9 Month Madness

Liam has a second tooth.  Monday was miserable.  Well Monday Liam was miserable.  I guess the tooth coming through was causing a lot of pain and it was hard for him to be distracted by games or toys.  He spent most of the day seeking me out and climbing on me, clinging tight and half crying.  It wasn't fun. 
Gratefully by Tuesday morning things had improved, the tooth had peeked through the surface and I think things have been pretty much better since then.

Before I forget, here's a funny Monday story - I put Liam in his bed for nap and left him to it.  An hour later, still awake, still crying, I went in.  And when I found him he was standing at the bars of his crib (nothing new there) holding his PANTS (and by pants I mean trousers, not his undies), in his hand.  I have no idea how he got them off, but he did.  I was so amused I gave up any attempt to have him nap.  That night we put him to sleep in one of his sleeping bags that snaps over the shoulder and zips up the side.  He woke up in the middle of the night crying, and when James went in to check on him, he was out of his sleeping bag and holding it in his hand.  Little houdini!

We walked the percorsa vita with some friends this week - twice in fact for Liam and I, and once with James.  Just a couple of pictures from the walk on Sunday:

James and Liam hanging out on the walk

 Alessandra and Liam

 Liam and James examine the foliage

We bought Liam one of those obnoxious push walkers in garish colors and with all those sound effects and songs to boot.  He loves it, of course.  He does pushes it around the house, but he also loves the ball game at the front where he can pick up the little balls and dump them into the slot at the top, resulting in a lovely sound that encourages repetition!  He also likes to play one of the songs over and over and does a little butt wiggle to dance to it.
Here are a couple of videos of him from today: 

Other happenings this side of the Gottard - we have ferrets or some other lively and large animals living in the ceiling of our kitchen. We've been listening to them scrape and scratch around for the past few weeks, getting more and more distressed about it.  The landlord is working on the situation, but a few more weeks have gone by with no results.  Here's hoping something changes soon or the weight of them multiplying above us will no doubt cave the ceiling in!

Weekend in Zurich - 9/24-9/26

Last weekend we had a 3 day weekend and decided it would do us good to get out of here.  So we went up to Zurich (the big city!) for 2 nights.  We stayed at the very decent Renaissance Hotel a little out of the city center, but super accessible by tram, and after an ok nights' sleep friday night, headed in for a rainy day in Zurich.  Despite the gloomy weather we had a good time wandering the old cobbled streets and peeking into places here and there.  The disadvantage of the rain was that Liam couldn't see quite as much through the rain shield of his stroller, so it wasn't quite as fun for him.  We did go into the fantastic English book store where we hung out for a bit and let him crawl around, flip through books we weren't going to buy, and then leave.  (I did order 1 book for him... well maybe for myself).

Liam putting his sock in the drawer (while that did happen, he was more interested in the fact that these drawers opened and closed, and sometimes on his fingers!)

Right on the lake - enjoying the rain

We also found the Franz Carl Weber toy store and decided that our minimalist ways were perhaps a little unfair on Liam and having a few developmentally appropriate toys (besides the pots and pans I keep throwing his way) would possibly be good for him.  So 150CH later we walked out with a block sorting bus, a drum/xylophone, a mini tonka car (james INSISTED he have a car), and a stacking wooden clown that also lets you match up shapes.  Hopefully all will be normal with our child now!  Perhaps we should have invested in a pushing walker thing as he has taken to pushing his high chair around the kitchen.  Hmm...

At Wagamama's testing out his new car

 Other highlights of Zurich were the opportunity for us to eat non Italian food - We opted for Indian at Hiltl (fantastic vegetarian place!) and Asian fusion at Wagamama's - and somewhere squeezed into the last 15mins of store opening times was a purchase of a pair of boots for me, and a couple of yummy bretzels.

 Mama getting a kiss at Hiltl restaurant

 Liam investigates his own lunch options

 and just a nice picture of daddy James

But the biggest event over the whole weekend was the appearance of Liam's first tooth.  It's the bottom left side and it is too cute!  Of course we have no proof because he won't let us see it, let alone take a photo, but it's definitely there!  Exact date of first break through -  evening of September 24th, 2010.

This is back at home, but here's a little video of him playing his new musical instruments.  He's actually quite into it, even though it's supposed to be for slightly older children.  I think I realized his interest after seeing him playing with some of Drake's musical instruments.

September

My last post was long and boring.  Well, it was without pictures, which to many of us visual people, equates to boring.  This time I have a smattering of pictures and more of a random commentary.  C'est la vie.

September has come and gone.  Summer feels like it's been LONG gone, and as we head deeper down the rabbit hole into fall/winter I find myself switching into hermit mode.  Hermit mode, for those who don't experience it, is a state wherein all you wish to wear is sweatpants and sweatshirts, and you would prefer it if life could take place in your bed surrounded by a large down comforter.  But that cannot be.  Liam keeps telling me so.

Instead we hustle and bustle our way through the weeks chasing Liam, chasing sleep.  Oh but he's so so fun these days.  I mean he's always been fun, but now, now he's becoming really funny.  He's so very social and vocal and loves to play (especially the "I'm going to get you" game, which as the name indicates, involves James or me saying "I'm going to get you" and wiggling our fingers at him while approaching him in a humorously menacing way.  He loves it.  He squeals, turns on his pudgy heels and heads into the nearest wall, or sometimes away from us.)

Here's a family picture from our opening banquet.  If I can recall correctly, after staying up till 10:30pm he had his first amazing night of sleeping through till 6:30am!  Must have been the late night socializing!

Kat and Drake, Nura and Liam - opening banquet.  We even had a "family room" where they hid all us new parents with young babies so we wouldn't disturb the rest of the function.  It was definitely a win/win situation.

In other news, Liam has discovered the washing machine and the fascination of wet clothes going around in a circle.  Good times!

Foregoing practicality and falling prey to pure fashion, James picked out this adorable hat for Liam.  Can he look any more Irish?  If I could tolerate the term, I may be inclined to "OMG" this photo.  I know, I know, he's my child and I'm biased, but seriously, he really is kind of adorable.  I now have to go out and buy a real winter hat for the guy, but in the meantime we sure do love this one!

As I mentioned in the last post, Liam is eating all sorts of stuff, and with growing confidence every day.  This is a video of him playing with spaghetti for the first time.

And finally a video of Liam doing his own thing!  He crawled out onto the balcony off our bedroom with the umbrella cover, and was having a great time doing his thing.