Here are some videos from Adam’s Little Gym “Show”.  He was so excited to finally get a medal like his big brother and sister!  Most are short, some are out of focus, and yes Avery did wear her princess costume to the show.  I guess Jen didn’t know that they would let Alex and Avery both in to participate!

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Wow, it’s spring already.  How did that happen?  As usual we’re staying busy and have lots going on.

Alex and Avery are close to wrapping up another year in preschool.  Both got great comments on their report cards yesterday and have grown quite a bit this year in class.  Avery really seems to have come out of her shell and made many efforts to make new friends and play independently without Alex.  Alex’s teacher pointed out how much Alex loves to tell stories and how he’s quite the socialite.  The twins are both set for a 3 day a week all day program, which should be good preparation for transitioning to kindergarten after that (wow, I can’t believe we’re almost there!)

Adam, who spent almost as much time in Alex & Avery’s classroom as they did, is set to start his 1 day a week 2 year old program next year.  Considering how many activities he participated in this year with Alex and Avery in their class, I feel like it will already be old news for him when he starts his own class next year.  I’m definitely anxious to see how he does by himself in a class without his big brother and sister.

I believe we’re just about done setting up all the camps and VBS sessions for the kids this summer.  We’re trying to get enough things lined up where they have things going on all through the summer but also want to be sure that they do get to enjoy some time off at home too.  Hopefully it all balances out well and they have a great summer!

We’ve got Alex and Avery signed up sports this summer.  Alex and Avery do a soccer clinic now but it’s really not a team and game type environment.  They’re having fun now and learning some good skills.  This summer Avery will start the 4 year old soccer league and Alex will start the 4 year old flag football league.  They both chose what they wanted to play and Alex was especially psyched to play football.  Both sports will keep us all extremely busy with soccer having 1 practice a week and football having 2 (@ 1 1/2 hours a night).  Both kids will have their games on Saturdays.

Leaving the elementary school cafeteria where we signed them up last Saturday I quickly realized that Jen and I just made ourselves extremely busy for probably the next (10-12 years of our lives!)  While I’m sure it’s going to be hectic at first I’m very excited for them to get started and can’t wait to put some miles on the new camcorder we got a few months ago.

As for non-kid news, we’re right in the middle of having our backyard debacle fixed.  Our old retaining wall (which failed and fell) was taken out, the patio was removed and they’re about halfway done rebuilding it all.  We have a cool new design for how things are going to work back there and are adding maybe a total of 500 square feet of new patio/walkway area in pavers.  Both Jen and I are excited for it to be completed so we can get the pool open and start to get ready for the twin’s birthday party in less than a month.  I only pray that we can get the pool open and ready by then (it’s going to be close).

Lastly, a big part of the reason we don’t post as much on here is that we do much more “microblogging” on Facebook these days.  If you want to follow either me or Jen on there feel free to friend us on there.  If you can’t find either of us on there feel free to email me and I’ll help you out.

Maybe we should lock his door at night so he can’t escape!

June 2, 2009 – a date which shall live in history! For the first time in 14+ months, Adam slept completely through the night and did not wake to be nursed at all! Don put him down just before 7 last night and I didn’t hear from him until almost 7:30 this morning. Of course, Avery is in sleep boot camp and screamed herself hoarse because we won’t re-cover her eleventy billion times a night, and Colby is having some sort of stomach issue that makes him stink and need to go out in the middle of the night, but the baby slept! Maybe I will sleep normally again someday!

It didn’t take Adam long to determine that it’s much more fun to walk now when he wants to get somewhere.  Slowly he’s choosing to walk from point A to B reather than crawling now.

It didn’t take him long to figure this whole walking thing out…

Late, as usual. He’s almost 10 months old now. And technically, this doesn’t include his actual stats because the paper with his weight and height is around here somewhere, but I don’t know where and I don’t feel like looking for it. So there.

Anyway, he’s just over 20 pounds, down to the 50th percentile, and 75th percentile for height. He hasn’t gained much weight at all in the last few months, but the doctor said that’s to be expected, and that he may not gain at all between now and his 1 year appointment. And it makes sense since none of the rest of us are unusually large people. He eats well and is still nursing at least 6 times per day, usually around 6 am, 9:30, sometimes at 11, 1:30, 4, and at bedtime, and then at least once or twice through the night. He also eats meals with the twins, and he far prefers feeding himself a cracker or these apple chips to being fed baby food from a spoon. He doesn’t seem to have the same insatiable appetite as the twins did at this age, though. It’s rare that he seems to be fussy from hunger, though he does occasionally crawl over and start to manhandle me when he wants to nurse and I haven’t been paying attention to the time.

My baby has four teeth now. The top two are all the way through and have a huge gap between them, giving him quite the SpongeBob grin. The bottom two just came through in the last few days and are in an inverted v shape. We have a dentist appointment for all three kids next week, so hopefully Dr. Dave can reassure me that their current positions will change. Teething seems to make him a bit clingy and fussy, but overall not too whiny or miserable to be around. A little Motrin at bedtime and he’s good to go.

He took a few steps today, which was exciting and bittersweet at the same time. He’s been cruising on furniture and pushing anything he can get to move for weeks. Rearranging the furniture is a favorite activity since he likes being on his feet so much. And he’d taken one, maybe 2 steps over the last couple of weeks, but you could see it click in his mind today as he tried to toddle back and forth between Don and me. He was loving it, giggling away, and eventually got so excited by it that he couldn’t keep going because as soon as we tried to stand him up, he was lunging forward. Don got it on video. I can’t imagine him walking, but he is so ready to.

Other favorite activities include crawling away anytime he’s naked, looking back at me once he’s out of arm’s reach with a smirk before he takes off down the hall, laughing. We have to keep the bathroom doors closed because he is obsessed with the toilet and trying to splash in it. It makes potty trips with Avery and Alex quite the challenge. In the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to read to him every day and he really likes books that let him feel different textures. A favorite is That’s Not My Lion which he got from Aunt Kate for Christmas. He smiles and pats the pictures and tries to turn the pages already. I’d been feeling guilty about not reading to him – 2nd child syndrome – there’s never enough time to give him all the attention he deserves, but I am making sure to do it every day now that I see how much he enjoys it. We also play catch every day – he loves sitting across from me and catching his soft soccer ball and handing or tossing it back to me. Most of the time, though, he’s happy to be independent and just crawl around and explore different toys. Soooo different than his brother and sister in that respect. He seems to be ahead of the curve in most of his development. Most of the things I circled on his checklist at his appointment put him at the 12 month old level as far as standing, saying Mama and Dada, and other skills. Again, he just doesn’t want to be a baby. He wants to be like the big brother and sister he idolizes!

He and Alex are getting into typical brotherly trouble. Alex loves to climb into his crib after naptime in the afternoons and jump around with him, and even wrestle with him. I used to try to stop it, thinking Alex would hurt him, but Adam loves it when his big brother tosses him around a little. They both belly laugh, full of joy, when one is on top of the other. So now I just try to supervise. Alex loves his baby brother so much, and it makes me so happy to see how Alex talks to him with a high pitched baby voice, tries to feed him, and occasionally even shares a toy.

It’s just amazing what a sweet, smart, happy, easygoing kid Adam is. He’s rarely fussy, and when he is, it’s easily remedied. Now, if only I could get him to sleep through the night… Right now, I have visions of his wife someday having to get up twice a night to bring him a glass of milk!

See some good quality father/son bonding time as we practice our funny noise making ability when mom is away tutoring…

Non HD (lower bandwidth) version can be seen here.