Hurricane Party

We survived Hurricane Irene, fairing a lot better than neighboring states and communities.  We maintained power through the storm.  Unfortunately Chris had numerous property damage and flood calls, so was out most of the day, which left me to attempt to keep Sam both inside ("Out-si Mama, OUTSI" + banging on the deck door) and away from windows that have large trees near them.  Chris came home safely and trees & tree limbs stayed fairly intact (at least they stayed "out-si").  Sam kept me entertained and the most damage we had was to our remaining vegetable plants (the ones the squirrels have not destroyed) and our porch bar, which is repairable and has become more of a plant holder since Sam's arrival.

                                                                             The bar.

What happens when Daddy leaves Oreos on the couch?

I was suspicious when I was cleaning up the kitchen when there was silence.  Then I heard an odd crinkly sound... and found Sam, "mmm... Mama.. mmmm!"

"Trash, Mama"

Sam was eating lunch the other day after he had woken up from a nap.  I gave him chicken and made peas while he was working on the chicken.  When I offered him the peas (offer is what baby books tell you to do- instead of giving it to the child?), he shook his head and said, "no."  This is a new word for him and it is using it whenever he can.  So I put the peas aside and a few minutes later set the bowl of peas back down on his tray.  He looked a me like, "haven't we discussed this already?"
"No," he said a little more vehemently.  I retreated again with the peas (which he really does like).
When he finished his chicken I picked up the empty bowl and surreptitiously placed the peas back on his tray.  He looked at the bowl, picked it up and held it out to me, and told me, "trash."
He repeated it again, just in case I didn't hear him the first time.

He actually ate the peas in the end, despite his direction to throw them away.  I used to think he picked things up being around other people, but since I have been with him all summer, I am now wondering, where does he get it from?

Wine and Laptops

Wine and laptops don't mix.  I was also told by a helpful Apple Store employee, that if I was to spill anything on my laptop in the future, to spill water.  Wine eventually corrodes the hardware.  Good to know.  Perhaps if I spill another glass of wine I can then clean it with water?  I was also convinced the next time that I replaced the laptop would probably be related to Sam doing something to it.
The best part is, the laptop was open and I was not using it,  it was my first glass of wine, and not even particularly good wine.  Not sure what the moral to this story is.

This is How I Roll

Dr. Phil

Chris and I seem to have these crazy things happen to us, which definitely keeps life interesting, but also makes me scratch my head.  We were driving back to a client of Chris's from Foxwoods Casino at 9:00 pm the other night, with Sam in the back of the car (another story for another time), when my phone beeped indicating an email.  Since Chris was driving and I had time to kill, I opened it.  The sender address was CBS and scanning it quickly I found it was from the Dr. Phil show.  For those of you abroad, Dr. Phil is a therapist who has a national show, he began his televised career on Oprah.  Come to find out, one of the producers was going through YouTube videos looking for children having temper tantrums.  I use YouTube to upload and share videos with people and make it a practice to set them to "private- can view only with the link," except apparently this video was not on the correct setting.  She wanted to know if we were interested in being on the show discussing temper tantrums.
I was reluctant for a number of reasons and didn't know if I should even contact her.  After some debate with Chris (who said he would explain it to Sam when he was 16 and mad at us about it), I agreed to speak to her.  I offered both Sam and Chris- Chris has better temper tantrums than Sam does, but luckily the show was focusing on 3-8 year olds.  No decisions to make there!
My conversation with Rachel, the producer ended with, "if you know anyone who has a 3-8 year old who has tantrums and their parents need help with it, can I have their number?"
I told her I'd ask around and get back to her if I came across anyone .