End of April, 2012

Emmett M has been getting himself around quite nicely in the past several weeks.  Even though he's still rolling to do it, he does it with purpose.  Em knows where he wants to go, and how to get there.  His favorite place is under the Jumperoo.  He has also really likes to go under his highchair, and bang on the kitchen vents. 

This little guy sure is our ray of sunshine!!

I can't believe how old Sam looks in recent pictures.  He is really growing up and turning into a big kid. 

My Bedstefar is here visiting from Denmark.  He brought some things to make a kite with Sam because he knew what fond memories I have of making kites on our visits when I was a kid.  Sam thought it was dang cool, and brought it for his show-and-tell that day.  Since then, he asks almost every day when it will be windy enough to fly it.

Sam has been very into the Halloween season.  They've been doing lots of fun things at school with it.  On ghost day, he brought this home.  It's a picture of a ghost, who ate 5 other ghosts (a mommy ghost, a daddy ghost, an Owen ghost, an Emmett ghost, and a Jacob ghost).  And once I looked closer, I saw he had written "Boo" on it.  I was impressed, and asked Sam if he did that all by himself.  "Sure!  B-O-O spells Boo!"

We've also done a few things here at home, too.  The other day we went to happy hour at Sonic with some friends, and one of the car hops brought out balloons for all of the kids.  When we got home, Samuel wanted to draw a scary face on his.  "Here are the big spooky eyes, and a round nose, and scary sharp teeth, grrrrrr." 

And while I'm here, I ought to do some back blogging.  (I thought I had caught up on that, until I realized I never blogged about Sam learning to ride his bike or soccer.)  So way back in May, Samuel popped his bike tires.  We could not find new 10" tubes anywhere, so Erik just bought a new bike for $5 at the D.I. with the intention of taking the tires off of it and putting them on Sam's bike.  Samuel saw that bike and ended up being very taken by "his new silver bike."  So Erik took him to the church parking lot and we were totally impressed with Samuel's balance, but he still struggled a bit.  He could do a straight line, but couldn't turn or start himself without a running push from Erik.  That's where we left it for the time being. 

A couple days later, Sam brought that bike with him to the park even though he wasn't riding it.  His buddy Gabe, who is a maniac and has zero fear, and is also an expert on his balance bike, gave Sam's bike a shot.  In 10 minutes flat, Gabe was a pro.  We decided to switch bikes for the day, so that Gabe could show his dad.  The next day Gabe rode over to our house on his new bike (also $5 from DI).  That was all it took for Sam.  He hopped onto his own bike and took off without help.  I was blown away.  That evening, Sam took Erik out to show him his new skills.  Clearly, he was still working on stopping and accurately stearing, but that didn't stop us from being impressed.  By the next day he was a pro, and pretty much didn't get off his bike for the rest of the summer.

Samuel started his soccer season in August.  His first practice was the Saturday after Emmett was born.  So the first couple weeks were a bit crazy, but I am so glad we had something for him to do in the evenings when the world pretty much stopped for a few weeks there with Baby 3!  There were a few practices, then 4 on 4 games twice a week.  Samuel was on the same team as two of his neighborhood buddies and a boy he goes to school with.  Sam had a lot of fun, although sometimes at the cost of his father's complete and total frustration.  Erik was diligent taking videos with his phone, but I didn't once bring the camera to take pictures.  I realized that, and planned to most definitely have it with me at the last game.  Except that Sam came down with a fever of 104 that afternoon and was in mood for a soccer game, even if it was the last.  He was disappointed, but cheered up when Nathan brought over his medal. 

So, while I'm here documeting the Amazing Mr. Sammers, I do believe it's time for a new edition of Samuel Says.  It's been so long.  I could write a book.  But instead, I'll just highlight some recent favorites.

• He loves to ask about animals if they have teeth and if they lay eggs.  One day he knew he was being silly when he asked me if monster trucks lay eggs.  I told him of course they don't, to which he replied, "Sure monster trucks lay eggs, that's where Hummers come from."   
• Em started fussing while Sam was holding him.  He rubbed his head and said softly, "It's ok, don't worry, Samuel is here."
• Another time I was holding Em on my shoulder.  Sam said, "Aw, he looks so cute like that, like a tiny . . . . TIRE!"
• Owen totally sneezed on Sam, who was not happy about it.  He yelled at him, "Owen, that's disgusting, I'm not a tissue!!"    
• Sam stopped his playing one day to randomly tell me, "Mom, I wish we had a balcony and fancy stairs."  Me, a little confused, "A balcony??"  "Yeah, so me and Owen could play on them."
• For Pet Day at school, Samuel wanted to bring his stuffed moneky, and polar bear and seal.  The other two boys and I came to meet the other animals, and watch Sam share his.  The moms all went up front with their kids who had real pets.  So when it was Sam's turn (he was the first without a real pet to share) I thought it was really sweet that he still wanted me to come up front with him.  Then he proceeded to show his "pets."  I didn't give him any prompting, because he knew just what he wanted to say.  "This is my monkey.  He lives in the jungle and likes to eat bananas and bugs.   This is my polar bear and seal.  They are artic animals.  The polar bear is a land animal and the seal is a water animal, but the polar bear can swim in the water and the seal comes onto land.  The polar bear is the predator with very sharp teeth and he swims after the seal and eats him."  At this point, Samuel started acting out a very dramatic predator vs. prey with his animals, complete with sound effects.  Then he stopped.  "Ok, that's it.  I'm done now.  Any questions?"  It was great.
• He was playing an iPad game with Erik and asked, "This game is going to be more technical?"  We laughed, "Uh, what do you mean by that?"  "I mean, like it's gonna be more difficult?" 
• Preparing the boys for conference, Sam was not having it.  "Conference makes me siiiiiick.  I need to go lie down in my bed with the light off and rest.  Mom, you can bring me breakfast up there."  But he did take it upon himself to make sure Erik was up and ready for conference.  "Mooooom, I told Dad to get dressed and come down for conference but he didn't hear me.  Now I'm going to go back up and tell him in my loudest voice.  My loudest voice EVER!"  So he took off, and I heard him yelling, "DAD!!!  IT'S CONFERENCE!  YOU NEED TO COME LISTEN TO THE PROPHET SPEAK TO US NOOOOOOW!"
• He was burping at the dinner table, and I asked him to stop.  "I'm not burping.  Those are bird calls.  *burp*  See, that was an Amercan parrot from Asia.  *burp*  That was a North American bird from India."  Then he gargled, so I rolled my eyes and asked what that one was.  "That was just a human gargling."
• Seriously, this kid does. not. turn. off.  He wakes up talking and doesn't stop until he is asleep at night.  Perfect example:  I heard his door open one morning.  I'm still in bed and hear him lift up the toilet lid.  I heard the pee begin.  Then I heard Samuel, "Mom, are predators nocturnal?"  What do you think Sam? "Lions are predators, and they're nocturnal."  Flush. "But cheetahs aren't nocturnal, they have black lines on their face to protect from the sun, so they must be diurnal."  Walking downstairs. "And cheetahs are predators, so that means all predators aren't nocturnal, I guess.  Owen turn off the light upstairs, you don't want to waste electricity!" Downstairs now. "Oh, I forgot my new micro machine upstairs.  I lost it but then I found . . . " voice fades as he goes upstairs, but here he comes again  " . . . my army truck and they go in the big helicopter."  He takes a breath.  "MOM!" and this is where he goes into a monologue about lung fish and how they breath and Jeremy Wade on River Monsters. Then, finally, "I'm ready for breakfast, can I have some waccles?"  Right.  He knows the difference between nocturnal and diurnal, but still can't say the word waffles.

Anyway, so that's our not so little Samuel.  Who is almost 5.   

It’s been an awesome first year for Samuel in preschool.  He has grown and learned a lot.  He has made new friends and really loved his teacher, Ms Laura.  Last week was Samuel’s last day.  It’s been such a great experience.  For all of us.  I am already panicking about what we are going to do. All. Summer. Long.

February 24, 2011

Instead of their normal sharing day, Samuel’s class had a special Pet Parade.  Samuel was really excited about it.  He has tons of “pets,” from dinosaurs and tigers to bears and dogs.  But I wasn’t surprised when he chose his monkeys to bring.  He is pretty attached to his big brown monkey.  So Samuel got to fill out a little questionarre about his pet and bring that with him.  It was fun to ask Sam the questions and hear his answers.  His pets’ names?  George, and George’s dad, George.  Favorite thing to eat?  Bananas and bugs.  Favorite toy?  Cars and trucks.  Favorite place to go?  The zoo.  Cool pet trick?  Swing from the trees with their arms and tails.  At the end of the day, each of the kids came home with an award.  Sam won Coolest Pet Trick. 

Samuel, quite the monkey himself, and his Georges.

When we were finished, Owen said, “My turn!  Shark!!”  (To which Sam always responds with increased annoyance, “It’s not a SHARK, Owen, it’s a orca whale!!!”)

Can I just tell you how wild I am about these boys?  Crazy crazy crazy about them.  I really think they’re the cutest.

January 20, 2011

Samuel enjoys drawing, painting, coloring.  But when I want him to practice his letters, he is never very excited, and always whines for me to help him and tells me he can’t do it.  So the other day, after painting a picture of a “great big white shark” he told me to write his name on it.  “No, you do it, Samuel!”  “Will you help me?”  “Nope, you do it yourself.”  “But I don’t know how!!”  “Yes you do.  What are the letters in your name?”  “S-A-M-U-E-L.”  “Ok, so start with S.”  Then I listened in surprise as he said each letter slowly, one at a time.  “How about all my name with the R and the Gs?”  “Ok, I will tell you those letters if you need help.”  “B-R-I-G-G . . . “  “Two Gs?!  I have two Gs?!”  {The excitement of that never gets old for him.}

Then he showed me the paper.  Um, I was blown away.  Ok ok, I am very aware kids his age do this easily.  They also color in the lines.  Draw detailed pictures with facial features and body parts.  And sit still.  Or so I’ve heard.  But this was a big deal for Samuel.  We were very proud and promptly took a picture before sticking it on the fridge.  Way to go, Sammo!!

Right, you can’t actually see anything in that picture.  So here are the close ups.

Samuel’s lines and letters have started turning into pictures with stories.  It’s been really fun watch Sam hone his fine motor skills and create his perfect preschooler works of art.  

This is some sidewalk art from last week.  “Here’s the knight, and this is his sword and his shield.”  (Can you see it?  Sword on the left, then knight’s head and face with two legs no arms, and shield on the right.)

And on Sunday, while trying to keep Sam distracted with something quiet so we could watch conference, I started cutting out pumpkins.  As I cut out different shapes so he could create his own jack-o-lanterns, Sam got to work with his marker on the first pumpkin.  He did this on his own, without any direction.  Including the ”green eyebrowers and scary things on his face.”

We ended up cutting out more Halloween things.  Sam wanted “a Sam and Owen jackolatter for the Mommy and Daddy jackolatter” and a mouth that said “Woooooo” for his ghost.  And then I cut out pieces for a witch and Samuel put it together and decorated it himself.  When we finished, Samuel was happy to hang his creations for display and we were both pretty proud of his work.

Samuel was having fun with a pile of papers, some markers, and lots of stickers while I got some work done and Owen napped.  After a few different art pieces, Sam told me he needed to write a secret message to Erik.  I asked him what the message was, and he told me, “I’m not telling.  It’s a secret.”  Der, Mom.  When he was done, I asked again.  I know how good Sam is at secrets.  “It’s a secret message for Daddy.”  “Cool.  Can you tell me what it says?”  “It says ‘R’ ‘D’ and ‘O’ for octopus.”  I took a look at the secret message.  I was so pleased I giggled and then gave Sam a high-five.  He’s never written letters before.  I guess he’s never had a secret message he needed to get to Agent Dad.  I only wish he hadn’t written in invisible ink [Color Wonder marker on regular paper] so we non-spies could read it better.  Clever kid.  Love him.

Samuel has definitely figured out doorknobs.

(Deck the Halls, Tis the Season, It’s Christmas Time in the City, etc. were already taken.  I’m just trying to be original)

 I love love LOVE Christmas!!  I also love decorating for it.  As a kid, I would take the extra lights and hang them in my room.  My mom sent me decorations my first year at college so I could decorate my dorm.  (Remember the huge foil door hanger, Julie?!)  And as soon as Erik and I were married I started putting candles in our windows.  So here is a little taste of Christmas at our house.

I love the smell of gingerbread, and although the cookies would be much cuter had I iced the edges, I just wasn’t that motivated.  Dismayed I didn’t have a shelf to put things on, I had a “duh” moment when I realized I sure could use my piano.   (Picasa cut of the rest of the stuff on it, though.)   The bell is on a garland I have draped over my family room window.  It was a super slick deal from Quilted Bear.  (Erik wasn’t proud.  He said “More like DiShOnEsT!”  Whatever.  I didn’t steal it.)  There are lights in the bells that make star shapes on the wall.  Right, no Christmas tree.  Since we aren’t going to be here for Christmas and since we don’t want to find out what our little boy would do to a Christmas tree, we left it down.

And while I’m here (ok fine, when am I not?!) I can’t resist sharing a few clever things about Sam.  In the last month, he has mastered that a dog says “woof woof” even though his version sounds more like “wooh wooh.”  He also tells us that a lion says “Raaaaar!”  When Sam plays with his cars he says “Vum vum.”  And when he is doing something really fun he says, “Wheeeee!”  And even though “daddy” and “didee” for kitty were the first two words in his vocabulary, Sam still does not say “Mom”!!!

Samuel fake eats.  He knows we want him to eat, so he pretends to put food in his mouth.  Then he smacks his lips a few times and sometimes, to be extra convincing, follows up with an “Mmmmm!”  Little trick!

Samuel also understands us all of a sudden!  Sam was being fussy, so I told him to get his blanket and come snuggle.  He did!  Sam was getting into my purse, so as a diversion I told him to get a book and let’s read.  He did!  Taking a trick I learned from Tori, I handed Sam his diaper after changing him today and told him “Go put it in the garbage.”  He did!  Sam also loves being king of the mountain.  He doesn’t just climb onto things now, he stands up on them.  There is a look of pure triumph as Samuel gazes out onto his family room kingdom from atop the Costco size box of wipes.

Just being a little bug who can’t keep his hands off the camera!

“Oh no, Elmo! Don’t distract me from my Del Taco!!!”