Friends at the Zoo

About a week and a half ago, our Mom2Mom group had a field to the zoo. It was Sam's first time going with this group of ladies. But he had a great time and was super good.



And it was cool enough out that the animals were in Great moods.



Some were sleepy, but some weren't.




Loved meeting this giraffe at Feeding Time.



So did Sam.







And the baby elephant was out playing. She was running around her mama's feet, and playing in a mud hole.



She reminded me of Dumbo in the bathtub.




We had a great time visiting the Oceans, which we hadn't done in quite some time. Sam wanted to take on the Jellies just like Nemo.



We got to check out the sharks during feeding time.



Though it was still summer, so the Polar Bear was less than festive in the heat.





Sam was even so patient he let me go take a few pictures of flowers.

Meet me halfway, across the sky

I dare not tell Chris, that last week, while he was in school, Sam and I got to go meet the Pfanschmidts. Bryn had also just started Kindergarten, but what a great gift for me to see my friend Amy, and for Sam to see his friends Shay and Liam. I swear Shaylee acts like she wants to marry Sam, but I hear tell she's a little on the flirtsy side. Then again, so are my boys.

We met at the Wendy's in Lebanon. And it was a gorgeous day outside. We ate our lunches, but they had a few picnic tables outside, so we just went outside to sit and talk, thought we'd let the kids run around. It occurs to me, that Sam is an entirely different kid. I never would have felt comfortable with letting Chris run around at this age. Chris would have been pushing the limits, trying for the parking lot, trying to hurt himself in all manner of methods. But Sam doesn't. I'm not sure if it's because he's more mellow, or because I am.



I didn't realize the kids were going to have so much fun. This was the first time that Baby Liam got in on the play. I guess we can't call him Baby Liam so much anymore, now that he's approaching 1 1/2. But if Sam is always going to be my Baby, Liam can be Baby Liam. Liam and Sam were having a great time sorting rocks.



Though Shay was vying for Sam's attention too, by developing quite a nice rock collection.



I love these kids. And I think I speak for both boys when I say we all miss them very much.



Not sure if they are waving Hi or Bye Bye. Whatever, they're adorable, all at the same time.

Sam's Artwork

Last Sunday, during big brother's flush, Sam got a hold of one of his markers. Not a crayola brand marker. And attacked the new house walls. This comes second to mere days before, we thought he accidently took the purple sharpie to the staircase. Turns out sharpie is hard to get out. At least this marker came cleaner with windex. But looks like we're going to have to do more than just a few paint touch ups with this budding artist around.

Bonding Activities

Yeah, Sam's Batman.



Big brother started kindergarten last week. And while big brother's away, little brother will play. Play with all Chris's toys.

Sam and I find ourselves alone. And it's kind of weird. It's an entirely different dynamic going from 2 down to 1 child for most of the day. Turns out Sam is Hysterical! Around Chris he's a magpie, but with just me, he's such a funny little sweetheart. He tells me "Mommy, I yuv you." All the time. I love it. Our first lunch at home alone together was pretty quiet, then I'd glance over to him, and he'd smile at me, giant great cheesy grins, squishing peanut butter sandwich through his teeth.
It's amazing how smart he is too. I discovered he can count to 10! Last week I was counting Sam into Time Out (he's gotten feisty too and was mouthing back, little mouth thinks he's just like big brother) and I said, "1. 2." and he filled in, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Sure he forgot 5, the first time, and once I recovered from my amazement, he got the timeout too. This week, he can count all the way to 10. Amazing.

It was so quiet last week, Mommy and Sam didn't know what to do with each other. I let him go outside to play in the backyard, but sticks just aren't as much fun without brother.

So we met up with friends, Mommy's friend Melissa has been borrowing a boy, Lathan, who is just about 6 weeks younger than Sam, and probably 6 pounds heavier. So we went to the Zoo with them on Friday.



Sam likes to go and play, but he doesn't go very far. I don't have to worry as much about him getting into danger. It's kind of nice and refreshing.





We hit the dolphin show, which was great.



But I must confess my favorite part was when they played some fast beat music, and the great thing was that Sam started clapping. And he was Right on the beat. Amazing again, and it was AWESOME!

By the time dolphins were done, so were the boys, so we did a little drive by to the penguins. And one came right up to the glass to say hello to Sam. So Cool.



Friday night, after naps, we got a little crazy, and took the boys to the Children's Museum. Daddy joined us too, for Members only night.



The boys love the Children's Museum. And Mommy loves Members Night because it's not a bunch of big kids on field trips, but lots of families. When we entered we saw a sign that the Diego exhibit was closing this weekend. So we visited it first.



I think the boys were happy with that decision. Sam spent half his time playing with Diego and the pirate ship. And the other half of his time moving Tiko's nuts around.



And we spent 2 hours in the Diego exhibit, with happy boys, and didn't see anything else in the museum but our friends the Julius's, and that was all we needed. Good days. Good week.

Hot mess of cooties

Sam was still a hot blistery mess this morning. He has developed an awesome tendency to just whine and scream "IWANTMOMMYIWANTMOMMYIWANTMOMMY" over and over. Sometimes he remembers to breathe. It makes my ears want to I'm pushed to yell, I'M RIGHT BLOODY HERE! He doesn't seem to notice. Eric's theory is that 'I Want Mommy' is his default, he doesn't think what he's saying it is just what comes out of his mouth, whether he actually wants me or not.
I believe it.
It's hurting my head.
So when he woke up this morning with more red marks on his neck, I called the Dr.
We got in, and the good news is that Sam weighed 23.6 pounds. The not so good news is that it is indeed Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, and there's not a single thing we can do about it. Also, he developed red marks on his shins, almost mosquito bite -esque between waking and getting to the doctors. Dr. C isn't worried though, he thinks it's just how Sam is reacting to the virus. He doesn't have the fever, which indicates he's on the downslide. He says though he's contagious until the blisters go away. Hopefully that's by Friday. I can stand cancelling everything else this week, but we've got a big family reunion planned for this weekend.