Sam just said this to me:
“So, Mom. If a spider eats me, that will make me be Spider-Man, right?”
Folks, talk to your kids about mutations before they learn about them on the street.
Archives for : Sam
Sam has his first loose tooth.
It is the very first tooth that came in, on the day that he turned 10 months old, nearly six years ago.
I’m a little verklempt.
Because I craft to deal with feelings, I made him this:
And then he asked me to cut his hair. It was getting pretty shaggy.
You can see some durings on flickr if you like.
It’s easy for me to forget how big he’s gotten. Not only am I too close to him to see clearly, but his speech is still quite a bit behind, which makes him seem younger. I seriously have no idea when he turned into this little man.
Computer Time, a Sam story
Tuesday afternoon I was sitting in the living room with Grace on my lap, watching Pinocchio. Well, she was watching Pinocchio; I was resting my eyes, trying to fight off a headache.
Sam appeared at my elbow. “Mama, I got an idea.” “Yes?” “I have to play the sheep game!”
The sheep game is Home Sheep Home 2 (he prefers it to the original) on Kongregate. I have the main page of Kongregate bookmarked on my toolbar, but I always just search for the sheep game once I’m at the site.
“I’m sorry, buddy, I can’t help you right now.”
“That all right. I will do it!” And he ran upstairs. “Mama, now you tell me the letters.”
I was a little doubtful, but I spelled out H-O-M-E. Seconds later I heard the music of the game.
Painted Lady, a Grace story
Yesterday, Grace said to me, “Mama, go asleep with me!”
It was mid-afternoon, and she does not take a nap, but I got into bed with her anyway.
PARENTING TIP: never turn down a request for cuddles.
I laid down and she flopped across me, grinning. “Mommy! A DRAGON!” “Yes, baby. That’s my tattoo.” She flopped herself around to look at the other arm. “MOMMY! STARS! One, two, fee!”
I whispered, “I’m going to get a flower there too. And one more star.”
“A FLOWOO?” She was beside herself and jumped out of bed.
I’ve been telling him Hawkeye’s name for months, but he just keeps telling me, “No, Mama, that not Hulk guy.”
Yeah.
So can you guys come up with something else for me to call Hawkeye? I’m pretty sure I can’t get away with telling Sam he’s The Green Arrow.
The children are sick. Not take-them-to-the-doctor sick, just a summer cold. (Isn’t it funny that we–or at least I–feel the need to specify that it’s a summer cold, as though summer colds were in any way distinguished from regular colds? BUT IT’S JULY! And it’s hot out, see? So a cold is funny!)
I should have known something was up when Grace was super-cranky for like three days straight, but it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that I figured it out. She’d finally gotten down off my lap, after a couple hours of climbing on me and yelling. I thought she’d gone downstairs, and after a few minutes I got up to check. That’s when I found her at the top of the stairs:
Actually, this picture? Is from the second time I found her asleep at the top of the stairs. No joke, it happened twice. After the second time, I put her in bed. She slept until 9:00, played for an hour, and then asked to go back to bed.
Yesterday we pretty much watched TV all day. Grace took a nap in the afternoon and I fell asleep putting her in bed, which makes me think I might be coming down with something too.
Sam is not visibly sick unless you know him very well, which I am pretty sure I do. I gave him my Nintendo 3DS and he played Mario until the batteries ran out. I considered taking it away a couple of times because he was so intensely frustrated, but every time he figured it out, and who am I to take that sense of accomplishment away from him? He also turned bright red (dehydration, Will picked up Gatorade for him) and willingly drank children’s ibuprofen, which he has always found to be utterly revolting (it is). Last night he refused to go to bed unless he could sleep in the big bed with Mama and Daddy and Kiki (his nickname for Grace) and Sammy.
And so it was that I went to bed at 8:30 last night, on the bottom bunk. I got into my own bed at some point (not difficult) and then Grace nursed all. night. long. It’s been a long time since I’ve been a human buffet all night and OH BOY I AM SO TIRED NOW. I got up with her around 5:00 and her diaper was dry–yikes. I mean, sure, she is nearly potty trained, but she should not have been dry after drinking all night. And did I mention that I’m a little dried out? OMG.
If Will had more sick time accrued I would ask him to stay home so I could take a nap, but alas.
I think I’m pretty good at being Sam’s mom. He is an easy-going, fun kid, and we get along really well most of the time.
He has…ideas about things, though. And once he gets one of these ideas in his head, good luck changing his mind. Examples include: this food he’s never tasted is “bleh;” it is his turn to choose a show in Netflix; Netflix is called Roku; et cetera, et cetera.
Today we were in the car and there was a police cruiser in the lane next to us. “Mama! A policeman! That’s a bad guy.”
Uh-oh.
I know where he got this idea. He is currently OBSESSED with The Pirates of Penzance, and he believes implicitly that the pirates are the good guys. Since the constables are trying to catch the pirates, clearly policemen are bad guys.
Did I mention that half of Will’s family is current or past law enforcement? Yeah.
I think I handled it okay, but I kind of doubt I made any real impression on his opinion. Ack.
What I was doing 6 years ago today:
I’m not sure if I was between or in mid-contraction there, but either way I was getting ready to evict Sam from my body!
Six years ago I was about to become a mother, and Will a father. Sam will be six years old tomorrow.
I can’t really believe it.
This morning we took him to buy the thing he’s asked for almost every day for the last few months: a red bike.
He is now the proud owner of a Schwinn with 20 inch wheels. The folks at the bike shop took off the pedals for us so that he can learn to balance on a bigger bike before learning to pedal (he had a Skuut balance bike before, which he outgrew a while ago–Grace is almost big enough for it now).
SIX. It’s going way too fast for my liking.
Sam likes to put his booster seat in the center of the backseat. He can’t buckle himself in at all when it’s there, and I have a great deal of difficulty. When I succeed (possibly following some cursing), Sam likes to pat me on the back (literally!) and say, “You did it, Mama! You win!”
So one time I replied, “I’m Buzz Lightyear, I always win!” (This was a deliberate misquote from the second movie, when the other Buzz says “I’m Buzz Lightyear, I’m always sure.”)
The other day I buckled him in and he whispered, “You’re Buzz Lightyear.”
I love my kid so much.
The other day we were at the grocery store and Sam asked the cashier her name. When she told him (Maya), he said his name is Drew. He is calling himself Drew because apparently two names weren’t enough. Wait, I mean, because Will gave in and cut Sam’s hair like Drew who Bics his head. He used the #2 attachment, so it’s not as bad as it could be, but I WANT MY SAMMY BACK.
This just happened:
Grace: More chock-it bunna, Mom?
Me: I’m sorry, Gracie, it’s all gone. You ate it up.
Grace makes a sad face.
Sam: I want Sam’s chock-lit Kiki.Me and Will: ???
Sam: Kiki chock-lit mine.
Yup. He was saying he wanted Grace (“Kiki”) to have the rest of his. And then I cried. (And Will cried, because he just finished cleaning Grace up from eating her bunny.)
He is really the best big brother ever.
I cut her bangs to just above her eyebrows, but she keeps pushing them off her forehead so they look shorter. I might cut them thicker–gonna give it a few days and see how they behave.
Hopefully this will help to keep her hair out of her mouth/food/everything. She’s on a bath strike and I’m lucky if I get her clean once a week right now, which would be plenty if 1) her hair wasn’t always sticky, and 2) her hair didn’t tangle so badly (I subscribe to the Curly Girl belief that curly hair should not be brushed, just combed when wet). I’m hoping the bags will help with both problems. Also last night I braided her hair and that made a huge difference, since it tends to get matted while she’s asleep and it can’t tangle if it’s braided.
After I cut Grace’s hair, Sam asked for another haircut. It’s getting a little shaggy so I told him we could do it over the weekend. Then he told me he wants “no hair, like Drew.” Drew who Bics his head. Um…
