Here's a long video of Liam playing the guitar. The second song is a version of Twinkle, Twinkle as sung by his ECFE teacher (who plays guitar in class). You can hear that version here.
So yeah, the kid likes guitar. Also, we're pretty up-front with our children about death.
---
For those of you in the Twin Cities metro, the Riverview Theatre is showing Vegucated this coming Monday at 7pm. I haven't seen it, but it looks interesting. Anyway, more info is here.
---
Speaking of the Riverview Theatre, Liam went to his first movie back in September. He, Anna and I went to the new Winnie the Pooh flick. It was fun and he did pretty great.
I wasn't kidding about Annie. At any given point in our house you can hear a song from the movie coming from one of my kids' mouths. Liam hardly watches the movie, but he knows the songs because Anna sings them all the time. Here he is singing the medley Anna and I sang for her talent show.
Jen (my wife) had this great idea last fall. She thought that the kids would be playing less outside once the snow started flying, so she bought a trampoline. The kids love it. Their mom is super smart.
So here are a couple videos involving the trampoline. The first is Anna doing a routine that she and Jen worked out. The music is from Yo Gabba Gabba, here.
I know this video pretty dark, but you get the gist.
And here's a video of them flipping over the safety bar. Isn't it great how kids do that? Take something that's meant to make things safer and use it to make it more dangerous?
This flipping business was Liam's idea. I just looked over one day and he was flipping over the bar. I, of course, encouraged more flipping.
It seems like it's been a while since I've posted a video of the kids. Here you go.
In it, they talk about our upcoming trip to North Dakota to celebrate their youngest cousin's first birthday. Then they sing. Then we talk about the gash in Liam's lip, which he got when he fell down at an indoor playground. I didn't see it happen, but I assume his upper teeth cut into his lower lip. There was blood everywhere. He was playing again about 20 minutes later.
Liam thought that since I was taking photos of him, he should get a blanket out and lay down on it. Then he asked me to take photos of him lying on the blanket. I obliged.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the squirrel I brought in to the rehabilitation center is going to be released this Thursday. Possibly photos and/or video to come.
Some videos from a few weeks ago (2 in 1, because they're so short). I have some from months ago that I never posted. I may at some future date. But for now, here you go.
Well, 36 people answered the question of why they are or aren't vegan. That's a pretty good turnout. Thank you to all who answered.
To be honest, I was hoping for more, but the responses I did get were all civil and mostly thoughtful, which just goes to show you that vegans and non-vegans can coexist in an online public place without jumping down each others' throats.
We have honest differences, to be sure. And those differences do matter (indeed, they're a matter of life and death). But the point is that we can and do discuss these differences with each other without resorting to name-calling and/or pie-throwing. I think the hardest part of starting a civil conversation about veganism is convincing both sides that it's a conversation worth having civilly (which can include speaking openly and honestly and not stifling our ideas simply because someone's sensibilities might be offended).
Anyway, a pat on all your backs.
Now on to the winners!
(The new camera does widescreen and I haven't figured out yet how to embed that correctly, so I suggest just clicking on the video and viewing it on the YouTube page.)
So that's what eight minutes of my day looks like. If you felt rushed, confused and pulled in different directions while watching it, then you know what my days are like. Let's just say I appreciate concurrent naps.
A note on the video, we had picked names (two of the three, to be exact) one time before what you see in this video, but the camera wasn't recording when I thought it was (it's a new camera that I'm not used to, as is evident by the sound being muffled now and then when I put my finger over the microphone area). So I decided to do it all over again. The same person was picked first both times! Crazy.
And toward the end of the video I give my reason for being vegan. To elaborate, I'm vegan because I don't need animal products to live a long, happy and healthy life. Since I don't need these products, I'm presented with a choice of whether or not I should continue to consume them. I can find no good argument to cause suffering and death when that suffering and death is not necessary ... so I choose veganism.
I'm vegan because animals are sentient beings who should be extended the basic right to not be treated as things; as property. The property status that we place upon animals is what allows we humans to cause the aforementioned suffering and death for reasons such as tradition, convenience and pleasure (not necessity).
Simply and more concisely, I'm vegan because I agree with the majority of humans that it is wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death on another sentient being.
For a great introduction to this view visit this page and spend a few minutes reading the pamphlet.
OK! Well thanks again to everyone who answered the question. And to the three who won, Alafair, Ashlee and PL&V, just click on the "email" link on my profile page and send me your address. Then wait patiently for the goodies.
And thanks again Go Max Go Foods for donating the candy bars! You're the best.
Liam's almost a year old! Here he is with his big sister.
Now that he has, for the most part, stopped pulling Anna's hair, they tumble around a lot more. Monkey piles are now regular occurrences in the Piggy household.
So yeah, this laughter blows his previous laughter out of the water (another thing better about this video is that he doesn't spit up at the end of it).
He doesn't do it in this video, but he's actually started to initiate peekaboo now. It's great.
This video was taken a couple weeks ago. I've been lazy. He's crawling a lot better and faster now.
Also, after he started to crawl he learned to roll from his back to his front. Most kids learn that before crawling. Anyway, now whenever we lay him down in his crib he immediately (even if he's already asleep!) rolls over and (if he's sleeping) wakes himself up. So we have to (gently, I assure you) hold him down for a few seconds (or sometimes minutes) until he goes limp. It would be funny if it wasn't so frustrating.
OK, it's still funny.
I just strapped him into his car seat for his afternoon nap. They usually last twice as long that way.
Here's the second half of that video I posted last week. Anna stole the spotlight from Liam.
Warning, the first few seconds are extremely loud. Anna yelled some Klingon (which is what her made-up words sound like to me) into the webcam and (even though I turned the audio down quite a bit when editing the movie) it's still ear-splitting. Especially if you're wearing headphones.
"Rug words" has no meaning. She just said the first thing she saw. What kind of word is it? Well there's a rug, so it's a rug word. She does the same thing when I ask her what she dreamed about or what one of her dolls is named. I like that dolls are named pillow. It's fun.
Oh, and part of this video is missing. It's over to the left there on the sidebar. Check it out.
They just keep getting better, folks. But this might be the last one of Liam in the jumper, since we just got him a walker. And the boy wants to constantly walk. So ... maybe a "Video of Liam in the Walker" tag will be warranted.
Anna kept talking for about 6 more minutes. I'll edit that and get it up soon.
He's also playing the bongos daily. Here's his first time.
I used to play drums in high school and never got really good because I was so easily distracted (usually by books and magazines ... but actually by TV). So when I watch this video I laugh. And of course, before I turned the camera on he was banging away.
Check this out. Liam's basically running in his jumper.
It's bordering on dangerous. If he gets any more distance we may have to take the jumper down. Or probably move things out of the way to give him more space to run. Because man, he loves it. You wouldn't know it from watching, but he was sick yesterday (when the video was taken). Snot pouring out of his nose and all that sort of stuff. But put that kid in his jumper and it doesn't matter. He's happy as a pig in mud.
By the way, the song is Cake's version of Mahna Mahna with audio tweaking by yours truly. It will be stuck in your head for the remainder of the day. You're welcome.
You can't say you weren't warned. Here's day two of Liam in the jumper:
He was jumping for at least 20 minutes before this video was taken, and for about 20 minutes after.
You could say he's taken a shine to it.
Perhaps coincidentally, but hopefully not, he slept better last night than he has in months. 8:30 to 7:00 with only one wake up at 3:00. Needless to say, he's been in the jumper a lot today.
Also, I swear we're not getting paid by Zappos. (Note to Zappos, I'll put your logo in the background of every video I do if you'll give me fifty dollars per video ... just sayin'.) All joking aside though (I'm serious, Zappos), it's a pretty sweet website for ordering shoes. Free shipping. Free returns. You can narrow your search to look for only vegan shoes.
I put Liam in the jumper for the first time today. He liked it. He's been in a few times since I took this video and he has already learned how to really jump.
The title of this video is "Jumper 1" because I know I'll be posting more of him in this thing. In fact, it will probably deserve its own label.
Anna and I watched this video shortly after I shot it and she said, "I say it for him because he can't talk. He can't say, 'My name is Liam,' so I say it for him."
Here's a video I took a few days ago of Liam cooing and laughing at me.
There's a surprise at the end. It's sort of gross.
So there you go. Eww.
Oh, I just looked at a suggested video and this kid has the same chair that Liam does. Cosmic...
Holy crap, I just did a search for "Liam Laughing" and all of a sudden I feel like a loving parent in a sea of loving parents ... which oddly makes me feel like a tool. I mean, look at this kid:
Adorable!
And this one:
I mean, come on!
Well, I guess I'm just happy to be able to contribute to the sea of cute babies and laughter.
Liam belly laughed last night for the first time. I didn't get to hear it, but Mrs. Piggy tells me it was adorable. So...
Expect more laughing babies, dear reader. Expect more laughing babies.
