Happy Halloween!

Here it is, the morning of the 31st, and Sam is already done with all of his Halloween activities. I never planned on taking him trick-or-treating so we have kept our eyes open for other fun events.

Last weekend Eric and I took Sam to the Dover-Eyota Fall Festival. Sam was able to dress up and played every game there. He even did a book walk. He was walking around and around with nine other kids, the youngest of which was about six or seven. When the music stopped the bigger kids would grab every chair around him, forcing Sam to run around the circle looking for an empty seat. It was pretty cute but we were definitely holding up the game. Finally the women running the game rigged it and Sam won his book.

Yesterday ended up being our big Halloween event! Grandpa Mark called to invite us trick-or-treating at his work. Once again I wrestled Sam into his costume and Grandpa Mark picked us up. The trick-or-treating was amazing! I hadn't expected it to be so overwhelming. It only took Sam a few minutes to figure out that he needed to look for the offices with a pumpkin sign on the door. There, he'd saunter in. "Hi," he'd greet the person inside. "I a pirate."

Over and over Sam was allowed to pick out a piece of candy to put in his bag. The bag got so heavy, I decided to skip the last few hallways. I couldn't imagine what we'd do with that much more candy! In addition to the trick-or-treating, there was an activity room set up with Halloween-themed coloring books for each of the kids. We sat and had cookies and punch while Sam colored the first few pages.

Once again, Grandpa Mark came to the rescue with his camera.

This drives me crazy. Doesn't he look thrilled to be putting on his costume? I had to beg, yell, and threaten every time he had to put it on. Once on, he was so happy. He drives me nuts.

Here he is - Captain Sam. Note the shiny sword and earring.

May everyone's day be filled with as much candy as possible!

She's No Lady

About a week ago, I mentioned Sam's love of my vintage Fisher-Price Western Town. Unfortunately I have somehow lost most of its accessories. There used to be several cowboys and a sheriff, a stagecoach, and two horses. All I have left of the original set is the Western Lady and the Indian Chief.

The lady has quite the little body on her - note the cinched, plastic-peg waist. She has a jaunty little green hat and a matching green carpet bag. The chief is a moderately offensive depiction of some unnamed Native American tribe. He even has a prominent brow painted on his little face. While history tells us that these two would not have travelled in the same social circles, Sam has given them a (rather romantic) growing relationship.

He calls them Dude and Lady. Dude and Lady scamper all over the town together. They talk to the animals, go in and out of the barn, and give each other rides in the horseless wagon. More than once I have walked in on Sam holding the two of them in a plastic embrace, hugging and kissing and telling each other "I love you."

I don't have the heart to tell Sam that Dude and Lady's relationship will never be allowed in their old western town. Instead I smile at them and whisper, "You're just ahead of your time."

Where Does The Time Go?

Our days are flying by. Sam and I have a quick morning together. We eat, get ready, and play with his animals. Then we're out the door to Dusty's house and I go to work. We're back home in the early afternoon for more playing and chores. Suddenly I have to think about dinner, and Sam's bedtime routine starts between 6:00 and 6:30. The last two months have been a blur!

That's why I haven't been actively posting lately. I honestly believe I've posted in the last day or two, and then am shocked to find out nearly a week has gone by!

Right now I'm off to get ready for work once again...but I am hoping to carve out some time for blogging very soon!

Mind Boggle-ing

I don't know where I get these things. I am a big fan of garage sales, so I suppose I picked this up on one scavenging trip or another. Sam has a Boggle, Jr. game and loves to play it! I, too, love this game as I don't have to play it with him. I hate to say things like that but really - some days I wonder if I'm going to come out of raising my kids with any brain function at all.

I don't worry about Sam's brain function. He whips through card after card, copying the letters. Each card has a three-or-four letter word along with a picture. Sam's job is to find the corresponding letters on the letter cubes. I know that he is simply matching letters and then naming the item in the picture, but I still love to watch him do it.

"Okay. B-O-A-T. Where T? Here A! Okay...here O! Hmmm...oh, HERE B. B-O-A. Need T. Got it! B-O-A-T. Boat!"

If someone wasn't watching him do it, it would sound a lot like he was reading. I'm so proud of this little guy!

Thank You, Hunks Of Plastic

Thank you, Julie Aigner-Clark. I'm not quite sure what your role in the Baby Einsten company is, but every book and toy claims to have been inspired by you. At three weeks old, Sam would lay in your activity gym for hours at a time. As soon as he was too old for the gym, I started putting him in your exersaucer. He would sit in that thing and play for an hour at a time - two or three times a day! Your bright colors and slightly terrifying characters got me through the first six months of Sam's life. Thank you.

Thank you, Fisher-Price. You created something special when you made the A-Z Learning Zoo. Sam loved lining up the animals and reading the letters on their chests. Because of you, my son knows what a urial is. He matched those animals to their letters on the mat so many times. I was able to watch several movies - uninterrupted - during the first weeks this zoo was in our house. Thank you.

Thank you, Target, for carrying an affordable train table the month Sam turned two. I never would have spent several hundred dollars on a table and train sets. Your reasonable prices brought the Little Tree train sets into our lives. Sam still plays at that table for hours on end. He drives trains, rearranges the tracks, and races his Matchbox cars. The sides of the table are decorated with stickers. If I can't find Sam, nine times out of ten he is in his room, quietly amusing himself at that table. Thank you.

And finally, thank you Grandma Barb and Grandpa Mark. About 25 years ago, you gave me the Fisher-Price Western Town. For any number of unknown reasons I have held on to that toy. It has now been passed on to Sam. I think the Western Town has made Sam happier than the rest of his toys combined. He doesn't sit and play for hours - he sits and plays for days. My recent addition of a $5 bag of animals from Target has cemented this toy into Sam's routine. Thank you.

Sam sits at the kitchen table playing furiously. "Hi, horse. You go in barn? Raining? Too wet? Yes, you go in barn. Oh, hi, mama cow. Where baby cow? In grass? Okay. Baby cow in the grass. Bunny, you go down slide. Go down. Whee! Kay, bunny? You okay? Kay. Sheep, where mama sheep? Baaa! Baaa! Oh no! Puma! Ahhhh! Mama sheep okay." (I have to admit I'm alarmed by the puma. It comes and threatens the animals at least once a day. There is no plastic puma - only the one in Sam's imagination - but it seems to pose quite a threat to his farm.)

Bless you, toys that will never decompose. As far as I'm concerned, you have earned the right to outlive us all.

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was a beautiful (although a little warm) fall day, so Eric and I took Sam to the pumpkin patch. This place is really huge - we saw a lot more than pumpkins!

Sam had a blast crawling in and out of the miniature town and sitting in every single play tractor. I think he tried every slide there and played in both water and sand activity areas. We did not do the corn maze, as the very idea of them just terrifies me.

Sam's favorite part of the farm was feeding the animals. We put quarter after quarter into the little machines, filling his hands with corn. He dumped it down a tube and the chickens pecked away at it. In the goat pen, a big lazy goat just sat at the end of a tube with his mouth open. He caught everything that was sent down and chomped away. Sam thought that was hilarious and fed him most of his corn.

After all of the fun we took a tractor ride out to the field to pick a pumpkin. Sam likes really gross pumpkins. He chose one that from one angle was round and orange. As soon as it was turned we could see that one entire side was flat and green. It could best be described as an inverted pyramid. The rind was so thick and distorted we didn't think he could even carve it. I distracted Sam as Eric hid it out in the field. We then picked a big, round pumpkin for Sam to carve this week. So sue us.

I just now called to him in the next room to ask him what his favorite part was. "Goats!" he yelled back.

Really, aren't goats what Halloween is all about?

Why, I Oughtta...

I don't always make the best parenting choices. Sometimes we skip Sam's bath. Sometimes we watch TV when we should be reading. And more often than not, I forget I'm talking to the equivalent of a tape recorder with a playback button.

When Sam and I are being silly there is a fair amount of threat done on my part. As my voice gets more menacing, I repeat, "Sam, play with the horse! YOU PLAY WITH THAT HORSE!" Sam thinks it's hilarious (because it is) and always ends up with hiccups from laughing too hard.

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch reading and Sam asked me to go play cars with him. I told him I would in just a few minutes. He asked again, and I again I said I'd be there in a few minutes. Clenching his teeth and shaking his fist, he said, "MaMA! You play cars!"

I was so shocked I burst out laughing. He wasn't being mean or naughty at all. He meant it to be silly and was doing a dead-on impression of me (and Jackie Gleason).

One of these days, Sam...one of these days!

So Close To Normal

Normal: Sam is fascinated by Grandpa Mark's iPhone.

Not normal: Sam can pull up and page through pictures on Grandpa Mark's iPhone.

Normal: The other day at Wal-Mart, Sam picked up a Matchbox car and asked if he could have it. I said no and he put it back.

Not normal: Passing the electronics section, Sam spotted an iPhone and began pleading to bring it home. An iPhone. For a two-year old.

If I wasn't caving on a Matchbox car, he certainly wasn't getting an iPhone for that day's treat.

Aim Higher, Sam

A couple days ago Eric and I took Sam to a little pumpkin farm. It wasn't a huge spectacle but Sam enjoyed the hay bale maze and rows of orange pumpkins.

The farm was selling a wide variety of vegetables and apples and Sam was impressed. We took a quick swing through the small shop before we went out to choose a pumpkin.

Sam picked up the first pumpkin he saw. "Is that the pumpkin you want to bring home?" I asked him.

"No," he replied. "One apple."

We told him we would get him an apple and he continued to look at the pumpkins. Every time he found one he liked, we tried to take it with us.

"No," Sam said every time. "No punkin. One apple."

We couldn't convince him that he could have both a pumpkin and an apple and eventually gave up. We went back to the shop and picked out what we wanted. Sam got his one apple and merrily chomped away at it the whole way home.

He's easy to please!

There Are No Fire Trucks At Grandpa's House

Yesterday Grandpa Mark told me that local fire stations were hosting their open houses. Considering how much Sam loves fire trucks, I knew we'd be going. It didn't start until 6:00, which is very close to bedtime, but we decided to make an exception.

The exact plans were up in the air all day so I didn't want to mention it to Sam. Once I was pretty sure we were going, I told him we were going to have fun and we were going to see Grandpa Mark but I didn't offer any more details. Sam, of course, assumed we were going to Grandpa Mark's house and was delighted.

Sam and I had our shoes on when Eric got home from work. Eric ate a quick dinner and then we zipped off to the fire house. We met Grandpa Mark and James in the parking lot and went inside.
We walked right into the huge garage where three fire trucks were parked. Several large men milled around in various stages of dress in uniform. We were greeted and one man offered Sam a red hat to wear and another gave him a sticker for his coat.

It all sounds fun, right? Well, my kid was so confused. He was tired, a bit overwhelmed, and a little shocked by this turn of events. He refused to go near the trucks and started to cry. Really cry! Eric had to hold him for several minutes as we both tried to explain to him what was going on. We asked him if he wanted to look at the trucks, and he said, "NO! Too big!" After looking around in bewilderment for another moment, he asked me, "Where's Tina?"

Overwhelmed or not, Sam is still Sam, and he was able to turn it around. Within minutes he was cheerfully going along for a tour of the fire house and climbing in and out of trucks. Once he understood what was going on, he had a blast. He loved the big tires on the trucks and watched the other kids try to spray the hose. He even waved and happily said good-bye to the firemen as we left.

Grandpa Mark took this picture of James and Sam. This is when Sam was feeling confident, and he still looks a little confused!

I don't like surprises, either. From now on, I'm going to let Sam in on our big plans!

Chutes of Death

Sam really wants to play games. He loves game boards and all of the little pieces. However, a lot of game rules are still too advanced for him. On Saturday Eric's sister Shannan brought over two Thomas the Train games for Sam. He was so excited and kept begging me to "play Thomas," but they're not something he'd understand yet.

This morning he was so bummed about not playing Thomas. Then - aha! - I remembered that we have Chutes and Ladders. He has to spin an arrow (check), read the number (check), and count that number of spaces (check!). I only had to explain it once before we happily played away.

Right away it looked like he was going to win. I thought that was great, because then I'd be done. Then he landed on a slide. He started over. Then I landed on a slide. I started over. We climbed up and slid down that board for ages before he finally got tired of it and left. I almost finished it by myself, just to prove to the game that at some point, it would HAVE to end.

I need to stop having great ideas.

My Little Carb Addict

As I start to write this, I'm realizing that I have done a lot of posts about food. Hmmm...I'll worry about that later.

Sam loves bread. White bread, wheat bread, bagels, hot dog buns...he loves it. It is the only thing he asks for at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes I can get away with a little peanut butter or lunch meat along with it, but he just wants bread. I can't count the number of times I've simply pulled a slice out of the bag and handed it to him for his afternoon snack.

Recently we were grocery shopping and I threw a loaf into the cart. "BREAD!" Sam cried. He snatched it up and hugged it to himself, singing, "Bread bread bread! Bread bread bread!"

I can't imagine what the people around me thought. Wouldn't a child have to be half-starved to be that excited about bread? "Sam," I found myself hissing at him, "Don't talk about bread in front of other people."

At James' game last Saturday Sam was getting hungry. "Bread? Mama, bread? Please?" he begged as he hung off my legs. Having no bread with me, I tried to ignore him. He ended up in a heap at my feet, crying, occasionally having enough air to gasp, "Bread!" before dissolving into tears again. There were about 50 other parents there who could testify that I have a child who is so neglected, he cries for bread as his mother ignores him.

I'm going to jail.