Spring Break's Over

Where did it go? I have no idea. In any case, a couple of interesting things have happened. Have I ever mentioned that Ade loves snow? Well, it's true. And strangely enough we've actually received quite a bit of it over the last several days. It's much too warm to stick around but just seeing snow in the Willamette Valley in late, late March is rather peculiar. When it's snowing you can't keep Ade away from the window, cross that with the potty-training-nude-stravaganza and you get this adorable picture (that is snow falling in the background):

On the potty training front: Ade continues to take well to the whole potty training undertaking. Our nudity laden household has transfigured itself slowly into an underoo and plastic pants bonanza. When we go anywhere we put a diaper on him because he's just kinda unpredictable, hmm I wonder why? He does really well at home.

On to the BBB: So, I don't remember which night but he finally figured out that if he cried long enough he didn't have to fall asleep on the floor, as Mom or Dad would rescue him. So he did, cry long enough that he didn't have to fall asleep on the floor because Mom and Dad did come rescue him. Dad also took a lesson from Nanny 911 and said "Ade, it's time for bed darling," and put him right back into bed. In case you were wondering, Ade didn't like this very much. He was quickly back at his bedroom door. Dad said again: "It's time for bed" and put him back into the big-boy-bed. A few moments later, back at the door, this process repeated, again and again maybe seven or eight times until Ade fell asleep in his BBB. The last couple of nights he has gone right to sleep in his bed without any issues. So the BBB problem is solved....or is it? Only time will tell.

BTW Ade likes chocolate pudding...but who doesn't?

A day at the beach.

Hidy-ho. The three of us spent the day on the Oregon Coast, it is spring break after all. The weather was so-so. When we first arrived we headed down to the shore to fly a kite; the wind was blowing so hard that we just about froze. We returned to the grassy park area away from the sea to feed the gulls, something Ade really enjoys. After feeding, then chasing, the birds for a while we packed up and headed to a different beach area. There we got a chance to fly the kite, it was still quite cold and after a little while we headed back to the car. We enjoyed a bite to eat at the Sea Hag in Depoe Bay, took a jaunt down the walk to purchase some salt water taffy, then headed to the outlet mall before home.

BBB Update Another installment in the ongoing saga known as big-boy-bed(BBB). The child-proof knob remains installed on his door. Tonight, after the normal routine (bath, bottle, cuddle, rock, bed), Ade once again got up and headed for the living room only to find, much to his dismay, that he couldn't open the door. Tonight he was decidedly more vocal about his disapproval. He hollered for a few minutes and then...silence. After a few more minutes dad checked on him but couldn't open the door more than a couple inches. Why? Because Ade had once again fallen asleep right behind the door. Dad had to reach in, roll him over away from the door before transplanting the sleeping-wonder into his own, very comfy, BBB. Tune in next time for another episode.

Here's some of the pics we snapped while at the beach today, enjoy:

Just a random pic of Dad and Ade playing Nintendo.

Polka dots, easter eggs and potty training

It's been too long since I posted. So, I'll try to give you a rundown of everything.

Remember that little cold Ade had? That little, wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-coughing-so-hard-he-vomited bug? Well, I don't remember if I told you but Michelle called the doctor and the doctor said something like: "It's lasted a few weeks, there's probably a bacterial component." So, we get some antibiotics. He's on amoxycillin (sp?) for a week, on the 7th day, he looks like this:

Apparently, if you have some sort of virus and you treat it with an antibiotic you get this lovely rash. Actually this is mild compared to how bad it got, it was very disturbing. Mom and Dad both didn't want to take him out in public. Ade is very happy to show you his belly if you ask him: "Where are your spots?"

Easter was Sunday, March 23rd. Ade and Mom and Dad all dyed some eggs on Saturday. Very exciting:


Sunday morning, Ade opened his Easter Basket:

That concludes this entry on Easter.


Now Monday March 24th: Mom and Dad have had this little plan brewing to start potty training over Spring Break, as Dad will be home to help out. Apparently training your child for a life of nudism helps with potty training. So Monday began the nude-fest.
Every 15minutes or so, Ade gets to go potty on the toilet. He's actually taken nicely to it on this, the first day. He's been using the potty infrequently at Mom and Dad's behest, so this was nothing new, but running around the house naked is out of the ordinary. We had a couple little potty accidents today but nothing major, it is the first day anyway.

On to the BBB saga. If you're just joining us we've taken the front rail off of Ade's crib, so it's more like a big-boy-bed than a crib; he can get in and out as he wishes. The last few nights before Monday, have been pretty miserable. We put him down about 8:15, he gets out of bed and finds us in the living room. We cuddle with him then repeat the process. Finally either he goes to bed with mom and stays there all night, or we get him to fall asleep around 9:30.

Tonight, Dad says he's had enough. We put him down at the normal time, after a few minutes he gets up, and comes on out. Mom cuddles with him for a while, in the meantime Dad puts one of the child-proof door knobs on the inside knob of his room. Dad puts Ade to bed...a few minutes later Ade is knocking at his own door "Mama" he says, collectedly. He knocks a few more times, says "Mama" a couple times, doesn't really cry, then all is quite. After a few minutes Dad checks on him and finds:
He's sleeping on the floor right behind the door. Mom scooped him up and put him back in the BBB, we'll try again tomorrow.

That's all for now. Here's a couple more random pictures, just for fun.

Aunt Sissa and Plurals

Adam Ernest (Ade) had a busy day. Mom had bible study at 9:00, Ade spent the day with Great-Grandma Patterson (Grams), he loves to have her hide plastic Easter eggs for him to find. Later in the day the Holtmeier and Patterson families converged to bid Aunt Sissa adieu on her trip to Italy. Great-grandma and Great-grandpa H. were there, as were Great-Grandma and Grandpa P., and Oma and Opa. We all enjoyed delicious pizza from Paddington's. Aunt Sissa will be in Italy for 8 days, serving on a mission trip organized through Corban College where she is a junior.

Plurals? Yesses. Ade pluralized words for the first time today, specifically adding an "s" to his word for cracker, "rara" to make "raras" in reference to a bag of pretzels. "No big deal" you say? Ok, well, I'm pretty amazed at how fast he is picking up the English language. His speech continues getting clearer and more understandable all the time. Another new-ish habit is saying "um", as in tonight I asked him what he would like to eat and he said "um....raras." Pretty cute.

On the BBB front, Ade has adjusted well to his new bed situation. He is getting much better and going to bed and not coming out many times. He does however like to come into Mom and Dad's bed at 4:00a.m., Mom and Dad don't have much to say at this hour and lack the motivation to return him to his own bed so he gets to stay and cuddle. It isn't the most comfortable situation as Ade likes to lay on the bed one of two ways: Sideways, with body parallel to the head and foot of the bed, or directly on his Momma's tummy, which makes it difficult for her to sleep.

Until next time....

It's already been a week since my last post?

There's Adam'sDaddy playing Albert Einstein on Friday, March 14th. 3/14 is universally celebrated as Pi Day (3.14 get it?), and also happens to be Einstein's birthday. So...Since Early College High School, where Adam'sDaddy works was having a huge Pi Day extravaganza, he decided to dress for the part. More proof that Adam'sDaddy is an idiot.

It's been a busy week for Adam Ernest(Ade). I can't even list all the new words he spoke this week but some of the best that I can remember right now are "wall", and "Sissa" (aunt carissa).

Today Ade, Mom and Dad went to visit Ade's middle-namesake, Great-Grandpa Ernie (Papa Ernie), oh yeah Ade said his name "Papa" for the first time today.

On the Big-boy-bed (BBB) front, he has made the change fairly well. Mom and Dad added a bed rail for peace of mind. Tonight, after we put Ade into bed, he got out of bed and made his way back out into the living room about 7 times before he finally stayed in bed for good, so we've got something to work on there.

Here's some more random pics, the first two are of the Holtmeier/Williams family trip to Leavenworth around New Year's 2008, I don't remember when the other two were taken.

Weekend Update March 9th 2008

The weekend was pretty busy for Adam Ernest (Ade). His Mum and I decided to take a little holiday in downtown Portland. Mum and I had a nice time, Ade stayed with Oma and Opa Holtmeier. I don't have any pics of his stay with them, but apparently he was well-behaved. I do have this pic (above) of the welcome we got when we returned home.

A "big-boy-bed" (BBB) update:
Ade has taken quite nicely to his BBB, what a relief. He did roll out of bed one night, but we have some padding on the floor at this point just in case. He fell asleep where he landed and stayed there until one of his coughing fits woke him up. He's had a cold for about a week and a half; during the day it is just an inconvenience but he gets some bad coughing spells in the middle of the night. It seems to be getting better.

What else happened this weekend? Let's see, Sunday afternoon Mum, Dad and Ade tried to go for a walk. As the family walked down the sidewalk past a fenced yard a huge german shepard lunged at us over the fence, it came within an inch or so of Dad's face. Dad was scared enough that he swung his head out of the way, lost his balance and fell hard, face-first on the asphalt...Fun...Dad lost most of the skin on the end of his pinky finger and his left knee.

Here's some other random pics for you to enjoy:)


I just added an old video of Adam Ernest to my YouTube collection, you should check it out. It shows most of his spoken and sign vocabulary at about September last year (that's a guess, it's between The state fair in early September, and Christmas). Anyway it's cute, and it shows that Adam'sDaddy is obviously an idiot.

Inaugural Post

Well, hello then. So I, Adam'sDaddy, decided to start a blog of things that are happening in Adam Ernest's (Ade's) life. Ade was born on June 3rd, 2006 making him 1 year 9 months and 3 days old as of this posting.

The current news in Ade's life is that he recently discovered and quickly mastered the skill of climbing out of his crib. See for yourself.

Michelle and I weren't sure what to do about it but we decided just to take the front rail off his crib and make it into a "big-boy-bed." We thought he might be tempted to jump out of bed and play instead of falling asleep but it hasn't been a problem. The first morning, after waking up in his big-boy-bed he was quite pleased with his ability to go directly into Mama's room and exclaim "UP!" before climbing into bed with Mama; she didn't mind either.

Interested in more videos of Ade, visit: Adam'sDaddy's You Tube Videos