Adlai Turns Four: A Yearly Update
Dear Adlai,
Little man full of might - today you are FOUR!
Adlai at the park
This past year was full of so many great moments. You made lots of friends, you traveled to interesting places, and you did more on your own than ever before. You've accomplished so much. Here is some of that year in review...
Celebrating Simon's first day of second grade
You started swimming lessons immediately after turning three and, over the year, slowly overcame your fears of floating alone on a flotation ring and jumping into the water. You now insist that you can swim but we insist that we hold on - just in case. You learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. You know a lot of your letters and can even write a few of them like A, X, O, E and T. You can count to twenty, hop on one foot, and you say that you can read ALL BY YOURSELF (but you still prefer being read to). The only time you really relax is when someone starts to read a book. Reading transforms you. You become silent and attentive. You'll even sit for a full meal if someone reads and, if I threaten not to read the next page, you'll take a bite.
In Hawaii
Adlai "Glamping"at Coastanoa
On the train at Lemos Farm, Half Moon Bay
Coming in from the rain
We've also learned a lot this year. We know what frustrates you: imperfection in anything, not being able to read or write or draw like an adult, and not being in complete control of your surroundings. You know what frustrates us: calling us names, doing the absolute opposite of what we ask just to see what will happen, or being mean to your friends and family. We're trying to help you learn your way out of this - one tantrum at a time.
Adlai's Jack-O-Lantern
Adlai and Simon and the 2011 Valentine Cookie
Eating popcorn at the car wash
You're still an interesting eater. You love savory foods like Korean BBQ and miso soup, egg whites, and fish and leek dumplings. You like pasta with kale, caesar salad, sea weed, berries, and carrots. But if you are served something you don't want, which pretty much means anything on a children's menu or a lot of the things Simon likes, you'll just skip eating altogether and stay hungry. Hunger leads to cranky and NO ONE wants you to be cranky. You, my dear, have a bad temper and we've spent a lot of this year trying to work around anything that will make you angry without sacrificing our sanity or Simon's life experiences.
Making lunch on the Feefadders' deck
Tea time at Lisa's Tea Treasures
Slushies at Target
You still love playing with, reading about, or watching trains and train tracks and "ding dings" (railroad crossing signals). You've moved from wooden trains to plastic snap together tracks to Lego trains, but when you get bored of one type, you'll easily move back to another. What you REALLY want is official metal Lionel tracks and trains, and you insist that you're ready. "I won't break them!" you shout right before you run off to find a heavy and breakable object and fling it across the room.
Train show in Los Altos
On the Nut Tree train
On the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad
I kept all of the clothes Simon wore, but it turns out that hand-me-downs are useless. While Simon wanted to blend in to his surroundings, you want to stand out. You love brightly colored pants and shirts with trains and fun holiday underwear and socks. Sometimes you look at me, roll your eyes, groan and storm away because I've brought you the "wrong clothes." I care about fashion but you have rules about dressing and accessorizing that I don't fully comprehend. Maybe, one day, we'll browse fashion magazines together and then go shopping.
Adlai finally finds a hat that he will wear
Tidepooling at Moss Beach
You moved to the three to four-year-old room at preschool in the Fall, and according to your teachers, you are a social butterfly. You have complex relationships with your many little friends: you get into arguments, you make up, you even have the beginnings of a crush on a girl named "Jazzie." You do your best to be the ringleader; sometimes that goes well, sometimes it doesn't.
Plotting world domination
Party in the backyard with friends
Fancy cabin living in Coastanoa
You love humor. The funniest joke is always any object placed before the words "ON YOUR HEAD!" You love to listen to Junie B. Jones stories in the car to the point that you won't let anyone listen to anything else. Junie B. is about your age and usually means well but often finds herself in some humorous type of trouble. A silly troublemaker with the middle initial of "B"; that hits close to home.
Decorating for Halloween
"What color is my tongue?"
Hard at work in preschool
You've been on a number of trips this year: to Seattle in winter, Cape Cod in summer, and Hawaii in the fall. You're a good traveler these days, you love planes and busses and boats, but sometimes find yourself homesick and missing our very set routine. We went camping for Simon's birthday and you fell madly in love with everything about that adventure - including stories of the mice that ran around in the night while you slept. We went "glamping" (glamorous camping) in the fall which was also nice but not as fun as living in dirt for a night.
Mini-golf in Cape Cod
Sledding near Seattle
Wet in Hawaii
Camping in Big Basin
One of the more surprising events of the past year is your warm relationship with our cats. I always imagined Simon would chase them down and smother them with affection but, it turns out, that role has fallen to you. And smother them you do - literally - and, for reasons I don't understand, they can't get enough. Your favorite cat is Lily. Hana tried to sleep on your bed the other night and you woke up screaming "THERE IS A CAT!!!!!!" but if she had been Lily, you'd have no problem sharing your space.
Giving "love" to Hanalei
Exploring in Big Basin with Simon
Adlai won the cake walk at Simon's school
You are very shy around strangers and slow to warm up in new situations. You were scared and cried at Jazzie's gymnastics party a couple of weeks back but, 20 minutes later, you couldn't get enough of the complex gymnastic routines and decided you wanted to have the same party and take classes. It is strange how you have such trouble telling a stranger your name or saying "Hello." However, if you see someone doing something that you don't like you have no trouble marching up and telling them that they are bad or mean or WRONG. Indignation makes you brave. You'll make a great leader some day.
At the park
At the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum
In Hawaii
You fluctuate between being Mama's boy and Daddy's boy. It really depends on who snuggled up to you in the middle of the night when you were scared or who read the last book or managed to brush your teeth without tears. You haven't been a great sleeper this past year. You would much prefer someone be by your side at night. We tried giving that role to Simon, but he wasn't interested after finding out that you snore. You love and admire your brother more than any other person. I'm happy to report that you've finally figured out that hitting him, yelling at him, and taking his favorite toys does not make Simon want to play with you. This is a HUGE step and one which has led to hours of happy play over the last couple of months. Daddy and I spent an entire Saturday indoors recently because you two were playing so well and we didn't want to interrupt.
Frozen yogurt with Daddy
In Hawaii
Bike riding
Decorating eggs
Usually we're pretty active. You love to go places - especially if you are alone with one of your parents. I'm pretty sure we've been to visit every train (miniature to full size) in a 100 mile radius of our home as well as in Seattle and Hawaii. You have a freakishly good memory and can point out details of each of these trips with a "Remember when...." You also are very fond of libraries and museums. You love learning and are fascinated by science - particularly human biology. You want to know how everything in your body is connected and how it works. You made daddy show you pictures of teeth with cavities before you agreed to start using toothpaste on a regular basis. Daddy also explained how the sun will one day explode and you are thrilled by that idea. When I was showing you how there were only a few more weeks in the calendar you cheerfully pointed out that "there is this week and next week, and then the sun will explode and we will all die!"
We hope being clairvoyant isn't one of your talents.
Playing in Coastanoa
In Downtown Mountain View
You are a frustratingly stubborn, silly, smart, perfectionist, adorable and full of zest, and exhausting in your non-conformity. I am proud of you.
At the park
I love you and I wish you a very happy birthday.
Love,
Mama (Daddy, and Simon too!)
More?
Adlai turns three
Adlai turns two
Adlai turns one
Adlai is born
Even more?
Simon turns seven
Simon turns six
Simon turns five
Simon turns four
Simon turns three
Simon turns two
Simon turns one
Simon is born
December 18, 2010
Adlai Turns Three!
Dear Little Adlai,
Finally! Today you are three.
I'm sure you are wondering, is three old enough to rule the world? Or maybe that is four and three is when you are just in control of your family and a small country somewhere. We really need to find you that country. I'm hoping it is an island nation inhabited by people who have developed a keen sense of humor. They are going to need it.
Adlai, you are incredible and adorable and, well, let's just say… passionate. Little has changed about your personality this year. You are (not) large and definitely (not) in charge and, if we just would give in to your every desire, everything would be fine. OH MY GOODNESS, WHY WON'T WE GIVE IN?! It must be terribly frustrating.
I'm certain this bullish personality of yours is going to benefit you someday. At least no one is going to push you around. You started preschool in August three mornings a week and you are delighted to be old enough to be in school. Daddy took you there on the first day fully expecting to hang out for a while but you wouldn't have any of it. Daddy figured this out and said "OK, I'm going to leave now" and you said "OK, I'm going to stay." Your teachers describe you as silly and sweet and playful and kind. They tell me you play well with others and rarely get into trouble. They did, however mention that you can be incredibly stubborn. You are so nice to people outside your immediate family: you share, you give in, you eat what is in front of you without complaint, you even nap!
We've had kind of a rough time this year figuring out how to prevent the tears, anger, and frustration you are experiencing. For a long time, I brought home candy from work. For a while this prevented you from bursting into tears at the sight of me, shouting at me, and running from the room to slam the nearest door. Lately I've been attempting to spend fifteen or twenty minutes giving you individual attention as soon as I arrive. That sets you off on a good path - at least until dinner when the meal is, inevitably, placed in the incorrect location on the incorrect plate over the incorrect place mat sitting next to the incorrect cup, utensils, and beverage, all next to the incorrect sibling. There has been a lot of food squishing this year and I can't think of a single meal that ended with the utensils, napkins, and place mats all still on the table.
We brought home two cats in June. What is worse than food squishing or high pitched screaming or even drawing on floors and walls, is that you immediately started taking your frustrations out on them. On the positive side, they are getting exercise! When ever you enter a room, they head for the nearest crawl space. Simon somehow managed to completely overlook your hitting, biting, pinching, and yelling until just a couple of months ago when he had finally had enough. I think it was having you yell "Stupid!" or "I hate you!" or "Go away, Sie-min!" (while in his room) that finally did the trick. I wish he had never taught you those words. Daddy is thankful that we don't curse. You love and admire your brother so very much. You always want to know where he is and what he is doing and if you can do it too? I'm looking forward to being able to reason with you enough that you stop shooting yourself in the foot.
Contrary to what this sounds like, you are not in a perpetually bad mood. You can be so incredibly fun to be with - especially when you are alone with one of the three of us. You love to talk, you are curious, and you have great explanations. You use big words and complex sentences and hearing them come out of your tiny little mouth is overwhelmingly adorable which often leads me to lean in for a... "NO KISSING, MOMMY!" You love long baths and swings and moving trains around train tracks - around and around and around again. You never grow tired of trains but your true love is railroad crossing signals. You also love lighthouses and bell buoys, but they are harder to find. You love music (except when you "Hate music!") and pretend play and crafts. I'm positive that we have enough of your preschool art to paper an entire room and the year isn't even half over yet. You often ask for us to have a "dance party!" You run around in circles and jump and ask to be picked up so that we can swing you until you are dizzy.
You like to make silly faces and use words like "stinky!" and "fart!" and "poo poo!" Even when we get you up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and you are half asleep, you still have the presence of mind and comic timing to blame passing gas on who ever is around. You love to help. You expect nothing less than to be a full participant in the preparation and dolling out of meals. You prefer to carry things three times your weight and size, especially liquids and objects that are breakable, and insist that you can do it "All by myself!" A few times this year we went to theme parks and you were absolutely thrilled to be able to go on a rides all by yourself. You went around and around and around for as many times as the attendants would allow. You enjoy reading and movie nights with friends and big kid Legos. You talk about friends you've made at school. "Logan" is currently your best little buddy. We're going to meet Logan at your birthday party! I'm excited to watch you play with the first friend you have made entirely on your own.
You've had a fairly busy travel year. You've been to Houston, Southern California, Hawaii, New York, and Cape Cod. You were mostly good - easily entertained with train stickers, cartoons, snacks, and numerous binkies. It was only when you grew over-tired that you started your high pitched screams and threw binkies at fellow passengers.
I took a Friday off in July just after you turned two-and-a-half and, over the long weekend, we potty trained you to the point that we haven't used a single diaper or pull-up since. I was amazed at how quickly you understood what I was asking you to do. I was amazed that you did it. Since we successfully potty trained, we figured the next step was the big-boy-bed which we bought you in September. You were thrilled to have the new bed in your room! One of these days, we are going to figure out how to make you sleep in it. We really miss being able to put you to bed and expect that you won't wake up until morning. In November, over the Thanksgiving holiday, we planned to wean you from the binkies. You may love binkies even more than trains but when I started to cut the tips off of the binkies in preparation for their departure, you jumped the gun and decided that broken binkies were totally yucky. We took you to the Build-a-Bear workshop and you chose a "bear" to build, chose a binky to put inside, and we gave the rest of the binkies to the cashier as payment (along with a credit card). Now the stuffed animal reminds you of what you don't have and that makes you angry.
Last weekend we went out to breakfast at Starbucks, just the two of us, and you went off by yourself to find a table while I ordered. When you couldn't find one available, you waited patiently until a family left and then we sat together so politely, sipping our drinks, dabbing our mouths with our napkins. You had a tantrum when I tried to hand you your scone. It wasn't good anymore because I had attempted to assist you in getting it off of the high counter. I threatened to take you home for acting up and, finally, you relented. That is until you saw that the barrista had written your name on your cup of warm milk. "NO DRAWING ON MY CUP!" you yelled and then you took off toward the barrista and told her "NO DRAWING ON CUPS!" before bouncing back to your seat with a big smile, so proud of yourself for telling an adult how things should be.
That is so you: my Jekyll and Hyde, outspoken and shy, sweet and salty, little big boy. I love you.
Happy Birthday, Adlai!
Love,
Mama, (Daddy, Simon, Lily, and Hana too)
More?
Adlai turns two
Adlai turns one
Adlai is born
Even more?
Simon turns six
Simon turns five
Simon turns four
Simon turns three
Simon turns two
Simon turns one
Simon is born
August 18, 2010
32 Months and Counting
As you might expect, a lot has happened to the wee Adlai over the past two months. We've been in summer vacation mode so a lot of his time was spent playing with Simon and terrorizing the cats. Grammy came for a visit (twice, actually) and chased him down when he ran into the darkness just before the 4th of July fireworks went off over Shoreline Amphitheater. We went to the Santa Cruz Mountains in July to ride Thomas the Train and meet his train friends and, in August, Matthew took the boys to New York to visit Grandma Whee - I joined them a few days later in Cape Cod to spend time with the Feefadders.
At his 2.5 year old check up, Adlai weighed in at 28 pounds and was 36.5 inches tall putting him firmly in the super thin and super light category. He is above average in height but not extremely so and he is very healthy and very verbal. He can also be very cranky and very very loud.
The weekend after the 4th of July I decided to give "3 day potty training" a try and, to our astonishment, it worked. It has been a month and a half and he hasn't had a single poop accident and hasn't worn a diaper or pull up! (He occasionally still has to be reminded to take a break to pee and we have to wake him up in the middle of the night for him to make it until morning.)
Once Adlai was potty trained, he started to insist he be treated like a big boy. No more sippy cups. No being treated differently from Simon. (Of course, this doesn't apply to pacifiers which he still loves.) His "Baby Elmo" doll is no longer offered love and affection. The big boy bed is on order and should arrive next month (all of the train themed bedding is already here). He seems excited for the change. Adlai starts preschool this Friday and insists he is going to send Daddy home (even though Matthew is more than willing to stay to help him adjust).
So it looks like we've lost our baby. It's just a shame he didn't take the screaming fits with him.
Here are some photos from the summer:
Cape Cod
Adlai on the train - Day Out With Thomas
Simon on the train - Day Out With Thomas
Adlai in his new bike seat directing Matthew
Simon on his new bike
June 22, 2010
Adlai at Two and a Half
Little Adlai, at two and a half, is completely adorable and overwhelmingly destructive. He gets into everything and loves to make a mess! It is especially fun to throw food! And toys! And chase the cats! He is exhausting only because, if you don't hear him chattering away, he is likely to be silently causing chaos. A few weeks ago we lost him for ten minutes only to discover him in the bathroom having emptied the toilet water into the trash can and filled the toilet with all of our bottles of lotion. Fun!
Here he is yesterday playing with me in the backyard with some Moon Sand:
(He falls at the end of the video but was not hurt and, in fact, insisted on watching the video over and over while laughing at himself.)
He has a real independent streak. Last week he went on a ride by himself at Great America and I only managed to get him off after he rode ten times in a row:
After exiting, he yelled, "I DID IT!"
It's a good thing he's cute.
May 14, 2010
Breaking Potty News
Adlai pushed Matthew out of his room and closed the door this evening telling him he needed to "poop." A few minutes later he proudly walked out of his room with his rear completed covered in poop. He had removed his diaper, sat on his little potty, and attempted to get the poop into the potty. Unfortunately, the poop didn't actually make it IN to the potty (he lifted the wrong seat) but, hey, this was his first ever attempt so we are very proud.
THREE jelly beans proud!
May 13, 2010
Adlai the Performer
Adlai will be two and a half next month, can you believe it? He's turning out to be quite the interesting guy. Most days he can keep his terrible two crankiness down to a minimum - enough to enjoy the affection and attention of his doting older brother. That makes everyone happy. They've been playing together quite a bit - dancing, singing, splashing, swinging outside, collecting dirt, and generally acting like the goofballs they are. Simon is very good at picking up on Adlai's obsession with train crossing signals and can easily distract him from a bought of frustration with talk of "ding dings." And, on his part, Adlai is using his words more. Tonight, after their bath, he told me "Simon squeeze fishy in water and make it rain!"
For a few nights in a row, they've been enjoying singing together and putting on a little show for Matthew and I. First, here is Simon "singing" the Star Spangled Banner:
Then Adlai wanted a turn with his favorite song "Lollipop" ("His kiss is sweeter than an APPLE PIE!"):
And, if you watched, now you know why we aren't betting on their future as opera stars but they sure are cute.
April 21, 2010
Dancing to Billy Joel
OK, OK, so I've skipped a lot. I haven't written about Easter or Spring break, or Simon losing his first tooth or Adlai's adventures with potty training or just how darn smart and cute he is these days. I'll get to that (soon?). However, this evening the boys were dancing and I decided to record the event for your visual pleasure....