Adam Birthday!

Oh my, I need to blog more. I actually have about 3 unfinished blogs, but I'm the kind of blogger that has a hard time finishing something that takes more than one sitting to write. It's also hard to blog because we're busy having a lot of adventures, and I am more active on social media when there is less going on. (Except Instagram. I am always doing that business. I tell you, I would probably continue to post pictures of my kids during the Apocalypse, because they'd still be cute even with fireballs whizzing around.) We are in Utah/Idaho, but mostly Idaho until July 15th, and then we move to Virginia. The current plan is a wild road trip through the South, with Jeff, Adam, and I. I hope to eat at a lot of greasy diners. (UPDATE- Since writing the above, said road trip did happen. We are in Virginia. We ate at Cracker Barrel a lot.)

Ah! I'm not supposed to talk about other things! That's how blogs end up unfinished. I'm here to talk about Adam's birthday. That's what this blog is about. If you are uninterested in Adam or his birthday, you best stop reading. (Please don't stop reading- Adam is a cool kid, I promise.)

Adam turned 3 on May 12th, which happened to be Mother's Day. I cried. I'm welling up a little right now, to tell you the truth. I am just really grateful for my little boy and that gratitude manifests itself in tears.

SOME THINGS ABOUT ADAM:

• He is a Daddy's Boy. I feel like basically everyone says that about their kid, but please take this statement to heart. Adam adores Jeff. They are literally best friends. I mean, seriously. I just walked in on them playing with a whoopee cushion and giggling. Adam insists that Jeff feed him, put him to bed, change his diaper, and more. Basically every thing that a parent can do with a child, Adam wants Jeff to do. I can't tell you how many times I hear him say under his breath, "I want Daddy." 
• Ah, like I mentioned, Adam isn't potty-trained.. I don't really care, but I get asked about it sometimes. Here's the deal: I don't want to potty-train him and have it be disastrous. I want him to be ready and I want it to stick. The funny thing is, he is completely ready now. He is very talkative about all of the bodily functions and expresses interest in the toilet frequently. Now I'm just waiting till we move. I do feel kind of guilty that the only reason he isn't potty-trained is because I haven't even tried to do it, but then I think about it again and I feel pretty great about it.
• His favorite foods are probably french fries, Instant Breakfast, celery, Greek yogurt, pizza, cucumbers and Chow Mein. He is still a horrendous eater, but really the biggest issue with him seems to be appetite. He'll try little bits of lots of things and he'll say that he likes it, but in reality, Adam just doesn't like food very much. Except cupcakes. He is ok with those.
• He knows all of his letters, colors, and numbers. He is extremely good at shapes (Thank you, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for not being completely worthless and teaching my kid about octagons.) and can count to 20. I've tried to introduce sounds that letters make, but that's not really sticking yet. I also can't get him to write any letters other than "o."
• He is uncommonly considerate for his age. If he notices that anyone is upset, he is really concerned. This is really sweet, but sometimes gets to be a little much if we are in a place with a lot of crying kids. My mom had a surgery a couple of weeks, and he's still asking if she's ok. He's a sweet boy. He also has gotten super good at comforting Avery. "It's ok, Avy, it's ok. Mommy will be right back." (Avery screams anytime I leave the room, FYI.)
• He uses similes a lot. "Avery is bouncing, like a ball." "I am crawling, like a frog," 
• He's very talkative, probably too talkative. I used to be really aware of his development and I knew where he stood, but I really have no clue now. I'm pretty sure he's fine. (Yes- I just googled it. He's fine.) It's really bizarre to think that he really didn't talk very much at all a year ago. 
• He is so incredibly energetic. I really wonder if he has ADHD sometimes. I just feel like he's more hyper than other kids his age. But, good news, he's very easy to reason with and he listens really well. He also hasn't ever been big on tantrums (fingers crossed he stays that way). He's more of a whiner. I'm a big believer that every kid has different tendencies towards different vices. Adam isn't really ever a brat, but he can whine up a storm. 
• He still naps. Thank goodness. He's very good about it, too.
• He loves shoes. I think this is because a certain uncle of his buys him super nice shoes. He just grew into a new pair of Air Jordans and he adores them. He wants to sleep in them.
• His favorite show is the aforementioned Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but he'll watch anything. The kid loves TV. I feel like I maybe shouldn't admit that, but it's true. This is a scene from today. Me: "Time to turn the TV off. You've watched enough." Adam: "I want to watch just a little bit." Me: "You've watched a lot of TV today." Adam: "Yeah. I want to watch a lot of TV just a little bit." Maybe that's not interesting to read, but the way he says "just a little bit" is probably the cutest thing ever.
• On our cross-country road trip, he was amazing. People are always sympathetic when they hear that we took him, but he's just super pleasant in the car. We have a  DVD player in our car, but we've never revealed that to the kids. I don't want to be the kind of family that has it on while driving to the store. Anyway, we whipped it out for the 6-day drive and he was really touched. He thought we bought him a TV. "You went to the TV store!"
• He's funny. I don't know how to explain this one in a bullet-point. He's just a weird little kid. He's always saying or doing something that makes us laugh hysterically. Recently- he ran into the room and said, "See my belly!" flashed us, and ran away again. 
• He knows his states freakishly well. He knows that California is where his old house (and his best friend Henry) is, Utah is where the Grandparents Lougee are and Idaho is where the Grandparents Carr are. He also knows the names of: Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia, because those are the states he's been too. He actually gets the concept really well. He knows that Sun Valley is a place IN the state of Idaho, and he know that the Orange Bridge (Golden Gate) is in California. We keep hearing the word, "Virginia" and he says "That's where my new house is! California is a state too." We've shown him England on maps (because that's where Jeff's sister, Amy lived last year), but he hasn't completely grasped the country concept yet. Though I guess he does get "America," because sometimes when he hears that word, he says: "America. I live there with my parents."
• I love that little boy so much. Except he won't let us call him "little" anymore. He's a self-proclaimed big kid. 

Us at Stanford. Adam loved visiting Daddy at work.

This was completely Adam and Jeff's doing. Sorry, Costco.

He wanted to toast Brielle with some Tabasco sauce. 

He asks me to take pictures of him sometimes. (See above.) It's like he knows how adorable he is.

His birthday cake.

Playing games with Uncle James at Chuck E Cheese. He loves that place. 

He's constantly doing stuff like this.

Adam: "Mommy! I'm driving with my feet!"
Me: "You probably shouldn't steer cars with your feet. It's dangerous."
Adam: "No, it's not dangerous. It's funny."

Adam and Henry hug it out after a 2 week absence. The fell on the concrete, due to their enthusiasm.

Adam still has Ducky. Jeff's mom gave him an Extreme Makeover,  and Adam was enthusiastic. Also, Ducky was disgusting before.

Playing in the pool.

He wanted to pretend to be a bat.

He also wanted to pretend to be a turtle.

I just love his little run. I think he looks like a goblin.

Adam only wants to wear stickers on his forehead.

Chomping on some celery as we cruised the Las Vegas Strip. That's definitely not worth taking a picture, but he looked so handsome that I've become fond of this one.

Still not sure why he made that face.

LET'S REVIEW:

Zero.

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THREE!