Proud of you mama

Once a month Sam and I check out a new playground; or at least I try.  Some months we just go to the same old ones.  This morning we were headed to the library because it had been chilly and windy out but I decided to give Sam an option and asked him if he would rather find a new playground.  You can guess what he picked.  

When I pulled along the curb to park and he could see the playground he said "proud of you mama".  I asked if it was because I found a new one and he said yes.  We didn't last very long before I needed a sweatshirt so we loaded back into the car and ran home to get one for me and then headed back to the playground.  

When I turned onto the culdesac Sam said "thank you mama....not yet" and then when I actually parked he said "thank you mama for finding it again, I proud of you again".  

He is such a sweet, grateful and polite little boy.  

Birthday, Funky bunny, new tiger

Sam had a great day on his birthday.  He got to go to Chikalay for his special breakfast and to play for a little while.  He got to pick what we had for dinner - he chose French Toast.  After dinner we gave him the rest of his presents.  He got a bucket of vehicles from Megan, which he wanted to play with immediately.  One of the other things we gave him was a large stuffed white tiger.  And then we took him outside and showed him his new tricycle.

He was so excited about the new bike.  He didn't figure out how to pedal but had a ton of fun on it.  I am sure he will figure out the pedals soon.

He loves that new tiger so much he carries it around everywhere.  He has it do sign language (mom, dad, granny, love, baby) and play the keyboard and take naps and sit in timeout.  The tiger sits in his window seat when he is in bed and after prayers he will go over to it and say "night-night I love you tiger" before getting into bed.

I went to some after Easter sales to look for items for next year and at one store they had their stuffed animals on a good clearance so I let Sam pick one out.  He picked out a goofy looking bunny and was mesmerized with it.  When we got back in the car I looked at the tag and told him that it said it was a "funky bunny".  He proceeded to try to say funky bunny and didn't get the "nk" sound right, instead it was just a "k" sound.  I corrected him and told him again how to say it.  He tried a few more times with me trying to help him until I finally said "just call him a silly bunny".  It was so hard not to crack up when he was messing it up because he loves to make people laugh and would continue to say it over and over if he had made me laugh.

Dear Sam

Sam, this post is for you buddy so that when you are older you can look back and see what you were like at this age.

Tomorrow you turn three years old.  You are such a sweet little guy and we are so happy you are our little buddy, buddy.  You are such a kind and loving boy with such a tender heart.  You love to help.  You help me with anything that you can think of: picking up trash, getting tissues for me, taking the laundry out of the dryer, putting the laundry in the dryer, etc.  You put away your socks, shorts and pajamas; and even help put your sister's clothes in her drawers.

You are the best possible little brother that Megan could ever ask for.  You help her with tasks she hasn't figured out yet, you get her toys she can't reach (you are a few inches taller than her now) and  you give her snuggles when she wants them.  When we pick her up from school you give her hugs and kisses and tell her you missed her.  Even though you are not supposed to, you try to help her put her glasses on if she has taken them off.  You are always looking out for her making sure she has what you think she needs.  You pull her chair out at the table and you pray for her food for her.  She adores you buddy and loves you so much she shares her car cheerios with you.

You are a talker.  You love, love, love to talk.  We say you are going to grow up and be an announcer or commentator because you announce everything you see.  You comment on everything that is happening and most of the time say everything multiple times until I tell you to "let it go".  You have started saying things that we find funny like: "you talking to me?", "be right back", "not yet".  If I ask you if you are finished eating you will say not yet.  If we are playing and you go get something you say be right back.  I say both of these phrases to you all the time so you are just repeating what you hear.

Other than talking the most important thing to you is eating.  You absolutely love to eat.  You will finish a meal, get down from the table and then ask for a snack or lunch.  No matter how much fun you are having you will check in to see how long it will be until snack time.  If we are home I set the timer on the microwave for you and that makes you happy; and you get so excited when it starts beeping.  Speaking of eating you feel so special when you get a special breakfast, etc.  Last week daddy stayed home from work because I was sick and he told you he was going to take you out for a special breakfast.  You went to put your shoes on and then came back to him and said "may we go to chik-a-lay please" because you love their food and their play area.

You are a great pretender.  Not surprising a lot of your play centers around eating.  You cook things and then eat them or feed them to me or the toys.  You talk to your toys and put them in timeout or tell them to play nice with the other toys.  You will crawl under the dining room table and pretend you are in the car bath and you and Megan are getting wet.  You also folded a piece of your mail (a flyer) and created a tunnel and it was a car bath too.  You really like tunnels of all kinds too.

You are still working on putting away your toys before you get a new one out but you do it when I remind you.  You don't like messes and will sometimes ask for your hands to be cleaned in the middle of a meal. You handle it well though when I tell you to finish eating first.

Your favorite toys right now are vehicles (cars, trucks, tractors, trains, boats, airplanes, etc), stuffed animals, puzzles and balls.  You are an easy going kid and will play with anything.  Your most favorite toys though are always whatever Megan is playing with at the moment.

Birthday party & Easter

Yesterday we had our family Easter celebration and combined it with a birthday party for Sam.  We had a mini egg hunt on Saturday morning with Uncle Mike, Aunt Elaine, Tori and Mary Faith.  Elaine put several of the kids' snack items inside the eggs and each kid got one chocolate bunny in an egg.  Previously we have always had the kids hunt empty eggs.  We even took them to a city hunt and I emptied the candy when they weren't looking so they still had no idea there could be something in the eggs.

So we had the kids run around and hunt eggs and then we brought them inside and sat them down.  I had the kids open the eggs and Sam's reaction was priceless.  His eyes got wide and he said "snacks!" and then poured them into his mouth.  He was so excited he just kept opening eggs and gobbling up whatever he found.

When I got him up from nap he asked me if Toria was still here.  I told him that she was and then I named all of the other people who had showed up and I told him that they were here for him.  That everyone was here because it was time for his birthday party.  The boy was beside himself.  I told him that he would get presents and he said yay and I said a birthday cup-a-cake (cupcake) and he was so excited.  He said "lots of presents?" and I said yes and he said "lots of cupacakes?" and I said no way buddy - just one.

He was so happy to see everyone and he was running around saying hi.  He saw his table of presents and was so happy.  I had him sit in his little Mickey Mouse chair and he would go to the table get a gift, take it back to his chair and then open it.  He did so great and did it by himself, handing me the trash each time.  He got so many great gifts that he has been playing with non-stop since.  We gave him part of his gifts so that we could give him some on his actual birthday.  He is now sleeping with his new Buzz Lightyear stuffed toy and his Tonka truck blanket that we gave him and he loves the helicopter Megan gave him.  He is even repeatedly looking at the greeting cards people gave him.

After his party we had the big egg hunt and it was a little rough going for a while.  Every time he picked up an egg he would open it before putting it in his bucket and he was so disappointed that they were all empty.  We didn't put any snacks in them and the boy was feeling ripped off.  He did get over it and hunted like a champ.

More imagination, bubbles and just plain funny

bubbles, playing under table, cheerio head

Sam's imagination just tickles us on a daily basis.  He spreads a blanket on the floor and calls it a boat; he cooks up tons of different foods and feeds them to everyone.  He pretends to be wet when I pretend to throw water on his head.  He crawls under the table and is in the car bath (carwash) and says "oh no we are all wet" and makes Megan giggle.

Sam blew bubbles for the first time last week.  He did really well.  He would blow too hard and I would tell him he did and then he would blow softer the next time.  Now he asks on almost a daily basis if we can do bubbles again.

A couple of days ago the four of us were playing in the toy room.  I was telling Will that Sam is starting to get attached to clothing items and that he was upset that he can no longer wear his tractor sweatshirt.  The sweatshirt technically still fits him, it just gets stuck on his head.  Like I picked him up off of the floor trying to help him get it unstuck, stuck.  When I was telling the story I reached over and rubbed Sam's head and said "you have a big boy head" and Sam said "Megan has a cheerio head".  I have no idea what that was supposed to mean but it made us laugh.

Hide and Seek

We have been working with Sam to play hide-n-seek.  Last night he really started to get the hang of it - he would count to 5 while I hid, and then he would come find me.  He would go to the last place he found me to look for me again and Will would have to encourage him to look other places. Sometimes he would run right past me to look for me in my previous hiding spot.

I tried to have him hide but as soon as I stopped counting he would come running out and say "okay my turn to find you".

This morning after Megan got home from school they were playing together in the living room.  At one point I heard him say to her "Megan you come find me" and he took off toward the toy room.  He was trying to play hide-n-seek with her but she was busy playing with the wall climbers, she didn't even hear him talking to her.

I love you chocolate milk man

This morning I took Sam out for a special breakfast.  I went to a donut shop drive through and got some to go.  While we were at the window and I was ordering he was getting excited and then I ordered him a small chocolate milk.  Sam said "MY chocolate milk!"  And then the cutest thing happened....when the man handed me the milk Sam said "I love you" to the man.

Maturing, pretending and being the sweetest little brother ever

Sam is maturing so much lately it seems like he is grasping a new concept almost every day.  He is figuring out how things work and cause and effect.  The other day we had all had a particularly rough day and so baths were not on the agenda.  It was about 20 minutes until bedtime and Sam asked me if it was time for bath.  I responded by saying "did you play outside today?" and he said "not yet".  Seriously made me and Will crack up.  Such a positive perspective - not giving up on the chance that he still might get to play outside (was windy and 40 degrees so wasn't going to happen).

I have been letting him go outside barefoot since it has been warmer.  After his first time running around outdoors without shoes on he was in the bath and he said "hey, my feet are dirty" and indeed they were definitely dirty - a new concept since he has always worn shoes outside.  After his bath while I was rinsing him off he said in an even more surprised and shocked tone "my feet are clean mommy!".  I told him that is what happens when I wash him with soap but too cute.

Watching Sam's pretend play has become a highlight of my day.  I usually hide so he can't see me and then just listen and watch him.  He is pretending to accidentally bump into his stuffed animals, then he apologizes and asks if they are okay.  He talks and talks and talks while he is playing and he is saying all of the things he hears me and Will and everyone say.  He chats about daddy being at work, or mommy making dinner or granny riding the train with him.  Today he was pretending that the penguin was taking a nap, he covered it up and told it to go night-night.  While he was doing this he hit a toy and it started playing music and he said to the toy "shhh, penguin is sleeping".

Sam is really into playing chase now.  We played chase at the playground yesterday morning and then did it in the house last night.  He loves to be chased and will chase me but halfway through him chasing me he will say "my turn momma, you chase me".

Sam has always been good with Megan.  He is loving and understanding.  Lately he has been stepping it up and helping her constantly.  If he sees her struggling to do something he will go to her and say "need help sweetheart?" and then sit down and help her.  Today when we picked her up from school he grabbed her, gave her a giant hug and kiss and told her he missed her.