Friday, March 30, 2012

Happy Birthday Dear Sam!

Sam is THREE today and we are too busy celebrating to blog!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dearest Sam!
Happy Birthday to you!

A Letter To Sam As He Turns Three

Sam -- you are THREE YEARS OLD! I can't believe that you are already three. How did THAT happen?

You wear a size 5 disposable diapers and most of your clothes are 2T or 3T with some 4T thrown in as well. You are so tall and skinny (29.6 pounds (including clothes) and 39"). You are so close to being potty trained, I think! You pee on the potty quite often, when we make you, even on the big potty. You just don't seem super-interested to be self-motivated. Once we move to Ontario we will make a big effort and I don't think it will take very long! You don't even ask for a "covered up blueberry" every time you pee on the potty anymore.
You used to sleep really well at night, but you have started having "bad dreams." You sleep with one of your hockey sticks so you can "hit the dreams away" but every once in a while you end up sleeping in the hallway outside Mommy and Daddy's room. You have adjusted really well to your big boy bed (which is just a mattress on the floor at this point) and don't come out of your room when you're not supposed to. You have pretty much given up your afternoon nap in the past two weeks but you are okay to hang out in your room for some "quiet time." I think you need the break since you wake up every morning asking, "What's happening today?" as well as announcing, "It's da-aa-ay!" You still like to read in bed and listen to Kim Thiessen's For Such As These most nights.

You still eat okay, but not great. Breakfast is still your best meal of the day -- usually consisting of two yogurts and then oatmeal or toast or Daddy's Crispix or a banana muffin. You don't eat a lot of lunch, and sometimes not a lot of supper either. You still eat a pretty good range of stuff but don't really like potatoes. Before supper we each say one thing we are thankful for and lately you have been saying, "I'm thankful for anything" which means "nothing" but after Mommy and Daddy and Rachel go, you usually have something to share. You eat in your booster seat and lately we have gotten rid of all sippy cups so you have water or iced tea or orange juice in an IKEA glass.

Sam, you are such a good big brother to Rachel. You love her so much and she adores you! You like to play with her, give her toys and make her laugh. You make her so happy and she laughs so much with you. You have also really started to enjoy playing with Rachel in your bedroom. You give her toys and run around and she just watches you.

You love Kindermusik and gymnastics and playing with your friends from New Mom's Group, especially Olivia. She is your best friend. You and Naden and Kelsey also play together a lot.

You also like to play on your own with your trains or your cars or with books. You take all your toys and just take over the whole living room with your games. I love how you can play independently for so long. You like to sing and listen to music and play your guitar with Daddy. You also like to play downstairs by yourself. You take toys down there and play for hours. You also like stickers and put them everywhere! Your favourite video right now is the Baby Einstein Water Video.

You are so into letters and words and numbers and reading. You can spell a few words (stop, Sam and exit) and like to know how words are spelled. With help you can often sound words out and you're pretty good at it too!

Sam, we love you so much and look forward to every day with you.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Sam and His Friends

Sam has some really good friends, most of whom he met through a New Mom's Group I joined when he was just five months old.

Today we went to Galaxyland at West Edmonton Mall
with two of his best friends, Kelsey and Olivia.

We were sad that Naden couldn't join us.
These four kids have played together almost every week
since August of 2007.

And lately, they've seen each other two to three times a week
what with swimming or Kindermusik or gymnastics
or general hanging out!

And of course we miss Saige who is spending
a few months in Australia.

Sam and his friends have so much fun together.

And that's the way it should be.

Sam will have a lot of fun celebrating his birthday this Saturday
with all of his friends!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sam and Playing!


Sam is such a creative, imaginative, independent play-er.

He likes to read and play games with his trains.
He plays and plays and involves the entire room he is in,
often coming into the kitchen for "extra supplies."

He likes his letter magnets on the fridge and he likes instruments.
He likes listening to music or making his own.

He also has a very long attention span which we love and appreciate.
Sam, at play, is so much fun to watch and be around.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!


All Sam, all week long! Yes, in honour of Sam's third birthday, coming up THIS Friday, this blog will focus on Sam, and all the awesome, amazing, annoying (!) things he does! However it won't start today because Sam didn't nap today (we'll put that under annoying!) and so I am exhausted. Plus we went to Cafe O Play (where I took the picture above) and it wore me out, even though that was the effect I was hoping it would have on Sam.

So stay tuned for birthday celebrations all week long. And if you want to get in the spirit you can read my account of Sam's birth story which I posted about here.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bird Walk

Today we went for a walk with Kim, Jacqui, Alliah and Seth. We met at Emily Murphy Park and walked all the way to the edge of Hawrelak Park. It was a lovely day, although a little windy. We should have dressed Sam a little warmer because the poor kid was shivering by the end of our two hours outside. Ooops :(

A highlight was getting to stop and feed the chickadees. Dave and I each had a bird come and eat out of our hand. Unfortunately Alliah has those pictures so once she sends them to us I will add them to this post. Until then enjoy these pictures of our walk.







Saturday, March 24, 2012

Happy Birthday Stella! (And An Aside About Teeth)

Stella, Sam's friend from our pre-natal class, turned three today. She had her party at the John Janzen Nature Centre. It was an awesome place to have a party because they had a super-cool, nature themed, play area. Sam even got to pet a baby chick!



And the kids decorated cupcakes. Between decorating (and eating!) cupcakes and playing, Sam had a blast! But he was not tired enough to have a nap this afternoon. Boo :(



And Miss Rachel got her sixth tooth yesterday and her seventh one today which has meant two nights of not great sleep. Two fussy kids, an unexpected snow storm, no naps, and two new teeth meant a rough day yesterday (thus no blogging) and a tired mommy today. So I'm off to bed. Good night!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Smirky Rachel


So last year around this time I took Sam to the University of Alberta for observation by second year medical students. I guess their profs want them to see normal kids so they can observe normal development. I took both kids this year and the focus was more on Rachel than Sam. That was a little hard for Sam who had some "being ignored issues" but I managed to smooth them out with the promise of a treat -- a cinnamon raisin bagel from Tim Horton's.

I love how Rachel is kind of smirking in this next picture. It's like she knew it was all about her for once :)

Rachel did really well with all the people, Sam did fairly well (especially after the promise of the bagel) and I was just really tired by the end.

This afternoon I got nothing done but Sam also didn't nap so I feel like I was a little justified. Plus it snowed A TON! This evening Twiebe came over and Dave and I finally got to watch:

(image from here)
It was very different from the book but I'm glad I've seen the whole series now.

I'm tired. There is a lot of snow. Our house is a little chaotic. And Twiebe put both Sam and Miss Rachel down for bed. Too bad we can't take her to Ontario with us :( And I'm off to bed soon. Good night.