Adam definitely redeemed himself today. I woke up at 8:30 and he was still sleeping.  He ended up waking up about 15 minutes later and was in an awesome mood.  He had breakfast and a bath and then we finally took a trip to the indoor playground.  It’s a good thing we went today, since they close for the season tomorrow.  I think we’ll definitely get a membership next year, it was nice to have a place where he could run around.  One of his favorite things to play with was the mailbox.  There was one orange block in there when we got there and he would take the block out, put it back in, walk away, come back open the door, and repeat.

Man did he love that mailbox.  I actually looked it up online and it’s like $25.  The reviews aren’t that great though – the main complaint is that the mailbox doesn’t hold normal sized envelopes.  I did a little more research and found a regular sized “real” plastic mailbox for less than $10, so I think he might be getting that soon. He’s not at all spoiled, I know.

In my defense (not that it takes much for me to rationalize spoiling my child) he is really in to the alphabet and coloring lately and anything that encourages that is okay with me. He can currently identify four capital letters.  He knows W, M, O, and D.  My favorite is when he says “O”, he pronounces it “oooh” (like the sound in pool).  He also says “mmmm” (like he’s eating something yummy) for “M”.  And don’t even get me started on his “W”, I need to get it on video.  I don’t even know how to convey it in writing. It’s literally too adorable for words.

Another favorite of his at the playground was the “roller coaster”.  You can see it behind him in the above picture and here’s a close up of him on it. I think he could have played on that all day.  I enjoyed it a lot more once he figured out how to push the cart back up to the top of the ramp by himself.

After the playground we went grocery shopping, to the bank, had lunch, and then it was nap-time.  He went down for his nap with no complaints and woke up in the same great mood.  He’s just such a fun little kid.  We did have a couple of tantrums around dinner time and while shopping – but nothing major.  And really, he’s 20 months old – a couple of tantrums a day is not at all unreasonable.

That last picture was right before bed. I literally picked him up – all bundled up like that, carried him upstairs, and laid him down in his crib. He gave me a big smile, said “night night” and that was it. If only bedtime was so easy every night.

Can I just tell you how much I love this silly kid? This picture was taken when I went in to get him from his nap earlier. He had thrown everything out of his crib – except for the pillow he stole from the guest room that morning. He was standing when I walked in the room, but when I tried to pick him up he laid back down and said “night night” and giggled like crazy.

And yes, he is still in his pajamas (the top at least, he’s pretty much anti-pants whenever he can get away with it). We didn’t have the best night – or morning for that matter. He decided that he wanted to be awake from 3:30 until 4:15 and then get up at 6:45 (a good 45 minutes earlier than normal). Then while we were laying on the couch watching Blue’s Clues I thought he was going to fall back asleep.  I was wrong.  I dozed off for 10 minutes and he pulled two more keys off of my laptop keyboard.Things greatly improved after nap-time.

He took me on a date to Applebee’s for dinner tonight (I really wanted a steak). When we walked in we saw some people we knew and ended up sitting with them.  It was a really nice surprise. We came home, watched an episode of Blue’s Clues (again) and then he went right to bed. Fingers crossed he sleeps through the night.  He needs the sleep, and so do I.

One of Adam’s favorite things to do lately is play a version of the “shell game”. Three or four plastic cups, a small toy, and he’s a happy boy. I think the best part about this is that he’ll entertain himself with this game – and always acts surprised when he finds the toy he hid.

I had a doctor’s appointment earlier today and everything is going well there. My blood pressure was great, the baby’s heart-rate was perfect, and Adam was even really well behaved during the appointment (that crayon wallet is one of the best things I’ve ever made). The only problem came when the appointment was over and it was time to stop coloring. That’s when the tantrum started – he sat on the floor, kicked his heels and screamed. To be fair was almost nap-time and he had been really good all day. I would like to apologize to any soon to be first time moms that had to listen to my child’s yelling though. I am sure your kids will *never* act like that.

And one quick picture before I call it a night. This was  taken right before Adam lost his driving privileges and his car was relocated to the impound (AKA guest bedroom) .  Shortly after this he also lost his shopping cart privileges, for the same reason.  He’s pretty tricky.

Thursday night we went to a going away dinner for a friend of mine that is moving to California. Adam was the only kid there and I was a little worried about how he’d behave himself. I ended up worrying for nothing. He was awesome. He played quietly, sat nicely in his high chair, and ate his dinner (well most of it) like a pro (he did end up with some applesauce in his hair). I think it helped that I brought my newest craft project to entertain him with.

I had gotten the pattern for this about a month ago and finally made myself give it a try this week. I used some leftover dinosaur fabric. I think it came from a quilt my mom made years ago and it was perfect for this project. I really am trying to get better about searching through the fabric and supplies I already have before going out and buying more – which I know will make Dave happy.

I resized some coloring pages I found online to stick in the middle pocket. The notebook on the right is 4×6 inches – just to give you an idea of the overall size. It easily fit in my purse and I’m not kidding when I say it kept him busy the whole time we were at dinner. I did put it away while he ate, but as soon as he was done he asked for it back.

And while we’re on the topic of things that fit in my purse, let me give you the run down there. When we are out and about I normally have my wallet, keys, cell phone, a pen, and a small coupon/gift card holder. That’s my stuff.

I also have the crayon wallet, the car playmat I made him (filled with 6 cars), two diapers, a travel size container of baby wipes, a snack of some sort (normally dry cereal), a sippy cup, a small Superman action figure (that’s important to differentiate, it is an “action figure” – not a doll), and a Blue’s Clues book.

The little man does not travel lightly.

Not sure what party he’s on his way home from, but it looks like he had a good time.  Doesn’t it?

Adam and I had a great day – despite his not sleeping well at all last night. He very loudly protested going to bed again tonight. I ended up going up to get him out of his crib after 10-15 minutes of him screaming, jumping in his crib, and throwing things. When I walked in to his room he had tossed everything out of his crib – including his pajama pants.

I tried rocking him and he wanted nothing to do with that either. He walked over to the pile of things next to his crib, picked up a blanket, and walked out and stood in front of my bedroom door until I opened it for him. Then he climbed in to my bed and that’s where he is right now. He laid right down and went to sleep with no problems, and while this isn’t a habit I want to start with him it was more important to me at that point for him just to go to sleep.

And now I need to go join my roommate. Hopefully I can get to sleep without waking him.  For being less than three feet tall that kid takes up a lot of room.

Hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago we were sitting in the sun playing in the driveway.

Happy 1st Day of Spring.

Lately I’ve been craving 7UP mixed with Cranberry-Grape juice. I tried 7Up with Cranberry-Pomegranate juice too, but didn’t care for it as much (which is a little funny because with Adam I couldn’t get enough of anything pomegranate flavored).

My all-time strangest craving is the peanut butter and bacon sandwich I couldn’t stop thinking about during my last pregnancy – which, if you’re curious, was fantastic and I would eat one right now if I had it.

As I’ve been sipping on my Cran-Grape/7Up drink while typing this, I started wondering how it would taste with some lemonade mixed in.  I think I’ll have to give that a shot tomorrow.

As Adam’s vocabulary increases so does his understanding of the things I say to him. I love seeing him put things together and figure them out. After lunch this afternoon I told him to put his fork away in the sink. I think he just stopped listening after the “away” part though, since he opened the silverware drawer and put it in there instead. Oh well, baby steps.

We spent some time outside again this afternoon and while he was stomping around in his new boots he tripped and ended up with his hands in the puddle. I told him to just wipe his hands on his pants (they were covered in chalk and dirt anyway, so a little water wasn’t going to make a difference).  As I told him what to do I mimed the action by wiping my own hands on my pants. So of course, he walked over and dried his wet hands on my jeans too. Sigh.

He went in to the garage while we were playing and brought his poor sleep deprived mama a stool to sit on. At least that’s what I’m telling myself – it’s far more likely that he just likes to move it around.

I should have included these pictures in the previous post, but I didn’t realize their adorableness until I took a second pass through them. When we were outside on Thursday Adam discovered his shadow and has been fascinated by it ever since. It’s pretty cute watching him try to figure out what exactly it is.

Well the quest for rain boots was a success – mostly. The smallest size they had was a size larger than the sneakers he’s wearing right now, but he’ll grow. We ended up getting a box of sidewalk (or in our case driveway) chalk as well.

And of course, since he was properly outfitted for puddle stomping, he had no interest whatsoever in splashing through them. Here I caught him just barely walking in the water – he was too distracted by the newness of the boots and the chalk.

That was easily the highlight of my day. Most of the rest of today was spent with a cranky, willful Adam impostor. I am hoping my sweet, happy boy returns tomorrow – otherwise I might have to see if I can get him to fit in a flat-rate APO shipping box.

One last picture before I go. We saw this display made out of 12-packs of pop while we were shopping earlier.

I would have tried to get a better picture, but some lady’s kid was running laps around the crackers and kept getting in my way. Oh wait, that was my kid.

Go Orange.