Sam makes Josh laugh

Had fun listening to Sam play make-believe with various things by himself this evening. Not knowing we were listening, he would say things like, "You're not leaving, not on my watch!"

He got a box because we got a filing cabinet. It became a first-class home for him complete with windows and sky light. That is, until the Indians attacked. This evening he made footprints leading away from the scene of the massacre, his home stabbed with silverware and a bloody note saying "THERE WERE TOO MANY AAAGHH!!" While he was making the footprints (which he made by drawing an outline of his own foot on a sheet of paper), he said, "I have to write the dirty part", by which he meant, it turns out, making the footprints look muddy. Man, I like the elements of 5-year-olds which are uncomplicated.

Unrelated exchanges from the playdate today:

Sam: You know, Ian, I think you are really good with babies.

Ian (matter-of-factly): I am.

Where does this come from? Sam actually is good with Josh. (And Ian kept wanting to kiss the baby.) This morning he held him on his lap and played with him for a while.

Susan overheard that when Ian grows up he will be an inventor who makes a car which turns into an airplane and it will also have a transporter. They discussed what this meant for a while.

Sam: When I grow up, I'm going to be an archaeologist. Do you know what that is?

Ian: No.

Sam: An archaeologist is someone who digs up new and ancient cities.

Ian: What about dinosaurs?

Sam: No, that's a paleontologist, not an archaeologist.

Susan managed a playdate with seven kids this afternoon. This counts as one of her three miracles toward sainthood, btw. (She very humbly points out there were other parents, but she was the hostess.)

Susan adds the following exchange with Sam:

Sam: You didn't have ears, you know.
Me: What do you mean? I have ears.
Sam: You didn't always have ears.
Me: When didn't I have ears?
Sam: When you were growing in your mommy's tummy.
Me: Ah yes, it takes the ear buds a while to form in babies, doesn't it?
Sam: Ears, nose, eyeballs...everything that sticks out

Fun weekend:

• While I did lawn work on Saturday Josh looked up at the leaves of the maple out front. As you can see, he enjoyed it.
• Friday we went to Seabreeze a combination amusement and water park which overlooks Lake Ontario. I took off Friday afternoon and we were there from around 2:30 til 8 pm. It is a nice park--has all the classic rides for a range of ages, along with the classic ring-tossy games. And a water park with a giant wave pool, lazy river, and a few different water slides. Stayed late enough to watch the horizon turn sherbet colors out over the lake.
  
• Well, on the same topic: Sam is tall enough for the adult rides, but still dabbles in the kiddie ones, as you can see. In one shot you can see Sam pretending to drive a younger boy around in his T-bird. Josh got carried throughout the park. Which meant no real nap that afternoon. He was dazed and impressed by all the lights and sounds.
• The more mundane trip to the library (got quite a haul)
• Movie night Sunday night: Sam got to see for the first time The Wizard of Oz. He told the neighbor next door that after dinner we'd be watching it, and the neighbor, wanting to reassure and prepare him, fumbled around and told him, it's a scary movie, but don't worry, it's not real. Not sure how that was supposed to help. Sam said proudly afterward that he wasn't scared at all.
• Shot some hoops with Sam. Well, okay, not this weekend, but recently. Just got a basketball and am playing PIG with Sam. Fun!

Back to "Clay Play" at the art gallery again this week. That's been a huge hit, and they really have been getting Sam into some more interesting art. Can't wait to see the pots. They've warned parents to clear a shelf.

Josh and Sam activities

Rainy Sunday. Stayed home and cleaned and puttered. Ahhhh, wonderful!

Saturday: Guys' trip to the Play Museum, then a very pleasant evening with the Zinkand-Dills.

All in all very enjoyable. Sorry to see it end.

The creek

Josh and I investigate the creek during the afternoon-long rainstorm.

Tiger feet

This morning Josh noticed that the feet on his sleeper have tiger faces on them. He was quite delighted.

At the end of the clip I think Sam is trying to teach him Albanian.

promised evidence of Josh's existence

Morning schedule: Susan runs off and showers while I sit with Sam and Josh, on floor and couch, reading to Sam and occasionally entertaining Josh. In this video Susan's come down and is making Sam's lunch while we do our thing.

Since yesterday's post was All About Sam, here's some Josh time.

Rocks & Minerals Day, and a first bowling outting

Last Wednesday was Rocks & Minerals Day at 88 Hillcrest. Sam was home all week and Susan wanted to do some interesting and fun projects with him. Since he's already shown an interest in collecting rocks, she decided on this theme. Doesn't hurt that the previous owners of this house left behind a nice collection of interesting rocks out back, including some obsidian. R&M day included the following:

• testing rocks with vinegar to see if they have limestone (check out the video of Sam testing a rock, then chalk)
• making pet rocks
• a rocks & minerals sticker book
• an educational video on rocks
• some crystal-growing projects from a kit we found
• baking together a "sedimentary dessert" with layers of deliciousness

A good time was had by all, and all were happy to have something fun and interesting to do. (Susan, did I leave anything out?)

This past weekend I took Sam out bowling to give him some dedicated parenting time--a rarity these days. This was his first time bowling, and he was extremely excited. It lived up to his expectations, and we had a very good time.

On the way there Sam came out with one of those comments parents love: He pointed out how many games wouldn't work without gravity. The pieces on board games would float away. And basketballs wouldn't fall back down into their hoops. Not sure how why occurred to him.

Not much to offer as a Josh update. I'll try to post a movie soon. Josh continues to be both happy and large. He has a mysterious red ring on one leg which we were convinced was ringworm, at least until the nurse told us we were wrong. He goes in tomorrow so we can find out. He's had my head cold, so hadn't always felt great, but continues to be very, very excited when people meet his gaze.

A poem

The Penfield Public Library has a summer reading program. An optional assignment this past week was to write a short story or poem about a summer activity Sam did. Without further ado:

Bungee Trampolining
by Sam Collins
5 3/4

I have a strap on
I'm going to fly
I'm going to go
high into the sky!
I'm almost in the clouds
my stomach is going zooz
You can do this too!

more movies

The Camp, mit Dechers

Last Wed-Sun we spent with our friends Jan and Laurel Decher, and their daughter Isabel, at the camp.

Susan grew to know and love the Dechers during graduate school. They are now in Burlington, so camp was a nice halfway point.

It w

as a weekend of delicious food, including s'mores (tm), delicious pasta, kebabs, blackberry cobbler, blueberry-banana pancakes, and a grilled whole chicken

eaten by candlelight in the dusk on the deck overlook

ing the river. (

Not all in one night.)

And of course the requisite trips to the Lor

na's Higley Hideaway Diner Cafe and, Sunday before departure, a trip to Sergi's.

Several photos here from a "forced march" (Susan's term for our walks with Sam) along the Stone Valley trail. Isabel and Sam, despite a five-year age difference, got along quite well.

Everyone got along with Josh. Isabel and Sam perler beaded up a storm, and Sam and I played our first real game of dominoes--though Sam was just as happy to make towers out of them. :-)

Spotted the local eagle flying by; let the kids escort a turtle across the road; spotted three chorus frogs on the Terrific Trees nature hike at the state park; heard many lonely loon calls; Sam . Sam and Isabel also enjoyed rowing around in the "sport yak" rowboat, which Isabel dubbed the Drunken Duck.Another treat was Susan's reading aloud from Summer At Buckhorn (with some care to explain the racial anachronisms to Sam). Sam and Isabel drank it up, enjoying the youthful adventure of it.

And finally, good conversation. The time was not enough, and we each had our own distractions, but still managed to stay up late discussing the fates of mutual friends and our own cares.