Mmmm... Candy... Part Deux

I made the mistake of treating my plotting, planning, observant one-and-some-change-year-old like an innocent, unassuming, incapable-of-climbing-and-plotting little thing this week. Let me explain.

Last night, he was extra-special good during dinner. He ate all of his dinner without fussing or refusing to eat. David and I enjoyed a pleasant and quiet meal. After cleaning up dinner, I gave Adam a few M&Ms as a little treat, then twisted up the open end of the bag and put them back on the table. Then I walked away.

I was gone from the kitchen less than a minute and this was what I saw:


It looks innocent enough, except that I was surprised to find him sitting on the kitchen chair. Of course, he was sitting quietly because he was deep in M&M bliss!


Does it look a little too messy for M&Ms? Well, here's what happened so far as I can tell... I gave him M&Ms (his FAVORITE). They were the mini-baking kind. I put the bag back on the table and walked away. He decided that he wanted more, and, being the big boy that he is - helped himself.

He pulled out daddy's chair from the table, climbed up, and found that he didn't need to get the bag, after all - there were M&Ms right there for the taking on the cookies that mommy just decorated! Wahoo!

So - instead of eating the cookie, he proceeded to pick off the M&Ms - first with his teeth (hence the chocolate around his mouth), and then with his fingers! I LOVED it! Of course, when he was done with the cookie pictured, I did draw the line at going after the rest of them (which he did attempt). Enjoy! I did!

A marathon of events...

This is going to be a long one if I blog everything I intend to... we've had quite the busy week...

PART I: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...Don't try, try again - there's a good reason that it's the definition of insanity...

So, yesterday I went to pick up my new glasses (2 pair of single-vision lenses to get rid of my bifocles and an upgraded prescription for both - I had no idea how CLEAR the world could be!)...

I got in my car. I shut the door. I put the key in the ignition and gave it a turn. Everything turned on just right. I pulled up to the first stop sign and noticed that I heard more "outside" noise than I should and peeked at my door and noticed it wasn't shut tight (I could see a little blue sky in places I should have only seen rubber seal.) So, I opened and shut the door. I drove a little ways and still noticed too much outside noise. So, I turned to examine and sure enough - the door was STILL not shut! "What the...?" So, proving to myself that I really can be smarter than a door and get it to shut properly, I gave it the brute force necessary to effectively complete the task.

*CRUNCH*

Well, I succeeded in closing the door. I also succeeded in completely destroying the latch on the flap of my purse that had been stuck in the door and keeping it from shutting properly. In fact, I was so completely effective on getting the door closed on this attempt, that I could not open it from the inside of the car. When I arrived at my destination, I had to climb over the gear shift, exit from the passenger side and work the door from the outside until I could open it and inspect the damage done to the clasp on my purse...

PART II: I'VE NEVER WANTED A POOL AND STILL DON'T

So, I was sitting at my desk, yesterday when David called.
"Hello - schnookums - what's up?" (Don't worry - I have caller ID and only answer that way as more of a joke...)
"So....have I told you lately how much I love you?," David asked sweetly.
"Yes, you have, but the tone in your voice smells of ulterior motives..... what did you do?"
"Nothing - really. But I have good news and bad news."
"Oh boy!"
"Which do you want first?"
"Let's end on a good note. Give me the bad news first."
"The water heater died."

This was actually not that huge of a deal or that surprising since the water heater had tripped the circuit breaker it's hooked to twice in the last week or so. Apparently David decided to tinker with it a little to figure out why it was having problems.

"So what's the good news," I ask.
"Adam got that bath you wanted to give him last night and we have a shop vac and it does a really good job with water messes."

David had called a water heater technician to get some pointers. He was told to look at some part in the top and the bottom of the water heater. He drained the water, looked at the top piece that was all corroded and misshapen as the tech had told him. David then went to look at the bottom part and that's when he discovered that not ALL of the water was drained as he thought and water began shooting all over the basement.

Adam had a great time!

PART III: EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW, AGAIN

So - we now have a new water heater, and it works great. It was time for a new one anyway. The old one was 8 years old and probably never properly maintained, but probably won't last as long anyway because of the hardness of our well water. The tech told us that water heaters can only be counted on for 6-12 years depending on water quality and maintenance.

We also purchased our new wood-burning furnace. It's actually an add-on furnace that uses the existing duct-work to heat the house. It basically plays into my "hippie" ways - but of course proves I'm no tree hugger. Just interested in "responsible conservationism" and subduing and working the land properly. Besides, we paid for the furnace with our farmer's market money and it will help reduce our reliance on propane. This isn't politically motivated - it's "self-reliance" motivated and will be cost-reducing in the long run as last winter we paid $1000 to heat our home with the propane tank and that's about what we spent for the new furnace. Yes, I'm thrilled. Yes, I know I'm odd. : )

PART IV: THE END OF THE HUNTING SEASON

So - Sunday was bittersweet for me. It was the last day of the deer hunting season. In my wacky ways - I've been ever more sold on hunting. I certainly never opposed it (except for those who do it just to kill something - but those who eat the meat, I'm perfectly fine with). In these days of uncertainty and learning to be more self-reliant, I see great benefit to know how to capture and prepare your own meat if a heifer is not readily available. So, in addition to my desire for our own chickens for eggs and meat - I'm thinking I might try my hand at hunting next year. I'm not sure that I could handle gutting the thing, but the benefit of marrying into a family of such manly-men, I'm sure I could talk them into doing it for me.

However, I am looking forward to walking around my property and "neighborhood," again, without worrying about whether my attire is bright enough and non-gamey enough. Not that I'll be doing much strolling about while the temperatures remain this cold!

Amusing anecedotes from the annals of Adam...

Life happens at such a fast pace, that often something happens and I think "oh, I should blog that!", but when I finally find the time to sit down and do it, I think "so - what happened that was so blog-able?" Thus it is that I blogged yesterday without including the following:

So, as Adam gets a little older (he'll be 16 months on Friday) and approaches nursery age at church, I've been cautiously optimistic about the transition because my intrepid little daredevil has been ever-so-slightly getting clingy to me. So, I've already been contemplating the transition (only to find out yesterday that they encourage transitioning 6 weeks prior to the 18-month-mark...).

Well, while I was contemplating the transition yesterday, Mr. Adam took it upon himself to simply walk right in to Nursery and make himself at home. They shut the door behind him and included him in the lesson and playtime. I'm sure he was pretty much sold on it once they pulled out the snack...

Oddly enough, as I peeked through the window on him to see how he was doing - I discovered two things: 1) It might be Adam's mommy who is having a harder time with this transition than he is (even now I'm about to start bawling over the fact that my baby isn't so much a baby anymore!) and 2) they must have some kind of drug that they use on those kids! I couldn't believe it when 40 minutes after he walked into nursery, there he sat - hands folded, in a chair, watching as Sister Wachter told a story. Not budging - not flinching - not anything except sitting calmly and hanging on her every word!

How will I survive nursery when its official and for the full TWO hours?!?

An Anniversary Celebration... a month late...

Last night we finally celebrated our anniversary. (Actually, David reminded me last night that we did go to dinner for our anniversary - but dinner in the Hollywood Diner with Adam flinging crayons across the noisy and crowded restaurant wasn't quite the romantic meal that last night could have been...)

We bought ourselves tickets to see The 5 Browns in concert. As a thank you from some medical students I work with, they had given me a $50 gift certificate to a moderately posh restaurant in a moderately trendy part of Omaha (for those familiar with Washington DC - it has the sort of atmosphere as The Blue Room in Adams Morgan).

Typically when we celebrate our anniversary, I'm questioning my sanity by the end of the evening as October 15 is usually filled with scantily-clad teeny-boppers shouting and shreiking in the restaurant prior to the Homecoming dance. Well, by the end of last evening, I'd have taken the teeny-boppers a million times over what we got. What we got were a room full of folks actively discussing the "blessed" events of November 4 and how wonderful the next 8 years were going to be. It got higher, deeper, and stinkier than that, but I'll spare you. The food was really quite good (I got brave and tried the sweet potato, beet, and spinach salad and it was actually quite good!) but the fellow diners made me sick to my stomach!

The 5 Browns were excellent - - except it was the 4 Browns and their arranger. The oldest Brown has contracted a serious virus in her eye that is rapidly deteiorating the vision in the affected eye. It's sounds like its come on rather recently and is a little scary. In spite of it, the remaining Browns and arranger put on a magnificent show! It was fun to see several of David's students there, as well. And it was nice to enjoy a night out with David. It was remarkably relaxing!

Tomorow I go in for my eye exam and to pick out new glasses. I'm kind of glad - the Harry Potter look only worked for him and he had Hermione to fix the tape holding his glasses together.

More from the Adam Gallery

Grandma Evans got ultra-inspired after their recent trip to Spain. The bullfighter's sombrero they brought back for Adam didn't quite fit his noggin ("it's like an orange on a toothpick!") so she knitted him one and made him a bullfighter's cape instead. He's shown here taming the lion he pulled off of his mobile. Ole'!



Doing his weird squinty-eye thing, again...


"What was that?"


"Okay, I let you have your fun. I'm done now. Here you go..."

Our pumpkin with our pumpkin.

Harvesting Black Walnuts (and mommy playing with the settings on the digital camera trying to get fancy and artsy...)

Adam Praying... the video

You'll have to watch a few seconds of ladybug-playing before I tell Adam it's time to pray...What can I say - - I was trying to get some interesting cinematic time out of him. I quickly realized, though, that if I said it was time to say prayers, that we'd better ACTUALLY pray, so even though it wasn't bedtime, yet, that's exactly what we did after I turned off the camera...

Appeasing the Aunties...a plethora of pictures!

I believe that my cousin Jack has my name for our Christmas exchange this year, so I guess if his mommy wants pics - she gets pics! : ) I'll have a few more tomorrow...

Adam getting a head start on Halloween. He wasn't sure about the costume at first, but when it got him some candy, he decided not to fuss too much about it!

Rockin' out to the beat of his own drummer, as usual!

Adam is blissfully enjoying the company of one of his favorite girlfriends (only about 9 years his senior...) When she showed up for her piano lesson, Adam saw her out the window of the living room and in an almost reverent tone exclaimed, "Pretty, pretty, pretty!"

Playing with his "pets" - the nasty little Japanese Ladybug-lookalike bugs...Thanks, a lot, USDA!

"Look!"

One of the strangest poses Adam does these days - blinking his eyes at me or the camera...

Strange child...

His face and hair were covered in s'more magic!

Sooooo tired - almost naptime! He was falling asleep in his high chair, so like the caring parents we are, we ran to get the camera! Unfortunately, the commotion perked him up a little bit so we didn't get him quite as asleep as he was just prior to this shot... :)

Posing with the Armenian cucumber. We got this from a neighbor who grew 15-20 this size. Of course, David saved seeds so we can grow our own next year!

It's a scientifically proven fact that sticking your tongue out helps maintain balance...

Adam lying still. A RARE pose, indeed!

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is a good mantra to have when picking your battles with a one-year-old. His appetite for removing the contents of dresser drawers and cupboards was nearly insatiable until I got smart enough to give him his very own drawer to empty at will (filled with clothes I rarely wear and don't re-fold when he scatters them)! Now, when he goes to a drawer that I have not designated as "his" drawer then I just remind him and he goes back to emptying (and sometimes re-filling) "his" drawer!

"I'm just getting started!"

"Yay!"

"Hmmm.... now what to do?"

Gearing up for the Pioneer Day Celebration 3-legged race with Daddy!

Enjoying his post-race watermelon!

If it can be climbed, he's gonna climb it.

Enjoying a birthday-cake-cone.

Showing off as any good boy will do!

Getting tired, again...time to go night-night!