Other Bits and Pieces from the Beginning of Spring

So in the past few weeks Liam is loving his time outside, and frequently (at least once a day) brings us his shoes to put on so we can go outside.  Alternatively, he'll try and wear James', which is always pretty funny to watch!

We go to the playgrounds around here a fair bit, and take walks around Montagnola.  Spring is gorgeous here!  He loves going down slides and is always enthusiastic about digging in the sand pit.

PLEASE DO NOT  COPY THIS!! He was too cute one evening before his bath dashing around with the spatula and no clothes on.  I just had to take a few pictures!

As Liam becomes more active and confident dashing around he also is adding onto his vocabulary.  In a new found obsession with blueberries he has worked hard to figure out how to say it so he can ask for them.  It comes out a bit like blue balls (which, fair enough, they are) but is a bit more garbled so it's more boobles.  Pretty funny.  He has also started to say thank you - Ta-tooo!  always said in the same intonation as one would say "thank you", and therefore easily understood.  Most of the time he says it as he hands you something, I guess because that's what I respond to him.  He still has trouble differentiating moving vehicles, and each time he hears a plane, he points to the sky and says "bussss".  Ok, we'll get there.  He said "hat" the other day so clearly James and I nearly fell over.  He is also big on asking for bread "bet", and points out birds "bert" if they fly by.  When he (or we) drop something he says: "Oh no!" and he can frequently be heard waxing on about how something or other is "dirt".  He says "keys", "cheese" but still no "please".

I've tried to post to videos to go along with this, but it isn't working out, so I'll leave it at that for now and hope that at some other point I can put them up!

Spring Visitors and a Cold That Won't Go Away

Liam has been sick since we left England.  It did clear up enough for us to think he was well, but there was still a lot of phlegm and a cough that wouldn't go away, as well as a runny nose.  Well I just found out yesterday that the poor guy has an ear and throat infection, which he's probably been harboring for over a month.  Luckily we caught it before we travel to NY this weekend, but I feel so bad for him suffering all this time.  Still, ever the trouper, most days you wouldn't even know that he wasn't feeling well.  He did his best to just get on with things.  We've also had two rounds of visitors, which was a lot of fun and a good distraction for him.

Char and Otto visited for a long weekend, and it was great fun to have the "birth friends" together again, as well as getting to see my friend too!  We had a lovely mom and tots get-together here so Char could see others in the group as well.

Leigh, Stirling and growing little bump!

 Drake and Otto together again, and of course Kat and Char

 Though Otto is not always the biggest fan of other babies there were some pretty funny and sweet moments in the weekend.  My favorite was him tackling Liam to the ground and pinning him down, and then giving him a quick pat to be nice!  We had some beautiful warm spring days and were able to walk downtown and in the park along the lake, as well as stop in to Al Porto for a chocolate densa.  We all went over to Kat and Eric's for a delicious mexican dinner with the three boys running around, and the last night of her visit we had some friends over for dinner and dessert and hung out  chatting a while.  All in all it was so lovely having them back in our world again!

Char and Otto at Al Porto, post chocolate densa

 Lunch downtown on the street corner - our favorite street pizza

 A fun dinner here - Kelly, Jen, Char, Courtney and Jay

 Just this past weekend we had a much anticipated visit from Julie, who managed to wangle a long weekend to nip down from work in Zurich, to see us in Lugano.  The weather has been ridiculous.  I mean summer time hot - 26ºC+.  We had a wonderful few days together and so nice for Liam and Julie to finally meet!  There was time for walks, gelato, letting Liam splash around in the water fountain at school, and a lovely lunch out in Morcote.  The time couldn't have been more perfect.

Julie reading Liam one of his favorite books - Room on a Broom

 Notice the shameless google plug!  Liam is, thanks to Julie, already indoctrinated into the world of google

   Ju basking in the aftermath of funghi risotto (the restaurant's speciality and certainly a heavy choice for a hot day in Morcote!

 Liam enjoyed sitting outside and eating from my pasta and Julie and James' risotto for quite a while

 Hiding in the shade before deciding on gelato - notice the new short do on me!  My hair hasn't been this short in probably 10 years.  And yes, at the moment I'm happy with it.  Ask me again in 3 weeks!

 I love this photo of James and Liam because you can see Liam's adorable outfit.  Dungaree shorts are so cute at this age!

 Post gelato walk along the water