Trip Report

I am in Livermore this week. Which means I get to see Sam once, using skype. It also means Susan's doing ALL THE PARENTING this week. (Pray for a good night's sleep!) The following is taken from an email Susan sent this morning:

Sam starting waking up by 6:38 or so -- actually I think he was making noises earlier, maybe I was in there around 5:50 -- can't remember. (Yes, I'm a little sleepy, but it could be worse!)



He was tangled up in loose threads in the pink blanket, and didn't seem upset but was practically standing up in bed when I went in there.

I said, Don't get up, and he said indignantly, I'm not. So I untangled him and tucked him in and went to bed and prayed for him to sleep, but of course he just sighed, and tossed and turned, and finally came into bed with me.



I'm sure he thought he was being quiet at that point but he was wiggling and muttering to himself (it was actually cute) and clicking his teeth in my ear, so finally I suggested he go into his room, turn on the light, and read books or draw.

So he did, very independent. Since the monitor was still on I could hear him. He padded into the office for paper, then to his desk (first turning on the light), then I heard, "Huh. Well, I'm going to do this maze first!" Very cute. Then he needed to go get crayons etc.

Needless to say, I had a short night!

Funny conversation with Sam

This morning's conversation between Sam and Susan, while I was upstairs getting ready to go to work:

Susan: Do you know who my favorite sweet-pea is?
Sam: Me, me, me! Do you know who my favorite mommy in the whole world is?
Susan: Hmm, let me guess...
Sam: You! (Gives a huge hug.) Mommy, I love you.
Susan: Sam, I love you so so much.
Sam: It's too bad Daddy isn't in this loving contest.

(Tim: *sniff*)

a couple more cabinets... now with underlighting!

We WILL go outside and enjoy the sun!

Despite the 40-degree weather. The native-American summer has ended for now, but there's still sun, so we made the most of it Saturday afternoon with a playground trip.
In other new, Sam went to his first session of the Eastman School of Music's Music Makers class, intended for kids his age. Had a great time! Even wanted to know when he could go back. Woohoo! It would be a lot of fun if we could develop his musical ability. And just as good if he simply had a pleasant time with music.

Other than that, not much; went to the mall and to the YMCA, where he played with a bunch of kids, including a boy name Nico and a girl named Infinity.

No mechanical dishwasher this weekend. Our kitchen contents are piled in the dining room and sun porch. Half the time we are searching for a spoon, or what have you.

Sam used to earn stickers for a sticker chart by washing his hands after using the toilet. Now he earns stickers by setting the table each night. This is a chore, so it's not optional, though sometimes we help. He's getting reasonably good at it, too.

Today in church, despite being Lent, we had an Easter hymn and the children's sermon was the resurrection story, told in gory detail. (Curious to ask Sam how much he remembers of it...) The pastor explained his saying that in Lent we look forward to Easter--apparently, today, by acting as if it is Easter!

This is my long-winded explanation of why we felt perfectly justified in letting Sam put some colorful gel Easter decorations up on the living-room window. He also, during the mall trip, got to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap, about which he was quite excited. He's already decorated some eggs--that was a couple of weeks ago. Can we claim that by distancing these non-religious but Easter-correlated traditions and practices from Easter itself we are helping to set aside Easter day for genuine focus on the resurrection?

Nope, didn't think so! :-)

Also shown: Sam and Ian at a park where a man was flying an $8,000 miniature helicopter. The man was quite friendly with the kids, but also sternly warned them not to touch it, saying "it's not a toy." Susan managed to keep to herself the question, In what was isn't this a toy?!

Sam's mostly been sleeping better lately--a change from a month ago when he managed to have us up at least once a night, often more. But still the early hours are challenging. I think the heat comes on around 5:30 or 6:00, Sam tosses off his covers in his sleep, cools down, and hasn't yet gotten the hang of re-covering himself.

Sometimes we hear interesting things when we go into his room at night. Last night when Susan went in at 6, they had this exchange:

Sam (sleepily): You said you were going to make butterflies.
Susan: It's time to go back to sleep for a little while.
Sam: I already AM asleep.

Hah!

thinly veiled excuse to talk about the kitchen

Two movies: One with the kitchen on Wednesday--day four!

Also, Sam thanking Aunt Ruth for the story book and the activity book! He loves them both.

Enjoy. :-)

movies!

Three movies!

The first two show Sam telling chicken-crossing-the-road jokes, which gives you a good idea of the level of humor. People have warned us about this stage, the "I want to tell jokes but don't get the concept of humor" stage.

Susan's found she can get Sam to do about anything she wants if she just promises to tell a chicken or knock-knock joke while he does it.

The third movie shows Sam playing with a seven-year-old, Austin, at the Play Museum. His family just moved from Northern Virginia--in time to avoid the historically drastic blizzard. (They were pleased by that.) Sam is so outgoing! He goes up to Austin and without concept of fear asks if he wants to play with him. After Austin agrees and they dive in, Sam said with enthusiasm, "I made a new friend!"

Enjoy!

Reflection symmetry epiphany

From Susan:

"Sam and I were sitting crosslegged by some bookshelves at the library. I was pulling books off the shelf, and Sam was carefully studying a book he'd found about a pro-wrestler.

One page fascinated him: the wrestler held both hands up with the fingers of each hand placed together in a certain way, as if giving a sign. Sam was trying to copy the wrestler's fingers.

He held his hands up, moving his fingers until he had it right. He kept studying the page, and finally said to me, 'How come his right hand is on the left, and his left hand is on the right?'

Then maybe he thought he didn't ask it right because he tried to rephrase it, but I finally said, 'No, you got it right, Sam!' I tried to explain why it works that way, but I was so blown away by his observation!"

[The photo is from Sam's audition for Land of the Lost. Or it could be from a trip to the science museum.]

Another quiet weekend

A quiet weekend in Penfield. These photos are from a Play Museum trip Friday with Susan, and the YMCA.

Sam's weekend activities included:

• Using a new Activity Book sent by Aunt Ruth--Sam loves it!
• The weekly trip to the Y to run off steam
• An evening with Befany, which included a viewing of the Tinker Bell movie (his idea), which, I am glad to say, Sam tells me is not very good
  
• A trip to the Pittsford Library for a change of pace
• As well as a few errands, including a stop at the hardware store, where Sam got an inexpensive magnifying glass, which has gotten a lot of use
• Head-butting daddy unexpectedly, resulting in tears (his) and angry looks (mine) and a search for mommy
  
• Falling off the back of the couch onto his back and head on the hard wood floor...
  

...after which he actually felt nauseous for a while. Fortunately he showed no other concussion symptoms and was fine by dinnertime.

Other than that, not much to report. Nice to have another quiet weekend.