Jonathan Day

Every night for the past week Liam has been trying to stay up to midnight.  We have tried almost every thing to get him to sleep earlier, but he fights it.  Once he gets to sleep by midnight though he usually sleeps until 8 or 9 in the morning, with the exception of a 3 or 4 in the morning diaper change and refueling with formula.

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Liam’s left hand still appears to be dominant.  He prefers picking up cheerios and toys and playing high five with his left hand.  We measured him a couple of weeks ago at 29.5 inches and this morning he weighed in at about 28 pounds.  That makes him in the 95th percentile for height and weight.

It’s officially the end of the semester for me!  Yesterday, I finished grading the final exams for European Integration.  This week I have to finish polishing up one more chapter of my dissertation and then it should be ready to go out to the rest of my committee next week.  The dissertation is now over 200 pages and counting.   I also let the department administrator know that I am ready to defend anytime between June 21 and July 9, so now a date needs to be set where all my committee members can be present.

A few weeks ago, Jess and I saw that we had successfully taught Liam how to clap (http://jonathanday.org/blog/2010/04/updates-on-liam/).  But we learned a couple of days ago that we have taught our son to associate clapping with the word “clap”.  Liam claps when Jess or I say “clap, clap, clap”.  It is the coolest thing!  He is so smart!  We are going to take some video of it.  And tonight, Liam has successfully pulled himself from laying on his stomach to a stand position.  He used the ottoman to do it.  What motivated him to use this newly developed skill was the laptop that I had placed on the ottoman.  He loves laptops!   A few days ago, Liam has also developed the skill of feeding himself.  I put him in the swing and he feeds himself the bottle.  If the bottle is too horizontal for him to get milk, he will tilt the bottle up.  He played a game with it by turning the bottle upside down.  When I started walking over to fix it for him, he turned it right side up and starting drinking again all in a split second.  Liam also likes to play the “high five” game.  He has been slapping things with his left hand, so I have been giving him high fives a few times in a row to his left hand and then a few times to his right hand as I say “high five”.  He will then start laughing.  Also, Liam’s top two teeth and bottom two teeth are extending more and more.  And a few days ago, he decided to grate them together.

Yesterday, I had a very important meeting with my adviser.  It was a “what is the big picture of your dissertation?” meeting.   I prayed beforehand that God would give me wisdom and help my adviser and I to figure out how to tie this dissertation with a nice bow.  It was a complete success!  Praise God!  Now I have about four days (maybe a few days more if I need) to wrap this dissertation in that nice bow so I can give it to the rest of my dissertation committee.   So its back to more praying and more working!

Liam knows how to pose

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Liam, show us a general smile:
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Liam, show us a funny face:

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Liam, show us an excited face:

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Liam, show us your version of Blue Steel:

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Liam, mimic daddy driving the car:

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Liam, act like you are trying to catch a raindrop on your tongue:

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Liam, act like you are having a bad day and you want people to just go away.

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Liam, show us your “I have a secret” look:

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Finally, Liam, show us toga man:

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