Catbus

Sammy, you ARE AN ARTIST!!!

This evening, I was cleaning off the porch and Sam was running around with sidewalk chalk, creating masterpieces in front of our house. Just before i went in to check on a waking Thomas, Sam said, "Wait... Mom... come look first."

Sam drew CATBUS! Catbus is from a Japanese Anime we watch sometimes called "My Neighbor Totoro." It's a cute little story. Catbus is just that: a great big cat that has a bunch of legs and he's shaped like a bus! He's not as creepy as it may sound.

I gotta tell you, i was VERY IMPRESSED. This is Sam's first drawing that 'resembles' something he's trying to convey. Up til now, its been scribbles and lines - all with very detailed descriptions, which of course we humour. I love that he draws and that his imagination's fast at work. But this time - - well, he got the shape of a bus WITH LEGS!

I love ya, Bubs... I love ya a lot.

Father and Son Day Out!

Ron took a great walk with Thomas today. Click on the pic to see more!

More Sammy-isms

Lately, Sam's been using what I think are 'advanced' words/phrases on his own in conversation. Such as the word "otherwise," or the phrase, "I think it's best if I..." I'm quite sure he's getting this from listening to me, but he uses them in context, and it always cracks me up to hear a THREE YEAR OLD saying such adult things. I've always got my ear out... and I'm often quite amused at what it picks up.

So a little story: Lately, at bedtime, Sam is pulling out all the excuses not to go to bed. Typical three year old. I need another sip of water, i need another toy, i need, i need... BLAH BLAH. I cater to it a touch more than i'd like, but way less than most parents, i'm sure. Anyhoo, last night, he told me he wanted Panda for his one more toy. So i give it to him. I say "okay Sam, that's enough... no more. It's night night. I'm leaving." He starts in on this long rambly story about Panda, and something about Kim (his teacher at school), with a bunch of breathy pauses and disconnected sentences. So i cut him off, "SAM! That's enough... no more babbling. I'm leaving!"

And he says, "no, Mom... let me finish my sentence. What i'm trying to tell you is that Kim told me that I have to bring Panda to school (still pronounced "tool") because he is soft and that i should not be bringing hard toys like Thomas to sleep with at naptime."

WELL WHATDYA KNOW!?!?! Not only DID he have something useful to say, but he's communicating an actual message from his teacher about something he has to do!!!

So this morning, sure enough, he reminded me of what Kim said and went to get Panda and put him downstairs by the front door so he wouldn't forget.

I literally look FORWARD to having conversations with Sam these days. I can't remember if i've mentioned this in a previous post, but i'm quite serious about buying a small voice recorder for the car, cause some of these conversations (i'm only touching upon the ones i remember) would really make you smile/laugh!

*NOTE* Haha... so get this... i finished this blog entry and googled "Digital voice recorder" and one of the first ones to come up in a review is called the "Samson H2" - it's outta my price range, but i thought that was funny!

A Story About Thomas

And i don't mean Thomas our son, Sam's brother... i mean Thomas the Tank Engine.

The little tidbit i'm about to share is something i tell myself now i will never forget, but I know me, and i know how time works, and its most likely something i'm going to EASILY forget, and I don't want to, cause it's so cute (and SMART, i think).

First a little background. Most of you i'm sure are well aware of Thomas the Tank Engine. He's blue, he's got buddies, he's on PBS. If he were on cable, i'm quite sure this would all be a non-issue. When Sam was Thom's age, i'd visit Kerry and Liam (Liam was about 3). Liam would have all the engines names memorized, which was impressive enough to me, but then - SO DID KERRY! I remember asking her, "How do you keep track of who is who?" She replied, "oh trust me... if you watch it enough, you figure it out fast. Not to mention, Liam's sure to correct me."

Fast forward to Sam watching Thomas. SURE ENOUGH, we've both memorized all the engines names, colors and numbers. Shoot, i even sing the theme song in the car! Here's where i toot a horn in saying that SOME kids shows truly do promote learning (as well as entertainment, of course), because i'm convinced Thomas and Friends very much helped Sam learn his numbers and colors.

SO... for you newbies, here's the rundown (it will matter for the sake of this blog entry):
#1 - Thomas
2 - Edward
3 - Henry
4 - Gordon
5 - James
6 - Percy
7 - Toby
... and then after 7 we don't THINK anyone else has numbers. At least not that we've noticed. I have not researched this online or on Wiki, but might after this entry.

SO HERE'S THE REASON I WRITE. Sam lately has taken to sometimes using engine names to describe the NUMBER of something. For instance, "Mom... i have to go do Thomas." or "Hey mom, did Zap do Edward on the rug?" (Turns out Zap puked on the rug, not #2, and i didn't get into saying that he did a Henry (right? 3 is puke, right?)).

Ayumi, his teacher from daycare, told me that he's doing the same thing at school. She joked adoringly (i love her!) that they have fun telling Sam XYZ minutes left in terms of ENGINES. Ayumi is learning the whole Thomas cast even if she didn't plan to!!!! "Sam, you've got James minutes til cleanup." And then he confirms by running over and holding up five fingers.

Not so much these days, but up to 6-12 months ago, we'd be out in public and Sam would point to a color and say "RED! - like James!" or "she's got Thomas' color on."

AND NOW LATELY, which i find fun and quite interesting... Sam's been adding engines together. "Hey mom... Thomas and Thomas make EDWARD!"

Really Sam!? Good Lord, Kid... you're going to go FAR, i feel it!

Silly Sam

"Hey Mom?... Wanna see my Silly Dance?"
"Look... Jokerman is going for a ride."

Wii Got One!

Well, our tax refund, of a generous nature (thank you, Thomas!) DID indeed roll in, and so we treated ourselves to a Wii! For those TWO of you out there living cozily under a rock, Wii is the latest Nintendo game system, which is very much "all the rage!" What i didn't realize (and here's where I come crawling out from under that rock) is that this system has been out for about 2 years and easily has 600+ games in its family!!! I had NO idea.

Well, we knew we wanted the WiiFit game. That's not happening. Everyone in the world wants that now, and after doing a preliminary and casual hunting, I came up empty. Which is okay for now, cause with the system, you get WiiSports, which has 5 games: tennis (Dad?!), bowling, baseball, golf and boxing. I've only tinkered with tennis, bowling and boxing. Then we got WiiPlay, which came with another needed remote, and that has 9 games (including table tennis, fishing, billiards). We also got a used game that highlights the "oldies", Pac-Man themed. I mostly got that for Ron, but i had fun with it last night.

This is fun! This is HISTORICAL! Ron's friend Tim pointed out that this is the first game system that Ron (we) have ever bought NEW! Or CURRENT!!! Before this Wii, Ron was happily playing (and will continue to, i'm sure) Super Nintendo, 1990.

Can You Tell Me How to Get

How to get to SESAME STREET LIVE!
We took Sam last night. This was his first "event." I wasn't sure how he'd take it all, but he did GREAT. We kept the whole night a surprise. I think he was FINALLY onto us when we walked into the Clemens Center and there were a TON of other kiddies with their moms/dads. When we got to our seat (which rocked - great view!), i said, "So Sam... have you figured it out yet?"
"What?"
"Do you know where you are?"
"No... um... Elmo?"
"Yeah... you're going to watch Sesame Street on that stage!"
"HOORAY!!!!"

While Ron conked out (yes, he really did, at least off and on), I watched the show (pretty amusing) and watched Sam watching the show. For the most part, he was very absorbed, but every now and then, he burst out with his numbers or letters on cue (8 and J for the night). Half way thru the first portion, he said he had to go #2. We were smack in the middle of the row, so after a bunch of "excuse me, pardon me"s, we get to the toilet to have him say, "my belly stopped rumbling." Typical toddler. He never did go.

Then the dreaded (that's how *I* view it) intermission. Here come the dudes with cotton candy, a gigantic bundle of Elmo balloons and whirly gigs spinny light things. We didn't cave. Afterall, folks, it would have all lost its novelty 2 minutes after the show (if that!). I saw one mom struggling to hold her 16 mo old in one arm, deflated Elmo balloon smashed underneathe, whirly gig toy hanging. As an alternative, i'll boast, i proactively packed a juicebox, some teddy grahams, and Sam was good to go. He did, however, remind us in the morning that we did NOT get him an Elmo balloon and that made him very upset. Whatever, kid.

My little boy was getting tired soon into the second half, asking me often "What time are we going home?" He then snuggled on my lap for some of it. Ron tried to convince him of the importance of a nap earlier in the day (haha), but it all caught up with him.

Thom, you may be wondering, was left in the wonderful motherly hands of my friend Kathy, who i think might have really enjoyed a baby fix. I'm sure he showered her with his lovingly flirty smiles and coos.

A great night. I'm glad we did it. And i have to admit, I was rather amused (and impressed!) with Bert's rendition of Tony Manero's dance scene from Saturday Night Fever. He had it GOIN' OWWWHHNNNN!!!

An Evening at Pop Pop's

Look-Alike Meter

I found this gadget on my friend Brandis' blog, and it intrigued me, so i fired it up for my kids.

Who does Sam/Thom look like more? Mommy or Daddy?
Here are the results:





Really?? I know its not very scientific, but it would have been fun to see a slight leaning toward one of us or the other. Oh well... kinda fun.