Some Quick Adam Stories

Story #1 - The Fruit Snack Sneak
Because we moved Adam to his new big boy room this weekend, we decided to set up the video monitors again... only to discover that he's fiddled with the video camera and thrown the monitor just enough times to break it. So we went to Buy Buy Baby on Saturday to buy a new one. As we were going through the checkout, I grabbed a large bag of Welch's fruit snacks, we paid for it, and I opened it for him as we were leaving the store.

He happily snacked away in the backseat of the truck as we went home, and I realized all too slowly that he wasn't going to stop and that there were about 3 servings of fruit snacks in that bag.

Me: "Adam, I don't think it's a good idea to eat the whole bag. You can have one more and then let's take a break."

I fully expected him to not understand what I said, but was preparing him to have to give it up as I tried to twist from the front seat and ask him to hand it over. He stared at me, stuck his hand in the back and dug around in there for a long time, and I managed to get the bag from him. When I pulled it away, 2 fruit snacks were left in it... and about 15 were in his fist. He was still staring at me as he immediately stuffed the fistful in his mouth, and then turned to look at the window as he tried to chew. Luckily he didn't choke or throw up... and he seemed content that he got his way.

Technically he followed my instructions, I suppose. I'm still surprised that a) He understood exactly what I said, and b) Found a way around it within 1.5 seconds.

Story #2 - Adam's Favorite Phrases

Adam's recent phrases:
- "Oh no! What did you do?!"
- "Where did he go?"
- "Bye bye, Dad!"
- "Shut the door!"
- "What you talkin' about?!"

Story #3 - The New Bed and the New Video Monitor
Adam has done really well in his new bed, and last night was night #3. So far he's woken up once during the night each attempt, and for now I'm laying in there with him until he falls asleep, until he gets to the point where he's more comfortable with the room itself. The video camera has a very bright blue light on it - so bright that he doesn't need a night light - and the first time it was on he kept staring at it. I worried that the brightness would make it hard for him to sleep (he usually needs quiet and dark to sleep at all - he's not the pass-out-in-the-middle-of-a-party kind of kid), but it apparently passed his test. So far, actually, it seems he sleeps better in there.

The second morning after waking up in his big boy bed, he came running down the hallway to our room and I pulled him in bed with me for a little while, while Shannon was in the shower. He noticed the new monitor, which was on and pointed toward the spot on the bed that he had been lying in. He glanced over at it 5 or 6 times, but never said anything about it. The last time he looked at it, he pointed and said, "A Night Night!" (which loosely translates to "That's a bed!") I told him he was very right, that that was a bed. He was excited and pointed out his bed again, then flopped over onto his stomach with his head on Shannon's pillow and pretended to snore while I laughed at him.

That night, after his revelation that the monitor was showing his bed, I was lying down with him in his room as he unwound to sleep. He stared at the blue light, immediately figured out that it was a camera, and waved to the video monitor before he fell asleep.

Story #4 - Hair Pulling
I picked Adam up from school yesterday before going over to my parent's house to have a "good-bye dinner" with Uncle Chris, who is moving away on Wednesday to start a new job. When I got there, it was story time and all of the kids were lined up, sitting against the wall while Ms. Kathryn read a Llama Llama book. That is to say, all of the kids except Adam, who was next to her balling his little eyes out. He had been crying so hard that his face was blotchy and I could tell he was really upset-- heart-breakingly upset.

When I asked what was wrong, she told me that Adam had taken to "pulling his friend's hair." Honestly, I didn't know what to say... not that he's a complete angel always - he hits, he talks back, he throws things, he ignores direct orders... I mean come on, he's almost two years old... and a smart two-year-old! We get onto him about that behavior at home. But he's never been a chronic hair-puller, and he's never done those things at school. We always get good reports.

He looked like he knew he screwed up and that he really didn't want to be in trouble... but what could I do? I hadn't seen him all day, I missed him, and all I wanted to do was give him a hug. As many times has he's been bitten and has yet to bite back -- I hate to say it -- but I wasn't all that appalled. I just hugged him and we left. And when we got in the car, I gave him a cookie and some juice.

Then he got to spend the evening playing in the backyard with Uncle Chris, helping Mamie "wash dishes" (which mostly consisted of wetting a wooden spoon and splashing water on her as he giggled uncontrollably), fighting off Aunt Robin with said wooden spoon, and searching for Grandpa so he could give him a fist bump and a kiss.

Story #5 - America's Funniest Home Videos
I have to admit, I've gotten tired of Little Einsteins, but surprisingly, so has Adam. We've recently graduated to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to mix it up a bit, and we'll also throw in some Glee (he really only watches the songs and dances with them) and America's Funniest Home Videos. He'll also sit still for anything Pixar, The Jungle Book, and that old video, The Cat in The Hat. (I know it sounds like we watch a lot of TV, but truthfully it's maybe 30 minutes a day. I just got sick of watching the same thing every day.)
 
I've found that America's Funniest Home Videos is actually a good entertainment as well as a brilliant teaching tool. I throw in some important lessons with "Don't ever do that, Adam," or "That guy is not very bright, is he?" or "We don't punch people in the groin, do we, Adam?" It may be a controversal parenting style, but hey, where else do we learn these lessons?
 
The most entertaining for me is Adam's commentary, which consists mostly of "A dog!" or "A cat!" or "A baby!" My favorite, however, is when little kids intentionally hit their parents. We were watching one where a little girl younger than Adam was banging on her dad's drumset with drum sticks, and accidentally poked him in the eye with one. He pulled his head back and said, "ow," and when he looked at her, she pulled back and whacked him across the head with it. While the audience was laughing, Adam, who was sitting in my lap, yelled "OWW!" at the TV screen. Then he put up his little pointer finger, wagged it back and forth, and said, "No, no, no!" with a very stern look on his face. He scolded her even into the next video.
 
(The "no, no, no" scolding is really pretty adorable. We saw more of it last night when he would splash Mamie and giggle so hard he could barely breathe, but when she would splash him back he would laugh a second, then scowl at her, wag his finger and say, "no, no, no!"... he couldn't really keep his stern look though, which turned to smiles as we all laughed at his hypocrisy.)
 
Story #6 - The Pets
Eli has apparently been downgraded. Eli still loves Adam and will actually come into the room that Adam is in while Gus slinks under the bed or out the door... but Eli is now not "Eli," but "Cat." Adam used to call him by name, but now when he sees him, says only "Hi, Cat." Gus is still "Hi, Gus." Caley is still "Hi, Cay-ee"... but now Eli is "cat."

I believe this has something to do with the growing jealousy and lack of desire to share my lap with another being . . . because when Eli insists that he needs some attention, Adam makes it a point to send him away by sitting on him or (even less subtly) push him out and yell "Back!!" or "Sit!" (He thinks Caley's commands work on the cats too... but obviously they don't).

Story #7 - The Babies
Adam is a bright kid, so his now determined effort to completely ignore me when I talk about getting new babies, or a brother and a sister, or babies in Mommy's tummy, is borderline laughable. He'll walk out of the room, he'll turn around and play with a toy, he'll jump out of my lap, his eyes will glaze over . . . and it's so incredibly intentional, that I think if he had the words he'd say something like "No, thank you," or, "We don't need any," or even, "No habla ingles."

We are starting to accumulate clothes and baby things from very generous friends, and Adam will point to them and say "baby!" . . . so he gets the picture. I bought a "My New Baby" book, which Adam thinks is the most boring thing ever. After the first page, he'll jump up and find a different book. What's become hysterical, though, is that I've picked it up enough times that he thinks it's my favorite book and will bring it to me to read, then turn around and go get Good Night Moon and take it to Shannon so Dad can read the "good" book to him.

During the last conversation we had on the topic, Adam was pointing out my belly button.

Me: "Yep, that's my belly button! Did you know there are babies in Mommy's belly?"
Adam: "Oww."

That was the end of the conversation. I have to admit that he summed it up pretty nicely.