He looks like a natural!
We enjoyed our Vintage Camera Photoshoot playdate today. Sam was pretty agreeable and there were lots of things there for him to explore and enjoy. He climbed around on a playground that was just the right size for him, pet a fluffy puppy dog named Marshmallow, played with a bunny named Molly, and got to take pictures of Mama with his very own camera - a (non-working) Kodak Brownie Starflex. What a fun St. Patty's Day afternoon!
Boy, did this guy have fun at his party!
He got lots of great presents and had a ball being the center of attention! The highlights of the party - - big turtle, little turtle and "Aunt Bail" (Aunt Bell). He's mentioned her name almost every day since. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated our little boy's birthday, and a special thanks to Gram who saved all of my Sesame Street toys all these years. It made decorating for this party very easy - and very retro!!
Waiting, waiting, waiting for Granny... Finally! They're here!!
Pinch, pinch, pinch!
Enjoying birthday snacks with Gram
Great-Grandma Having a blast being the center of attention!
Cowboy Sam made an appearance, much to the delight of the Grannies and Grandpas
He liked his cake this year!
Helping Mommy put the finishing touches on the birthday cupcakes before our guests arrived!
Our Sesame Street friends helped us celebrate!
Happy Birthday Sam!
95%. 90%. 90%.
As in percentile for head, height and weight. Sam got these "straight As" at his two-year-old check up. Doc G. wrote on our take-home sheet "Big Boy". He said we can go from whole milk to 2% milk. Ya think?
He asked me if Sam was talking and I said he was. He tried to get him to talk but Sam would only glare at him and bury his head in my shoulder. Dr. G. continued his exam and later tried to get Sam to talk again - asked him his name and how old he was. Sam wasn't having any of it and gave him the cold-shoulder again. Doc asked me - "Are you SURE he's talking?" - not in a joking way, but with genuine concern. HA!!
Not to worry
Dr. G. This kid talks. Clearly. In sentences. ALL DAY LONG. He just doesn't want to talk to the guy who jabs shots in his thigh, shines lights in his eyes and cleans out his ears with a long metal spoon! Can you blame him? :)
Not only will Sam not talk to the doctor, he starts crying the minute they call us back to our exam room. He screams when the nurse puts the measuring tape around his head and when I set him on the scale to be weighed. It's major drama - so unnecessary, and so loud. I know they're always glad to see us go. Despite the screaming I felt Sam deserved a treat after we left the doctor's office so we stopped by the mall playground on our way home. I took this picture before we left the doctor, knowing I'd taken one the year before, after his one-year-old check up. Same carseat, too - look how much taller he is now. Notice his red, tear-stained face, too. Poor guy.
Happy Straight A's Sam!
Sam's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. Even though his party was coming up, we still wanted to celebrate this special day.
We took Sam down to see Gram and Pops and then we all went out for ice cream - yogurt, actually. Very yogurty yogurt. Sam loved it, though!
Sam's always up for a trip to the park.
I was hoping for a little more sun, but it ended up getting pretty overcast while we were out. It didn't matter to Sam, though. We had lots of wind which made our pinwheel spin without our help, and we had fun swinging and chasing ducks at the lake. Cute little boy.
Twenty-four photos.
One for each month of the first two years. We're done, for now. I'll take another one at two-and-a-half and then again on his third birthday. I think we'll have to keep this chair forever.
We made some "heart cookies" for Valentine's Day.
I didn't like them very well, but Sam had fun making them and it gave us something to do during the ice storm.
It started about 3:30 in the morning...t
he tap-tap-tap of sleet against the window. Then the wind started blowing harder and harder. One thick sheet of ice later, we were trapped inside for what felt like FOREVER.
We made the best of it, huddling on the couch to keep warm. The power went out for a short time, so we quickly took showers before the hot water ran out. We weren't out of power more than a few hours, and once it was back on we kept busy by making cookies, watching cartoons and playing games. We also built a fort, "Sam's Fort" we called it, and it was a great place to have lunch, snacks and read books.
While it was a fun adventure for the first few hours, it got old fast. And by the fourth day of being inside with an almost-two-year-old I was climbing the walls. We were all climbing the walls. No one had really anticipated the storm would be quite that bad and for that long, so we were short on food, activities to keep us busy and patience! There were no winter walks or making snowmen this time - it was all ice and very very cold outside. And inside, the house was a
disaster
. It's a good thing this kind of weather is unusual for Texas - I don't think I could handle being cooped up like that more than once in a great while...
We joined Pops and Gram Sunday for a combination Birthday/Super Bowl party.
Sam dressed in his football jersey (Cowboys colors...sorry Strakas) and had a great time cooking with Gram, tossing the football around with Andrew and helping Pops blow out the candles on his birthday cake.
Uncle Andrew is so funny!
Stirring the rice for Gram
Watching Gram add the chicken
Stirring the onions into the green beans
Helping Pops blow out the birthday candles
Thanks for having us all over Gram and Pops!
It started out as a great way to end the day.
Each night, twenty minutes or so before bedtime, Sam and I, (and sometimes Daddy, too) would gather up binkie, all three blankies and a basket of library books and cuddle up in my bed and read. We even call it "Books On Mommy's Bed". Much more comfortable than reading in the rocking chair in Sam's room! Unlike many activities we attempt throughout the day, Sam never needs convincing to go read with me and in fact, often asks for it on his own.
Lately though, Books on Mommy's Bed has turned into
Roll Around and Be Wild on Mommy's Bed
, all the while totally ignoring the story I'm trying to read. Not cool, Samuel. Not. Cool.
The answer is always "yes" to the question, "Do you want to help Mommy cook?
In this first picture, we were making apple cinnamon muffins. Sam LOVES muffins! He helped me stir the batter and he put all the papers in the muffin tins.
He's likes to "wash dishes", which means washing his toys in the bubbles, and loves to take a whiff of everything I chop, measure and stir. He pretended not to like this lemon..."eww" he said...but I know he didn't really mean it!
We've done even more work in the kitchen recently...more to come on our yummy heart cookies!
Remember
? Well, now my baby sleeps like this.
Each night, Sam asks for all his "bwankies". We have three right now - his original white hospital blankie, his green blankie from Cousin Hollie that we've always had around just in case we couldn't put our hands on the white blankie, and his airplane blankie that Granny Nell gave him for Christmas. It's BIG and velour and has already caused many a sibling-squabble between Sam and Sophie when she up and decides on any given day that it's now hers to put her stink on.
This is often how we find Sam when we check on him, all wrapped up like a baby-burrito, sweaty and snoring. Brian and I always let him sleep like this until we head off to bed, then we carefully unwrap him and scoot out of his room before he wakes up and sees us!
And what happens when little boys sleep all wrapped up like a burrito? MAJOR bed-head!
More like Slammin' Land.
I took Sam to a playdate at an indoor playground. We wanted the kids to burn off some of their winter wiggles. Sam took it a step further and burned some skin off his face - rug-burned that is. He went down a slide that was just too slick and despite the fact I was right in front of him he kept going, on his belly, like a torpedo through the water, face-down on the indoor/outdoor carpeting. He cried for a bit, but once I washed him off and determined the blood coming out of his nose was from a small cut and not internal bleeding, he wanted "DOWN Mama!" so that he could run and climb some more. I shook for a good three hours, and checked him for concusion over the next couple of days.
Other than that
it was a decent place, but the moms decided to try another one like it that we've heard better things about. Hopefully we'll stay injury-free next time!
What a polite little boy we have.
Sam spilled his smoothie the other day - an entire smoothie, just-made - all over the kitchen floor. Brian and I both heard something that sounded like "saw-yee guys", but we both dismissed it until we heard it again. We said something to each other and discovered Sam had in fact said "sorry guys" and says it all the time now. What a sweet baby!
It snowed a few inches here in North Texas this weekend.
Though much of it had melted, we took Sam on a Winter Walk through the neighborhood today. We looked for snowmen, touched many snowflakes - "shno-pakes" - and taught Sam how to walk slowly over the icy patches. He didn't like the snow on his fingers, but he did like stepping in it, listening to the crunch-crunch and seeing his own footprints behind him. It was great to get out after being cooped up all day Sunday. And what a cute little snow-bunny he makes!
Look who can climb the front steps all by himself. Up AND down!
Not only that, he thinks it's fun to count every step he climbs. And after completing a trip up and back down, sometimes ending on "ten", sometimes ending on "wah-wah-teen", I cheer and he takes a giant, dramatic bow. He and I took advantage of the somewhat warm weather and spent some time outside this week. Sam practiced step counting, sat on his tricycle a few times (it's still too scary to ride) and took a walk around the block with Mama. Always fun hanging out with Mr. Sam!
Christmas Day at the Straka house!
We started the morning with several tea parties at Sam's new table.
Then we set the real table - and later enjoyed Brian's yummy lasagna and layered salad!
When our guests arrived, we had more tea parties!
and played CRAZY!
Merry Christmas Sam!
Happy Christmas Eve!
We spent the day at Gram and Pops' house. They set a festive table and fixed a yummy dinner - Mushroom Crab Soup and homemade Cheese Bread.
Sam used my baby Sesame Street china set!
We got out the Play-Doh while Gram cooked - thanks to Daddy for taking pictures of us
and our Play-Doh creations!
Sam got some pretty awesome gifts - too many to mention! He hadn't had a nap all day and started to have a melt-down right around present-time, so we put him in his crib (where he screamed) and the grown-ups quickly opened gifts from each other. After his crying spell, Sam felt a little bit better and opened the rest of his presents, sans pants.
When we got home, Daddy had to put together the present we got for Sam. We wanted it to be ready when he woke up Christmas morning. We've been coloring and having tea parties on the floor for too long, so we got Sam a little table and chairs for the living room. He loves it!
Get me outta here!
So far, Sam's embraced Christmas and all its traditions - trees, cookies, ornaments and lights. Until today. Sitting on a bearded stranger's lap while another stranger, wearing a silly elf hat, squeaks a dog toy at you is not on Sam's list of "fun-things-to-do". But it's pretty much what we expected.
He fell on a toy block last night and bruised his cheek a little. For a split second we worried it would show up in his Santa picture, then we decided it won't matter because he'll be screaming. And scream he did.
Several nice parents in line behind us commented that this picture will be our favorite Sam and Santa picture in twenty years or so. As awful as it is, we're pretty sure they're right!
Once the Santa ordeal was over, we were ready for some fun. We took Sam to Santa's Village, did a little shopping, and had another burrito for lunch. Best of all, Sam did some more dancing around the singing Christmas tree. What a day!
Wondering if Sam's grown much in the last 12 months? Check out last year's Santa photo, side-by-side with this year's photo. Good Golly!
