Taking a break

We have decided to let Adam take a break from piano lessons. It makes me sad but we fight everytime we try to get him to practice.  We want playing music to be fun and not a shouting match.  He seems to do well at the actual lesson but he has no interest in practicing at home.  He wants to get the stickers for practicing and go up on the "hall of fame" board but he doesn't actually want to practice.  
On the front of the little practice sheet where he puts his stickers it has 6 "rules":
5 days (minimum)
Fast feet (fast feet to the piano to practice - no complaining)
Happy Face
Count out Loud
All songs
No Help
Adam doesn't want to do any of those.  He says he wants to go back when he is older and learn how to play Weezer.  Part of me wonders if he is bored with the stuff he is playing. We'll ask him again in the Spring and Summer.  Maybe get a different teacher.

Merry Christmas!

Adam had thought that Friday night was Christmas Eve.  He couldn't fall asleep and then woke up at 7:30am afraid to go to the bathroom because he thought it was still nighttime and that Santa wouldn't see him awake.  On actual Christmas Eve, he fell asleep no problem.  Must have been all the running around he did at the Chinese restaurant.  He didn't get up until about 9:15am.  He had woken up 2 times during the night but not because he was excited about Santa but once because he couldn't reach his Kleenex box and the next because "there was wind in my room that wasn't the fan".  (Found out later that it was part of a weird dream).  He ended up sleeping in our bed and Dave slept in the guest room because Adam kept waking him up blowing his nose or snoring because he was so congested. 

As usual on any special day, Adam walked downstairs with his hands over his face.  I had to keep telling him he could wait until we were actually down the stairs but he survived.  I think it took him 45 minutes to open everything (he's a slow unwrapper).  Lots of Batman figures,  Imaginext castle and boat, some Lego and Trio bloks, markers, and coloring books.  We asked him if he got "everything" since that's what he wrote to Santa.  He said no.  We asked if it was good enough.  He said yes.  Whew!

Christmas "concert"

Adam had his last day of school before Christmas break yesterday.  We were told to come 15 minutes early for pick-up to hear the kids sing Christmas songs.  We had been hearing small bits of songs at home so we couldn't wait to see/hear them for real.  Plus, with Adam, you never know what he's gonna do (like the Thanksgiving concert where he had a breakdown when they didn't sing the song he wanted).  I tried to edit the video but Adam's expressions crack me up so I kept most of it. (I did cut the very beginning where the teachers were waiting to make sure most of the parents were there and Adam stood picking his nose - both fingers up there!)

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was Adam's class Thanksgiving Feast.  They made T-shirts, necklaces, and head bands that they wore and everyone had to bring one item to eat.  Their "feast" consisted of a slice of (deli) turkey, mini muffins, grapes, snack mix, a hershey kiss and pumpkin pie.  A lot of food for preschoolers!  Adam ate the hershey kiss, mini muffins, and grapes.   Dave ate the pumpkin pie and the turkey was brought home for Mona.

 

Here's his class. 

Before the feast, the kids sang a couple of songs.  Adam...well, let's say he's not very quiet or shy.  As you can see in the video, he was the first to start singing.  (He is the 4th from the left). Then, on the second song, he got very upset because he thought they were going to sing some Marching Band song that they had sang in music class.  You can see him making some mad faces and near the end singing "Blah, blah, blah!"  I accidently cut it off but he actually started crying at the end.  I was crying I was laughing so much. 

Adam's teacher, Mrs. H. said Adam keeps them laughing.  She said that in chapel today, the minister was asking questions and was giving out candy corn for correct answers.  Adam answered something (I think he said God made us), got his candy, then whispered to his friend next to him, "God doesn't have any bones".  She thought that was soo funny.  I'm glad they are enjoying him and don't find him too distracting!

Mr. Kirby Dog

January 7, 2001 - November 15, 2011.  Not a bad life at all!

 

April 2001

 

 

 

 

                                               

Crazy Day!

Since Adam turned 4, I was able to move him up and into a new gymnastics class.  There were supposedly 5 openings in it so I assumed it would just be Adam and 1 other kid (which Miss Dawn had told us a couple of weeks ago).  Well, the class had been combined with another class (due to only one girl in the class) so when it started, there was one teacher, 6 girls, Adam, and 1 other boy.  Too many kids! During warm-up, Adam could not pay attention and was rolling all over the floor and just being goofy and not listening very well..  Miss D. showed up to help Miss A. and took 5 girls and left Adam, Zack, and Mia with Miss A.  Whew!! They went over to work on some of the equipment which went fairly well but it's so hard for the kids to remember what they are supposed to do on each thing.  Plus, this teacher has a hard time making sure she pays equal attention to all the kids so Adam kept skipping one of the things, nearly broke his neck trying to do a backwards roll the wrong way, and putting his arms (instead of just holding on with his hands) inside the rings and swinging.  Finally,  she told the kids to freeze and line up behind her.  Adam paused on the bar he was going to do then I saw him hold on to it and then his face/nose just bounce off of it.  I immediately went "Ooh!' and started coming down the bleachers before he even started to cry... and then it hit him.  Miss A.  handed him over to me and then his nose started bleeding!  Yikes! Through his tears he said he wanted to go home and Miss A. said to get an ice pack on the way out.  He calmed down by the time we got the ice pack and said he wanted to watch the rest of the class.  He was climbing all over the bleachers and back to being his crazy self. 

Later...Adam had piano lessons.  This was a horrible week trying to get him to practice so I warned Mr. Schmidt.  I even tried bribing Adam with a chocolate sucker if he was good.  It ended up being a bad lesson as well.  Adam kept running out and banging on the lobby door screaming for me.  Thankfully Mr. Schmidt has a lot of patience and somehow distracted him enough to get him back in the piano room.  When the lesson was over and we were walking to the car, Adam asked where his sucker was. Ha!

I got a break when I took Kirby to the vet for a recheck by myself.  The vet thinks Kirby looks even more jaundiced.  He gained 2 lbs in 2 weeks but not because he actually ate  (I had to force feed him most of the time) but because his abdomen is beginning to fill with fluid due to the liver disease.  We decided to try an appetite stimulant (Remeron) and another liver nutritional supplement on top of the other 2  supplements and every other day injections of some Chinese herbals.  Hopefully they will help stimulate what, if any, liver he has left.  He is off antibiotics to see how he does. We know that he probably doesn't have much time but it is not time for the big E-word just yet. He is not in pain, his eyes are bright, and he still perks up when Dave comes down in the morning or when asked if he wants to go for a walk (despite not being able to walk very well).  If his liver improves, we will be buying a harness to be able to help him stand up and get up/down the deck stairs.  For now...we wait and hope.

Oedipal complex?

Today, we were sitting in the car, eating some lunch and Adam said to Dave, "I want you to go to sleep and never wake up so I can live with just Mommy because I love Mommy." 
Um....what? 
"I want you to go to sleep, not wake up, and live under the stones - you know, the tombstones - because I want it to just be Mommy and me." 
Soo, you want me to die?  You know if I die, you'll never see me again.
"I love you!"
You love me but you want me to die?
"I was just kidding!  I was just being silly!"
Nice.....

4 year check-up

Adam is in the 80th percentile for height (42 inches) and weight (40 lbs).  We had the option of 4 shots today, 4 shots next year, or 2 and 2...we did the 2 today and a flumist.  Despite trying to explain to him that this was the better way to go, he still was rather unhappy.  He threw the Spiderman sticker he was given at the nurse when she was finished.  That'll teach her!  Ha ha!  Next ultrasound is scheduled for the end of the month...so nice to not have to do the blood draws anymore!

7 weeks of piano!

Adam just started his 8th week of piano lessons and he has finished his first 2 piano books! I think he was getting bored last week so he tried to play his lessons with both hands.  I told Mr. S. that we have a boy who wants to play with both hands and he said they may start that next week!  Crazy! I was looking through his new book and he will be learning dotted half notes, 8th notes, and the names of the keys by the time he finishes it...might take longer than 7 weeks but he's smart, so who knows?

Field Trip to the pumpkin patch

Adam's class took their first field trip today to Hidden Creek Farm.  Adam was soo excited! He was a little confused as to why we weren't driving to his school first. We had to try and explain that the parents drove their own kids and we would meet them and his teachers at the farm..  Later in the year they will go on a trip where they all get to ride the bus.

They had a couple of animals, a little straw maze, a big pumpkin slide, a dirt hill, and a little corn room with a smaller slide for the kids to play on while we waited for the hay ride.  We had quite a few people on the trip so we had to cram onto the hay ride but Adam sat on Dave's lap and thought it was fun.  When we asked him what his favorite part was, first he said hayride and then he listed everything else he did so..he liked everything!

Pumpkin Patch 10/12/11

A New Chart

Adam has a little chart that he gets a sticker on for each day he practices piano.  The Conservatory of Piano wants the kids to practice 5 days a week so they send the chart and stickers home and when it gets full, they hang it up in the lobby.  It's working pretty well for Adam so I decided to make a new chart for him at home to get him to do some things he doesn't always want to do - brush teeth in the morning, practice piano (so he gets 2 stickers), take a bath, try new foods, go to class and listen (only gets a sticker if he listens), as well as the easy stuff like getting dressed, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, picking out books, pjs, etc. 

Tonight he really wanted to get his sticker for "try new foods" but I didn't really have anything new to try.  He started going through the pantry and I saw a can of Spaghetti-Os with meatballs.  He had them a long time ago so we decided that the meatballs would be considered a new food.  He was SO funny!  He ate some noodles and was all "YUM!".  He ate a meatball and said "Mmmmm! Yummy!" but the way he ate it...I'm thinking it wasn't so yummy.  He chewed with his mouth wide open then immediately sucked down some water.  Did it with the next meatball, too.  He ate around the rest and then asked for some more..and said, "Don't forget the meatballs!".  When he was full, the meatballs were still there.  We asked a little later if he actually liked them (knowing he didn't) and he finally said no.  We told him it's OK not to like them...they're kind of creepy...but great job trying them!

His original request for something new was broccoli.  Guess I gotta go back to the store...

Gymnastics and piano today

Adam loves his gymnastics class! The only problem is, one little girl (I'll call A.) thinks she can do everything and runs from one thing to the next and the teacher is constantly focusing on her telling her to slow down.  Then, last week a new girl (I'll call R) joined.  Her Dad is one of the instructors at the place and the Mom is a total stage mom who knows everything and yells out things like "Don't touch the floor! You just lost 5 points!!" and is constantly talking throughout ("I should sign her up for soccer.  I don't think she's a gymnastics girl....blah, blah, blah.")  R kind of wanders around and doesn't pay attention very well (Mom says that this has been her playground for the past 3 years so she's not used to listening) so the instructor is also helping her with everything.  Then there's Adam.  He has been listening SO well and he's yelling to the teacher, "TEACHER!!  Look at me!!  Look!  I can do it!!"  She'll look over briefly but by the time he looks at her she's taking care of the girls and he's back to yelling, "TEACHER!!!".  I feel so bad for him.  I am going to take a look at the schedule to see if he can change classes when he turns 4 or maybe move him to the Friday class if there's room.

Adam is moving along with his piano lessons.  He started learning about quarter and half notes today!!  Mr. S. says he's doing great and catching on really fast. 

1st Day of Preschool!!

Adam had his Sports Jam class this morning which he was totally into this time around!  Today was soccer and he did great! 

We left a little early for Preschool to make sure we had enough time for a couple of pictures.  I parked the car and was going to sit for a couple minutes because I thought Adam wanted to finish hearing the song we were listening to.  He said something like, "This is going to be so EXCITING!" and I unbuckled him from his car seat.  He climbed over and I thought he was going to sit in the seat but he was ready to go in!  We had to wait a couple minutes outside the classroom and when the teachers were ready, he just went in!  I barely got a goodbye. 

Class was an hour short today (which made for a speedy trip to Meijer for me).  I picked Adam up at 2:00 and the first thing he said was that he had goldfish for snack.  Ha ha!!  Then he talked about the playground. Finally, I got him to tell me about the book they read and the "Kissing Hand' they made.  He said he didn't really talk to the other kids but that he tried to whisper into the boy's ear that was sitting next to him.  Instead of actually whispering words, I guess he was just making the fake whispering talking noise and the boy kept saying "what??".  Ha!  He seemed to have a good day and I can't wait until Thursday!

Here are some first day pictures:

Being Goofy!

 

 

 

 

 

There he goes! (in the room by the other teacher)

Meet the Teachers Day

Adam got to meet Mrs. Morales and Mrs. Heckathorn and hang out in his classroom for a little bit today.  He did his whole shy act when we got to the doorway of his classroom.  He wanted us to pick him up and when we didn't, he hung onto and tried to hide behind Dave's leg.  The teachers had a little scavenger hunt to get the kids acquainted with the classroom.  Adam finished that pretty quickly and then headed over to the play kitchen to microwave some stuff.  Ha ha!  I think the most interesting part is that despite some of the girls playing in the kitchen and general area, none of the kids really interacted with each other.  Adam didn't do his usual, "Hi!  What's your name? How old are you? Oh, Hi ______!  My name is Adam. I am 3!  Wanna play?"  He just reached around the girls for whatever he wanted.  He actually made one girl cry because he wanted to play with this scale thing that was set up on the science table that she ans another girl were playing with..but then I saw her crying a lot through the half hour we were there...  I didn't see a lot of boys.

When we told Adam we needed to leave, he just ran out of the classroom, out the door, to the car.  He didn't even say goodbye to the teachers.  We asked him if he liked it and he said yes so hopefully Tuesday will be an easy drop-off.  He said that when he first met Mrs. Heckathorn, he thought she was a little creepy.  Ha ha!!  (She's not, by the way.) We said that she was very nice and he said " I KNOW that!"

We talked to Mrs. Morales about the age thing and she said that there are some younger 4's (like Adam) and some that will be turning 5 towards the end of the year.  That's just the age range they accept into the class or something like that but he'll be fine.  And for Dave - no, Adam cannot go to kindergarten next year!


On a completely, non-Adam related note...for those following my gluten free stuff - my doctor ran some gliadin antibody tests (IgG and IgA) when he was running my thyroid labs last week.  Gliadin is a protein found in gluten and the antibodies would come back positive when there is some sort of gluten sensitivity and/or celiac disease.  I thought he was wasting a test since I had been gluten free for 2-3 months but I read  that since it was not longer than 6 months, there would still probably be antibodies.  Anyway, a positive result for both would be higher than 11 and mine came back at <3 and 4 soo.....  I'm eating normal food again!  Hopefully I will gain some weight now that I enjoy what I'm eating! (You don't hear that everyday, do you?)

Parent Orientation

Dave and I went to the parent orientation at Central College preschool yesterday.  It was pretty, well, boring.  It was a group orientation for an hour where they went over the handbook and a couple handouts they like.  Then we went to our kids classrooms to meet the teachers.  Adam's teachers seem very nice.  One is bilingual in Spanish so she will teach them their basic numbers, colors, and random words in Spanish.  The interesting thing was that they had a sheet to sign when we got in that asked if our child was going to be going to kindergarten next year - lots of parents checked "yes" .  Then someone asked if we should put extra clothes in their bags just in case and they said at this age, rarely are there any accidents and there are extra clothes in the office if needed.  They said most of the kids are 4 years old with several turning 5 this year.  What??  Is Adam going to be the youngest in the class??  I will be asking tomorrow when we head back over for him to meet his teachers.  I don't mind because I think he'll keep up academically.  It's just that other kids can make such a big deal out of age.  We'll see...

1st Private Piano Lesson

Today was Adam's first private lesson.  He walked into the Conservatory and saw a couple people standing in the office and said, "TEACHER!!  Ummm, today I am going to have a lesson with just me and the teacher and not with all the other kids!"  Mr. Jones, the office manager, helped out during the Sampler class and scheduled our privates so he understood and asked Adam if he was excited.  Adam said yes and danced around the lobby.  A couple of minutes later, one of the teachers came out and said his name was Mr. Schmidt and that Mr. Naughton who Adam was supposed to have had to go to the other location for the day.  We have never met Mr. Naughton  but Adam knew he was supposed to be his teacher.  Adam got upset and hid behind a chair.  Mr. S. had to go get Ms. Popper who taught the Sampler class and the 2 of us talked Adam into looking at Mr. S's cool room.  Adam tried to sneak out once while Ms. Popper and Mr. Schmidt were trying to have some witty banter.  Then he had to go to the bathroom.  On the way back to the piano room, I told Adam to surprise Mr. S. with much he knew.  He ended up running back to the room and sitting down with Mr. S. and I went back to the lobby.  I tried to listen to Adam from the lobby but there was a mom with her 3 young kids making too much noise.  Half an hour later, he and Mr. S. came out smiling and Mr. S. said he did really well!
Hopefully he won't freak out next week with his "real" teacher.

Last day of camp

Here is a video montage of the last day of camp today.  Sorry it's a little long...but cute!

A little song for my birthday

What a sweet boy!!




**My head isn't cut off in the original but I'm OK with it being cut off here**

Wednesday Water Day

Wednesday at gymnastics camp was "water day".  The kids were told to bring their suits, towel, sunscreen, etc and they have this big blow-up SpongeBob water slide/pool thing the kids got to play in.  I noticed that most of the girls had their suits on when we got there so I asked Mrs. A. if Adam should put his on.  She said there would be time before going out to do it or he could put it on now if he wanted. Adam wanted!  Ha ha!  He started taking off his shirt and running to get his bag that had his suit in it.  I got him to the bathroom and changed then said goodbye.

When I returned for pick-up, Adam and another girl were still out playing in SpongeBob.  They had made a "secret" t-shirt (Adam was very good at not telling us what it was), played inside, then ended the day with the water. After much coaxing and the staff starting to deflate and empty SpongeBob, I finally got Adam out.  We went  inside to pick up his clothes and picture he colored and next thing I know, his bathing suit is down to his knees!! Aaaahhh!!   He wanted to put his dry clothes on but we were in front of all these bleachers and the place is always mobbed with gymnastic girls.  I got his suit pulled back up and ushered him to the bathroom and all was well!  Ha ha!

Gymnastics camp (and piano class, too)!

Today is Day #2 for gymnastics camp at Buckeye Gymnastics and Adam is LOVING it!!  He was ready to go when he woke up this morning.  He sang a little song on the drive there.  "Gymnastics! Bay-buh!!" (as in baby).  He tries to tell me everything they did as we walk out of the building when I pick him up.  One of the other teachers said he was hilarious today and she loved watching him.  There are only 5 kids - 4 girls and him.   I guess I should see about signing him up for classes this Fall.

Yesterday he had gymnastics camp AND piano lessons.  We got stuck in traffic on the way to piano and he was soo worried that he was going to be late and miss something. We got there at 6:02 - not too bad! I thought for sure he would fall asleep on the way home but no such luck.  He's sticking to his 9:30.  Ughh!

Last week at piano, the parents got to go to a meeting with the director of the Conservatory.  I already liked them but some of his points about how they teach sealed it for me.  I asked Adam if he wanted to continue in a Sampler class like he's doing (with about 7 other kids), a smaller class with maybe 2 other kids, or private lessons with just him and a teacher.  He said he wanted just him and the teacher because the other kids get too loud and he can't hear Ms. Popper.  Good choice!!  In order to take lessons, we needed a piano.  On a list of places to get pianos there was someone called Pianoman John.  Sounded interesting so  I checked out his site and was shocked at the prices.  Graves and Henderson were selling used for at least $1500-2000.  Pianoman John  - $295 - $900.  Soooo.....we got a nice used Baldwin Henderson piano today!!   He's going to let it get acclimated and come back next week to tune it.  While John was telling us the best way to clean it, Adam went and got some paper towel and started wiping it all off.   After John left and we had some dinner (and when Adam should have been going to bed) Adam was so excited to have a piano just like class that he got his folder of "music" and went through all his lessons from the past 5 weeks.  So cute!

Week #1 morning Zoo Camp

Sitting in the ladder truck at Touch a Truck last week

Adam had no problems getting up early and heading to the zoo this morning.  We got there a little early so we had to stand outside the gates and wait wherein Adam (as always) found a new friend.  He and Henry played monkey and climbed on a light pole for a little bit and then we headed in.  Same teachers and classroom as last time so Adam walked right on in.  He got a new shirt, too!  (The new blue one is much nicer than the bright orange one from last session.  Ha ha!). 

Today the kids learned about cats.  Here is a picture of the cool art project they did.

When we were about to leave, Adam said he wanted to wait outside for his friend.  A girl came out and he was all, "There she is!! Oh, wait, that's not her!"  Several minutes later a little girl, her big brother, and her mom came out.  "THERE she is!"  and he went running up to her.  She looked, well, clueless.  He asked her name again because he couldn't remember it and the mom said Cathryn.  We said our goodbyes and Adam turned to me and said, "I love her!".  Hmmmm....From what I could gather, they were next to each other on the rope they have to hold on to on their trek to the animal exhibits.  We asked he she talked to him or if they played together and he said no.  I told Dave that the girl looked like a younger 3 and seemed to have no interest in Adam one way or the other.  But, again, Adam told Dave that he loved her.  Stay tuned for next week, I guess... 

Piano sampler week #3

The kids learned "2 black keys fall down to C" yesterday.  Adam even colored his worksheets with the crayons this week!  (Dave had a little talk with him the other day saying he understood that the washable crayons kind of suck but the REAL crayons work great!  Lots more colors than markers and they don't dry up.  Seemed to convince Adam enough.)  When Adam came out of class, he said he had SO much fun!  I asked if he would like to continue taking lessons (we get to talk to the director next week while the kids are at their class) and he said yes.  Sooo...I will ask the director if we can get away with having a keyboard for a while before investing $1500 or more for a piano.  I am so happy that he likes it and would like to get him started while he is still interested.

Zoo camp week #3

It was SOO hot yesterday that I almost kept Adam home from camp..but I like my "free" time.  Ha ha!  As the kids were filing into the classroom, one of the other parents asked if the kids would be going on their weekly trek to one of the exhibits.  Luckily, due to the heat they would be staying in the classroom the whole time.  When we got the handout of what they did/learned for the day, their trek would have been the LONGEST one yet.  They were supposed to walk to the nocturnal building (which is on the other side of the zoo) to check out all the different kinds of ears on the animals there.  Instead they got more play time and more time to work on their craft.

This is how he came out of the classroom - ears upside-down and rubbing sunscreen in his eyes.

That's better!  :)


I asked him if he wanted next week to be the last day of camp or if we should sign up for another session.  They told us at pick-up that August is a new subject/lesson and there's still space available.  He said he wanted more!  I checked the schedule when we got home and there were 2 spots available Friday mornings so we signed up for another 4 weeks in August.  The second week will be a bit hectic since zoo camp is 9-12 and gymnastics camp is 1-4 but that will mean he'll be nice and tired for bedtime.

And here he is with his 2nd summer hair cut and his Tie-fighter and Millenium Falcon sandwiches. He actually ate both!

Zoo camp week #2

This week, Adam ran into the Education Building and down the hall to his classroom yelling "I've been here before!".  Ha ha!  We were a couple minutes early but as soon as the door opened, he went right in...barely a goodbye from him.  This week was about noses and the sense of smell so they walked over to see the elephants and rhinos.  No good stories from Adam about his day.  Just that he had to go poop and he asked his teachers to help him wipe and they told him he had to do it by himself.  I guess we should be working harder on that but we usually help him out because he can get messy by himself.   That will be the goal by the time school starts in September.

We got a bunch of paper work from Central College Preschool yesterday for dates of returning paper work, orientations, and start of school.  I'm wondering what they can possibly talk about for 2 hours at the Orientation the parents are supposed to go to.  (Anyone free August 30th from 6-8 to watch the boy?)  The kids get to go to their classroom for an hour on Sept 1 to get familiar with it before classes start.  Hopefully that will remind Adam that he has been there before and liked it so he won't be clinging to me the first day of school.

Adam has a new phrase he likes to say...."Oh. My. Jesus!"  We don't know where he got it from.  He said Dave says it but I'm pretty sure he doesn't.  Hmmmm.

Piano Sampler

Adam had his first piano sampler.  As always, a group of kids goes in the room and says goodbye while Adam whines for me not to leave.  I left quickly anyway!  The class was an hour long so I brought a book and my iphone to keep me occupied while I waited in the lobby.  (Next time I might go explore the Worthington Mall to see if it's changed any in the past 10 years or so since I've been there last).  We could hear a little bit from the lobby since the classroom was right next to the door.  We heard the kids banging on the piano a couple of times and Miss Popper asking them questions.  At one point I heard, "Adam?Adam?Adam?Adam?Adam?"  (Miss Popper talks VERY fast).   Adam said he was busy looking at the girl sitting next to him and not paying attention.  Ha ha! 

After the hour was up, Miss Popper called us in to the hallway and told us that she was going to take us into the room and tell us what they did today but not to talk to the kids because they were "zipped".  They were not allowed to talk to us until Miss Popper finished talking to us.  It worked pretty well except Adam tried to "mmm mmm mmm!" to me and started banging his folder around a little.  They learned about the black keys on the piano - there are 2 and 3 in a row.  Adam sang a little song about 2 and 3.  They also counted their fingers 1-5 starting at their thumb since that is how they will be taught to play using fingers.   Adam said he had fun but wanted to know if he was going to be allowed to play with the puzzles and toys that were in the room next time.  I don't think so... :)

As an added bonus, I had just strapped Adam in his car sear and was walking around the back of the car when I heard a loud SMASH!  The car in front of us put his car in drive instead of reverse and bumped our car!!  First thing I did was open the door to make sure Adam was OK.  The guy (and wife and kid that was in our class) continued to just sit in his car.  After what felt like forever, he backed up and got out to check for damage.  Luckily the loud smash was his plastic license plate cover getting cracked to pieces and the cars were fine.   Whew!

Zoo camp

Adam had his first day (well, afternoon actually) of zoo kids camp today.  It started at 1:30 and pick-up was at 4:30.  At drop-off, the kids were all given an orange zoo kids t-shirt and a button with their name on it.  Everyone was to wear their shirt to make it easier for the teachers to keep track of them but Adam didn't want to wear it.  After a little coaxing and him seeing ALL the other kids changing into the orange shirts, he decided to wear his too.  But...he wouldn't let me leave.  Anytime I tried to run out the door, he screamed and started crying. Ugghh!  It's not like I've never left him before.  None of the other kids were upset.  Finally, one of the teachers distracted him enough for me to run and then they shut the door so he couldn't run after me.  I waited in the hallway a couple minutes while a some parents were still going in and out and once I didn't hear him crying anymore, I left.

Pick-up time was full of smiles.  The teacher said they got Adam to go look at the spider in the room again and compared it to the spider (man) on his socks.  Then he was fine.  Adam said that the reason he was soo upset at drop-off was because he had never been to that classroom before and he was scared.  He said next week he will be fine.  The lesson today was about eyes - how the can be located on top, on the side, or on the front of the head, how some animals can see really well, etc.  They got to walk around North America and see the eagles, cougars, bears, otters,  and wolves.  Then they got a snack and a visit from a hissing cockroach that they all got to touch.  They also made an owl puppet that they colored and glued to a paper bag.  Adam said his favorite part was coloring.  Ha ha!!

Monday starts his piano sampler class for 6 weeks. Hopefully he won't have a melt-down for that but I believe I have to stay there for that one since it is only an hour long.  Plus, I want to see how they run a group class of preschoolers.  It should be entertaining!  In August he is going to gymnastics camp for a week.  Then school starts!

Going to be a fun month!

Adam starts zoo camp on Thursday and a sampler piano class the following Monday!  Zoo camp is Thursdays from 1:30-4:30 for 4 weeks.  All the morning classes were full so I bought him a couple Coolibar shirts so he won't fry.  The piano sampler is a group class for 6 weeks, Monday nights from 6-7.  Not the ideal time but the only time they have for his age group.  I can't wait to see how he likes it!  We only have a little keyboard so if he really is interested,  we'll have to look into finding a piano.

Not appropriate

We were standing in-line waiting to check out of a store the other day and Adam pokes the lady's butt in front of us.  (In his defense, it was kind of big and squishy looking).  As Dave pulls him away to talk to him, Adam kicks her in the ankle!  I drag him out of the store while Dave finishes checking out.

Yesterday, we were at a park and another little boy brought a bunch of matchbox cars to share. Unfortunately, Adam thought that meant he could take them ALL (there were about 8 of them).  I tried to explain he couldn't take even the one the owner boy was playing with and now he couldn't have any.  The other boy's mom came over to take the cars and put them away.  She put one in her pocket and Adam went and stuck his hand in her pocket to get it!  She said, "Uh, Adam!  I don't think that's appropriate!"  I apologized and we left shortly after (Adam was given one more chance at sharing and failed).

This is more funny but still a bit inappropriate.  We went to a different park after the incident above.  There were 2 african/american boys playing in the sandbox and Adam walked up behind them and touched their hair.  They either didn't notice or didn't care but I gave Adam the "keep your hands to yourself" speech again.  Listening is not his best skill...

Dad! Stop Eating!

Adam lost it on Dave tonight!  "Dad!  You have to stop eating stuff at night!  I'm tired of having to go to Meijer because you keep eating everything!".  Bwah ha ha!!  (He got that from me the other morning when I opened the fridge and saw an empty container of salsa and half a bag of chips left).  He doesn't really eat everything but every once in a while he eats something I had my eye on...  But the whole "I'm tired of going to Meijer" was hilarious!  Dave tried to explain that we eat dinner and that is usually why we have to go to Meijer - to get more dinner food -but I'm not sure Adam was buying it.

May afp

2.1 down from 3.0.  Only one more left ever!!!  Adam will be SO happy in August to never have to be poked 4 times a year again!  Just ultrasounds which he is usually good for.

Some videos

Not much going on so I thought I'd share some cute videos...

Not sure if he ever got what he was looking for...







Digging the life jacket.  He was sad that he couldn't float without it.

Bwaaaahaahaaa!

As we were waiting for Adam to fall asleep tonight, Adam kind of grabbed his crotch so I asked if he needed to go potty.  He said, "No.  My weinerschnitzel  is getting bigger.  Wanna see?" Me: "No thanks".  It was too late.  He unleashed the Kracken!   I laughed but had to tell him I was laughing at a face Dave made so that he wouldn't think showing off his "schnitzel" was a funny thing.  Boys!!

Easter 2011

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Easter 4/24/11

Better

Adam has been a little better the past couple of days.  A couple of things I forgot to mention on the last post....Adam wanted me to blow up this big inflatable roller thing that my parents got him for Christmas a couple years ago.  We have an air compressor but I don't know how to use it so I tried using a hand pump.  I got it a little blown up but I needed a break and it was dinner time.  I gave Adam his dinner but he wanted to jump on the partially blown up thing while eating.  He said it was a mattress.  Well, he had a fork in his hand so I took the roller and put it in the garage.  He had a fit and then stabbed (yes, stabbed) the couch!!  Don't worry... the couch is fine.  Adam's behind got a little sore.

Friday when Adam and I were walking to the car from school, Adam said, "Babies stink!"  What??  He said they had an egg hunt and that while the teacher was hiding the eggs, they had to wait in the nursery and it smelled like babies...and babies smell!  I tried to explain that babies usually smell good and it was probably some lingering dirty diapers he was smelling.  I don't think he believed me.

Today Adam stayed with his swim class but he is all about going under water so he has a hard time hearing what the teacher wants him to do.  Thank goodness that teachers are soo patient!  On the car ride home he said he was tired so he really worked hard today.

I decided to tire him out some more by walking to the post office, then to see the progress on the playground they are updating (and then he wanted to walk to the other park we usually go to).  On the way to the updated playground, we walked through the "nature trail" which is just a path made out of pebbles through a tiny wood.  He looked at the rocks and said they kind of looked like dunes.  I asked, "Dunes??" and he said, "Yeah.  Like sand dunes at the beach!" I was surprised he remembered what a dune was and I said something like, "How did you get soo smart?" His response - "Because I know stuff!"  Ha ha!!

The walk was very long.  It's a walk I used to do with the dogs when pregnant and he did last year when he was looking for the "pink park" but I think it was a little much after swimming.  I had to carry him part way home and he fell asleep in my arms.

What a week!

Adam has had a VERY bad week!  Monday during his swim lessons he wandered away from the group and wanted to play with a baby and go down the slide.  The teachers either weren't paying attention or were just tired of constantly having to tell him to stay with them.  I had to keep yelling from the side of the pool, "ADAM!  CLASS!  Go back to your CLASS!!" Finally, he was like "Oh!!" and went back to the group.  He told me he thought that the class was heading over to the slide...but he was in the back of the group so he could see perfectly well where they went.

Tuesday we tried to stay and play after my class at the Community Center but everyone and their mother was there (the weather was pretty cruddy).  Adam had a bit of a fit when I told him we had to leave.  It was just way too crowded.

Wednesday was Leaping Lollipops day (gymnastics with Ms Sonny).  He barely used any of the equipment and just wanted to run and chase kids.  That's fine but this class has way too many kids in it and if they are going to run, they have to stay in the empty area away from the equipment.  Adam just runs where ever and almost runs into kids.  One time he ran into a kid on purpose and while the kid was on the ground crying, Adam jumped on top of him and wrapped his arms around him - looked like a wrestling move to me.  I pulled him off and asked what he was doing  - he said he was hugging but it really didn't seem like it. Luckily the boy was OK.

Thursday he decided he wanted to crunch up his Goldfish crackers in the portable dvd player.  We actually managed to get it working and then Dave decided to try to clean it up a little more and then it stopped working.  Dave got frustrated and smashed it on the porch.  Needing to get the boy tired out, I took him to the "new park".  It was almost time to go and some boys were doing the whole, "Adam come here!" and when Adam went up, they came down.  Adam doesn't get that that isn't really nice but it was time to go anyway.  He didn't want to go so I had to pick him up and carry him out, kicking and screaming (literally).  He needed a drink from the fountain and used the potty and he calmed down.  I thought maybe we could do a quick run into Meijer - wrong!  He kept wanting to walk by the bakery for cookies but it was dinnertime and he was still in trouble for the dvd player so no cookies.  Then he grabbed some ice cream from the freezer and had a fit when I said no.  Time to go!  Picked him up kicking and screaming all the way out the store. He screamed ALL the way home.  I tried to give him a time out on the stairs and he hit me in the face.  Not a good day.

Today- Friday.  Adam woke up coughing at 7am and was up for good.  I let him watch some stories before school and we had a pretty good morning.  I went to pick him up and one of the teachers asked if she could talk to me.  Ugghh!  Apparently one of the girls in his class was playing the piano too loud.  Adam told her it was too loud and then put a choke-hold on her! The teacher put him in a time-out and she said he seemed really sad about it and eventually apologized to the girl but still...that's scary!!!  She explained to him that if he has a problem with one of the other kids to tell a big person.  We tried to drive that in at home today too.  The rest of the afternoon was just annoying.  A lot of not listening and wanting to do what he wanted to do. Pretty much the theme for this week.

No more TV or comic books for him.  He has said many times this week that he is Hulk.

Here's to hoping for a better weekend and a good next week or the Easter bunny is skipping our house.  

Dead?

The other day Kirby was laying in the hallway.  Adam walked out of the bathroom, looked at Kirby and said, "Oh, Kirby died."  Ummm, no, Kirby is just laying down.  Today we were out shopping and there was a person laying down at a picnic table.  Once again, Adam said, "That guy is dead."  I'm not sure where he got this lying down = "dead" thing from.  The only thing I can think of is we had an ant invasion last week and one of the ants was dead on the floor for awhile before I finally vacuumed it up.  Adam kept looking at it asking why it wasn't walking away and we had to explain that it was dead.  Apparently we did not explain it very well....

A quick funny story

Last week, I took Adam back to the Community Center in the afternoon just to play.  He was running around and then went running up to the top of the playground thing where a bunch of kids were standing waiting to go down the slide. As he was running up there he yelled "I want a bologna sandwich!"  He then grabbed one of the kids (who was older) and said "I want a bologna sandwich! Nom nom nom nommmm!" as he pretended to gnaw on the kid's side.  It was HILARIOUS!! The kid just looked at him and walked away.  No idea where that came from! I didn't even know he knew the word bologna.

Coloring

I thought I would post some pictures of Adam's awesome coloring skills.  According to one of the Sprouts Room teachers (who is also a real teacher at Ourday), he is advanced for his age (except his grip is all wrong).  I don't know about that but I do know that one day he came home with a bunch of scribbles and the next week he was almost coloring in the lines.  Oh, and he prefers markers.

I colored most of the green one but he did the red light on it and everything else.

And this last picture is just because...

He got in!

I knew he would but Adam got accepted to Central College Preschool.  Yay!

Here are some pics I kept forgetting to get off my camera:

Nice Feb. day.  (Dave finally put stickers on after I took this pic)

Bigger trike we found on clearance at Target.
He ended up wanting to ride his big wheel instead because this bike doesn't go fast enough.

Last day of swim class on their "noodle boat".

Sick boy watching stories last Sunday.

Watching the carousel at the zoo 3/17.

How to defeat a tiger - poke him in the eye...

...then tackle it!

Sick little man

Adam woke up at 6am Sunday morning with some vomit in his bed (or "a yucky burp" as he called it).  He vomited once more in the bathroom and he was SO sad heaving over the sink.  He  kept crying that his tummy hurt.  I snuggled with him and he fell back asleep until 10:30am.  He spent the rest of the day on the couch watching stories, eating some crackers and a little ginger ale.  No more vomit!  Monday morning he seemed better so we got ready for swim lessons.  He took 2 bites of the sandwich he said he wanted and then said his tummy hurt.  He was still pretty lethargic for him.  He wanted to go upstairs to play with his blocks and ended up laying on his back wanting me to build the stuff.   By bedtime, he was running around like his normal self.

Today, Adam started Miss Sonny's "Leaping Lollipops" class.  He did SO well listening!  I know he's always good for the first class but I hope he keeps at it and doesn't just start running around the room like he did in the "Jumping Jellybeans" class.  He has some "friends" in class this time too so I don't know if that helps.  The class is for 3-4 year olds and guess who is the tallest?  I never really realized it until all the kids were lined up against a wall.  Fun!

Oops, wrong blog

Accidently posted on the other blog...

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2011

Holy Thunder, Batman!!

Last night we had some major thunderstorms.  Dave and I were watching the Academy Awards and I saw a huge flash of lightening and said "boom" and 2 seconds later "BOOOMMMM!!" and the whole house shook.  Not a peep out of Adam!  There were more storms throughout the night and I kept expecting Adam to come into our room.  Nope!  This morning when he woke up, he called for me to come into his room instead of coming in ours like usual.  He talked about the storm and how scary it was.  I guess he was too scared to get out of bed! Poor guy!

Adam's doctor's office promotes "Walk with a Doc" Saturday mornings.  In good weather, they meet at the Community Center and talk about pediatric topics.  In the winter, they rotate between Tuttle and Polaris malls.  Since we were up in time and I have been curious about it, we went to Polaris last Saturday.  I walked in and there were a TON of people in the corner of the food court.  I thought maybe something else was going on because it was mostly adults.  Turns out that these walk and talks are for anyone and the doc that day was a cardiologist or something.  Adam didn't want to stand around so we started walking.  After our first lap, we saw his pediatrician and her daughter.  Her daughter is 4 so Adam was all over her!!  Sometimes he wanted to follow her,  sometimes he wanted to run ahead and wait.  They both wanted coins for the little rides in the food court.  I love his pediatrician and it was nice to talk to her out of the office.

I can pet your dog?

Last weekend we were at the Sawmill Target and Adam decided he wanted to go next door into Petsmart.  He saw a dog and started to try to pet it and I reminded him he needed to ask before petting someone else's dog.  "I can pet your dog??"  The person said "sure" and he gently pat it on the back.  We headed toward the back to see if a class was going on.  They had a class going on in the enclosed training room AND another class just in the back of the store.  I think he asked all the owners in the back "I can pet your dog?"  It was really cute and he was very gentle.  We had to drag him out of there but not before petting one more on the way out.

We were given Adam's preschool assessment on Friday.  The teacher asked if I had a minute to talk. I thought "uh-oh" because most of the parents were just handed the form and left.  I made Adam go back in the room so he could play while I talked.  Well, thankfully it had nothing to do with his behavior.  She actually said he was a very big help in class that day and she noticed that we had been working with him academically at home.  She wanted to know if I noticed him having difficulty with balance and spacial relationships. I started to go into the whole hemi-talk but she said she was already aware of his medical issues.  She said that he has a tendency to run into his friends and not realizing he's in someones space.  I laughed a little and told her that was on purpose.  I have never seen him unintentionally run into things - he's pretty good at stopping.  I guess she has an OT background and asked if he's ever had an OT or PT or taken a gymnastics class.  I explained that we have had him evaluated and were told he was good.  He will be taking "Miss Sonny's" gymnastics class again in the Spring but they don't do that much in that class so I may sign him up for a "real" class this summer.

As for the assessment, they look at various skills ( under personal, communication, social, motor, snack and lunch skills) and rate them as M for met or E for emerging skill.  He met all but following directions, learning to share/cooperate/take turns, verbalizing feelings, and accepting discipline.  Sounds just like at home!

"screen time" junkie

Adam has gotten really into wanting to play the Wii.  I let him play yesterday because we had stayed home from the Community Center.  I thought he would get frustrated or bored quickly but he just kept on wanting to play game after game!  I finally managed to redirect him to his toys and that was it.

This morning he came downstairs and went right to the Wii and popped his Dora game in!  Luckily he doesn't know how to use the TV remote to change it to the Wii.  He ended up getting a time-out for just pressing button after button trying to get to the game when I told him no.  Then, as soon as we got home from the Community Center, he went straight to the Wii AGAIN! I had to take all the games and Wii-motes away.

Later today we were snuggling on the couch watching stories and I thought for sure he would take a nap.  That didn't happen!  He started getting crazy and wanted to watch more TV but it was time to turn it off. He thought that meant he could watch videos.  When I said no to that, he went up to my room and got my ipod touch and started watching the videos that I loaded on that!!

My kid is a "screen-time" junkie!!

Random stuff

Adam had his ultrasound and labs on Thursday.  As soon as we got there, he told the receptionist that he didn't have any blood.  He is now old enough to know what comes after his belly pictures!  Even when we walked into the ultrasound room, he told our tech that he didn't have any blood.  Poor guy!  Luckily Children's has some fantastic phlebotomists and we have gotten quick pokes despite the screaming and struggling to get away. I keep telling him he only has to get blood drawn 2 more times and then he's done with AFP testing but he doesn't understand.   He was soo mad that he DID have blood, he didn't want a band-aid and tried to rip it off.  He learned that the hurt more and left it on until it came off after his swim lesson.  Results came back in record time (the next day!):  AFP is back down to 3 (I think it had jumped to 8 from 2.5 last time) and ultrasound normal.

We are finally out of pull-ups.  Adam has been wearing undies during the day since he started school in September but we had been keeping him in pull-ups at night because he was having some random accidents and because we had a bunch left.  Well, Adam has been dry at night for a while but now we are officially out of (as in we have no more) pull-ups.  He's been wearing undies to bed all week.  Now we just need to use up the swim diapers and our house will be diaper free!

We have a winner!!

I know you are probably getting tired of the preschool dilemma - I know I am!  Well, we have found our preschool!  Adam and I went on a tour to Central College Preschool today.  We toured with one other mom and her 4 year old daughter.  We got to look at an empty classroom in which Adam found the potty and had to try it out.  Then, we got to check out some classes in session.  Adam walked right in and started playing right along with the other kids.  All the rooms are big and bright and each has a different "sensory table" - a storage box full of sand with buried stuff in it in one room, cedar chips in another,  soapy water in one, magnet bars with nuts and bolts, dried corn, etc.  Adam thought those were all really cool!  The school has a "muscle room" in the basement that has some play equipment, tricycles, cars, blocks, and toys that they can play in when the weather is bad. There is a cool newer playground outside when the weather is good. It even has a little path they can ride trikes on and through a little house.  They have a full size gym with a gym teacher on staff and a music room with a music teacher in another part of the basement.  The class ratio is 2:16.  They are a "Step Up to Quality" rated program.  All the kids in class and in the stay-and-play program looked like they were having a good time learning.  As I said before, the location isn't the best, but Adam was really interested, the times are good, the price is good, and they have been around for 40 years - they must be doing something right!  Registration is in the mail!

Valentine's (pic heavy)

Saturday, Dave and Adam built a little Valentine's house that Grandma left for Adam.  As you can see, Adam helped a lot (not).

But he thought it was fun at the end...

We decided to give Adam a couple of gifts from the "Kissing Bandit" for Valentine's day.  He got cards from all his "friends" - Batman & friends, the Yo Gabba Gang, Spiderman, Toy Story guys, Cars guys (no idea how late Dave was up last night because he wrote Adam's name on every card, put smiley faces or something extra on them,  and put them each in an envelope with Adam's name on it....)

He got a little robot, some super hero books, Playdoh, and chocolate.  He shoved a chocolate carmel in his mouth so fast he had to take half out because he couldn't chew it.  It was pretty funny!

And here's a boy happy that the Kissing Bandit showed up today.

And one last picture of swim lessons last week because I thought the kids looked cute lined up like seals at Sea World.