Bubbles and Crocodiles and REAL tools

Busy, busy, busy. "I help, Mommy. I help."

Mommy's little helper

Weekends just aren't what they used to be. Never a dull moment. Between potty training (yes, we've started that) and grocery store trips and getting the house ready for Baby and all the fun that summer includes (like pools and gardens and sandboxes and homemade popsicles), there isn't much sleeping going on in our house (much to Mommy's dismay).

Pool fun with Gedion

"Me do it! Me do it!!!"

This weekend Sam was a great help in putting together some new furniture, and on Sunday we got outside to enjoy the summer with Gedion before the heat got too bad. Two mommies of two-year-olds (who both desperately wanted a break from the whining and defiance and NO!) tried to sit and watch the play, but when there are toddlers and bubbles and garden hoses and plastic crocodiles, there is little rest to be had. More pictures of our fun summer playdate with Gedion here.

The first BIG tomato of the season didn't make it back to the house.

Sam makes sure everything is square.

Cousins and Pandas and Red Robins

I'm having trouble keeping up. Surprise, surprise. Even with a weekend off with no visitors and no planned activities, we were busy enjoying summer, and the hours got away from us. But before another week passes I wanted to share a few of my favorite moments...

Sitting in his car seat out in front of Lucy's house, getting ready to go in, Sam's face looks sullen and I ask if he's sad. He says yes and I ask why. He says "I miss my cousins." Who knew he even heard this word during our wonderful weekend with Zack and Sarah. I'm with Sam though. We miss them!

Sitting in the rocking chair in Sam's bedroom after reading 3 books (the usual bedtime routine), he tells me to sing him a lullabye (not the usual routine). I sing him Lullabye and good night, go to sleep little Sammy before snuggling him up in his blankets and tucking his panda bear into the crook of his arm. "I sing panda bear," he says. And he quietly sings "Lullabye, Panda Bear. Go to sleep, don't wake up," over and over again in the quietest, sweetest voice.

Saturday night after he's been in his crib for 20 minutes and I'm going in to check on him for the 3rd time (this IS part of our bedtime routine... "Check me five minutes," he says as he holds out all five of his fingers every time I put him to bed at night), I walk up to his crib and he tells me Panda Bear is sleeping. "Me not sleeping, Mommy. Panda Bear sleeping." After we say "Check five minutes" and hold out our outstretched fingers and touch them, I turn to leave the room. Behind me I hear him sing something his Auntie Ann taught him an entire week earlier. "Red Robin. Yum!"

Mom, I'm Busy!

Sunday night after we had read Green Eggs and Ham and The Big Red Barn and The Family Book and the Richard Scarry book that Sam calls his "piggy book" but before Sam had made his way to the blue playpen in the corner, Sam and I snuggled under the covers of Mom's spare bedroom and talked about what we'd done all weekend, what his favorite things were.

"Farmer's Market!" he said, and he reminded me of the Sponge Bob ice cream bar that he had eaten. "Icky eyes," he said. "TT eat the icky eyes."

We had stood under a tree in the shade with Sarah and TT while Ann and Zack shopped for bread along the crowded fourth aisle. Red syrup dripped down Sam's arm, and I noticed the gumballs for eyes that I thought he probably shouldn't have. I distracted him by asking him who his best friend was, and he yelled "Sarah!" while TT removed the eyeballs and spit them at the base of the tree.



"What about Bay Beach? Did you like Bay Beach?" I asked as I tucked the covers under his chin.

And he began to name the various rides one at a time. Airplanes. Race cars. Red choo-choo. "Bumble bee!" he said. "I ride bumble bee Sarah."

"Yes you did, didn't you? Did you like riding the bumble bee with Sarah?"

"Yes. Helicopter. Up and down in helicopter Annie."

"Yes. That's right. And horses. Remember riding the horsie," I said.

"Me no like ride horse," he said and I told him I knew that but that he was very brave for trying it. "Sarah like horsie. Sammy no like horsie," he said.

"And what else did we do, this weekend?" I asked.

We lay face to face under the covers and rattled through the long list of activities for the weekend... rides at Bay Beach, a trip to the Wildlife Sanctuary, playing in the backyard pool, a birthday celebration for TT, building castles and cars and trains and guns with the new blocks from Auntie Annie, chasing the kids around the yard with squirt guns, a trip to the zoo...


"I feed dragon, Mommy."

"Yes, you fed a giraffe. What did you feed the giraffe?" I asked remembering the leaves they were handing out because they thought the female might be pregnant.

"TREES!"

"Right. Leaves. What else did you see at the zoo?"

"Red choo-choo. And cranes. And lions. And ducks."

"Did you see a badger?"

"Yes. He hiding."

"And a moose?"

"BIG!!!"

"And the white alligator? Remember the white alligator?"

"See you later Alligator."


We had an action-packed weekend with the family, and even though we could lay there in the bed Sunday night and remember all the unusual things, the moments I will treasure were the times spent with family at home...

Sammy dancing the hot potato and peeling the banana to The Wiggles, Zack and Sarah showing Sam how their Nintnedo DSs work, Ann snipping beans in the backyard while the kids played in the pool and shot each other with water guns, Sam hanging from Ann's long legs as she gave him airplane rides over and over again on the living room floor, Sam following Zack and imitating everything he did (including telling Mommy "I'm busy" when it was time for a diaper change), TT peeling fresh farmers' market cucumbers but being unable to make any progress as we all ate them, Sarah wrapping herself in a towel and imitating an old lady with a cane, all of us scarfing down cheesecake and coffee ice cream after singing Happy Birthday to TT, Sam running up to the fan and singing Happy Birthday or "digger, digger" or whatever occurred to him after having discovered the funny sounds that came out when he talked into the fan, Sam and Sarah running circles through the living room and kitchen and dining room with Ann and I both saying "Watch out for the dishwasher" every time Sam rounded the corner into the kitchen where Ann was cleaning up, all three bed-headed kids sitting down to eat pancakes in the morning, Sam drinking "coffee" with TT and insisting on eating whatever Zack or Sarah was eating at any given moment, all three kids beating on Ann with Bob the Builder tools after she claimed the airplane was broken and needed repair, and so many other moments that were all about family being together. You can see more pictures of the fabulous weekend here.

Duckies and Worms with Blue Wings

Whenever TT and Sam spend a weekend together, I wish I could burn every moment into my brain. There are so many moments I want to carry with me and never forget. But then she visits again and there are new moments and new memories and time just moves so fast.



Despite my initial crabbiness (which is usually borne out of a desire to maintain control over food intake, especially now that Sam has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy, even though control is not possible when TT and Sam are together) we had a great weekend full of non-crabby moments that made me laugh and smile and feel grateful. At the farmer's market Sam helped TT pick out fresh green beans and black raspberries and zucchini twisted off the vine that morning. He handed the woman behind the table carrots and beets and kohlrabi and plump red tomatoes. At Piggly Wiggly he followed TT around the store, placing each item she gave him into the cart and helping her by presenting money to the cashier and waiting for his $4.52 in change. Each morning he ran to her room ("TT, Wake up! TT Wake up!") and they lay in bed reading Elmo's adventures and The Truck Book and Curious George. TT would ask what something was and Sammy would say "Duckie!" TT would say "Nooooooo!" and they'd laugh together hysterically and move on to the next picture.
"What's that?"
"Duckies!"
"Nooooooooooooo!"
Even from the other room the laughter was contagious.



While I napped on the couch they made potato salad, chopping the potatoes, peeling the eggs, and mixing it all together in a giant stainless steel bowl that rang out with each strike of the knife. Sam was covered with mashed potatoes and his breath smelled of cucumbers when he presented me with a small bowl of creamy potato salad to taste. "The best ever!" he said.



They ventured out into the rain to pick fresh green peppers and tiny red raspberries and parsley for our dinner, and Sam came inside to draw pictures of the garden... full of ants and weeds and "worms with blue wings." They threw blankets over their heads and pretended to be monsters or dinosaurs or giant scary animals. They folded and sorted and put away laundry, most of Sammy's ending up in a pile in the living room. They stood outside on the front porch and watched the rain and examined the animal poop on the aluminum threshold. They chased each other around the yard, down to the tree and back, around the house and into the driveway. They snuggled up on the big white chair and watched Backyardigans and The Fresh Beat Band, Sam jumping up to dance along with Mommy when the Yo Gabba Gabba crew did their dancy dance.

Even now I know there are moments I've already forgotten. How do we slow this all down?

A Boy on The Farm

Not a lot of time to write, but TT arrives for the 4th of July weekend, and I'm sure I'll have much to share after that, so I wanted to get in a few shots from our beautiful evening at The Pizza Farm last night.

No time to sit and eat, Mommy. There is playing to be done.

I don't get it, but I like this contraption. Spin me, Mommy. Spin me.

The bluegrass band

The fast slide

Boy Heaven

You can see more pictures from past trips to the farm here.

Two Moments

7:30am and I already have two moments that I want to remember forever.

Just out of the shower and pulling on my clothes for the day, I said out loud how I wasn't sure a white shirt is the best choice for a pregnant woman. Sammy looked at me after I had pulled it on and said, "Cool, Mommy. Pretty white shirt."

In the car on the way in to town this morning I was listening to NPR and Sam announced from the back seat "Green baby in Sammy's tummy is jumping on me bladder." Evidence that the kid remembers everything I say.

Muse-gic and Chickens and Raspberries and Bubbles

In the car on the way home on Saturday night I didn't really pay much attention to my aching calves and the blisters on my feet. Sam was in the back seat reminding me of all that we had done during the day.

"I go up close, Mommy," he said. "Me and Geddy up close by muse-gic."

"I know," I told him. "You were so brave."

"I see guitar. And piano."

"You did, didn't you?"

"And shakers! Fun shakers."

He thought a moment and I fiddled with the water bottle to suck down the last of the water we'd carried on our long walk from Kate's to WSU and back.

"And horns. Funny horns."

Kate had invited us to join her and Gedion for an evening of music in the park, and since Sam is always telling me how much he likes "muse-gic" and how much he loves the outdoors, I knew it would be something he'd enjoy. After a quick picnic and some play at the Catholic Workers house on the west end of town (Kate knows EVERYBODY), we strapped the boys into their matching Maclaren umbrella strollers and walked to WSU.

"Drums!" Sam said from the back seat. "I like the drums!"

"You like music, don't you?"

"Yes! Be fun," he said.


It had been hot and humid all day, but we'd started our morning with homemade strawberry smoothies and scrambled eggs before Lucy and her Dad came for a visit. Sam and Lucy played music and emptied the toy box and ran around the yard and blew bubbles and picked raspberries and chased each other until Lucy had to get back for time with her new baby sister before her nap. Sam was sad when she left but I reminded him that we were going for a picnic with Gedion later.


"Geddy's house?" he said. "We go Geddy's house?"

I explained that we were going to a picnic and then on to see some music in the park. At the picnic we ate grilled chicken and peaches and edamame and avocado ("More cado. More cado, please!") and Sam fell in love with a 12-year-old girl named Beth who drew beautiful pictures with chalk. Just before we left he ran up to her and told her we were leaving. "We go muse-gic in park," he said.


When we were about halfway to the park Sam started insisting he be allowed to walk and we started the "we're almost there" game. He pointed out flowers and trucks and he and Gedion both kept saying a word that neither Kate nor I could interpret. Stop? Star? They both knew what they were saying, but Kate and I never figured it out.



At the park Kate laid out a canvas blanket and I got out the bubbles and the boys chased bubbles and each other and laughed until Gedion decided he wanted to see the music close-up. He ran up to the band and stood in front and then ran back. Kate told him to bring Sam, to hold his hand. And the two of them ran up and stood in front of the band holding hands, mesmerized by the horns and piano and drums and shakers.

"What was your favorite part?" I asked Sam.

"Shakers. Me like shakers!"

You can see more pictures of Sam's two-playdate day that he tells me was "the best ever" here.

Kelly and the Big Boys

The Beach, A Giant Wet Sandbox

I wanted to take the time to write some engaging narrative about the weekend Sam and I spent with Kelly and her boys, wanted to sit down and remember the moments and record everything, wanted to burn the images of Sammy following and copying "the big boys" into my brain, wanted to try to recreate the laughter and pure joy we all experienced when Sammy tried to wake Zack and Josh by yelling "Cock-a-doo" into their bedroom at 9am, wanted to savor the moments we shared with Kelly over delicious fresh food prepared by our gourmet chef friend, wanted to write about the sun and sand and water and play at the county park beach, wanted to try to capture the joy we all felt watching sammy learn to throw a frisbee with Zack or running in and out of the big boys bedroom to spy on them.

Sam likes to do whatever the big boys do, whether it makes sense or not.

But time has not been on my side this week. Blame it on my crazy work load. Blame it on Sammy's later-and-later bedtime. (Note I said "bedtime" and not "sleep time." There is an ever-increasing distance between these two things lately.) Blame it on my desire to collapse on the couch and get back to Nancy Botwin and her friends from Weeds, Season 3 every night after Sam is in bed.

Sam and Josh play keepaway with the koosh ball

And so, before we enter into another weekend in which I'm sure we'll create more moments I'll want to remember, I share these pictures and Sammy's statement about the weekend as we headed home on Monday morning:

"I like Kelly. I sad. I miss Kelly. When go Kelly's house?"

Kelly's yummy mango daiquiris