some photos from this spring of our sweet cutie patootie. (and just today, we had a session with a photographer that i bought a long time ago and finally completed-- and just in the nick of time before we move next week! can't wait to see and share those as well.)

adam and cameran having dinner.

first haircut!

special military child play day at daycare.

i think this photo is hilarious :)

static electricity!

today was adam's last day at his daycare and i was so sad! his teachers made a big book of his photos since he started there for us to take home, which was so sweet. he gave them big hugs and said bye bye as we left. i can only hope we find a preschool or daycare in portland that is on par with ours here. it has been such a blessing -- all of his teachers have been amazing and i am positive that being there helped him learn so many things.

so... what's up with adam lately?

- adam says a few more words, some i can think of off the top of my head (can't remember i mentioned these before...): mmm, good (sometimes mmm it's good); it's stuck!; hot (this one is a fave and he says it about 100 times a day to describe just about anything, but especially for things that ARE actually hot [coffee, food, the stove/oven, etc] which makes me feel he has gotten our safety warnings effectively!); warm (this one i taught him b/c i am tired of hearing HOT all the time, haha. so i am trying to show him the difference between hot and warm); lady (he kept pointing to women in magazines and saying MOMMY! so i told him no that's a lady and he says it now); max (from where the wild things are); moon; poo/poop; flower, yay.

- we often say 1-2-3 GO when we're going to throw a ball or something and now adam tries to imitate us, which is the cutest thing i have seen in awhile. he can't count (duh) but might say G-G-G- GOOOOO at the top of his lungs. or, he might say 3-duh-mah-GOOOOO! the GOOOO is shouted with all his might and is so funny to see his little mouth open wide and the excitement. i love it.

-adam now tells me every time he poops, sometimes running over to me right before he does it, and when i say, ok, let's go change your diaper, he goes to the changing table and tries to climb up there. when he can't get up there, he whines and grabs his hiney until i can get there and lift him up for a change. his favorite book, as of late, is a book we got him about animal poops and little boy poops. i KNOW we are ready to start training, but with all the change and moving and LONG car trips over the next month (dc to sc to pa to me...) i don't even want to start until we get to maine. i hope this golden window doesn't close and that his interest is still there when we get to maine in a few weeks.

-speaking of hiney, he knows and can point to all these parts: ears, hair, eyes, cheeks, nose, tongue, teeth, belly, back, arms, hands, legs, feet, toes, peepee, hiney.

-ever since easter, adam is obsessed with the plastic easter eggs. he plays with them almost all the time and they're everywhere - i find them in our cars, in shoes, in his bed, randomly in my purse, littered all over the house. he LOVES them. i think this time in our photos will be funny because in several pictures he is holding a random purple egg!

- yesterday, while adam was at daycare, movers came and packed up our house - they don't come until monday to move everything, so our house is FULL of boxes. literally, there are just paths around and between boxes. i expected adam to be freaked out when we came home from daycare, but he wasn't and still is not. i kept out all his fave toys, so i guess he is ok.... even though he is sleeping in the pack-n-play, there was never a hiccup or questioning expression from him at all. i keep saying to him that we're moving to a new house, but he seems unfazed. because our house is a maze of boxes, we have been planning more stuff outside and away from here. last night we went out for mexican and adam was great. tonight we went to an awesome playground near our house and had a picnic dinner there. tomorrow morning, after breakfast, i think we'll take a long walk along the potomac and hit up yet another playground in our area. thank goodness for nice weather!

- adam's favorite book remains where the wild things are and i honestly think i can recite it by heart now (the night max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind... and another... sigh) because we read it at least twice a day, at his request. he also likes two books we have about caterpillars turning to butterflies (one eric carle, the other not), and a couple books we have with lift up flaps, and any and all sesame street books (yay for the target dollar bin!). adam will often crawl up into a chair or his rocker with a book and "read" to himself, which of course delights his bookworm mother! i see him babbling but i also see him pointing and saying words he does know: max, moon, boat, wa-wer....

- adam's obsession with shoes continues and we are really baffled by it. i've never met a kid or anyone who cares so much and so fiercely about shoes and their important role on feet! hahaha! when adam is being dressed, he asks for shoes constantly until he has them on. if we dress him for the day and don't put on shoes, he will cry, ask for shoes, point to his feet and go to the drawer where his shoes are kept and try to open it. when we sit down to put on shoes, he is excited and happy, clapping his hands and saying SHOES! so strange, especially since i HATE socks and rarely ever wear them, and almost never wear shoes indoors-- in fact, eric and i would likely live barefoot or in flip flops constantly, if we could. when adam sees a random pair of our shoes laying around, he brings them to us, saying SHOES, MOMMY! if i am barefoot, he tries to put them on my feet for me. if we are about to leave the house and i have not yet put on shoes, he seems worried, runs to my shoes and hurriedly brings them to me-- as if i am about to forget them! (in winter, he'd also bring me my coat, which was so sweet). i don't understand this shoes thing, but it does make us laugh. sometimes, while driving down the road, we'll look back and see adam so pleased with himself holding one of eric's sneakers in his lap in his carseat-- obviously, left in the car by eric and picked up from the seat beside adam's carseat by happy little shoe-loving hands. so funny.

- adam sings a lot, in his own language (tho there is an occasional row row row and A-B-B thrown in) and when he finishes his song, he claps his hands and yells YAY for himself. :)

- right now, aside from the eggs, adam's favorite toys are a push lawn mower (we got him after he enjoyed his pal sully's so much!), a push ball popper, a GIANT ball, any and all books, and a shape sorter. he isn't too into cars or trucks. he does play with them often, but it's short lived. whereas he could sit with the shape sorter for half an hour, no problem. he is really good at the sorter and will turn the toy around and around looking for the right shape for the piece in his hand until he finds it. (funny aside, recently i was getting ready for work and adam was playing in our living room and i kept hearing PLUNK, PLUNK and immediately thought, uh oh that's not a normal sound, and came to check in. i found adam standing in front of eric's subwoofer for the sound system for the tv putting the shapes into the hole in the front of the subwoofer- which is about as tall as adam himself! i picked up the subwoofer and could hear several pieces rattling inside but they will not come out! woops! eric tried to shake them out, but no luck. i have to admit that it was funny to see adam standing there plunking them in, even if it does mean we'll have rattly sound from now on.)

i have SO many photos to upload but it will have to wait for another day because mama is WIPED!

we had a lovely easter weekend last weekend! my parents and brother visited and not only did they help us get our house in order (we are moving to maine!), but it was such a treat visiting with them all and having them here. a week later, adam is still saying ma-ma and pa-pa on the way home, like he's asking if they'll be there when we arrive home.

we also went down to the tidal basin in dc to see the cherry blossoms and the jefferson which was fun. so many people, even though we went very early. i have uploaded a bazillion photos below- but they appear in reverse order. it's funny to see here how adam moves from being disgustingly dirty with chocolate + playing outside back to a clean little boy! ha.

on friday before easter, we had a parade at adam's daycare that eric and i were lucky enough to attend. it was so much fun, with themes, singing, a stroll and a beautiful, sunny spring day.

a couple other funny things as of late:
- adam almost always reminds me of his "pee pee" when i change him by pointing/grabbing and saying the word. but now, he also does this while walking around occasionally and i have to wonder if he's trying to tell me something?! his daycare teacher mentioned this too, so we're trying to figure out what's up. i don't even want to THINK about potty training until we're settled in maine, plus it seems super early to me also, so i hope that is not what he's thinking...
- we read "where the wild things are" several nights a week. tonight i noticed that when i say-- they gnashed their terrible teeth-- adam chomps his own teeth. and when i say-- rolled their terrible eyes-- adam points to his eyes. he also pointed to the ocean max sails on and says "wa-wer" (water) which is a new word he's saying lately.
- we took adam to a restaurant last night and for the first time ever he was a terror! he threw lots of fits, to the point eric had to take him out to calm down for the sake of the other diners! and when it was time to leave, we were walking out holding hands and he yanked his hand out of mind and ran back in the restaurant, like he didn't want to leave. he has NEVER acted like this, ever. i honestly wondered if he was sick, it was so out of character. sigh... toddler-hood, we have arrived.

easter weekend photos:

adam and mommy hanging on the deck.

adam very happy with his chocolate, dirty clothes!

having his first ever cadbury egg!

hunting for easter eggs!

adam at the tidal basin with the memorial bridge, cherry blossoms and grandpa behind him.

our family!

adam and grandma.

jefferson memorial with adam.

uncle lucas with adam.

mommy, the phone is for you!

new ELMO from grandma!

getting tickles from grandma.

uncle lucas is sooo funny!

adam and some of his classmates and one of his teachers in a "month of the military child" parade at daycare. they were the sun, with their yellow shirts and shades.

reading a favorite book.

CHEESE.

i want to remember...

last night, adam was whining for me to move a stool so he could play under the bar in our kitchen. he likes to go under there and hide and play. i said to him- what do you say? he looked up at me and loudly said MEEEEEEEES? in the sweetest little voice. i said- say HELP and PLEASE. he looked at me and said- ELP N MEES. hilarious.

--

in the tub, he started singing a new song that goes, BUBBLE BUBBLE BUBBLE POP. he made this up all on his own.

--

usually when i ask adam- where is adam? he points right to himself. a few times i've said- what's your name? and he says- ADA. last night, i said- what's your name? and loud and clear, he pointed to himself and said- ELMO. i laughed and said- no no no, what's YOUR name? and again, over and over, he informed us that his name is ELMO.

--

i sing A-B-C to adam, just those three letters, and try to get him to sing them back to me. he sings back A-B-I in the same tune as A-B-C.

today adam had his very first swimming lesson. and, as i suspected it might, it started off quite rough. sometimes when adam is new to something, he takes awhile to warm up to it. he cried the first time he was in grass, the first time we put him in snow, etc. and, you guessed it, the pool is no different. last summer he HATED the pool and the ocean (did i really make this baby!?) so my hope was that swimming lessons would help him warm up to the water.

i talked about swimming in the water ALL weekend, hoping that might help him prepare mentally. but no. when we arrived, he cried from the moment we walked into the rec center. he wrapped his little arms and legs around me and wouldn't let go. though i have to admit i was slightly embarrassed by his impending nervous breakdown, i powered through, wading in the baby pool and trying to acclimate him to the water.

at the start of the class he was still crying, so we missed the very first song and circle with the other kiddos and parents. but then the teacher brought out some balls-- and BINGO. adam chilled out. he threw the ball in the pool and let me hold him on his belly so he could "swim" over to get the ball. we did the hokey pokey in the circle with the other kids. and..... unbelievably.... he "jumped" in from the edge of the pool to me, first from seated, then from standing.

(the funniest thing is that he is just learning to step down on stairs holding my hand, instead of sliding down steps on his belly. so when it was time to "jump" in the pool from the edge. he held my hands and literally stepped down into the water. i was laughing so hard because it was hilarious to watch, but that only made him laugh more too.)

the class ended well and then we spent some more time in the baby pool before changing and heading home for a nap.

i think next week we'll show up REALLY early and get all our tears out before the other kids show up. and we'll bring our own ball so we have it from the get go. plus, daddy can also come next weekend and help mommy make adam laugh.

--

adam has started to say Hi Mommy! and Hi Daddy! he rides his little bike from room to room telling us hi. when i ask him where something is or any question, he holds his hands up and shrugs his shoulders, shaking his head, like i dunno. he dances like a maniac when eric puts on music, sort of running in place on his tiptoes. he walks to our pantry and points to the door and asks for a COOKIE (too-tee). he likes to blow raspberries on our bare skin and regularly lifts up my shirt to check out my belly (this is problematic in public, ha). he says elmo and abby (both from sesame street) clear as a bell, and he can help take off his own shirt and pants. he tries to put on his own shoes but hasn't quite gotten that one down yet. now that it's warmer and all the snow melted, we've been able to go outside to play more, which has been excellent. adam walks and walks and walks all over our back yard like he has laps to do, often ignoring his toys and slide just to WALK. guess mommy is not the only person who has felt cooped up with this winter!

this past month has been insane. insane in so many ways, but lots of fun, for sure.

eric and i left adam for a over a week (!) so we could go to costa rica, where we had an amazing vacation and were in a wedding for our friends, justin and rachel. getting there was a little hairy thanks to the TWO BLIZZARDS in a single week. but once there, thoughts of snow melted away and we had a fantastic time.

while we were away, adam split his time between eric's parents and my parents-- having a little vacation of his own. while we were spoiled with gorgeous sunsets, delicious south american beverages and sleeping in, he had his own fair share of spoiling too, i'm sure!

though it was nice to get away, we (of course) missed adam immensely and were SO excited to see him. my parents flew up with him from SC (way to go mom and dad!) and spent the weekend with us before heading home.

adam is growing up faster than ever and everyday he does or says something that i think- i must put that on his blog so i don't forget!- but no sooner do i think that, and then i can't remember anymore. since having adam, my short term memory has turned to mush. but i'll do my best...

-adam says a ton of words. some new ones are bananas (NANAS), pajamas, adam (yes, he points to himself and says something that sounds like ADD-AH. when i say, where is adam?? he points to himself.), belly, ears, eyes, home, snow (never thought i'd have a one-year-old who could say snow as one of his first words...!), please (sounds like MEES), up, down, feet, yes, help.... the list goes on.

- adam likes to go around our house pointing to people in photos and telling us who they are. mommy, daddy, baby, papa, otis, etc.

- when adam finds our shoes around the house, he brings them and tries to put them on our feet for us. he also frequently walks up to me in the kitchen or where ever i am and hands me the tv remote, my phone, a random hair tie or anything he finds lying around. i think he thinks he is being helpful. i always thank him and he has a very accomplished look on his face.

-adam has learned to kick his big ball and it is SO precious. he kicks it and chases it all over our house. i cheer him a lot and he seems very eager to please.

- i signed adam up for swimming lessons that start in two weeks at the rec center near our house and continue once a week until mid-may. i am excited but also nervous. last summer, adam FREAKED out in the pool and ocean. hopefully he's able to move past his fear this year. he loves his bath, so i hope the pool is warm...

- now that our trip is over and we'll be on a pretty steady schedule, back to normal, for awhile, we've decided to officially ditch the binky for good-- or the NEE NEE as adam calls it. this hasn't been easy, especially since he had full NEE NEE access during his time with grandparents. now that he has his word for binky and knows where they "live", he starts his naptime pointing to the top dresser drawer and pleading for NEE NEE?!!?? we're holding firm for lots of reasons and i know we'll be back to a NEE NEE free home again soon. i hope.

- adam did NOT like the snow. i knew i liked this kid! he freaked out when we set him in it. and finally he stopped crying but would NOT budge an inch in the stuff. he did eat some snow, which i am sure felt lovely on the big back teeth that have now broken through.

- sometimes, if eric or i am on the computer and adam is around, he will close the laptop and say ALL DONE! i think this is hilarious. like- get off the computer and play with me, you guys! (on that note, i have made a serious effort to cut out technology use in our house while adam is around/awake. i/we so rarely get to see him, with eric's schedule and even though i see him every day, a few hours in the evenings is just such a small amount of time. i started to feel like our tv was always just ON-- even though i didn't want to hear it and no one was watching. and, anything on the computer could wait until nap time or bed time. and i don't want to look at my blackberry either! ugh. so this week, we listened to music in the evenings instead of a blaring tv and it was SO much more pleasant. in fact, since monday, i haven't watched any television at all. nada.)

- about a month ago, i started telling adam to say HELP if he needed help. i had hoped to eliminate some whining and screaming that occurs when he can't get what he needs/wants and needs my assistance. it worked! now i hear a little ELP and i am happy to assist.

- i ask adam if he wants something or wants to do something and he can answer. rarely, he says yes. and mostly he says no by shaking his head. sometimes, we ask him if he wants to go night night and he walks to his crib and points inside. NIGH NIGH he says as he points.

-we have been singing row row row your boat to adam. now he sings the row row row part. of course, it's the easiest part :) but we are soooo over the moon when he sings too! he loves the itsy bitsy spider too and laughs every time i sing about the spider getting washed out.

-adam is just now getting into cars and trucks. he drives them around and makes car sounds for them. he has two little ones- a little bigger than matchbox cars- that he literally carried around today for hours. i can't imagine his little hands didn't hurt from holding them so long! he carried them around our house, in the car, through the grocery store, one in each hand for hours and hours.

last night, adam had a hurt foot and we have NO idea what happened. when we dropped him at daycare he was fine and when we picked him up he wouldn't walk more than a couple steps at a time before falling to his knees and crying. it was so sad and i felt terrible for him. this morning it was better somewhat. but that, coupled with his lingering cold (and his daycare class has been "exposed" to RSV recently [that's all they would tell me, grr], had me taking him to his pediatrician today.

his little foot was totally fine by the time we made it to the doc this afternoon. i can only assume that he had a daycare accident fueled by his recent courage in running and climbing. too often i see him standing on the edge of the couch - i wouldn't be surprised if in a split second he climbed on a slide or something and fell. or slid down and twisted his little ankle. it was pitiful, but short lived so i have decided to chalk it up to his boy-ness and move on.

now, this little cold has lasted forever and it is also so sad. this past weekend he had a fever and has had a runny nose and cough for what seems like weeks. his nose is raw and bleeds where it has been wiped so often (snot), despite me slathering it in vaseline like a crazy woman. THEN i find out his class has been exposed to rsv. his ped said it is rsv and there is nothing we can do. he's going to be staying home from daycare for a couple days to spare any kids who haven't already gotten it (likelihood=low). what a day!

THEN, to top it off... i mentioned before that adam is very into his new education in, um, bodily functions. tonight he had tons of toots and laughed and laughed. and then he continued his big toots in the tub. i have to admit that i giggled too b/c he was getting such a kick out of himself. and then, next thing i know, he got a red, familiar serious face.... and pooped in the tub!!!!! i couldn't even believe this had happened and immediately jerked him out. i mean seriously, moms get NO love. what the heck. all that i dealt with today-- dressing him, driving him in 6+ inches of snow to daycare, going to work, leaving work early to pick him up, running him to the doctor, coming home and trying to work from home while dealing with a sick, needy 1 year old, and theeeeeen, i get to clean poop out of our tub. lovely.

sigh.

in other news, i am trying to encourage adam's independence. lately, we let him pick his pj's every night, eric let him pick his clothes today, we let him pick his bedtime story too. it's fun (and funny sometimes) seeing what he picks. also, i have taught him to say "help" when he needs help instead of just whining and pointing. it sounds like he says AHP. he is still signing and saying MORE (sounds like MAH or MO). and i am trying to encourage MAH PLEASE! but to no avail... adam is still into babies and loves to point and say BABY. he also frequently points at photos of eric in our house and says DADDY when eric is not home. and, he has been waving at himself in the mirror and saying HI! totally hilarious.

adam has almost completely eliminated meats from his diet. i don't know if this is because of his cold or what. his school says he eats meat there (according to his daily report...) but at home i am lucky if he has a single bite of meat/protein. steamed broccoli, creamed spinach, peas and carrots, sweet potatoes, basically ANY vegetable and ANY breads or cheeses are about all that he'll eat. and fruit. so weird.

i want to remember...

- adam has started saying BUBBLE and BUBBLES. he says it often, but definitely when he sees bubbles, like in the bath.

- adam FINALLY says otis, in addition to dog woof woof. almost never dog without a woof woof. every animal is a DAWG woof woof. i think he forgot that he knew COW mooooo first.

- adam's teachers told me that when another kid cries, he rubs their back and tries to comfort. and, sometimes i see him bring otis' bone to him and stick it in otis' mouth.

- adam now definitely knows when he, ahem, cuts the cheese and looks my way and giggles every time. he also giggles when anyone else in our house (read: daddy!) does this. more and more signs that potty training is on the horizon.

- at bed time, we read to adam and we used to rock him awhile before saying nite nite and putting him in his crib. now, as soon as the book is over, adam points to his crib and says NITE NITE emphatically and repeatedly until we put him there. baby no more! without fail every night he gives me a kiss on the cheek before i put him down. such a sweet heart.

- in the mornings, after we put on coat and hat, adam walks to the door and say BYE BYE. he knows we're outta here!

- i've started to get adam in on the evening toy clean up. i sing a clean up song and adam helps me pick up the toys and carry them to his room to put the toys away. he is learning to pick up and carry the toys to his toy box. i am SO proud of this accomplishment and proud of myself for teaching him to take care of his own things.

la la la la life!

taking the stool on the road. mouth = third hand.

a good view of my barber work! not too bad, if i do say so myself, for my first ever haircut. it was time for the mullet to go.

sitting on his "adam" stool having some milk.

brusha brusha!

pre bath.

sketti.

obsessed with backin' it up and sitting on anything available, including the dog.

more photos and video at flickr.