Susan and Sam went on a field trip on Monday, to Tokyo House Japanese restaurant. This is the field trip the parents clamber to chaperone for. His class knelt at a low table and were served a simple hibachi meal prepared by chefs who rattled and juggled their knives. Sam was wowed. Susan unfortunately didn't end up sitting right next to Sam, but it was very memorable for him and she got to eat Japanese food.

 

 

Last weekend was the Cadets overnight at a "lodge" (read: heated, carpeted, kitchened cinderblock building 20 minutes from home). There was a winter storm warning which was mostly about the low wind chills; while it was a balmy 22 degrees Saturday morning there were gusts up to 40 mph. That didn't keep us from sledding for two hours in a nearby park. When it was time to go we had to drag the kids away. The weekend also included a couple of devotions sessions on gratitude, and a few games of dodge ball. I actually got more sleep than usual because I brought ear plugs. The snoring from two of the counsellors was loud enough that it was only when they rolled over and it was slightly quieter that it sounded like a freight train. So Sam didn't do as well as I did for sleep.

 

The weekend also consisted of several games of dodge ball which loyal readers will know is a religion unto itself for the cadets--so much so that when we choose a cadet to pray to open a meeting they invariably begin by thanking God for dodge ball.

 

Danny, the lead cadet counselor, says when he was young they called it "battle ball." Only problem this last weekend is that the "lodge" was a smaller room than our usual church activity room, bringing targets closer and making it harder for them to hide, and the counselors all joined in. By early afternoon Saturday the counselors were getting in practice which meant the younger kids were with greater frequency getting nailed in the head and being taken to the sidelines in tears to be comforted by remorseful adults.

 

In fact, I had just comforted Sam after he'd gotten hit in the head, and told him it was safest to stand way in the back by the wall, when a throw of mine went wide of the mark and managed to nail him in the stomach. Back out again, and not long thereafter he took me up on the suggestion of a good game of Mau Mau, which almost never results in tears.

 

Here's Josh cutting a slice of cake from the wooden play cake bought him by Nana and Grandad for Christmas.

No, I don't know why Josh is wearing his napkin on his head. Or why he referred to it as his hat, or why he's so happy about the whole situation. But I was sure to encourage the behavior by snapping a photo.

 

Sam got off the bus the other day, not wearing his warm hat to protect him from the bitter, single-digit cold (as Uncle Stu put it, it was "both degrees out"). No, he was wearing this paper hat which Maddie gave him, and which he subsequently added a pencil holder to. Because, that way he's never without pencils.

 

 

This evening was one of those evenings when we all just putter. I picked up the family room while Josh played with Legos and Sam read Calvin and Hobbes and we all listened to my selection of peppy Newsboys songs. (Mommy was making a quick grocery run.) I glanced in the kitchen to see Sam reading like this:

 

 

It's the sort of posture which would only occur to a young boy.

 

As Susan put it "The boys have a lot in common. Sam loves to read, and Josh loves to pretend he can read."

 

Also from Susan:

 

Tonight we were running late for something, so I had to ditch the dinner I'd planned and wing it -- leftovers for Tim, sandwich for Sam, etc. And I had this conversation:
Me: Josh, do you want some shell pasta? With cheese?
Josh: No...
Me: You don't want shells? What do you want?
Josh: Arms.
Me (completely confused): What? You want arms?
Sam: He means elbows.

Josh just learned about elbow macaroni yesterday.  Good thing my translator was on hand.

 

And:

 

I'm going to have to have a word with the authorities at Josh's Montessori:

Me: What was the snack at Montessori today, Josh?
Josh: Ahhhh...Play-Doh.
Me: Really? Play-Doh? I'm surprised they would let you eat Play-Doh.
Josh: Noooo...YES. Eat Play-Doh Montessori. A glass of milk and a penguin.

I mean, that's a terrible snack for toddlers. Penguins and Play-Doh.

 

 

Here are the boys enjoying some treats: Sam with an ice-cream cone, and Josh with a stripey cookie he is about to literally--literally!--devour:

More from Susan:

Josh: I want more granola.
Tim: I gave you lots. Eat what I gave you and you can have more.
Josh: Want more granola.
Me: Josh, eat what Daddy gave you and we'll give you more.
Josh: NO. DON'T TALK.

This sort of bossiness is happening more often these days. This morning when I went to get him up he told me to leave. But then, I can't blame him for that--it was early in the morning and he was cozy in his crib.

Not all is struggle, though. A couple of times recently Sam and Josh have had a whale of a time playing together. But even when not playing, Sam can be a big help:

A new and vital way in which Sam is useful: flushing out his brother. Josh is at a point where he will run, run, run if you want to change his clothes. This is because 1) he doesn't want to have his clothes changed, and 2) it's fun to run, run, run. So I find myself flat-out racing around the house trying to catch him. This is hard on wood floors when you're wearing socks.

So yesterday, twice, I had Sam chase Josh while I waited around a corner and nabbed him as he ran by. It's like Josh is a pheasant and Sam is a springer spaniel and I'm the hunter. This analogy only breaks down when the hunter changes the pheasant's clothes.

Have a good weekend!

 

 

Sam had a rough day on Wednesday. His teacher told him he could no longer play with a friend he likes, but is having trouble getting along with. He lamented his lack of friends (while acknowledging that he played with Zach and J.B. at recess). Various other events jumped on him, including some (justly provoked, of course) scowls from his (long-suffering) parents.

 

It was Bad Day.

 

So on Thursday I visited him and had lunch with him at school. It was fascinating. He got to select a friend to sit with him at the guest table, and two kids vied for the spot: J.B. and another boy who offered him a chocolate milk. He went with J.B. and then pointed out that there's a girl (Mary Ann?) who regularly brings him offerings of chocolate milk. In fact, mid-way through lunch his banned friend, Maddie, quickly dashed over and presented him with chocolate milk before scurrying away, a smile on her face.

 

I learned something of his lunchtime routine. He is known for always starting by fetching a plastic knife and carving a face in his apple as if it were a jack-o-lantern. (See the photo above.) His friend J.B., who matched him well for goofiness, claimed he was the Spoon Guy cause he always got a different spoon for each item on his tray. (Turns in this was his first and probably only day as Spoon Guy.)

 

Whenever I eat with Sam he's too distracted to talk much. Today he was a little more chatty. He said they had a 45 minute class on smoking.

 

I said it seems like they were a little young to be taught how to smoke.

 

He must have been in a good mood, cause he thought that Daddy Joke was almost funny.

 

Knowing how hard it is to make conversation with him, I picked up a deck of cards on the way in so we could play a version of Uno you play with a plain deck. It's called Mau Mau, which is a name guaranteed to bring hilarity to third graders, which it did. J.B. and Sam and I made it most of the way through a game before they were told by table to line up quietly. They were insufficiently quiet, so they were sent back to their tables, which was great fun for Sam and J.B., who were happy to have another couple of minutes of lunch. A few more minutes of stern warnings from the Lunch Ladies, and they were on their way, swept downstream to the rest of their day.

 

While waiting for Sam before lunch I got to chat with his math teacher. Once she learned whose dad I am, she lit right up and said enthusiastically that Sam is a real pleasure to teach. :-)

 

That was Thursday. Now to the weekend:

We got a little snow Friday night, and some windy, cold weather. The benefit of these days is that twenty minutes outside is worth about twice that in terms of wearing out the boys. Sam is onto that, so he generally avoids going outside when it hurts to do so. Josh, though, was happy to go outside, and wept when I had to drag in him for his lunch and nap.

I recently posted a few photos of Josh looking dejected, so it's only fair to include this one. In this photo, also from Saturday, he's just recently watched The Jungle Book and has been pretending to be an elephant, which brought him a great deal of delight.

At dinner Sunday night Susan told Sam to eat his cheesy veggies. He insisted he would hate them, and Susan countered that he would in fact love them, as Josh does--after all, they are cheesy veggies. In fact, he agreed after the first mouthful that they were delicious, and she was right. I suggested he right on the board that Mommy was right, so we all remember when it happened.

Sam, aware of Josh's recent penchant for gloomy faces, tried on one of his own. Stern and gloomy.

Tonight we finished a book he's been enjoying: The Swamp Robber, the first of the Sugar Creek Gang series. These are Christian novels from the 40s. They actually have some nice writing, and work in a lot of religious themes which Sam is finding thought-provoking rather than forced (they can be a little heavy handed). We were given them by his birth mom's dad (his birth mom carefully avoided vouching for them!), and will be happy to send a note to them saying he really enjoyed the first one.

Also recently read the mystery Dew Drop Dead, and have just started the first Lemony Snicket book. It can be hard to find books which he latches on to, so I've been happy he's enjoyed these.

Oh! Sam's first studio class with his piano teacher went well. He is the youngest of the half a dozen. He played three pieces he learned by ear, and did a nice job, without a trace of nervousness. In addition to the book work and elementary theory, his teacher's been working in a little learning-by-ear, and even some.. I think Susan said, improv. Anyway, happy that it's going well. Last summer I thought (1) piano would be a huge battle, (2) he would hate it, and (3) we'd be better off with a local teacher. Susan insisted on getting the best teacher, and I turned out to be wrong on all counts. So nice to be wrong in this case!

Susan: "This time at least I knew why he was sad: he wanted to see the picture of himself, but I hadn't taken it yet and told him to wait. He frowned just as I clicked."

Weekend update

Innocuous weekend. Began with waffles. It's possible these aren't as special anymore:

 

Included a trip to the Play Museum.  Haven't been there in a while.  Started with the big loud spinny thing. The merry-go-round with the organ. What are those things called again? Both Sam and Josh rode in the smaller spinny thing which rides around on the larger spinny thing.

Should have pointed out to Sam this makes spirograph patterns. Ah, well.

I stood nearby. I find it amazing they don't get nauseated. I suppose at that age I didn't either.

 

The boys got to play some air hockey:

And watched a video game without playing it: (Something I remember well from my childhood!)

Sam climbed a building downtown:

 

And we all hung out at home singing Baa Baa Black Sheep:

 

 

 

Josh has been unhappy going to Montessori. Clings to me at drop off.  That's difficult.

 

One more funny thing to relate: On Sunday Sam left the dinner table early with a  headache, to lie down on the couch. Josh went over to see how he was, but for some reason got in Sam's face a screeched loudly. It was really obnoxious, so we grabbed him and stuck him on the time-out chair.

 

Which he got out of right away. There are no seat belts in the time-out chair.

 

Well, he kept getting out and Susan kept putting him back. In the meantime I went to get out ice cream for dessert. Aha!  That's the stick!  Susan warned Josh repeatedly, that he'd better get his time-out overwith in time for ice cream, or there would be none for him!

 

He missed the ice cream and cried bitter tears.  Lesson learned, right?

 

The next day at dinner dessert time rolled around and I said, "who wants cookies?"

 

At which Josh jumped down from the table and excitedly ran to the time-out chair, saying, "TIME OUT! TIME OUT!"

 

Now we've messed him up!

 

Maybe the "stick" we use shouldn't be ice cream!

New Year's Update

This is Josh in the lobby of Eastman theater. We were wandering again while Sam had his piano lesson this past Friday. Our new experience this time was popping our heads in the darkened grand old Kodak Hall and seeing the stage lights in action lighting up the place. Turns out someone was practicing with them, and invited Josh to come see, and even pick his favorite color to change the lights to. He, as it turns out, also has a two year old at home, and was happy to have a new fan.

Been working on getting Sam to fall asleep earlier, as he's been having some insomnia. So, the other night when it went down to -4 (which is a big deal here), we went out on a short (like, 12-15 min.) walk. First, Josh wanted to try riding his tricycle around, which was fun until he hit the slush in the street and found he couldn't really move.

Josh recently pooped in the potty for the first time. Since then he's been eager for a repeat of the great act, which has prompted him to strip down in the bathroom and sit on the potty, then he gets bored, but still wanting to be naked, wanders about. Coincidentally, he's also been practicing being both a cat and, at other times, a frog. It's been lively around here.

[photo of a naked Josh pretending to be a frog removed at Susan's request!]

We had over the Zinkand-Dills for dinner last night. Here is Sara with Josh. Loyal readers will recall many blog posts mentioning Sara, a dear friend (and sitter) especially to Sam.

The boys were both extremely chatty with our guests. Sam held forth at length on various topics. Josh, for his part, chatted up Heidi, who was nice enough to sit next to him at dinner. At one point (reminiscent of the recent dinner party where he asked Aunt Amy loudly across the room if she was a monster) he enthusiastically told Heidi that he'd pooped in the potty. Wasn't long thereafter that we were all singing Jingle Bells at the top of our lungs. :-)

Got some very pretty snow on Thursday--maybe 8"? This is the view out the living-room window.

Sam and I marked the occasion by going snow shoeing at Tinker Park. Old-fashioned, wooden webbed snow shoes. They aren't easy to walk in unless you recall the alternative is post-holing with each step. We both had a very good time, and enjoyed cocoa afterward in the nature center after. On the way there we enjoyed listening to a CD of Beach Boys hits which Sam's birth Mom sent him in a Christmas package. 

Here's Josh singing Jesus Loves Me in the bath tonight. He's singing to the ipod, set so he can watch himself while the recording's being made--which is why he freezes partway through, mesmerized by his own image. (Mirrors, too, are honey traps to these kids--they see themselves and are captivated.)

Over the break we played the game of Life which was given Sam by his friend Ian. Amazingly, it was a hoot. Susan skipped college and declined to have children, enjoying his luxury apartment instead. Earned half what Josh (the brain surgeon) and I (the rocked scientist) did. In all honestly, I was fired from Rocket Scientist first for sleeping on the job, then for bringing my cat to work, and spent some time as a pilot before returning to rocket scientist. See? It all worked out in the end.

Finally, a note from Susan:

Last night I put before our dinner guests one of our favorite dishes, sherry-marinated roast chicken with brown rice stuffing.

When Josh saw it, he immediately pointed at it and said, "YUCK. Alligator."