Kid Photos

Playing dressup, visiting with auntie leah and mama c, playing Snow White...

Shoes

Couldn't find Sam's shoes this morning; spent 20 minutes tearing the house apart; we keep our shoes by the door, I had made sure he put them there the night before... where were they?

Finally started looking in the kitchen cabinets...

...he came up behind me and opened up the bread machine. There they were!

Of course, right?

The Things They Say...Mama posts finally...

[It's been a long time since I (mama) have posted here; I've been extremely busy, and my updates tend to go onto Facebook. However, it's time I remember this blog - as it is basically their online babybook! So - apologies...]

SAM!
Sam at three is a nonstop talker. He talks to himself in bed while going to sleep - telling stories, I think; he sits in the bath and makes up stories with his toys amid bubbles; he talks in the car, while we eat; when I shower, he sits on the toilet and talks to me through the curtain.

Now, if you know Sam, you'll probably say this is nothing new - he's been an expressive person since birth. Very true - it's that now I can actually understand what he's saying.

Some recent favorites, because of the way he says things...:

- This morning, to Josephine: "What in the WORLD are you doing, Jo-se-phine? Oh my gosh. Oh my goodness."
- "I love you berry berry much."
-"I'm vewy frust-er-ated, I'm getting vewy berry frust-er-ated, actually."

He loves to tell stories in the past as always "last night." As in, "we did that last night, actually, me and Potion (his imaginary friend) did that last night."

He likes to play that he's the Papa and Josephine and I are the babies. "Papa going to his office," he'll say, seriously. "I going to my fire truck. You can come! Do you want some cookies?" And then we get on my bed and he 'drives' us in his fire truck, gives us pretend cookies, and goes to his 'office.'

He has nightmares (he also talks in his sleep!). The other night he was screaming, "I don't want to be a princess! I want to be a princess!" And a couple weeks ago he was yelling, "I'm NOT Snow White!"

He has this funny thing he does in conversations where he will equivocate - say no and then yes in the same breath, for example:
"Sam, do you want your pjs?"
"No, I don't want my pjs, but I do."
or
"I like my coat, but I don't, but I do."
or
"I didn't play with anyone, but I did, except I didn't."

Josephine and I laugh and laugh, because he literally responds to every question about his preferences with this "I do but I don't" approach.

I'll never forget the Dr examining Sam at something like six months old and observing: "This fellow likes to play, doesn't he? He likes fun." And it is still SO true! He loves to be tickled. "Chase me like a lion!" he'll shout, and run through the house, howling with delicious glee that mama is going to chase him and kiss and tickle him. Any game he adores - we play a game my dad used to play with me, where you pile your hands one on top of the other, and he just laughs and laughs. It's truly delightful.

He also invents games with balls - the other morning, for instance, he had us use rolling pins like hockey sticks with a ball - it was really fun. He also can use a soup spoon and a tennis ball pretty well. He's got good coordination, so it's really challenging for me and therefore fun.

He also has his idiosyncrasies, the most notable of which is his penchant for wearing mittens. Instead of a lovey or blankie, he wears mittens when distressed as a source of comfort. We also have gloves, which used to be the cause of frustrated tears until we developed a ritual of going finger by finger to get each finger in the correct sleeve.

He loves to give me kisses goodnight or goodbye, especially kissing my nose or every one of my fingers.

Sam: "Is this me in the picture?" Jo: "Nope." Sam, shrill: "I WANT to be in the PICTURE!" Jo, gleeful: "You weren't born yet; you were just an egg." Sam, hysterically: "JUST AN EGG?!!! NOOOO!" - And thus, Big Sister delivers to Sam first exposure to existential angst.

Though, the two of them get along terrifically. They do ballet together, dig holes together, and inspire naughtiness in each other ... like Jo helping Sam mix milk with a bunch of salt he spilled one morning... or helping Sam and Amelia apply "makeup" in the form of markers to their faces... she finds it terribly amusing to facilitate his getting into trouble...

JOSEPHINE
She is just getting more and more clever. Sam is a ham, no doubt; Jo's sense of humor is more subtle and witty. Which makes them such a fun pair. I'm trying to recall an example of something she's said recently, but can't at the moment...

She's into wearing a crown and a headband everyday, and calling herself Princess Penelope. I'm Queen Bubbles, Sam is Prince Waffles (though he wants to be a king), and Daddy is King ZhuZhu Pet.

Her outfits are quite out there. Today she wore a long-sleeved red shirt under a purple with white flowers sundress. Somehow, it looked fashionable!

She continues to love numbers and doing math, often trying to figure out the difference in people's ages and how calculating how old she'll be when I'm 60 or whatever.

They both love to sing "I'm a little teapot"; they both love to watch musicals, old and new - loved "Till the Clouds Roll By," "Royal Wedding," and "High School Musical," for instance. I'm trying to collect the oldies - it's so fun to share with them movies I loved as a kid! I loved that they both laughed out loud to the "Make Them Laugh" song/dance from "Singing in the Rain." Good taste.

Josephine continues to love cats and want her nickname to be Kitten, though I call her Jellybean.
Our neighbor's cat followed us home and hung out with us for a few days while they were on vacation, and Jo and Sam were utterly thrilled.

We are so lucky, because our backyard connects to the large, expansive field-back-yards of two other families, one with twin boys Sam's age, the other with two girls, one of whom is in Jo's class at school. They can run and play in this huge backyard grassy oasis freely and the other parents and I can see them clearly the whole way... very fun.

Sam wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.
Jo wants to be a dolphin trainer and an acrobat.

That's all for now!
Oh, yes: Pics above include us at the firehouse for Sam's birthday and Sam in his new superhero/king cape and Spongebob jammies... Jo in a new dress...

Gardening begins!

Gardening begins! Here, Sam dances with a dandelion.

First, we set out what we want to do.

Sam and Josephine try to figure out how big this thing should be. 

Sam begins breaking the dirt apart.

 

He was so determined to do a good job, 

Josephine helps to rake the garden to make sure the soil is ready when we're ready to transplant.

We found lots of worms, and Josephine's job was to make sure they weren't cut in half by the shoveling and the raking.

Afterwards, it was time to plant the seeds that will eventually wind up in the garden. Above, Jo is planting our cherry tomatoes, or as she calls them, "baby" tomatoes. Then Sam and Jo take turns growing some of our food for the year.

Kids together.