Adam

When Adam started walking (11 mos.) it was as if when he took his first few steps he thought "Wow... this is neat.  Why haven't I thought of this before?"  He was had so much fun!  From then on there was no stopping him... which kept me busy since he could get anywhere after that... with no walker to impede his efforts. *

Adam's mental wheels were always turning. One day when Adam was 4 we were at the dinner table and there was some discussion as to who was going to pray before we ate...The kids wanted to do that honor - and were arguing over which one. To solve the problem I said..Daddy will. Adam said Why? I said Because he's the head of the house. Adam paused in thought - then asked...Is he the head of the shed, too?....referring to a new storage shed that we had just built in our back yard. Head of the house was a curious new phrase to him.

For Adam, growing up was an adventure and it was fun living with him and watching as he discovered the world around him. He liked snakes, meal time in general, cookies, and secrets...
and sharing all of the above. He always had something going on.

He had a friend two doors up from us when we lived in a little town in Iowa. Adam was about 4-5. One day I heard a rather loud bang coming from the direction of his friend's house and wondered what they were up to. I was thinking I should investigate when Adam came running in the house. He leaned his head to get his ear close to mine -and said...Mommy! Listen! I started to move my head to put my ear next to his and in that instant I realized what happened. The noise was a fire cracker and his ears were ringing!

When he was 6 he and I made a submarine out of boxes in our living room-complete with a working para scope. We found the directions in the Childcraft encyclopedias. One morning I saw that his bed was empty and found him sleeping inside the sub. Adam also made a puppet. We still have one of its hands that he carved out of wood. It was quite artistically crafted. He dressed it in his little brothers clothes and used it to practice ventriloquism.

Before he turned 12 he had a large paper route. He wasn't afraid of work. He would also get up early and go find aluminum cans to return for cash. He often enlisted his little sister Heather to help him carry the huge bags of cans. Most of the cans were found in dumpsters. One time our enclosed porch (the main entrance to our home at the time) was full of bagged cans - most of them beer cans. That was a fact hard to hide since the smell was telling. Wouldn't you know that they were there in abundance when a nice lady from a group of women from my mom's church (teetotallers) came calling. We never drank beer but it wasn't very convincing with our front porch smelling like a brewery...It seemed more like we devoured that particular beverage in excess!

Kids have an important job and Adam was good at it. They make you smile....and they keep you humble.
After they grow up they somehow make you proud.

*This section has been changed. -( I later remembered the racing me through the doorway in the walker was about Lucas).  Now I remember that though Adam too followed me - he did it thoroughly irritated that I would leave the room... and let me know as  he angrily trudged after me.  :-)  He was a cute little shaver.  It sure was fun being his mom.