Vacation Fun

Spent a week in Columbus. The post below is pretty scattered--only 2.5 hours of sleep due to a 2-a.m. inhaler treatment and ensuing insomnia. You've been warned.

Columbus may not seem like much of an improvement over Rochester in February, but it is. For one thing, their ground isn't covered with snow! That alone made it feel like spring's just around the corner.

Stayed with Sam's Grandad Collins and Nana, got to see much of Aunt Amy, and even Unca Stu, Aunt Sue and cousins Kevin and Emily. Everyone was so great playing with Sam! You can see Sam, at left, just hanging out. Sam also learned to love exploring the basement with flashlights--see Aunt Amy, below, preparing for an expedition.

Aunt Amy, Nana and Grandad took Sam to a local community center which has a pool with a zero-depth area, and also a "stream" with interior whirlpool (pictured below). While all agreed that Brookings' water park is even grander, this facility was a real hit--including the area where Sam was able to pull on a rope and dump water repeatedly on Aunt Amy's head. (No dunking seats, but I hear those are in the works. :-)

There was also a very large tube slide, which we told Sam he isn't old enough to go down. While leaving the community center he told me that when he's older he will go down it. Then he asked, poignantly, "When can I be older?"

Sam's verbal abilities continue to delight. The other day he was playing with two cars and narrating their interactions, when I overheard him say, "Uh-oh! That's a catastrophe!" He's also learned about rhymes, and frequently tries to find rhymes for words.

Recently Susan was watching Sam and his friend Ian. Ian saw Sam using a crazy straw and warned that Sam would spill. No fear, Sam's mastered the art of straw use, and Susan told Ian so. But she allowed that spilling wasn't the end of the world, and that even she has spilled a few times in her life. Sam, surprised, asked her, "In North America?" Uh, yes, I guess so!

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Sam's gotten to the Lego/Duplo-tower stage, and the group effort of Sam, his parents and his cousin Emily is shown below. Em, true to form, poured her heart into the construction effort.

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Last night I had Sam at the Fairport library. At one point he ran off, excited about checking out some videos. I called him back, but he ignored my commands, which earned him a time out. I explained to him sternly that he needed to learn to stop when I told him to, and that if he didn't , he might get hit by a car, or snatched, or even fall in a hole. Sam, a little confused by my reasoning, said, "But there aren't any holes in the library!" I'll just be happy that he's hearing what I am saying...

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Another image--Sam wearing Emily's glassless spectacles, newly painted pink for Valentine's Day. While I am not a gender-parity purist, I can't see preventing Sam from enjoying pink, which he has called his favorite color. (Though this morning when Max pointed out the blue sky Sam said that was his favorite color... and then added orange, red, green and yellow as favorite colors.) Susan tells me that in Victorian times blue was the color for girls, and pink for boys. Pink was considered too vigorous for girls.

Glasses were a theme that day. We also passed around a pair of Emily's glasses so we glassless people could look studious for once. Maybe the best was Sam's cousin Kevin, shown below. (Enjoy the angle, and the backdrop of the ceiling! Kevin's not short.)

One last image: Uncle Stu's amateur chiropractics!