Sam the Duck

Sam is spending his Halloween at daycare, where he will be in costume and exchanging treats. We celebrated together on Monday, when we joined my moms group in trick-or-treating at a local nursing home.

If the group of strange women and children in costumes scared Sam, he didn’t let it show. He followed along without question as several of us wrangled little giraffes, ladybugs, monkeys, tigers, and polar bears to the residents’ rooms. I only had to show him how to hold his little bucket out once. He saw that Crunch bar hit the bottom of his pail and was hooked. He didn’t hesitate to hold it out at each door we went to.

We were having a great time and had finished with the first and second floors. With only one floor left, we went in to an apartment to get Snickers from a woman sitting in a recliner. Without a sound, Sam chose to lie down on her carpet - and stayed there. My son was exhausted from the revelry.

Happy, happy Halloween!

He refused to stand still or smile nicely. He was WAY too excited about being a duck.

No, seriously, Mom. I am GOING somewhere looking like this?

Scoring big with one of the residents

Taking off to find more candy! (That is Owen the Tiger and Nico the Monkey scuffling in the background.)

Playing with his pumpkin at home.

Carving Pumpkins

Last Saturday, Sam carved his first pumpkin. Or - should I say - he touched pumpkin guts, was told to stay away from the knives, and eventually wandered off. He IS only one - maybe he'll be more actively involved next year!

Now It's Just Ridiculous

I think Sam is amazing. Of course I do. I write quite often about the adorable and wonderful things he does. However, I have always wanted to be completely honest here. I don't make any of this up, and sometimes we have bad days. But this kid of mine is such a blessing to me, it is unbelievable.

This week I started a new job, working Wednesdays and Thursdays. After having Sam at home with me for nearly two years, I found myself searching for a daycare for him. I found a home daycare I really liked, paid the deposit, and readied myself for Wednesday morning.

I've worked in daycare. I know how difficult morning drop-offs can be. I can literally count the number of times Sam has spent a day away from me, and all of those days have been with a family member. I barely gave my new job a second thought, but worried about my kid. I thought Wednesday morning might be okay, just because he wouldn't know what was going on. I then thought I'd get a call sometime that day that he was crying. I pictured picking him up that afternoon, him sobbing, me needing to rock him all evening, him waking up with nightmares all night. (Mommy guilt is REAL, people!)

I figured Thursday would be the worst. He'd leave Wednesday, needing me, but think it was all over. The sight of the house on Thursday morning would reduce him to tears. He'd be confused and angry. He'd become so upset I'd have to leave work to pick him up early. He'd be distant at home and it would take days to get him to play again. (I wish I was making this up. This is truly what I believed.)

Wednesday morning, I brought him into a basement full of kids and took off his shoes. He ran away. I called him back for a hug, which he quickly gave before again running to the toys. I called to check in on him around naptime. Sandy, his daycare provider, said that three times he looked up the stairs for me and got a little weepy (a knife through my heart), but that was it. He played and ate lunch and she rocked him to sleep for his nap. When I picked him up, he was happy and smiling and - I swear - seemed more self-assured. We giggled and laughed all evening and he slept like a pro.

Thursday morning I dropped him off and didn't even get a hug. He hit the ground running. I slunk out without him even turning around. At pickup that night, he saw me and gave a half-hearted whine. That was it. Sandy reported he looked for me once, with no tears, and had played all day. He ate lunch and went to sleep by himself on his little mat. We spent last night playing together. He was happy and adorable.

Thank you, God, for this sweet, social, laid-back kiddo of mine!

Raking Leaves

A few days ago, Eric and I raked the back yard. We love our huge, shady lot 11 months out of the year. October is another story.

When we started bagging the leaves, Sam ran over to help. We chuckled and thought we'd let him think he was helping. I held the bag low enough for him to reach, and he started filling it at an amazing rate. We stopped laughing when we saw how good he was at it. Bag away, Sam!

The three of us had a great system. I held the bag and stomped them down to make more room. Eric and Sam took choreographed turns lifting armfuls of leaves and shoving them into the bags. It was wonderful!

Once the slave labor was finished, I took the pictures below.

It's All So Confusing

It's hard to be one.

I've written before about Sam not being very interested in talking, but he is learning new words and phrases at an amazing rate. I find myself very nearly having conversations with him. However, some things are still getting confused.

Sam has a small stuffed elephant that lives in the bottom drawer of his dresser. Every time he pulls it out, I make a noise like a trumpeting elephant. About a week ago, he started trumpeting when he saw it. Today we were watching Sesame Street, and Sam pointed at Elmo and said, "I see it!" I said, "You see Elmo?" He thought a moment, and said, "El-ah?" and then trumpeted. I tried to explain that elephant and Elmo are two separate things, but he still looked bewildered.

A few minutes later, he brought me a box that he wanted opened. Trying to encourage him to speak, I said, "Use your words, Sam. What do you want? Do you want me to OPEN it? Open?" He dutifully opened his mouth as wide as it could go.

We're getting there!

Touch a Truck

On Saturday, Shoreview hosted their annual Touch a Truck event. The community was invited to a parking lot, where all were welcome to touch and climb in all types of vehicles. There were fire trucks, police cars, snow plows, water trucks, tractors, bobcats...it was incredible! Sam hardly cared that Eric and I were there. It was all about the trucks!

Can you spot Sam in this picture?

He was so happy to see the tractor, he froze.

Farmer Sam!

He was quite serious about listening to the firefighter describe

the inside of the firetruck.

Continued below...

Touch a Truck, Part Two

The Sheriff boat made him light up more than anything else!

My exact words were, "Don't you get too comfortable in the back of that police car!"

The good thing is, he seemed to really be listening.

Big trucks - happy boy!

Brand New Boots

Remember when you were young, and wearing winter boots for the first time of the season was such a great feeling? It was snowing! It was winter! Christmas was just around the corner! There were snowball fights and sledding. Snow-brick forts and making angels.

You wore the boots while walking to school with your sneakers tucked into your backpack. You’d change into your sneakers in the coatroom before school started. But…wait…you FORGOT your sneakers. So you were the kid clomping around the classroom, enduring snickers from classmates, remaining “it” at recess simply because you couldn’t lift your feet fast enough to catch anyone.

And then…there was no way to prevent it…you felt the first indication that your sock was slipping. It wasn’t a big deal at first, but as time went on the ankle of the sock slipped to your heel. Then the arch. Then, finally, the entire sock was mashed around three of your toes. If ‘fingernails on a chalkboard’ was a physical feeling, that would be it.

I couldn’t help being transported back to all of the highs and lows of winter boots when I saw Sam with his first pair today. I brought them home, and his eyes lit up. He carried them to me, sighing happily when I put them on his feet.

He was so excited. He watched his feet as he stomped around the living room. He sat down, stretched his feet out in front of him, and admired the Velcro straps. Then they started to get in his way. When he tried to kneel, he could hardly bend his knees. When he tried to stand up, he couldn’t get his feet into position, and he kept falling into the coffee table.

He bravely suffered through for at least 15 minutes. Finally, he came to me with tears almost brimming in his eyes. “Ah duh,” he said, pleadingly. Yes, Sam, all done.

The final insult? Finding his tiny little socks smashed painfully around his toes.

Being a kid is hard work!

Scooters and Snacks

Yesterday morning, I managed to make it to the toddler gym without getting lost. We had a great time! Sam held my hand as we walked through the building, but as soon as we walked into that big space filled with balls and blocks and climbers and bikes and slides, he let go and took off.

He was so busy! He isn't used to sharing toys, being an only child (and, I guess, only being one year old). There were a couple incidents when he just walked up to another kid and took their toy right out of their hands. He wasn't being naughty - he just didn't get it! When I intervened and had him give the toy back, he was puzzled, not upset. Then he'd scamper off to shove a half-deflated playground ball through a droopy plastic basketball net.

The gym was full of moms, babies, toddlers, and one dad. A couple of the moms had little plastic bowls of snacks for their kids. I bet they hadn't counted on needing to pack enough for my son, too! He has a supersense that allows him to hear a tupperware bowl being opened 50 yards away. I kept spotting him standing in front of a mother, feeding her child, who was also looking around nervously for the hungry kid's (Sam's) mom. After forcefully dragging him away from the umpteenth bowl of apple pieces and Cheerios, we (I) decided it was time to go home.

I have always believed that one should eat while exercising - my son just figured it out sooner than I did!

Serious Sam

Thanks to my dad for taking this great picture of Sam! We went to Grandpa Mark and Grandma Tina's house last Friday night. Contrary to what this picture suggests, we had a great time.