Seat Belt Police

The boys and I were on our way home today from the park. We stopped at a convenience store that is within a mile or so of our home. I am somewhat ashamed to say that I made a decision NOT to put my seat belt on because we were so close to home. Wouldn't want to waste any energy on something so temporary. The seat belt alarm thingie only goes off a few times between this gas station and our house. (not that I've done it before) As we're rounding the last curve before entering our subdivision, I hear from the back seat "seat belt pwease mom". I didn't say a word. Caught by a two year old. I quickly put my seat belt on and snuck a look at him in the rear view mirror at which time he said "thanks".

What would I do without my Sam? Be very reckless for one thing...

Empathy...not quite

Recently Nathan and I were alone in the car on a regular errand to buy crickets for our ugliest family member, Jack. I turned off the radio and tried to take advantage of our time together. I asked him about school and how the first grade has compared with kindergarten. He said that kindergarten was a lot more fun for obvious reasons. I took this opportunity to tell a story about when I was in the first grade. I too was pining for the happier days of kindergarten. I had two of the absolute best kindergarten teachers and I was unwilling to give my new teacher a chance. Well, on one quite terrible day of first grade our teacher had to leave the room and told us that we had better be quiet and under no circumstances should we leave our seats. If we did, we would be in BIG trouble. Seeing that I had decided this teacher was the biggest meanie ever I didn't dare leave my seat even though I REALLY needed to go the little girls room. As I remember I waited as long as I possibly could. I even considered disobeying my teacher and going to the bathroom without permission. In the end I did the only reasonable thing I could think of...I sat in my seat and peed my pants. It ran down the desk and I just sat there pretending nothing had happened. The teacher came back and of course asked me why I hadn't just gone to the restroom. Obviously she did not understand the power of her words over a little girl who was terribly frightened of her. So instead of going outside for recess I got to sit in the classroom, wrapped in my teachers coat while she hung my wet clothes on the heater to dry. (yuck) As a side note, my "boyfriend" Todd kindly stayed inside with me and held my hand. When I was done relating what I considered to be a terribly sad story to Nathan about myself as a little girl in the first grade, I asked him what he thought. He said "I have two interesting things to tell you. Number one...I just saw a lady walking a dog and the dog had on a sweater. Number two...I just saw a sign laying on the ground." I hesitated for a moment hoping he had more to say that might have something to do with my story. When he didn't I said "no Nathan, what did you think about my story?" He says "oh that, peeing in your desk is gross mom." Hmmm...all my sensitivity training doesn't seem to be sinking in. I will say that later as he related the story to his dad he said "isn't that sad?"

what's that you say?

I just ran across this and had to post it even though it is a few months old. The video speaks for itself, but just a little setup. At the time Sam was insisting on being potty trained. (we have since given up on this little endeavor for a while) In this video I am interrogating him as he sits on the throne about how a big mess of popcorn got all over the living room floor. This is what I got. I'm not exactly sure what he's saying but I would say based on my best interpretation, he's definitely a suspect in the crime.

"hubs"

Sam and I took a trip to the grocery store yesterday. Our first stop, of course, was to the bakery for his complimentary chocolate chip cookie. He was a pretty content shopping partner until the cookie ran out on aisle two. At that point he started begging for everything we passed. This is how the conversation went.

Sam: "mama, what is that?"

Me: "those are noodles, Sam."

Sam: "i want doodles mom."

And so it went. I identified an item for him and he told me he wanted said item. About half way through the store I was getting frazzled and forgetting what I was doing, going back to aisles where I had forgotten the main things I had come to the store for. My patience may or may not have been running a little thin and if you had been there you may or may not have been able to detect that in my voice when answering Sam's continued questions. At some point he started saying "i want hub mamma." He had to say it a few times. I was trying to piece together what a "hub" might be by thinking about what items I had identified for him in the past 30 seconds. And then I stopped, looked at him and he held his arms out "i want a hub mamma". Oh, a hug. Sweet baby. So we stood in the cereal isle hugging and then he said, no kidding "mmmm...this is nice."

These moments are what makes it possible to withstand the other "terrible two" moments. I love this kid!

So yes, I shamelessly tried to recreate this hug so I could take a picture. I get lots of hugs so it's not a total fake, just staged because a picture of Sam just makes this entry better.

Rocky Balboa

So I just have to post this really quick. Sam has been BEGGING to go to Nana & Papa's house. Every time we get in the car it's "are we going to Nana & Papa's and then a mini tantrum when I tell him no. So yesterday I was just curious why he wanted to go so badly so I asked "Sam, what are you going to do at Nana & Papa's house?" This was followed by a pause, a hmmmm, a pause and then "hit people". Yep that's right, hit people. I asked just be to sure and he confirmed that he indeed was pining for Nana & Papa's house so he could hit people. I hope this is just a sweet little harmless two year old thing to say rather than the other option which is that he remembers that there are always people smaller than him at Nana & Papa's house and therefore he has people he feels safe to hit. So scary. Just look how ferocious he is.