A.B. Kagledom

Adlai had a mild fever, extra naps, and diaper unpleasentness last week which all seems to have been tied to the one molar that has yet to move completely through the gum. So the weekend started off with a crying jag. And by crying jag, I mean crying/screaming/yelling that lasted for HOURS. The kind of crying that could not be helped: taking him outside, carrying him everywhere, loads and loads of pacifiers, Tylenol - nothing worked.

Saturday evening, the Feefadders and our friends Lenore and Carl came over for a Passover celebration. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. Simon asked the four questions and found the afikomen after we couldn't take the crying any more and sent Adlai to bed for a very late nap. When he awoke, screaming as loudly as ever, Simon was having a wonderful time playing with Lenore and Carl in the backyard. We knew Adlai had to be hungry (having thrown all food offered) but we couldn't get him to eat until we came up with an idea. Is there NOTHING that would make him happy? What if we force fed him ice cream? Bite one: he screamed. Bite two: he screamed. Bite three: screaming. Bite four: hmmm, maybe this stuff isn't THAT bad? A couple of small bites later, we switched to yogurt and then to lamb and chicken. (We also administered Tylenol with the ice cream.)

After he ate, Adlai was funny and sweet and charming again. Go figure that food would make a growing boy feel better. Both boys stayed up late to play and went to bed very tired and happy.

And then it was Sunday and the crying started again. Alas, we did get some good egg hunting in to celebrate Easter before driving the boys into San Francisco for an afternoon with the Feefadders while we took a break and saw Wicked. Adali was as happy as could be (as was Simon) until we returned and it was time for dinner at a restaurant. We've decided not to eat out unless absolutely necessary until this crisis is over.

On the positive side, Adlai has figured out how to take my hand and walk me over to what he wants and then point. On the negative side, he has become a climber and insists on climing the chairs and tables and anything else that would cause a very bad fall.

And here we end with a random shot of Simon pre-egg-decorating. Be sure to check out the rest of the photos on Flickr! You can get there via the link at the top of the page or by clicking on any of the photos.

Posted by kagledom at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, so Adlai didn’t even attempt to spell his name in sticks. And, rumor has it, no one believed our April Fool’s Day joke this year anyway. Except for spelling his name in sticks, the rest of the post is true. Simon was leading the children in an exercise to connect the sticks via Bluetooth. Odd.

Adlai has come up with some new talents recently. He has also come up with a molar giving him nine teeth with a second molar on the way. Woo hoo! Who doesn’t love pain induced crankiness? New talents include puckering up and kissing on the lips, and singing “E I E I OHHHHHHHHHH” at every opportunity. It’s also really cute when he says “Banana” which comes out more like “ANANA.” You’ll just have to trust that it is super cute. He doesn’t even like bananas. Maybe this will be the week when we come up with another video featuring his new skills. No promises...

Posted by kagledom at 06:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So we were at the park yesterday. Simon made some friends and Adlai and another toddler tagged along to see what the big kids were up to. We're coming to an age when we can almost see the day when we won't have to be involved in the minute by minute activities of our children. This was one of those times. We had brought along a picnic blanket and Matthew and I sat on the sidelines and watched while our boys played.

Simon had gathered some sticks and said he needed to "make a connection" between the sticks using "Bluetooth." I laughed. How does Simon know about Bluetooth? Another parent stood by and remarked, "Only in Silicon Valley."

Simon led the kids in making some sort of structure "for connectivity." Adlai and another 15-month-old tried their best to integrate themselves into the group without getting into trouble.

Eventually, once the connectivity thing was about as exciting as a bunch of sticks can be, the older kids grew bored and moved on to other sandbox adventures. We remained on the blanket near the sticks and Adlai stayed nearby, putting sand in a bucket and moving the sticks here and there. After a while we noticed that he was doing the oddest thing.

Can you believe it? He spelled it INCORRECTLY. Poor Adlai, saddled with a name that no one, not even he, can spell.

Posted by kagledom at 01:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I’ve been terrible about the blogging lately. I keep hoping more time will suddenly present itself and then, once again, I’m disappointed. We have a lot of fun around these parts when the boys are awake and it doesn’t make sense to stop the fun to document the fun and, once the boys are asleep, we tend to spend our time cleaning, paying bills, cleaning, exercising, and cleaning.

Something happened to Adlai a week or so ago. He stopped being a baby and became a real boy. It is possible his new boyish haircut contributed to this change but I think it is more likely that looking like a boy and behaving like a boy is a coincidence. Here is my evidence:

Physical
Adlai has started to run and is working very hard at jumping. He uses his body to relay his feelings - falling to the floor in a heap of tears to denote frustration, running over with his arms out and hugging his sibling/parent. He rarely falls anymore and can navigate the toy obstacle course that is our living room floor (before the nightly cleaning). He can also scale the ladder up to the fort in the backyard and send himself down the slide. What’s even better is that he has started to sleep until 7 am (although, coincidentally, Simon has had trouble sleeping so we are not reaping the benefits).

Mental
He has come up with new words and understands what we say to a spooky degree. He points out that there is a “plane!” (in the sky) and “bird!” in the tree. Adlai loves birds. Ask him if he wants something and he’ll shake his head “no" or make a noise to mean “yes." If you give him the wrong thing his temper will flare and he’ll either collapse on the floor in tears or throw whatever you hand him even if it is, in fact, the object of his desire. His interest in cars has waivered but he is happy to point out every “Bus!” that goes by.

Interests
Adlai and Simon have started to really play together. A favorite game is to shout “Ready... Set.... Go!” and the boys run around the house or jump on something before falling into fits of laughter. We’ve gated the kitchen to keep them out and keep us sane. No more pots and pans and Tupperware strewn throughout the halls (less cleaning!) or hungry boys hovering while food is being prepared. Adlai has learned to insist on his morning outside time by grabbing on to the stroller outside the front door and shouting or bringing shoes to the nearest adult and walking them to the front or back door. While outside he likes to sweep, inside he spends a lot of time with his pretend vacuum, and he always wipes his tray clean after he eats (throwing all the food to the floor – again with the cleaning). Speaking of pretending, Adlai has learned to fake cry to garner sympathy. He is a very cuddly little boy.

We went to his 15 to 18 month check up yesterday where he was given two shots without much fuss and measured in with the following stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. 9 oz. - 12th percentile
Height: 31.25 inches – 54th percentile
Head Circ: 18.5 inches – 44th percentile
Look: Adorable

Posted by kagledom at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)