...And we have a Jedi

Things I have learned:

You know you are old when the stamp that's still on your hand on Sunday morning is not from a club or some cool new bar, but rather it is from the Children's Museum. And boy was it rocking.

So I think Sammy was upset when Sabbah and Savtah left after their last visit. They left while he was napping. And when he woke up? All hell broke loose. 

      Samson: Sabbah? 

      Josh: Sabbah and savtah had to go home. 

      Samson: Nooooooooooo. Nooooooooo! No!No!No!

This was followed by a half hour of "you are not Sabbah or savtah" crankiness.

Note: Apparently a carseat is not a robbery deterrent in the Bronx. Thank you, person that got broken glass into the carseat while breaking our window.  I hope you enjoy the broken GPS you stole. Just outside of the Bronx zoo. In broad daylight.

I guess he'll eat almost anything? Strangest food combo I've seen Samson eat: olives and grapes. The look of confusion was priceless. But they were eaten nonetheless.

It's hard to keep track of Sammy's favorite foods. They change so frequently. The post-apple picking obsession lasted almost 3 weeks. All he wanted was apples. Then we had some challah. Life turned into "Challah, Challah, Challah". Recently we saw a pear. Now it's "pearpearpear". And we should never forget "NOODLES!!! (code for mac and cheese). Dude - make up your mind! I need to know what to bribe you with so you will eat the things you try to avoid (yogurt, cottage cheese, a variety of other healthy things).

I look at Samson and marvel at how much he's really taking in. When we pull up to people's houses or walk by them, he actually shouts for the people who live there. Literally, we pulled up to Aunty Monica's building (which looks like a million others) and he shouts "Mon-Ca! Mon-Ca!". We drove through downtown Riverdale and when we got to Ilana's street I hear "Wana! Wana!" Simply incredible.

Sammy likes our neighbors. A LOT. How do I know? Let me recount some of what's been going on.

  - Whenever Samson hears any door or open/close or the elevator door close he yells "WOWA!!!!!" (Nora, our 4 year neighbor)

  - When he comes home, instead of going to our door, he goes to their door and starts knocking on it "knock, knock"

  - When that door finally does open, there's no waiting for an invite in. He charges in like he owns the place and begins taking out toys.

  - Actual (abridged, believe me) conversation Sammy and I had this week. We have many like this:

   Samson: Rach-el

   Josh: Yes, Sammy. Rachel lives next door

   Samson: Rachel

   Josh: Yes, Rachel is your friend

   Samson: Wea (Lea)

   Josh: Lea also lives next door

   Samson: Rachel

   Josh: Yes, we know Rachel

   Samson: WO-WA (Nora)!!!!!!

   Josh: Nora is also your friend. Maybe you will see her later.

   Samson (running to the front door):  WOWA! WOWA! WOWA! WOWA! WOWA! WOWA! 

We have a Multi-syllabic baby. Is that even a word? It has many syllables.

Is it wrong that when we were at the park a few weeks ago I got Sammy to chase pigeons? He ran after them for 5 minutes yelling "get birds!" Don't worry. No pigeons were hurt in the making of this story.

Sammy also sometimes chases squirrels. I'd like for them to keep running away since I'd prefer to avoid getting him rabies shots.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sammy no longer likes Cheerios. That has been the primary motivational, calmer downer and all around excellent tool we have! Now what? Ok - I give up. Uncle.

We're working on the colors here. It's going....ok? We've mastered them about 20% of the time. For some other inexplicable reason, the other 80% is "YELLLOOOOO"

Great new parlor trick for you to try when/if you come over: If you ask nicely (and sometimes if you don't) Sammy will bring you your shoes. This morning, unprompted, he brought me not 1, but 2 pairs.

So....someone is really good at repeating things. And someone is not really good about censoring the things she says (Read: Mom). Here's what happened:

   Samson: Wha dis?

   Danielle: That is a peepee teepee. When you were little and we were changing your diaper, we put that over your penis so you wouldn't pee on us

   Samson: Penis

   

ok - So I'm a bit guilty too:

    Josh: "Sammy, Mom is busting daddy's bolluks"

    Sammy: "bolluks!"

If Sammy had a Hero playing card, it would read something like:

Code Name: The Padawan

Real Name: Samson Ezra Kroo.

Occupation: Baby

Hobbies (new): Climbing on objects that move (ex: toy car)

Mission: Break head. By any means possible

Threats: Parental warnings of "Stop That please!" and "Careful (so lame)

It. Finally. Happened. He told me he pooped. It was like the sun rising in the West.  Is this step 1 towards potty training? Please?

I never get tired of hearing Sammy say "please" and "thank you" ("Thk YOOO"")

The return of the witching hour. For one week. Every day when we got home. Apparently Sammy saw fit to break the ceasefire. Maybe this was in anticipation of daylight savings time.

Speaking of Daylight Savings. Preparations began 1 week in advance with what we'd like to call "The Danielle sleep modification program". That's a fancy way of saying we kept Sammy up until insanely late hours so that he'd gradually adjust before Doomsday came last sunday. It worked! For the most part.

You know that eerie silence that you can almost "feel" after your child was running around yelling and playing for 39 minutes and then it just stops? It gets quiet. It's the calm before the storm. And you just know... your child is dunking his hands and his winter hat into the toilet water. Lovely.

We got lucky with hurricane Sandy unlike many in NY/NJ/CT folks and were super grateful to have minimal impact to our lives. How do you spend Hurricane Sandy in a 2 bedroom apartment with an energized 1.5 yr old? Well, we spent a lot of time next door. ate a lot of food. and listened to Ziggy Marley's kids album every hour for 2 days. can't begin to imagine how hard it is for those people that have no power, were displaced, etc...We can only hope it gets better soon.

Important statistics we are keeping track of:

- Record number of poops taken on Sunday: 8 in 24 hours. Thanks for waiting for Mom to be away.

- Number of kiwis in one breakfast : 2

Quotes of the week:

      Josh: "how did you get to be so cute"

      Sammy: "books"

      Josh: Sweet Dreams

      Sammy: Sweet Dreams

      Josh: Night Night

      Sammy: Night Night

      Josh: Love You

      Sammy: Love you

Songs Samson can now sing (and what he says - he only says small fragments at once):

1) Happy and you know it:

      - "Happyanyouknowit"

      - "Clap clap"

2) Baa Baa Black Sheep

      - "Baa Baa Blk shp"

      - "Have youanywllllllllll"

      - "Yes Sir, Yes Sir"

Pictures and Movies for your amusement:

Loving music class 

We're working on civilized eating

Self explanatory. 

We'd love to pretend that he sat still and did Arts and Crafts for a long time. But this was about 4 minutes worth of Savtah-led artistic instruction in using markers.

Noodles! Right before he smeared it in his hair and all over his clothes.

Post-noddle outfit.

Sammy and Kenia spending some quality time together

Little hipster

Sammy and Danny discussing the fish at the Bronx zoo

Looking like a 4 year old

We are working on this too.

Kid heaven

Why oh why did this company create a cup that explodes liquid like a volcano when no one is touching it. Seriously. Worst product ever?

Two cool cats having brunch in Montreal. Chilling with Ethan #1

We've graduated from sippy cups and moved on to Perrier. He's so debonaire.

showing Ethan #2 the ropes.

Preparing for the Elmo SATs

I'm sure this is safe.

Sleep Modification program in effect

You don't become a Jedi overnight. It takes days of practice.

Ummmm.... scary dragon?

This outfit came as kind of a shock to the little guy and prompted a "Really guys?? Really? I'm going out in public like this? Why aren't you wearing one, Dad?"

City Excursion

This is how most babies ship from Amazon

Yes, it's true. He's only one and a half years old.

Everybody else's food always looks better, right?

A little too early to lift weights - but to be honest, we're not concerned about stunting his growth

Passing the time during Hurricane Sandy lockdown, Part 1

Passing the time during hurricane Sandy lockdown, Part 2 

We are still failing at TV. This lasted for 3 minutes and then Danielle and I had to turn it off. Standing this close cannot be healthy.

Danielle was....uh....thrilled that we were gifted this from our neighbors. It's sound is....blissful?

Finally a Jedi! With Wo-wa as little Red Riding Hood. PS. I am living vicariously through my son - I always wanted to be a Jedi. And no, I'm not ashamed.

Possibly the best picture of us as a family - Except that I'm holding someone else's baby! (Baby Jack)

One of us is having more fun than the other

Gotta love Fall. Of course it took us forever to get Sammy into this pile. I think that this scene was mostly born out of Danielle's desire to bury me in dirty leaves.

Videos  for your amusement:

Dance What you feel:

Vocabulary work:

Counting!

Scary Dragon on the move: