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....
April 20, 2010
Passover
As the two of you who still check this site probably guessed, that last post was for April Fools Day. No, we don't plan on having an entire family move into the garage. Hey, we're running out of ideas over here. Bonus points for anyone who counted the "children" in the photo.
Passover was spent in San Francisco with the Feefadders.
Simon and I dyed the eggs earlier in the day (during Adlai's nap).
We later cracked the eggs on our foreheads.
Simon asked the four questions by READING them (!) out of his book.
Adlai felt all grown up with a glass plate and cup and preppy outfit.
Simon volunteered to try the pickled herring and liked it!
Grandfather lost the afikomen!
The boys found the afikomen and exchanged it for gifts!
All around everyone was in good spirits and had a great time.
April 01, 2010
Family
Things have been going really well for us lately. The kids have been great. My new/old job is going well. Matthew is working on making his video game idea a reality. Also, as some of you know, we had a friend living with us recently, which turned out to be really nice - fun, even! The boys enjoyed having an extra adult around and we enjoyed having someone to chat with after they went to bed. He has since moved into a rental which has left our "garage" aka "bonus room" without much use.
So we started thinking, what should we be doing with the extra space? It feels bad just to let it sit and we can always use extra money to help with the mortgage. Of course renting it out wouldn't really work since we still use part of the space for storage and laundry. We began to consider if there was a way to rent the space without charging much and while benefiting our entire family.
Enter the Barres. We met some friends who had recently worked with a relief organization after the earthquake in Haiti. While there, they met a really nice family who had lost their home and were interested in starting over in the United States. They lived in a small apartment before and don't mind that we have limited (and shared) space. He is trained as a software engineer, she is a domestic goddess and their nine kids are delightful.
The kids
So we're going to try something new. Michelle will take care of all of the children when they are not in school leaving Matthew time for more contracting gigs. She'll make the kids meals and prepare dinner on most nights. Beaudoin will be looking for work in the area once his visa clears. Their kids will attend our local public school starting in the Fall.
We're all really excited about this new adventure!