3 out of 4 ain't bad (potty update -- way too much TMI -- consider yourself warned!!!)

I'm still without camera... so upsetting... I think this is the longest I've gone since Adam's birth without taking pictures... may have to break down and buy a cheap one at Tar.get this weekend... don't tell my husband (ha ha).

In other news... Adam is doing really well with the potty training! Here goes (forgive me for the TMI!): Adam has made a poo on the potty 3 out of the last 4 nights... including last night and tonight. Hooray! He originally asked me for a "pull-up to poo in" tonight but I told him to try on the potty first. I asked him if he'd like me to read him a book when he was sitting there (start the habit at a young age!!!) and he said "Yes... it will make it hurt less". So I read him "The Sno.wy Day" (we're predicting snow tomorrow) and he remembered it from Grandma's house -- and a few minutes later, we had "a winner" -- so to speak!

Just as exciting... twice tonight, Adam went over to his potty and pee'ed. Without saying a word, he got up (from playing), ran to his potty, sat down and did "his business" and went back to playing (with a reminder from me to wash his hands!). It was so cool, though, how he literally got up and did it. So we're definitely excited over here... wow, amazing what things we find "exciting" these days!!!

One more thing... observant blog readers may notice that the picture of Adam under the title is a little... dated. The picture is from July 2008 and he was 15 months old... it was the day that "Big Doggy" became a member of the family. ;o) Since I'm feeling nostalgic in the months leading up to Adam's 3rd birthday (in less than 2 months - OMG!), I'll probably be posting up old photos under the header. I'll try to post a new photo with each now blog post. For those of you keeping track. =0)

Happy Weekend, everyone!

"I'm not a baby! I'm a big boy!" & other recent Adam-isms (and a potty update - fun stuff!)

My apologies for being a blog slacker the past few weeks. I can't find my camera (very stressful) which has, of course, prevented me from taking my almost daily photos. Above are a few pictures I took of Adam playing in the bath a few weeks ago. He loves "swimming like a shark" and drawing (with his bath crayons) these days. And splashing. I tried taking some new pics on Steven's B.Berry but they didn't turn out too hot (shocker). As a result, I'm taking a lot more videos with my awesome fl.ip camera. I've taken lots of mini-videos for months now but they take FOREVER to download onto the blog... which is why you haven't seen more (lucky you?!?)! In this video clip, you can hear Adam counting and talking... just hanging out... I love his little voice! Oh, he managed to turn his new kitchen sideways in this clip, I'm noticing. Not a big fan of MY voice... just listen to Adam's, please. =)



Adam continues to crack us up on a daily basis. He just says the funniest things. Today when I picked him up from school (he is now -- finally -- calling it that, as opposed to Miss Annie's House), the first thing he said (after "Hiiiii Mommy!") was "I Didn't Hit!". That's my boy (yeh, we've had some problems with hitting the past few months -- a whole other topic!).

Other recent "Adam-isms" have been:

-- "I love you, Mommy. You're the best Mommy. You're the favorite" (ahh, music to my ears)

-- "Thank you, Mommy! Thank you, Daddy!"

-- "That's a good idea!" (he says that ALL THE TIME now!)

-- "That'll be cool!" (obviously I had another "good idea" when he said that)! =)

-- Adam has been saying "thank you" for a looong time but now he says it with such enthusiasm. You could give him a piece of lint and he is as appreciative as if you gave him a million bucks. It's very cute. He's also into saying "Hi" and "Hello" these days. We're still working on "please", though... we have to remind him to say "please" the majority of the time.

-- "I'm not a Baby. I'm a Big Boy!" -- Adam says this all the time now...whatever you do, don't call Little Love a "baby" these days... as he's a BIG BOY! =)

Also, this is not an "Adam-ism" but I thought it was cute... tonight Steven and I were talking about how we're going to buy him a "real bed" (as opposed to his toddler bed soon). He said "Nooo, I like my white bed with the blue on top"... so sweet. So we'll probably wait to buy one since he's obviously quite happy in his toddler bed. Except when he falls out... which he still does a few times a month.

In other Adam news... potty training is going pretty well. He now wears underwear (instead of pul.l-ups) at school and usually can get through the day without accidents. I still have him in pul.l-ups when we're home since we're out and about so much. I guess I have to get used to the idea that he'll be using public toilets (ugh). I already bought potty covers! Regarding "#2", he went by himself for the first time yesterday in the potty (well, technically it was the 1st time since we introduced the potty to him almost a year ago). So that was exciting (wow, what we find exciting these days...!). However, he insisted on wearing a pul.l-up tonight to "poo in". So guess it will take a little bit more time for him to be completely ready/toilet-trained. My goal is for him to be 100% potty-trained (except for when he's sleeping) by his birthday... so I have 2 months left! We'll see what happens.

That's about it for now. Can't believe my baby (I mean, BIG BOY) will be 3 in 2 months (& 1 day)!

Happy, Happy Birthday to my Bobbe!

Dearest Bobbe,

I hope you have a wonderful & very happy birthday!

Can't wait to see you in a few weeks... we'll have to celebrate then.

Ever since I was a "little guy", you have always been able to bring a smile to my face:

I love you, Bobbe!

ADAM

Wordless Wednesday -- "Get Down, Get Down"

I still have 2 more parts of our "CA Adventure" to post but thought I would take a break to show you what Adam's been up to in 2010. ;-)

For a few months now, Adam has gotten great at imitating dancing, hand gestures, etc. At our library class every Tuesday, he does a great job of following along to the songs/dances. The other night, I found an new program on Spr.out On Dem.and -- Play with Me, Ses.ame -- a new(?) Ses.ame Street show. There is A LOT of singing and dancing on it. Adam gets right up and starts to dance along with the characters. It's precious!




He also likes the "freeze dance" from Nick.elodeon (new favorite shows are Do.ra, Die.go -- how original, I know -- and Max & Ru.by) and knows how to FREEZE. I love to see him in motion!


FREEZE DANCE! ("frozen" here)

In other news, we bought Adam yet *another* kitchen from Cra.ig's List! The other 2 (that we bought over a year ago) have been stored in the garage for a while (I need to donate them or something). They really are for toddlers where the "new" (old) kitchen is more for "big kids"... it even has a grill! It was a good buy, too, at $35 (it is still selling for $140, I believe). Gotta love Cra.ig's List!



Oh, how I *adore* this little love!

Hope everyone is having a great week! More CA Adventures photos coming soon!

DIS.NEYLAND - California Adventure, Take 1

Dis.neyland brought HUGE smiles to us all!

Wow, I have been such a blog slacker this week! I have been planning all week (can't believe we've been back one week now from CA) to start posting pics from our trip. For some reason, the prospect of sorting through over 400 photos from the CA trip has been somewhat daunting. I keep putting it off. So, even though I *really* should be asleep already (have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning), I am ready to post part 1 of our trip...

We arrived in Los Ang.eles on Sunday night, rented our car and went to Uncle Joey/(soon-to-be) Aunt Hillary's new house (beautiful!). On Monday morning, we (Adam, Steven, Mom, Uncle Joey and I) drove (only 1 hour away) to Dis.neyland! Adam will be 3 at the end of March so he was free and he seemed to really enjoy himself! He was cranky when we first got there (as he was woken from a much-needed nap) but perked up pretty quickly once the "Magic of Dis.ney" took over him as you'll see in (most) of the pictures below. As always, double-click on each picture that you want to see bigger. Enjoy...

Posing with Daddy outside the Mickey Mouse poinsetta plants. Since we went on 12/28, the park was still dressed in full holiday glamour. Gorgeous! As you can see, our Little Love was definitely still cranky at this point.

Outside Cinder.ella's Castle (LL was still cranky -- fortunately, once he passed through the castle, he was all smiles).

The "fake" Dumbo chair outside the ride. The ride itself was too long so this photo opp. with Uncle Joey had to do!

Of course, Adam loved the duckies...

Posing in a saucer cup... unfortunately, the line was ridiculously long for this ride, too. Guess this is why there are "staged photo opps" everywhere?!?

Watching the afternoon parade with Grammy...

Adam LOVED Goo.fy's house. He still talks about playing on Goo.fy's piano!

The Mick.ey Mouse fountain was also a hit (water usually is with LL)!

One ride that we (painfully) waited in line for was the canals through Storyland Island (or something like that). Adam LOVED LOVED LOVED it... esp. going through the big whale and seeing the Big Bad Wo.lf!

Adam's face during the canal ride... talk about seeing things all over again through the eyes of a child! As Walt D., would say... Magical!

The last "ride" we took was the train through Dis.neyland. It was a pretty awesome 20 minute train ride through the park... so great that Adam insisted on going on it 2x in a row! His favorite part was "the dinosaurs" which you can kinda/sorta see here. He is still talking about the "huge Daddy dinosaur" and all the other animals.

What a happy little love, sitting on the train!

However, this very happy little boy refused to smile for a picture with Mama... and believe me, I tried!!!

Last ride for the evening... the carousel ride with Daddy, Mama, Grammy and Uncle Joey!

The "It's a Sm.all Wo.rld" ride completely lit up -- stunning!

Holiday festivities in full force -- so festive -- too bad we were too jet-lagged to stay late for the 9:30 holiday fireworks/snow show!

Of course, no trip to Dis.neyland is complete without a little shopping trip! Adam is clutching on sleeptime Mick.ey and Min.nie here -- but they were totally overpriced. Grammy bought him an adorable Mic.key and T-shirt instead!

As you can see, it was a really wonderful day (Thanks, Grammy!)... one that Adam still talks about to this day! Wish we were still there... =) Part 2 of our CA Adventure coming up -- hopefully soon! Have a great week, everyone! =)

Back from California

Oh my goodness... we are back from Los Angeles and I have over 475 photos from our adventures! It was wonderful being with my brothers (aside from a few sibling quarrels -- but what would the holidays be without them?!?) and Adam had a great time. Highlights included DIS.NEYLAND and THE BEACH! Photos to come later this week... here is a sneak peek =):

The infamous Dis.neyland teacups! Adam didn't go on the ride (line was ridiculously long) but they had a teacup outside of it (I guess for a photo op?)
Uncle Joey and Adam sitting on the couch in Goo.fy's house. Adam is eating a frozen chocolate banana which everybody fought over!
Playing with Uncle Steven at Bal.boa(?) Park in Sherman Oaks
One of over 50 beach pics!
Grammy and Adam enjoying the sand & surf

Lots more photos to come! In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my wonderful blog readers! May 2010 be filled with much peace & joy.