Milestone: Potty Training

Potty training started today. I won't go into all the details. I just want to celebrate this milestone and keep a record of it.

I asked Adam if he wanted to try out the potty and he responded positively, so I helped him get situated and... He did it! I didn't need to coax him or try to explain what he was doing, he just knew---we'd been talking to him about it for weeks in preparation. Seems our talks with him worked.

Daddy and Mommy are so proud of him and just thrilled about reaching this milestone. By all means, we're not tossing out the diapers, but we will have to make changes to encourage him through this transition.

Add the potty to the list of things we need to pack for our next trip to NM!

Good job to our big boy!

09-21-2011: Slide!

Adam went down the slide for the first time...all by himself!

Snugglesaurus to Dino Expert

Adam pointing out that his Dino Expert shirt has buttons

Isn't he starting to look more like a kid than a toddler?

Morning Mixer

Adam Loves Daddy

Matt and Adam reading at bedtime.

Adam has entered a new phase of book fanaticism. He wants books read to him before his morning nap, before going to sleep for the night and a lot of times in between. We are very happy to support his interest in books, so Matt and I take turns reading to Adam when he requests. This allows us to get household responsibilities done and still giving Adam as much of our time as possible.

We owe a huge thank you to my mom who has provided Adam with very near 100 of his books. Last book count was 102, but more books have been added since. My guess is that we're at around 130 books. Oh, my!

Our bookworm's current favorite rereads:

• Josh and Whoo Whoo
• Albert and Sarah Jane
• Me and You
• I'm Your Bus
• Colors
• Book of Sleep
• It's Time For Sleep My Love
• When I'm Feeling... (a collection of books featuring, Happy, Jealous, Angry, Sad, Loved)

This week, we've started introducing colors and counting. Adam can say "blue" and he even pointed it out to Matt last night (unprompted). Matt didn't know that Adam's sitter had been working with him on colors that morning, so he was very surprised by our little boy.

I've been taking any opportunity I can to count to Adam. We've been counting his Little People, bottles of juice, empty cd cases, buttons and cups. Adam's favorite (besides counting the pacifiers in his mouth at one time) is when Mommy counts his toes. He lifts his foot for me to count his toes and when I'm done, he puts his weight on that foot and raises the other. This can go one for several minutes. So adorable!

Another thing Adam can do is show us one. He was so excited to show Matt, that he ran from his room to the office with his pointer finger sticking out on each hand. Adam is showing more and more pride and excitement for the new things he's learning. And every time he has something new to show Matt, he looks up at Daddy with complete admiration. This boy loves his Dad a lot and vice versa.

Other things that Boo can do:

• say, rather loudly, "hot!" and point to the kitchen stove
• remember where he stuck various stickers (even when he can't find his shoes or crayons)
• hide all his clean clothes
• unsort laundry
• put Mommy's cell phone into speak command mode
• smell flowers (without touching the thorny stems of the roses)
• find Igor (aka lizard) on any wall, any time of day
• spot the moon in the sky (even in daylight)
• turn lights on/off for Mommy and Daddy
  

Crayons in Recycle Truck

A rare moment of playing by himself (and quietly)

First Wall Art

Playing in the Park (Purple)

Adam completed his first wall art this week. Adam also took the picture of his drawing. Mommy helped by holding the camera.

The first video is Adam drawing on the wall. The second video is him cleaning it off the wall. Good that we have Washable Crayola Crayons and Magic Eraser!

Acting Silly with Popcorn Bowl

Have We Mentioned Grapes?

Little Dad

Adam's favorite anything must be grapes. Grapes have been a blessing and a curse. When we need to coax him indoors out of the heat, ice-cold grapes will lure him in. When he's grumpy and refusing everything else, grapes save the day. The problem is when the grocery store runs out of grapes and we have to tip-toe around the "G" word for a week.

Thank you apricots! They made a wonderful substitute--except for the frightful moment when he stuffed 1 half into his mouth. Yikes!

Our baby boy is looking more and more like a little boy than a baby. He's growing and developing in many ways. He runs, twirls, kicks and squats with expertise. He can scribble, open cd cases (and remove cds), remove and place stickers, put away towels (with Mommy's help lifting him to the shelf), take off his shoes and sometimes fasten them closed (velcro). He can connect and pull apart Mega Bloks, open and close cell phones, brush his hair (into a messy do) and clean his face with a wipe (also haphazardly). He loves pirate rock and Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse. He still loves books and making animal sounds.

He likes pointing out rain clouds, trees and the mountains. At night he looks for the moon and tries to spot the first stars. He's not eager to talk, but he knows a lot of words and likes to look for and point out plants, windows, paintings, lights, and a/c vents when we go out. He says mama for most things, as well as, moon and sometimes dada. He has said sky, cat, grandma, water and Auntie Shell, red light (he notices traffic lights) but he often resists when we try to get him to talk. He is much more content to point things out and make us talk.

While we work on ways to encourage his talking, I would like to expose him to other activities that help his motor skills via art projects. I also want to start teaching him common names for the plants we have in the yard. That leaves us to work on social skills. Time to start play dating.

Adam with Painting

Finger/Foot Painting

A couple of weeks ago, I took him to the zoo for Safari Nights. We ate a corn dog and fries at the zoo cafeteria then explored the zoo. His favorite section was the duck and koi pond. He ran around the area growling and yelling and scaring the men who were there with their families. The women and children were indifferent to his antics, but a few of the men looked, well, a bit terrified of Adam. As for Mommy, I was afraid Adam was going to sprint right into the pond.

I had to ditch the stroller a few times and break out into a run to catch Adam, but overall we had a great time. Adam also got to feed carrots to one of the giraffes. I braced myself for a meltdown, not knowing if he would be afraid of the giraffe. Was I surprised! After showing him only once, he was feeding carrots to the giraffe like a pro. Guess what animal he squeals over now when he sees them in books.

Adam

A Toddler Summer

Finding his own way to cool off in the backyard

It has been really hot and humid this summer. Too hot to spend much time outside. Going out for walks or to the park has been rare which means we have a cranky toddler in the house.

Here is a quick list of events that turn a cranky mood into a full-on tantrum:

1. running out of grapes
2. diaper change
3. teeth-brushing
4. being offered a popsicle on the stick (and not breaking it into bite-sized pieces first)
5. being told 'no'
6. not being allowed to climb on the kitchen chairs
7. not being allowed to eat toilet paper
8. having to buckle into his car seat
9. not being allowed to stay at the bookstore FOREVER
10. not being allowed to have both phones when grandma calls
    

The Emotional Life of Toddlers

Failure to get on the chair


Success!

More Pictures

Adam eating a piece of Auntie Lesia's birthday cake

Stepping outside for play

Easter Pictures

Adam riding in his wagon

Adam hogging all the grapes (and the fork!)

Easter egg hunt with Shell and Lesia

Just for Fun

Last Half of March

Playing with the garden hose after watering the trees

Clothes completely soaked

That's a Tupperware lid to a toy pitcher, not a binky.

Out for a walk

Yes, his mom dressed him.

Out for a Walk

March

Adam on his first hike

We are only a few weeks into Adam's 2nd year. He is healthy, happy and growing very quickly. He now has 8 teeth (4 top front, 4 bottom front). He's also in the process of getting his back teeth. Occasionally, this makes him fussy and we have to give him Ibuprofen. Most days, he does fine without any pain reliever.

Some of the things Adam has learned recently include:

• waving hello/bye
• clapping his hands
• tipping toeing (to look over something or to try to jump)
• kicking a ball and dribbling it (as in soccer) across the room
• putting things into containers
• taking his pants off (not exactly welcomed by us)
• setting the cable tv's parental control to ON (also not welcomed by us--we don't know the password)

Our Adam is quite the bookworm and as Shell said, "He is more interested in books than all his toys put together." Certainly, his favorite activity is having someone read a book to him. His favorite books right now are (not in any specific order)

• Goodnight Moon
• Blue Hat, Green Hat
• Corduroy
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear
• Grandma and Me
• Corduroy's Trick-or-Treat
• Biscuit's Pet & Play Halloween
• The Very Busy Spider
• The Monster at the End of this Book

His favorites seem to either have animals, animal sounds or to encourage interaction with the story. He loves the part when the reader says, "Oops!" in Blue Hat, Green Hat. He giggles when the reader gets to the Teacher at the end of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. He gets a kiss from the reader after Grandma and Me, so he insists that this last page is visited several times a reading session. He repeats the animal sounds from the Very Busy Spider and has learned to match the sound to the animal. Call us amazed!

He doesn't limit his interests to just those books. Those are the everyday staples. He also selects from the rest of his collection of books and will even pull out our books and magazines. One day, I followed him into the nursery where he sat down with the instructions pamphlet for the pull-up exercise bar.

Our guy doesn't just love books. He loves being silly. Here is a picture of him putting his mouth on his toes. After doing this particular antic, he sits up and smirks or giggles. He knows that he's being funny.

Nummy Piggies

Today, I gave our baby boy his first hair cut. We kept his curly locks on his head for as long as possible. The front part of his hair was starting to fall into his eyes and the back of his hair tangles everyday---he does NOT like having his tangles combed out. It was time.

We caught him just after a nap and before lunch. These are pictures I took after his hair cut. I did my best considering he had no idea what was going on and he was moving around quite a bit.

Adam's First Year in Photos

Happy 1st Birthday!

Oh, how your feet have grown!


Happy Birthday Adam!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Chairs!

One of Adam's new play interests is moving chairs around in the kitchen. I call him my little muscle man. No matter how many times he gets himself stuck between chairs or bumps his head under the table or scares the crap out of himself when he knocks a chair over, he won't stop rearranging them.

Look Familiar?

Last night, Adam insisted on having a try at feeding himself with the spoon. Remember a few months ago, when he was trying solid foods for the first time?

at 5 months

Lessons in Photography

It recently occurred to me that Adam knows a few odd, but complex (for a baby) concepts about his environment. He understands that shadows and bright spots on surfaces are made by beams of light. When he notices a shadow or a bright spot of light, he invariable looks for the source. He acquired this understanding after countless attempts to catch the light that came out of his little Fisher Price portable projector.

Another thing he picked up early on was the knowledge that the remote controls control the t.v. From the time he could reach for and hold a remote, he would squeeze it and look up to see what change happened on the television. He's since learned that you can go straight to the box (audio receiver, cable box, tv, dvd player) and muck things up there.

Adam has also developed a huge fondness for telephones. When someone is on the phone, he is right there, following from room to room if he has to, trying to get to the phone. He'll listen to the person on the other end and grunt back. If you share the phone with him, you become his best bud.

So, I figured it was time to start introducing him to other concepts, like photography. He is familiar with videos of him and will grunt or giggle when he sees himself on video, but he wasn't so impressed with pictures of himself.

My goal is to take him around the yard, house and neighborhood for photo field trips. I started yesterday by holding the camera in front of him while we photographed a few of his toys. We used Matt's point-and-shoot camera which has a digital display that will show the picture for a few seconds after the photo is taken (like most cameras). This is a great instantaneous way to show Adam what the camera does. He was quite taken with the activity. He even stood still and let me take his picture (blurry, because I was trying to hurry) after we photographed his toys.

The only problem: Adam cried when it was time to put the camera away.

Adam waiting patiently for Mommy to take his picture

Adam's First Photos: Giraffe

Adam's First Photos: Alphabet Book

Adam's First Photos: Learning Turtle

Adam Playing Guitar (Playing with Guitar)

Photos from Christmas 2010

Adam wrapped up and riding in his new wagon.

Standing before he was officially walking.

Matt and Adam, reading.

Still Broadcasting...

Happy New Year to everyone! We are still around and still broadcasting...

Let's start with a summary of family events since the last blog:

• In late November, we made our very first family of three trip back to NM. We spent a few days visiting Matt's side of the family in Albuquerque, followed by a few days in Magdalena, visiting Berta's side of the family. Adam handled being in the car seat for the long trip both ways like a champ. He had a small meltdown after a stop for dinner (at the halfway point to Albuquerque), when I'm pretty sure I accidentally pinched him with the buckle of his car seat. =( After taking him out of the car seat and letting him play for a while in the back seat, we secured him back in his seat and finished the rest of the drive to Albuquerque. On the way back to Tucson, Adam had diarrhea, so both Matt and I were on edge about how many stops we'd have to make to change Adam. We were lucky in that of 4 diaper changes, only 1 was a poopy. Our baby boy enjoyed visiting both families and thanks to Grandpa W, we brought home a chatterbox!
• Matt was in a smallish fender-bender in December which left us scrambling for a family-friendly vehicle for use around town and for the planned trip to NM for Christmas vacation. We rented a full-size car and found that the extra space was just barely enough to transport the Christmas gifts and all of Adam's accoutrement. Matt likes to joke (very accurately), "Oh, what's this one small bag? Why that's clothes/toiletries for me and Berta for the next nine days. And that 500 foot tower of stuff behind me? All Adam."
• A week after Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday, was my (Berta's) birthday.
• A week after that, Matt and I celebrated our second anniversary.
• Our beloved babysitter moved back to her home state. We are devastated.
  
• We made our second trip "home" in late December. The visit went well. Adam warmed up to all the family members much faster this time. I think he remembered the two homes, so he was ready to resume his explorations of other people's stuff. Our trip back to Tucson was smooth. Travel is rough and I'm always glad to be home from a trip. There was one little guy who was even happier than me to be home. When Adam saw that Matt had parked us inside the garage of our own home, he was smiling ear-to-ear. He wore that grin for days afterward. I know he had a blast with family, but he was equally happy to be back to his own bed(s), his toys, books, his relative freedom.
  
• December 31, 2010. Adam is officially walking. He'd been taking 2-3 unassisted steps, but New Year's Eve of 2010 was the day he decided to walk across rooms. Every since then, he's been moving about from room to room with increasing ease.
• My sister Shell moved in to help us care for Adam while Matt and I work.
  
• Matt's car was considered a total by his insurance company, so he was in need of a new vehicle.
  
• We celebrated Matt's birthday.
• We bought a new vehicle for Matt and a family vehicle that had been in plan for about 4 years (even before we had a family!).

We are now a week away from Adam's first birthday. People said that the time would go by fast. They were right! I remember (with mingled longing and gratitude) the nights I held him as a newborn and wondered how I would ever comfort him into sleep. He would scream every time I tried to set him down in his bassinet. I would hold him in my arms in the dark. I would have to get my face really close to his face to see if his eyes were open or shut. His large eyes would be staring up at the ceiling. He absolutely terrified me. Over the course of those nights, I learned to sing to Adam. I made up simple songs about how much I love him. We eventually fell into a pattern of me singing and rocking him to sleep. Even then, I knew that I would soon miss those nights. It's now rare that he will let me (or insist that I) rock and sing him to sleep. This first year was wanting to preserve every moment and eagerness in all the new adventures. It is wonderful to be Adam's mom.