Adam-isms

After not being allowed to call everything "dumb."
A: Well then I'm just leaving!
me: (sweetly) Would you like me to get a bag for your clothes?
A: I'm not leaving this house, but I'm going to my room until after Christmas break!
me: Oh, great, can I have your presents then?
A: Well...I think I can do that part.

Adam's writing about Santa:
If I found Santa stuck I would get a real bulldozer and dig a hol that gos to the chimy and then get a rocket that touched his feet. Then I would light it and then he would pop right out.

Adam's Kindergarten Graduation

Last month Adam graduated Kindergarten.
Adam, this year you've learned to read, add & subtract, made new friends, and gained independence & responsibility. You are still very much our wild man, and we struggle to keep up with your daily abundance of energy. You've come along way though, and we are so proud of you!

When Adam's class lined up, he insisted that he was the only one facing the correct way, even though all the other students knew to face the audience.

I don't have any pictures of Adam getting his diploma because he excitedly ran down to get his when another student, with the same first name, was called. I wasn't expecting him to do that, so my camera wasn't ready. Stinker!

Here's Adam with his amazing teacher Mrs. Brown. We love her!
We are so lucky, because she's moving to first grade and Adam gets to have her a 2nd year!

Date Night

(Are you seeing a trend with the great photos Adam is taking? We must be in some weird awkward photo stage.)

Last night Jared & I went to see the free Stake Christmas Concert, "Sing Noel." They had a choir and an orchestra. I enjoyed it so much, I thought I would take Adam tonight for a mom & son date.

When I told Adam my plan, he said, "No thanks."

The lure of staying up past bedtime was tempting. Wearing church clothes in the evening was not as thrilling.

As I was getting him dressed, he told me, "...but we already had a date!"

I inquired when was this date? He replied, "When we went to Chuck E. Cheese together." That was last year. His poor future wife. I can only imagine. "...but honey, I just took you out on a date last year."

Overall, it was fun, but Adam may need to mature a little more before I have any more great ideas. In the second song he asked to go the bathroom, and then stepped on every member of the neighboring family's feet on the way out the aisle. (We did take a restroom break before we got in there.) By song number four, he was asking to go home. I found a piece of chewing gum in my pocket and that bought me 30 minutes. He was able to make it through the entire program. I'm not sure he enjoyed it as much as I did, but I'm glad we did it.

I'll just let him pick the location of the next date night. Sometime next year.

Santa Visit

This was Hadley's first visit to see Santa. Cabela's had a free photo with Santa, as long as you came during nap time, and parked 1/2 a mile from the entrance to the store.

Hadley was a big fan of running around & hanging out with her brother.

Hadley did not share Adam's excitement about actually visiting Santa.

She didn't cry, but she was desperately signing "help" over and over by patting her chest.

Both kids got candy canes while we waited for a replica of this photo.

Adam turns 5!

Adam turned 5 today. Every year Adam has to wait until his real birthday to get his birthday present from us. Adam got up really early and was excited to get his TRIO castle set he'd been wanting. We celebrated by having playgroup at McDonald's, and having dinner at Chili's with the grandparents. He was thrilled when the waitress asked him to stand up his chair so they could sing happy birthday to him. His face was priceless! He ate his favorite chocolate molten chocolate cake for dessert and left to spend the night with pappaw & grandma. We had a good time. (Notice the self-inflicted injury under his nose from earlier in the week. Last year on his birthday he poked his eye with a stick, this year nose. I predict next year will be his chin.)

Things about Adam at 5:

Adam is a sweet & silly boy. He gives the best hugs & kisses. Adam's favorite color is green, unless someone he loves tells him they like another color. Then he switches to their favorite. Adam goes to pre-k two times a week. He is learning so much. He knows all the sounds of all the letters. He is excited to tell me all the words that start with a certain letter. We are constantly amazed that he's right about it. I love to read him bedtime stories in the brown chair every night. It's the one time of day he is calm & quiet. He loves for me to tell him stories from when I was a kid. Adam's hair is crazy. He has a double cow-lick in the back and we can never get it to lay just right. Somehow it suits his personality. He still calls waffles - "wockles" and I never correct him because it's the only word he doesn't say correctly anymore. Once he says it right, he'll somehow stop being a little boy. Adam loves cartoons, and all things boy. He likes to run around the house and yell, "Boo!" He loves to run, and love to race us. If he notices one of us passing him by, he'll stick out his arm as he is running to try to keep us back. He's not patient, but neither am I. We are both working on that, probably by living with each other. Adam loves to help with cooking, and loves hot chocolate & treats. I can't imagine our life without our boy.

Adam's First Day of Pre-K

Adam is going to pre-k on Monday's & Wednesdays. He absolutely loves it and couldn't stop talking about all the things he got to do. The sun was a little bright so the outside picture is a little squinty eyed.

The boy smiles

Adam has been camera shy lately. Tonight he let me get a picture of him. He looks so big to me in this picture. What happened to my little boy?

For those of you who are gamblers: Tomorrow I have a follow up doctor's visit. Adam has to go with me. I am bribing him with all the PEZ he can cram into his mouth if he will just sit outside the room for a few minutes. What are the odds that Adam will stay outside the door while I have my examination? I hope his cheeky smile doesn't see my cheeky smile.

Nugget of Truth

Last week Adam & Hadley & I checked out Finders Keepers 30 percent off sale. (Finders Keepers is a resale shop that specializes in children's items.) Adam was excited because they have a play area (the size of 8 single baby gates assembled together in a square.) Needless to say that when we arrived, and 4 children were already crammed in the designated toy area, there was no room for Adam. He roamed with me hoping the other kids would leave soon. When they didn't he decided he would just take his chances so he could get in on the toy action. After a few minutes he found me to excitedly report/yell his experiences in the fun zone.

"Mom, they have a black girl in there --with wheels, that the other kids were poking with chickens!" (...he went on and on about this black girl - loudly)

I had never heard Adam refer to anyone by their different races. Also, I was fairly certain responsible adults are supposed to break up any poultry gouging. I'm not going to lie, the curiosity got the better of me. I was a bit disappointed I didn't get to unleash motherhood on some wild kids when I saw this:

...apparently, they had a black GRILL, with wheels that other kids were poking with chickens.

Why couldn't the pirate stop thinking about sailing?

....Because he had ship for brains.



Today, Adam had an exciting day. A group of pirates left him a treasure map in his room that told him of buried treasure in the back yard.

Digging for treasure

Discovering his treasures -- those pirates should have counted out
more pennies and less quarters.

Looking for those generous pirates!

(Even though all evidence was removed -- Adam immediately noticed that the pirates got their treasure chest from Hobby Lobby.)

Easter Morning

Easter Morning 7 am:



Mom & Dad: "Adam it's time to get up, the Easter Bunny left you some treats in your basket."



Adam: "No, it's too early to get up."



Dad: "So, can I have your Easter treats then?"



Adam: "Well...okay, I'll get up."

Accidental Entertainment

Last night we went to Byblos Lebanese Restaurant with Jared's good friend (big) Adam & his girlfriend/future fiance. Jared wanted to do something different than the typical chain restaurants like Chili's. It ended up being that we just couldn't find a sitter for our (little) Adam, so he came along with us to dinner. (Which may be too much reality for the in love couple we were with -- sharing dinner with a 4 year old and a very pregnant lady.) Jared & I had eaten at Byblos a few months back and were pleasantly suprised how good everything tasted. The service was only so-so, even though the website boasts "guests are treated like family." Depending on your family, that might be accurate.


Last night, however, we were in for a real treat. In addition to outstanding food, Byblos had live entertainment. Cue the belly dancer. The slightly chub dancer pranced around in a skin tight number that exposed her back fat while she was moving. She must have been religious because the cups of her pink bra-lette overfloweth. While the 4 LDS adults became increasingly more uncomfortable, our little Adam could not take his eyes of of her. We tried to not look in the direction of the belly dancer (or the giant mole under her right armpit) but, it didn't help that we were seated right next to the stage area. The belly dancer has opened up a whole new world for our son, and he is truly disappointed that it's a girl's dance. We were disappointed that the restaurant automatically charges $1 entertainment charge per person when a belly dancer performs. The waitress must have seen how entertained our son was, because she charged him as well. Jared & I figured, even though we weren't hip on the belly dancing, Adam got $3 worth of entertainment out of it. Next time we will be going to Chili's where the only thing to make my son's eyes pop is the molten chocolate cake.



In case you are wondering, Byblos is available for field trips. Sign up your pre-school class now.

Tuesday

Summer & I have started a somewhat weekly tradition of Taco Tuesdays at Rosa's. Both of our husbands have other responsibilities on Tuesday nights, and you just can't beat the deal at Rosa's. While we were there I realized, while I am completely ready to not be pregnant anymore, I'm not sure I'm completely ready to be a mom of two kids. It made me realize that the one on one time I've had with Adam for these 4 1/2 years are about to be over. Of course we'll have lots of good family times in the future but, it won't ever be the same once we add our little Hadley. After dinner the weather turned off beautiful and I asked Adam what he wanted to do together. Kids are so simple to please, all he wanted was for me to play with him in the backyard. I got tons of rest the night before and was actually up to playing for once. We played his favorite made up game, punchy ball, which consists of punching a ball to each other. I snapped a few photos of Adam while he was playing, just as he is, silly with dirt constantly on the end of his nose.

....I'll try to be more careful

Jared is at school on Tuesday nights. It's kind of a pain to cook for just one and a half, so we usually eat out on Tuesdays. Tonight we went to Sonic, and Adam had a hot dog. I must have driven around the corner a little too fast because the next thing I hear from the backseat is Adam screaming "Mommy! Your going too fast, your making my weenie fall off!" He has no idea why I erupted in laughter.

Boys are more expensive than Girls: Cost Analysis

Flashback: I remember a few years back shopping with a very young Adam (who was was neatly buckled into the front basket of a Target shopping cart -- in an idyllic time before he threw everything out of the cart or roamed the aisles free) There were two women who were discussing if it was cheaper to raise boys or girls. They asked my opinion since I had a boy and one of them had a girl. I felt whole-heartedly at the time that girls must be more expensive. Really give my kid 2 pairs of shoes, a few jeans, and some navy church pants and we're set. At the time he could really entertain himself with an inflatable ball from the dollar store and a cardboard box. Girls, however, have outfits with matching shoes, hairbows, & accessories. Even girl toys have more accessories. I thought surely, girls must cost more. I learned today that's not the case. If I add up all the things I've had to replace due to Adam's destructions, I'd have quite an impressive girl wardrobe, or at the very least the adorable, dangly earrings I've been eyeing.

The full story: Ever since his Birthday and Christmas, Adam has had a severe case of the "gimmies." He wants retail, and he wants it now. His most recent desire was a kid's sized soccer goal for the backyard. We decided to let him earn the money over the course of the last month or so. Every week he does chores and gets a small allowance for his piggy bank. He was so excited when he got Valentine's Day money from his Grandma's to add to the cause. He's also learned that Pappaw pays very well for picking up sticks and making his bed at their house. Today was the big day. He'd saved enough for his set. He excitedly made me set it up as soon we got home, and couldn't wait to go play with it. I was so excited for him to celebrate him saving for a big purchase. I noticed the poles weren't sticking great into the corner brackets, so I broke out the hammer just to tap in the edges. He went on to playing with his soccer goal, while I made the mistake of leaving the hammer on the ottoman.

Later that day: Why does everything seem to happen when I take a bathroom break? From my two minutes of private solace, I hear banging that I can't quite identify. Every mother knows this is not a good sign. Before I can get my pants up, Adam is in front of me crying about how he broke his window with the hammer.

I was furious but, did my best to remain calm. He felt badly enough, I figured yelling at him wouldn't benefit anyone. He did get a good talking too, though. After assessing the situation, I made him bring in his new soccer goal that I will be disassembling and returning for a prompt refund. It broke his heart (and mine because he worked so hard to earn it) but, I figured if this is going to cost us $200 to replace the window, he can spot $30 towards the cause.

The Soccer Star

Adam had his first night of soccer practice tonight. He absolutely loves soccer, even though it's obvious after tonight we have work to do.

He started off strong with a dribbling exercise. Luckily, we had practiced this before at home. Thank you freshman year of college 1/2 credit PE Soccer. However, before he was done with the drill, he had tripped over his own feet and fallen twice.

His coach explained the simple rules of a shark & minnows game -- which I clearly heard from 12 ft. away. The kid that was the shark was to try to kick the soccer ball away from the kids that were the minnows. Adam must have been admiring his own astounding soccer skills because he missed that the goal was for the other kid to steal his soccer ball. Three meltdowns ensued, complete with whiny "H-E-Y, that's M-Y soccer ball!" before he realized there was a pattern and that was the game.

Near the end of practice, the coach decided to let the kids practice their running and have a race against each other without soccer balls. Every other kid on the field heard this instruction and kicked their soccer balls neatly in a row off the field. My kid, decided that he would use this time to make a goal in the net. His sense of elation was cut short when he finally realized that his soccer ball was not with the "in crowd." Even though the coach gave the okay to just leave his soccer ball, Adam could not join the group of racers because he was tangled in the net. After releasing Adam back into the wild, the coach said, "On your mark, get set..." to which Adam yells "GO!" and all the kids take off. The coach called them back to start again. This time Adam wasn't ready for "GO!" because he wasn't the one saying it. After all the kids took off, and he turned around to notice, he went full speed ahead...only to trip over his cleats and eat dirt.

I will say, what my son lacks in skills he makes up for in heart. Despite falling in the dirt numerous times and being last place in every game or skill, he still got up for more. All the way home he talked about the best time he had.

My Mother's Revenge

We've been having trouble in kid land lately. On numerous occasions this week Adam has tried to turn his room into a waterpark. When cups of water became off limits in his room, he decided surely it was alright to upgrade to a pitcher of water. I caught him wet handed with a half filled pitcher returning to his room. He neglected to tell me had already dumped 3 pitcher fulls in his window seat. (Why did we choose the room with a window seat for a him?-- the feature is totally wasted on the boy unless you count the times he has used it as a spring board to jump to his bed across the room.) I can only assume his hotwheels needed to go to the car wash. I made him clean up the mess, which now has the added mess of 5 drippy towels when I had just finished up laudry today. Since he's going to pappaw's tonight (which means he'll come back with King Adam status as the only local grandchild) I wanted him to clean his room. He is fighting it off with a vengeance. As I was putting away my own laundry I heard him say, "Stupid Mommy" in response. When I asked him about it, of course he wouldn't come clean. He said, "All I said was yes mommy." We went on and on and he finally spit out the truth. Since he said a bad word (stupid is a bad word in our house when you are 4) and he wasn't honest he had a dose of the naughty word medicine. I just had a flashback of my own childhood where my mother was making me eat stew, which I still despise to this day. Even the sound of it -S-T-E-W -- it even sounds gross. I was giving my mother a time of it. She told me I couldn't leave the table until I ate it. I went on and on about how great it was that I was getting to watch tv past my bedtime (thanks to open concept layouts.) Her final straw was to tell me I'd be having it for breakfast if I didn't eat up. She went into the next room and under my breath I muttered, "You witch." She tore out of that room and I knew I was in big trouble. Today my mother got her revenge.

On a side note...I also remember my mother saying "I hope you have two kids just like you" Now that I'm pregnant, that's quite frightening.

Adam-isms

A few things Adam has told me this past week:

"Mom, you need some more toe paint!" (Thanks son, I can barely see my toes these days, glad to have you keep me updated.)

While holding up a slim fast can "Is this the drink that makes you kick stuff?!" (I'm guessing in reference to a slim fast commercial he saw on tv where the lady aggressively kicks her cravings of enormous flying donuts after drinking the beverage. Just for fun I threw out a few preggo karate kicks.)

...and today's gem:
"I quit!" in reference to receiving teddy grahams & gold fish crackers for afternoon snack instead of his desired fruit snacks. I can't help but wonder if he quits, does that mean I get the weekend off?

Adam's new hobby

Adam has a new hobby. It's called time out. It must be something he's trying to get better at because it's barely 11 am, and he's spent the better part of today on his bed trying to get his time out skills perfected. Any skills that your kids are trying to perfect?

I've got to go right now!

We've been discussing with Adam the things you should do privately such as adjusting your underwear and picking your nose. We've told him he needs to go to his room or the bathroom and clean house when he is by himself. During the most quiet, reverent portion of our sacrament service, Adam decides to announce, "I have to go to the bathroom --I need to pick my nose!" Ten minutes later he passed gas so loudly that all the members of the family next to us scooted, in unison, to the far side of the pew. (No pun intended) Now we have another thing to add to the list of "things to excuse yourself for."

The Awards Show

I got a coupon for a free $10 off any purchase at the JCP. Not wanting to pass up a freebie, I somehow thought it would be an accepatable idea to go look around with nothing in mind two Saturdays before Christmas with a kid who could care less of retail thriftiness. I'm sure the other customers didn't realize they would get a show while they shopped. I'd like to present Adam Hooste with "that kid" award for outstanding performance in repeatedly touching everything breakable, hiding out in outerwear, and giving the necklaces a free ride on their jewelry carousels (sadly some of the beaded lovelies didn't buckle their safety belts and are laying lifeless on the floor -- even with doorbuster prices they could not be resuscitated.) He likewise would like to nominate me for "Mother of the Year" as I carried him screaming out of the store and threatened to cancel Christmas.