Tis the Season!

Adam and I put the tree up last week- the earliest I think we have ever had a tree up! I didn't drag out the ornaments because that's Dave's thing so every night Dave would bring a bunch down and have Adam help hang them.  Adam was soo cute and would always ask for one more.  One night over the weekend, Dave put a bunch up.  I was afraid Adam would freak out in the morning but he was totally fine with Santa adding some more super heros to the tree.

Inspired by Cheryl's post about putting the train out for D & J, we decided to get Adam a train for under the tree, too.  It came today and Adam wanted to open it right away.  He was soo excited and kept playing with the remote while Dave put together the track.  Once it was ready to go, Dave told him that he (Dave) needed to drive it first to make sure it worked.  Then he handed to remote back to Adam and Adam said no! He said he didn't want to drive it until he was 4.  It took about a minute of telling him it would be OK and then he was all about driving the train.  I'm surprised the batteries still work with all the stopping, starting, whistle, and bell ringing the train went through today!

Adam and I went to the mall today and he STILL wants nothing to do with Santa.  I think that if given the choice, Adam wouldn't have even walked on the first floor remotely near Santa.  It was very funny to see him make a large arc around when I tried to walk towards Santa.  There was no one in line and I thought maybe I could get him to give a high five or something but no...maybe next year.  I've been trying to get him to go to this Snowflake Castle at the Senior Center here but I think he heard me talking to one of the other mom's about a Santa being there and now he says he wants to stay home. Maybe I'll just throw him in the car tomorrow and tell him it's a surprise.  The other mom said Santa is in another room so hopefully he'll enjoy the crafts and stuff.

Adam has a new best friend at the Community Center!  His name is Luka and he is a year older (bday is Oct 27th). It started off as Adam "stalking" but the 2 get along so well!  Luka is super cute and always runs up to Adam at the playground and says "Hi Adam!  Remember me? I'm Luka!" They were in the Sprouts room together on Tues. and Adam didn't want to leave.  "Look mom!  Luka's here and we're making corn!".  We were just about to leave the CC but Adam wanted to go back to the Sprouts room to say goodbye to him.  Just then, his dad came to pick him up so the 2 of the ran off to the playground together until Luka had to go to his lessons.  Luka always gives him a hug when he leaves. SO freaking cute!  I'll have to ask his parents for their info or something in case our schedules don't match up next quarter.

DAMage!!!

Yesterday, Dave was getting cranky because Adam didn't want to put any clothes on and go out and about.  I told him to just go and Adam and I would hang out.  He left, slamming the door.  A couple minutes later the door opens and Dave yells "DAMN!  DAMN-IT!!".  I guess he banged his knee on the door or something bringing in the mail.  He checks again to see if Adam has clothes on (nope) and then leaves.

Fast forward a couple hours.  I'm in the bathroom and I hear Adam in the dog's room.  "DAMAGE!!  DAM! DAM! DAMAGE!!!"

Progress reports

We received Adam's 1st progress report from school today.  Check marks for self help, fine motor, talking, social-emotional, and using potty (despite having a full-blown accident last week). Comments: We enjoy having Adam in our class.  At times needs reminders to share and not take toys from friends.   (What 3 year old doesn't?).

We also had a speech evaluation yesterday that the school offered.  The therapist, Susan, was wonderful and was able to get Adam to stop trying to run away and engage him enough to answer her questions.  I told her the only concerns we had were Adam's "F's"  like when he says "foot" it's more like "thoot".  She agreed and said to try to get him to say a word that ends in an "f" and then one that begins (off foot) since he can do it at the end of the word just fine.  She also said he needs to close his teeth on "S" because that is also a little "th".  Due to his tongue still being a little bit larger, she said his speech is a little "slushy" but she had no problem understanding him.  She didn't have any real concerns that would require actual therapy, just those couple of things to work on.  Also, the test was geared for 4 year-olds so not so bad for a little dude who just turned 3!  :)

And last but not least, Adam's ultrasound was normal and his afp went up a couple of points but not enough to be concerned.

Kids are jerks!

The other day after my workout, Adam was playing in the indoor playground at the Community Center.  He was following around a group of boys who were ages 4-6 years old.  They were playing Indiana Jones at the time.  Anytime Adam would catch up to them they would run away and say he was a alligator or a bad guy.  A couple times when they were just kind of standing around trying to figure out what they wanted to play, Adam would try to join in and I saw at least one of them give him a little push away.  Adam thought they were just playing.  He followed them up to the top of the play-thing and one of the kids was just standing there.  It was hard to see but I think he may have been blocking the way to the top and Adam may have pushed him.  Next thing I hear is the kid whining, saying Adam is a bully and he's going to go tell his mom.  Kid slides down the slide crying to his mommy that Adam is a bully.  Adam is close behind, stands there smiling, and says HI!! as the mom quietly talks to her kid.  I walk over saying Adam just wants to play with the big kids.  One of the other mom's was like "absolutely!" (But I think her kid got all mad when Adam looked over his shoulder at a book). Kid is fine and walks back over to his gang and we leave...

Same day....we go over to the "new" park later in the afternoon.  Adam finds a couple of little kids to play with for a while but eventually they had to leave.  He finds another group of a boys and starts following them.  One blocks him from the kid he was following and tells him to stop following them and gives him a little shove away.  Thankfully that mom was right there and explained that Adam just wanted to play and to be nice.  We needed to leave anyway so I tried to have a talk with Adam in the car saying that if he gets shoved again to say "Please don't push me!  I just want to play with you!" and to try to ask kids if they want to play before just following them around.

Too much reading??

For a good part of the day today, Adam would say something and end with "Adam says" or "Mommy says".  It was like a giant story in real time - I guess that would make it a play, huh?

I'm not touching you!

Adam arrived in our bedroom just after 2 am last night.  I figured I'd do what I did the other night and let him fall asleep and in an hour or so, carry him back to his room.  I picked him up and he said drowsily "Are we going to my room?".  Yep!  I lay him down in his bed and he pops up so I laid next to him hoping he would get cozy and go back to sleep.  He puts his face on my face and is half laying on me and I can't breath!  I move down to the end of the bed and tell him to stop touching me.  He wraps his blanket around his feet and starts nudging me. I tell him again to stop touching me and he says "I'm not touching you, see?" -  because his feet were wrapped in the blanket!!!

He continued to bug me in some way so I gave up and went back to my room with Adam right behind me.....

3 = fear?

Adam has been having a hard time staying in his room at night because he has developed a fear of shadows.  He usually comes in around 4 am and says there's a shadow on the ceiling then climbs into bed.  Umm, no! Last night I let him sleep for about an hour than was able to carry him back to his room without any complaints.  I had to cover up the little "on" light on the baby monitor (yes, I still use the baby monitor just in case he gets up without coming in our room first), turn off the night light in the hallway, and make sure the curtain is completely closed so that his room is pitch black.  Tonight he wanted his door completely shut so that no light from the play room could filter in.

Even during the day when he sees a shadow on the wall, he freaks out a little.  Sometimes he says it's a ghost and sometimes he just says there's a scary shadow on the wall so I try to show him what is making it.

I already wrote about his new doctor fear.  He's already saying that he doesn't want belly pictures Thursday and he's usually great for those. ( If he cries, there will be too much air in his intestines and the images won't be clear).  I reminded him he gets a lollipop for breakfast and was like "oh, yeah" so lets hope that will do it!

On a happy note, we got Adam to eat some "real" food finally!  His doctor had asked us last week if we cook separately for him and I quietly said yes - if he wants a PBJ (or mac n cheese, hot dogs, pizza, etc for dinner, he gets it because it is just easier.  She said "STOP THAT!  He should eat what you eat!"  So yesterday I cooked up some chicken, zucchini, and yellow squash in some garlic and olive oil, added a little chicken broth and served it over spaghetti.  We told him he had to try it (and he would get a cookie).  He refused the chicken and said "blah" to the squash but he really liked the noodles and asked for more (and a turkey dog)!  Tonight I made a chicken pot pie.  Once again, we said he had to try.  He ate a little piece of chicken and said "Mmmm"!  We tried the veggies but he spit them out on his plate and said he wanted more chicken!  YAY!!  Not sure what to do tomorrow when I make chili, 'cause we like it hot and only have chili hot beans and tomatoes with jalepenos already in them....