Back at home, and how time flies

Where has the time gone?  I was going to post this a month ago.  Back at home after our trip, Robin was very eager to talk about Disney World.  A lot.  The day after we returned home, Robin announced that he wanted to make a map of where Mickey lives, so we did just that.  Here is Robin, I mean Mickey, talking about it.

Liam made a big step after we got home.  It was time to move him into his big boy carseat.

We could've done it before Disney, but we determined that his infant seat was easier to travel with (hoo boy, it's lighter) so we saved the transition until after we got home.  His final time sitting in the old seat.

Forward facing now!  He wasn't too sure about it for a while.  It was naptime when we finished this up, so he definitely wasn't sure of it on this day (the smile was tickled out of him, but he fussed a lot otherwise.)  After a few car rides, though, he got used to it and would probably protest if we spun him around again.  And the biggest bonus is that my passenger seat has leg room again!

Yeah, I don't think Dean will be able to ride between the boys anymore, not even for short rides

Robin made an elephant out of play dough

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I posted the video a month ago, but here's a still shot of one of Liam's first forays across the open floor

Hi!  (He likes to smile for the camera now)

A couple random photos that Robin took again

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Liam got his first real haircut at the end of July.

This was much sooner than Robin got his (at something like 20 months), but hey, I had the clippers out...

We bought a bike trailer at the end of July, so now I (or Dean) can tow Liam and let Robin ride much faster than when we had to walk with Liam in a stroller

It took a little getting used to, but now it's a nice way to ride around.

Of course, once Target finally had the trailer in stock, they were out of infant helmets.  It took a few weeks before we finally got one for Liam.  He didn't seem to mind.

Robin, of course, wasn't content with riding beside.  He wanted a ride in the trailer too.  (I think Liam liked it better when he had the trailer to himself)

I haven't reported much on kiddo progress that isn't documented on camera, so I'll mention a few things here.  Firstly, Liam is talking!  He says "Mama" and "Dada" of course, and sometimes he refers to me as "MoMEEE!" instead of "Mama."  I find it amusing that I've never referred to myself as such to him, yet he came up with Mommy on his own.  I may be known by a different name to each kid.  Go figure.  Liam also says "uh oh," "ball," "hi," and "bye" distinctly.  He also seems to say "this" and "that" while pointing, and even says something that sounds like a slurred "do you see it?" while pointing at things.  In fact, he does a lot of things that sound like slurred-together complete phrases.  We respond as though he said what it sounds like, though I'm not sure if that is his full intent or not.  I like to imagine that he's already trying to use complete sentences though!

In less happy news, I believe that Liam probably has asthma.  He started coughing a lot in the last two months, and I started to realize that it was worst on days that I was having asthma problems due to wildfire haze in the air.  We took him to see our allergy and asthma center, and he's too young to really diagnose yet, but they gave him albuterol and it helped.  They prescribed some for home too, and we've used it a good deal, first to clear up his lungs during that episode, and then with every cold since.  He may end up on a daily med to keep him level.  We don't know yet, but I'm starting to suspect that it'll happen.

I could add more things, but I'm ready for bed.  I'll just give more updates with the next post.  Enjoy!

Where Mickey Lives, Day 6: Hollywood Studios BY OURSELVES!

Dean and I got a day to ourselves at the end of our Mickey vacation!  We hadn't expected it to be this way, but in the end nobody else wanted to go to Hollywood Studios.  Kathy and Del decided to hit up Epcot again to finish visiting the countries in the World Showcase, and everybody else decided they wanted at relaxing day at the resort.  So Dean and I went to Hollywood Studios by ourselves.

On a less happy note, it turned out to be good that the boys didn't go to a theme park on this day, because Robin got really sick.  Instead of relaxing and playing at the pool and playground, they hung out in the unit and watched TV while Robin slept, napped, and moped around on the floor in the makeshift bed his Grammy made for him under the desk.  Poor little guy.  Even if we'd planned to take him somewhere, we would've changed our plans--he was that sick, that we'd even have given up on an expensive theme park.  On an even less happy note, the rest of us got it, too.  That was no surprise, considering we were all sharing water bottles all week.  We can't even blame Robin's illness on  anything in particular, considering that we were literally around thousands of people every day.  Robin managed to bounce back after two days, but the rest of us took longer.  Doesn't that just figure?

We explored a playground Robin would have loved.  It's based on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and is filled with giant grass and items "lost" in the yard.

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Hollywood Studios' replicas of the sidewalk outside the Chinese Theatre

Hollywood Studios is kind of Disney's answer to the Universal Studios theme parks.  It's more film-oriented, with rides/shows highlighting Disney films.  It's also FULL of merchandising and plugs for Disney films.  It's not a park the boys would have enjoyed much of.  There were a few good things for kids, like the playground above, the Toy Story ride, and a few abbreviated versions of kids' movies, but most of the things, like the tour through old movie mock-ups and the "backlot" tour would've been boring for them.  It's just as well nobody else really wanted to join us for this park.

After viewing the movie ride and a version of The Little Mermaid, Dean and I went over to their thrill rides.  This is us before the Tower of Terror ride, where we took a ride in a pretend elevator at an old, spooky hotel, which then dropped out from under us.  It actually went up and down several times, which was a neat touch and variation from the majority of "drop you" rides.

The photo we bought of Tower of Terror

We also rode the Rock 'N Roller Coaster, starring Aerosmith.  The premise was that we were in a car, following the band to a gig, driving wildly through the streets.  It was actually way too short, and the best part was the first few seconds, because unlike a traditional roller coaster that slowly draws you up a hill, they shot us out full tilt from the get-go.

A Star Wars ride followed.  Darth Vadar chased us!

Look behind you!!!!!

Here was the biggest spectacle in the "backlot tour"

Uh oh...

On the 3-D Toy Story Ride

Look!  I beat Dean!

We watched a tribute to Walt Disney, and then a stunt show that replicated parts of Indiana Jones

We also saw a muppet show and a special on animation--though the last was really just a giant plug for Disney movies.  There wasn't anything educational at all.  Ppbth.

Now I'm wearing the giant hat

This was the smallest park, and so we got the most done.  We basically saw everything we would have liked except for their evening fireworks/laser show, but we just didn't want to stick around that long considering we had to leave the next day, and we'd just found out we had a sick little boy at home.  So back we went to pack and nurse our sick child through the night.

After Robin was in bed, Liam was crawling around our room while I packed up a little more.  He found an apple I'd put on an end table and promptly starting taking bites out of it.  I've never seen him eat so much apple in his short life--and of course, I couldn't take it away from him, it made him so happy!  So he stayed up quite a bit later, chowing down on his newly-scavenged food.

The next morning, I snapped a few belated photos of the resort before departing.  (How's that for a shower?!)

Our flight didn't leave for several hours after checkout, so we spent some time enjoying the public amenities of the resort

They had a giant chess board outside.  Liam is the dark knight!

Now he's the white king!

I began a game against my dad

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Then finished it against Dean.  (Dad had to go fill up the rental with gas.)  I won too, did I mention that?  It was so hot out though, that there was very little savoring the experience.

After that it was time for lunch and then back to the airport.  Thus ended our Mickey vacation.  *sniff*  We're already plotting for the next one (and Robin requests that we go at least once a week!)

Where Mickey Lives, Day 5: Epcot!

The next--and final, for the boys--day of our Mickey vacation took us to Epcot

Epcot didn't have as much to occupy young kids, so they had to be distracted a little more often.  We began our  day by trading off and going on Mission: Space, where we got to fly a ship to Mars

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We actually didn't get too many pictures.  We went on the Spaceship Earth ride (which was inside the giant, landmark sphere) and Liam fell fast asleep in my arms.  I carried him around for a while, and onto the Seas with Nemo ride, where he woke up.  We looked around the aquarium a little after that.

Then Robin and I got swallowed by a shark.  No biggie.

Robin also wrestled a hammerhead.

Helping Liam walk around

After lunch we went on a ride that toured Epcot's experimental agricultural area.  They had some neat plants and interesting hydroponic ways to grow them.  I want a tomato tree now.

And then we went to Mexico!  Well, Epcot's Mexico in the World Showcase

I'd read that Epcot had these "Kidcot Fun Stops," where representatives of the different countries led crafts or told stories or something to engage children in the cultures represented in the World Showcase.  I thought that sounded like a good thing for Robin, but it wasn't anything like I'd imagined.  All we saw was a station to color an Epcot teddy bear which you could then add country stamps to.  It was the same thing, or even more reduced, at all the countries we stopped at.  Worse, most of them, like this one here in Mexico, were overrun by teenagers and even adults who paid no heed to the fact that these activities were designed for children.  The people at the table here didn't make any effort to make space when Robin, an actual child, showed up.

Aren't gnomes supposed to be small??!!  I don't think I want to go to the real Norway

We toured through some other countries, then stopped in Italy for dinner.  Robin was restless so he and I went for a walk, and we got to see the beginning of their fireworks show.  We were close, though, and Robin didn't like it.  In fact, he wanted to be held and didn't want to look at it, so we went back in, just in time for our pizza and pasta to arrive. 

Yum!

The Epcot ball, lit up at night

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This was a long night at the end of a string of long nights.  Robin was absolutely pooped and unrousable, even to get ready for bed.  Good night, son!