Happy Birthday Liam

Today our third son celebrates his third birthday.  Liam is the proud owner of the softest, dark blond hair that curls in the heat and smells gorgeous after a shower.  His eyes are blue and always twinkling.  He is a professional procrastinator, a fekin scourge and suffers badly on occasion from selective hearing.  Affection pours out of him by the bucket load.  He loves a hug and a kiss and is very fond of dishing them out too.  He suffers a bit from echo-itis and despite not having a clue what he is saying sometimes, he still likes to inform us that we are “not the boss of him” when he’s getting a scolding.  This is closely followed by us not being allowed to “share his presents” at his birthday party.  He loves a treat and has a real fear that he “will die” if he doesn’t get one.  When he does, he makes it his business to ensure that he can give the same to Conor and Iarla.  Because he has two older brothers, he is quite physical and thinks nothing of administering a thump every now and then.  The lovely, if unfortunate thing about Liam is that he is above average physically.  He looks a lot older than his age and his body acts older too.  He literally falls over his own two feet at times and this can outrage him.  He is the same height as his four and a half year old brother and as tough.  Even though it’s his 6 year old brother he gets into wrestling matches with and unfortunately, comes out the other end a sore loser.  All of this boyishness looks very much out of place on the days he has his nails done.  Much to his daddy’s chagrin Liam is partial to the odd manicure.  Personally I don’t have a problem with it; when a child such as Liam can store that much muck under his fingernails, nail varnish is nothing to get upset about.  Liam is very fond of his grub; some of his favourite foods are pasta, pancakes and apples. Some of his preferred cartoons include Max and Ruby, Lazy Town and Wonder Pets.  He is also very amenable to a bed time story and loves to hear about The Lonely Beast.  He has got himself a fine imagination.  Most mornings he wakes up complaining of the bad dream he had during the night.  The boy has no idea what a bad dream is.  All he knows is it is something he has heard his brothers mention.  His birthday party has been planned for weeks, complete with bouncy castle and guest list.  His “friends” have been borrowed from Screecher Creature’ No. 2’s Montessori group.  He thinks he will never get to school but I reckon he has no idea what is ahead of him and my brave little soldier may turn out to be not so brave after all.   Currently he is doing his damdnest to wear out the word “why?”  closely followed by “coz!”  He is the curious mixture of a night owl and a lark, being the proud, if not so careful owner of a feked up circadian rhythm.  I think he is so afraid he will miss something his body clock is set on “Wake Early Or Miss Out” and he can be up with the birds which follows that at 11am he is like a bag of cats.  A snooze in the afternoon can be delicious, least of all for him, but it could run to three hours which sees the problem happening all over again at bedtime and the following morning.  I had my suspicions of late and indeed they were confirmed since, that he is the main trouble maker when it comes to bed time these past few months.  Liam has graduated into the Big Bed, which he shares with his older brother, Conor.  Bed time used to be a 20 minute affair but now it could be an hour or more due to his penchant for bouncing on the thing, tormenting the two that want to sleep and generally causing ructions.   But there is nothing like his sleepy head peeping round our bedroom door first thing in the morning, telling us that he has had lovely sleeps, it is daytime and now his sleeps are finished.   When it comes to using the facilities, a personal observation would be that Liam has the most accurate aim.  I am told by the tallest person in the house that height has everything to do with it, in that he doesn’t have to aim too far but I don’t concur.  I am just delighted that one of them doesn’t make a mess.  Liam is a bit fond of the odd obscenity.  I used to swear blind, no pun intended, that I didn’t curse until I heard him repeating one of my oft used words, over and over again one day.   He is also quite independent.  Getting them all into the car is no mean feat but Liam likes to do up his own strap which is great and all, except it takes ages as he keeps getting his clothes caught in the buckle and refusing assistance.  It is just a mighty pity he is not that way inclined at all when it comes to picking up after himself.   Although he does like to help with the hanging out of the washing.  Liam is hardy, cheeky, loveable, tough, stubborn, affectionate, inquisitive and loves a bath.  He is literally happy-out with the exception of a short lived morning mood and then he just barrels at the day with gusto.  Happy birthday, Liamy.  Smell the dead men!