"I Love You"

When I was leaving this morning, I went through my usual goodbyes with Sam as he was eating breakfast.
"Bye-bye Sam.  Have fun with your friends today, I love you."  I turned to say something to Chris and as I did, I heard a little voice say back, "I luv -oo."  Sam was smiling at me from his high chair.  After saying it to him on a daily basis, multiple times a day, he has never even attempted to say it.  I immediately melted a little bit and teared up.  It made up for the morning temper tantrum and perhaps even the 3:45am visit that left me in a fog today.

Update: 
The next day when I left for work, I happily said good-bye to Sam, and "I love you," expecting a response similar to yesterday's.  He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Vroomm...."
I tried again, "I love you Sam."
"Vroom."
Chris and I interpreted this as a sign of affection, since Sam loves his vehicles so much.
He has since said "I luv oo," but at random moments.
I guess the unexpected makes it that much more sweet.

"Boyz"

Right now Sam is obsessed with his "boys" at daycare.  These little guys are the friends he has made.  If you ask him about the girls he loses focus and gets distracted.  When he drives down the street to his new daycare, he starts yelling, "boysszz..!" and waving his arms.  Upon arrival a couple of them will run up to him with toys and the older ones with say, "Sam" as they hold out their offering.  When we ask him about his day, he tells us, "boys. Cars."  Sometimes he tries to name them, which comes out like "Woey" which is "Joey," and "Mus" which is "Shamus."  I ask him about the little girls there, Amelie and Annabelle, and he looks at me blankly and starts doing something else.
Chris took him to the playground the other day with another dad and his daughter Lily.  Sam paid no attention to her at all, even when she gave him a hug and a kiss.  The next day, I took him to the playground with another little girl.  The only time Sam noticed that she existed, is when she was in the Cozy Coupe car next to him.  Otherwise he really was not impressed with her presence.  I'm not sure how he even knows the difference between the sexes right now or what the fascination with the boys is, but he no longer cries when he is dropped off in the morning, so we'll take what we can get.

Middle of the Night Conversations

Last night Sam was up a few times.  The last time, at 4 am, I went to him, because I could tell that he was standing up, which means he will fully wake up and take a long time (hours?) to go back down.  I changed him, his super wet diaper seemed to be the culprit for him waking up, and took him out to the couch to go back to sleep with me.  When I have to work in the morning, it's a lot easier to have him fall asleep on me, then listen to him cry in his crib, having to repeatedly go in.
We snuggled on the couch, Sam seemingly drifting off, when he decided it was time to chat, as if to say, "hey, I'm having a sleepover, I need to make the most of this!"
Sam sleepily:  "Ahhh... bus,"
Me, more sleepily:  "bus?  it's resting time."
Sam:  "bus. Backhoe."
Me:  "no bus. No backhoe, tomorrow bus and backhoe."
Sam:  "Bus"
Me:  "Bus is sleeping."
Sam:  "Backhoe"
Me: "Backhoe is sleeping."
Sam: "Go-go." (his grandfather)
Me:  "Go-go is sleeping."
Sam: "Go-go bye-bye."
Me:  "Go-go bye-bye, sleeping."
Sam:  "Nana.  Nana!"
Me:  "Nana is sleeping."
Sam:  "O!OOO!!!!"  (his cousin)
Me:  "O is definitely sleeping,"  (while wondering if O was sleeping or having a conversation with his parents).
Sam:  "O.  Backhoe, backhoe.  No, no, sweep."
Me:  "Sammy is sleeping."
Sam:  "Backhoe."
Me:  "Mama is sleeping."
Sam:  "Mama..." (his hand pats my face).  "Mama backhoe."
Me:  "Sleeping."
Sam:  "Ought oh.  Key-key" (dropped his binky, little hand searching around).
Me:  "Sleeping time."
Sam drowsily:  "Backhoe"
Me:  "Backhoe sleeping. Night-night"
Sam sighing: "backhoe.  Go-go. O. Backhoe"


I have to think of a lullaby that encompasses these sweet thoughts ; )

Checking out the Statues

Here is Sam checking out statues in Davis Square, Somerville.  When he was a little baby he used to love walking around with us and looking at art, especially vivid paintings.  Lately, things on the ground have been much more interesting to him, now that he's mobile.  His reaction to the statues was funny, he inspected them from all sides.

Animal Sounds

Sam's newest accomplishment ; )

Oral Hygiene

Today I took Sam to Starbucks so I could get my morning coffee fix and he could see some buses and run around.  Before we left I brushed my teeth, which made Sam want to brush his teeth.  He then didn't want to give me back the toothbrush, which was actually Chris's adult size toothbrush.  Since teeth brushing has been a battle of the wills lately, I figured it was better that he wanted it than didn't.  I let him take it for the ride.

I parked and went to unbuckle him from the carseat.  The toothbrush was still in his mouth.  I tried to take it out, he clamped firmly down on it, opening his mouth only to say, "NO."  I assessed the situation.  My coffee won over the potential temper tantrum which might mean no caffeine.  So Sam continued to brush his teeth in Starbucks while I got my coffee.

Sam's Tomato Harvest

It turns out having Sam "help" with the garden this year was not our most thought-through decision.  This is his latest (and the last of!) our tomatoes.  He's a lot faster than we are when he decides to pick them and a lot less discriminatory about the color of the fruits.

Beach Days

 
At the beginning of the summer Sam tolerated the beach.  I think it was overwhelming and just too much input for his little brain.  We did quite a few beach trips this summer, from Naragansett, Rhode Island, to Nahant, Cape Cod, and Hull, Mass.  Now when we tell him we're going to the beach, he starts yelling, "beach!" and tries to sit in my lap so I can apply sunscreen(!).  

 Today we went down to a friend's family beach house and he spent time collecting rocks in a bucket, splashing in tidal pools, tossing rocks in the water, and generally enjoying himself.  He didn't stop running around until we retired to the porch at the house to eat popsicles.  He fell asleep in the car and I am typing this now because he has been sleeping for the past three hours!