sam—a two-year-old character

(doodles of sam being sam)

i was recently talking to someone about sam's current mode-of-operation, and i can only think that he is doing a lot of dealing with his personal growth and finding out where he fits into this great, wide world that he wakes into every day. there are moments of sheer independence ("sammy do it 'self.") and then there are moments when you couldn't fit a sheet of airmail stationary (do people still know what airmail stationary is?) between him and i.

there is also a lot of this-not-that—by which i mean that he will ask for something only to say "no [insert food, object, action]" the moment he gets it. for example, at bedtime it's "no mack (his favorite bedtime truck)", so i take mack out of the bed, leave the room, and be called almost immediately to put mack back into his bed. and in general, i will let him fuss for about five minutes before going in to resolve the situation—which seems to give him the appropriate amount of time to decide exactly what it is he wants (or how he wants to assert his control) before he can finally settle down to sleep. it's a pattern that has formed, a little dance we do—"yes elmo!" "no elmo!", "yes blankets!" "no blankets!"

and so around our house there's a lot of push-and-pull, small battles going on (everywhere, all day, and luckily i have started to figure out where the landmines have been placed, where i can tread with confidence, and where i need to tip-toe carefully. there are times when, watching sam make his way down the stairs frontward (no longer backward on his hands and knees), i get the urge to scoop him up and carry him because every step seems a little wobbly, a little tentative (and god-forbid he should take ANOTHER tumble down the stairs and get ANOTHER bonk on his beezer…) it's hard to be the adult, to watch without being the "hovering safety-net", to let my little trooper grow up. but i know it's also hard for sam, because there's a lot that he wants to do that he can't. when he says "no" it's because he's also hearing a lot of "no". that he can't choose to not go to daycare on wednesdays, or not return books to the library when they can no longer be renewed online. so he's staking out his territory one small battle at a time, testing boundaries, scaling a little barbed wire (that parents have been so carefully placing in his path), and finding "sammy robert norstrom" in any place he can.

more power to you, little peanut (unless it means spitting out your cereal all over your clothes—and the table, and the floor—moments before we need to leave the house, that is).

a few photos from the weekend

sam visiting with cousins (and cousins' toys) | scarlet

winter—we are so over it

sam and i have been looking for spring with mixed success. have have seen the crocuses coming up (and a few other green friends), but for the most part, it's been downright frigid.

last week we sucked it up long enough to make a quick trip to the playground. the sun was shining brightly, but we had a hard time being convinced that it was gorgeous play weather while there was still snow on the ground. the trip did not last long and culminated in a tearful sam finally calling it quits and admitting that it was just too cold for this kind of outing.

we're awfully glad for our nice, warm house and are remembering to say a little prayer for those who aren't so lucky.

homebound, but not earthbound

we've had about five inches of snow in the last 16 hours or so, which means we're staying inside again today. it also means we're left looking for fun activities to do around the house (that don't include watching wall-e or cars for the billionth time). this morning we made a rocketship (with an astronaut and an alien and some stars to hang in the sky).

kitchen helper

when sam asked for cereal this morning (well after he'd eaten his breakfast), i thought it would be fun to make up some rice krispie treats (i haven't made real rice krispie treats in ages, so i had to look up the recipe online—it can be found here), so he stood at the counter and helped me count how many cups of cereal, and how many cups of mini-marshmellows.

of course, after "tasting" about half a cup of marshmellows, he wasn't actually interested in eating any treats, but it was kinda fun anyway.

he's now standing behind me washing dishes and singing "let's. go. fly. kite. up to heightest tight…"

spring flowers

i also tried this tutorial for making cute fabric flowers (and bookmarked a couple more here and here for later).

i was thinking i might use these for a necklace too, but they'd be cute on hairclips or headbands (if you're into those kinds of things).

beading frenzy

after looking through the statement necklaces in the new anthropologie catalog, i decided that some of the old necklaces i've made could use a funky, new update. so i armed myself with some new beads and such, and started cannibalizing and restringing. a few hours later (and for a fraction of the price) i've got some fun new neckware.

here are a few photos of what i've made so far:

and i've still got quite a few beads and findings left to play with.

at the very least, i'll be enjoying some homemade style this spring (when it finally decides to arrive, that is).