Call SuperNanny!!

We have been having a HECK of a time getting Adam to listen and to stay in his bed at night.  I don't know how I still have a voice some days because I am always yelling.  Time-outs don't work because I can't even get him to stay on a chair, bench, whatever.  He'll run around so I can't catch him and then when I do, I sit him down and he'll pop right back up and try to run away.  I have to stand and block him or hold him on it and that seems to defeat the purpose.  We've tried putting him in his room but we have to stand and hold the door closed.  I just want to be able to walk away for a minute.  Spankings evoke an "OW" but don't really do any good.  Anytime I tell him NOT to do something, he HAS to do it.  Today, he poked his finger through the package of meat I was going to buy.  I said "make sure you don't put your fingers in your mouth" on the way to the bathroom to wash his hands and guys what he did?  Even after washing them, he kept putting them in his mouth!  He wanted a cookie from the bakery (since they always have free ones out).  I told him he needed to wait until we were finished and show me he could be a good boy and he tried to jump out of the cart.  Once I got him out without him injuring himself, he ran over to the bakery and yelled at the workers to get him a cookie (since the container was empty)!

Adam comes in our room pretty much every night.  Sometimes I don't hear him and other times I'm just too tired to fight with him and put him back in his room.  Now we are really trying to get him to stay in his room.  We told him if he stays in bed for 7 nights, we'll take him to Chuck E. Cheese's.  Well...he still comes in and we tell him no and remind him about Chuck E. and he says he doesn't like Chuck E., he doesn't like his bed, and there are too many scary shadows in his room.  Last night we were able to get him back in bed after a lot of screaming and a couple of books but I had to stay with him until he fell asleep.  A couple hours later he was back in our room.  Dave slept in the guest room because Adam was coughing like crazy.  Last week, Adam was coughing and kicking me so I left and slept in his bed.  I thought he would come in with me since he was alone in my bed but he stayed all night.  I want my bed back!

Swim time again!

Adam is LOVING his swim class.   I was a little worried at first since this is the first time he gets to go to lessons without me in the water but he has been fine.  The first class he started splashing his instructor as soon as he got in the water.  All the kids have to sit on the steps while they wait their turn so Adam took that time to entertain himself by licking the handrail (and I wonder why he's sick again) and filling his mouth up with water and spitting it into the little girl's hair beside him.  This past week he kept trying to go lower and lower on the steps.  They were told to stay on the 1st or 2nd but he likes to see how far he can push it.  It's a little scary when both instructors are out in the water with other kids.  Anyway, here's a little video and some pictures.

Adam is also in a "Sports Jam" class Tuesday mornings.  The coach introduces a new sport each week.  Last week was basketball and this week was soccer.  He was in heaven last week when he walked into the gym and had lots of room to run and a ton of balls to bounce and throw.  I found out he's pretty good at kicking and running with a soccer ball this week.   But like his mom, as soon as someone starts telling him what to do he doesn't want to play anymore.   For some reason, he wants NO part of the stretches at the beginning of class.  Then, whenever the kids have to wait in line (shooting hoops, kicking goals), he doesn't want to play anymore.  I think we spent the last 10 minutes of class today sitting on the bleachers and watching.  As soon as the coach said it was stamp time, he was up and running to her.

What to do?

Adam got another time-out at school this week.  (He also got a time-out in the Sprouts room yesterday but he said he didn't know why - effective, eh?).   It would be nice if the teachers and the sprouts room people would tell me when I pick him up instead of just hearing Adam's versions of things.  The teacher didn't say anything when I picked him up today but as soom as he saw me he started saying time-out.  I asked him if he got a time-out (yes) and why.  At first he said he didn't know why and then he said he was being too rough in the gym.  The teachers said last time that he gets too rough with the other kids (especially a little boy named Vincent) and he's one of the bigger kids in class so we've talked to him about keeping his hands to himself but, ya know, he's 3!  I don't know what else to do.  I'm starting to feel like I have the kid that the teachers dread having come to class.

Christmas 2010

Ahh, to be 3 again!  Adam loved opening ALL of his presents and ours, too!
Here's some pictures.  They all started looking the same after a while.

Christmas 2010

The last couple in costumes were from today. We got him a Peter Pan costume because on Halloween he said he wanted to be Peter Pan, Dave to be Captain Hook, and me to be Tick-Tock.  After trying on his Peter Pan costume, he saw all the other ones in the closet that are for when he's bigger but he wanted to try them all on anyway.  It was fun!

More funny things outta the boy

Yesterday we were at the library and Adam was playing with one of those toys that has wires with beads that you push around. The wires were shaped in a couple of slopes and Adam thought it was like Splash Mountain. He pushed one bead down and said "There's Daddy riding by himself." Then another, "There's Adam riding by himself." It went on to Mommy, Pop-pop, Grandma, Aunt Broccoli... Who?? Aunt Broccoli. You mean Aunt Brelle? Oh, yeah, Aunt Bwewee. I was cracking up!

Later that day, Adam and Dave were playing and Adam said, "You're a terrorist!" Dave asked, "A terrorist??" and he said "Yes!". When asked where he learned that word, he said the Community Center. Grrreaat!

For some reason it seems like any time we put Adam in a time out, he says he wants to exercise. Then he lays down on his back and lefts his hips. I have no idea where he got this from and why he thinks it will get him out of a time out but it's kind of funny.

Another appeasing move he likes to do when I start to get mad at him is he sings bits of Weezer songs. It ends up being a really funny medley coming from a 3 year old. We were laying in his bed after reading stories the other night and he says, "I have "Runaway" in my head, mom!" (One of the new Weezer songs).

Friday, Adam's class was supposed to sing Christmas songs for the parents. I had visions of the kids lined up in the front of the room singing. The teachers told them they could stand in the middle of the room or by their parents. Adam wanted Dave to hold him. So, the teachers start singing, a couple kids sing loudly, some just stand there watching, and then there's Adam whining loudly. Here's the 6 second clip I got until Dave told me to turn it off.

Digital Christmas Card

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Surprises

Last weeks theme (12/3) at Adam's school was "surprises".  When I picked him up, he wanted to show me something but it wasn't on his book bag.  He went up to his teacher and said "Where's my cool Christmas (actually- he says X-Mas and I don't know why) tree?" and the teacher said "Shhh.  Remember it's a surprise for Mommy and Daddy?  You'll see it again in a couple of weeks."  He actually never talked about it again!

When I went to pick him up this week, Adam was very excited to tell me about his time-outs.   His teachers said he is one of the bigger kids in the class and I guess he likes to try to wrestle with one of the smaller boys and he also likes to shove the other kids so the teachers were trying to teach him to keep his hands to himself and put him in a time-out.  He threw a tantrum...and a chair!  Grrreat!  I'd like to blame it on the Community Center but I also know my temper so who knows?  After the teachers let him out, he was very excited to show me his super cool Christmas tree finally.  Here it is on our tree:

Cool Christmas Tree

I did manage to take him to the "Snowflake Castle" on Thursday.  He did not want a snowflake crown but I convinced him to take one home for Dave.  He did not want to watch movies (they had a little room playing Thomas the Train movies), he did not want to color or do crafts,  and of course no Santa, but he did want to watch the trains.  They had a nice little set up where the kids could watch all the trains go 'round and 'round.  The only other thing he really liked was a blow up snow globe.  They had an area where the seniors were selling their crafts and you had to walk through it to get your coats. There was a gentleman wearing a Santa hat at the entrance of that area and Adam was hiding his face and trying to get by him.  The guy kind of grabbed Adam and gave him a tickle - he might have even said boo - and Adam screamed and ran.  Then one of the ladies saw him and said boo to him.  Old people trying to scare my kid - that's not right!  But all was forgiven after I got him a $1 baggie of cookies and we left.

Trains

Snow globe