Random Lijah notes.....

Lijah has learned that the cats like it when he pulls strings and ribbon so he has been obsessed with getting the cats to play with him lately. Recently he has started kneeling on the floor to pick up the ribbon with his mouts and then pull it across the floor.

Lijah also loves being on the front porch. Too bad winter is coming and he won't be able to hang out there too much longer. Here's some funny views of Lijah looking in at me from the porch (don't worry, I don't lock him out there as it appears...)

The other day I was taking some pictures of Lijah and he wanted to bounce on my lap. Well, my lap was unavailable since I had my camera so Lijah got creative. He went and pulled out this pillow, plopped it down, and proceeded to bounce on it like it was my lap. It made for some good pictures at least.....

Another recent favorite is 'breaking' the chair Lijah got from his Aunt Mary in Duluth. Luckily it snapps back together easily. Notice the cute bed hair on this lovely morning!

More recent and old pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby/

Favorites and not so favorites

Lijah's 10 current favorites:
1. Giving kisses (big wet ones)
2. Making a dog sound when he sees a cat
3. Walking to the neighbors house to see if her cat is outside
4. Putting finger puppets on his fingers
5. Putting his legs in his pants and his arms in his shirt
6. Walking in circles and falling down
7. Saying "what is it"
8. Sticking his finger in daddy's ear
9. Driving in his new car
10. Eating cherry tomatos from the garden

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Lijah's dislikes (I think there are only 4 so far.....):
1. Not being able to touch the new entertainment center
2. Mommy leaving the room
3. Wearing socks
4. Having to be quiet and somewhat still during church

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Lijah's new car:

Mad Lijah:

Plums

Saturday Lijah and I went grocery shopping and lollygagging at Super Target. We only get to lollygag when Jason isn't with us so we spent about 2 hours wandering about. By the time we got to the grocery store side, Lijah had had about enough of Super Target and was starting to fuss, ok scream, a bit. He wanted everything I put in the cart so finally I gave in and gave him the bag of plums I got for him to eat later. I turned around and was looking at something else for a minute, and I guess he decided he wanted to eat them NOW. When I turned back around he had one in each fist and was going back and forth chomping bites out of each of them. By the time we left his shirt was sopping wet from plum juice and he was sticky all over. But he stopped fussing!

*And, no, I didn't just steal those two. I got two more so the lady at the register could just ring those up twice.

Tyler Vegetable Garden

One of Lijah's new favorite things to do outside is stand by the garden and either play with the stick the peas are growing up or reaching down and plucking the leaves off of the radishes and turnips. I cannot wait until we actually get to eat fresh food from the garden!

He has become pretty fond of playing with the sticks in the yard and also likes to follow the ants and try to squish them (luckily I am able to rescue the ants before he can get to them.

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On another note.....Lijah is walking 95% of the time while indoors and is getting pretty good at walking around on the sidewalk and grass in the yard.

Trip to Duluth

Last weekend (June 22-24th) we were able to go up to Duluth to visit Jason's Aunt Mary and her husband Bruce. They were nice enough to let us stay in their house while we were there - Lijah had his own bedroom and we had our own bathroom - it was great! On Friday we went on a little tour of Mary's business and then barbequed and hung out in the backyard. Jason got to see his cousin Annette and her family, while Lijah got to play with Annette's daughter Natalia. On Saturday we went downtown to see a few of the touristy sights. The HOG's were in town so motorcycles were humming everywhere we went:

We went to the Maritime Museum then strolled along the lakewalk down to the Great Lakes Aquarium where we were able to touch some really boney sturgeons. We were so hungry and thirsty and tired when we got to the aquarium and were very relieved to see that the map said that they had a big cafe upstairs. After making our way through the second floor we finally found the 'cafe', which consisted of a soda machine and a vending machine, neither of which worked, and some tables (which were swarming with fruit flies). Luckily Mary packed us some grapes and grape juice to tide us over.

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After lunch at the Chinese Buffet next to Mary's business we went swimming at the beach on Pike Lake. It was Lijah's first time in a lake and he really enjoyed it! Jason watched us from the shore and put his feet in, but he's not much of a swimmer. Then we went to a bonfire at Jason's Aunt Darlene's house where we were able to eat alot of good food and see Jason's dad.

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On Sunday we attended church in the Duluth Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We got lost on the way there (mapquest conveniently left out one turn so we were searching for Upham Road when we really needed Pecan Street!), but we made it in just in time for the Sacrament portion of the meeting. The Duluth Ward was very different than our own Ward. It is very quiet, and a much older population than our Ward. I used to think that the noisyness of our Ward made it hard to focus, but I realize now that it is much harder to focus when every peep your child makes stirs the whole congregation. In the 2nd and 3rd hour Lijah just was not having it - he wanted to be playing! I finally left and played with Lijah in the hall until Jason heard us out there from the meeting he was in suggested that maybe we should just go. It was alot more stressful than usual, but I am glad we made it. It could have been easy to just skip church since we were out of town.

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After lunch at Mary's we headed home. Lijah decided he didn't want to sleep and he definately didn't want me sitting in the front seat. So I got to cram in the backseat the whole way home to keep him from freaking out.

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But overall, the weekend was great and very relaxing. It was nice to get away from the cities for a little bit and see some family that we don't get to see very often. We stopped by Grandma Cherie's on the way home and had another barbeque and Lijah got to swim even more with his cousin Alyssa!

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Baby Barbeque

On Saturday (the 16th) we had a "Baby Barbecue" for Lijah's birthday. Most of our friends and family were able to make it and it seemed like everyone had a great time. I think the kids had the best time since they spent the whole day playing in the sprinkler.

The highlight of Lijah's day was having free reign over his own cupcake. I started out with a grand plan of making a cake in the shape of a cat's face, but eventually it got whittled down to a cupcake with a cat face scribbled on it with icing. But Lijah didn't mind - it was the best thing he'd had since sliced bread!

Here are a few photos of him being messy, but not too messy, with his cupcake. Good thing the sprinkler was near by to clean him up when he was done!

Drum roll please.........

When Jason picked me up last night he said he had some good news. Hmmm...what could it be? Did my books arrive for my next class? Did my relacement phone come in the mail? Did we win the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepsstakes?

No, none of that.....Lijah can walk! Before Jason left to pick me up from work last night Lijah took a few steps, and at the point he usually falls down (after 3 steps) he paused, and then just kept going. Now when he falls after a good stretch of walking he looks up, smiles, and claps for himself.

On another note, Lijah refuses to wear a bib anymore. When I put it on him he just pulls it and pulls it until he rips it off. I have a few that attach pretty securely so when he tries this stunt with those he looks like he is holding a noose above his neck. We'll just have to switch to shirtless meals from now on.....

Lijah's turning one!

I can't believe how much Lijah has changed over the past year. It's hard to believe that this little guy fit inside my tummy just a year ago! Here's a little photo montage from June 06-May07.

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As always, you can find more at www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby

Cute Lijah/Smooshed Lijah

Cute Lijah.....



Smooshed Lijah.....

Tarzan.....

A few weeks ago Lijah was hanging out with Jason while I was in the kitchen. I came in the room and Lijah had somehow slipped his arm up and out of his turtleneck. Needless to say, he wasn't very happy about his fashion choice.
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Tyler Garden

Since the last year has been pretty much all baby photos I thought I would throw Lijah in the sling and go get some nature shots in my backyard. I learned that it is not quite as easy trying to get shots up close and down on the ground with a baby on my hip who decided that he wanted to grab everything I was trying to capture. Next time I think I'll try the baby backpack..... But at least I got a few shots.



More are posted at www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby

A few new things.....

Lijah has been spending alot of time with mom out in the backyard while she tried to tame her wild perennial gardens. He enjoys hanging out in his playpen with all of his toys, especially his new chainsaw toy Jason found at the thrift store last week (which is ONLY for cutting down trees, not for hurting people!). Luckily Jasons soon-to-be aunt Celya is an expert gardener and has come over the past few weeks to teach me how to get control of the overgrown madness.

So far, Lijah says dadada, mamamama, and cat consistently. Yesterday I showed him pictures of a dog next to his dog toy and said dog a bunch of times. I saw it click and then he said dog. Other things he has learned to do: wave bye-bye and hello, scrunch his nose up like he is sniffing, roll a ball back when we roll it to him, and crawl up the stairs. I was getting ready one morning while Lijah played with the cats by the front door. I went over to play with him and found him halfway up the stairs! He was on his knees with his arms flailing over his head. Good thing I got there when I did!

He had all 4 front teeth pretty much come in at once, so we had a few rough nights. But he seems happy with his new mouth full of pearly choppers!

Lijah loves swinging!

Instead of just taking a walk by the park as we usually do, we decided to go play in the park for the first time.

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The only thing Lijah is ready for is the swing at this point, but he sure loves it so far!

I'm standing! On my own!

Lijah's teeth are coming in ever so slooooowly - and taking their sweet time. He still only has two, but I think I feel a bump up on the top so maybe we have another one appearing.....poor little Lijah.

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Yesterday Lijah started practicing standing on his own. He stands up against the couch and then lets his hands go and balances for awhile before grabbing the couch again. I can't wait for him to start running around, but that means he'll be getting into even more messes!

Peek a boo!

Lijah's new favorite thing to do is stand at the door and look out the window. It is especially fun for him when the cats are out on the porch, or when cars drive by out on the street.

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Speaking of cats.....over the past week Lijah has started to say "kitty cat" when he sees either of the cats. But it actually sounds more like "kee kaa".....

Car accident and playtime.....

3/13/07 - Lijah was in his first car accident..... We were driving home from work on Johnson crossing Lowry. We were trying to pass all the stopped cars and a car turning from the other direction didn't see us coming (or thought they could sneak through) and they hit us. Lijah cried, but as soon as I took him out of his car seat he wanted to play again.

Later that night Astrid came over to play, with her mom of course.....



They are at an age where they will not sit still for a picture together anymore, so we got them together standing at the coffee table.

Sleepy Lijah

Last Saturday we did a photo shoot of little Charlie for the Myers. While Shelly and I were in with Charlie, Jason was talking to David's parents about David's medical history. It was a great time. Lijah, however, thought it would be a good time for a nap!

Jason's pictures

Since we got the new camera Jason has been taking more pictures of Lijah. Here's an especially cute on. Good job Jason!

Cords Cords Cords

Just like his daddy, Lijah loves cords. He liked this one so much he tried to plug himself in. His favorite cord at this point is the 6-prong plug from his keyboard.

Bye Bye Brian!

Jason's cousin Brian left on February 21st for his mission to Uruguay for 2 years. We wanted to snap a shot of Lijah with him before he left since Lijah will be almost 3 years old when he comes back!