Sam came with us to the 18-week (structural) ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. Though he was convinced that it was a boy (at the time-- he'd been referring equally to "brother" and "sister" in the weeks leading up to it), we saw three clear parallel lines-- it's a girl! Or at least they're 90% certain that it is. Yay! We honestly would have been thrilled with either, but yes, I am already figuring out how to indulge my fetish for little girl shoes. And Sam quickly adjusted to planning his explorations of the "spiky mountains in California" (which we've told him he can start exploring on his own, a recent obsession, once he turns 18) together with his sister "when she gets bigger".
We're in FL enjoying being warm. Pics when we're back.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Birthday party!
We had Sam's bday party yesterday. It wasn't as bad as anticipated, for a couple of reasons: we instituted a "no siblings, please" policy, and then 5 of the 13 invitees couldn't attend in the end, so it was a very civilized 8 guests. Much of the time they just played with Sam's toys, but there was also a game of Twister:
Then sat on balloons to pop them (and get the stickers inside:
In addition to some snacks, we had RR crossing cupcakes (a train cake proving beyond my decorating skills):
And then some not-too-nutty gift opening (Sam is definitely in the age of the Fake Camera Smile! also that's frosting on his nose, not a humongous booger):
[We'd gone back and forth on the "opening gifts while kids are still there" question, but so many kids clearly wanted to see Sam open the gifts they had brought that we did it, but not in the organized-activity kind of way; it worked out pretty well in the end.]
So, all in all, it was a good time, nobody got hurt, the noise level stayed within acceptable levels, and Sam was very pleased. And he got some great gifts.
He'll shortly start posting his own pics to this blog, as well: Omi and Opa gave him a kiddie digital camera. So far his efforts have mostly been partial head shots (ears etc) with plenty of light fixtures etc, but I'm sure he'll get better with practice (and with outdoor photo-taking, where there's not as much of a delay for the flash).
Then sat on balloons to pop them (and get the stickers inside:
In addition to some snacks, we had RR crossing cupcakes (a train cake proving beyond my decorating skills):
And then some not-too-nutty gift opening (Sam is definitely in the age of the Fake Camera Smile! also that's frosting on his nose, not a humongous booger):
[We'd gone back and forth on the "opening gifts while kids are still there" question, but so many kids clearly wanted to see Sam open the gifts they had brought that we did it, but not in the organized-activity kind of way; it worked out pretty well in the end.]
So, all in all, it was a good time, nobody got hurt, the noise level stayed within acceptable levels, and Sam was very pleased. And he got some great gifts.
He'll shortly start posting his own pics to this blog, as well: Omi and Opa gave him a kiddie digital camera. So far his efforts have mostly been partial head shots (ears etc) with plenty of light fixtures etc, but I'm sure he'll get better with practice (and with outdoor photo-taking, where there's not as much of a delay for the flash).
Feb & March pics
In February, working with a magnifying glass and a flashlight to find bugs in Daddy's hair. (Just for the record, there weren't any, though Sam claims to have found some on previous occasions. There was a lice outbreak in his school a few weeks ago, so that might have contributed to his interest.)
And then earlier this month, posing with a particularly complex locomotive that he had just made:
And then earlier this month, posing with a particularly complex locomotive that he had just made:
Friday, March 06, 2009
concept
Sam coloring furiously on his Doodle Pad: "I'm making a concept."
I look over his shoulder, note only that he's colored in just about the whole surface. "What's a concept, Sam?"
"It's when you color the whole thing black."
"Where did you learn that?"
"On television."
Hm. This is what happens when I sleep in past the end of kids' programming on PBS on a Saturday morning, apparently.
In other news, we're picking up Sam's new bike from the bike shop tomorrow. Even though there's still a fair bit of snow on the ground, he and I are both excited. Hopefully the snow will clear enough for him to ride it soon-- maybe even on his birthday weekend (in two weeks). It has removable pedals, so it functions first as a balance bike and then as a real bike w/pedals, hopefully skipping right over the training wheel phase.
And next weekend we'll have 14(ish) 3-5-year-olds in our home (yes, our 1100 square foot home), not to mention their parents, for Sam's birthday party. That should be interesting. Sam's Omi is coming for a few days to help out and celebrate with him. At the end of the following weekend we'll head down to FL for some warmth and another celebration w/Grandma and Grandpa. Pics coming soon!
I look over his shoulder, note only that he's colored in just about the whole surface. "What's a concept, Sam?"
"It's when you color the whole thing black."
"Where did you learn that?"
"On television."
Hm. This is what happens when I sleep in past the end of kids' programming on PBS on a Saturday morning, apparently.
In other news, we're picking up Sam's new bike from the bike shop tomorrow. Even though there's still a fair bit of snow on the ground, he and I are both excited. Hopefully the snow will clear enough for him to ride it soon-- maybe even on his birthday weekend (in two weeks). It has removable pedals, so it functions first as a balance bike and then as a real bike w/pedals, hopefully skipping right over the training wheel phase.
And next weekend we'll have 14(ish) 3-5-year-olds in our home (yes, our 1100 square foot home), not to mention their parents, for Sam's birthday party. That should be interesting. Sam's Omi is coming for a few days to help out and celebrate with him. At the end of the following weekend we'll head down to FL for some warmth and another celebration w/Grandma and Grandpa. Pics coming soon!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
growing up
A list of the things Sam has said he wants to be when he grows up (over the past two weeks):
- a space shuttle driver
- a garbage truck driver
- a woman (not exactly that he wants to be one, but I think he said "when I grow up and my hair gets really long I will be a woman")
- a fireman
- a scientist who studies planets
In more immediate-term growing-up news, Sam's desperate to hang out with the slightly older boys in his class, a clique of 3, one of whom seems especially bent on excluding him. It's heartbreaking to watch; Sam's not quite at the age where he 'gets' intentional meanness and exclusion, so he just gets hurt by it. Obviously this kind of thing isn't going to go away for years (well, ever, really) but watching it as a parent hurts. (It's also a strange side effect of Sam's preschool/daycare being a co-op that I get to watch these interactions first-hand, and have to stop myself from throttling the kids doing the excluding.) While I don't feel like I want to micromanage his social life, we're also making efforts to schedule play dates and other out-of-school interactions with other classmates with whom he plays more compatibly.
- a space shuttle driver
- a garbage truck driver
- a woman (not exactly that he wants to be one, but I think he said "when I grow up and my hair gets really long I will be a woman")
- a fireman
- a scientist who studies planets
In more immediate-term growing-up news, Sam's desperate to hang out with the slightly older boys in his class, a clique of 3, one of whom seems especially bent on excluding him. It's heartbreaking to watch; Sam's not quite at the age where he 'gets' intentional meanness and exclusion, so he just gets hurt by it. Obviously this kind of thing isn't going to go away for years (well, ever, really) but watching it as a parent hurts. (It's also a strange side effect of Sam's preschool/daycare being a co-op that I get to watch these interactions first-hand, and have to stop myself from throttling the kids doing the excluding.) While I don't feel like I want to micromanage his social life, we're also making efforts to schedule play dates and other out-of-school interactions with other classmates with whom he plays more compatibly.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
analogies
This one made J. happy:
Driving along Memorial Drive on the way home from Trader Joe's the other night, Sam was asking us to name all the bridges we passed. One of them was the Weeks Footbridge, and J. asked Sam if he knew why it was called a footbridge. Sam thought for a minute then figured out, because it's for people to walk on, not for cars. Then he thought for another minute and noted that the other bridges should be called wheel bridges. He has a point, there.
Driving along Memorial Drive on the way home from Trader Joe's the other night, Sam was asking us to name all the bridges we passed. One of them was the Weeks Footbridge, and J. asked Sam if he knew why it was called a footbridge. Sam thought for a minute then figured out, because it's for people to walk on, not for cars. Then he thought for another minute and noted that the other bridges should be called wheel bridges. He has a point, there.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
heartbeat
OK, it's official: Sam's brother or sister is due August 10th. Or thereabouts. We saw the heartbeat today.
Of course, after this past summer, we are still cautious at this stage: we saw a heartbeat then too, and then two weeks later heartbreak. But we're optimistic.
But in the meantime, the very nice ultrasound tech printed a separate blurry picture just for Sam, which he examined very closely this evening with his magnifying glass (he is convinced of the magical power of magnifying glasses and microscopes after weeks of nightly readings of Flotsam). Sam is having mixed feelings (we don't bring it up that often, but he's known for a while); he sometimes talks about things he will show or teach the baby, but the other night as I was leaving his room after snuggling in his bed for a while, he asked why I keep having babies. Just one more, Sam, I told him, our family will have you and your brother or sister. But why? he said, I don't want to have another baby, I want to be the only baby. I gave him lots of kisses and reassurance... mindful of Penelope Leach's analogies between things commonly said to first children when discussing siblings, and how such things would sound when spoken by one spouse to another ("I like having you as a wife so much that I thought I'd get another one! You can help me take care of her!") and glad we have lots of time for him to begin to work out his feelings.
Of course, after this past summer, we are still cautious at this stage: we saw a heartbeat then too, and then two weeks later heartbreak. But we're optimistic.
But in the meantime, the very nice ultrasound tech printed a separate blurry picture just for Sam, which he examined very closely this evening with his magnifying glass (he is convinced of the magical power of magnifying glasses and microscopes after weeks of nightly readings of Flotsam). Sam is having mixed feelings (we don't bring it up that often, but he's known for a while); he sometimes talks about things he will show or teach the baby, but the other night as I was leaving his room after snuggling in his bed for a while, he asked why I keep having babies. Just one more, Sam, I told him, our family will have you and your brother or sister. But why? he said, I don't want to have another baby, I want to be the only baby. I gave him lots of kisses and reassurance... mindful of Penelope Leach's analogies between things commonly said to first children when discussing siblings, and how such things would sound when spoken by one spouse to another ("I like having you as a wife so much that I thought I'd get another one! You can help me take care of her!") and glad we have lots of time for him to begin to work out his feelings.
Friday, January 23, 2009
more potty humor
J. got back last night after 10 days away, and Sam has been beside himself with excitement. This evening they've been playing while I attempt to finish drafting a fellowship application that's due frighteningly soon. Yes, I have been procrastinating, but I've also been solo-parenting and grading last semester's final papers while existing on 3-ish hours of sleep a night, due to some miserable insomniac effect of hormonal wackiness. (Which seems to have abated just the past two nights-- the insomnia, that is, not the hormonal wackiness.) Anyway-- tonight after reconfiguring the tracks on the train table
and building walls out of big cardboard blocks, they went fishing over the side of the bedrail.
Sam's in his pajamas because it was Pajama Day at preschool, and had donned a fishing hat of J's (bit mysterious because I'm not sure J.'s ever been fishing, or at least not since childhood).
Anyway, Sam had been jumping around clearly needing to pee but denying it, and then finally realized what was going on with his bladder and ran to the bathroom, asking J. to pull down his pants because the urge was so desperate. And... Sam didn't quite make it, as evidenced by the brief yelp from J. coming from the bathroom, then Sam observing, "You got pee on your pants too."
and building walls out of big cardboard blocks, they went fishing over the side of the bedrail.
Sam's in his pajamas because it was Pajama Day at preschool, and had donned a fishing hat of J's (bit mysterious because I'm not sure J.'s ever been fishing, or at least not since childhood).
Anyway, Sam had been jumping around clearly needing to pee but denying it, and then finally realized what was going on with his bladder and ran to the bathroom, asking J. to pull down his pants because the urge was so desperate. And... Sam didn't quite make it, as evidenced by the brief yelp from J. coming from the bathroom, then Sam observing, "You got pee on your pants too."
Thursday, January 22, 2009
gayline
So the other night we were eating twice-baked potatoes and Sam had broccoli on the side ("can I have some meat or something please?" he asked politely upon seeing his plate) and I had a raw carrot because broccoli seemed distinctly unappealing at the time; J. has been out of town writing. Sam finished his broccoli with gusto, as usual, then watching me crunch my carrot asked for a "whole big carrot" (as opposed to the usual carrot sticks), so I gave him one. And watched carefully to make sure he was chewing, and asked him to please chew carefully. He remarked on how hard it was to bite through, and said he would have to use his sharpest teeth to do so: "my gay-line teeth" he said. I didn't catch it and had to ask, "which ones?", upon which he clarified "these pointy ones!" Oh right! The gayline teeth.
Also: the kids illustrated and narrated books at preschool during a theme on stories and story-telling. Sam's was entitled "Poopy Everywhere" and though one might at first charitably imagine that he was following up on "Everyone Poops", an occasional favorite read of ours, closer inspection reveals that the style is somewhat-- ok completely-- different. For example, the last page reads: "And then he pooped all over the house, even on the walls and even all over the ceiling!" with an illustration that heavily features brown marker. His teachers told him he had to take it home, because they don't use bathroom language in the classroom (outside of the restroom area)-- but they stressed to me that they told him he did a good job and there was nothing wrong with the book, he just couldn't keep it at school (where all the other kids' books are displayed on a wall). He still seemed proud of it when we first looked at it, with lots of guffawing as we read it together, but after he overheard me telling someone about it, he got embarrassed, and now says he made a "book about a bad thing". Which is a tough one, because while the potty talk can get waaaay too exuberant (and there are seriously turds depicted on every page of the book-- all four of them, if you include the cover), I don't want him to feel bad about what he makes, either.
Also: the kids illustrated and narrated books at preschool during a theme on stories and story-telling. Sam's was entitled "Poopy Everywhere" and though one might at first charitably imagine that he was following up on "Everyone Poops", an occasional favorite read of ours, closer inspection reveals that the style is somewhat-- ok completely-- different. For example, the last page reads: "And then he pooped all over the house, even on the walls and even all over the ceiling!" with an illustration that heavily features brown marker. His teachers told him he had to take it home, because they don't use bathroom language in the classroom (outside of the restroom area)-- but they stressed to me that they told him he did a good job and there was nothing wrong with the book, he just couldn't keep it at school (where all the other kids' books are displayed on a wall). He still seemed proud of it when we first looked at it, with lots of guffawing as we read it together, but after he overheard me telling someone about it, he got embarrassed, and now says he made a "book about a bad thing". Which is a tough one, because while the potty talk can get waaaay too exuberant (and there are seriously turds depicted on every page of the book-- all four of them, if you include the cover), I don't want him to feel bad about what he makes, either.
Monday, January 12, 2009
latest snudge
Two from tonight:
"I think skyscraper is another word for babysitter."
Really? why is that?
"Because skyscrapers babysit the sky."
"Daddy, would you prefer to have your ice cream another time?"
And from the past couple months...
(Having been told he couldn't go to the airport to pick up Aunt L., who was arriving late in the evening for Thanksgiving):
"When I am a grownup, I will do the things that grownups do."
Do you think that will be fun?
"Yes. I will go to meet people when they come to visit, and you... will stay HOME! and go to BED!"
(During a week-long focus on "friends and families" at preschool):
"What are grownups who live by themselves called?"
Hm, what do you mean?
"What are grownups who live by themselves called?"
(I think for a bit.) What are grownups who don't live by themselves called?
"Families. So what are grownups who live by themselves called?"
"I think skyscraper is another word for babysitter."
Really? why is that?
"Because skyscrapers babysit the sky."
"Daddy, would you prefer to have your ice cream another time?"
And from the past couple months...
(Having been told he couldn't go to the airport to pick up Aunt L., who was arriving late in the evening for Thanksgiving):
"When I am a grownup, I will do the things that grownups do."
Do you think that will be fun?
"Yes. I will go to meet people when they come to visit, and you... will stay HOME! and go to BED!"
(During a week-long focus on "friends and families" at preschool):
"What are grownups who live by themselves called?"
Hm, what do you mean?
"What are grownups who live by themselves called?"
(I think for a bit.) What are grownups who don't live by themselves called?
"Families. So what are grownups who live by themselves called?"
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
holiday gifts
We don't do Santa in our house. Christmas and Hanukkah, for us, are about giving and lights and the joy of thinking about other people in the cold of midwinter. Sam gets gifts from us and from lots of other people, and we figured Sam would give gifts to everyone as soon as he was old enough for that to make sense. So this year (starting, actually, with birthdays a few months ago) I started asking him seriously what he thought various people would like. Every kid we ask about, he's convinced would like a train. Or, if questioned again, ("Do you really think Zoe likes trains as much as you do?") he might switch to a truck, or a racecar. Adults, in contrast, he's sure all want glass trains. I don't think Sam has ever seen a glass train, or had such a thing suggested to him; my guess is that he can't imagine anyone not liking a train because, well, duh. But adults like finicky fragile things that you can't play with but instead just have to look at-- so, glass trains it is.
(We ended up going to the candy store instead of looking for glass trains for everyone. He can imagine people liking chocolate too, and I don't think anyone will be sorry to get it!)
(We ended up going to the candy store instead of looking for glass trains for everyone. He can imagine people liking chocolate too, and I don't think anyone will be sorry to get it!)
Monday, November 03, 2008
halloween and spelling
Here's Sam Friday evening in his lion costume, in his preschool room at the end of the day. A bunch of the kids went out trick-or-treating together in a neighborhood close by the school that goes all-out (closing streets off, major decorating efforts, etc). So they had a quick dinner at school then got dressed. J. took him; I went home to hand out candy (and escape the mayhem).
On Saturday we had friends (J's postdoc and his wife) over for dinner. While we were talking after dinner, Sam was laboriously sounding out the spelling of a long and complicated word on his (3-letter-space) "word whammer" toy (a gift that's been unfortunately compelling him to make all words 3 letters long). He ran into the dining room excitedly to show it to us: ZLF. "I spelled xylophone!" he exclaimed with such pride that, really, how could we tell him he was wrong? Also, if he were writing in Hebrew, he'd be pretty close to correct (what with the optional vowels).
On Saturday we had friends (J's postdoc and his wife) over for dinner. While we were talking after dinner, Sam was laboriously sounding out the spelling of a long and complicated word on his (3-letter-space) "word whammer" toy (a gift that's been unfortunately compelling him to make all words 3 letters long). He ran into the dining room excitedly to show it to us: ZLF. "I spelled xylophone!" he exclaimed with such pride that, really, how could we tell him he was wrong? Also, if he were writing in Hebrew, he'd be pretty close to correct (what with the optional vowels).
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
pics
Wow. So much for my attempt to post once a month... It's been a rough few months, but things are looking better on many fronts these days.
Here are some pics of Sam hiking in the woods and running on the beach on a recent weekend in Maine (our break between the end of classes/grading and the beginning of summer work). We stayed in Freeport, and went hiking at Bradbury Mountain State Park one morning, followed by a bit of shopping in Freeport (while Sam and Josh napped in the car); the next day we went to Popham Beach and walked around, then drove to Portland and went on the Narrow Gauge Railroad (a real steam train). Sam was actually more interested in the train tables we encountered along the way (three separate train tables) than in the steam train itself, but all in all it was a very nice weekend.
More hopefully soon...
Here are some pics of Sam hiking in the woods and running on the beach on a recent weekend in Maine (our break between the end of classes/grading and the beginning of summer work). We stayed in Freeport, and went hiking at Bradbury Mountain State Park one morning, followed by a bit of shopping in Freeport (while Sam and Josh napped in the car); the next day we went to Popham Beach and walked around, then drove to Portland and went on the Narrow Gauge Railroad (a real steam train). Sam was actually more interested in the train tables we encountered along the way (three separate train tables) than in the steam train itself, but all in all it was a very nice weekend.
More hopefully soon...
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Three years minus 2 months
I think I'm going to start posting every month on or near the 20th, just so I get a bit more regular with the posting again. Whew. Sam's nearly 3, and seems suddenly older (than 2, that is) these days. Not only has his language evidenced a notable spurt in sophistication recently-- examples soon, I promise-- but he's also shot up in the last month: pants that used to fit are all too short, and pants that we had to roll up no longer require rolling. He's still showing some charming 2-year-old defiance (when it's time to wash hands, he will wail dramatically, "nono I don't *want* to"), but one can explain many other things to him quite reasonably. It's fun. He's funny, too. His and J's silly-word games have progressed, and a current favorite is the "sometimes I wear a ____ for a hat" game (most memorable fill-in? "Sometimes I wear a grocery store for a hat.")
Here are a few things that have happened since the end of October:
- Sam has become fully day-time potty trained. No efforts towards night-time potty training, though. What's the point, really?
- Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt L. came to stay with us for Thanksgiving (which Uncle D and Aunt S hosted most fabulously). Sam had a great time with them, and they were a major help, especially since I'd gotten a call scheduling a job interview for the following week just the day before they came (so was frantically prepping a job talk and teaching demo, and prepping for my interviews w/the members of the department).
- I interviewed for a job. Fingers crossed.
- We celebrated Hanukkah. We didn't light the menorah every night, but we did it a few times, and the other nights we at least lit the big candle that we keep on the dining table, and which Sam loves to have lit for dinner. We also went to a lovely Hanukkah party one night at our upstairs neighbors' home. Sam has been enjoying his "doctor tools" and puzzles from Aunt S and Uncle D, and his car tracks and Colorforms (do you remember colorforms? I totally did) from us.
- We had Sam's daycare classroom's potluck. Note to self: don't try to make a last-minute hors d'oeuvres for an event to which you'll be coming straight from work, which you're also organizing, and to which you'll be late because you have to stop and pick up cards for the teachers along the way. The potluck was fun, though. We stayed late with a couple of other families, put on music, and the kids danced and danced (while we sat around drinking wine and chatting). How cool is Sam's daycare?
- We took Sam ice skating for the first time, outside of the Charles Hotel. He wasn't as into it as I thought he would be, given how much he likes to slide around on the ice in his shoes (and on the floors pretending to skate). But it was fun for a few minutes at least:
Then we flew to MN to spend Christmas with Omi and Opa. We had dinner with my HS friend D. and her family. Brownie sundaes for dessert keeps four (one off-camera) kids very quiet.
We did some fun winter-snowy things with Sam: a couple of small snowmen (the snow was too dry and powdery to attempt anything bigger, sadly), and some good sledding. Sam wasn't as enthused abotu the sledding as we'd imagined, either, though he liked it. He did say many times on both sledding occasions, though, "I don't like the dust part" (the snow blowing up into his face when we'd hit some powder).
Doesn't he look spiffy in his coordinated winter things? G'ma and G'pa bought him the jacket, hat, and boots for Hanukkah. Sam had been asking for orange winter boots; they arrived just before the first of several snowstorms we got in Boston.
On the way back from sledding with Sam and Sam's Opa, J. slipped on the icy street and broke his wrist. Fortunately it's his left, so he's only been slightly disabled-- with the most recent version of the cast he can even type. But our car is a manual transmission, so he hasn't been able to drive since we got back. The cast should finally be off this Friday, and I'm not sure which of us will be more relieved.
Sam and I baked and decorated some cookies:
On Christmas Eve we lit the candles on the "crimmus tree" (J. can't stop picturing the whole thing going up in flames, but while I share his anxiety-- we do keep a bucket of water nearby-- it's overcome for me by a combo of fond tradition and just loving how beautiful it looks). We sang carols and opened presents. The bullet train from Uncle M. and Aunt R. was the runaway (no pun intended) hit of the evening, and of the days to follow.
It was competing with the Spiderman scooter Omi bought when he couldn't stop riding it around the consignment store, and of course the tricycle he got last year which was rediscovered with joy when we arrived, and which he rode at alarming speed through the house. Next year I'm sure it'll be an "outside toy."
We got home a couple days later and geared up to host a "New Year's Eve in Spain" party-- continuing the tradition started by friends who began hosting New Year's Eve parties set in locations 6 hours to the east, in order to be able to toast the New Year at 6PM (midnight Paris/Tunis/Barcelona time) and get kids in bed at something resembling reasonable. (I note with a bit of embarrassment that for our Snudge lately, bedtime has been something like 10PM... but embarrassment only because there seems to be this ethic that children should be in bed by 8. Sam sleeps til 8:30 (sometimes later). It's all very civilized.) Anyway... the party was a blast. Some of our favorite parent-friends joined us with babies and toddlers, and some of our favorite nonparent-friends joined us too and marveled at the chaos.
Here's Sam (and J's cast) in exhausted post-party-ness, Dalí-esque mustache still faintly evident:
Here are a few things that have happened since the end of October:
- Sam has become fully day-time potty trained. No efforts towards night-time potty training, though. What's the point, really?
- Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt L. came to stay with us for Thanksgiving (which Uncle D and Aunt S hosted most fabulously). Sam had a great time with them, and they were a major help, especially since I'd gotten a call scheduling a job interview for the following week just the day before they came (so was frantically prepping a job talk and teaching demo, and prepping for my interviews w/the members of the department).
- I interviewed for a job. Fingers crossed.
- We celebrated Hanukkah. We didn't light the menorah every night, but we did it a few times, and the other nights we at least lit the big candle that we keep on the dining table, and which Sam loves to have lit for dinner. We also went to a lovely Hanukkah party one night at our upstairs neighbors' home. Sam has been enjoying his "doctor tools" and puzzles from Aunt S and Uncle D, and his car tracks and Colorforms (do you remember colorforms? I totally did) from us.
- We had Sam's daycare classroom's potluck. Note to self: don't try to make a last-minute hors d'oeuvres for an event to which you'll be coming straight from work, which you're also organizing, and to which you'll be late because you have to stop and pick up cards for the teachers along the way. The potluck was fun, though. We stayed late with a couple of other families, put on music, and the kids danced and danced (while we sat around drinking wine and chatting). How cool is Sam's daycare?
- We took Sam ice skating for the first time, outside of the Charles Hotel. He wasn't as into it as I thought he would be, given how much he likes to slide around on the ice in his shoes (and on the floors pretending to skate). But it was fun for a few minutes at least:
Then we flew to MN to spend Christmas with Omi and Opa. We had dinner with my HS friend D. and her family. Brownie sundaes for dessert keeps four (one off-camera) kids very quiet.
We did some fun winter-snowy things with Sam: a couple of small snowmen (the snow was too dry and powdery to attempt anything bigger, sadly), and some good sledding. Sam wasn't as enthused abotu the sledding as we'd imagined, either, though he liked it. He did say many times on both sledding occasions, though, "I don't like the dust part" (the snow blowing up into his face when we'd hit some powder).
Doesn't he look spiffy in his coordinated winter things? G'ma and G'pa bought him the jacket, hat, and boots for Hanukkah. Sam had been asking for orange winter boots; they arrived just before the first of several snowstorms we got in Boston.
On the way back from sledding with Sam and Sam's Opa, J. slipped on the icy street and broke his wrist. Fortunately it's his left, so he's only been slightly disabled-- with the most recent version of the cast he can even type. But our car is a manual transmission, so he hasn't been able to drive since we got back. The cast should finally be off this Friday, and I'm not sure which of us will be more relieved.
Sam and I baked and decorated some cookies:
On Christmas Eve we lit the candles on the "crimmus tree" (J. can't stop picturing the whole thing going up in flames, but while I share his anxiety-- we do keep a bucket of water nearby-- it's overcome for me by a combo of fond tradition and just loving how beautiful it looks). We sang carols and opened presents. The bullet train from Uncle M. and Aunt R. was the runaway (no pun intended) hit of the evening, and of the days to follow.
It was competing with the Spiderman scooter Omi bought when he couldn't stop riding it around the consignment store, and of course the tricycle he got last year which was rediscovered with joy when we arrived, and which he rode at alarming speed through the house. Next year I'm sure it'll be an "outside toy."
We got home a couple days later and geared up to host a "New Year's Eve in Spain" party-- continuing the tradition started by friends who began hosting New Year's Eve parties set in locations 6 hours to the east, in order to be able to toast the New Year at 6PM (midnight Paris/Tunis/Barcelona time) and get kids in bed at something resembling reasonable. (I note with a bit of embarrassment that for our Snudge lately, bedtime has been something like 10PM... but embarrassment only because there seems to be this ethic that children should be in bed by 8. Sam sleeps til 8:30 (sometimes later). It's all very civilized.) Anyway... the party was a blast. Some of our favorite parent-friends joined us with babies and toddlers, and some of our favorite nonparent-friends joined us too and marveled at the chaos.
Here's Sam (and J's cast) in exhausted post-party-ness, Dalí-esque mustache still faintly evident:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
new hampshire
Whew-- well it's been a crazy three months, and I'm not even going to try to fill in everything that happened during that time. In short: enjoyed our farm share from Stillman's Farm; had parts of the house painted; tried to keep up with the garden but didn't really succeed; the usual jamboree of grant- and paper-writing and data collection; went to the park a lot; got a new bikeseat for Sam for J's bike that fits in the front so he can see-- whee!-- and then the two of them went on lots of bike rides; went to Martha's Vineyard for a really lovely week of beach time, biking, hiking, and no work (the first time since our honeymoon that J. and I spent more than a weekend away from our laptops!). Sam is taller and more articulate, and is very nearly potty-trained during the days.
Two fun verbal things that he is doing these days:
1. for a few months now, he's enjoyed substituting the first letters of words-- he seems to find this hilarious. But now he's doing whole songs this way: "the vipers on the vus go vish, vish, vish... all voo da vown" is a favorite (with first consonants randomly varying across renditions), as is "binkle binkle bittle bar..."
2. he's been making up his own onomatopoeia lately. The other evening in the car, listening to the rain on the roof, he said "mommy the rain is plinkering on the car," which was really just about perfect to describe the sound it was making.
We were in New Hampshire last weekend-- J. had a meeting, and Sam and I tagged along for some foliage-viewing and hiking. Sam and I rode a slow scenic train on Saturday morning:
The view was pretty...
... but two hours is a long time to sit anywhere, and Sam was happy to get off and actually see the engine at the end of the ride.
The hotel we were staying at was on Lake Winnipesaukee. (Note change of pants; still working on aim.) Sam's Red Sox cap misleads people into thinking we have a clue about baseball. I mean, we know they're in the Series, but we're otherwise pretty clueless. Sam just thinks it's a "B for Boston" cap.
That evening we met up with J. and the other folks for a dinner. The meeting was on Squam Lake, and there was a spectacular rainbow, a full (and partially double) arc over the lake.
The next morning, Sam and I went to a nature center and saw some animals in semi-naturalistic captivity. Some colorful views, too:
We met up with J. as the meeting ended, right before lunch. In the afternoon, we went on a short but steep hike to get this view of Squam Lake:
Sam cheerfully climbed up and back down the 2.5-mile trail, and did a little bouldering while we were at the top.
I'll try to post pics more regularly in the next months, but no promises-- lots of work as always, and we're still trying to get the house in shape. At least there's no garden guilt in the winter (but for now, there are plenty of leaves to rake!)
Here's a cute image to leave you with: The Stompers (new daycare classroom) started using scissors this week. His morning teacher told me today that when Sam got the hang of it he spent a long time cutting a fringe along a piece of paper, opening and shutting his mouth in time to opening and shutting the scissors (-:
Two fun verbal things that he is doing these days:
1. for a few months now, he's enjoyed substituting the first letters of words-- he seems to find this hilarious. But now he's doing whole songs this way: "the vipers on the vus go vish, vish, vish... all voo da vown" is a favorite (with first consonants randomly varying across renditions), as is "binkle binkle bittle bar..."
2. he's been making up his own onomatopoeia lately. The other evening in the car, listening to the rain on the roof, he said "mommy the rain is plinkering on the car," which was really just about perfect to describe the sound it was making.
We were in New Hampshire last weekend-- J. had a meeting, and Sam and I tagged along for some foliage-viewing and hiking. Sam and I rode a slow scenic train on Saturday morning:
The view was pretty...
... but two hours is a long time to sit anywhere, and Sam was happy to get off and actually see the engine at the end of the ride.
The hotel we were staying at was on Lake Winnipesaukee. (Note change of pants; still working on aim.) Sam's Red Sox cap misleads people into thinking we have a clue about baseball. I mean, we know they're in the Series, but we're otherwise pretty clueless. Sam just thinks it's a "B for Boston" cap.
That evening we met up with J. and the other folks for a dinner. The meeting was on Squam Lake, and there was a spectacular rainbow, a full (and partially double) arc over the lake.
The next morning, Sam and I went to a nature center and saw some animals in semi-naturalistic captivity. Some colorful views, too:
We met up with J. as the meeting ended, right before lunch. In the afternoon, we went on a short but steep hike to get this view of Squam Lake:
Sam cheerfully climbed up and back down the 2.5-mile trail, and did a little bouldering while we were at the top.
I'll try to post pics more regularly in the next months, but no promises-- lots of work as always, and we're still trying to get the house in shape. At least there's no garden guilt in the winter (but for now, there are plenty of leaves to rake!)
Here's a cute image to leave you with: The Stompers (new daycare classroom) started using scissors this week. His morning teacher told me today that when Sam got the hang of it he spent a long time cutting a fringe along a piece of paper, opening and shutting his mouth in time to opening and shutting the scissors (-:
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
pretend play + pics
It seems like Sam's pretend play has taken a real leap lately. We were outside mowing and weeding the lawn this evening (it's little, but I really just can't keep up with it, nor with the garden in general-- but that's another story). Sam was entertaining himself, and me, with an elaborate series: "Who's at the door? There's the doorbell, do you hear it? Ding dong! it's Uncle D. and Aunt S.! They're here! It's their birthday! Here's a cake. Let's put some candles on it... here's (plucking from the grass) a red one, and an ojanj one... Wanna sing Happy Birthday!"
And then in the bath, the little animals he's been playing with for a year suddenly have relationships. Two weeks ago it was "two turtles! there's one turtle and a other turtle!" and then the turtles went under the tunnel ("a leg tunnel!") or went swimming, and one of them was called Cara (after a sea turtle in a favorite video). Now, though, the smaller turtle is the baby, and the bigger turtle is the mommy, and the baby turtle nurses at the mommy (nuzzling her undershell appropriately-- I figure the talk about which species are mammals and what that means can wait another year or so (-: ), and then following our bedtime routine, the baby turtle says "wanna snuggle", and the two turtles snuggle in the water, and then the mommy turtle says it's time to go in your bed, so the little turtle obediently rolls over. It's so fun to watch.
Potty update: after we got to about 80% trained at home, we decided to send Sam to daycare in underpants yesterday. He only had 4 accidents over the whole day (so it's not as though he was dribbling continuously), but he also didn't pee on the potty there, and his teachers both think it's too early for him-- and also that the upcoming (beginning of September) transition to the next room up will be too disruptive. So we're doing underpants (or nothing) at home and diapers at daycare for a while. No reason to be overly ambitious, I guess, and I have to think that the teachers have done this quite a few times by now, so have some idea what they're talking about.
And now for some pictures of Sam eating:
He likes to eat bagels cream cheese-side down:
Gnawing on a t-bone, having eaten a fair proportion himself of the steak on it: (Note new grill just barely visible in the background. We are now Grilling People, and have polished off the remainder of our 1/4 side of beef in gas-grilled yumminess.)
The joys of summer: first Fudgesicle:
Sam takes watering the garden very seriously.
He also insists on doing it "by yourself." Which is generally fine, though we've had to learn the hard way (i.e. the soaking wet way) not to get his attention by calling his name when he's holding the hose.
And then in the bath, the little animals he's been playing with for a year suddenly have relationships. Two weeks ago it was "two turtles! there's one turtle and a other turtle!" and then the turtles went under the tunnel ("a leg tunnel!") or went swimming, and one of them was called Cara (after a sea turtle in a favorite video). Now, though, the smaller turtle is the baby, and the bigger turtle is the mommy, and the baby turtle nurses at the mommy (nuzzling her undershell appropriately-- I figure the talk about which species are mammals and what that means can wait another year or so (-: ), and then following our bedtime routine, the baby turtle says "wanna snuggle", and the two turtles snuggle in the water, and then the mommy turtle says it's time to go in your bed, so the little turtle obediently rolls over. It's so fun to watch.
Potty update: after we got to about 80% trained at home, we decided to send Sam to daycare in underpants yesterday. He only had 4 accidents over the whole day (so it's not as though he was dribbling continuously), but he also didn't pee on the potty there, and his teachers both think it's too early for him-- and also that the upcoming (beginning of September) transition to the next room up will be too disruptive. So we're doing underpants (or nothing) at home and diapers at daycare for a while. No reason to be overly ambitious, I guess, and I have to think that the teachers have done this quite a few times by now, so have some idea what they're talking about.
And now for some pictures of Sam eating:
He likes to eat bagels cream cheese-side down:
Gnawing on a t-bone, having eaten a fair proportion himself of the steak on it: (Note new grill just barely visible in the background. We are now Grilling People, and have polished off the remainder of our 1/4 side of beef in gas-grilled yumminess.)
The joys of summer: first Fudgesicle:
Sam takes watering the garden very seriously.
He also insists on doing it "by yourself." Which is generally fine, though we've had to learn the hard way (i.e. the soaking wet way) not to get his attention by calling his name when he's holding the hose.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sammy says
House pics forthcoming. In the meantime, some recent conversations:
Today, driving to daycare (we usually bike, but I had to get the car inspected today). It was already warm at 9AM, so I started to roll down the window.
Sam: I want hotter.
me: You want hotter? What's hotter?
Sam, trying again: I want the window UP (motioning emphatically with his hands)
me: You don't want me to open the window, Sam?
Sam: I want to CLOSE the window.
New word coinage: Sam understands making new compound words with novel pairings. For example, a couple of weeks ago he was standing on a book and sliding on the carpet, saying "I riding a skateboard. A book-skateboard!" And the other night, spunky and naked post-bath, he was beating our bed like conga drums, saying "I playing the bed-drum!"
Sam is very attentive to the road when we are driving. He is especially attuned to the red-light-Stop, green-light-Go rule, though his enthusiasm for green (he recently announced, as a light turned, "I love green!") is such that he's not an entirely trustworthy source, occasionally calling out "Green!" to induce rather than announce a light change. As we sat in traffic recently, Sam's monologue went something like this:
"We stopping. We stopped. Gotta watch out for the cars. It's a red light. Turn green later."
And then, heading up the hill after the light turned green, Sam caught sight of one of his favorite types of vehicles:
"Stool bus! Atchally, it's a white stoolbus."
me: "Actually, Sam?"
Sam: "Atchually, it's a white stoolbus."
He's also noting relationships between things. Between familiar items and ones that look similar: Sam points out things that are "Just like yours!" (another bike with a bike seat on the back; a similar car or toy or item of clothing). Between how things are and how they were: spying the CD player off, when the previous day he'd noticed a CD spinning in it, he said "It's not spinning any more." And between two intentions: crawling out from under the table where he'd been hiding, he called out: "Don't bump your head! Don't make peepee on the floor either."
Sam has had naked (pantsless, anyway) time each evening this week, and has successfully pee'd in the potty (which I keep in whatever room we're hanging out in, or in the kitchen if I'm cooking and he's roaming) every time but one. He stops whatever he's doing, warns himself "Don't make peepee on the floor!" and goes and sits down on the potty with an intent look on his face. When he's done he stands up, excitedly, and then we dump the pee into the big toilet, flush, wash his hands, and he gets a Swedish fish or a Pocky stick. He's learning to game the system, though: though I encourage him to sit back down and "let it all out" when he jumps up after a few initial drops, he'll often sit back down post-reward and try to squeeze out another drop or two for another treat. Eh, well, it's working, anyway. I think we'll do an intense couple of days of potty-ing this weekend, and then start with underpants (and laundry) whole days next week. While I'm not looking forward to the cleaning up, nor to needing to know where the nearest bathroom is at Every Given Moment, I am really, really looking forward to being done with diapers! Even just during the daytimes.
Today, driving to daycare (we usually bike, but I had to get the car inspected today). It was already warm at 9AM, so I started to roll down the window.
Sam: I want hotter.
me: You want hotter? What's hotter?
Sam, trying again: I want the window UP (motioning emphatically with his hands)
me: You don't want me to open the window, Sam?
Sam: I want to CLOSE the window.
New word coinage: Sam understands making new compound words with novel pairings. For example, a couple of weeks ago he was standing on a book and sliding on the carpet, saying "I riding a skateboard. A book-skateboard!" And the other night, spunky and naked post-bath, he was beating our bed like conga drums, saying "I playing the bed-drum!"
Sam is very attentive to the road when we are driving. He is especially attuned to the red-light-Stop, green-light-Go rule, though his enthusiasm for green (he recently announced, as a light turned, "I love green!") is such that he's not an entirely trustworthy source, occasionally calling out "Green!" to induce rather than announce a light change. As we sat in traffic recently, Sam's monologue went something like this:
"We stopping. We stopped. Gotta watch out for the cars. It's a red light. Turn green later."
And then, heading up the hill after the light turned green, Sam caught sight of one of his favorite types of vehicles:
"Stool bus! Atchally, it's a white stoolbus."
me: "Actually, Sam?"
Sam: "Atchually, it's a white stoolbus."
He's also noting relationships between things. Between familiar items and ones that look similar: Sam points out things that are "Just like yours!" (another bike with a bike seat on the back; a similar car or toy or item of clothing). Between how things are and how they were: spying the CD player off, when the previous day he'd noticed a CD spinning in it, he said "It's not spinning any more." And between two intentions: crawling out from under the table where he'd been hiding, he called out: "Don't bump your head! Don't make peepee on the floor either."
Sam has had naked (pantsless, anyway) time each evening this week, and has successfully pee'd in the potty (which I keep in whatever room we're hanging out in, or in the kitchen if I'm cooking and he's roaming) every time but one. He stops whatever he's doing, warns himself "Don't make peepee on the floor!" and goes and sits down on the potty with an intent look on his face. When he's done he stands up, excitedly, and then we dump the pee into the big toilet, flush, wash his hands, and he gets a Swedish fish or a Pocky stick. He's learning to game the system, though: though I encourage him to sit back down and "let it all out" when he jumps up after a few initial drops, he'll often sit back down post-reward and try to squeeze out another drop or two for another treat. Eh, well, it's working, anyway. I think we'll do an intense couple of days of potty-ing this weekend, and then start with underpants (and laundry) whole days next week. While I'm not looking forward to the cleaning up, nor to needing to know where the nearest bathroom is at Every Given Moment, I am really, really looking forward to being done with diapers! Even just during the daytimes.
Friday, July 06, 2007
new house
Whew! Well, we're moved. I'll send out a new-address announcement soon, but if you don't get it by the end of the weekend, drop me a note-- I may not have your most current email address.
June was a total whirlwind. We had a nice visit with academic parent-friends from J's old stomping grounds (Pton) and their daughter Edith, whom Sam hadn't seen for a year, but that didn't stop him trying the well known "airplane behind the back" creeping-arm trick (smooth!):
We closed on the new place on the 15th, and immediately started moving stuff into the basement (we set up a row of utility shelves and bought some storage boxes to compensate for the relative lack of closet space, compared to the apartment we were moving out of). Then our friend Antoinette and her mum visited for a few lovely days, being very gracious about the chaos that was our early stages of packing. The day they left, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt L. came to stay with us and attend the wedding of a family friend in Boston; they were an enormous help watching Sam over the weekend while we schlepped several more loads over to the new place. Uncle D. and Aunt S. also moved here in advance of Aunt S. starting a grad program in town; they live very close to our old apartment, and it's very very nice to have them in town (not least because they are two of Sam's favorite people). The movers came last Tuesday, the hottest morning of the year so far, and moved the furniture and books. After that, a seemingly endless series of "one last trips" with the car cleared us out of the old place, and then we began the long process of settling in. I think it'll be very good once we're in, and we'll post some pics of the new place then.
In the meantime, some pics and some Sam anecdotes:
The garden at the old apartment, a riot of columbines and a massive clump of irises (sorry, I can't seem to get the second picture to show up vertically...). I think yellow is the color of early spring (daffodils, forsythia), followed by the pinks and purples of mid-to-late spring (cherry trees, tulips, then columbines, irises, apple trees, eventually peonies), joined by oranges and reds in the summer (daylilies, black-eyed susans, etc.).
The new place has a mostly-enclosed garden, and the first lawn we've had to take care of. My push-mower skills will need to develop; we also waited way too long to mow for the first time, so I ended up flattening the long blades of grass as much as I cut them.
When Antoinette was here, Sam did his customary naked post-bath run out to the living room to say "D'night!" I mentioned to the assembled company how sandy he had been, and so she asked him, "Sam, did you have sand on your body? Was it in your belly button?" "No, my tushy," replied Sam (correctly, as it happens-- he must have lay down in the stuff, and it snuck under his waistband in the back). He then proceeded to back up to her, pointing to his naked tush, saying "This my tushy, right here. This my tushy."
Sam has been a big fan of the Allen wrench, most useful in dissembling and reassembling Ikea furniture:
He also loves loves loves to run. A couple weeks ago when I picked him up from daycare, one of his teachers told me that they'd gone to a park with a playground and an enclosed field with a track around it. Apparently Sam just ran around and around the track-- the teacher guessed 15 times. Whew. Which explains his recent monumental food consumption. He also likes to help carrying things, the bigger the better, including the big blue recycling containers, which he manages by himself all around the house and up the five stairs onto the back porch, hefting them one stair at a time.
After all that work, he surely deserves an "ojanj possidul"
He's getting much better at articulating things, which helps a lot with the dual toddler needs of independence--"Do it by self" has finally shown up, and with a vengeance-- and assertion of preferences-- "don't WANT it" is also very much in evidence, as is "wanna X! wanna X! wanna X!" where X = any of a huge number of things, like watching "mahna mahna" on youtube (usually doable, at least the first three times) or staying at the park, or driving the car (not so doable, though he thrills to sit in the driver's seat-- ignition key safely tucked into one of our pockets-- and move the signal-light and windshield-wiper levers and grab the steering wheel). On car-driving: Sam went through a phase of saying "Wanna do the driver!", which made me and J. snicker like 14-year-olds.
He's also more articulate about how he feels; the other day we were walking behind his daycare, where there's a little unpaved path that connects with the paved walkway heading to our department. Sam slipped on a little incline and I caught him, and then asked him if it was fun or scary. "Stary," he said, holding my hand as he trotted on toward "Daddy's office."
Omi and Opa are coming for a visit tomorrow (barring airline cancellations, of which there seem to be an alarming number these days-- fingers crossed they don't get stuck like they did the last time they were trying to visit).
June was a total whirlwind. We had a nice visit with academic parent-friends from J's old stomping grounds (Pton) and their daughter Edith, whom Sam hadn't seen for a year, but that didn't stop him trying the well known "airplane behind the back" creeping-arm trick (smooth!):
We closed on the new place on the 15th, and immediately started moving stuff into the basement (we set up a row of utility shelves and bought some storage boxes to compensate for the relative lack of closet space, compared to the apartment we were moving out of). Then our friend Antoinette and her mum visited for a few lovely days, being very gracious about the chaos that was our early stages of packing. The day they left, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt L. came to stay with us and attend the wedding of a family friend in Boston; they were an enormous help watching Sam over the weekend while we schlepped several more loads over to the new place. Uncle D. and Aunt S. also moved here in advance of Aunt S. starting a grad program in town; they live very close to our old apartment, and it's very very nice to have them in town (not least because they are two of Sam's favorite people). The movers came last Tuesday, the hottest morning of the year so far, and moved the furniture and books. After that, a seemingly endless series of "one last trips" with the car cleared us out of the old place, and then we began the long process of settling in. I think it'll be very good once we're in, and we'll post some pics of the new place then.
In the meantime, some pics and some Sam anecdotes:
The garden at the old apartment, a riot of columbines and a massive clump of irises (sorry, I can't seem to get the second picture to show up vertically...). I think yellow is the color of early spring (daffodils, forsythia), followed by the pinks and purples of mid-to-late spring (cherry trees, tulips, then columbines, irises, apple trees, eventually peonies), joined by oranges and reds in the summer (daylilies, black-eyed susans, etc.).
The new place has a mostly-enclosed garden, and the first lawn we've had to take care of. My push-mower skills will need to develop; we also waited way too long to mow for the first time, so I ended up flattening the long blades of grass as much as I cut them.
When Antoinette was here, Sam did his customary naked post-bath run out to the living room to say "D'night!" I mentioned to the assembled company how sandy he had been, and so she asked him, "Sam, did you have sand on your body? Was it in your belly button?" "No, my tushy," replied Sam (correctly, as it happens-- he must have lay down in the stuff, and it snuck under his waistband in the back). He then proceeded to back up to her, pointing to his naked tush, saying "This my tushy, right here. This my tushy."
Sam has been a big fan of the Allen wrench, most useful in dissembling and reassembling Ikea furniture:
He also loves loves loves to run. A couple weeks ago when I picked him up from daycare, one of his teachers told me that they'd gone to a park with a playground and an enclosed field with a track around it. Apparently Sam just ran around and around the track-- the teacher guessed 15 times. Whew. Which explains his recent monumental food consumption. He also likes to help carrying things, the bigger the better, including the big blue recycling containers, which he manages by himself all around the house and up the five stairs onto the back porch, hefting them one stair at a time.
After all that work, he surely deserves an "ojanj possidul"
He's getting much better at articulating things, which helps a lot with the dual toddler needs of independence--"Do it by self" has finally shown up, and with a vengeance-- and assertion of preferences-- "don't WANT it" is also very much in evidence, as is "wanna X! wanna X! wanna X!" where X = any of a huge number of things, like watching "mahna mahna" on youtube (usually doable, at least the first three times) or staying at the park, or driving the car (not so doable, though he thrills to sit in the driver's seat-- ignition key safely tucked into one of our pockets-- and move the signal-light and windshield-wiper levers and grab the steering wheel). On car-driving: Sam went through a phase of saying "Wanna do the driver!", which made me and J. snicker like 14-year-olds.
He's also more articulate about how he feels; the other day we were walking behind his daycare, where there's a little unpaved path that connects with the paved walkway heading to our department. Sam slipped on a little incline and I caught him, and then asked him if it was fun or scary. "Stary," he said, holding my hand as he trotted on toward "Daddy's office."
Omi and Opa are coming for a visit tomorrow (barring airline cancellations, of which there seem to be an alarming number these days-- fingers crossed they don't get stuck like they did the last time they were trying to visit).
Thursday, May 31, 2007
a soft one
On Monday, as promised, we went to Drumlin Farm. There were sheep, including multiple black ones. We didn't get to touch them, though, so we're not actually sure if they're soft. (The rams were out in this pasture, the ewes/lambs were in a smaller field amongst barns with a sow+piglets ("Mommy pig nursing. Switch sides!"), a cow and calf, lots of goats with kids, and a bunch of chickens.)
The animals were totally eclipsed by the tractor, though, which pulled a wagon with hay bales. This was absolutely the highlight for Sam, though the strutting cock-a-doodle-dooing rooster was pretty cool too. We finished our visit with a picnic on the grass:
And here's an older pic, from Mother's Day on Boston Common:
Recent funny: It had gotten warm outside after a few days of cool rain, and after hearing it from us in the morning, Sam announced "it's hot outside" when we left for a barbecue in the evening. And then, after a bit of reflection, "Blow on it." (like we do to his too-hot food)
And he has taken to saying a very careful "Yesss" instead of "yah". With a wee bit of lisp and drawn-out final consonant, plus a falling tone (so not a rousing "Yess!"), it often sounds incongrously thoughtful ("Sam, do you want a waffle?" "yeesss") or even conspiratorial.
The animals were totally eclipsed by the tractor, though, which pulled a wagon with hay bales. This was absolutely the highlight for Sam, though the strutting cock-a-doodle-dooing rooster was pretty cool too. We finished our visit with a picnic on the grass:
And here's an older pic, from Mother's Day on Boston Common:
Recent funny: It had gotten warm outside after a few days of cool rain, and after hearing it from us in the morning, Sam announced "it's hot outside" when we left for a barbecue in the evening. And then, after a bit of reflection, "Blow on it." (like we do to his too-hot food)
And he has taken to saying a very careful "Yesss" instead of "yah". With a wee bit of lisp and drawn-out final consonant, plus a falling tone (so not a rousing "Yess!"), it often sounds incongrously thoughtful ("Sam, do you want a waffle?" "yeesss") or even conspiratorial.
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