Elmo Vonnegut

This is a plastic hollow piece from one of Sam's puzzles.
I haven't laffed this hard in a while!

Walmart Portrait Studios

So Mom (aka, Samson's Gramma Samson - ha!) agreed to treat us to some formal portraits of Sam for his first birthday slash Christmas 2006. I thought what the hey, this could be fun. In doing minor research online, Walmart seemed to be the cheapest (duh!) without having to pay sitting fees and a bunch of "hidden fees." I've walked by their studio before as well as seen the results from friends', and it all seemed pretty good, so we went for it today.

At first the lady said she was booked every 10 min til close and today was the last day for "The Big Deal." Turns out you only saved $4 from their regular DEAL price. The point is, i wanted to get this done - the holidays are FAST APPROACHING! For the heck of it, i checked back in 30 min and she got us in "next" (read: 30-40 min later - sigh).

Anyhoo - - I get Samson in, all gussied up in 'formal garb,' and he proceeds to make ONLY "squishy face." Lemme explain, since for some reason i can't seem to get a PHOTO of this face. Take your lips and make an exaggerated pucker, like your going to kiss Gramma when you're 5 yrs old. Then make a deep frown and look out from under your eyebrows, all while huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf.

Minus the huffing/puffing, he was performing ONLY this face during the whole sitting.

Soon enough, i said, "ya know what?... if you have to take a pic of that face, then do it, cuz this is Sam now. As in, now in his LIFE." I was starting to think a smile was impossible.

Turns out it was. But squishy face went away long enough to have Mona-Lisa-Smile face and Crazy-Let's-Throw-This-Fake-Gift-Box-Around face. I picked two out of those choices. Lil pissant.

I'll be sure to post the results, due 12/7.

... and finally the Birthday CELEBRATION!

We had cake for Samson last night. This was his first real exposure to blatant sugar. He's had a taste of pudding here, a donut piece there. But never a

whole cake with icing set in front of him. He was a little cautious at first and I had to actually dip his fingers into the icing to get the ball rolling, but i didn't

force him. Then he figured it out. The first little finger went very

slowly into the mouth, and the whole process was very meticulous and wary. Soon enough, though, each icing-laced finger was going into his eager mouth! He never really got to the cake part. Lucky for us, Sam had his very own lil cake [thanks Wegmans, for the deal]! He was eating cake around 8:15, an hour past his usual bedtime, but he stuck it out and had a good time. So did we!

Happy Birthday, Bubba.
We love you SO MUCH!!!

Samson Vonnegut's FIRST Birthday

Sam's first birthday was - - well - - rather uneventful. Mommy had to go to work, and then so did Daddy! We did sing him Happy Birthday in the morning during his breakfast and he looked back and forth at us like we were nuts. Just the way we like it. I even threw in a little dance, which i think i got a smile for.

Here is Ron reading to Sam in his playroom. Sam is starting to take an active interest in books now. He no longer sets out to just eat them and throw them. There is one little book called "Good Night" featuring none other than Quacky Duck. In Quacky's second pre-bedtime adventure (the first being tidying up his toys), he takes a SPLISHY-SPLASH BATH, and everytime i get to this page, Sam laughs and points to Quacky's pink sponge.

Maybe Sam would like a pink bath sponge for Christmas.

Yes, i said Christmas, not The Holidays.

Heiney Ho!

Sam's favorite sleeping position is with his butt in the air and his arms under his belly (a lot of the time - at least the times i notice). Here he is sleeping like this in his playpen. Lil bugger conked out on me 5 min before we were supposed to go to Gramma and Grandpa Samson's yesterday.