Busy Boy

Maddox and Adrian

Pony Rides at the Farm
Adrian, Rowan, Maddox at the Farm

Swinging-Library Park

Chicken Fingers-a whole new meaning

Goofball

Flying Goofball

"GAGA!"

Posing with his babies "Cheese"

Avery Park

Pretending to be tough guys

Pretending to be a rabbit

Water that little brain...

Devilish Grin--so excited to fly on an airplane (Oct 29 to Nov 5 to NJ) and have his own suitcase

Puzzle Practice...smart boy

Autumn is upon us...the cool air in the morning and the heat during the day and then confusion by evening...how am I supposed to dress for this weather...well...take it from Adrian...sweatshirt and flip-flops covers all potential.

Counting to 9: 1-2-3-laugh, 4-5-6-laugh, 7-8-laugh, 9!!!

Knows red, white, green, orange, and sometimes yellow. Learning blue and black and purple and all others.

Loves rocket ships, dinosaurs, cars and trucks and especially 'wooowooos' aka 'firetrucks' because he's "Adrin" (as he says it) and a 'Fighter'. At the video store, Adrian got to see a firetruck and ambulance and ems help someone who passed out. Since he sat and watched the whole time until the unblocked our car, he got two stickers and a fireman told him that he's a 'junior fire fighter'! He was so excited he could barely say 'thank you' and stood there with his mouth hanging open and was practically drooling (which he does when he's concentrating very hard on something).

Must be rocked to sleep at night (he gets one minute or twenty rocks and then falls fast asleep in his bed with his new pillow he calls 'squish').

And what happened to letting him dress himself, well sometimes it's just faster to help a 2 year old...patience is key at this age. Even I find myself saying 'hurry' and know that's not fair or even comprehendable to a two year old. Sometimes we race but I must always give myself time for him to observe and learn aka be distracted by every little thing and turn a run into the library into a field trip to explore the elevator, bathroom and all the rows of books while attempting to play hide and seek. No Daddy did not get any movies or books...somewhere my patience goes out the window and that was it...but I figure Daddy didn't miss what he didn't have and also it's the thought that counts...but we didn't want to tell him that or else he would have missed what he didn't have...I know him.

What else: Talking up a storm, singing songs, 'what's that? what's this?', proud of himself, shows off, loves to jump, run races, still has good manners-is now saying 'you're welcome' if someone says thank you to him, loves to use public restrooms whenever we're out-doesn't miss a chance, PRETENDING-so cool to watch him talk to his people, cars, Loves the dogs and enjoys having licking wars with Harley-so gross I know, Also drinks out of the dog's water bowl like a dog-also not encouraged, does chores with mommy and daddy like pick up toys, fill the dog's water bowl, the cat's food bowl, and help put dishes away, cook/mix/makes coffee. Very helpful...I should probably have more if they can all be this helpful.

Anyways... still only 3 feet tall and 27.8 lbs...but that brain sure is growing.

Jumping Castle

Tour de Fat 2010 Fort Collins

A PRACTICE RUN

Adrian and Barry had a blast at Tour de Fat! Barry of course built a contraption and rode it backwards much of the time. Adrian had fun...he's a people watcher!


THE REAL RUN





All while Mommy was in Wisconsin at friends Monica and Brandon's wedding with friends Patti and Erin. Adrian did great and had a fun weekend with Daddy :) Got to see Milwaukee and a lake with waves, eat cheese curds and enjoy some time away with the girls.

September

We're going to NJ from Oct 29 to Nov 5th for Ronnie and Romi's Halloween Wedding! Adrian's going to be a ring bearer :)

Adrian can now recognize red and green and can point them out consistently. Driving in the car, he says 'green go!' when the light turns green.

This weekend I'm going to WI to a friend and coworker's wedding. Adrian is staying home with daddy and they are riding bikes in Tour de Fat!!
Happy Labor Day Weekend!

August

I would like to ask 'where has August gone?' actually 'where has the summer gone?' It's getting dark earlier and getting cooler...except yesterday which was 98 degrees.

My Adrian is getting big and talking a lot. Things are going well though and he's a good boy...I count 1-2-3 and then he gets a consequence. He usually listens by 2. Doesn't really bother him but it gives him a choice at least. My biggest issues I discipline for 1. not listening to mommy when mommy says to do something 2. Running away from mommy in public and not wanting to hold hands or sit in cart. 3. Biting, hitting, pinching, scratching. Timeout still works and he usually stays for at least a minute or two...always says sorry too. He says sorry if you get hurt and he was in the other room. He says excuse me, when rushing or squeezing past someone, he says thank you to everything he gets and bless you when you sneeze. He has the best manners :)
Had our first night time accident last night...of course it was in mommy and daddy's bed but on daddy's side...haha. I now have two mattress pads on our bed...since he often ends up there still. He's taken a liking to Dinosaurs!!! He likes to read about and watch "my Caillou" as he calls it. Likes toy trains. train stories, Thomas the Train, and real trains! Also enjoys 'Little Einsteins' show. He actually likes TV in general and is a TV head. It bother's me and he doesn't get to watch too much but he definitely watches more than I though I'd ever be ok with. I did not grow up with a TV in the home until I was at least 12. It makes me feel good that he LOVES to read. Went to the library this evening to pick out books.
Signing off till next update....too tired to think anymore.

27 Months Old

Adrian is fully potty trained since July 26th...All night, All day, Everyday! We don't wear diapers anymore!!!! Rarely have accidents either although those may happen.
The secret to our success: he's a genius! Maybe, but we just started potty training around 18 months with standing at the potty to pee then the last week or two of July we encouraged him to poop on the potty (or accidently on the floor or outside...)since we just didn't put a diaper on him at home most of the time. Anyways...he was easy and some kids just are. A trick for wiping-have him touch his toes.
Now what to do with my diaper stock pile.....??? Well, some ideas are that we can pretend Adrian is a baby and put a diaper on him as he really really wanted last night....just to rip it promptly off...or we could dress every stuffed animal in a diaper...the dog and Hamburger the cow had one on too last night.

PHASES and ACCOMPLISHEMENTS OF A TWO YEAR OLD:
1. Crying and Whining
2. Hitting and Pinching and Scratching
3. Putting Self in Timeout when Naughty
4. Blowing Rasberries on Mommy at Innapropriate Times and Places (Like my Face or Foot)
5. Loves To Read, Color, Play PlayDo, Practice Cutting with Scissors
6. Playing with Friends and Cousins
7. Singing :)
8. Dressing Self and Undressing Self (Even in the Restaurant Waiting for our To Go Order) including Putting Shoes On and Off By Himself
9. Buckling Self Into Carseat
10. Sitting Still During Haircuts and No Longer Getting Hysterical

Potty Trained....Almost

My little boy is growing up so fast. He wakes up dry...naps and bedtime!!! He pees in the potty all the time. He wears "unders" and can go potty by himself. He usually poops out in the back yard band sometimes in the potty but I don't think I've had to change a diaper in quite some time. I take him out places without diapers on all the time now so pretty soon we won't even use them anymore! Tonight he's wearing cloth training pants so hopefully it will be uncomfortable if he pees in the night. I still give him water at night too so I'm thoroughly impressed.
We have a sticker chart in the bathroom as well as 'chocwat' which right now is gummy frogs. He doesn't ask for 'Chocwat' if we're not at home and still successfully uses the potty.

Talking is amazing! 'Dinosaur' and all sorts of other big words and sentences. He copies whatever I say when I'm on the phone. He sings 'tinkle tinkle' and other songs. He and his cousin have conversations and use manners with each other 'please and thank you and sess you (bless you) and scuseee (excuse me)." He is also whining and throwing fits so much more. The 'throw yourself on the floor quite dramatically and cry because mommy tried to help me or touched me' kind of fits. I just walk away. Drives me craaaazy! Also kicking, throwing things at and hitting mommy and daddy when I'm mad stage is here and/or back. Timeout is instantaneous even if he misses (at least with mommy).

Adrian is also a very big helper. He helped mommy make pumpkin bread last weekend and he helps clean up and pick up and feed his toads and clean himself in the bath and water plants and find things.

We've enjoyed a bike ride and picnic in the park with Daddy last week, going to the river this past weekend, taking walks and playing with the neighbor kids, hanging out with cousin Cavyn on Mondays, and the hot weather. We have not enjoyed mommy working late hours at her demanding job, all the drama happening around us, and the fact that the summer is flying by so quickly.

Summer Fun

Hanging at the Poudre River July 18 2010

Chasing Wildlife at the Farm

Splish Splash...taking part of a photo shoot for the Coloradoan
Cousin Cavyn got to be in the newspaper as did the back of Adrian's head...next time perhaps....

Awww...cousins

Little CowPoke

June 24-28th New Jersey

Adrian did great on the airplane to NJ for PopPops 50th Birthday Camping Trip! Daddy thinks we need to get to the aiport 2 hours before our flight, mommy likes to get to the airport, get on the plane and leave! Mommy won with more than enough time to buy coffee and eat McD's for breakfast! We had to buy Adrian his own seat at full price since he's over the age of 2 and looks like he's almost 3. He sat in it most of the time. He loved going 'up up up' and eating fruit snacks to make his ears pop. We had a layover in Dallas/Fort Worth. We walked from gate C17 to C39 only to be sent back to C20. That's only a hassle when you're carting 2 carryon size suitcases, a backpack a kid backpack, a mommy bag, a carseat and a kid with no stroller who likes to walk in front of oncoming traffic and a pack mule daddy. It wasn't that bad but it sure was a hassle.
Daddy drove us out of NY city in rush hour traffic and then up to Kymer's to go camping Thursday night to Sunday morning. Adrian had so much fun-making friends with all the girls in the campground, swimming, catching bugs, sleeping in the loft, dancing on the deck, getting to know his Aunt Leanne, Uncle Shane, Mima and PopPop. Also got to see Aunt Ronnie and soon to be Uncle Romi! Said hi to Great Gma Phyllis when we first got to NJ also. Cousin Neelie, Bob and Gianna, Ethan and Dylan stopped by and we all got to meet the boys. We ate delicious food every day-taylor ham sandwiches for breakfast which we miss out on living in CO, chocoloate chip pancakes, brazilian style spinner chicken :), mussels, clams, filet mignon, I could go on....we had a feast for PopPop's Birthday! Adrian helped blow out the candles on the cake
Then on Sunday morning we went to spend the day/night with mommy's family Aunt Sharon, Uncle Joe, Eric and Justin. Great Grandpa and Aunt Ann and Cousin Lauren all came over for dinner. Grandpa brought mommy a birthday cake :) We relit the candles fo Adrian to blow them out. Adrian loved all the attention and time with his family! Mommy loved having a break from work and being with family too!
Sadly on the way back, mommy left her phone and all the pictures on it in the airplane. Someone has not sent it back yet (United Airlines).

July 4th and Toads

Adrian had a blast with all the fireworks! Since it rained in the afternoon (and he didn't have a nap until 6pm till 8:30), we watched fireworks at home. Barry's friend Steve is visiting from NJ and bought $200 worth of big fireworks from WY!! The illegal kind. There was about a 3 hour show all combined. Afterwards. Adrian, mommy, granma and 'papa' drove up Horsetooth to watch all the fireworks all over Fort Collins, including the show at City Park! The day before we went to a BBQ at Aunt Laurie's and Barry made home-made salsa and Barry and Steve set off lots of fireworks there too! There was a swimming pool set up and a fire!

In other news, we found the perfect pets! Toads! Don't need to be handled...actually are mildly toxic. Feed 3x a week, water daily! Found 2 of them near Aunt Laurie's kiddie swimming pool and put them in the bug catcher. They didn't die of shock from being handled by 2 very excited little boys so we took them home and set up a terrarium in Adrian's room. He was so excited the first night that he actually slept next to the little cage all night! What a perfect cuddly pet toads make :) Little did I know they could live 10 years before I brought them home. What have I gotten myself into now? Just when the pet to human ratio was equaling out.

And one more...

Or so we thought it was a good idea....

Pictures....

Trying out the new undies...new hat...new boots!

Avery Park, FoCo

Loving on the daddy!

One...Two...Three...Jump!

Big climber!

What mom? What?
4 Bugs in a Bed

Summer Pics Continued...

Walking the blankie...

Oh the faces we make....

Downtown FoCo...sitting on a bear!

__________________________________________________________

That fountain does not look safe to me....

RRRUUUUNNNN!

June Pictures: Enjoying Summertime!

Cowboy Bob!

Farmer loves his sheep.

Playing at Gma D's with "Camyn"

Team Toddler!

Weekend Plans

Old Man Jerry Cat!

We're garage sale-ing tomorrow! Got ready for it tonight with Julie, Chris, Cavyn and Adrian! Ordered chinese and priced each and every item. Barry skipped out to go camping with Uncle Judah.

Sunday is Father's Day-We'll just BBQ here at the house. Surf and Turf on sale everywhere!!

Work is busy-lots to do in the last 3 days before we leave! I don't even have time to plan our trip at this point...which reminds me that I need to pack this weekend also.

Adrian is not sleeping well in his big boy bed. He wakes up an average of 7 times a night which means I wake up at least 7 times a night. He said he wanted his crib back tonight so I propped the rail against his bed and he talked himself to sleep and didn't cry once. I think we like the crib idea still and aren't ready for the big boy bed just yet. Fine with me if I get some sleep ;) There is no need to grow up fast, that will come soon enough.

Still doing well, peeing in the potty. Now he says 'come see' and demands 'chocwat'!

Another current cute saying is 'I see you!' and "I hide.'

Adrian is so tall at 35" that everyone always compares their three and four year olds to him. He's gonna be tall like his grandads!

Anyways...must be up early to set up the garage sale so I better go to bed now! Hopefully Adrian will sleep in and I'll sleep all night :)

25 Months

Adrian is a big talker these days...oh wait...he's always been a big talker. He says things like 'are you ok?' 'what's happening?' "I want chokwat' (chocolate), 'I want wimins' (vitamins). 'I want outsiiiide."
He's refusing to sit in his high chair anymore and prefers to sleep in "mommy's bed". Last night he was kicking Barry out of bed, no matter where Barry tried to lay, he threw a fit and kept kicking and subsequently landed in his own bed. Tonight he dissapeared and I found him curled up in the dark on my bed ready for sleep. He has not been falling right to sleep since his 2 year bday. He'll stay up and talk for at least 20 minutes no matter when I put him down...I've tried earlier and I've tried later.
He's getting better at eating more textures...didn't spit any grapes out tonight. Usually he gets thrown off by skins or tougher textures. Dip Dip helps most things go down though. Still loves fruit, yogurt, avocados, hotdogs, and soy soy (soymilk). He's an all around healthy eater though and will try anything.
He's only 35" tall. I measured the other day...after the doctor visit had him measured at 36". And I thought he was getting taller.
Adrian pees in the potty whenever he's running around naked. Unless he's outside-somehow little boys think it's ok to pee whereever they are when outside. I never even encouraged it. Weird. No pooping in the potty yet though. He still baracades himself in the corners arranging all sorts of furniture around him. I try reasoning with the 2 year old that the bathroom is much more private and that I can still see him despite his attempts. One step at a time: in the bathroom is number one.
I've been working a lot lately-9 hours every day for the last couple weeks. Not too bad since we spend time together in the morning and then Barry has more time with him in the evening. Makes for a rushed dinner/bedtime routine though. Luckily I have an excellent cook for a husband!

June 24-28 we're headed to NJ! We're going out to celebrate PopPop's 50th Birthday!

Big Boy Update

My baby has a stuffy nose :(
He's been sleeping through the night lately which is fun news!
He took off a poopy diaper for Barry this evening and said "stinky" and threw it in the trash...now all we have to do is the toilet practice part. He pees in the potty on his own if he's naked otherwise he just wets his pants or diaper. We run around naked a lot and he'll go when he needs to. Still haven't mastered pooping on the potty yet though.
He's talking up a storm. He's whining a little less as we went through a whiney period.
He loves visiting Gma D on Mondays and taking walks with Gma and Papa on nice days!

Adrian went to his friend Ashden's birthday party last Saturday.

Smarty Pants

Adrian introduced me to the stranger standing in line at the store this evening...pointing...'that my mommy'! What a social bug he is!
He's starting to show more of his likes and dislikes. He knows what he wants...but he's stubborn and doesn't want to say please first or to sit in his carseat. He wants to get his mommy to get him things without asking with manners and he wants to sit in the front seat instead of his carseat.
In the morning when we make our usual turns to Papa and Grammy's house, he says 'no that way' and tries to get me to take him with me to work. He says it before we turn which makes me think he has his father's sense of direction, and not my sense of confusion. Probably a good thing.
When I dropped him off to Gma D's on Monday, his face lit up and he waved wildly, "Hi! Hi!" then ran to climb into the carseat without being asked twice. "Bye Mom!" What a treat to have extended family in his life almost daily!
Uncle Bobby left today on the greyhound bus for Portland. Next stop: Alaska! Working for Princess Cruise Ships/Hotels for the summer with some friends! We'll see him again in September. Adrian is already missing him. He loves his uncle "Bobbo" "Bobby" "BobBob"...whatever name of the day he decides to call him!

Tall and skinny

Went to the Dr. Capes for our 2 year well check Friday evening. Opted out of the chicken pox vaccine as well as the flu vaccines this year. Everything about Adrian looks good. He's a little skinny for his height but no concerns...26lbs puts him at 36th percentile for weight while 36inches tall puts him at 90th percentile for height. Dry bumpy skin (inherited from mom)-should decrease the baths and use Eucerin lotion daily. Which we use anyway. Doesn't have to see a dentist till 3 years old.

Height Predictor Adrian will likely be 6 ft 2 in by the age of 18. Both great grandfathers are very tall, as well as lots of tall people scattered throughout both sides of the family.

Today I made lima bean soup, spinach mashed potatoes, and sweet potato applesause to freeze for Adrian's healthy lunches (and dinners when we're running late). I still cook, puree, freeze in baby food jars some of his food because he eats it best when it's mush. I don't care as long as he eats healthfully and I don't have to substitute junk for organic or natural fruits and vegies and protein options. Making it is WAAAY cheaper than buying the 50%+ watered down baby food at the store. I froze individual (baby food jars) sized servings of edamame for Adrian in chicken stock with a dash of soy. Ready to eat! I also made some banana bread and steam cleaned the upstairs and cleaned out 1/2 the refridgerator. Sometimes I forget to finish a task when I have too many going... I also intended on making a couple dishes of lasagna to freeze for weekday dinners but alas got carried away with the rug cleaning. Adrian ran mad dashes and crazy circles on the wet carpet for at least 1/2 hr straight and still didn't want to go to sleep past regular bedtime hour.

Last night I gave Adrian a bath, then hopped in the shower with him to rinse off myself. We got out and he went downstairs to run in circles naked all the while screeching at the top of his lungs (you could call this activity 'normal' in our house)....then I hear the door open and then the screen door slam. I barely got my robe on before I run outside and he was already at the sidewalk and as soon as he saw me, dashed straight into the street. He was still naked and it was just getting dark outside. Of course a neighbor is walking their giant dog and our dogs get out and the other neighbor dogs have to walk over to investigate. 5 dogs, a naked baby, mom in her bathrobe barely and a neighbor (who we don't know well enough to chat with while barely dressed). My cat Turtle, was probably outside also because he never likes to miss a chance to take a walk with his family.

Needless to say, this fun hullabaloo was followed by a 'timeout'. It is so hard to impress my fear of Adrian getting run over to a two year old, who answers that 'I want out' and is 'all done' with timeout. 'Fun, mom. Thanks but done now...next activity could be you chasing me and wrestling me down to brush my teeth. That makes you laugh, you say because now you are happy I have clean teeth but I think because you think you've won! Wahahaha!'

Another new fun 2 year old activity is 'breaking bowls'. 2 in 2 days. 'Is mom going to assume I learned my lesson and give me another expensive, special, ceramic bowl, or has she learned her lesson and will now only use cancer ridden plastics to serve me my nutritious and delicious snacks?'

Some other new tricks include 'I pinch'. 'I scratch', and hair pulling. I'm sporting a scratch across my chest for the 'I pinch' and 'I scratch' attack. Also we're back to pushing babies over and hitting them stage. We love drawing murals on the floor and the underside of the train table. On the bright side of life, Adrian's attention span has dramatically increased....he will sit through many books in a row/all if you keep going, and long stories including Curious George at 48 pages long. Then he says 'again?'. This attention span include playing with toys, by himself, and alas, staring at the tv (although this is rare when mom is around.) Calliou, Handy Manny, Sesame Street, in spanish Plazo Sesamo, and Little Einsteins are the shows he's been allowed to watch so far. Adrian loves animal planet and discovery shows of insects and animals as well. Listing those makes it seem like he watches a lot of tv however this is not the case, nor is it encouraged.

Playing outside is still the most favorite pasttime of this 2 year old. He gets daily walks when at Papa Tim's and G'ma Linda's. There is also a park to play at, a dog run with obstacle course, a pool, and a nearby bridge to throw rocks into the water.

Adrian uses sentences...3 words and more at a time. He can say most words now. He is babbling again but in paragraphs and using some sort of jibberish that is new to our ears. He whines because he knows some will give attention for it and because some get attention for it. Monkey see, Monkey do.

This evening, he found a little black beetle and let it crawl on his hand and looked at through his bug magnifying glass. Then he set if free outside, as we had done with the spider a few days ago. What a good and useful memory!

Ok that's enough update for now..my eyes are blurrily seeing double double

"Pider"

Adrian was crying earlier..."I want more pider"...yes...we caught and let a jumping spider go free and he wanted to find more and catch them...sad day when no more spiders are to be found in the toybox :(Oh to be 2 and have no fears...I'm trying not to socialize fear into him...although I did tell him not to touch the spider b/c it would bite him out of fear for his own life. I don't think he understood yet, however that spider probably understood it was good to be very afraid of a two year old giant.

Went to Denver today, had lunch with Fabien at his elementary school! Adrian made all the children laugh over and over by running away and making Fabien chase him down to bring him back to the table. He would sneak then bolt and laugh when the other kids laughed. Fabien took Adrian and showed him off to all of his friends, his little 'cousin'.

2 Year Old: Party

Adrian is 2!!!! We had a nice bbq birthday party! Lots of people came to celebrate our baby boy! The weather even held out with a few sprinkling raindrops and we ended the night with a release of 2 of our bday balloons...they're on their way right now to visit gma and gpa in Maui! They're both red and say Happy 2nd Birthday in case you see one floating by.

Quick Update

23 Months

Adrian refers to himself as 'Addrin' and calls his cousin "Ashden" his old friend's name. He tries to say Cavyn and came up with 'Tim' somehow or another.
Adrian pees in the potty all the time like a big boy standing up! He hates wearing a diaper and will take it of any chance he gets!
His favorite activiities are playing outside, squirting water bottles, playing aka fighting with his cousin and neighbor kiddos.
Saying full sentences and more and more.
Uncle Bobby is visiting for a month :) Adrian loves his 'Uncle Bobby" and "Uncle Duuduu or Duudah" (Judah).
Only one more week of training and then I'll be done and in town all week. That will be nice since Adrian wakes at night and cries and makes Barry search the house for me. They have fun together though.

I have to start planning his Bday soon. We're doing a BBQ at the house on May 2nd Sunday!

Spring is near....

So this week is week 4 out of 8 weeks of training. I am currently down in Parker CO at the 3 days per 7 weeks of training at the University Center at Chapelle with the Buttler Institute who does some of our training. It's a great training and I'm learning a lot. Actually, despite how long it seems to take, I think that the material and time to process it is necessary. I feel lucky that I get training before being given a case load and having to figure it out as I go. The days I am now down her in Parker, I am learning in the office and shadowing activities and other workers. At times I feel pretty overwhelmed by this new responsibility and at other times I feel ready to start already.

Adrian is doing great with me being gone for so much of the time which just attests to his good relationship with his daddy. Barry even gets him to bed earlier than I do :) He must appreciate his free time more than I do...haha. They actually just called me to say goodnight a little while ago. He's back to calling me 'mommy'.

Adrian is doing such a good job being a big boy toddler. He loves spending our warm days playing outside, taking walks, stuffing his pockets and fists full of rocks. He's talking more with up to 3 word sentences. I keep thinking that by the time I'm done with all my training, he'll be talking full time. He always says 'thank you' and 'excuse me'. He is still learning to 'use his words' and tends to whine a lot as well as bite/hit/pull hair when frustrated. He's mostly good though. A great helper-he loves to wash his hands, clean up spills, mop, sweep, play with the dogs, feed the cats, put wet laundry in the dryer, help me shop. We're still working on potty training and he'll use the potty with encouragement. He's learning to tease and hide and make people laugh! I love every minute of it.

We're looking forward to nicer days for the park and walks with cousin Cavyn. They are such good buddies and play so nicely together. It's odd to see the do this since at this age, it's hard for toddlers to play 'together', if even nicely next to one another.