Bathroom words and prayers

There had been a little too much potty talking going on at the dining room, "You're Mr. Poopy Head!", etc. so we set a ban on "bathroom words" except in the bathroom.  Whenever Samuel comes close to saying a bathroom word:  "Boo" or "Beep", he'll immediately explain, "I didn't any bathroom words daddy."

Samuel tells us, "I love you both mommy and daddy, together!"  His hands still immediately go to our arms and thighs whenever we are close to him.  He likes for us to wear short sleeve shirts/t shirts and shorts so he has easy access to flesh.  He is very much a physical touch kind of guy.

His bedtime prayers go like this:  "Dear God, thank you for this day.  Thank you for mommy, for Joshua, for daddy, for Annette, for Roland, for Samuel, and thank for you the clock, and the bed, and Francesco, and McQueen, and Mater, and for presents, and this book, and this book. and in Jesus name, Amen."

Preschool activities

Samuel's favorite activities at preschool are playing with the cars, trucks, and blocks; and listening to books being read by CD or in person; and playing in the sandbox.

Toilet training

Yippee! I Samuel has been dry at preschool the last two days!

Apple picking

Samuel's class went to the orchard for apple picking.

First they predicted what they would find

Samuel eating and picking with his friends Rohan and Isaac

Samuel returned home with a big bag of apples, which really impressed me to think that our youngest child was providing food for us!--even if it looked like many were picked up off the ground and were bruised. Annette made a delicious apple crisp with it!

Brunch at Martha's Vineyard

One of our friends offered to take us on a private plane ride, so Samuel and I hopped onto a plane this morning, flew to Martha's Vineyard, had brunch, and came right back.  Now that's living!  :)

three tango bravo to control tower

waiting in the hangar

ready to push off

Biking to preschool

Ordinarily, Samuel hitches a car ride to school along with his big brother, or walks.. But today, he rode the bike to school for the first time. And not his tricycle, but Joshua's BIG BIKE!

Growing up

One of Samuel's friends at school got him a balloon, which he was very excited about, and wanted to take  a picture of.

And with his favorite mommy. 

Early days of preschool

Sam showed some reluctance during our visits to the preschool prior to starting, but once he really did start, he just dived in.  His routine of dropping off Joshua first at school, and then him going to preschool himself seems to have helped.

 

When asked by the teacher where he was from, he proudly proclaimed "Hawaii!"

Hot Pursuit

While playing a racing game on the iPad, Samuel picked the Porsche for his car and said, "That's what I'm talking about!"

Samuel turns 3

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So literal

Samuel is at that age where he takes everything literally, like when I tell him to jump into his pants, and he will try to leap in to the pants I'm holding out to him.

Today, while playing, I heard Joshua saying to Samuel, "How cool is that!" And Samuel responded in earnest: "I don't know"

Ireland

Samuel was too excited to sleep on his first transatlantic flight, until 7:30 in the morning. But he recovered soon enough to discover playing in the back yard with Matty. He unfortunately got very territorial and came up with a nickname for Matty's little 10 month old sister who would want to play with the boys and their toys: "Steal Baby".

At Rossnowlaugh, the boys discovered an amazing stretch of beach, wide and with SUPER (that's for our Irish relatives) fine sand perfect for digging and building.

Many tidepools to explore and cockles to collect.

Amazing hike along the coast.

Beach Day

The boys are construction buddies, and can spend the entire day playing with trucks in the sand.

Cana

Samuel was in the 1-2yr old group at the marriage conference that Annette and I were serving at. Having been so used to seeing him as the youngest baby in our regular group, it was quite eye opening to see him as the oldest toddler in our group of 7 children, and able to do so much compared to the other children. He would sing along with the songs, dance, make up new moves, like holding the maracas with his toes, like he was a big boy. Well I guess he is becoming one!

Uncle Ryan's visit

More Samuel sayings

While filling and emptying his water bucket on the beach, he sings, "Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah!"

He spontaneously tells me today, "I want to be a policeman when I'm grown up, to help the people!"

Samuel says...

"God Bless you Daddy!", as he hears me sneezing through the house (happening a lot now due to allergy season).

"I need privacy," as he closes his bedroom door to go poop or play with his toys.

"I love you very much," he whispers into my ear when he tells me that he is going to tell me a secret.

Swan Boats and Tulips

We went for our first Swan boat ride of the season

The tulips were out in full bloom.

Sorry Samuel, you can't pick these for mom.

Samuel explains what subway we need to take to get back to MIT.

And finally catch up with mom at work to bring her lunch.

Dentist visit

Samuel's dentist is awesome, and spent a lot of time getting some stains out of Samuel's teeth. It took a while, and I was impressed Samuel sat still and tolerated it so well. I guess it's consistent with his history of doing well with procedures: barium enemas, shots, blood draws, and now polishing teeth with pumice stone and hydrogen peroxide!

It's so beautiful daddy

We walked out of the house in the stroller into 60 degree sunny spring weather and Samuel exclaimed, "It's so beautiful daddy!"
It truly was. We went to the zoo today and Samuel specifically picked out the carousel animal he wanted to ride.

Chocolate Easter bunnies

The boys work on eating their 2lb chocolate bunnies.

I like your big legs

Samuel is definitely a snuggler. Every chance he gets, he'll try to cozy up to me or Annette, and run his hands up and down our arms. His favorite thing to hug though are his mom's legs. He'll bury his face in them, and says, "I like your big legs!"

Samuel Soccer

showing some style

following the ball

Dribbling skills

More like springtime

We were back at Fresh Pond, and the 60 degree weather today was even better than last time.

Joshua doesn't like me

At dinner tonight, Samuel said in a quiet voice, "I'm not a bad boy. Joshua is angry with me, because he doesn't like me."
It was such a poignant revelation of the hurt he feels when Joshua and him fight and Joshua tells him, "I don't like you Samuel! You're a bad boy."

Sam Talking

Annette captured an excerpt of Samuel's speech here. He's started stuttering more this past month, I think related to the fact he's trying more to construct speech as opposed to just repeating whatever Joshua is saying.

Sam is just adorable these days, attracting throngs of admirers wherever he goes, like when we went to NH for a retreat this weekend--there was a group of Boston College students there, and whenever we walked into the the cafeteria, it was like, "Oh, he's sooooo cute." And Samuel of course hams it up, waving and saying hi to everyone.

2.5 years old

What Samuel is like now:
He's a big talker. I was with him in the car the other day and he said, "You missed [seeing] the fire truck daddy. I guess you were busy. I think you were driving."
He likes vegetables. Sometimes he will eschew his meal, and scoot over to my salad and eat the lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots.
He's starting to stay dry while napping, which means he's close to being weaned off diapers. Yeh!
He likes to stroke our hands and arms while he's drinking his bedtime milk or whenever he gets tired. He's a very tactile person. I think physical touch will be his love language.
He's fallen in love with "Macqueen" and "Sally" from Disney's Cars movie.
He started to pedal the tricycle on his own yesterday. So we went on a ride around Fresh Pond.

I'm not a bad boy

Annette overheard Samuel telling Joshua this morning:
"Here's your boots Joshua. See Joshua, I'm not a bad boy. I help you"

Not fluent yet

I've been trying to teach the boys some Mandarin, and hope Joshua will enroll in the new Chinese immersion school in Cambridge.
I prompted Samuel the other morning, "Say 'hello to Carmen [our baby-sitter] in Chinese.'"
So Samuel says, "Hello to Carmen in Chinese!"
Not fluent yet

First Monday back

Mondays are usually the days I spend with Samuel and today was our first since getting back from Hawaii.
In the morning, I watched in amazement as Samuel was navigating around my iPad. He intuitively knows how to navigate via tapping and swiping his finger. (He also tried this on a big video advertisement at the airport, expecting something to happen once he touched it). He was going through my Pandora playlist, and kept going back to groove to the Black Eyed Peas and Beethoven.
We were sitting on the train together and Samuel was just fascinated watching three young people speaking Spanish to each other. His eyes flitted from one speaker to another, as he was taking it all in. Samuel is such a people person. He is always looking to engage others, initiates play with other kids, and trying to make friends, especially with other girls.
We picked up Joshua from school and walked to the Children's museum, where I had a flashback to the first time I brought Joshua, when he was probably just around a year old and he hadn't even started playing with the Thomas train set. Now at five years old, he towered over all the other kids. He looked like a giant among the toddlers.
We visited one of the boys' favorite exhibit at the museum, the school bus. They made a dash for the driver's seat, and I was expecting another battle to see who would drive, but was surprised to see the boys actually willing to take turns on their own without fighting. Joshua got in the driver's seat first, and I saw Samuel patiently walk to the back of the bus, climb on a seat, and wait for his turn. I asked him where he was going, and he told me matter of factly, "to a meeting." Later as Samuel was driving, he turned to me and said, "We're out of gas!"

Netflix + iPad

Means parents can cook while kids watch Caillou!

Hawaii day 8

Cousins


Hiking Manoa Falls


Surf's up


Perfect beach day