"California Dreaming, On such a Winter's Day..."

That's right... Adam is dreaming about our big trip to CA tomorrow! We are so excited to leave the frigid cold of the DC suburbs for (hopefully) sunny Los Angeles! We will be going to Disneyland (can't wait!) on Monday and just hanging out with Uncle Joey, Aunt Hillary, Uncle Steven, Aunt Elizabeth (& Popcorn) for the rest of the week. It will be the 2nd year in the row that we ring in the new year together!

I'll be back with new posts NEXT YEAR!!! Happy, Happy 2010 everyone!!! xoxo

Happy Holidays!

To all of our wonderful friends across the "blogosphere",



Wishing you the happiest of holidays!

Love,

Beth, Steven & Adam

P.S. These are the 2 versions of the cards we sent: one Hanukkah and one "holiday"... sorry for the delay in posting the Hanukkah one up here! As you can probably tell, I took a photo of the card. A scanner is the next item on my "wish list"! =)

SUPER SNOW DAY!!!

We had a HUGE snow storm here in the suburbs of D.C... and ended up with almost 2 feet of snow!!! Crazy!!! All day yesterday the snow fell and we watched from the warmth and coziness of home. Adam was somewhat fascinated by all the snow and asked "Where did it come from?" (my answer: G-d!)! We were brave enough to venture out today as Adam couldn't wait to make a snowman. I'm a HUGE fan of snow so it's been a real treat for me, too! Here are some pics:
View from our deck this morning
First steps out!



Building his snowman... of course he called it "Frosty" =)



They already cancelled school (work for me) for this week so winter break has begun! The federal government is also closed tomorrow so Steven also gets a much deserved snow day! =)

Unfortunately, Adam has caught my cough. He was coughing up a storm last night but was in great spirits today so we went to play in the snow. He woke up from his nap coughing... so hard that he threw up... and a fever came shortly afterwards (101.5). I'm *very* upset about this... I *hate* it when he's sick!!! We gave him some tylenol and he seems to be sleeping peacefully now. I am *so* done with illnesses!!! =(

Wordless Wednesday -- Happy Hanukkah!

Celebrating Hanukkah with a 2 year old is SO much fun!

Putting the candles in the menorah...

Making sure Daddy doesn't forget to light a candle...

Saying the blessing...

"What's in here?"...

Curious Ge.orge and GELT!

Adam LOVES Hanukkah!

Some other "Hanukkah Highlights"... I bought the menorah for 1/2 price. When Adam saw it he said "pretty... that's a nice menorah!" Also, when he was saying the blessing (covering his eyes, of course), he stopped and said "OH NO! I FORGOT MY KIPPAH!" His favorite part of the holiday has been the gelt... chocolate money! =)

Hanukkah, 1st report card, etc...

I apologize for the lull in posts these days... I have bronchitis to blame. I've been sick for 2 weeks (tomorrow) now. Crazy! First I had a fever for 5 days with mild coughing... no other symptoms, except for a headache. Then, the coughing hit... and hard. For the first time in my life, I am wheezing! So I went to the Dr's office for the 4th time today (in less than 2 weeks) and he put me on my 3rd antibiotic (to be fair, the Dr. had me stop the 1st antibiotic 3 days in). He also gave me an inhaler (first time for that) and some strong cough medicine so I can sleep at night. The ironic thing is that I feel totally *fine* except for the, um, bizarre coughing fits and wheezing. The worst is if I laugh... which leads to uncontrollable coughing. I literally had to tell Steven not to make me laugh tonight. Anyway, sorry for going on & on... guess I just needed to vent. Fortunately, Steven and Adam seem to be in the clear (knock on wood) even though Adam has a runny nose and slight cough. Anyhoo...

Hanukkah started on Friday night and we celebrated at Grandma's house. My mom makes the best latkes!!! Of course Adam loved lighting the menorah and opening his gifts. His favorite part, however, was the GELT. He is still talking about the "chocolate money"! Here are some pics (not the greatest) from Friday night:

Yep, his eyes are closed... I really had trouble getting any good pictures Friday night!
Adam loved the new doggy he received from Grammy!
"Look at my new deegy (his term of affection for his dogs), Daddy"!

In other news, Adam received his first ever progress report from his Mont.essori school. It was *intense*... approx. 40 items listed, including - kid you not - geography, science, etc. The grading scale was either C for consistently does... or I for inconsistently does... For all the "academic" areas, Adam got Consistently does... except for the area of art (seriously). Besides that, he can do quite a bit... count to 25 in English, 10 in Spanish, can recognize & name all the letters and their sounds, can recognize numbers, shapes, etc... all good stuff. However, he received Inconsistent for getting along with others and following directions! His teacher also noted that Adam does a great job completing activities himself, but she'd like him to work more with the other kids. To be honest, I was really upset about this. However, I spoke to his teacher today and it seems as if he's doing just fine, overall. Apparently, LOTS of kids got the I in "getting along with others" since 2 year olds aren't that great with sharing (shocker, right?). She said that Adam interacts/plays nicely but primarily only with the kids from his class last year (Jackson, Ryan, Olivia, etc.) and she'd like him to play with ALL the kids. Lastly, Adam likes to do some activities himself (puzzles, blocks, etc) and she would like him to do more activities with the other kids. Adam is extremely independent and likes to do *everything* himself so all of this made sense. Most kids are still in the parallel play stage until age 3 (or even 4) so it may take a while for him to want to play/share with other kids eagerly. She did mention that he seems happy at school and that she enjoys having him in class. All that being said, I do NOT feel it is appropriate to give a 2 year old a 40 item report card. Am I alone in thinking this?!?

In lighter news... Adam continues to ask the funniest "why" questions. When we were flying to Chicago and were way up in the sky, Adam pointed out the clouds and sky to me. He then mentioned that the sky was blue. Moments later he asked me "Why? Why is the sky blue?" Cracked me up!!! My reply was that "G-d created it that way"... of course Steven wanted to give him the scientific definition which even I don't know. I prefer my reply! =)

A new favorite activity... making a train and giving his animals (including a new Snoo.py!) for a ride

One of Adam's Hanukkah presents... I bought it used for $5... not too shabby! He especially likes to drive to "Miss Luzette's House"!

Happy Snow Day!

We had our first snowfall on Saturday. About 5 inches fell but only a couple of inches stuck to the ground. I *love* snow but due to being sick (officially bronchitis now -- started antibio.tics yesterday), I could only take pictures of Adam playing on the deck (kinda lame - but he enjoyed it, anyway):

Hey... snow!
Trying to make snowballs (to make a snowman) with Daddy but the snow was too dry
Steven nailing Adam with a snowball -- my big kid!
I'm up for anything that brings these big smiles to my little love. Oh, ignore the non-matching gloves... I found the "snow gloves" (in navy, of course) as soon as we came inside. Aunt Samantha provided us with all this wonderful snow gear (thank you)! They are used to snow in Chicago! =)

Such a Love

Being sick this week has been rough. Fortunately, Steven & my mom were there to the rescue.... taking care of/entertaining Adam (and me). I really miss seeing Adam since I've been in bed most of the week. However, he has cried for me to tuck him in every night so I've been doing that (by breathing "away" from him and using lots of hand sanitizer!).

Our usual bedtime routine is this... Adam takes a bath, brushes his teeth, puts on his pjs, and the 3 of us read books. Then Steven usually leaves and we read "one final book" (usually Cur.ious George goes to the Chocolate Factory or Harry the Dir.ty Dog these days). After that, Adam turns off his light and I hold him in the chair and we talk. After a minute or two, he lets me know that he wants to go to his "big boy bed" so he gathers his doggies and off we go. Once he's in bed, we talk for another minute about his day and what we'll be doing the next day (when I mention "tomorrow", he usually asks me "What are we doing?"). Then I sing him 2 songs: Blessed by Elt.on John and The Circle Game by Jo.ni Mitchell. If I sing the wrong word (for example, I said butterfly instead of dragonfly), he immediately corrects me. After these 2 songs, he's ready to fall asleep and usually asks for "quiet" and for me to "hold his feet". I usually hold him then (doesn't have to be his feet) until he falls asleep. It's a very sweet routine. Ideally, we'd like him to go to sleep "on his own" again and have plans to start implementing that after our December CA trip. In the meantime, though, I'm making the most of these moments with him.

Tonight was especially sweet. When Adam and I were sitting in the chair talking he suddenly asked me "Why are you sick?" and I explained to him that Mama must have gotten in contact with some germs! Then, after Adam crawled up into his big boy bed, we started talking. All of a sudden, he put his little arm around my neck and pulled me close to him. These were his exact words:

"Give me a big hug! I love you, Mommy. We're going to build a snowman!"

He left me breathless... it was that sweet. Oh, about the snowman... they are predicting the first snowfall tomorrow (possible accumulation on grassy areas) so we talked about that... he was very excited about the possibility of making a snowman. Doubt that will happen tomorrow but you never know.

For now, I'm going to have sweet dreams about my precious little love.

More pics from Chi-Town (well, Highland Park) =)

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving was only one week ago! I've come down with a horrible virus/fever so this week has been especially long. Back to happier times (last week)...

On Black Friday, instead of hitting the shopping mall, we hit the Children's Mu.seum -- which was probably even busier than a shopping mall!!!




Most of all, Adam just loved hanging out with his family. Whenever he saw a picture of them in the house, he would yell, "THERE'S MY COUSINS!"... priceless:
Reading Harry the Dirty Dog (a new favorite!) with Evan & Zach
Hanging out with Cousin Jakey

Surfing the net with Aunt Samantha & Uncle Jeff
Bobbe & Zaide with their 4 grandsons

It was a wonderful weekend!!! =)