Toy of the day: a pot lid. He crawled around the house with it, clomping as if it were his peg leg! Also had a lot of fun with a wooden spoon and a small saucepan. Maybe he'll make dinner sometime soon? -- Susan

Sam's board game and Josh's evil laugh

Remember Rocks & Minerals Day last summer? Over break Sam got back into doing the sticker book Susan got him for that occasion. Susan then channeled Sam's renewed excited into making a board game using the gemstone stickers and other mineral-related things. It's pictured here.

Also shown: Josh, doing his evil laugh. Finally documented on video! He's really enjoying the home-made chicken-noodle soup. So, despite his serious look, this is a happy noise. Or eager. Or aimed at world domination. One of those.

This was Wednesday at lunch with the adoption caseworker, who was visiting to make sure Josh is doing okay. One more meeting with them later this year, in Syracuse, and then the adoption can be finalized!

Latrine update

To quote Susan, "Army men have attacked our downstairs bathroom. Not sure if I should call Homeland Security or the Chlorox Wipes people."

From Susan: 

Ruth knew that I was looking for recipes that Sam might enjoy cooking with me (other than baking, which we already do), so she sent us a Gooseberry Patch cookbook for kids. Sam was very excited and chose the spaghetti pie recipe for our first attempt. 

We made it last night and it was such fun. Sam cracked his first egg and did splendidly. He even got his (well-washed) hands into the beef to help me mix in the bread crumbs; I was surprised he'd agree to do that. He also added spaghetti to boiling water, mixed the egg into the cooked spaghetti, etc. 

And when it was time to eat, he ate the whole top layer of his piece: wouldn't touch the beef "pie crust," which didn't surprise me, but he ate up the spaghetti/sauce/cheese layer, which did surprise me, since it was all mixed together and he knew the spaghetti had been mixed with egg. If I had just cooked this myself and put it in front of him, I'm sure he wouldn't have touched it!

fun with a bottle

Josh having his post-meal bottle. Notice this emphasis is not on consuming it. He's a little gritchy--not 100% healthy--but he still has some fun.

eggs in a bag

 Susan's  working on getting Sam involved in cooking. This time, with Eggs in a Bag. It's just that--you put in you ingredients, mash it all up, and then plop the bag in boiling water. The kid gets the pleasure of cooking and this not only teaches a skill but--like getting a kid to grow his own veggies--he's more likely to want to eat what he cooks. Sure enough! 

Ziplock warns us that they have no idea what gets release if you boil their bags. Next time we use a frying pan. 

* * *

Today we were wrestling with a huge teddy bear. I warned him that if it was too rough we might end up ripping off his arms or legs or head. 

Sam responded, "Well, then he could be a Civil War bear."

He was thinking of how many people lost limbs in the Civil War. Not something we talk about, really. Read a children's book about the Civil War maybe a year ago. Guess it made an impression.

Today Sam says to me that if you look at a planet from space it doesn't matter whether you are looking at it right-side up or up-side down, because gravity acts from all directions. But when you are on the planet, there is an up and a down.

The kid's thinking.

Joshie update: He's climbing stairs and loving it. Friends just donated four baby gates, and just in the nick of time. Josh is never happier than when he's crawling. 

Still working on a video of Josh doing the evil genius laugh. 

Extreme Mammals (really)

 After months of waiting, finally took Sam  the Extreme Mammals exhibit at the science museum. It features displays with fossils and information about prehistoric mammals.

The ad for the exhibit says, "Stand in the shadow of the largest land mammal that ever lived—the 16-foot-tall Indricotherium. Peek at a Bumblebee Bat so tiny, it weighs only about as much as a dime."

It's a testament to the truly strange mammals that have evolved. The saber-toothed tiger is just the start. A small whale that walked on land and looked something like a cross between a dolphin and an alligator (did you know whales have vestigial hind legs?); something like a large okapi with a short trunk; a deer without antlers and with big fangs instead; actual hair from a woolly mammoth--oh, and pygmy mammoths which stood about four feet tall; etc. Some really neat finds have been uncovered. No photos were allowed, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Other than that, a quiet weekend. Sam's been fighting off a minor cold, home from school Fri, but was well enough Sat to go to a bday party for a classmate. It was at a party facility, as they all are. The last two were at Chuck E. Purgatory's; Saturday's was at a facility with large inflated rides. At one point they even had a tug-of-war between half a dozen parents and about two dozen kids, plus a worker. The kids won, barely. The hostess for the party also did some magic tricks with the birthday girl. The cake was amazing, based on the game Angry Birds (see pathetic cell-phone photo). Not safe for Sam, so it's good we had to leave a little early.

Then Sam's friend Lexy came over for a play date. A good time was had by all.

This weekend a book I was reading with Sam said something or other would be "a real home run".

Sam wanted to know what a "home run" is.

Really, you all need to start teaching him about sports. We tried. He has no interest whatsoever unless the game is either Tag or Running Around Like a Maniac.

Actually, this year I expect some synapses to bloom and his hand-eye coordination to surpass the ball-catching threshold, and then suddenly he'll want to do that all the time. I look forward to it.

Below, two Joshie videos. In one he's trying to eat a balloon. Yes, we are aware this could end in tears. "Life lesson" tears, though. In the other he's playing with a new chandelier. Fun!

Josh is cruising effortlessly now, and crawling fast. When we want to let him have fun we follow him as he crawls around the house.

If Josh were heir of Downton Abbey that would make him the "creepy Crawley." (Man I've been waiting weeks to work that in!)

He's also developed a quiet, intense cackle which makes him sound like an evil scientist planning world domination. He whips this out when something really good happens.

Have a good week!

Weekend update

Sam, given an apple to eat, creates a new friend.

Josh, this last week, started sleeping cuddled up to his moo-cow pillow pet.

Daddy, passed out on Josh's level, s a toy.

In a windstorm a month ago this widowmaker came down. It plunged into the earth and has been sticking there ever since as a monument to the wisdom of not standing under old oaks during wind storms.

Sam's spent the weekend working on a 23-page illustrated book. Literally hours just writing and drawing.

This afternoon, the second birthday party in a month at Chuck E. Cheese's. Arg.

Josh is crawling, crawling, crawling. And we are in the thick of training him to put himself to sleep. Two nights ago that meant 90 minutes of listening to him cry in the middle of the night. We are told it only takes a week of this.  (Not all nights are that bad.) Our pediatrician said yesterday, "Have courage! Don't give up!"

Joshua, Destroyer of Block Towers

 

Behold Joshua, Destroyer of Block Towers! Sometimes he brings them down with abandon, and sometimes he plucks them off one by one..