Adam-isms

Adam hit the "terrible" twos at 16 months old, so I shouldn't have been surprised when he hit what I call the "torturous threes" before he was two and a half. The tantrums are not worse, but the sneakiness and boundary-pushing is beyond my expectations. We all ask for smart kids, right? And then we pay for it...

I say this jokingly as I still wouldn't trade a second of it. The last week or so he goes to sleep in his bed and then I wake up in the middle of the night with him either in bed with us or standing by the bed staring at me, and we let him in. It will probably bite us in the ass later, but quite frankly now that Colin is completely sleeping through the night and Claire only wakes up once, we're picking our battles and getting sleep where we can.

After a botched "first birthday party" attempt at his friend Harper's 3rd birthday at Amazing Jakes (a pizza-buffet, arcade, putt putt, rock climbing, birthday party, etc. etc. etc. kind of place), in which we had to leave early because of his behavior, we realized that Adam most likely has a sensitivity to food dyes (red dye 40 and yellow 5 especially). We were the first there to greet the birthday girl, and he grabbed the present for Harper out of my hands and very sweetly walked up to her, handed her the present, gave her a hug and told her Happy Birthday, with no prompting from me.

Then he was an absolute doll, and sat by her while the guests came, talked to her and had a great time telling the adults there his name.

And then... the red punch came out, and I gave him some. He drank two glasses, and it was over. My little doll turned into a giggling, uncontrollable and uncooperative mess. He was running from me at every opportunity to touch balloons 50 yards away, to try to tackle the escalators, to just run, despite my discipline and threats that we would leave. It was like having a switch to turn someone from calm to hyperactive with no warning. The worst was when he saw the escalator and took off running so quickly that I had to sprint after him and literally catch him before he seriously hurt himself. I swept in behind him before he fell (I've been told by several people that I have developed ninja skills, and it's a requirement of the job). We rode up the escalator together as I whispered into his ear ominous things about obeying and listening . . . and my hand was on his heart, which was beating like a hummingbirds. He knew he had gotten himself into something that he couldn't have gotten out of alone, but it didn't stop him or scare him.

So after 4 threats of, "if you don't listen to mom, we will leave," we had to go. I was furious, and he knew it. We got home and he went straight to bed.

We have noticed that if he eats foods with quite a bit of food dye (certain fruit snacks, juices/punches that aren't 100% juice, candies, etc.), it's almost like a drug. He hallucinates, he can't focus and he simply can't obey. We used to say that he was a "mean" candy eater (like some people are mean drunks), but since paying more attention to what foods/drinks we give him we have noticed a huge change. Unfortunately, those food dyes are in nearly everything.

He still realizes that he screwed up, because every now and then he quietly asks if we can go to "Harper's birthday," and I have to tell him it's over... no more... we can't go back. And that sucks, because he really is a great, loving and friendly kid.

He has a new fascination with Dora the Explorer which I had tried to put off. . . but I suppose we have reached the age where friends at school talk and share all kinds of new things. But the wonderful thing about Dora (as opposed to Diego, which for some reason I can't stand), is that he interacts with it, answers questions correctly in English and Spanish, and after each episode gains a new vocabulary of at least two new words. Scary and wonderful, all at the same time.

When Claire or Colin are in their cribs, he scales the side, looks at me longingly, and says, "Sleep in Claire's bed? Please? Momma, Please?" Sometimes I let him, because he really does lie calmly next to her or him and snuggles.

Why are these boys in my bed?

This kid has spunk, a huge vocabulary, and an amazing memory and imagination. Here are just a few things that are said repeatedly or had us rolling in laughter in the last month or so.

Me: "Adam, can you sing Claire a song?"
Adam: "A,B,C,D,E,Eh,Gee..."

Me: "Adam, are you excited?"
Adam: "Yes! Mommy! I'm excited!"

Me: Adam, are you happy?"
Adam: "Yes Mommy! I'm happy!!"

Driving by Home Depot: "Look! That's Daddy's orange!"

Adorable pronunciations:
Umbrella? "Aquera."
Stool? "Tootles."

Pulling into the driveway with his hand on the seat belt buckle: "Push it down?"

Anytime a baby fusses even slightly: "It's okay, Colin, it's okay Claire." (sometimes he runs over with a paci, a toy, a bottle, kisses).

Whenever I get stressed and ask him to stop climbing, pulling things out of shelves, and especially doing something that he really wants to do but knows he probably shouldn't be doing it: 

"It's o-kayyy, Momma. It's okay, I do it."

When in a good mood and accepting orders:
"Yes Sir!"
 
When we're playing and I don't do it the "right" way:
"No sir, momma, no sir."

A new obsession with scissors and knives (sticks):
"I cut. I cut. I cut. I CUT!!"

Being Scared:
We watched Brave for the first time and the opening scene has a gigantic mean bear in it. That night he was afraid to be in his bed and said he wanted "his Daddy." He told Shannon he was scared because "there's a bear down there." He pointed to the crack between his bed and the wall, which he is always cautious about. Shannon looked:

"Nope, don't be scared, there's no bear down there!"
"Oh, the bear's gone!"


Anytime he sees... well, anything:
"It's SO big! (tall, pretty, etc.)"

Playing with Grandpa:
Grandpa and Colin like to sit together and pretend that they are tigers, and growl. Adam jumps into my arms and exclaims in a pretend startled voice: "Momma! A Tiger! Run!" and I carry him around the house, hiding from the tiger. He now asks Grandpa to do the tiger whenever he sees him.

Colin has started mimicking Granpda's tiger growl even when Grandpa isn't around, and Adam and I will look at each other and say, "I hear a tiger!" Colin grins shyly and loves every second of it.

On New Year's Eve, Adam wanted to play with Grandpa instead of read books before he went to bed, so Grandpa made up a game called "find the ball in Adam's room." Well, there was no ball in Adam's room. Grandpa knew it. Adam knew it. But he played for over an hour and loved it. When Shannon came home from our dinner and I put Adam to bed, we started to read a book and Adam told me about the game:

"Momma, we didn't find the ball."
"I know, no ball in Adam's room!"
"Yeah, we didn't find the ball."
"You couldn't find it?"
"Yeah, it's SOOOOOO sad."

Christmas time

Shannon built us a fire for the first time this season while I explained to Adam how Santa comes down the chimney and eats our cookies and milk. When Shannon was putting the wood in the fireplace Adam got very quiet and thoughtful, and I thought he might have been wondering if it would be safe for Santa to come down.

Then he said, "Be careful Daddy, don't fire your shoe!"
Shannon: "Okay Buddy, I won't burn my shoe."
Adam: "Mamma, tell Daddy, 'Don't fire your shoe!'"

and later...
(I am apparently not very good at explaining Santa.)
Shannon and I were sitting by the fire talking while Adam was in the other room. He came in and sat on my lap and said:

"The fire is bigger. I came to see if Santa was coming... (Then yelling out) SANTA?! ARE YOU COMING?! COME GET IN YOUR FIRE!!"


Bear Butt.
Adam is getting a little boost in the potty training department so he was banned from his diapers one morning (and it was working). He would probably get there a little faster if we had more time to focus on just that for a few days, but it probably goes without saying that we're a little busy around here.

That day I told Colin, "Adam has a bare butt!"

Adam turned around, smiled and growled at me loudly. "GRRRRR!! I have a BEAR BUTT!"

New Year's Eve
Adam really didn't want to calm down on New Year's Eve so I laid next to him and pretended to sleep. He entertained himself by pinching and pulling on my lower lip and giggling quietly. After about a minute, I stuck out my tongue and licked his finger, which he thought was hilarious. Without missing a beat, he leaned over and licked my cheek.

"Oh, thank you, Adam."
"You're WELCOME!"

Reading Books
Adam loves when I read books to him, but is starting to try to read them himself, and he does it by memory. He can say phrases correctly while flipping through "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," but his favorite (since Christmas) is Green Eggs and Ham, which he has already memorized parts of and likes to read it to me.

If I said, "I just love this kid," it would be the understatement of the century.

Loving the Present

Today was a normal Saturday. But my normal Saturdays are pretty freaking awesome.

After breakfast everyone took a bath.

They always look so angelic after a bath. I think the water makes everything right in their world.

 Then they took naps... well, Colin and Claire did. Adam tried but just couldn't do it.

Colin woke up early and talked with me for a while before Claire got up for lunch. He stole Claire's paci because he's teething and it's the best thing to chew on.

"How does this thing work?"

After lunch, Adam and Colin did a puzzle together.

Then they played on the floor. While Adam tried to nap.

  

 Shannon put together Adam's new trampoline (a late Christmas gift that the elves couldn't make in time).

 And while he did that, the boys rested and Claire and I read her favorite book.

When it was clear that Adam couldn't sleep despite trying for an hour and a half and resting very quietly (only coming out to tell me that the babies were being "too loud"), we watched Dora the Explorer, and walked him outside to see his surprise.

He loved it.

 While he jumped Shannon took a picture of me with the twins.

And I got one of Colin sharing his thumb with Claire...

Adam jumped until his face froze and his teeth chattered (even with a hat and jacket), but still cried when we told him it was time to come inside and get warm.

After all the jumping, Adam asked to go to bed at 7 pm, so of course I said yes... but he couldn't sleep first without reading 4 books, including his favorite...

"Read Sam-I-Am?"

After Adam went to bed I caught Shannon snuggling with Claire.

If only every day could be Saturday.

Christmas Morning 2012

Santa came, he ate the cookies, drank the milk and left a letter.

Adam's first time leaving cookies and milk for Santa.

Christmas morning was incredible. Caley watched Santa put a ball and a bone in her stocking, and then spazzed out all night waiting for it. She was the most excited person in the house.

Caley got her bone and immediately went out into the sleet to inhale it, and came back with a tummy ache. Poor Caley.

When the kids woke up, Adam didn't even realize that Santa had come. When he did finally realize it (after a brief time out for not being nice), he went to the chimney to see if Santa was still there.

 Then Daddy helped him go through his stocking...

 

 

 The twins played on the floor mostly, but really enjoyed themselves like always.

 

Three babies on Christmas morning!

Shannon with his boys on Christmas morning.

 Claire's first Christmas...

 

And Colin's first Christmas...

Adam's "big" gift (minus the one day late gift that Santa couldn't fit on his sleigh and the elves didn't make it until the 26th), was the cutting fruit game. He just loves to cut, which concerns me greatly, but also required a need for a healthy outlet!

He loves it.

Adam opened most of Colin and Claire's presents this year, and they happily let him do it. They got to open one or two themselves but mostly they wanted to smile and watch Adam. Next year I doubt the present opening tasks will be so easily given up!

On Christmas Eve, at my parent's yearly party, Colin got a green monkey from the Racklers. He was instantly in love.

Claire likes it too.

 Adam's new movies.

Claire's new books.

Shannon got me some books, some candles, and an awesome pair of brown boots, plus a gift certificate for some much needed new clothes.

I almost lost the boots to Adam though, who was probably more excited about them than he was about his own loot.

 
I take that back... the bubbles were also a big hit.

 

Shannon got a nice bottle of scotch and three coupons: a) Free two hours to have a cigar and a scotch on the back patio with no interruptions, b) a free guys weekend with the company and at the location of his choosing, and c) a date night with his wife (yours truly), kid free. That one is kinda for both of us.

Colin helped Daddy open his stocking.

"ohhh... that's a good one."

 It wasn't a huge Christmas, but we added to our book and movie collection, and we were together.

Claire's gifts

Colin's gifts

Adam's gifts.

Caley's new ball.

(Gus got some new treats and a catnip toy, and Eli was very missed this year. The vet called and said Eli had had a very aggressive cancer that probably started in his ear. A Metastic Carcinoma that spread very, very quickly. Poor Eli.)

After opening presents, the little ones took a nap and we spent a few hours at Mamie and Grandpa's house, played with Chris, and had homemade lasagna, Mamie's specialty.

So . . . it was definitely a Christmas to remember. I didn't get pictures, but on top of it being Adam's first time to leave out cookies and milk for Santa and Colin and Claire's first Christmas... it was also a rare Dallas Christmas snow day, and we got about an inch and a half at out house. The babies' first Christmas was also a white one.