A quiet New Year's Eve

Happy New Year! Sadly, Jim and I varied little from our pre-Liam NYE pattern, save for heading out for dinner after playing at a park with Liam. Dinner was at a very "fancy" salad bar restaurant...perfect for shrieking toddlers. Liam is clearly in a celebratory mood. Much love to all and wishes for a really amazing 2012.

Holiday House Hunting

Inspired by too much HGTV and enough time off to get into trouble, we have embarked upon what we hope will be a lengthy, successful search for the next home for the Harper Chang clan. We took some time out of the search and fretting to play in one of the parks of the neighborhood in which we hope to soon be, Maplewood/Richmond Heights. One of the reasons we want to be there is for their early elementary education, which features the Reggio Emilia philosophy of education coupled with farm-to-table experiential learning. The elementary school has chickens! And, chickens are legal in Maplewood!

Here's Liam in front of one of the homes we toured...(having stolen his father's gloves to keep his own hands warm)

And, here we are at the park, where Liam bogart-ed someone's lacrosse stick...

Quick Update for Early December

So, December will be a month of work--I'm working days on Saturdays and Jim is working nights. We are lucky to have each other! Therefore, please don't be surprised if the postings are light until the end of the month. Given our work schedules, we are so happy that Liam got to meet Santa at school. Fortunately, Jim got out of work early enough to catch this second Santa sitting on his phone.

 A better lap-sitting experience while showing off that he can read at least two books at once!

Saturday morning, Liam entered a "cookie coma" after visiting the Cherokee Street Print sale. 

Liam dispenses with the coffee...

and goes straight for the cream.

Would you like some, too?

Liam signing off after a long holiday weekend

that was full of turkey, a cold, a GI-afflication (his father), and many videos. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, too!

Mr. Ricky Gervais

is the only celebrity we've seen who has been able to throw Elmo into a state of disarray. So, we had to share this video of Liam...um...watching a video. This is just a snippet, but it gives you a sense of just how much he enjoys his You Tube music lessons. :)

(what he is watching)

(his additions to the music)

Too long...

A holiday weekend means that we'll catch up on photographs, videos, and posts! Stay tuned!

much love and happy Thanksgiving wishes from all of us...

Liam Giggles are the Best!

Courtesy of our dear friend Emily and her iPhone...

First Haircut and a Second Halloween

Liam endured his first haircut last night, at the hands of a very nervous mother. Thanks to the iPad from work, Ricky Gervais singing a Celebrity Lullabye to Elmo, and a watchful father, he no longer is the wild baby from Borneo. And, he may never forgive us, but he ended up with this adorable glitterfish costume that needed to be documented for posterity.

Happy Halloween! 

Time with Grandparents

Liam spent a great week (or better part of) with his grandparents. Dressed up like a little boy from Ladue (rich suburb of St. Louis). Played with Dad in the backyard. A good week.

Harvest Time

So, despite crazy work schedules, we were able to meet up with some friends and enjoy some less-than-fruitful apple picking. Liam enjoyed sampling, however. In other news, it appears that Liam is somewhat intrigued by his father's un-baby-proofed medical tools and learned how to listen to his heart. In even bigger news, Liam sat on his potty and used it for the first time!!!! Bring on the fun. Pictures of the last piece of news are not attached, as none were taken. We do have our limits here.

Happy October!

So, Liam can credibly identify a dog, a duck, a cow, a cat, and a monkey complete with appropriate sound. He actually said the word "dog" appropriately, too. Jim is also convinced that he used the word "done" accurately twice today. Clearly, a video would be good at this point. :) We'll work on delivering.

In the meantime, Liam's new past times include shopping for snacks in the kitchen. He had a Target bag he was fishing in for awhile, which has now been replaced with a bin. Said bin is also hidden now, save for approved snack times. What treasures lie within the bin, you might ask? Multiple forms of dried fruit, at the emperor's  request, yogurt melts, apple sauce in the pouch, other pouch smoothie food, graham crackers, etc.... Dried fruit is his favorite...the more expensive, the better!

This Weekend

The weather and other obligations kept us in this weekend. Between the tantrums (mostly Jim!) and the laughs (all-around), Liam managed to get some work done.

Here, you can see Liam expressing the angst of the tortured artist confronting the blank page.

And, to work off that angst, Liam decided to engage in some hard work around the house. 

The New Technological Babysitter

As Liam is the lucky son to two "thirty-something" parents (turns out, youth has its advantages in parenting), sometimes it becomes necessary to rely upon technology to give everyone a much-needed break. The result, a new fan of the fun pop group, OK GO (whom we had the good fortune of seeing live at a This American Life taping in 2003). Liam's favorite video is here...as highly educated parents, it's important for us to be able to justify the time spent watching this video over and over and over and...well, you get the point. As it features a Rube Goldberg machine, it's educational, right? He's learning so much about cause and effect, appropriate for a toddler of his stature.

Here is the video:

And, here's video of our little "vid-iot" enjoying the music...

And, some stills...

Labor Day Field Trip

What better way to celebrate the work of the unions than by visiting the Zoo! Um...well, that's what we thought today. The weather was perfect. The animals were out and about, performing for the crowd. And, Liam and his parents all had a great time.

 Ready to go, 'rents!

 Hippos, sighted!

 Butterfly!!!

Flutter By!!!

End of August

Liam celebrated the end of August by "path-ing" around the house pushing any variety of object, including an empty plastic bin that used to house his toys, his favorite firetruck (made out of recycled materials...a birthday gift from his dear friend, Jasper), and quacking duck (a birthday gift from his dear aunt Meg). More photos for September will hopefully follow!

Festival of Nations

So, Liam enjoyed some international experiences through food, music, dance, and shopping at the Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park this past weekend. He was lucky enough to be accompanied by both Mia and Emily, dear friends of his and ours. We had a great time, even if it was miserably hot, and Liam rewarded all of us with many hugs and laughs.

Super Liam

So, Liam has always known exactly what he's wanted and isn't shy about making it known. In this instance, we were at Old Navy looking at toddler clothing, and this PJ set caught his eye. No question about it, he had to have these. And, if he's upset around bedtime, once he puts these PJ's on, he's fine. Ah, the power of a symbol, bright colors, and a hero...

And, here's Liam's best impression of Sonic Hedgehog...