Last days in Buffalo

Liam,

It feels so strange to be getting ready to leave Buffalo.  While you weren't born here, it is the city where you grew up.  In this little big city, I watched you grow from a little infant into this amazing boy who now talks and runs and plays.

So, I'm making sure that we have a good run of these last days here, with lots of exploration and wonder for you and your sister.  Here are some of the highlights!

Touch a Truck

These are from the local Touch a Truck event, put on by the Children's Museum.  You definitely didn't let a little rain stop you from enjoying your favorite things in the whole world: trucks!

The Finger Lakes

 These are from a little visit out to the Finger Lakes.  You love the water and even pretended to fish with a stick while we were there!

Hiking!

 We have discovered more and more hikes here in Western New York, but this was one of the best.  I also got to try out wearing both you and your sister and it worked!

Niagara Falls

You were a little intimidated by the powerful rushing water this time around.

Buffalo Zoo

You sure do love the zoo and all the animals there.  You can even name most of them!

 Playgrounds!

I still can't get over how much you've grown.  Watching you climb that plastic grid ladder was a sight to behold!

River Time

 A little time in the river is good for the soul.

 Aquarium of Niagara

We were a little late to visiting this one for the first time, but it didn't stop you from having a great time!

Real Life Treasure Hunt

Weeeeebs!

So, if it hasn't been found yet, we have a real life treasure hunt to experience when you're old enough.

It's called Fenn's Treasure, and it has a fascinating story.  Basically, a wealthy art dealer was diagnosed with cancer.  He thought he was going to die soon and he hid a treasure in the woods and left clues.

As of now, it hasn't been found!  So, there is just millions out there waiting for us!

http://dalneitzel.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenn_treasure

Ways you made me laugh today...

Hi Liam!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted anything.  The truth is that I've been home with you every day for a few months now and I've just been a little caught up in spending time with you!

So, this post is just going to be a chronicle of the times that you've made me laugh and smile in just one day... today.  I feel like this will be a way to sum up just how happy you make me!

1.  When I came into your room to get you this morning, you literally jumped up and down in your crib yelling "Dadda!"

2.  After a moment, you grabbed your diaper and gazed at me with a very concerned look, then said "Oh crash."  That's your way of signaling that you have a dirty diaper.

3.  Downstairs, you drove your little three-wheeled scooter into the wall, turned it to balance precariously on one wheel and yelled in a little high-pitched voice of mock concern:  "Ohhhhh Craaaash!"*

4.  You started spontaneously spinning in circles while some random music was playing.  This is your way of dancing.  It is hilarious.

5.  While we were in your bedroom, you dragged your giant (to you) rocking giraffe up onto your couch to give it a hug and then had a really concerned look on your face while you sat there with it on your lap.

6.  When your mother got home from work, you jumped up beaming with excitement and yelled "Momma!" before running over to her.

7.  You cracked up hysterically during the movie Aladdin while the magic carpet messed around with the monkey.  You don't watch a lot of television, but it's really neat to see you actually reacting to the things that happen on it now instead of just staring blankly!

8.  When we walked to Dunkin Donuts this morning, you stopped in your tracks when the train drove by, pointed at it and yelled "Choo Choo!"

9.  At Dunkin Donuts, you voraciously attacked your assortment of donut holes, shoving whole ones in your mouth and then arduously chewing them.  Loving donuts is kind of a family tradition, so it's nice to see it passed on!

And that's just one day!  It's so hard to imagine life before you, little guy.  I know it was still good, but you have added so much brightness to it that I couldn't resist giving you just a little glimpse into a day in the life...

Love,

Dad

Riding around!

Weebs!

This will seem like a small thing by the time you read it, I suppose.  For all I know now, you'll be driving a car by the time you read this post.

However, for this weekend, it was a big deal to me, so I'm sharing it.

You finally figured out how to properly ride on the scooter that you got for your birthday last year (when you turned one).

It was really fun to see you climb aboard it and just drive around the living room and the whole first floor of the apartment.

I am glad I got to see it, and the pride you obviously felt at doing it!

Stay At Home Dad!

So, I mentioned in the last State of the Weeble Address that I am a stay at home Dad now, but I wanted to put up another post about it here!

Basically, we have reached a point that we can afford to get by on just one income, your Mom's.  I don't know how much things will have changed in the world by the time you read this.  Right now, it's a rare and wonderful thing for any family to not have two incomes, and even stranger still that it is the father who is staying home.

It is absolutely wonderful!  With your older brother, Derek, I had to work a lot of hours and missed so much of his early days.  It is just amazing to be here with you and see the little changes and learning that you go through on a daily basis.  It's only been a week now, but it is already just so wondrous to me.

We're definitely keeping busy on a daily basis.  We go to the YMCA every day, where you get to meet and play with other kids your age in their Child Watch program while I run and then you have lots of fun at the Alaskan Adventure indoor playground.  I'm attaching some pictures of that for you!

You've really taken to loving it when we read books together, too.  Your favorites are your animal books with pictures of animals.  You just learned to say Elephant and Crocodile and pointing to their pictures!

I love you, Liam!

State of the Weeble Address: 18 months

Weeeeebs!  Sorry that this one is a little late, though I suppose it won't be late for you.  So much has happened since you were one year old and I'm going to do my best to make sure that I report it all here!

Where do we live?:


Well, we're still living in Buffalo.  That's no surprise, of course, because we knew that we would be here for two years.  However, the exciting thing is that this will be the last State of the Weeble Address written from Buffalo.  

We have made the decision to move to Springfield, Missouri for your mother to take an amazing opportunity performing Head and Neck Cancer Surgery there.  It looks like an amazing place, with lots of fun outdoor activity for us to explore together, in addition to being a nice-sized city.  Though there are no guarantees that we will be there still at the time you're reading this, I feel pretty confident that you will have memories of the place and growing up there!  We'll see, I guess!


What's Mom doing?:

Mom is still a fellow at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.  As mentioned above, she's made the decision for her to make great use of her new education in Springfield performing Head and Neck Cancer Surgery.  She's got things going very well in Western New York at the moment and has been able to really become a pro at what she's doing.

What's Dad doing?:

Here's another piece of exciting news!  I just became a full-time, stay-at-home dad.  While I am not sure about a lot of things, I know that you're going to have memories of spending a LOT of time with me from here on out.  I have so many ideas about the future and the many adventures that we will share together.

Milestones:

• Walking:  Walking, running, climbing, sitting in a big-boy chair.  You're doing it all now.  You can be a little clumsy and you tend to lead with your head, but you are absolutely fearless.  There is nothing that you're afraid to climb up or down, from stairs to the couches.
• Talking:  You're really beginning to talk now.  The words are a bit choppy, to be honest, but you're really catching onto this whole thing about sounds that come from your mouth being connected to things in the real world.  It's funny, because just a couple months ago, you weren't really doing it.  But then the doctor said you should know fifty words soon and you suddenly caught on and started doing it!  You, apparently, really like a challenge.
• Eating:  No more bottles for you!  You are quite an adventurous eater and seem to be willing to try just about everything. Unfortunately, when you don't like something, it just seems to come right back out of your mouth.  You haven't really figured out how to use normal cups yet, though.  If it's not in a sippy cup, you tend to just dump the liquid within all over yourself.

Nicknames:

Weebs
Weeble
Sir von WeeblyDay (your heroic identity)
Fruitcake is totally retired now.
Sir!


Favorite things:

You still love the Mickey Mouse clubhouse.


"Hooked on a Feeling" has been bumped aside by "Cotton-Eye Joe" by Rednex.  Whenever it comes on, you just start twirling around in circles.  That's how you dance! 

You still love to be tossed in the air, and your Mom has gotten used to it now.

Sneezing is the funniest thing in the world to you.  I'm attaching a video of you laughing hysterically while it happens.

You have the most infectious laugh, which you will hear in the attached video!

Liam and the sneezing!  The funniest situation ever (to your little, growing mind)!

Your first school pictures, from Doodle Bugs.

Exciting Times

Liam,

If you've been reading these in chronological order (and not cheating), then you know that one of the big questions hanging over us to this point has been where we're going to be living.  I know that's probably a funny thought to you.  After all, you've been growing up for who knows how long in the place that we'll end up picking, but as natural as that place probably seems to you, it's a big question on the table for us.

At this point, it's really down to two big contenders.  Either one could end up being the place, though they're very different places.  Here is the basic rundown:

1. Florence, SC.  This is a fancy hospital in a small town in South Carolina, where the weather is beautiful.  If this is the place where you grew up, I imagine that you have lots and lots of great memories of lots of time spent at Myrtle Beach.  You might have even learned how to surf at some point in our adventures.
2. Laconia, NH.  This hospital is located in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.  If this is the place where you grew up, then I bet you have lots of great memories of hiking all up and down the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Like everything in life, there are positives and negatives to both decisions.  It's really high on my mind right now because we're going to New Hampshire tomorrow to interview for the job there.  I'm sure that you know this about me by now, but I grew up on the border of New Hampshire.  Even if we don't end up moving there, it is going to be really fun to show you and your mom all of the fun and incredible places that were a part of my childhood there.

I can't wait to find out where you're going to grow up!

Love,

Dad