Friday, October 8, 2010

Snakes and Snails and puppy dog tails


Here's what this little boy is made of:
1) Legos. I catch him pretending to blow up bad guys with fighter jets he has created or figuring out how to put separate rooms in the houses he makes. He'll spend hours sometimes in his own little Lego land. At first he just copied the instructions for the kits we bought (to make certain ships or houses), but now he uses those ideas to make other things. I love his creativity.

2) Brother Time. He loves playing with Ben who makes him laugh a lot. Ben jumps in on any opportunity to play with Sam. Sam loves teasing him until Ben attacks. I think Sam has run to me scared of Ben more than the other way around, so it's a pretty even match. It's funny to see Ben play with Lucy and Sam -- with Sam he's a tough mean guy. With Lucy he's a baby she puts to sleep or a sweet puppy who follows her around. He wrestles with Sam and plays house with Lucy. But this isn't Ben's blog, is it? But here's Sam doing the Haka (slap dance).



3) Learning new things. I met him for "Lunch on the Lawn" at school today. He was carrying a little scrap of papers with a mess of letters that didn't make sense to me. He said he learned a new rule that none of the kindergarteners even know! It's about what letters come with C and K. It didn't make sense to me, but he seemed to relish his newfound wisdom. He's also quite proud of his new tricks like riding bikes or doing a pull-up. He's just starting to ride on his own pretty well and he's gaining confidence. He can't wait to show his cousins or family that come around. Here's Sammy mastering the easy-ski.

4) Jokes. Today for the first time he finally got the "Orange you glad I didn't say Banana" knock-knock joke. We've told it to them over and over helping them learn it, and I guess he struggled learning it because it didn't make sense! Tonight Chris told it to him and he laughed and laughed at the punchline.

Here's some stellar stand-up Barney style.

5) Experiments. His favorite thing to do after school is experiment. He mixed soap and sunscreen the other day and mused at the bubbling goop. He loves food coloring. He always asks "Wouldn't it be cool if....?" questions. He wondered if the sidewalk was hot enough to cook an egg last week when it hit 110. We tried it. It didn't cook, but we had fun trying! Sometimes he'll create things he's seen on TV. He tried to make a fuse line (Tom and Jerry style) with lots of random bits of rope/string/anything that could connect in any way. He wanted to light it to watch the flame crawl along the path he had made but I talked him out of it. That kind of experimenting makes me a bit nervous, but he's usually responsible. Here's the egg --

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The boy likes broccoli!

Chris picked our first harvest of broccoli. Sam gobbled it up. He painted his face with ranch dressing in the process. I think all of that broccoli eating has paid off for Sam recently. I mean, have you ever seen a better dressed 5 year old?
Those are all my clothes. Some of my faves actually. That brown old lady sweater is as comfortable as, well, a hug from your favorite old lady! And I only take those pants off when I have to. I guess Sam thought he'd try out the clothes that I seemed so in love with.
The broccoli also has increased his IQ. He got the Principal's Award for the 2nd trimester of kindergarten. And let me tell you, it's not like it's easy! I mean, we're talking ALL of the ABC's AND being able to stack the colored cubes correctly. California doesn't mess around with it's curriculum.


Here's Sam proudly displaying his Transformers shirt instead of his certificate.
Broccoli also seems to have made him more adept at organization skills. This is what he does for fun. What does that mean for his future? Professional Organizer? CEO of Legos Inc.? The possibilities are endless. So young and so much to offer. Keep eating those vegetables, Sam. The world is your oyster.