When departing, Adria now sometimes says “Be seeing you!” She usually does this when playing, like when she is pulling a door closed and you are on the other side. “Bye-bye Dad! Be seeing you!”

That’s not something that Amanda or I really say, she must have picked it up at school.

As part of our tuition at Adria’s daycare, we are required to put in a certain number of “parent hours” each year. In the most literal sense, this means volunteering time to do things for the school…it can be almost anything, such as: preparing crafts while at home, being a chaperone on a field trip, helping watch the kids during the day, doing maintenance on the buildings or play yards, cleaning the toys or classrooms, etc.

You can also convert your hours to cash…either paying for them directly, or by contributing things that cost money (toys, equipment, expendables, etc). I think of this as being similar to charitable contributions on your Federal taxes…we owe this time/money to daycare one way or another through our agreement with them, but we get to direct that energy in a way that we see fit…if we wish.

Two weeks ago, daycare had a ‘parent work day’, where you could go help out with organized chores and help whittle down some of those hours. The sand in some of the play areas was getting thin, so they had several dozen tons of sand dumped onto the driveway in the early part of the morning…we went and spent several hours carting, shoveling, and smoothing sand. Naturally, we concentrated our energy on Adria’s yard first.

Here are a few photos (note that there were plenty of kids underfoot that morning…several people earned their hours by watching kids so that the majority could haul sand)…

Adria “helping” with the sand in Dad’s gloves

Two peas in a pod

Adria and Helen playing at the sand table

Looks like this year we’re going to make it, through a hodgepodge of jobs. We did some crafting at home, shoveled sand, did some photography for the classroom, helped out during the day, and provided some necessities for Adria’s room.

Can you find the “teagull” in the awkward arm’s length photo that I managed to take with my cell phone (hey, it’s not easy when the shutter button is a spot you have to tap on the far side of the touch screen)?

Cell phone self-portrait

I was putting Adria in her car seat a few mornings ago, and I kept my backpack on because it’s hard to shrug it off while carrying her. As I was putting her in, she kept pointing to my shoulder and saying “teagull! teagull!” That’s right, she can already identify a triangle. Her grandpa will be proud.

This morning Adria saw a picture of a cupcake in one of her books, and she started to sing a more…occasion agnostic…version of “Happy Birthday to You". It goes: “Happy…to you! Happy…to you!” Repeat ad nauseum.

This afternoon we went to the Montrose Street fair. Amanda specifically intended to search out the pony rides that are often available at the fair, and possibly the petting zoo as well. It is hit or miss about whether these attractions will be at any given fair or not…but we lucked out today.

Adria was insistent about going in to see the animals in the petting zoo. Had we not been planning to get her a ticket, we would have surely redirected her attention immediately from that end of the fair. But we were happy that she was interested and excited, so I bought her a ticket and took her inside.

They had goats, chickens, and pigs. The pigs were very approachable, as were some of the goats. The chickens were small and agile and seemed to know that toddler hands weren’t always gentle. They had a tendency to flee. Adria loved the small goats, though:

Adria gently petting the little goat

Then the goat moved in for a kiss

We also paid for a ride on the pony. They have a fancy little saddle that looked pretty inescapable…she wasn’t going anywhere, short of the pony falling down. Nonetheless, I followed close behind both to take some photos and to comfort her if need be.

Adria riding the little pony

…and headed back to where Mom was waiting

As it turns out, Adria was very nonchalant on the pony. She seemed very comfortable and was having a good time. It was fun watching her get her ’sea legs’ and adapt to the pony’s gait. Her head was bouncing around pretty good in the beginning…then she settled in.

Tonight at dinner Adria started singing something, and it took us a few moments to recognize it as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". I got “star", but I was hearing “Tickle, tickle” at first. But I could tell from her rhythm that she was trying to sing, so I brainstormed about what songs she might be picking up at school.

Would you have recognized it?

We just got done with another weekend at home, and we didn’t sit on our heels. We’re excited to be able to do things around town, and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Here’s some of what we got into in the last 2 days…some of these things will get their own post to follow:

• Watched a little Dora the Explorer
• Fixed a full breakfast
• Went to Descanso (rode the train)
• Cleaned the house (tidy, vacuum, and dust)
• Walked to Rite Aid for ice cream
• Babysat for some friends
• Went grocery shopping
• Video chatted with Gamma for an hour
• Went to the Montrose Street Fair (did the petting zoo and rode the pony)
• Played a soccer game
• Got the wheel fixed on the Bob stroller (replaced the tube)
• Went to the pool
• Actually paid for pizza and got carryout
• Watched some TV after Adria was asleep
• Read

Not bad for 2 days, huh? And we even got some sleep in there somewhere, too. We wanted to go to the library for a while, but we didn’t make it (although Amanda and Adria did swing by and drop off our books that were due). Don’t worry, we don’t plan on getting too used to this weekend at home stuff.

Today when Amanda was walking with Adria to check the mail, Adria stepped carefully over the crack in the elevator door and then announced “I did it! Adria did it!”

We’re a little amazed, because you sort of have to learn “I” by observation of how other people talk about themselves. When we direct speech at Adria, we say “you” or “Adria". “Adria has an owie.” “You need a bath.” (I have been trying to teach her “I love you,” but I haven’t gotten it to stick yet.)

I think this marks the first mumble-free sentence, even though she has had the essence of sentences for a while now. This morning she woke up about 15 minutes before her night-light sun “came out", and she played in her crib and talked to herself for a while. The most amusing thing that she said was just as soon as the sun turned on: “Adria…<mumble> <mumble>…not asleep!” Before that she had said “Oh no! Where momma?” and “Oh no! Where dadda?", among other chatter.

Late last week, when we got to daycare a little early (before one of her favorite teachers, Graciela, had arrived for the morning shift), she asked, “Oh no! Where…Graciela…go?”

This past Saturday, Amanda went to a party in the afternoon (no kids allowed!), so Adria and I decided to take a walk to Rite Aid for some vanilla ice cream. Adria loves ice cream…it’s hard to resist giving it to her all the time just to watch her enjoy it…

Adria eating her ice cream…

…with big innocent eyes

Of course, the intention was that this was Dad’s ice cream, shared with the baby. Thus ends the theory. In practice, it went much the opposite.

As a point of note, I just crossed 10,000 photos taken in 2010. In mid-August.

In my defense, there were several formal weddings in there, each of which generated 1000+ photos. The fact remains…I take a lot of pictures. Looks like I can keep this up after all.

In early May, we started the process of weaning Adria off of the bottle. One of the main reasons that we started when we did was a recommendation from our pediatrician, who said that the reclined drinking position when using the bottle would contribute to ear infections.

Good parents that we are, we weaned her right away, and now she only uses sippy cups. Problem solved.

Adria leaning back to drink her sippy cup

Back in June, our friends Brian and Sarah babysat Adria while Amanda and I went to help Paul celebrate his 30th birthday. Two weeks ago, Amanda and I returned the favor and watched Helen while Brian and Sarah went out for their anniversary.

Brian and Sarah (at least claimed that they) had a lot of fun when they watched Adria for us. And we can say that we had fun watching Helen too. At this age, there really isn’t much to it…if the date starts at 6 or 7, then there is only an hour or two before bedtime, and the rest of the night is just listening for any unusual happenings.

Watching Helen in addition to Adria was not hard at all. First of all, Helen is a very easy-going toddler. Since the kids are in daycare together, they are already familiar with playing together under a certain set of rules. Both Amanda and I participated in entertaining the kids…and really, a 1-1 ratio for 18-month-olds is pretty easy (as long as there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing ).

Mostly we just spent the evening in the living room, playing with Adria’s toys and books. Right when Helen got dropped off, we finished up dinner (note that Adria is eating a gingerbread cookie and has a bunch of grapes in front of her, while Helen was delicately eating a well-rounded meal with veggies):

Adria and Helen at the kid’s table

And then both girls loved story time:

Drew reading a book to both girls

Adria was a little protective of her toys, it being her home turf and all…we ended up giving her several timeouts on this night because she would steal things from Helen or swat at her if she tried to reach in for something. Here the girls are making up after such an episode…

Adria and Helen having a hug after a little toy tug-o-war

And of course both girls love to draw. They were both very adept at keeping the marker on the paper. Amanda would draw little fish on the paper, and Helen would immediately “color them in” just as soon as Amanda was finished:

Drawing with markers

Amanda and I split up and we did the girls’ bedtime rituals at the same time…I took Adria and Amanda took Helen. Both kids pretty much went to sleep right away, and then Amanda and I went back to do damage control and have dinner.

That’s what I told her:

Adria dipping her toes into the pool

So, how did I end up carrying a dripping wet toddler up for an early change into PJ’s?

More than just her toes, now

Today, Adria is 19 months and 10 days old. Oops.

In my defense, when we had her 18-month birthday party, she was already 18 months and 25 days old…it was the first weekend that all four of the original celebrants and their families were free.

Adria, Helen, Penny, and Claire celebrated their half-birthday in style this year, with a BBQ in the shade of Nibley park. Just having the four kids and their parents at the party made 12, and then we had several more couples and a few more kids join us as well…it was a great group.

Let’s see, what did we do? Primarily, we made a mess. This is best accomplished with watermelon combined with lots of powdery dirt:

Adria eating a slice of watermelon

Another great way is to use bubble soap, which (possibly counter to intuition) is extremely sticky:

Adria playing with Helen’s bubble toys

Failing that, you should buy a giant sheet cake from Costco…

Birthday cake for Adria, Claire, Helen, and Penny

…and line up between 4 and 6 toddlers behind it. Add a dog if you think that might help:

The birthday girls and their moms

All of the kids at the party with their moms

Adria straining at the leash for that ‘cupcake’

We managed to keep Adria from diving headlong into the cake, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t let her have a little fun with it…

Adria having a bite of Amanda’s cake

Adria decides that she does like cake

Adria and Penny found the water bottles in the cooler, and headed off to the playground together playing with a bottle and a cup:

Adria fills up Penny’s cup

Penny returns the favor

Adria attempted to raid the fruit salad bowl, and Paul managed to let her sample the treats without totally upending the salad:

Adria eating fruit with “Uncle Paul”

Adria and Penny once again headed off together, and got the idea to dance in the grass. They won’t play “Ring Around the Rosie” (’No!’), but they love to play “Ashes, Ashes".

Adria and Penny dancing in the grass

More dancing with Penny

As we were packing up, Adria did one thing that I really wished that I could do, right about then….

All of that partying is hard work

Adria is starting to apply ‘no’ or ‘not’ in her sentences to change the meaning, which is pretty cool. Last night when we were out in the park she said, “Adria….<mumble> <mumble>…not…home!” I repeated it ("Adria is not home?") and she said “Yeah….". Then: “Dadda….<mumble>…not…home.”

The <mumble> <mumble> thing is interesting…she knows that her “sentence” has more words when Mom and Dad say it, but she doesn’t know why, or what it’s supposed to be. So she often leaves out the verbs, and you have to infer it from context:

“Adria…<mumble>…pants!” (“Adria needs pants?” “Yeah…”)
“Adria…<mumble>…oatmeal!” (“Adria would like oatmeal?” “Yeah…”)
“Dadda…<mumble>…book!” (“You want Dadda to read you a book?” “Yeah…”)

In other amusing speaking news, she now says “There it is” or “There he is” when we’re looking for something and find it. Amanda will say “Where’s Dadda? Go find Dadda! Where’s Dadda?” And she’ll go stomping around looking for me, and when she comes around a corner and sees me, she’ll point and say “There he is!”

On Sunday we took a walk down to the barber shop near our condo for a much-needed haircut (for me). This otherwise mundane errand became amusing when Adria started swinging on the handrails in the shop:

Adria swinging on the handrails

On the walk home, she decided that she would rather sit on her Mom’s shoulders than in the stroller. We didn’t have a hat for her, so I gave her mine…

Adria on Amanda’s shoulders in Dad’s cap

Adria loves blueberry muffins, and she’ll ask for them by name even when they are long since out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Adorably, however, she doesn’t/can’t say “muffin", but instead says “fuffin". We don’t know why…she can say plenty of words with M’s in them, and a pretty decent “more” was one of her first words. But it’s hilarious and we love our little Fuffin Muncher.

(Case in point…yesterday after her nap I was holding her in her bedroom and I asked “Are you hungry? Would you like a cracker?” She looked at me and said “Fuffin!")

Adria is not one to be told to sit still. And, I can’t say that I blame her…I am active (ok, restless) too. Plus, I love that she is curious, mobile, adventurous… But I guess this is one of those cases where I’m getting paid back for my childhood behavior:

Adria riding the Costco shopping cart

I definitely did this as a kid. Not sure about 19 months, but probably…but I certainly remember it from later. Now that I’m a parent, I’m looking at this situation and thinking how seriously (and how quickly) this could go bad. I’m slowly learning to trust her grip and balance, which are actually quite good….this time, though, I decided to let her ride on my shoulders instead of the shopping cart.

We started giving Adria timeouts back in March, and she has gotten several in the intervening months. In truth, though, they have been pretty rare. Adria is generally very good, and we usually feel that we can teach her simply with our words and tone.

Occasionally, though, it takes more. As I described before, the basic formula is a description of the infraction, a short (15-60 second) enforced quiet time in an isolated place, a reminder of the infraction, and then hugs and gentle talk.

A few weeks ago Adria got a little overexcited while playing with Amanda, and she bit Amanda, hard. That’s an automatic timeout. I know that Amanda was fuming because it really hurt…I, however, couldn’t help but see this picture and try very hard not to laugh:

Adria in timeout with socks on her hands

Note the dejected look combined with the mid-play sock-hands…

Adria is still really into Dora the Explorer. She sings the map song, starts talking about Dora and Boots out of the blue, and latches on to any merchandise or imagery that she sees with Dora’s likeness (we have DVD cases, cups, etc).

Well, when Adria graduated to the Bear Cubs classroom at daycare, the paradigm for lunchtime changed. Rather than just keeping the fridge stocked with food that they could mix and match from all week, we are supposed to pack her a lunch each day. To aid in the transition, Amanda got Adria…a Dora lunchbox.

Adria carrying her Dora lunchbox

Adria loves her lunchbox. She calls it her “backpack", because Dora carries a backpack in the TV series. She points at it and says “map!” because the map pops out of the backpack “if you say ‘map’ loud enough” in the show.

Waiting patiently for the elevator with her lunchbox

Adria carries her own lunch down to the garage, chucks it into the back of my car, and then gets it back out when we get to school. She then carries it into the classroom, and stuffs it into the fridge when I open it for her.