Playing in the snake pit

Thanks, Aunt Ruth!

A note for Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruth and Jon and Katie from Sam

Merry Christmas!

Off to church shortly, but first, a video of Sam playing on Christmas morning...

Sledding!

Good wintry weekend. Ed Hull and his son Gabriel invited us to go sledding at a local park. Up to this point Sam's experience with sledding has been quite limited.

Sledding has a tarnished reputation in the Collins family. My Mother, cherishing her own good memories of sledding, liked to drag us out each winter to share the experience. Her ungrateful children complained at leaving the warm indoors, and returned whiny and cold and damp.

In one of those mysteries of parenting, I have followed my mother's path exactly, wanting Sam to enjoy everything sledding can be. We took Sam once last year to Mendon Pond in single-digit temperature and before even getting to go down a slope the sled overturned planting him in deep snow and embittering him on the outing.

Yesterday was a tremendous improvement. We spent two full hours sledding down a high, fast slope with Ed and Gabriel. (And, part of the time, with Sam's fearless friend Ian, until he got blindsided by a passing sled.)
Not one wipe-out! And we weren't timid. Following E&G's example we not only went down double-decker (I lying on my stomach, Sam on his, on my back, holding on for dear life) but did three-sled trains which roared down the slope at ferocious speeds. All this while trying to steer around other sledders and avoid the lone wooden toboggan "of death" (as Gabriel called it).

When we left Sam was shivering and ready, but not eager, to go.

The rest of the weekend: A few errands, a pleasant gig as dinner-guest stand-ins for some friends, a tiny amount of shopping, and not enough sleep. Oh yes--made sugar cookies with Sam, which started well and spiraled down into my drying his tears while he sat on my lap out on the back porch. BUT at least there were cookies. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Weekend update

A good weekend. Saturday I was impatient with Sam, and regretted it terribly. There are few things more miserable than the regret of not being patient or loving with your small, vulnerable boy. This is the way I am when I don't get enough sleep. So yesterday was a tremendous balm, and was much better. I was patient the whole day (not the same as permissive), and Sam and I had a GREAT time together. I can't wait for the next weekend to come so we can do it all over again. :-)

He and I mainly just went to the mall and wandered around. (See the photos of Sam in front of the huge Christmas tree at the mall, taken with my phone's Last-Known-Photo™ filter.) Of course, also played at home some. Used static electricity to stick balloons on the ceiling. And I used his hands to hit me, the complained bitterly to Susan that Sam was beating me up. He got a BIG kick out of that. :-)

Sam has been using the Big Potty again, and even when he doesn't, he's good about emptying the potty chair. I happened to be nearby while he was doing this, and he wanted me to take the lid off the back of the toilet so he could see it working--a favorite activity of his. This time, though, he really seemed to figure out where the water was going and what it was doing, and was excited to tell me about it.

He has alternated lately between wanting to be a Scientist or a Policeman when he grows up. Now we can add Engineer to the list. :-)

At the mall (our lesser equivalent to Easton's in Columbus) we rode the carousel and bought some votives at the Yankee Candle Shoppe (Mountain Pine, Hazelnut Coffee and his favorite, Christmas Cookie), and got a few other things we needed. And since I forgot to put the xD card back in the camera, I was forced against my will to be In The Moment.

Sam wanted to bring along a stuffed sheep of his, whom he's named Rosalinda. He told Rosalinda she didn't need to be afraid, since he was protecting her. He said God is never afraid, nor his daddy. He said he is only afraid of two things: shots, and having his mommy and daddy leave him. And he even told Rosalinda that would never happen. (Good to hear he feels secure.)

A good time was had by all. I mean, us.

Only for boys

Okay. This morning we are driving in and Sam's really quiet.

Tim: What are you thinking about?
Sam: It's a secret.
Tim: Can't you tell me? I really enjoy your secrets.
(pause)
Sam: I can tell you because it's a secret from girls. Only boys can know. I was thinking about how much I like looking at what God created.
Tim: Hey, that's nice, me too!
Sam: It's a secret only for boys. So I can't tell mommy or Aunt Sue or Mrs. Mulvaney or...

(The list of insiders and outsiders continued for quite some time.)

He also said today he liked rain. What a good day! Maybe he's forgotten his dream of California.

Eating from the tree of knowledge of good weather

Sam and I were watching a nature program about deserts.

Sam: I want to live someplace else. There's a place that's sunny all the time. That's California. I want to live in California.
Daddy: Who told you about California?
Sam: At school Amelia shared about it. She's lucky. She can see the sun all the time. I want to live there.

Now I guess I have to convince him it doesn't exist and is a make-pretend land. Like the Caribbean.

On the other hand, he was very excited Monday when we got up to snow on the ground. There's hope yet.