Little Boys

Adam is 52 weeks old today. Tomorrow is his first birthday. I now have to stop counting every Wednesday as a milestone. Most people stop at around 12 weeks, but I couldn't stop counting. You know you'll miss it... admit it...

Adam was moved into the toddler classroom about 3 weeks earlier than their minimum age, with no complaints from me. He loves them, is constantly engaged, and has even stopped acting out at home (from boredom) in the evenings. They say he does perfectly in there - social, anxious to learn, always smiling. Yesterday when I walked in to drop him off, he raised his hand to the whole room and yelled "hi!" The two adults, Jesse and Kathleen, looked at him and said, "Hi, Adam!" He was thrilled. There is a little girl named Eden in that room who is just as social as Adam, and with just as much mischief behind her eyes. Perfect pair.

"Hi" is his new favorite word - along with "no."

Scenario #1:
Erin: "Adam, no no, don't stand on the couch."
(Adam smiles and does it faster).

Scenario #2:
(Erin takes something away from Adam that he's not supposed to have).
Adam: "No, no no no no!"

Clearly he knows what the word means but it seems he believes he is above the law. We've discovered that timeouts actually work . . . distraction and spankings, however, do not. He has the memory of an elephant and cannot be distracted from anything. And when I spanked him for climbing onto the fireplace every time I turned my back (after literally telling him no 7 or 8 times), he cried for half a second, looked at me, smiled, and immediately did it again. It's a strange feeling being infuriated by defiance and overwhelmed by cuteness at the same time.

He also likes the word "Uh oh." He'll throw food off his high chair, look at me, look down at it, and say, "uh oh." I'd like to tell him it's not "uh oh," if he did it intentionally, but he likes saying it so much that we all play along. He says it when he falls down sometimes too... if he's not in too much of a hurry.


His new things are bouncing up and down in his crib when I come to get him in the mornings, and he loves to show you his tongue. Adam, where's your nose? nothing. Adam, where are your eyes? nothing. Adam, where's your tongue?

Adam is walking very, very well, but gets in to trouble when he gets going so fast that it's a near run or when he wears his shoes (he needs a little more practice with them since they act like little anchors meant to trip him up).

Over the weekend he earned his first fat lip AND his first black eye, and Shannon says we should just get used to seeing them with the way he barrels through life... no fear, no pain, no consequences. I don't think I'll ever get used to it, but I guess that's what little boys do. That's right, I said "little boy," not baby. *sniffle*

On Friday I picked my mom and sister up at the airport to welcome them back from Rome. Adam wanted down, took two steps, and fell face-first into the baggage claim carousel. He cried, which means it HURT, because he rarely cries when he falls. I scooped him up and blood poured from his mouth, all over him and all over me. I took him into the bathroom and tried to stop the bleeding with wet paper towels, and he screamed at me. Then my mom (Mamie) came in and he wanted her instead because I was being mean. The cut in his top lip from his two sharp bottom teeth was pretty bad, and the swelling started immediately. We gave him Advil periodically throughout the weekend and that seemed to help.

Before the swelling was completely gone, on Sunday he took a dive into the coffee table in the living room and hit his right eye, which is now swollen and black and blue. Monday he came home with a huge scratch on his head. Yesterday he came home with rug burn on his face from where he tried to stand up too fast and fell face-first into the rug. This morning he woke up with a red eye- another eye infection. The first birthday pictures are going to summon images of a miniature Rocky instead of a little Rockstar.

Plus, I finally cut his hair. Yes, no more curls. I'm almost too sad to discuss it. But truthfully it was getting too long and uneven. I think I might be happier about it if I had been pleased with my hair trimming abilities . . . which I am not. It's a work in progress, and if I'm still not happy before his birthday party this Saturday, he may be getting his first professional haircut this week too.

Pre Hair Cut:

Post Hair Cut:

Yes, another eye infection appeared yesterday.

In the next few days I'll post more about his big birthday bash and his 1 year markers.