reference material

an illustration i did for a book being published this fall on the subject of teaching children to appreciate and care for our world and all the creatures in it.

photos of sam during a visit to squire's castle and the metroparks (a.k.a. reference material)

cover illustration for the book. can you find the sam in this picture?

trucks!—an artist's rendering

earlier this month, sam started drawing things that actually look like stuff. well, when it comes to trucks anyway. i can't recall any evidence that he can draw things other than trucks (unless you count cars), but i'm still pretty impressed.

in other news, i finally took the time to hang up sam's rotating art gallery. it will feature new drawings by the artist on a semi-quarterly basis, or whenever i get around to changing the pictures. he's quite prolific, though his medium of choice seems to be the magna-doodle (which has saved lots of paper and wall space).

stats @ 2.5

(sam showing off his post-freezepop tongue)

for posterity, i thought i'd post sam's two-and-a-half-year-old stats (from a month ago):

height — 35.75 inches (40th percentile)

weight — 27.44 pounds (23rd percentile)

the numbers make him sound kind of small, but he certainly doesn't seem small to me (particularly when i need to carry him for any length of time). it may, however, be his larger than average personality that makes him seem SO BIG!

p.s. the doctor didn't actually measure his personality, but by my estimates, he's way past the 100th percentile for that one.

oglebay 2011

seven weeks ago today we left for our annual trip to oglebay with mike's family. it was a great, busy week full of walking, mini-golfing, golfing (for the big kids), paddleboats, swimming, and all kinds of fun. sam was particularly interested in the miniature train display at the good zoo (which he still mentions regularly), and the model rocket launching (also mentioned regularly).

a few of my favorite quotes from sam from that week:

me (looking at sam's drawing): what are you drawing?

sam: mommy tell you.*

me: it looks like a dog.

sam: oh yeah!

sam's rocket countdown (overheard from across the room): one…two…three…four…five…three…two…one…blastoff!

* footnote: "mommy tell you" was sam's way of saying "i don't know", and came from my asking if he'd "like mommy to tell you?"

he has since dropped this phrase and now simply says "i don't know."

tunes for tuesday

found this one via the all songs considered podcast (or more specifically, the tiny desk concert videos on their site.) love it!

tunes for tuesday—whoops!

i almost forgot to post yesterday's choice bit of music. this was my pick, but sam whole-heartedly approved. i don't think he's quite old enough for doctor who yet, but i'm so bringing him along on that nerdfest when he is.