Playing catch

We had lunch with Uncle Matt today and Adam got out the bouncy ball to play catch with him. Adam laughed so hard when Uncle Matt was dribbling the ball and spinning it on his finger.

Pool Time

In the last couple weeks Adam has really started loving his pool. He is requesting that I fill it up almost everyday, sometimes twice a day. Here are some pictures of him splashing one afternoon.

Mommy & me

While daddy was gone fishing for a long weekend, mommy re-introduced me to popsicles, a definite favorite especially since I can eat them all by myself.

Eighteen Months Old

It's official - Adam is a year and a half! It's so amazing to think about how much he has changed from month to month. Here are the highlights at eighteen months:

• Adam babbles a ton, but only says a handful of words. He loves animals and can growl like a tiger or moo like a cow. He also says "mowmow" (lawn mower), "yeah", "yes", "brrr", "hot", "no", and can say "mama", "dada", and "Chase" but he does not do it very frequently. He can communicate very well for having such a limited vocabulary. At night, he will cough to let us know he is thirsty.
• He has sixteen teeth and is still drooling a bit. I'm guessing he might get his two-year molars a little early since he seems to have gotten all his teeth early. We will be so excited when all of his teeth are in.
• Adam is getting more adventurous with what he will eat. He even likes guacamole and pickles.
• His personality is really showing through. He loves to laugh and loves when we laugh at him. He can be quite the ham around us, but is much more reserved in larger groups or around people he doesn't know as well. He is also very independent. He wants to do so many things by himself (put on shoes, pick out clothes, push the stroller, etc) although he is still a mama's boy without a doubt!
• His favorite toys are his lawn mower, his dump truck, and cars (big and small). He loves pretending to drive our cars. His favorite book is Curious George and we read it multiple times a day.
• Adam now has a lovey, a little baby doll. He loves to hold the doll while we read books. He gives it lots of hugs and kisses and he even shares snacks with it. He is also a lot more affectionate with us, which we love. He gives hugs and kisses more often, and blows lots of kisses too.

Here's a little sampling of some of Adam's words:

A beautiful Sunday evening on the lake

We had a fun-filled evening with the Schmuckers, Arnolds, and Pogatchniks. It was great to catch up with everyone and enjoy the activities on the lake. Thanks to the Arnolds for hosting!

Adam loves playing in the sand and loves dumping the sand out of his dump truck even more.

Adam and Soren threw corn into the lake to lure in the fish and Matt would catch the fish with the net. Adam was really interested in the fish until they started flopping around on the dock. Adam watched as Aunt Kate touched the fish, but there wasn't any chance he was going to try.

Relaxing by the lake is such a nice way to finish off the weekend.

Hanna's Baptism

We traveled to Cold Spring for Hanna's Baptism. Adam always enjoys seeing his cousins, especially for such a special occasion!

Parade

We caught part of the Pepper Fest parade in North Hudson. Adam was a little bewildered by all of the floats, but definitely enjoyed having endless amounts of candy handed to him.

Summertime Fun

Our neighbors just built a sandbox and invited Adam over to help break it in. They also had set up their sprinkler, two pools, and a water table so the boys went from one thing to another to keep cool. Adam wouldn't go in the pool alone, but he loved kicking his feet while I held him. The very next day at his cousin's Baptism, he wanted to take his shoes off. He kept pointing to the Baptismal font. He was ready to do some more swimming at the church.

Pepper Fest

Today was the kickoff to Pepper Fest in North Hudson. There was a petting zoo, an inflatable bouncer, and treats for the kids. Adam was impressed with his balloon animal (a giraffe), but it didn't take long for him to pop it! We're hoping to check out more activities this weekend.

On the mend

Adam was running a fever for a few days and then started an antibiotic for an ear infection. After two days on the antibiotics, he was still pretty miserable and we ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. Aunt Amy stopped over for a visit and got some smiles out of him. We're so happy he is feeling better.

Alexandria

We traveled to Alexandria to see our friends visiting from Australia. We celebrated their daughter Jaisa's 2nd birthday and got to meet their son Tyler for the first time. The weather was a little cool to enjoy any activities on the lake, but there were lots of fun toys that kept the kids occupied.