Samuel Tang

Bathroom words and prayers

2011-12-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-05T20:36:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-07T22:37:00.001-08:00

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

Apple picking

2011-10-23T18:25:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-07T15:09:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-24T21:36:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-07T22:33:00.001-07:00

So literal

2011-09-05T20:04:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

Cana

2011-07-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-25T22:25:00.001-07:00

More Samuel sayings

2011-06-06T21:14:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-05-23T20:07:00.001-07:00

"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

2011-05-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

The boys work on eating their 2lb chocolate bunnies.

I like your big legs

2011-04-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T20:35:00.001-07:00

showing some style

following the ball

Dribbling skills

More like springtime

2011-04-10T20:49:00.001-07:00

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

Joshua doesn't like me

2011-04-08T19:47:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-04T20:41:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-20T21:42:00.001-07:00

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

2011-02-25T10:47:00.001-08:00

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

2011-02-19T18:26:00.001-08:00

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

2011-02-07T22:11:00.001-08:00

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

2011-01-18T01:34:00.001-08:00

Means parents can cook while kids watch Caillou!

Hawaii day 8

2011-01-12T01:34:00.001-08:00

Cousins

Hiking Manoa Falls

Surf's up

Perfect beach day

Pooping closet

2010-12-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Samuel likes to poop in private. He will go into this closet, or close the door to his room to do his business.

M&M friend

2010-12-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

We walked by this big M&M dispenser at the drugstore, and Samuel stood next to the orange M&M guy and asked me to take a picture.

I wake up!

2010-12-12T18:38:00.001-08:00

This morning, I didn't hear any sounds coming from Samuel's room, so I thought he was still sleeping. But alas when I slowly opened up the bedroom door, he was standing in his crib and said with a big smile, "I wake up, morning!"

Baby church

2010-12-05T19:34:00.001-08:00

Samuel has been able to stay in baby church the past few weeks for the first time in his life. We have been waiting what seems like forever for Samuel to get to this point. We can finally attend church service again.

First Dental Appointment

2010-11-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

Samuel went to his first dental visit last week, let the dentist polish off the stains on his teeth, held the little mirror while the dentist brushed and flossed his teeth, and overrall did a great job for a 2yr old.

He was also quite the man for his 2yr old check up, getting two shots and just saying "Owee" and when they had to draw blood from him, he watched the needle go in, and after a few seconds, asked, "All done?"

Joshua Favorite

2010-11-20T23:09:00.000-08:00

Samuel tries to be mindful of Joshua's toys, especially the elaborate lego firetruck creations he makes. Samuel will point to them, say "Joshua favorite" and not touch them.

Haircut

2010-11-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Samuel likes getting haircuts because he gets lollipops from the barber. Every once in a while, he'll say "Haircut!", pull up on a couple of hairs, and say, "Too long."

I love you Daddy

2010-11-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

When I came home the other day, Samuel came up to me and said, "I love you Daddy. I miss you." Such a sweet little boy.

Today, he got his hand stuck in a chair and when I got it unstuck, he said to me so gently, "Thank you Daddy."

Money

2010-10-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

When Samuel saw a dime on the floor today, he bent down to pick it up, saying, "Money, woo hoo!"

Privacy

2010-10-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

Whenever Samuel wants to go number two, he'll walk into his bedroom, close the door behind him, and do his business in private, into his diaper. He won't allow anyone in while he is doing his business. When he's done, he opens the door and comes out very matter of a fact. Sometimes he announces, "Poop! "

Come back

2010-10-22T14:55:00.001-07:00

While video chatting with Annette this morning, Samuel reached out his arms to the screen and said, "Momma, hold you. Come back. "

Best Friends

2010-10-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

It's one of my greatest joys to watch the boys just be together. The pictures say it all.

Last beach day

2010-10-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

For one of Annette's conferences, we went out to the Cape for one last beach vacation before the cooler days of fall came around. Probably will be our stay at Sea Crest, as they are undergoing renovations to be a "luxury" resort. The beach of Old Silver is really nice.

Happy 2nd birthday Samuel!

2010-10-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Do you like my hat?

Waiting for his shot at the birthday pinata. We had just one extra guest at his birthday party, his new girlfriend.

I like balloons!

2010-10-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

After our hall's orientation dinners for 300 people, we had a lot of balloons for the boys to play with.

Samuel's words

2010-09-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Just hitting 2yrs old, here's what Samuel is saying:
"Watch this!" followed by, "See that?"

"I do that"

"My bottle dropped"

"I love you"

"Clang, clang, clang. Emergency! Fire truck! Pumper! Hook and ladder! Whew-whew-whew-whew! Police! Ambulance" aka, the emergency fire truck sequence.

"No thank you."

"Oh"

"TV"

"googles"

"Over there!"

Acadia National Park

2010-09-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Samuel could spend all day just tossing rocks into Jordan Pond.

Daddy!

2010-08-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

This past week, Samuel was a total mommy's boy. He would cry for her in the morning, all day long, and at night. He didn't want me to feed him, change him, bathe in, or even hold him. It was the first time he's been like that, and though it was nice to have a break from taking care of him, it was also very sad to not be wanted by him.
BUT today, he wanted me again. And it felt like that week, had been a year. I almost had forgotten what it was like for him to call my name, and ask me to hold him. It was really nice. I had missed him.

Hello honey

2010-08-28T13:00:00.001-07:00

Samuel says hi to the guinea pig ("Honey") at Joshua's school. He calls him, "Mouse!"

Our chatterbug

2010-08-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Samuel is a few week shy of turning 2, and Annette and I are constantly giving each other the "can you believe this guy look" because Samuel is just hilarious. He talks and sings all the time, tries to get into every conversation he hears, and repeats the last 2 syllables of everything Joshua says.

His speech these days:

over there!

gimme that

thank you

I love you

help!

airplane & helicopter (he used to call them both "baba")

ambulance

Obama car (the presidential limo that Annette gave him)

come here

Bob Bob (sponge bob)

monkey! (the baby computer that Auntie Celia gave Joshua)

some (when he wants some of our food)

school (where he goes to pick up Joshua)

Tamuel (his name)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2010-08-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

Eating Toscanini ice cream with mom!

Birthday cake!

Samuel at 22 months

2010-07-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Samuel seemed to talk later than Joshua, but any worries that he had a speech delay has vanished as he has undergone his vocabulary explosion these past few months. He doesn't have as many words as Joshua had at this age, but he really uses what he knows:

1) "I got it!"

2) "Hold you!" = hold me

3) "Some" = give me some

4) "All done"

5) "Help"

6) "More"

7) "red", "yellow", "orange" are his favorite colors

8) likes to sing "Happy Birthday", "Twinkle Twinkle", the Korean grace song, and pretends to count to 5

9) his favorite items: truck, train, police, bah-bah (helicopters/fans/airplanes), boat, crane, backhoe, bucket, wa-wa, milk, mandu, pop (rice), mango shake, puffins, broccoli, cheerios, zebra, ball.

10) when he sees a fire, he makes a fire truck siren sound

11) He's a big ham. Annette saw him the other day, alone in the living room, holding a pretend microphone and singing for an invisible audience. He loves to volunteer at sing-a-longs to go up to the front. Not at all like his older brother.

12) He's a big animal lover--dogs, cats, squirrels. He got attacked by a squirrel today unfortunately while trying to feed it.

Samuel meets another cat

2010-07-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

Samuel really loves cats.

Reading together

2010-07-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

Cana 2010

2010-07-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Samuel had a great time at our Cana retreat this year.

Enjoying watermelon!

He loves legos.

And more legos with the boyz.

Ah-ga-me!

2010-06-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

I was shocked when Samuel pointed to an ice cream truck today and said, "Ah-ga-me!"--his word for "ice cream." How did he learn that?

Asleep

2010-06-19T12:46:00.001-07:00

On the way to the park, the boys fall asleep.

Picking Flowers and Hiking

2010-06-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

After church on Sunday, we had a picnic and hiked at Fresh Pond. A beautiful summer weekend.

Samuel is self toilet training

2010-06-09T19:57:00.001-07:00

I was shocked yesterday when prior to taking his bath, Samuel walked over to his little potty, sat down, squirted some urine out, stood up, turned around and pointed saying, "Pee-pee!"

Samuel's new supercut

2010-05-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

I skipped the usual visit to the Chinatown barber for a quick visit to our Central Square supercuts, and it was really nice: clean, no wait, fast, and Samuel was super cooperative. We will probably be going back.

Talking a lot more

2010-05-28T21:58:00.001-07:00

Samuel is finally experiencing his verbal explosion. He had me a little worried awhile back, but he's really come around. He loves to repeat the words he hears around him, for example, while he was picking his nose this morning, "Boooger!" Or when he points at his elbow and say, "Elmo!" He likes to lift up his shirt and show off his "Tummy!" And Thomas the tank engine is, "Tommy!"

But of course my favorites are when I come home from work and he stops what he's doing and runs to me saying, "Daddy, daddy!" and when I ask him a question and he says, "Yesh!"

Defiance

2010-05-26T22:08:00.001-07:00

At breakfast this morning, Samuel wiped his hand on the leftover yogurt on his tray, and then started to rub it into his hair. I told him, "Don't put yogurt in your hair Samuel." While looking straight at me, he dipped swiped more yogurt off the tray, and started patting his hair again. This is something Joshua would have never done. Joshua was our rule keeper, and often the rule enforcer--even his teachers at preschool saying that "he is a good role model for following the routine and classroom rules even when there are changes that arise." Parenting Samuel is going to be very different.

First visit to the zoo

2010-05-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Samuel likes lions. Hear him roar!

Ah-mah

2010-05-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Samuel got to hang out with Ah-mah while mom was gone to Korea/China.

The boys like to read

2010-05-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Samuel does art

2010-05-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

Samuel attends Annette's art installation reception at MIT
http://info-libraries.mit.edu/rotch/exhibitions/

Samuel Dancing

2010-04-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Samuel spins around dancing, and gets so dizzy he falls:

Listening to music

2010-04-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

Samuel likes listening to music. He'll dance around in circles, bob his head when he hears music playing and when it stops, asks for "more!"

Getting started early

2010-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Actually, Samuel just likes to go through our recycling bin all the time.

Samuel likes cats

2010-04-04T18:34:00.001-07:00

At the Easter party today, Samuel kept wanting to follow around and pet this nice little cat.

"Cute"

2010-03-15T21:20:00.001-07:00

Annette was telling us the story tonight at dinner time about her first time in Disneyland. She was about seven, and when her uncle took her to the store and asked her to pick out any present she wanted, the only fairy tale she could think of was Cinderella, but the doll was dressed in rags and not very pretty, so her uncle urged her to get something else. So she ended up with a Snow White doll. I reached across the dinner table for Annette's hand after the story and said, "cute." Samuel then immediately grabbed Annette's hand and also said, "Cute!"

Frog Pond

2010-03-09T05:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was 55 degrees, so Samuel and I went to the Boston Commons and got to enjoy the playground. Samuel is a climber, going up stairs for much bigger kids.

Winking

2010-03-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

Samuel tries to wink at us, but he can only shut both of his eyes, so he ends up blinking at us. It's hilarious

Samuel's first voicemail

2010-02-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

I was away in Minneapolis this week to help my friend Ryan get hitched. I got this call from my boys:

Shoe fetish

2010-02-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

Samuel loves wearing peoples' shoes around the house. He has also picked up Joshua's lego obsession, and prefers to play with age-inappropriate small legos instead of his duplos.

His vocabulary has gradually increased, and we even heard him said very distinctively "Joshua" tonight. But his favorite words are still: no, more, dada, momma, wow, & dat.

First Lego Creation

2010-02-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Though Samuel unfortunately chose tonight at 12:30am to discover his newfound passion for lego building, it was quite impressive nonetheless. Soon he will probably move on to building firetrucks like his big brother!

Snowball

2010-02-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

17 months old

2010-02-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Words Samuel can say now:
ball, more, no, mama, nose, yeh yeh, ah mah, apple, babab (helicopter), Jay (Joshua), dada, cup, truck

Ah-mah and Yeh-yeh

2010-02-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

Samuel loved giving goodnight hugs and kisses to Ah-mah and Yeh-yeh.

Even after they had left, he would still call out and look for them.

Christmas Day 2009

2010-02-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

We took a walk to the local firestation to pass out cookies.

Missing church

2009-12-27T07:54:00.001-08:00

Church is always during nap time for Samuel. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he don't.

Snowstorm

2009-12-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

Samuel is watching his first big snow storm with his big brother.

Joshua's Flashdance

2009-12-20T20:16:00.001-08:00

The first time we've seen Samuel with these moves.

Babbling

2009-12-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

Nothing earth shattering, but it's just a lot of fun to listen to him. He's not saying a lot that is comprehensible, but he's got a lot to say and with attitude sometimes.

Brushing teeth

2009-12-14T20:23:00.001-08:00

Samuel's smiles are captivating.

Library time

2009-12-14T20:14:00.001-08:00

Samuel saw this little girl at the library and started to follow her around. He really enjoys sitting at tables and drawing with crayons.

Sleep changes

2009-12-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

Yipee! We moved Joshua's firetruck bed to Samuel's room, and moved the crib into Joshua's room and voila, we are now back to sleeping bliss. Samuel can wake up in the middle of the night or at 5am in the morning, and I don't need to rush over to Samuel's room and get him before he wakes up Joshua. This morning was the first time I've slept in in months.

Reading again

2009-11-30T18:46:00.001-08:00

Samuel will see a book about fire trucks or construction vehicles, pick it up, and run over to sit in our laps to read to him, or sit down and look at the book himself.

Me as a pumpkin

2009-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

Samuel was a pumpkin for Halloween this year.

I like reading!

2009-11-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

Samuel loves to read books, especially books about trucks. When he sees a firetruck, he makes a "wooo-wooo-wooo" sound.

I like to recycle!

2009-11-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

Playing Together

2009-11-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the boys will sit together and play, without fighting for the same toys. Samuel is busy trying to shake tape off his finger.

The prankster et al.

2009-11-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

As I type, Samuel is having a lot of fun taking his own saliva and wiping it on my leg. At first, I thought he was just experiencing different textures, i.e., my leg. But then I noticed he was walking back and forth between a puddle of drool and my leg, deliberately slabbing on the web stuff and giving me mischievous looks and smiling. He knows what he's doing. A prankster at age 13 months.

Also when we tell him something is a no-no, he just smiles at us and waves his finger back and forth in front of his face.

His favorite foods these days: broccoli and peas. If we are trying to feed him something he doesn't like, we try to hide it in broccoli.

When he sees a vehicle of any sort, he points and tries to say, "truck!"

When he sees a dog, he also points as shouts something that sounds like "Bah!"

He is good at some imitations: a growl, "shh" sounds, and basically copying his brother.

He really enjoys getting objects together and banging together in his hands.

He goes directly to the tinkertoy container and likes to open the lid and take out different color sticks. He's also very neat sometimes, and will help us point things back in the container.

The other day I was surprised at bedtime when I asked him to pick out the caterpillar book from the bookshelf, and he did.

Our babysitter said that the other day at the library, he walked around and hugged the other children, and gently stroked them on the arm. He's a real sociable dude.

I like balls

2009-10-30T19:58:00.001-07:00

Fall with Momma

2009-10-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Learning from Big Bro

2009-10-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

First he watches

Then he does

Day with Samuel

2009-10-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

6:45am: Samuel wakes up, feed him milk with lactulose.
7:00am: breakfast--doesn't want cantaloupe, has Cheerios and some toast
9:15am: carry Samuel in backpack to school with Joshua on his bike
10:00am: naps for 1 hr and poops, then meanders around the dorm hall locking for electronic device buttons to push and people to wave to
noon: eats lunch, has Annette made meat cube with cereal, loves peas. I make flashcards for him to teach him: cup/clap/hand/foot/spoon
1:30pm: arrives at Science museum via shuttle, Red line, and Green line. Samuel enjoys seeing the eggs/chicks, monkeys, train set, model hearts, walking around the lobby, and admiring the view from the bridge. Samuel enjoys riding public transportation, smiling at passengers, but mostly sits quietly while holding on
3:00pm: back home for milk and another nap 1:15 long
4:15pm: read some books to him, Samuel likes sitting on Joshua's little green chair and playing with a wiffle ball and 3 black plastic containers
4:30pm: has cantaloupe and teething biscuit and few Ritz for snack
5:00pm: return to Joshua's school via backpack to pick up big brother
5:45pm: Samuel enjoys wandering from playroom to kitchen, picking up toys like legos to bang
6:30pm: Samuel eats a wonderful meal of broccoli, jia jen mian (Korean noodles), and tofu. He smears sauce all over his face. Looks adorable.
7:15pm: bath in Joshua's tub, and falls asleep at 7:30 after drinking milk

Apple picking

2009-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sameul went apple picking for the first time today. We went to Tougas Farms and discovered that Samuel loves apples!