The Next Snowstorm 2015

I've lost track of the names of these storms.  They are a weekly occurrence at this point.  

It's a very bizarre cycle and seemingly never ending.  At least we hope spring is at the other end! 

This was the sidewalk walking home from dinner on
Saturday night, Valentine's Day.

This was the same sidewalk the next morning, 

looking in the opposite direction.  

That dip between the drifts was where I had previously shoveled a walkway.

The sunset driving home,  just before a commuter skied
by the passenger 

side window of my SUV 

and his skis were at the height of the window.  

The kids were aghast in the backseat.

The police blocking Broadway in Somerville, while trucks
remove the snow  banks.  It's a pretty common sight and takes
a long time to get anywhere.

A local bagel store.

My parents' house, the lamppost out front.

Staying Cool

We have temperatures in the 90s, after Memorial Day weekend was in the 50s, no one is quite prepared.  We put in one window AC unit yesterday evening, but it is hot.

Here are the kids trying to stay cool.

 Vivian on the deck last night, we were trying to catch a breeze after the sun went down.  Apparently she felt the need to pull up her dress and air out her belly (she is really just figuring out grasping things and her dress was the closest fabric).

Sam while we were waiting in a sunny line to check out some trucks.  The wheel was a shady spot.

Construction

I was trying to assemble a kid's picnic table with Sam.  Usually he loves these projects.  He wasn't very into this one, and instead of getting his tools or actually helping me, he got his construction trucks.  Then he wanted to deliver every piece of "lumber," I mean every single one.  While I tried to wait patiently and Vivian was waiting more patiently.  Then there was the added bonus of being ninety degrees out and our AC units are not in our windows yet.  It was a really fun project.

Lone Truck

There's construction going on near our house, as eventually, one of the trains from the city will be extended out through our city.  We were filling the car with gas the other day, and Sam was watching the trucks across the street on the train tracks.
He was narrating what he saw, when he said, "oh, that's sad."
"What's that?" I asked.
"That little backhoe is all by himself, he has no one to work with."
Sure enough when I looked, there was one lone red backhoe on one side of the tracks by itself, while all the other big trucks worked on the other side.  Funny what is sad to a three year old.

         A photo from afar of the lonely truck.

At the Mechanic

We've had a long bout of Sam being sick again.  Nothing terrible, ear infections, the croup, and what is probably all related to the change in seasons and mild allergies.  After the second round of antibiotics and not eating for a good week, and being out of his routine, Sam's temperament and behavior was verging on terrible.  We finished up the antibiotics and he finally seemed to start to return to his old self.
Yesterday he was starting to return to the temper tantrums and endless tears and started to take inventory of, I swear, every misplaced toy he could think of.
"James??  Mama where James?  Sammy look for James?" with a note of desperation in his voice. After a quick search I located the missing train.
"Dump twuck?  Sammy no see dump twuck?  Is it?  Where?"  Now there were actual tears.  We found dump truck.


I was stumped when we got to Mater.  A little tow truck from the movie Cars, who is one of the uglier characters I have ever seen.  Sam hasn't seen the movie, but from the magical powers of Disney marketing, he knows who Mater is.
"Mater?  Where Mater?  Mama????" still in tears.  He wandered around the house calling for, "Mater..."  He returned to the living room and told me, very seriously, "maybe Mater mechanic."
I jumped on it.
"Yes, Mater is at the mechanic.  I forgot!  I'll call the mechanic now and check on him," figuring we could prolong this one until the truck turned up.
We "talked" to the mechanic, only to discover that Mater was still being worked on.

This morning I found Sam walking in circles on his toy phone.  "Yes, Mater?  Oh, no.  New tires Mater.  Yes."
He reported to me, "Mater not finished yet." Whew.

We were at a local farm today with friends and Sam fell asleep in the car coming home, and then was off his nap schedule.  Chris and I desperately needed him to take a nap to catch up with work we needed to do.  Chris somehow, in negotiating that Sam would at least lie down and rest, told him that if he rested, he would "go and pick Mater up at the mechanic."
This totally backfired as, first off, Sam never slept, only rested, and we spent the whole time he was "resting" turning the house upside down looking for the missing truck, and secondly, resulted in Chris running to Target to buy a replacement $2.99 Mater.

It seems that Mater got a paint job while he was at the mechanic.  This Mater has what looks like airbrushed paint on his sides.  Luckily Sam accepted the fact that Mater had a paint job.  He has also been inspecting the truck very closely.  "Oh, Mater new tires!"  "Mater yellow light?"  I'm waiting to see what happens when the old Mater turns up.

Trucks or Animals

Trucks are a very important part of Sam's life, he reads about them, watches them, attempts to "draw" them, and talks about them constantly.  He knows the names of at least ten trucks.  We also have books and toys that are not trucks, but they rarely take precedent in his life.  

I've seen a few clear examples of moments where I think I should try to phase out the trucks a little bit, or at least encourage him to engage in other activities or interests.  For instance, when he was sick a few months ago and it was time to take medicine, I was employing other people or dolls to assist to cut down on tears.  

"Medicine time!  Mummy is giving medicine to Daddy!"  I pretend to put it in Chris's mouth.  My Dad also happened to be there.  "Grand Joe's turn!"  "Sam's turn!"

Sam, who was holding his baby doll, dropped it on it's head, and ran into the living room.  He returned with his toy dump truck, "dump twuck turn!"

Example 2:  We were reading "Polor Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?" and Sam was looking at the animals (which once he knew the names of and has since forgotten!).  He came across the elephant (which he can identify but also calls cows elephants currently).  The elephant that Eric Carle illustrated in this book is different shades of grey, with some black.  

Sam:  "Ohh.... elephant dirty."

Me:  "Maybe a little, but I think that's the way the illustrator drew him."

Sam"  "Elephant dirty.  Elephant go car wash.  Daddy take elephant car wash.  Daddy?  Daddy!  Elephant car wash!"

Example 3:  His food now turns into vehicles.  Constantly.  At first it was a little bit cute, now it's a little bit annoying, particularly when we have somewhere to go. 

Sam:  "Mama!  Look!  Back-hoe!" As he drives a piece of waffle across his plate.  

Me:  "Oh, yes, back hoe.  Time to eat the waffle."

Sam:  "Back-hoe- dwive!"

Me:  "Eat the back-hoe!  Time to go!" 

Sam:  "No Sammy eat back hoe!"

Aarghh.....

Example 4:  Sam can identify one color most of the time, and that's green.  However, he can identify colors about 75% of the time if you ask him in relation to a truck or a car.  

"Silver car!  Yelwow school bus!  Gween truck!"

My world is slowly being taken over by trucks, trains, and cars.  

Dress Code

Sam has become very particular about what he wants to wear.  It started as him just pitching a fit when we tried to get him dressed in the morning, so I finally would pull out two acceptable items and offer him a "choice."  Then it morphed into Sam only wearing khakis or light grey pants (no jeans, dark cords, navy, etc).  On top he prefers anything with trucks, engines, heavy construction equipment.  This limits things, until you build a wardrobe of serious vehicle attire, which we now have.
The problem we are encountering (other than drawers full of unworn clothing), is that it is now cold out and khakis are usually spring wear, so not designed for cold weather use.  Chris also bought Sam a cool pair of fire engine pajamas, that if he sees he has to wear, day or night.
Most of our Christmas photos involve these jammies.  The only way to make them warm, is to layer, but the pajamas have to be visible.  Today he kind of looks homeless.  Fire engine pajama bottoms, with khaki  shorts over them, a onesie, and a t-shirt with monster truck.  I'm not really sure what look we're going for here.  And this kid isn't two yet.  I'm just thinking that if he was a girl, I'd be in trouble when he was  teenager.  I figure if he's warm, I'm not fighting this battle, particularly in the morning before work.  Please excuse his fashion sense.

Sam's Christmas Eve outfit.  Fire engine pajamas with khaki pants rolled up over them.