October was the Best!

October was my absolute favorite month to date with our little Adam. We were so fortunate to have Jason home for the month in between jobs, so we got tons of family time in. That combined with the fact that Adam is like a sponge, learning and changing by the second, led to such an awesome month, I can't even describe. He is talking up a storm, saying new words correctly by the day, and the babbling nonsense has even started, which is such fun to listen to! Here is a sampling of Adam's vocabulary...
gog=dog baw=ball baba=bottle pup=cup wawa=water pump=pumpkin gilk=milk (this normally comes with a soft little giggle and a chest pat) baber=boober (what taylor calls nursing), sometimes he uses this when he wants to nurse too meow=cat op=open poon=spoon
Many of his other words are quite clear. He says truck, tractor (a little mumbled, but definitely a two syllable word), clock, on, off, moon, hi, bye-bye, poop (yes, poop, thank you jason). He repeats so much of what we say with such clarity it still shocks us at times. For example, I'll say "do you want to read Goodnight Georgia " (this is one of his very favorite books right now) and he'll say "georgia," clear as day. But then he won't use the word later. He just likes to repeat what we say. It's just unbelievable how well he can mimic our words.
Oh my gosh, his sounds. He brrrms anything with wheels, he clip clops his horse, he makes crashing noises when he knocks over a stack of blocks, and he knows his animal noises well. He can tell you the sounds that all of these animals make. Lion, tiger, dinosaur, elephant, dog, cat, horse, pig, duck, rooster, cow, turkey, monkey. He can tell you a bunny goes "hop-hop," and that sometimes dogs howl.
He also understands so much now. If we are sitting playing and I ask him if he wants to eat, or tell him it's time for a bath, he will get up and walk to his high chair or into the bathroom, knowing full well what we were just talking about. You better not make him wait for food once you've talked about it or he'll get mad and let you know all about it!
We filled October with many of the typical fall things. Here are a few shots of us at Tuttle Orchards, picking apples and pumpkins.

Adam's pick

He loves "pumps." We even keep a little one in the car for him to hold on road trips!


He is walking so well, and pretty fast by now. We'll let him try to walk almost any terrain just to see how he does. He loves the freedom that walking brings! He still falls, but it doesn't phase him in the slightest. He just gets up and starts over.

Tuttle Orchards has a little play area for kids, with a big wooden tractor. He loved it. He has been obsessed with tractors since the hayride on the Wentworth farm.

Driving the tractor

We took him off of the tractor to try to get some pictures in the hay. Clearly, a bad call on our part! We skipped the pictures and went back to the tractor!

This is Adam checking out the llama and little goats.

He was ecstatic over the animals.



One thing that was definitely different about having J at home was that he would let Adam wear anything, or nothing in some cases. I love to buy clothes for Adam and get him dressed each day. Jason could care less. Maybe J was teaching Adam the sliding move from Risky Business, I don't know. What I do know is that I was not responsible for this look!

We took a family trip to the museum.

Adam loved watching the trains. He says brrrm, brrrm for a train too. We are working on choo-choo.

He, of course, manages to get his hands on a couple of balls at the water table. Balls and anything with wheels are his favorite things.

Fun at the water table

A bit wet, but so worth it!

Goofing around, making faces at dada through the tunnel.

He loves saying hello and good-bye to the bear as we come and go from playscape!

Well, Halloween really could have been an entire post all on it's own. I love Halloween, always have, so I started shopping for his costume months ago. I found an adorable monkey that I decided was the one. When I tried it on him he freaked about the head piece that went with it. He would tear at it the entire time it was on, screaming. I decided that the monkey wasn't worth the money without the headpiece (he didn't even look like a monkey) so I returned it. Halloween came and I ended up borrowing a duck costume from a girl at work. I thought it would be perfect since he quacks so well. He wore the duck when we went to zoo boo one mild October day.

Adam the duck

Lisa and Tay went with us to ZooBoo. Taylor was a bumblebee.

Once we were at the zoo and around all of the kids dressed up Adam didn't mess with the headpiece on the duck once. I was so sad I had returned the monkey!

Adam was so cute as a duck, walking around in full costume all over the zoo. Strangers were literally taking pictures of him he was so cute. However, everyone thought he was a chick, which means everyone thought he was a girl! I couldn't handle it. I decided then and there that the duck, a.k.a. the chick, would not be making an appearance on Halloween night!

Luckily, someone else at work had a costume that would fit just right! And a definite boy costume at that! A dinosaur! We told him two or three times that a dinosaur went ROAR and he had it down. It worked out perfect. He was so cute, and definitely a boy!

We have been spending Halloween with the McClain's since before we were married. Had to continue the tradition with a night at their house. We did a short bit of trick or treating with Margaret (adam was much more interested in the pumpkins on people's porches than the candy they were handing out) until we gave him his first candy bar ever. A kit kat. Clearly he loved it!

Adam with his kit kat

He would literally say "mmmmmm" between bites!

Adam the dinosaur

Adam with his kit kat and his pumpkin. He's in heaven!

Boy oh boy will he get mad when he runs out of kit kat!

Until he sees his next piece!!

Adam loves to dance. He has his signature white boy moves down. (The slight bending of the knees with the bouncing up and down.) He loves songs and he'll even do some of the motions to itsy bitsy spider when you sing it for him. His obsession with the moon continues. He points it out in all of our books and loves to go outside in the evening to look for it. (It was nearly a full moon on Halloween...he was in heaven!). He loves using his four front teeth to bite into food. He knows eyes, mouth, and nose will point them out on anyone but himself. He even says "eye" "no" and "mou" as he points. Oh my gosh does this kid love to read. He will ask to read book after book after book. I have gotten into the habit of sitting down on the floor once or twice a day and pulling out 10-12 books and just letting him pick which books to read (sometimes it's the same book over and over, and other times we'll make it through the whole stack). He turns the pages too, so he tends to dictate the speed at which we read these books. I just read until he is satisfied with them and something else manages to get his attention. I find if I don't do this often enough he gets very mad at nap time once his 2-3 books are read. He'll scream and point for another. Luckily I can distract him with the boob! He loves to be outside. Now that he is walking so well, he will walk for several houses to reach the truck he wants to see or the neighbor that is out mowing. It is never a mystery where he is leading us. He talks about it the whole way there, pointing at the object of interest and saying truck, or with a mower, saying brrrm, brrrm until we get close enough to get a good look.

11 Months

It is truly unbelievable to me how big Adam is getting. He seems like more of a little boy than a baby these days. He's slimming down, his face isn't near as round. He still has a little belly, but his legs are slimming down too. He's walking well/fast/determined, and believe it or not, he's talking. Yes, talking. He clearly and frequently says cup (this sounds more like "pup"), mama, dada, pop (for poppy), wawa (water), truck, and ball (sounds more like baw). I could seriously go on, but these are definitely the words that he uses the most regularly. He loves balls and anything with wheels. He loves throwing two balls at once, so he regularly carries one around in each hand, banging them together or throwing them. He loves cars and trucks. He makes a brrrm, brrrm sound and pushes them around with such excitement and enthusiasm. It's so fun to watch. He has a little shopping cart. He doesn't walk behind it very often, but he will turn it over and spin the wheels round and round.

just a beautiful fall day playing in the front yard

a trip to monkey joes, the bounce house place in Castleton

We spent my birthday weekend at the Wentworth farm. Watching the tractor pull the wagon for the hayride was probably Adam's favorite part. He also LOVED seeing all of the animals. By the end of the weekend he was imitating a rooster.

Mommy's little pumpkin, picking out his pumpkin at the Wentworth market.
(he says "pump" for pumpkin)

A chilly night at the farm

This is the pic that was sent out with Adam's birthday party invitations. Can't believe we're already planning his 1st birthday party!

Part of the reason that I can't completely narrow down his words are because he is such an unbelievable mimic. He will repeat any word that you speak clearly to him, particularly those said with enthusiasm. Some times he catches on so quickly it's scary! He's definitely a smart little guy. I actually think he's a baby genius, but that's just my opinion!

One of the craziest things about this past several weeks is how fast he is developing cognitively. Until this point I think he was generally pretty average, meeting or generally exceeding most of the developmental milestones. It was the physical milestones where he seemed so far ahead of the norm. Now that he is walking well, and I think, finally satisfied with his physical capabilities, he has an absolute insatiable appetite to learn. He loves to read books. He knows what a handful of animals say (the first was obviously duck, but he now knows rooster (varies from cock-a-dooooooo to do-do-dooooooo with a very long, high pitched ooooooo on the end), cow, cat (which he learned by imitating Ritter. He loves that cat.), lion, tiger. You can literally see him trying to take in everything you're saying/reading/doing. He studies the pages in the books we read, wanting some books over and over. He is so over the top amazing. I had no idea that this is what it was going to be like to be a parent. I don't think there are words for how I feel about him. Spending this time with him, watching him learn and change and grow is truly one of the most precious gift I have ever been given.

These are a few more cute shots from his little photo shoot in the front yard. I really wanted one in the birthday hat for his party invitations... it took some quick work to get one of him in that hat! But I got several others without the hat that are too cute not to post!

He is just the happiest little guy. He loves, loves, loves to be outside. I've already bought a hat and mittens for him, preparing for the many cool winter days outside ahead.

My little, big boy walking around the front yard.

Our Little Walker

Adam is officially, undeniably walking. He walks everwhere. He can stand easily in the middle of a room. He can walk carrying stuff. He can even squat down, pick something up, stand back up and keep walking. I don't think I've seen him crawl at all for a good week. Such a big boy!!
We bought his first pair of big boy shoes this week (he wears a 6 wide). The shoes slow him down a little when they first go on, but then he gets the hang of it no problem. He looks like quite the little man in his shoes. Like a little boy, not a baby at all! I just can't believe how fast he is growing up!

10 Months

Adam's10th month was another fun one. It went by in a blur. His other three front teeth came in rapidly, nearly all at the same time. So now he has his two top center and his two bottom center teeth. He is extremely opinionated, and at times gets frustrated by his own physical limitations. Generally a short little bout of fussing and then he is able to deal with the situation well. His hair is really starting to come in, with a significantly longer piece in the back. We call it his rat tail. It curls up, and isn't noticeable most of the time, but when it is noticeable it's pretty funny.
In September we went on a family vacation (I mean the whole family) to Tybee Island, Georgia. Adam LOVED the beach.

He did headstands on the beach

This one is actually the two of them in Grammy and Poppy's bed one morning getting books read to them by Poppy.

Ada and Tay took a bath together every night. This is just a quick kiss.

The baby pool had a waterfall that the kids loved

He finally has enough hair to have a little baby mohawk.

Adam really started walking while we were in Georgia. He had such an audience the whole time that he was soon applauding at himself after he did a long stretch of steps. He walked in the condo, on the beach, anywhere, everywhere.

Adam loved the beach. He loved the water. He loved digging in the sand, eating the sand. He had a blast.

Taylor loved the water too.

Excited, waiting for another wave to come in.

Adam's first time on the beach.

We would generally spend the afternoons on the beach and then take a long swim in the pool into the evening. The sun would be going down and the moon would be coming up. He became obsessed with moon (or moo as he says, pointing at it with his little pudgy fingers). Now he loves looking for the moon at night, reading Goodnight Moon, and pointing to it in all of the pictures. He doesn't quite get it though. Sometimes he gets a little overzealous, pointing at round lights on the ceiling and calling them "moo" as well.

He loves my Dad so much and laughs hysterically at him at even the simplest gesture. On our trip he started calling Poppy "pop." As adorable as this is, he literally points his finger at me and calls me "that." Not really fair, as far as I'm concerned, so we have started working on "mama" with some success. However, now he calls Jason mama sometimes too. We're still a little mixed up.
Thanks to Pat the Bunny he waves bye bye to all of his books.
Adam has also decided that he is done with baby food. Big people food only please. Thank goodness for those four teeth! (that is a joke by the way. he clearly doesn't use those teeth!)

Sounds horrible, I know, but we love setting him up to tell him no because when he is told no he imitates us. He shakes his head back and forth (sometimes so hard that he nearly loses his balance) and says "no, no, no." We just can't get enough of it!

9 Months

I know, I know. Adam is so much older than 9 months. I literally started this blog nearly over a month ago and never finished it! I have too much fun playing with Adam to bother to stop and blog! Thought I would go ahead and post his 9 month pics, since they are adorable, and a few highlights about his ninth month.

At nine months Adam stands proficiently, takes limited steps, mostly from furniture to furniture. He loves to play peek-a-boo, he waves bye-bye, gives big open mouth kisses and gives high fives. He learned to play "so big" this month, but instead of putting his arms straight up he bends at the elbows and puts them behind his head. Balls are still his favorite toy.

He is becoming quite opinionated. He points to what he wants, it started with his whole hand/five finger point. I showed him how to point with one finger a couple of times one morning and just like that, the five finger point was gone forever! At nine months he points to exactly what he wants and says "that." Yes, his first word was "that." He is actually an UNBELIEVABLE mimic, and can efficiently repeat many of the words and sounds that we say to him. But without a doubt, the first word that he used correctly and independently was "that" (over and over and over). I would say by the end of his ninth month he also said "duck," "dog" and "dada" appropriately, followed closely by "truck." (He also can say that a duck says "kak, kak, kak" -his pronunciation- but I think this was more of a mimic in his ninth month, it was a little later that he understood the meaning.)

He loves to be outside. He loves to read books, and he actually dictates which books are read with his finger point and new word "that." Some nights he will have me read the same book two or three times. I'll pick up a new one, he'll shove it to the side and then point to the one we just read and say "that." (When he says a word he says it in kind of a throaty whisper.) His favorite books right now are books that are interactive, with pages that open/unfold or different fabrics/materials to touch. He loves Buzz, Buzz Baby, Bedtime Peek-a-boo, and Pat the Bunny (he plays peek-a-boo with Paul so long that I get bored. He goes back to that page over and over. He even waves bye-bye to the kids at the end of the book. Too cute.)

He loves turning light switches on and off, and watches the light for the result he wants. You can barely walk by a light switch without him pointing at it and saying "that" (how can you resist that?!). His main nickname right now is "ada" (this is what taylor calls him, so we all leave off the M now too). He gives the best zerberts, often pulling up my shirt to give me a good one on my belly. He has started pretend play, stirring up empty cups and bowls with a spoon and then feeding himself or me a bite out of his empty cup/bowl. He has quite the dance moves too. He'll play music on one of his toys and just start bouncing up and down. Too cute!

This month he also made the connection that the animals at the zoo are real! He first discovered it at the otters, who were swimming so close to us that he got a good look at them. He seemed to translate this over to the other exhibits after the otters, because he is now extremely interested in the animals, where as before he was more interested in watching the other kids.