I like it...., handling disappoint better, not tired

Sam has started saying "I like...." a lot lately.  Yesterday during our wagon walk he saw a big pickup truck and said "I LIKE that truck mommy".  He will say "This dinner is yummy, I LIKE it".  It is a really cute stage to hear about what he likes.

He is playing with his cars, trucks and trains non-stop now.  He usually has something in his hand at all times.

He is doing so much better handling disappointment.  Prior to a couple of weeks ago he would burst into tears every time something didn't go his way.  Last week we were supposed to go out to breakfast after dropping Megan off at school.  He knows he is not supposed to talk about it because she doesn't get to go with us.  He kept saying it in the car on the way to drop her off and I kept telling him to stop talking about.  After the 8th or so time I told him that if he said it again he wasn't going to get to go.  He said okay mommy and then he couldn't help himself about 1 minute before we dropped her off he yelled that he was going to Chik-a-lay!.  I told him that I had warned him, etc and that we were no longer going to go.  He didn't say a word, he didn't cry, he didn't whine.  He sat quietly.  He didn't ask about it after we got back in the car, he didn't say anything as we were driving home so when we were almost home I told him that as a reward for handling it so well I would get him something to go from somewhere else and we could take it home to eat it.
He has handled a couple of other disappointing situations as well.

Lately Sam has been yawning a lot when he is tired.  He will yawn and then say "me yawning I NOT tired yet mommy".  It is too cute that he feels he needs to make sure I know that despite the yawning he is not ready for bed.  Though, amazingly, on those days he tends to fall asleep in less than 5 minutes.

Buggies and an imaginary "friend"

We got to Megan's school a little early today so Sam had quite a while to explore.  He found a roly-poly and informed the other person who was waiting "buggie, buggie on the floor right there!".  I reminded him it was the ground and told him it was a roly-poly.  He watched that bug for several minutes constantly coming back over (4 or 5 feet) to talk to the man about it.  I told him he could touch it and he said "no way".  The roly-poly started climbing up the wall and he was so excited about it.  He kept talking about it and I would tell him to touch it and he would say "no him working hard to climb the wall mama".

At one point he asked about the buggies' shoes.  It was so cute he wanted to know if it was using its shoes to help climb the wall.  And then it fell off the wall.  I said "maybe it got tired from all of that hard work" and he squatted down and looked at it and said "him rubbing him eyes".  The guy across from me was getting a big kick out of Sam's comments.

Eventually a little girl showed up and got in line right behind us.  Sam showed her the roly-poly and she immediately picked it up.  He was fascinated that she did that.  He kept wanting to see it and she didn't want him to mess with her.  Every once in a while she would open her hand and show Sam.  He really couldn't stand it that she was holding it, he would peer into her hand and then jump around a little bit.

During lunch today I heard him say "don't touch it, my sandwich".  I asked him who he was talking to and he pointed at the floor and I asked him who was there and he said "him".  With further prodding he said "my kangaroo right here mama".  So maybe a imaginary "friend".  He continued to talk to him and offer him bites throughout lunch.

Food Wholes

There isn't much that Sam says incorrectly.  He does still say nana for banana but other wise he is pretty good with vocabulary and pronunciation so when he does say something a little wrong it is so cute.

I took him to Whole Foods on Friday and on the way there he would say "are we at Food Wholes yet?".  It is a much longer drive than he is used to for a trip to the store.  I would answer him and tell him it was Whole Foods and he would say it correctly and then a few minutes later when he would say it again it was back to Food Wholes.

Love it!

A little obsessed with Santa Claus

Sam added Santa Claus to his prayers some time ago.  He talks about SC a lot.  Today I had a physical therapy session for my shoulder and it was sore and tired afterward.  Sam said "you need to go back to bed mama, you arm is tired".  I laughed and asked him who would make his lunch if I was in bed and he said dada would.  I told him that daddy was still at work so he said "hmmmm let me see.  Santa Claus...I will hug him and kiss him and tell him he did a good job at work".  I said "SC is pretend Sam" and he said you feed me lunch mama.

"Help"

A couple of days ago the four of us were playing in the toy room together.  I was cleaning up the toys, Sam was playing with Will and Megan was trying to unpack everything I just cleaned up.  One of the items I had cleaned up was Sam's new blocks and they get put into a zippered bag.  Megan can work zippers like nobody's business but for some reason she struggles with this one so she was asking for me to help her unzip it.  

I was trying to get her to actually use the sign for help instead of just grunting at me so I said to Sam "buddy can you go help sissy ask for help".  I wasn't sure how he would go about doing it - he knows the sign for help and he has seen me and others help Megan make the sign.  He immediately grabbed her little hand and tried to fold her fingers into a fist.  I told him that he could leave her fingers open so then he grabbed one hand in each of his hands and helped her make the sign for "help".  She just sat there, cooperating and smiling at him.  She thought it was funny that he was doing it.  Once he helped her ask for help I told him he could help her unzip the bag.  

He turned around and said "mama proud of me for helping sissy say help".  Yes little guy, mama and daddy are so very proud of you.  

Noises and a full size fast car comforter

Two nights ago when I was putting Sam to bed I sat in his floor and leaned up against his closet while he was getting undressed.  I was tired and he said "mommy you tired? you take a nap on my door".  I said okay and closed my eyes and he said "mommy you go 'and he made the pretend snoring sound'".  It was so funny.  Today when I was changing his diaper he said "my tummy made a noise mommy, it said grrurlll".  He is very into sounds and noises right now and is imitating them and pointing them out constantly.

Sam has been sleeping with a tonka truck throw blanket since his birthday.  It is plenty big for him but he is still ALL OVER the bed.  I think he touches every single spot on the bed, every time he is in it.  I was waiting to get him a full size comforter until he stopped moving around so much but Will thought having the comforter might stop all of the moving.  He napped for the first time today with it and is sleeping now.

Wonderful play date

Sam and I had a play date this morning with a little boy and his mama we met a couple of weeks ago when Megan was having blood work done.  The little boy, Enoch, has special needs and is currently non-verbal.  He knows some sign language and communicates with body language, etc like Megan.

Before we went into their house I talked to Sam about the fact that the little boy didn't "have his words yet" like Megan and that he needed to pay attention so that he could understand if Enoch was communicating with him.

Sam did so great.  We went upstairs to their game room and there was a train table.  Sam was so excited to play with all the trains (Sam has a lot of accessories but  not many trains, thanks to a tip from Dawn he will have some new trains in the future), and to check out the rest of the room.  Enoch's tunnel is out, instead of being folded up like ours.  Since Megan doesn't like the tunnel we keep it up unless she is not home and then Sam has to remember it exists and get it out.

Enoch also has a neat trampoline with a bar to hold onto when you are jumping.  Sam really enjoyed it and I know both he and Megan would love to have one.

At one point both boys were playing with the trains and Enoch worked his away around to the side of the table where Sam was playing.  Enoch was pushing his train around the track and needed Sam to move so that he could keep going; he put his hand on Sam's leg and very, very gently pushed a little.  Compared to how Megan pushes on Sam to get him to move I am surprised Sam even felt it; but he did and he moved and said to me "he asked me to move".   Sam did really well with the toys and putting things back, when prompted, and sharing when Enoch wanted to play with the same toy.  This didn't happen more than once or twice but I was proud of him.  For the most part the boys played separately, nearby but not really playing together.

When we were in the car heading to pick Megan up Sam said "I did good job mama, you proud of me".  He got an emphatic "yes you did sweet boy.  I am very proud of you".  He is such a sweet, tender hearted little boy and I am very proud of him.

Crying over spilled cereal

This morning I gave Sam a bowl of dry cereal.  The pieces of cereal are really big and difficult for him to manage with a spoon so he gets it without milk so he can use his hands.  This morning he didn't want to use his hands he wanted to use a spoon, so I gave him one.

He was doing well, dropping pieces on the way to his mouth about half of the time but they were landing on the table or in his lap so he would just pick them up and eat them.  He was about 2/3 of the way through his bowl when I walked out of the kitchen and about 30 seconds later I heard the sound of his bowl flipping over and his cereal falling to the floor; and then him bursting into tears.

I went in and asked him a bunch of silly questions to get him to stop crying (asking if something fell on his head, or if his little toe had an owie or if something licked his face).  Once he stopped crying I asked him "why are you crying" and all he could muster before more tears came was "breakfast on flooooooor".  He was so distraught.  He only gets this particular cereal a few times a month so it was a big deal that he lost some of it on the floor.

I made sure he got more cereal and he was good to go; no more goofing around with a spoon though - he ate the rest with his fingers.

The wall got me

Sam frequently runs while looking behind him, instead of looking where he is going.  A couple of days ago he ran into one of the columns and burst into tears.  We were in the other room so Will went to see what was up.  When he finally calmed down enough to get an answer about what happened he said "the wall got me".  

Normally the response is "Megan got me" or something similar so this was new and very funny.  He ran into the wall and then blamed the wall.  It happened again tonight and he said the same thing "the wall got me again".