Dear Sophie April 26, 2009

Thank you for the nice letter. I had so much fun and also learned a lot from you.

1. It’s super fun to play with you and I was sad when you left.
2. Playing Bam! Bam! on tables is more fun when I get to do it with you.
3. Sharing toys is hard.
4. Snatching toys out of your hands is easy (even though you started fighting back!).
5. Babbling is fun. All the cool kids are doing it.
6. Having shrieking contests is even more fun!
7. Giving kisses to girl cousins is the best, especially when they are of the french variety.

I am crossing all my fingers and toes that I get to see you again soon!

Love,
Sam

Horns April 16, 2009

Remember when I predicted that Sam was going to experience his share of bumps and bruises? Yeah, he’s there. Here is some photographic evidence from April 7th:

See that big red circle on his forehead, the lump in profile? Yeah. At 5:00 p.m. I had to pee. (Does this relate to the bump? Yes, it does. Read on.) Sam was standing in the bathroom with me as I was readying myself to do the deed, when he fell over. I can only assume that a light breeze wafted through the bathroom at that very moment to knock him over, because he wasn’t actually moving when he fell. He slammed his head on the bottom drawer’s knob. It happened in what felt like slow motion. I was reaching for him, yelling, “nnnnoooooooo!!” and didn’t get there in time. He scrambled to his knees. I scrambled to my feet and snatched him up into my arms. He was wailing, eyes scrunched tightly shut. I danced and kissed him out into the kitchen, where he quit crying. Quit breathing. Turned a bright shade of purple. Literally. My dancing turned to panic, “Breathe, Sam, breathe. Breathe!” I finally blew into his face to make him take a breath. I opened the freezer, grabbed for the ice pack, and ended up with a bag of frozen peas. He wouldn’t let me apply the peas to the growing welt on his forehead. We retreated to the living room for some snuggles and book-reading.

Fast forward four hours. Now it is 9:00 p.m.

Notice the purple welt on his cheek. And the great height to which it swelled. This time he was hurtling down the front hallway toward the kitchen door, getting safely to the end, but falling on the turn. This time it was cheek versus metal door hinge. The door hinge won. I was in the kitchen behind the closed door. Rob was in the living room. I heard a thump, then a pause, then a scream. He cried and cried. Rob danced and soothed. This time, he did not quite breathing and turn purple. His cheek did, though. A week later, he still has a little purplish spot where he hit it. That soft tissue, man. It just doesn’t hold up against the metal.

The moral of the story? Sam gets clumsy as he gets tired. Watch him like a hawk and hope you get there in time to catch him.

The end.

Month Eleven April 13, 2009

Dear Sam,

I read in The Baby Book that when a baby starts to walk, he is officially considered a toddler. If that’s the case, let me be the first to formally welcome you to toddlerhood. You are walking everywhere! Your first steps were at the Toledo Zoo in the polar bear and seal exhibit. Daddy witnessed your first five steps as seals swam in a big tank behind you. I missed it. I was in the bathroom. But I saw the next five, which was just as exciting! Surprisingly, I didn’t cry or even feel like crying. I was just so proud and excited for you. I wish we had had the video camera with us, because you were squealing with delight as you hurled your body toward Daddy at a nearly 45-degree angle. Unfortunately, you didn’t come with a calendar marked with the dates of Big Milestones with big shiny “Bring the Video Camera!” stickers on it. Life wouldn’t be nearly as suspenseful if those existed.

You are such a happy little boy, Sam. The big thing this month is that you are starting to get jokes and make some of your own. Example: when you fart, you laugh like it’s comedy night and your butt is the headliner. You are such a boy — and you find yourself very funny. We like it, too, when you laugh with us. If Daddy and I are laughing about something, you’ll chime in with a hahahaha! from wherever you are playing or walking around in the room.

You’re still discovering new syllables and sounds. The best one of the month, by far, is the pop-pop-pop sound. You open and close your lips without phonating, so just a little popping sound is heard. You think it’s hysterical when Daddy and I do it with you. There are many evenings that we sit around staring at each other while we pop-pop-pop until you laugh and start it up again. Oh, how our definition of entertainment has changed!

We love to get kisses from you. “Sam, can I have a kiss?” we ask. In return, you lean in, mouth open, tongue out, and plant a big, wet “kiss” on whatever is nearest you — cheek, shoulder, mouth, ear, chin, knee, doesn’t matter. It’s extremely cute and extremely wet. Like that Shel Silverstein poem that ends, “That’s no kiss, that’s an ocean!”

It’s amazing how many things you understand. Today, I asked you to get a book so we could read. You marched right over (a great feat all its own), picked up a book and held it up for me. When you eat, I tell you to put food in your mouth and you do it. You turn light switches on and off on command. When I’m dressing you, I ask you to “switch hands” and you move the toy du jour to the other hand so I can put another sleeve on. You’re not saying any words yet, but you certainly have a wide vocabulary brewing in your head. Sometimes you get frustrated when we can’t figure out what you want and yell to try to make your point.

Feeding time has become infinitely easier this month. You are feasting exclusively on table food. Your current favorite is avocado — you shovel it in your mouth like it’s going out of style! Other loves are pears, peaches, and rotini pasta. Veggies from soup are a hit, too. Oh, and toast. Lovely Katherine Clark toast with butter. Yum! You don’t like to touch food that is too squishy. Peaches are given to you on a fork, but avocado is an independent eating endeavor. When you’re trying new things, I always give you a piece or two to feel and smash between your fingers to get used to the texture. In the last week, you’ve decided that feeding us is very fun. You offer all sorts of delicacies like warm, mashed banana laced with butter from toast, or graham cracker with essence of soup broth and spit. All I can say is that Daddy and I have our limits when it comes to eating what you offer. I can do the toasty-buttered banana, but wrinkle my nose at soupy spit-cracker. Eww.

Squinchy face has returned this month. I think it has everything to do with your top front teeth coming in. You’re getting used to them in your mouth, and perhaps showing them off a little. Maybe? It’s hard to say. You are also grinding your teeth together since having those four teeth. It makes my skin crawl to hear those little toofies gnashing together inside your head. I try to distract you with things to chew on, but it must feel good or weird or something, because it’s a new everyday occurrence.

Now that spring is here, we go for walks to the park to play. Every time we’re there, there’s one or two (or sometimes a flock) of little toddler girls who chase you around saying, “Baby! Baby! Baby!” Bigger school-age boys love to play with you, too. They comment on your walking and waving. One little boy even asked whether he could take you down the curly slide. I politely declined on your behalf, though you do like slides. You are a very social little boy, Sam, and love to watch the kids running around and playing. I feel like you wish you could be running and playing with them. Those days are coming very soon. In the meantime, Daddy loves to play ball with you. You throw your big red ball overhand, it lands with a big bounce, and Daddy retrieves it.

Even though you are busy, busy, busy and have little time for snuggles now, I sneak in as many kisses as I can. Watching you gain more and more confidence as you master walking, I know that the days of planting smooches on my little baby boy are growing fewer. Someday, probably sooner than I think, you will wipe off that kiss and say, “Moooommmm! Not in front of the other kids!” Until that day comes, baby mine, I will kiss those chubby cheeks and inhale the sweet baby scent of you, wishing — just for a second — that time would stand still.

Love,
Mommy

Many Random Paragraphs With No Logical Transitions April 9, 2009

I am a delinquent blogger. Really. I think it’s been over a week since I’ve posted anything. I think it has everything to do with the fact that Sam is walking really well, and where I once could post while he sat quietly on the floor and played, I now chase him around like it’s some sort of Olympic sport. Well, that’s not true. Olympic sports usually raise your heart rate above baseline. Sam’s just not that fast yet.

There are things to write about, though. We had a great time in Traverse City. Sam got lots of smooches and hugs from Peavler grandparents and Richland Peavlers. Squirrels were hunted (visually), walks were had, movies were seen (by the mother. Uh, me.), and massages were had (again, me. Thank GOD.), so we are again rejuvenated by the crisp and cool midwestern air.

Sam walks almost all the time now. He chooses to walk from place to place instead of crawl. If he’s in a big hurry (like when he bolts through the open kitchen door), he’ll start to run, inevitably fall, then crawl to his destination. He is so proud of his walking abilities. The look on his face says something like, “Where has THIS been all my life?”

He shovels avocado into his mouth as fast as possible. This afternoon, he ate an entire half of an avocado. He would have eaten the whole thing, but I felt that a varied diet was important and switched him to something equally delicious. What that was escapes me at the moment. His meals run together in my head. I often stand in the kitchen with him on my hip and say, “What do you want for lunch, Peanut? What did you have for breakfast? What day is it?” OK, I don’t ask myself the last one — usually — but you get the idea.

My mom, Christine, and Sophie are coming in eleven days. Sophie is finally big enough that Sam won’t squish her if he attacks her (with love, of course) and tries to hook her in the mouth like a bluegill. It is going to be very fun to see them play together. I promise to cut his nails before they get here.

So. Is your head spinning yet? How’s that for random stuff? Here’s a picture to round out the randomness.