C is for cap

i've been advocating for sam to get a new buckeye hat now that he'll actually wear hats (well, baseball caps anyway—i think that cute winter hat i bought for him is going to take some convincing. we won't mention the matching mittens that cause squeals of terror.) mike and i picked up this red model for sammy when we were in columbus over the weekend. i think he looks rather smashing in it, and he seems to be warming up to it as well—he seemed a little skeptical about something that wasn't his beloved train hat. however, anything buckeyes tends to sell well.

*spoiler alert* the caped cuteness

just had to post this photo of sam trying on his supersam cape. at first he liked it better when i wore it and ran around the house pretending i could fly, but as soon as he realized that super why and word girl both wear capes, he was a little more into it.

i've still got finishing touches to add to his costume tonight, but for the most part, it's done.

random snapshots

and a few photos to round out this little post-a-thon:

sam after eating yogurt all by himself. i do need to get some video of him singing the yo-baby song and doing the yo-baby dance. it's hilarious.

sam enjoying his dried fruit and sesame street. we got him some dried fruit from BJs with apricots, prunes, dried apples, and dried pears. he's a happy camper when he can get some "apple raisins".

sam walking around in mommy's shoes (he was obsessed with wearing my shoes for a week or so).

sam wearing his pants on his head (he ran around like this for an awfully long time and was extremely amused with himself)

what we've been up to - trip to the metroparks

a few weeks ago i had a need to be surrounded by trees, so sam and i packed up a picnic lunch and headed out to the metroparks. we checked out the pond and the nature center, and took a nice long walk along the all-purpose trail. the day started out a bit grey and rainy, but we had a really great time.

sam's favorite parts were riding on the big frogs at the nature center (he had a very hard time leaving them), and watching all the ducks at the pond.

what we've been up to - collecting

when the acorns started falling, sam was so enthralled with picking them up that i thought it would be fun for him to have a collection. so, every time we go for a walk, we pick up an acorn or two. it's a lot of fun to see all the different kinds that we can find just on our normal romps out and about. so far we've talked about the different sizes that acorns come in, but i think when sam gets a little older, we might look up the different kinds together in the tree guide so we can learn which acorns belong to which trees.
i'm especially fond of finding the acorns with their "hats" still on (and i've glued a bunch of them so that they'll keep their little caps in place.)

what we've been up to - the playground

sorry about the lack of blog posts. things have been busy around here lately, and when they weren't, we were just having too much fun to stop and post about it.

sam's been enjoying the playground a lot lately (especially now that he can confidently climb and go down the slide all on his own). he's quite the independent fellow!

how to have homemade pancakes, even on a work morning—an homage to cousin "mmm mmm oscar"

here's a photo of sam this morning enjoying his pancakes. he's been eating a lot of pancakes lately (not that i can blame him, i mean, pancakes pretty much rock).

a couple of weeks ago i made sam a pancake breakfast feast, and even though he ate a ton (well, a ton for a rather small boy—so, like, probably four small pancakes), i still had quite a few left over. so, not being one to waste food (especially homemade pancakes! sacrilege!), i decided i'd just freeze them. i put layers of freshly made (but cooled off) pancakes between wax paper and stored them in a tupperware in the freezer. voila! hot pancakes are now on the menu on demand. just 25 seconds or so per side in ye old microwave, and we've got happy happy mornings!

the bonus: sam can eat pancakes all on his own. he rocks the fork like no one's business. (which means i can do other things while he munches away! woot!)

my recipe (from the essential vegetarian cookbook):

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated or brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg lightly beaten, or two large egg whites (or 1/4 cup egg beaters, which is what i use)

1 1/3 cups nonfat buttermilk or plain nonfat yogurt (i just use milk because i never have the other two on hand)

1/4 teaspoon salt (i added this)

i'm sure there are variations to be had, but i'm still in a "let's not mess with a good thing" place. we may get all creative with stuff later.

photo credit: mike took this photo with his new, fancy blackberry that he got for work. yes, i'm jealous.