Things I Have
Learned
It used to be that Sammy
wanted to eat or drink right when we got up. Now he just points to the stereo
and starts to dance. I guess he likes dancing!
I’m not sure what made
Samson giddy with laughter at lunch a few weeks ago. Aunty Monica’s funny faces
had him cracking up. But upon closer inspection he was having mac and cheese.
And he had smeared it all over his face and in his ears and hair. He really loves
mac and cheese. Toss up…
3 weeks ago I made a note
that read “ Sammy’s bath is no longer....errrr….clean.” It was bound to happen
at least once. Last night I added a note: “…And now neither is that small area
on our carpet”
Sammy has become very friendly
at the park. If you have food. His new favorite hobby is to walk up to all kids
in the park that have food. He then says "hiiii". Followed by
"mmmmmm". Followed by “bite?” bite?” The way to a Sammy’s heart
is truly through his stomach.
Inadequate parental
moment of the week: I mentioned several
weeks Sammy turns into a screaming tornado when we try to change him. Well
Kenia (our nanny) has been working on this with him. Even trying to make it
fun. So I walk in the other day, notice he’s in need of a change. All of a
sudden Sammy runs over, rolls onto his back and picks his legs up and repeats
after her chant of “diaper time! Diaper time!”. Really? REALLY???
Sammy started putting
multiple word together in the last few weeks. Things like “Cheese please” or
thank you”. My favorite us our daily, oft repeated exchange: "hi
Sammy" / "hi daddy!" Gotta love it.
1. The term : “Eabery”
EE-burr-ree
–noun
Eabery. Usually, when parents bribe their children to eat the
foods they “should” be eating in exchange for foods that they prefer. The
combination of “eating” + “bribery”.
Example: I had to use Eabery this morning to get Samson some calcium: “Sammy,
if you eat this bite of cottage cheese I’ll give you a strawberry.”
The word “bobby” has been
narrowed to a couple of meanings. Most common is in reference to any phone
(portable landline, iphone, blackberry all work) or remote control. Also we
still have Uncle Bobby, Bobbi and Bubby.
How will we ever know
when Samson is hungry? Eat eat eat!
What do you do when your
child wakes up too early from a nap and is so pissed that he completely freaks
out and hyperventilates without pause for 20+ minutes? No – Seriously. I have
no witty answer for this. Wish I did though.
We saw Sammy’s first real
tantrum. He just decided to have one. No real reason. Throwing blocks all over.
Throwing other things. Forcing tears and semi-hyperventilating. That’s
when we founded Danielle and Josh’s school of bad parenting. It was just such a
preposterous outburst that we both turned to each other and realized we were
snickering – desperately trying to keep straight faces. We just waited it
out until he realized it was silly.
Sammy might be a good
sharer. At least of knowledge if not of toys. The other day he walked over to
Johnny (“Johnny! Johnny!) and began to teach him words he knew: “oval”,
“hockey”. Of course when Johnny went to sit in his chair? “NONONONONONONO!”.
Repetition works. After
months of Sammy referring to Elmo as Abby? He finally said Elmo (which sounds
astoundingly cute). Of course Sesame Street is still referred to as “Abby”.
I no longer need to
wonder when we’ll be home. Sammy will let us know with a “Home!” shout.
Sometimes Sammy will grab
my arm-hair. If you know me, you know it’s pretty long, so I sometimes say
ouch. So now, Sammy will pull my arm hair and say “ouch!” Ummm…buddy – I think
you’re missing the point here!
When Sammy eats from time
to time he treats it like it’s a heightened, extravagant experience for him. I
know it’s a “fancy” meal when instead of the traditional handing over of
unwanted food or the somewhat less frequent “I don’t like this so I’m going to
hurl it on the ground” act, he will elegantly raise his hand, pinky out and
proceed to drop his food on the floor.
Life in a one nap world
is a series of ups and downs. One day it’s a 2 hour nap. The next day he wakes
up by accident after an hour and by 7 we are C-R-A-N-K-Y. Sunday 2 hour nap
during football? Priceless. Sunday 5 minute nap followed by a lot of yelling? The
opposite of priceless. Somewhere along the way I got it in my head that when
Sammy went to one nap it was to last 3 hours. Yeah, about that…
Best idea ever? Having
our Nanny take care of Sammy while we fasted on Yom Kippur.
If you take a 1.5 yr old
apple picking, they will want to eat nothing but apples for the next 4 weeks.
Good think he didn't care for the pumpkin patch.
Important
Statistics We are Keeping Track of:
-
Number of Minutes
Sammy lasted in the main service during Kol Nidre? 4
-
Number of times Sammy
said Challah during the holiday weeks: 1 million. Or so it felt.
-
Number of whole apples
Sammy ate at the orchard: 3
-
Number of times a day
Sammy says “apple”: 30. At least.
Words (too many to
write, but here was my list before it got too crazy):
This
Ice
Hot
Chair
What's this
Zaide (zee zee)
Oval
Soap
Hat
Eyes
Blocks (bocks)
Strawberry (strabry) -
were working on vowels
Blueberry (bl-bry)
B-bye Johnny
Challa
Keepa!
Carrot
All done
Tv (though he doesn't
watch it)
Danny
Gavy
"Finally, a chance to buy what I want instead of all that healthy stuff you like me to eat. Hey! Wait a minute, these are empty!" |
Everything is cooler with a cape. |
Baby Yoga |
This car was fun for Sammy. Not so fun for Mom and Dad. He figured out how to climb in, but could not get out. on his own. Therefore, we helped him out of this car at least 20 times. |
"Hat! Hat!" |
Sammy loves his pal Baby Hannah |
Good little Jewish boy. |
Chilling with Ben at Wave Hill. |
Picking apples with Mom |
Eating lots and lots of apples. And drolling on Mom's head. |
Ummmmm..... |
Taking a break at the park |
Loving the big boy swing |
Couple of guys engaged in some (heavily supervised) rough housing. Having fun with pal Jaime. |
Ben is a hugger. Sammy, maybe not? |
Chilling with Aunty Monica on their regular Friday hangouts. |