Kids say the Darndest things

Since we got back from Sweden I've been terrible about videoing and photographing Liam, which is particularly sad since he has taken this opportunity to really start to talk.  It started with a large increase in the words he'd say, and has quickly been progressing into an attempt at sentences or at least parts of one, really regularly.  Not only will he say just about anything you ask him to say (or at least the last word in the sentence you said), but he recalls things that might have been talked about the previous day or even earlier.  And sometimes it appears that he just knows a word without us having "taught" it to him.

A few weeks ago I started writing down a list of newer things I heard him say and here's some of it:
Ooshy - horsey
Fwog - frog
wed boon - red spoon
kayak, row boat, mota boat
wee walk - side walk
One morning he sat eating breakfast and pointed to the counter saying: "choffee maker"
When reading a book when he is finished with it he says: "ee end!"
He calls the bathroom the "bumroom" (quite appropriate) and the vacuum a "backhume".
When we are out walking he periodically says: "leee-dards!"  like he's calling the lizards!
When he's feeling cheerful in the morning he might be heard saying: "moh-ning!"
A favorite word that comes up way more than you can imagine is "weedwacker".  We hear alot of them around here so I guess he identifies the sound a lot
He asks for specific books now, like "Jambry" (Jamberry), "woom broom" (room on a broom), "been one" (richard scarry's word book), "Bunyad dance" (barnyard dance).
A t-shirt is a "dee showt" and a butter fly is a "buttfly".
"mumroom" is mushroom and we often have him help with the "wandree" (laundry)
He asks for "pen and papor" and has become much more interested in drawing than he's ever been. 
He also loves playing "cacatcheee" (can't catch me) with James in the evening, where you'll here him yelling cacacheeee! at the top of his lungs.  Also included in that game is the "weady!  Steady! GO!!!"
When you wants us to come he grabs a hand or finger and says: "tum!"
When someone sneezes we get "a Bless you!"  And if it's him, he'll say "Liam" at the end!
He also says " oh, Ducck!" when he's stuck somewhere. 

On one occasion about a month ago we were eating dinner and I went to feed Liam another spoonful only to have him shake his head and say: "no no, no more rice.  Bye bye dinum (dinner)".  At which point he pushed the whole bowl away from himself.

More recently he says phrases like these on a daily basis:
I get it
I got it
you do dis, or I do dis

Peekaboo mummy!
A new favorite is: "right der".  Just about any situation will find him pointing out something that's "right der"
He has also begun counting, forgetting to mention the lowly number 1 and heading right for two:
doo, three, (sometimes) four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine.  He never says 10 unless reminded of it, and very often we will hear him counting to himself and if he can't remember something he'll subsitute with "chicken".  Seven is a good candidate for a chicken substitution!
At bed time he asks for stories, and once even spontaneously asked for "pwayor" (prayer).  He will also demand that I sing once he's in the crib, and often specifies that it needs to be twinkle twinkle.
Last night at bath time I told him we don't have time for a story but I could sing to him instead and asked if he'd like me to sing a prayer.  Totally on his own he started with: oh God, guide me, protect (well the rest was a bit of a mumble), but I was totally shocked at his recollection of the prayer unguided!

Well I'll end this now as I could probably fill days trying to remember everything I've heard coming out of Liam's mouth.  This is really just so we have some memories of his early chatting!

Family Time in Sweden

Our week in the Swedish countryside outside of the town of Arvika was about as idyllic as one might imagine it to be.  Though again we arrived to rain and a very dreary day, the weather for the week ended up being much sunnier and warmer than the forecasts predicted.

The set-up of the main house with the little cottages surrounding it, allowed for 14 of us to all be together and still somehow not going insane with lack of privacy.  James, Liam and I shared an adorable little detached bedroom with a loft, Nassim, Erfan and the kids had a small 2 bedroom cottage for themselves, and Erica and her fiance Rafal (who were also visiting at that time) stayed in a third external room attached to the ping pong room.  Shirin, Sonja and Sham, Mims and Paul were all in the main house.  Somehow we managed to do many relay meals, spaced out shower times of 30 secs each! so that the one indoor shower would suffice, and mostly just spending a lot of time outside.

In true Swedish fashion that meant daily berry picking walks which were of course major highlights in the kids world.  How fun for them to be able to pick and eat blueberries from the bushes, grab a raspberry here and there and maybe find a few wild strawberries!  And it wasn't just berries that were found and eaten.  Some of the most delicious Chanterelle mushrooms happened to be in season during our time, which added a little bit of deliciousness to a salad, pasta or even sandwich.

Shirin shows off her berry loot!  She was certainly the most enthusiastic of berry pickers!

I love this sassy little pose from Lua, hanging out under the tree

Paul and Mims on the lake shore after a walk

Shirin insisted on reaching some unripe apples any way she could, including catching a lift on James' shoulders

Soaking up a little sun and fresh air - Shirin, Nass, Rafal, Erica, Erfan and Leo

The wee ones up to mischief.  Hey isn't that the knife drawer?

 Our first full day was the rainiest and so we picked it to be the day we made a trek into the town of Arvika.  It's a small town so a little lunch and a wander around filled a few hours of the day nicely.  Liam was pleased to see a train coming into town!

Liam waiting for the train to leave

There were a couple of bigger events during the week to bring our Swedish family together and to celebrate Mims' 60th Birthday.  On Wednesday we had a beautiful later afternoon party with probably about 30 of us including many of the swedish cousins on my mom's side.  We made a big chili dinner and of course had some fabulous desserts using the fresh berries picked that day.  Erica and Rafal were pretty amazing during the whole week, but especially on this day, helping in really big ways to get food made and everything set up.  

Preparations (and some tastings!) for a berry pie

This was Erica's dream child and boy was it tasty!  Add the vanilla cream on top of the crust and pile the berries it's all done!

A merry table of extended family enjoying the afternoon

The youngest group of extended cousins (4th cousins?)

We had another Swedish family event on Friday at Voula's house, and this time they prepared a spread of food and we ate the afternoon away.  

Besides those bigger events our days were wiled away enjoying nature and each other.  The guys became obsessed with the game of croquet, which many of us had to snicker about.  There were boat rides in the row boat and kayak, as well as a rather grand excursion in Paul's brother's motorboat to visit his house across the lake.  There we also had an afternoon of swimming and for the guys, more croquet playing.  Despite the moments of mayhem around meal times, and the odd cold shower, I think we all found it to be a relaxing, fun-filled week.

The boys showing off their croquet skills on Albert's fine pitch (Paul's brother's place) 

Here Liam shows everyone how it's really done

The two wee ones had such a fun time swimming and whooping in the lake with James.  Who cares how cold it was!

I even made it out on the row boat once.  In fact we had a lovely outing with the 4 our us sisters in the row boat with Leo, and Mims in the Kayak.  Shirin and Sonja were the designated rowers, but after discovering Shirin's unnaturally strong left arm, I had to sit in with Sonja just to compensate so we didn't end up going in circles!

Leo, Nass, Shirin and Mims

Sonja and I rowing us back safely!

The vacation ended perfectly with me breaking my pinky toe yet again.  Just half an hour before departure to the airport I walked into a chair in true Nura fashion and it's been a literal pain ever since!  Still, it didn't dampen our time there at least, and we are so grateful to have had so much family time with my side of the family this summer!

A visit to England for Sonja's Wedding

Though it was short and a bit hectic, we had a really nice visit to England for Sonja's wedding.  We arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed with Nass and co for the 3 nights till we all left for Sweden.  It was a full but cheerful house with the cousins together once again, and Ameh also staying so that for the first time in many years we had a little time with her.  Somewhere in between everything that was happening in preparation for the wedding Amu even managed to visit with us, which was quite special as James and him had not met.  I must acknowledge at this point that many photos used for this and the next post are not necessarily of my taking or even from my camera.  We did a huge photo share and I had to go with whoever had the better pictures!

A little family photo while at Nass's

The cousins, Nass, James and me (taken again by amu!)

   The wedding day itself started off gloomier and rainier than all the days before.  It was absolutely pouring so that our little group coming from Nassim's actually missed the registrar's wedding because of the long drive and the bad weather.  Thankfully Mims, Shirin and many others were all there, but we were sad to arrive just as it was over.  The rain continued right up until the start of the actual wedding, so it was a bit of a soggy start to what was supposed to be a beautiful garden wedding.  But moments after Sonja and Shamim arrived in the tent, the skies cleared and we were blessed with a gorgeous afternoon of sunshine and warm weather!  How fitting to have the break come just at the right time for people to mingle in and outside of the tent and enjoy the English countryside!

Bride and groom with sisters!

Sana and James meet for the first time!

Official proof that James has finally met my Uncle (and of course my lovely Aunt too!) 

A few of us make it for a group photo outside

Gorgeous bride and Groom and Mims!

Attempt at getting the expanding family together (Leo is missing)

Liam finds himself a car to play in!

After a lovely ceremony, many photos, a tasty buffet and a collapsing tent, we managed to gather the Madjzoub family plus additions and head to a nearby restaurant for dinner and a little longer altogether.  With the wedding and us flying out the next day it really felt like such a short time to catch up with Amu, Ameh, Parya, Sana and Auntie Fariba, but I'm so glad we had any time at all!

A lovely family dinner after the wedding to soak up a little more time with everyone