liam's new light-up sneakers. Do they not have them down under?

On Saturday, the boys were with Daddy at the course socializing with the crowds of people lining the banks of the Charles and Liam yelled "Go Rich!" for 'Uncle' Rich who was racing by in his single.

The weekend before the Charles I took some "Fall" pictures of Luke.

Play? Or is it?

Every day the boys are playing together more and more. Liam is still not happy about sharing his toys and Luke is still trying to grab everything his brother has but they truly seem to have a good time together. They especially like to wrestle. I'm not sure where they learned that but I am guessing it's an inate boy thing. Luke is the one who generally initiates it by going over to Liam and getting in his face. It usually starts off fine - they are both laughing - but it nearly always ends with Luke falling over, cracking his head on the floor and crying. I suspect in about 6 months Liam may be the one to end up on the sorry side.