6 years

Wow, am I late on this.  I blame summer and the fact that with 3 kids at home-only one of whom naps with any regularity-I just don't have much time to sit at a computer.

Liam turned 6 waaaay back in May.  His latest interest is outer space, so he wanted an outer space themed birthday.

 His birthday was on a Monday so he got to open a few presents before school, we brought ice cream sandwiches for his school snack, and he had Fettucine Alfredo for dinner.

Here is his Jupiter cake.  I talked him down from a "whole solar system cake".

This is about the only photo we have from his party.  Let me just say that hosting a party for 10 six-year-olds (8 were boys!) is CR-AZY! I had planned about 10 activities for the 2 hours, but I way overestimated the amount of time each activity would take.  We wisely planned a date for the evening so we could relax after :-).

A few things about Liam:

• At his 6 year Well-Child, Liam weighed 43 lbs and was 48" tall.  This makes him really skinny for his age so he's on a "gain weight diet".
• He LOVES outer space.  He will tell you that he wants to go to visit all the planets when he grows up and he is going to be an engineer that designs a spaceship that can go to Mars.  I learn so much from Liam's intense interests.
• His also LOVES Legos.  He could spend hours building them if we let him, but we have found that time limiting Legos works best for Liam's intense personality.  He is likes us to look up instructions online for sets he doesn't have so that he can build them using pieces he has.  He does an impressive job of problem solving if he doesn't have just the right piece.  He is really a future engineer.
• He is now reading well enough that he will pick out books and read them to himself.  He prefers books about space, science, or Star Wars.
• He finally figured out swimming, and moved up "to the big pool" from the medium pool.
• He can be such a sweet, thoughtful boy who tells me "You look pretty, mom!" or "Thank you for making dinner, but I don't like it." or "You make yummy food!"
• He and Amelie are usually pretty good playmates.  They like to play elaborate pretend games together, usually where Amelie is some princess and Liam is some Star Wars character and they are going to outer space.
• Liam is very good at helping keep Emmett out of trouble-this is no small task.
• He continues to play and love basketball, soccer, and now tennis.
• He got up in sacrament meeting in June and sang "I love to see the temple" all by himself in front of the entire congregation and it didn't even seem to phase him.  He loves music and he is not afraid of getting up in public.
• He still has difficulty making transitions between activities or doing something he doesn't want to do, and he can have big meltdowns over small things, but since we started him on a medication this summer, things have been going much better.

Liam is a child who keeps me humble because I often feel like I have no clue if what I'm doing is the right thing or very wrong, but he has moments where he can be so sweet and tender that I *think* we are doing ok. He definitely marches to his own beat and we often say "that is just Liam", but it is pretty great to watch him grow and develop with his unique personality and interests.  We love this guy!