Weekend fun

These are from a week ago at least. Better late than never?

Last weekend I took Sam and Josh to the Play Museum and afterward to a city playground with some interesting structures. Like this spiral staircase.

Sam and Josh enjoying an electric train at the museum.

Sam playing pinball at the Play Museum. It *is* a *play* museum, after all!

You whack these tubes with rubber paddles to make music.

Sam, climbing a geometric solid. The ancient Greeks would have been proud.

A cross between a harp and a theremin. You make music by interrupting the vertical light beams. Josh played it briefly with his head.

One of Sam's latest. I particularly like the bunny labeled, "I drawd this bunny rabbit for no reason". (Note him saying, "Oooh! I carrot!")  Also like the forest of doom through which our hero runs, ducking occasionally. Not also the bloodthirsty shark! Scary!

Josh's Second Birthday

This evening after dinner we celebrated Joshie's Second Birthday! This morning when I wished him a happy birthday he looked happy and shy, leading me to think that he knows what that means. 

Susan made Josh his favorite--spaghetti with meatballs--and gave him a chocolate cake. With some effort Josh managed to blow out the candles. 

He was delighted by the cake and the gifts, and played with the gifts for quite some time. And Sam was really good with Josh also, and really focused on Josh. Not easy for a second grader!

Josh focused on each new toy, and, gratifyingly, seemed to love them all. 

Following a suggestion made by Sue long ago, we put the chocolate cake on a plate in front of Josh, without any utensils, and let him have at it. He lay about him ferociously, and I can tell you, got the better of that thing.

Josh received a second Elmo, larger than his first, and was in heaven, Here he's clinging to both of them. 

Josh showing Susan his new Max and Ruby movie!!

Josh was even excited by his new clothes from Nana and Grandad!

Josh was very excited by his new Fisher-Price airplane. He played with it for quite some time. :-)

An eventful weekend

This weekend we celebrated Tim's and Josh's birthdays (okay, Josh's we did on Monday--see the next post), and we nursed Sam back to health after a tough bout of gastoenteritis. Don't worry, there's only one picture of Sam feeling sick, and it's pretty tame. Oh, and the furnace stopped working. But then when the technician arrived it decided to work again. Just wanted to show us who's boss. 

Sam's much better. 

Josh has recently learned to say, "Happy Josh!' Here's Happy Josh playing with some toys on Sunday.

Sick Sam

We went to the Y on Sunday so Josh could run around a little. The room with the play equipment has a very big picture window looking out on a large farm field that score after score of geese were landing in and taking off from. Josh was VERY EXCITED about the geese. 

Sam, Sunday, doing some drawing.

We passed some time Sunday pulling Josh around in a laundry basket. Why not?

It's real gold?!?!

From Susan, at bedtime tonight:

Sam, fingering my wedding ring at bedtime in an attempt to stall: Is that a real diamond? Me: Yes. Sam: WOW, you're rich! [speculates on actual value] And is that gold? Me: Yes. Sam: I mean, like, REAL gold. Me: Yes. Sam: BWAHAHAHAHA I WANT ONE.
So Sam wants to get married so he can have a gold wedding ring and be RICH -- RICH, I tell you!

Forgot to mention that recently I asked Sam who he'd played with at recess that day, and he said Connor. I asked what they did, and he said they played the Anything Game. He explained you can be Anyone, Do Anything and can win Any Way You Want. They both, as it turns out, were the Best Ninja Ever, which he also explained was okay, and not paradoxical, because after all it's the Anything Game, right?

Tonight over dinner he read aloud from a fictionalization of the real life incident where a bull shark, in 1916, swam ten miles upstream from the New Jersey shore and killed somebody and wounded someone else. Very exciting!

Yesterday we went to a mid-afternoon wedding of a good friend's oldest daughter. Thanks to beloved Dianka for the great photos of the afternoon while we were in Binghamton!

Josh, reading

Josh and Zoe, both hoping to escape from the family room

Josh just his head down and said, "Night night."

Here Josh picked up his backpack, put it on (with a little assistance), and stood at the gate, clearly waiting the leave, just as Sam does every morning! (Nana--Just as you planned!!)

Josh can now clutch onto the chains well enough to swing!

Been a while! Here are some recent photos of the boys and one of a drawing. 

This is from a game where Josh would cover himself with pillows and then cry out "Help!" It was, literally, a cry for help. He was having fun, though.

Last Saturday, Max of the children's cartoon Max and Ruby made an appearance at the local library. Josh is a fan, so we made sure to take him there. He was both excited and freaked by Max. Max in the cartoons is different. The Max at the library is much bigger (obviously), and doesn't talk, just lurks there quietly. Josh was right to be cautious.

Sam drew this monster grappling with a launching rocket in celebration of his cousin Jon's upcoming nuptials

At the YMCA is a big, big climbing thing with tubes and nets and tunnels, probably 30 feet high. Given what a climber Josh is, it was inevitable that he would be drawn to it. This past week he and Sam went up in it. He was in heaven. came down the big twisty tube slide with Sam. Mind you, it's very hard for adults to navigate. So if we go to the Y, he'll want to go up, and how to we get him down again? As Susan put it, "How do we keep him down on the farm?"

Here's Josh being entertained with sorting pre-cooked pasta of different shapes. :-) Also been pouring rice from one vessel into another. And consequently onto the floor. Keeps him happily focused for vast stretches of time.

This morning Susan spotted four deer wandering across our back yard:
Susan: Look, there are four deer crossing the back yard!
Sam: Wow. They must be a pack. Or else it's a really big coincidence.

When Susan started smiling Sam was very curious to find what he'd said that was funny.

Sam's come out with some funny seven-year-old lines lately. Last night, as our family headed to Weg's for a quick grocery run, he said, "I'm going to close my eyes all the way to the store, for no apparent reason." Yes, we thought, well said!

This coming Friday Sam's been invited to his first sleepover. Just five boys, and we are assured peanut and girl free. Still trying to decide if it's a good idea or not!

Josh hasn't been without personality, for his part. Quoth Susan:

Josh loves his sitters, but lately, his routine when I reappear to relieve a sitter is this: He runs toward me whimpering, and once he's in my arms, turns to the sitter and says, "Bye-bye," very bluntly, several times.

Enough for now! Hope you are all well.