project sam—kindergarten!

sam and his plastic "i know you want me to smile and look 'normal'" smile (also our nice, new fence and awful weeds)

the real sam

sam and his good buddy remond | sam and his teacher, mrs. smith (you can tell who he was most excited to see)

sam started his first day of kindergarten today! it was just a half day (we don't start in to full days until after the labor day holiday—they like to ease the kids in), but sam was so ready. while other kids were clinging onto parents for dear life or shedding tears, i asked sam if he wanted me to stand in line with him and his response was "no. i'm okay with my friends." that's my sam.

at noon, we picked him up and heard that he had lost another tooth while he was there, and several classmates commented about the fact that he got a tiny "tooth box" to keep his tooth in. it was a very exciting day. sam's report: "it was good."

sam and his tiny "tooth box"

in honor of sam heading off to his first day of kindergarten, i made him a little sign (full disclosure: i saw one like this on pinterest, but i like a diy, so...). too bad he probably can't read all of this yet. he's getting dangerously close to being able to, though. he's about to break the "let's spell whatever it is so he won't know what we're talking about code (dang!) he already figured out "i c e c r e a m", and "d e s s e r t". (actually, even lucy knows what "d e s s e r t" is at this point. if it's mentioned, she will ask for "drt".)

anywho, in case you need a reminder/motivator for your mornings, you can get a pdf here to print out one of your own.

project sam—a quick, or perhaps lengthy, update

it's hard to know exactly what to say about sam, there's really so much to say. so much. really, there's too much. sam is sometimes just too much. too awesome, too exasperating. just generally a lot. (as you can see in the video, sam is an instigator of loud and silly, and lucy reaps the benefits regularly.)

things that sam is really into doing as of now: 
- making stuff. we have so many papers and things sitting around the house that sam has made that it's completely ridiculous. not only does he bring creations home from school, but i think it the last four months or so he's gone through at least a ream of paper (most of which mike pulled from the recycle bin at work) making all kinds of things for everyone. some of the things are given away to friends, but lots seem to have accumulated all over the house. sometimes i wish i could keep everything, but most of the time i feel a little drowned in all of his artwork. a few examples of sam's prolific creativity:

 the strawberry gum drawing for his friend in honor of the fact that his friend had given him a piece of gum

 illustration of a glass of water

photo of sam with a tie bomber (or perhaps a tie interceptor) that he crafted in honor of mike's birthday

i should also mention that sam is also a bit of a creativity instigator at school, which has resulted in a proliferation of artwork sent home for the express purpose of being given to lucy. i can think of at least three friends who have made things to come home to lucy. this is enough of a thing that sam's teacher has mentioned it multiple times in his daily reports!

- the new friends. sam recently discovered that over the long, cold winter two boys have moved into the house that backs on to our newly purchased empty lot. the boys (ages six and four) have quickly become his reason for getting up in the morning (or at the very least, a reason to put on clothes). and though i'm really glad that sam now has playmates in close proximity, it also means that there is a lot of distress when the new friends aren't able to play (or we have plans that would conflict with playtime). hopefully the fact that his friends will "still be there tomorrow" will soon take hold, and the fact that they're not together all the time won't be such a cause for alarm.

- riding his bike. we recently came into possession of a hand-me-down bike with training wheels. it was a long time in coming, as sam was loathe to be too grown for his beloved big wheel, but he could no longer pedal in comfort, as his knees were constantly bumping into the handlebars. 
we were really lucky that there was a bike to be handed down, and though there were a few issues at the outset, he's become quite fond of pedaling up and down the driveway and on short walks to the playground. there have been several excited exclamations about him being able to ride his bike to school next year. which means a) we're going to have to build some time into our commute to school come fall, and b) we either have to get sam a bike lock, or i need to figure out how i'm going to get lucy and a bike home from school each day.

- and speaking of school. wednesday will be sam's last day of preschool. i think this year of preschool has been about the best as i could have imagined. sam has made several really good friends, and has learned a lot. we're looking forward to attending his open house this tuesday. at the conference with his teacher, i got a sneak peek of his journal that he's been talking about all year. it is definitely something for the "keepsake box". his teacher was specifically impressed with the "detail" in his drawings, and it was interesting to hear about sam from her perspective.

- writing. for the past couple months sam has been working on sounding out words and writing things down. he's still not all that interested in reading books, but he does enjoy sitting down and trying to write out things that he's drawing or are of particular interest to him (mostly making books dedicated to the different kinds of star wars ships). one of these days i hope he'll find reading to be of more interest, but his teacher said that doing things this way works too, and at this point not to put a lot of pressure on him. still, i'm working on encouraging him in any way possible.

- t-ball. we signed sam up to play t-ball this summer. right now we're struggling with the fact that games and practices take away from "hanging out with neighbors" time, but i'm really hoping he'll warm up to it a little bit more as the summer goes on. once he's there, i think he's generally glad to be out with other kids, but the fact that some of the kids have more skill than he does right now is frustrating for him. i'm also hoping that he'll realize that sometimes just doing your best and having fun is good enough and not everything has to be about winning and being the best. that lesson is a hard one, even for grown-ups.

life is happening, right here

american dagger moth caterpillar crawling up the side of our house

here it is, nearly october, and it's been ages since anything has been put down in the blog. not a word about lucy's birthday parties (she had two), about me quitting my job (i did, and then i didn't), or about sam's adventures in preschool (he started the tuesday after labor day). so, in an effort to catch up, here are the highlights from the past two months:

lu's second birthday cake + lu successfully avoiding the token "messy first birthday cake" photos by using a fork 

(seriously? what one-year-old does this? mine, apparently.)

- the day after lu's first birthday, we packed up the car and left for the family reunion in minnesota. considering the length of the drive (and the ages of our little people), it was relatively painless. we enjoyed a week of playing and cooking and eating and hanging out (and more partying). the worst part of all that travel was having to leave after a week of reveling in the company of all that family (and easy access to lots and lots of swimming), and having to return to real life.

the view from my new office window, right before i quit

- but that's what we did. on monday after returning from vacation, mike and i headed back to work, leaving the kids in the hands of my very capable (and very tired, because they had also driven home from minnesota) parents. 
when i got to work, i officially gave notice that i would be leaving my job at the end of august. it was really hard for me to throw in the towel after being there for twelve years, but it seemed to be the best option for our family (not having to find a new sitter that would meet all of our requirements and still not cost an arm and a leg was the main consideration, of course). so, notice was given, and I spent the day unpacking my office (they had just relocated me to a better office with a great view *sigh*), and trying to wrap up a few projects that needed to be completed before the end of the month. the next day, my boss called to let me know that my resignation was rejected, and that her boss wanted to know if there was some arrangement we could come up with that would still allow me to work for them. i ended up signing an independent contractor agreement which allows me to work from home ten hours a week and i end up having more take-home pay (even with setting aside money for taxes at the end of the year) than i had when i was working twice as many hours and had to pay for childcare and transportation. i did lose any benefits i had retained when going to part-time, but since we are already paying into mike's benefits, it's not a huge loss. i'm still making out better than i would have if i'd simply gone to stay-at-home status. bonus.
the only hitch to working as a contractor was having to buy my own mac and software, but we figured if it needed to be done to continue working, it needed to be done, and we put down the chunk of change (though we'll easily make up the cost within the first few months of my contract) and bought a mac and software. of course we found out a week later that i was going to get my beloved work computer back (they wouldn't allow my personal computer access to the network, and i had network access written in as part of the contract). i now have two macs on my desk, and have done at least one (paid) project on each, so having spent the money wasn't so bad. huzzah.
i started my contract on september ninth, and have yet to have a ten-hours-only week, but i'm enjoying being home (for the most part), and that i still get to be a "working mom" if only in a very small capacity.

lu and grandparents + sam and mike at the concert (packed tight amongst the sea of concert goers)

- the last weekend in august, we took my parents out to the pixar concert at blossom as belated birthday gifts. it was a great night with good music and the foggiest, most surreal-looking fireworks display i've ever seen. i think john williams would have been more suited to our family (sam knows that music better, particularly star wars), but still, it was a lot of fun.

obligatory first day of school photo

- sam started at the onaway preschool the tuesday after labor day. his teacher, the awesome mrs. k, has sent home good reports so far, and sam seems to really be enjoying his time there and making new friends. we did have one report of too much talking (not surprising), but overall, preschool seems to have been a good decision and sam looks forward to the days he has school.

lucy flipping through her books

- lucy, for her part, is enjoying a little bit of only-child time during the two and a half hours that sam spends at school. most of the time she will play quietly by herself (something she doesn't get to do very often when sam is around), and i'm able to put in an hour or so of work. her two favorite pastimes are looking through her books (it's better if someone reads to her, but she will spend lots of time just looking on her own), and going through the box of hand-me-down shoes that came from cousin alice.
this morning we read our way through a stack of books and would probably have kept going if i hadn't popped some baby einstein in the vcr so that i could go make breakfast. i'm pretty sure that if having a kid that won't let me stop reading to them is my biggest problem, then life is pretty good.
lucy's favorite book right now is "brown bear, brown bear" and we've read it so many times that i can just recite it to her (which lucy thinks is almost as good, and likes that best when she's feeling fussy). i think it's the rhythm that she likes, and we often see her rocking back and forth to the words, but i can also see her mouth trying to imitate what she sees my mouth doing when i say the words. if she finds my recitation fascinating, i find her watching me just as much so.
lucy has also gotten to the point where she is easily cruising around the furniture and seems a bit disappointed when she gets to the end, but not confident enough to try to step out on her own. she can (and frequently does) stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything, and she can sway and dance and bop there before sitting down (or more likely plopping down) on her bottom.
she is obsessed with babies, and any book that has a baby in it. since baby is one of her few words, she uses it frequently for things that are clearly not babies (like daddy, for instance). she also enjoys giving lots (and lots) of kisses (which i find incredibly endearing, to say the least).
her new word for today was "stinky", which she heard sam say and then kept trying to repeat over and over. she can also say "taco" and "apple" quite well.

so that, basically, is the wrap-up of the last month and a half (or so). we're looking forward to october (though i'm getting anxious about the impending halloween costume making part of the month—ack!) and the candy corn it will bring. we have a few adventures on the horizon, and hopefully there will be more (timely) updates in the near future.

sam in goggles (because, when all is said and done, who doesn't enjoy a photo of a kid in ridiculously over-sized goggles?)

my little hero—or how sam saved a damsel in distress

shortly after mike picked the kiddos up from the sitter's yesterday, he messaged me to let me know that sam's good friend tabitha (whom he has been spending his mondays and wednesdays with over the summer) was in the hospital. apparently tabitha had swallowed some small, round magnets that were part of a toy (sam said they looked like gobstoppers). sam, after seeing her swallow one in his presence, immediately went and informed tabitha's mom about what she had done. 
it turns out that tabitha had swallowed a total of 13 magnets over the last few days and without sam's report, no one would have known. we were relieved to hear that she is in good spirits today and that it appears that no permanent damage was done (and i guess those magnets have the potential to do some serious damage). they had to go in with a scope, but it appears that they were able to remove them all, and she is now in recovery.
besides being thankful that tabitha will be fine, i was so glad that sam a) didn't get talked into trying to "taste" any magnets himself, and b) that he knew enough to go and tell an adult what had happened. appropriately, the boy who plays "knights and princess-knights" was able to help rescue his princess-knight friend. my hero!

in other sam news, we had our registration appointment this morning. sam is now an official shaker heights preschool student! we also received his session assignment (he'll be in the afternoon class), and found out his teacher will be mrs. k. there are two pre-preschool events at the end of august, and he will officially start on tuesday, september 3rd!

happy monday—a few videos to perk up your day

i know i've posted this one of sam on facebook, but i want to spread it around because it's awesome.

and here's one of sam speeding off on his bike. i want to remember him with his legs pumping like crazy. every time he goes zooming off, i think it's the cutest thing ever. (i don't usually worry about the zooming because he's been trained to stop at the corners and wait for a grown-up. sometimes he gets off his bike and stands with his arms out waiting for a hug.)

and here are a couple of videos of lucy being lucy. i love how she does that hop and slide thing in the jumpster. she doesn't get a whole lot of time in there much anymore (i even took it down last week so we could build a tent in the doorway).

project sam—update

sam and lucy playing airport

sam singing "itsy-bitsy spider" to lucy

sam's also had some new developments as of late:

• he's now started doing a little basic math with mike (mostly addition), which he seems to enjoy. he's also reading more every day and looks forward to words that mike will sometimes leave on the white board for him before leaving for work. we've also started regular letter writing practice, and before sam is allowed to play with the ipad each day he has to practice letters. he's able to write his name, so enjoys doing that more than anything else. we've started to introduce other letters, and he's doing pretty well with most of them.
• he's becoming a bit more adventurous when it comes to foods and is now asking for celery and even tried some sweet red pepper recently (though he didn't really like it). he's had kale chips (like) and cucumber (like), and requested broccoli as his vegetable last night. perhaps i'll make him into a veggie-lover afterall.
• he's been honing his drawing skills and has done some impressive drawings of "angry birds" recently. he's also been doing a lot better at coloring in the lines when he's asked to (i don't normally give him things to color in, i prefer to just give him blank paper, but we do have some coloring books around).
• this week he had two days of preschool screening to be a "peer model". yesterday they said we would find out by the end of the day monday if he was accepted, but they called earlier today to let us know that he was. we're pretty excited, though this will mean a drastic change to our daily schedule. sam was very enthusiastic when we picked him up both days, and i think it will be good for him to experience what classes are like, and it will be fun for him to meet new kids and make new friends.
• on tuesday i finally pulled out the fisher-price airport toy that i've been holding in reserve. sam has commented over and over again how much fun it is, and i'm having a blast watching him and lucy play with toys that i had so much fun with when i was younger. 

i'm sorry that i haven't had time for more posts lately, but if you want to see what we're up to daily, feel free to check out my instagram feed. there are new photos almost daily.

project sam—4 years old

i know this post comes a bit late, but it seems to me that "better late than never" is a good motto to go by. in any case, here are some bullet points for sam now that he's had four whole years of awesomeness:

• star wars is still VERY important. a day without star wars is a day that has not been lived to it's full potential.
• angry birds (and angry birds—star wars) are also key in a life worth living. and if he can manage to convince us that he deserves to use the ipad, then he is one happy fellow. also, he cannot be trusted to not explore via the ipad (this boy is a clicking maniac), so he needs to be watched like a hawk
• he has opened his own diner (with his sister as sous chef). it's a great place to grab a slice of pizza and an ice cream cone. he also makes a mean grilled cheese, and lots of interesting salads.
• he is not above playing with trains and cars still. this sometimes surprises me. i thought perhaps he'd outgrown that phase, but every once in a while it shows up with a vengeance.
• he's great at sharing toys with his sister (provided she doesn't put them in her mouth). 
• he still gets frustrated when he thinks he ought to be able to do something and can't. this includes playing lego games on the playstation as well as daddy does. i keep telling him daddy has had lots of practice (LOTS and LOTS of practice). he will be way too good at it before long.
• he has learned how to work the vcr, including what channel to put the tv on and enjoys picking out features to watch (particularly baby einstein and yellow submarine). he still hasn't mastered the idea of having to be patient while a video tape rewinds (he is the child of a dvd/netflix age).
• he likes to bake with mommy.
• despite the fact that he can dress himself perfectly well on his own, he enjoys having someone dress him (which basically means being in the room while he dresses himself).
• if you can survive all the lightsabering, bad-guy shooting, and general boyishness, he's a really sweet kid.
• he is learning how to sound out words. he calls it spelling. he gets super excited when daddy leaves new words for him to sound out on his little white board.
• is really starting to be interested in swimming. he can touch in most parts of the indoor pool at the gym, and enjoys jumping in and putting his face under the water. for a while it was a trauma to get his whole head wet, but not anymore! he has also starting practicing his kicking and moving his arms (not exactly successfully, but he's finally making the effort).

every day with sam is a great adventure, and i'm sure this year is going to be chock-full of new accomplishments!

the stats: weight 35lbs, 7oz (50.28%) and height 39.5" (37.62%)

two videos

because i just figured out how to get them off my phone. and because my kids are cute.

project sam—47 months old

i decided i couldn't do a lucy update without doing one for sam, too.
it's hard to believe that sam is quickly closing in on four years old. it seems like only yesterday he was a little peanut of a kid. not anymore. this boy can talk up a storm about all kinds of things, chiefly star wars, angry birds, and the antics of all of his imaginary entourage (particularly "good darth vadar", luke skywalker, and oliver track, among others). he runs, he jumps, he climbs, and he still crashes with regularity (i'm anticipating his yearly trip to the ER right around his birthday). he draws and colors (lots of maps) and can write his name quite legibly. he's fairly good at recognizing all his letters (though he gets stage fright quite frequently). i think he's looking forward to going to preschool, as some of his friends from daycare have already begun. this week he was invited to his first friend birthday party (his friend gavin from daycare is turning 5!), so that will be a new adventure for him. he still puzzles with ease, and enjoys lots of (educational) video games on the computer and ipad.
sam is still quite a handful sometimes (mostly when he's avoiding quiet time or bed), but overall, he's such a great little guy. he loves his sister with ferocity and is anxious to have her join in his adventures. and i'm doing my best to follow along on his train of fun.

what happened to all the bananas?

they all got turned into banana swirls, of course.

sam learned this recipe on daniel tiger's neighborhood a few days before christmas, and he was slightly (ever so slightly) obsessed with making them (despite the fact that he really didn't seem all that interested in eating them).

in any case, it was a fun activity. and luckily, i thought it was pretty tasty.

here's how you do it:

• take a banana and break it into pieces
• put the pieces into a tupperware and put them in the freezer
• after they're frozen (i can't remember how long we were able to wait before sam's head threatened to explode with excitement, i think it may have been four hours or so), toss them in the blender (i used my immersion blender) and swirl those suckers up until they're the consistency of slightly melty ice cream

it tastes like banana ice cream (but clearly much better for you than real ice cream. that is until you get the idea that it would taste like a banana split if you added some chocolate sauce, and maybe some peanuts, and a cherry on top...you get the idea).

now go and try it. you know you want to.

instagram update

we're long overdue for an update, so these aren't necessarily in chronological order:

new haircut (late setember) • lucy in the wee hours • lucy • lucy and sam • sky on the way home from the train • sunset over the hardware store • sleepy girl • purple sky • vintage sewing machine (costume making begins!) • out comes the jumpster • sam's costume (halfway done) • sleepy girl • fall knit layers (one of my favorite color palettes) • lucy in the jumpster with a snack from sam's restaurant • sam conversing with lucy

the boy and the girl

sammy | lucy

they're definitely related.

unpacking

we're home from oglebay with lots of unpacking to do. there are two very full laundry bags sitting downstairs waiting for my attention, and a sleepy girl is cooperating just enough to let me get this quick post up before i head down to take care of it.
lucy during a few of her (many) sleeping/feeding/burping episodes • sam goes mini-golfing with daddy and cousins • the good zoo train ride is a MUST • lucy and me on our final night in our cabin (fun fact: lucy has spent more nights in the cabin at oglebay than she has at home!)

sammy clip which i thought was longer, but is still cute

i thought i'd taken a nice long video of sam using his training chopsticks (he was doing a great job until he decided that the chopsticks were a spaceship. this happens with his utensils often.) i guess not. i'm posting it anyway. so there.

apropos of nothing

pudding painting

i remember hearing about this a million years ago, but thought it might be fun for sam to try today. he happened to talk daddy and me into buying some vanilla pudding at the grocery last saturday, so i mixed up a little bit with red, yellow, and blue food coloring and was going to let sam finger paint with it—plus, he'd get to lick his fingers and generally get all messy, fun right?

well, it turned out that sam was a little gun shy when it came to putting his fingers into the pudding paint—go figure! but he did use a spoon to blop it and stir it around and such. of course, his favorite part was the eating.

when he was done, we took the remainder of the pudding and i had him guess what color we'd make if we mixed the different colors—a tasty lesson in color theory.

making—father's day

sam and i cooked up a few projects for father's day. we made some wrapping paper and decorated this frame for grandpa. we also took a photo to put in it.

i particularly had a good time coming up with phrases for the wrapping paper like "i love you more than garbage trucks" or "i love you more than star wars", and sam really enjoyed getting a chance to use markers for a change. i love crafting with my little sidekick.

a day out with thomas OR how to make your kid so tired he ends up face down in the gravel

to be honest, i never really thought much about these kiddie events, but we thought it would be a fun way to spend a morning with sam. so last friday mike took the day off, we packed up some provisions, and we set out to the "a day out with thomas" event at the cuyahoga valley scenic railroad.
despite the fact that sam's got trains at home he had a great time driving around on the train tables once he could finally find an abandoned engine (and this took a while, let me tell you. he was EXTREMELY patient, and i was mighty proud of my sam standing there watching carefully for his turn and not having a tantrum because there weren't any engines free for him to play with. sometimes it's just as well to have a somewhat reserved three year old.)
there was a forklift and a few other small vehicles that they were letting kids get into and pretend to drive (also a hit). and after we ate a bit of lunch (so glad we packed something healthy rather than relying on what i can only assume was highly overpriced junkfood), we finally boarded thomas for our ride.
the trains were nice (as in air conditioned and quiet), and the ride was just long enough so that sam saved his fidgety sillies for the last five minutes. i can only say that this part was definitely geared to the 2–6 year old thomas fanboys (sam knows about thomas and enjoys watching the show occasionally, but he's FAR from fanboy status.) still, he liked the ride and had a good time. 
afterward we walked around and saw the miniature train displays, rang a big train bell, perused the bouncy houses (sam refused to go in alone), and sam got his temporary tattoo. 
at this point we were all feeling a bit hot and tired, but sam was keen on revisiting the forklift and buggy, so we went back over and sam played around a while longer. we probably should've tried to make a graceful exit at this point, but instead we pushed our luck and sam ended up face down in the gravel with another bonk on the head (a small cut on his left eyebrow—that left side of his head really takes a beating) and a scraped up knee. he was clearly way past "done". we found the first aid tent where they cleaned and bandaged up our boy (and where i proceeded to get entirely too dizzy to stand), and then quickly made our way to one last stop at the porta-potties and then home.
sam was out like a light within minutes of getting back in the car, and he didn't protest leaving until he woke up at home a couple of hours later.

some more photos from the day:

though i'm not sure we'll do the thomas event again, we did have a good time. we'd actually like to try going on one of the non-thomas rides sometime in the near future.