Sammy Notes

 

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!