Breakfast Date

Since Shannon is taking a long guys' weekend at Caddo Lake, when Adam woke up this morning I decided that we would go to IHOP instead of the typical toast-and-banana-breakfast that he usually gets.

Adam is fun to take places - he's usually pretty happy, and he rarely cries... the only thing you have to watch out for is the sudden and unexpected yells of excitement that make people turn their heads.

I ordered the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity (eggs over medium, because Adam hates scrambled eggs and it's a waste of time to make them... so I got what I wanted and I shared my bacon and pancakes). Adam's breakfast consisted primarily of biscuits and bacon . . . until the pancakes came out. I originally ordered the double blueberry, but when I cut into them they weren't done in the middle. So I sent them back and said just to give us the "baby cakes" instead. That was probably my best decision of the day.

Breakfast away from the house was new... he was getting his bearings.

waiting.

Enjoying his breakfast so far...

What's this? Bacon, you say?

Giving it a try...

BACON?!

 and THEN... the pancakes appeared. Adam knew exactly what they were and while she placed it pretty far out of his reach, but he groaned and reached until I pulled it a little closer. Once within reach, he did the rest.

YUM.

YUM YUM.

His "happiness" factor went from a 7 to a 10 after two bites of pancakes.

Notice he's double fisting the pancakes here.

I eventually had to save him from himself after he devoured two whole pancakes within 3 minutes. He was full, but didn't want to give up. As consolation, I gave him a sip of my sweet iced tea...

Mom's "juice"

WHOA... this stuff is GOOD.

Probably the best breakfast date I've had in a long time. He was so well behaved with just me there, I would definitely make it a tradition.

On a Roll

Adam is on a roll today! When I picked him up from school I loved hearing the stories about him and his new phrases.

23. "I did it!!"
24. "Got ya!"

Apparently Adam got to the top of the slide and yelled excitedly, "I did it!" He even threw in a little "I did it" dance. Then when playing chase he would run up and grab Tiffany's leg and say "got ya!"

He had a happy day - he woke up and extra people were in the house, so he showed Jason and Dalton all of his toys and waved goodbye to them and Dad as they left for their guys' weekend, then got to go to school and play with his new friend, and when he came home he was just as happy as when I had dropped him off. He scarfed down one of his favorite's for dinner - Tuna Helper - and then we went and saw Mamie and Grandpa.

Professor Chaos decided his room needed rearranging:

Use your Words

I think we're averaging a new word every 2 days with Adam, and he's getting pretty good. He says "juice" and "shoes" quite often -- however, when he says "juice" he really wants juice... when he says "shoes," he doesn't want to wear the shoes, he's just found them in the house.

These are my toys, right? I found them next to the dog bed.

This is the good life.

Adam's words (continued from a previous post)...

19. Adam (I forgot to add this one last time)
20. HOT!
21. Ball
22. Stick

This morning Adam played peek-a-boo with his blanket, except when he peeked out of his blanket he said "Adam!" instead of "Boo!"

He has two more "almost" words that I can't quite add to the list yet: "Cookies" and "Off."

Me: "Adam, can you say 'cookies'?"
Adam: Thoughtful silence. "tookies."
Me: "That's right, Adam! Cookies! Smart boy. Can you say 'cookies' again?"
Silence. The wheels are turning.
Adam: "Duck."

Oh well... almost. "Duck" has become a word he says when he tries to say "Doogie," (Doogie Howser, M.D. is popular these days - you can hear him say "Duck" in the video contained in blog post titled "Doogie and Kool Aid." Because "duck" doesn't actually mean "duck," I haven't counted it as a word he can say.

Me: "Adam, can you turn the light switch 'off'? 'Off'?"
Adam: "Bob."

Adam has also started to sign for "milk" - he signs "milk," "eat," and "all done"... he may sign other words but I don't know what they are. Interestingly, the words that he can sign he doesn't try to say. I've heard the argument that teaching a baby sign language delays their speech (and while we don't do the sign language thing at home, I don't have any real strong opinions either way on that controversial subject). All of Adam's sign language he has picked up at daycare. So it seems that in Adam's case, the signs he knows and uses to communicate replace speaking the actual words. However, it may be too early to make the judgement call on that one.

We've reached this stage at our house:

That drawer finally got baby-proofed... and quickly too. It's not that we're worried about the precious DVD's - it's that they are a pain to clean up, and if step on them, you slip.

He had fun in the toy section at Walmart for the first time. Big mistake on my part... now that he knows it's an option to get out of the cart, that's what he wants to do. After doing some other shopping, we hurried out of there because he insisted that he could STAND in the cart instead of sit. And sadly, when I have a lot of things to do, he has proven that he is faster and stronger than me when he catches me off guard. We left Walmart with me carrying him (Have you ever pushed a cart full a items and held at 30 lb child on your hip at the same time? It's fun. I never realized how fun.)

What are these?! We don't have these at home!

Adam got a new toy - $5 at Walmart, can't beat that... It's a set of golf clubs with golf balls. I taught him how to hit the ball the right way with the putter, and he giggled each time. But his favorite way to "play" with this new toy is to take the putter, the club, and the wedge out, call them "sticks" and throw them all over the floor and of course - he loves to play with the golf balls.

Plans

Lesson Learned #10: You are not always in control. The things you plan for are not always the things you get.

Lesson Learned #11: Some news, even when completely expected, can knock you off your game.

Doogie and Kool Aid

I happened to be videoing Adam while he watches the theme to Doogie, which he loves... and it just so happened his favorite commercial came on afterward. Nothing exciting, but he does love these two songs.

Chocolate and Bedtime.

Yesterday after spending the day outside, we had dinner in the sun room/man cave. Burgers, provolone cheese, tomatos and avocados were on the menu. Adam's most recent "favorite food" is beans... of any kind. So we have to wait to see what he will eat on his plate before offering the beans, because beans will win every time. He had a few bites of burger, one or two pieces of avocado, ignored the tomatoes, and ate the cheese. When I put the baked beans on his plate, they were gone in a few seconds.

I gave Adam a piece of chocolate for dessert, and I know he's had chocolate (cupcake, pudding) before, but never a chocolate bar. I documented his reaction.

What's this?

Contemplating...

Tasting hesitantly...

Hmmmm....

Pleasant surprise...

Oh wow...

Happy boy.

Fastest Sugar Rush ever.

Chocolate monster.

The giggles.

I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, and I wouldn't say that Adam was in LOVE with it. But he didn't turn his nose up and throw it on the floor either. After he covered himself in chocolate, he got his second bath of the day.

Pajamas

Brushing his hair.

Despite his constant yawning and obvious exhaustion, he was determined that bedtime wasn't until exactly 8:30. I don't know how he knows the difference between 8:10 and 8:30, but somehow, he does.

Saturday Fun

Adam's phrase of the day yesterday was "HOT, HOT, HOT." (He also said "cheese," but that was unrelated.)

When we read back on this I want to remember that it's the second hottest summer in 113 years. The hottest summer prior was in 1980, I believe, and I was born right in the middle of the heat wave. Perhaps because of that I've always had a high tolerance for heat, but this summer is miserable. And with his parents' fair skin and Shannon's intolerance for heat in general (It could be 90 degrees every day and I wouldn't whine... Shannon would prefer it to be about 50 degrees every day), poor little Adam walks outside and his cheeks immediately turn pink.


Although Adam complains very little about the heat, it smothers everyone in general and wreaks havoc on your body. You can never drink enough water and your appetite suddenly disappears. The thought of anything more than an apple turns my stomach sometimes. In Texas we crave the summer so we can go outside and play... and when summer comes, you can't do anything outside unless you are going to be sopping wet.

But yesterday we wanted to be outside, so we sprayed down the deck, turned on the misters, kept the hose running and filled the baby pool, then stripped Adam down to nothing and let him go wild.

Getting cooled off.

We could save on diapers this way.

He looks concerned, but he wasn't in any trouble.

 

I don't know what this face is, but he looks serious. Or offended.

Drink thief.

Mom's Iced Tea is better than Adam's Ice Water.

Thanks Mom.

The thief casually wanders away with his new drink and goes to sit in the corner to enjoy it.

After Adam stole my drink, he had lunch and then a nap. He was fully dressed when we went back outside in the afternoon, but he tried to climb in the pool again so I just stripped him down. I did a lot of sitting around yesterday (and got a nap too), but Shannon was awesome and grilled some burgers. Adam helped.

Dancing, I think.

Dancing for sure.

Grilling.

Naked with shoes on - the concrete gets HOT in the sun.

 

It's days like that which make Saturday my favorite day.