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."