The boys love playing in the basement.  The laundry is down there, and there is also one finished room that we very loosely dub "the guest room."  It has a pull out sofa, a table and closet piled high and stuffed full of my sewing and craft stuff, and then everything else that doesn't have a place gets dumped down there, too.  Because there is soooo much to get into, I hesitate to send the boys down there on their own, but when I need a break and they've already exhasuted the backyard, I unlock the gate on the stairs and shove them down.  And they love it.  Their imaginations go wild down there. 

One afternoon in particular, they were having quite the adventures.  Samuel came up several times to ask me if I wanted to see the spider web he was making.  He would check in every few minutes to tell me it was getting bigger and bigger.  Oh boy.  "It sounds pretty cool, Sam, I just hope you're not doing anything naughty.  I will come see it as soon as the dishwasher is empty."  But after a while, he stopped asking, so I figured I could get a bit more done before needing to investigate.

Later, Owen came up to go potty, and told me, "Sam is the best fireman, he puts out all the fires so strong!"  A while later, I heard Sam explaining to O, "When you rescue things from the fire, you put them over your shoulders like this," and then they both came upstairs out of breath and hollering about rescuing the dogs from the burning building.  I got them to hold still long enough for a picture on my phone before they had to "go back to see if there were any survivors." 

Once the fire was safely put out, and the heroes had saved the day, there were some "ghostes" that needed to be "killed."  Not one to intrude, I didn't feel the need to explain that ghosts are already dead.

So a good while later, I heard screams of terror.  Followed by sobbing and more screaming.  I booked it, this was the real deal, something was seriously wrong.  As I was running down the stairs, Sam was running up to get me, panting, "Mom!!!  Owen's stuck!!!!!"  By the time I made it down, maybe 17 seconds after the screaming started, O was full blown out of control terrified.  "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck, the ghost is going to get me!!!!"  Yes, he was stuck.  In the "spider web" which turned out to be a roll of yarn wrapped around every single thing in that horific basement, from one end to the other.  Owen had gotten his legs caught, and every time he moved, it got a bit tighter.  It was also connected to one of my clothes drying racks, which had a jacket hanging on it, and moved and shook each time he tried to get free.  Once I got him unstuck, Owen practically jumped into my arms, grabbed around my neck, and didn't let go until we were safely upstairs.  He was seriously shaken up about this!!  He calmed down quickly, though, and then had lots and lots to say about the event.  He talked about it the rest of the day.  And every time we've gone into the basement since.  He points to to drying rack and says, "That's where the ghost was, he was going to get me."

These two boys crack me up.  They are so so fun.  I love how bright and full of life they are.  When they're not yelling at each other or beating each other up, they sure are good little buddies.  

This is a real life “creature adventurer,” and host with his brother, Martin, of several children’s television shows including Wild Kratts, Kratt’s Creatures, and Zoboomafoo . . . this is Chris.

This is a little boy who for the past 3 or so months, THINKS he is Chris.  TELLS you he is Chris.  BAWLS like a baby when you tell him he ISN’T Chris.

In all of his shows, Chris Kratt wears a green shirt.  So green is always always the color of choice for little “Chris.”  Heaven forbid his mom choose an outfit for a school day that doesn’t involve green; but after a major battle of wills, Mom usually wins as long as “Chris” can wear his “Wild Kratt boots” and have “Kratt hair.”  Never can anything be colored without a green crayon or marker.  It would be a terrible thing if “Chris” didn’t get his meal served on green dishes, and it’s quite disastrous if Owen has a green straw when “Chris” is forced to drink from a yellow one.  Because that would mean “Chris has to have green power, Owen can’t have green power, he isn’t Chris!!!!” and thusly the world would surely end.  (At least you’d think so sitting at our kitchen table.)

This little kiddo of ours loves to meet new kids at the park and other places so he can tell them his name is Chris.  He came home with a special book about his family he had made at school.  There was Mom, Dad, “me Chris” drawn in green, Owen, and “my other brother, Martin” which the teacher asked about, and I had to clarify.  He had a substitute teacher one day at school.  He came home with “Chris” written across the top of each of his papers.  He’s even gotten Owen to call him Chris several times.  On the off chance we convince him he isn’t REALLY Chris, Sam tells us he is going to be Chris when he grows up or he is “Samuel the Chris.”

Sometimes it’s funny.  Sometimes it’s cute and clever.  Sometimes it gets annoying.  Sometimes we wonder if we’re letting him take it too far and setting him up for future psychological damage and identity crises.  And by “him” I mean Samuel.  Not Chris.

August 17, 2010

During August, Thanksgiving Point has $2 Tuesdays so you can get into any of their venues for just . . . two dollars.  For being normally $10 for me and $7 for Sam, $4 was a nice change.  We planned on it being packed and out of control, but both of the boys still really enjoyed it.  Sam asks just about every day to go to the dinosaur museum, so he was stoked.  It was a crazy but fun afternoon visit.

Sam really likes dinosaurs.  Can you see him?  I mean Sam, not the dinosaur.

Samuel enjoyed playing tour guide to Owen.  It was so cute to see Sam tugging on the stroller saying “Come on Owen, let’s go see more dinosaur things!” and watch him eagerly share all of his dinosaur knowledge with little brother.

I was really impressed with how well Sam did in the huge crowd.  He followed my rules and waited so patiently and politely for his turn at everything.

O usually does great chilling in the stroller when there is lots to look at.  But if he’s looking at his big brother playing in the water and sand of the giant erosion table, he wants out.

I love the tip toes.

The sand pit.  Told you it was crowded!

After our adventure in the jam packed and toasty warm museum, we ran around outside for a bit before heading home.  I can’t believe that I have to tell Samuel not to eat leaves.  But his reply was so matter of fact.  “I NEED to eat leaves.  I’m a hungry herbivore.”

Well, at least between a combination of pictures I almost managed to get one of each boy kind of smiling.  *Sigh*

Scary: Finding Owen like this after he pushed the toilet paper from the front door to the back stairs while I took 37 seconds to pee with the door closed.

Cute: Listening to Sam set up his “bed” perfectly for his “sleepover,” tucking himself in, then asking me to say goodnight to him, and “Don’t forget to say goodnight to Tegan, Tyson, and Tucker!” (each with their own respective pillows). 

“Hey, Mom, I a big giant cloud!”

“Augh, that’s a big storm.  Boom crash the thunder.”

“Hahahahaha!!  I funny, Mommy.”

Sam loves pretending, and I {love} watching him.  It’s always fun to see what he will come up with next.  Besides making up conversations between his animals, or acting out some exciting race with his cars, Samuel comes up with some pretty clever stuff. 

I wish I’d gotten a picture, but I was too busy laughing.  Samuel was playing with this . . .

It’s a charger for one of Erik’s Xbox controllers.  Sam had the USB end held up to his ear.  The other end he moved around to different spots on his chest.  “Thump thump sound.  Doctor!”

Here’s another cute one.  Sam was running around with this tub on his head, pretending to be “Sammer bobot” jumping on the moon.  Yep, he came up with all of that on his own.

Then he tripped and fell.  “Whoa,” he gasped, ”Bobot crash.  I ok.”