Last year Lady A gave Kade one of those Hallmark recordable books and she glued a picture of herself in it.  He regularly grabs it off the shelf and points to her picture.  I always say, "This is A, she is your birthmom!  You grew in her belly and she chose me and Daddy to be your parents!"  I never want the fact that Kade is adopted to be a surprise to him so we try to incorporate Lady A into conversations we have with Kade on a regular basis.

Anyway, he's now saying her name!  Quite well, I might add!  So, when Lady A and her mom, S, came for a visit last Saturday I was excited for them to hear him say their names.  Of course, he didn't say it.  Not once in their 5 hour visit.  He said S name multiple times, but refused to say Lady A's.  We'd ask him and he'd just tilt his head and give a cute smile but nothing more!  Immediately after they left, (I mean, they were still visible from the door!) he said her name.  We opened the door, yelled for them to stop because he said it and wanted to give him one last chance to say it to her.  What did he do when we asked for a repeat?  Tilted his head and gave an award winning smile!  After they left for good he went on to say her name...oh, about 500 times!  Little stinker :-) 

On a different note:  After swimming lessons yesterday, Kade and I were roaming the halls waiting for Erik to come out of the locker room.  There happened to be a basketball practice in session for what looked like 5th grade boys.  Kade and I "snuck" into the door of the gym to watch.  "Snuck" is in quotes because right when Kade saw the players he screamed, "ALMOST!!!!" and everyone turned to look at us.  He associates the word "almost" with basketball because, as you can imagine, most of Kade's shots "almost" go in.  So, Erik and I say "almost!" a lot!  Looks like we need to use a different word when he misses!

Cutest little wedgie I've ever seen!

At the rate this kid is growing he really is going to be the next BIG thing!!

We just got Kade this fancy stool so he can "help out" in the kitchen now.  This is his cheesy grin he gives to the camera these days.

I love enjoying a good toy ad after a hard day at daycare.

Coach K

Last night I took Kade to watch Erik's basketball game.  He's only been to one other game, the first game of the season, because most of the games start after his bedtime.  There's not too many spectators at these "old timer's" games, so there's not too many people cheering either. 

When we first got there, just like he is in new surroundings, he was his usual bashful self so I sat him on my lap and explained the game to him:  defense, offense, rebounding, etc.  He listened and watched.  Someone made a 3, so I showed Kade how it's the same arm motions as a "touchdown".  Erik had the ball at one point and was wide open so I yelled "shoot!".  This was enough to get Kade warmed up. 

The rest of the game he was screaming at the top of his lungs, "RUN!!!",  "GO!!" (complete with one fist in the air), "JUMP!!".  He even busted out, "SLAM DUNK!!", a couple times.  People were looking over at us and laughing but Kade was oblivious to them.  One guy commented how he'd never heard anybody cheer louder.  Erik was on the other end of the court and he even heard Kade--to which I say to Erik, on behalf of Coach K because his vocabulary isn't quite big enough yet, "Keep your head in the game!!"

Just a Post of Pictures

He's never actually used the potty for its intended purpose, but he likes to go through the motions.  He looks pretty darn cute faking it!!

Nothing says farmer like a "Scooter Feeds" stocking hat!

Super Bowl Sunday!  Just like last year, Michael showed up in Packer gear.  We still let him in the house :-)

Cowboys...

 Train Conductors...

Engineers...

 and football fans!

Dad and Kade enjoying a good book before bedtime.

Check out that sweet comb over. 

I'm signed up to run a 10K in May.  Lucky for me I have a live-in trainer!

These 2 by the door spells trouble!  Thankfully Kade hasn't figured out how to unlock them...yet.

Swimming Lessons

Kade had his first swimming lessons tonight!  It's for kids 9 months to 24 months so there were 14 little cuties splashing around in the water.  I'm not sure if Kade is the oldest but he is certainly the biggest in the class!!  Not that I like to brag about the Kade Man but he was the best swimmer too :-)  I can say that because he was the only kid who actually used his arms to try to swim!  The teacher was thoroughly impressed. 

He has class every Wednesday evening for the month of February and I'm pretty sure he can't wait to go back.  The whole time he was in the pool he was saying "more",  or as it sounds out of his mouth "mow-ah?".  And he cried when he got out of the pool.

Lots of pictures!!

I thought Erik and I would take turns each week swimming with Kade.  However, the shallow end is 4 feet deep.  I'm 5 feet tall.  Would I even be able to keep Kade's head above water??

He wasn't so sure of the locker room and all of the strangers around, until he found a basket full of beach balls...

...and a basketball hoop!  That's what these 2 are smiling at, Daddy just made a shot.

Are these 2 even paying attention to the teacher??

Kade and Daddy taking the "blow bubbles" instruction very seriously!

Must've gotten some water up his nose!

Look at that big boy trying to swim by himself!!  2032 Olympics here we come!!

While Dad finished getting dressed, I chased Kade-O the Tornado up and down the halls.

This kid is too cool for school.