Together In Motion

Yesterday, Adam and I went on a play date at Together In Motion, which is kind of an indoor playground. It's got huge, soft blocks for climbing on and sliding down, and balls and padded floors and dozens of little kids roaming around.

He must have been inspired, because he's been walking all over the place today. I think we've reached critical mass there, too. Oh, and he knows the word "cat," we learned at the Chesnulevich house.

Today's photos later, but this kid is just amazing.

Critical Mass of Words

Till recently, I wasn't convinced that Adam had specific words. I mean, sure, he says something that sounds like "up" when he wants to get up, and something like "appa" when he wants an apple. But he makes those noises a lot. He says "Dada" pretty often, but not always directed at Mike. "Mama" means "I'm unhappy--someone make this discomfort go away!"

But this weekend--especially yesterday and today--I've been convinced. So here's a list of words that I'm convinced he uses almost exclusively on purpose.

ah-tah = guitar
vuh-vuh = bubbles
up = up (as in, I'd like to go up now--upstairs, into your arms, toward that lovely ceiling fan of yours, whatever)
bah or ah-bah = ball
da-duh = Santa (as distinct from Dada, which is slightly different. Santa specifically my stuffed Santa, and sometimes Fozzie the Bear in a red hat, for some reason)
Arf = the name of the stuffed dog in his crib. Also the name of Gentleman Dan, the Yale bulldog in the living room. Applies to no other dogs.

And the occasional Dada for Mike.

So I guess I can no longer claim that Adam doesn't speak English.

So, what convinced us? Well, last night we got home from New York, and I sat down in the rocking chair in the living room. Adam climbed eagerly into my lap, only to lean aggressively over my shoulder and grope desperately for Mike's guitar, shouting "ah-tah! ah-tah!"

He'd used the word before, but never so clearly or deliberately or with NO instigation at all. In response, we let him try his hand at it, with some close supervision. And he was really pretty gentle, and got some good sounds out of it.


Musician in training!

Gorgeous Weather

So nothing major or special happened today, but we got some good photos of it.

First, a morning apple. He asked for it quite nicely, pointing and using the word, then ate almost none of it.


Next, fan boy!


Then we went to the playground, because it was so nice out. Adam went on the swings...


...but what he loved today was the slide. He really, REALLY didn't want to stop going down the slide.


I'm glad we got to enjoy the weather; it was beautiful. Steph had to leave this afternoon, and we'll miss her, but we had a great visit. I hope the weather for everyone's driving isn't too bad tomorrow!

Number Fourteen!

See, you thought it would be another holiday post, and BAM! We sneak in another library. We seem to be steadily adding libraries at the rate of approximately one per month on average. And now we're all set for this one: Adam's fourteenth month is begun by a visit to his fourteenth library: The Thrall Public Library in Middletown.


He sat like a big boy in a little kid chair, possibly for the first successful time. Why? Well, because there was the COOLEST THING EVER--two keyboards just to play with!


He looked at all the books, and Daddy kept him from pulling them off the shelves.


And he and his Grandma played at the play table....


...and they read a book. It was a great little trip, and nice to get out of the house for a little while. Thank you, Thrall Library!

Christmas Proper

The present opening was the most fun, with the paper and lots of awesome toys.. I can't even begin to fit enough photos in here, so here are just some especially cute ones. He loved his gifts and had a great time.





He also, when forced to sit at the table while we ate, began a collection of boxed foods from the cupboard next to him. He's such a cheap date.

Christmas Eve

Some photos for the far-off family whom we're missing tonight.


Adam is in love with the ceiling fans here. He says "fa" when he points to them--he's getting so much better about repeating words and putting specific words to specific things.


He also enjoyed a good chunk of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. He had stuffed clams, plain spaghetti, and bakala.


Daddy read him A Visit From Saint Nicholas, and he listened patiently through parts of it. We'll have to get a nice copy of our own for next year.


Then he kissed the Christmas bunny on the couch before he said good night. So, sleep tight, one and all, and merry Christmas!

A Christmas Visit

Still Going!

Library 13! The absolutely gorgeous new Cambridge Public Library main branch on Broadway.


How long do you think we can keep up this pace?

Squints

I'd say he's developed a squint, but it's more that he's taken up squinting as a hobby.

Also, he used a fork today! A little bit. Sort of.

On Blocks

Our little time lapse project: Adam and a stack of blocks.

On Books

Adam has been all about books lately. He suddenly got way into Dr. Seuss, and we read a lot of Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham, and even the bits of more substantial stories like Horton Hears a Who. His other favorite is Old Hat, New Hat, by Stan and Jan Berenstain--fortunately, that's more about reciting than reading.

So, for your enjoyment: Adam at his books.

Pictures for Auntie Steph

Here's an emergency cuteness infusion for an aunt who has been waiting patiently for an update!

Holiday Fever: Catch It!

Marsha helped Adam and me put up the Christmas lights this year.

By which I mean she did most of the work, after I declared that the window was too high to reach from the ladder in any safe way. She proved me wrong.

And Adam got to climb up and down the stairs. A LOT. Like, a whole lot. And look at the lights.

Happy Bath

Adam is crazy into splashing right now in the tub. On Thursday, he ran straight to the tub and tried to lift his foot up o

So lately, bathtime has been pretty fun and pleasant. Except that I have to change clothes beforehand. That's right--I have special pants for bathing the baby, so my regular clothes don't get COMPLETELY soaked.

Fortunately, my theory is that all that splashing is like putting him in a washing machine, and he gets extra clean. So at least there's that.

Clean baby!

Truck Montage and One Year Checkup

Adam's been playing with his new ride-on dump truck lately, and having a fine time of it. I thought I'd share some photos from a couple of days worth of play while I share his stats from his one year doctor's appointment.

Weight: 23 pounds, 14 ounces. He's inching down toward "average," from where he used to be in the 75th percentile, now somewhere around 60.

Height: 32 1/4 inches. That's 2 feet, 8 1/4 inches. Percentile? Well, higher than 95, that's all I can tell from the graph. Yes, he's still a very tall boy.

The doctor says it's normal to have these proportional changes as he gets more active and develops food preferences.

He's a remarkably healthy, happy, and well-vaccinated boy. Yay Adam! (And thank you to Auntie Steph for the dump truck!)