That's No Rat

I asked Tutu last night what the name of the beach is where we saw what we saw a week ago. It might be called 'Rat' beach, but without better information we settled on the descriptive name of, 'The beach down the hill from P.V.' Without further ado, the story of our beach trip.
To get the full story you have to go on a journey with me up the western coast of North America, to a charming little area known as the Pacific Northwest. Every time I visit there, specifically Portland, Oregon, I am struck by the sheer green-ness everywhere. Monstrous trees, lush carpets of grass (with no visible irrigation systems!). A beautiful and world renown rose garden. Quite a feast for the eyes. Well, all of that vegetation comes at a price, a price I am not willing to pay. The average annual rainfall in Portland is 36.3 inches. For 2006 San Diego got 5.12 inches. For comparisons sake, if all the rain in Portland happened at one time, poor Kulia would need a snorkel to survive. For Sammy in San Diego, his shorts wouldn't get wet, at least until he jumped into the little puddle.

Fast forward to a visit to the city of Angels by Portland resident Auntie Chrissie. 'Let's go to the beach' Auntie Chrissie would say. Uh, its cloudy and yuck outside, are you crazy? Come on, it's not raining, it is at least 50 degrees outside, this is beach weather. Uh, okay. She established the precedent for us wimpy southern California folks to go to the beach in less than ideal conditions. And it was fun. Even in less than ideal conditions all of the kids had fun in the sand, and running to the waters edge.

So, last weekend while up at Tutu and Papa's house someone had the idea of going to the beach. None of the adults (Dan, Suzy, Tutu, Papa) were very enthusiastic about this idea, but the boys (Daniel, Sammy) were quite excited. We threw stuff in the van, and ventured down the hill. Boys happy, adults leery. Well, thank you Auntie Chrissie, because it was fun. Sammy and Daniel had a great time playing in the sand. But most of their fun was had in the water. The horribly cold water. They both loved it. Getting soaked by waves they weren't fast enough to run from. Wading out holding onto someone's hand. I had a blast with them, it sure looked like Papa did too. There is nothing like having kids open your eyes to fun.

There we were, Daniel and I, standing in the area where the waves wash up, but it is mostly dry. At least for me. Daniel was wet through and through. That was when I saw it. The last time we were up there we saw some dolphins swimming around out by the surf line. That was pretty cool, and naturally when I saw something out there among the few surfers braving the chilly conditions I assumed it was more dolphins. With one eye and a strong grip on Daniel, I continued to look for the 'dolphin'. Oh, there it was, but that was no dolphin. That was dark with some white on it. What the heck, I think that was a whale. I kept watching. Oh, my, there it was again. By this time I was convinced. I told Daniel, and started looking around for Tutu, Papa, Suzy or Sammy to share my discovery. Tutu was up on the beach warming up Sammy. Papa was close, so I told him. I found Suzy. By this time I had seen the whale a few more times, and was amazed at how close it was. It was in the surf line. With the surfers. I watched one of the surfers paddle a little closer to it, and then quickly back away. As the waves would form I would see the whale's flippers, head or tail pop out of the water. Man, it was huge. Twenty feet long at least. Probably closer to twenty five or thirty. And it was only thirty yards off shore. Impossibly close. Thank goodness by this time Suzy had grabbed her camera. I hope these shots do justice to how amazing the experience was. This was a huge whale just off the beach (to the point we were wondering if there was some problem), and we were watching it just play in the waves. The boys could see it, but I don't think they quite understood the rarity of the moment. They have both seen whales plenty of times at Sea World, and thought this must be the same. All of the adults on the beach just stopped and stared.

We watched for a while more, until it swam away. Then packed up to head for home. Thank you again, Auntie Chrissie, without your lousy Portland weather we would have missed out on the chance to see one of God's amazing creatures up close and personal. A whale. I still shake my head when I think about it.

Time Marches On

At the start of February I was sad. For the past two years I have been spending one morning a week at home with Sammy, while Suzy goes and helps out with Daniel's class. My Monday morning's with Sammy finished in January because Sammy started going to school with Daniel. I didn't really think about how that would make me feel. I thought about how excited Sammy would be (he has wanted to go to school with Daniel for a long time), but I never contemplated what my reaction would be. I have to admit I was a bit surprised. I am not normally someone who gets sad. Overall a pretty even keel kind of person. For most of the month of February when I started to think about it I would start feeling sad. I am very happy for Sammy, don't get me wrong. He has been doing great in school, and is fitting right in with all of the kids. But for me, not so much. Part of it is regret, that I didn't enjoy the time we had just the two us together, as much as I should have. Part of it is just the fact that I probably will never have that regular time just the two of us again. That's junk.

This week (Thursday to be precise) I went down to the K through 8th grade school associated with our church and wrote what was the first of many checks. Daniel is now enrolled in kindergarten to start on September 4th. Suzy and I settled on this school mainly because we know and respect so many of the teachers and the staff. That has probably been my greatest reward for being on the School Board there for the last two years. I have gotten a first hand look at the people involved and decided I could trust my boy with them. It is very hard to believe that Daniel is mere months away from starting school for real. We shall see what my reaction to that will be. Suzy, I know, is going to be a mess, but having Sammy will distract her to a certain extent. She probably won't let Sammy start school until he is about 15. My beautiful wife sometimes likes to delay in the inevitable.
On a different note, I have been commanded to write a blog entry about what we saw while at the beach up in LA visiting Tutu and Papa last weekend. That post will be coming soon, but the teaser is... It was nothing any of us ever had seen from a beach before in our lives, quite amazing.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Well, last week I was saying it feels like Spring, but the last few days have felt like summer. It has been HOT! We have been hitting the 80's and even crept up to 90 over the weekend. I have been romping around in shorts, skirts and tank tops and enjoying this weather. Actually this weather is better than summer because although it hits the high 80's during the day it only stays that hot for and hour or two and then cools back down to the 50's at night. So the house stays at a comfortable temperature all day.

Since it has been so hot I decide to take the boys to the pool today. They water was pretty cold still, but Daniel and Sammy didn't seem to mind. I enjoyed basking by the pool while the boys played in the water. We even pulled out our blow-up crocodile, who Daniel has named 'Snap trusty', and the boys pretended he was a ride a Disneyland.


I am still not used to the time change and have to drag myself out of bed in the morning to go workout. And it is so dark out at 6 in the morning. But I do like the extra hours of sunlight and the pitter-patter of little feet running down the hallway to the bathroom doesn't start till much later in the morning, which is nice for Dan.

The boys have mostly recovered from the coughing bug that has been passed around their preschool, but last Friday someone was sent home sick and it turns out she had strep throat. Just great! I am praying that the boys stay healthy for awhile because Dan and I are just plain tired of one or the other being sick. Hopefully this warm weather will chase away the cold and flu season. Bring on the warm weather!

Feels like Spring

My favorite season is Spring. Not too hot, not too cold, but just perfect. These last three days have felt like Spring and I am loving it.

One of the things I love about living in San Diego is the weather. It has just the perfect balance of weather for me. Just when the summer heat seems like it will never end and I am beginning to wish for some cooler weather, fall comes. And just when I am starting to get tired of the cold, although some people don't think that 60 degrees is very cold, and am looking longingly at my shorts and sundresses in the closet, spring warms everything up. So I know that spring is just around the corner because I am getting tired of wearing pants everyday and climbing into a cold bed at night. Spring training has started and daylight savings is early this year, next Sunday, so a Springtime feeling is definitely in the air.

But I am trying not to get too excited about warmer weather because it is only early March and this warm weather is just whetting my appetite, but it sure is nice. Today it hit 80 and yesterday during the boy's nap I got to read outside in our air chair. But in San Diego it can be beautiful and clear and hot one day and cloudy, raining and cold the next. Hopefully this beautiful weather will hold for a couple more days. Do I dare pull out a pair of sandals or would that jinx it? Maybe I'll be able to sneak in a sundress or two. You gotta love Spring!

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! This year I decided to be a little creative and make the boy's valentine cards. I let each of them decide what they wanted to put on their cards and I created them.

Daniel picked out a very cute connect the dots heart design for his card. When I asked Sammy what he wanted to put on his valentine's day card he said egg-in-the-hole. Egg-in-the-hole? Yep, he wanted to wish everyone a happy Egg-in-the-hole day. Sammy is going through a egg-in-the-hole phase right now. If he could he would be having eggs for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. When I asked Sammy why he wanted to put egg-in-the-holes on his card he replied, 'Because I love egg-in-the-hole'. So I came up with an egg Valentine's card that I think turned out pretty cute. (The images I used were created by Claudia Rose, who designs adorable stamps.)

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

First Day of School

Well, not actually the FIRST day of school, but the first day of preschool for Sammy by himself. Yes, Sammy is finally in preschool. I know some people thought I would never let my youngest go off to preschool, but I finally made the decision. I think it was the begging and pleading of Sammy that finally convinced me that he was ready for preschool.

So the spring semester began on Monday and boy was Sammy excited. Since Monday is my work day, I was at class with Sammy on the first day. Wednesday I went to class but stayed in the background. Both days Sammy did great and had fun. Today was the real test. Today Sammy was on his own, he didn't even have Daniel with him because Daniel is sick, again. So this morning I headed off to school with just Sammy. After we got to school I stayed a little while and then told Sammy I was going to go. Sammy wanted me to stay with him, but after a little encouragement and convincing Sammy went off to play while I headed home.

It was a strange feeling leaving Sammy at preschool all by himself. Usually Daniel is with him, and Sammy still seems so little to me. It is exciting and kinda sad at the same time.

I guess everything was fine because I didn't get a call from Teacher Laurie, and my friend who we carpool with and brought Sammy home, said he was playing happily when she picked him up. I guess my little boy is growing up, whether I want to admit it or not.

A Bigger Bed?

"I think Sammy needs a bigger bed."
While I disagreed with these sentiments expressed by my lovely wife I have learned in my nine and a half years of marriage to think before responding.
"I don't think that the size of the bed is the problem."
This discussion was taking place yesterday. Last night the issue came to a head when we heard Sammy crying at about 11 o'clock. We assumed at the time that he wasn't feeling well, since Daniel is definitely under the weather. Suzy comforted him, got him asleep again, but before midnight we were awoken again by his crying. Again Suzy comforted him, and my memory is fuzzy, but she might have mentioned the possibility that he fell out of bed. Verification came this morning when he told us that he had fallen out.
"I think Sammy needs a bigger bed."
I had heard this somewhere before. Again a thoughtful pause. I decided to offer up an alternative theory.
"I don't think that the size of the bed is the problem, I think it is all of the stuff in there."
Suzy considered this, and we tabled the discussion for later. As the morning progressed I happened to be in Sammy's room with him, and proceeded to inspect the scene of the crime. I started taking stuff off his bed. First went the items that really have no business being in a bed...

Eight books.
Three swords (his definition).
One laser blaster.
A bag (for presents?).
Two lightsabers.
A block.
My collapsible boy scout camping cup, with assorted mini-cards inside.
Three diapers, thankfully unused.
A toy mirror.
Pillow fluff.

Next I decided to inventory the more traditional bed type items.

Four bippies (his security blankets of choice).
Three pillows (there was a fourth that I had taken out of the bed the previous day).
Fourteen stuffed animals of assorted shapes and sizes.

No, fourteen is not a misspelling, or an exaggeration. All of these figures and item listings are accurate to the best of my ability. This count was verified by an independent accounting firm.

I feel that my observation about the size of the bed not being a problem is an accurate one. The surprising thing at the end of this exercise was not that he had fallen out of bed last night, but rather I was amazed that he ever fit in there in the first place.

A Second Coke

There are not a lot of 'crazy' decisions in my life. Do I want to ride the long way to work in the morning? Should I read that extra book at night to the boys before bed? Should I have the dreaded second coke in the afternoon at work? So when Suzy suggested that her dad and I go on the Knight's Tournament ride at Legoland the other day I quickly said yes. What did the ride look like? Papa's analogy, which to me seemed very accurate as we walked up, was it looked like the robotic arms they use to build cars. With a place for two people to sit where the fingers would be. This is a ride that Daniel can go on, so it can't be that bad, right? Well, much like Dante's version of Hell, there are different levels. Feeling our oats Papa and I decided rather quickly on LEVEL 5 (out of 5). In that small decision our relaxing and fun day at Legoland celebrating Daniel's birthday got a bit more interesting. One of the big warning signs was that they had a box for you to empty your pockets. Strange, it would be pretty hard to believe that anything would fall out of my jeans pockets, but who was I to argue? They loaded us in, and I do think I saw a bit of a twinkle in the eye of the young guy who set us up for LEVEL 5. After the bar lowered and locked us in, the platform below us retracted. We were lifted sedately into the air and rotated so the people in the viewing area (Suzy, Daniel, Sammy, Nana and Tutu) could get a good look at us. Then we flipped. Quickly. And the spinning. That started then too. Some tossing. More flipping, much time upside down. I never feared for my life, but I certainly was considering how much more could possibly happen. We are looking south, nope that's north, I see the family fly past. Papa and I are carrying on an abrupt conversation, I am pretty sure I heard, "I don't want to do this anymore!". I don't think that it came from me, but it wouldn't be too far fetched. I know that I had the thought that it was good that below you is water, so they could easily rinse out the vomit that was coming. And finally it was over. Back to the platform, which extends towards you. I was thinking that this could be a tease. They could pull that away and start again with the spinning, flipping, etc. Thankfully it was not a tease. We were unloaded, collected our keys and wallets, and proceeded with the rest of the day. A bit nauseated, but alive. Suzy, Daniel, Sammy, and Nana all had very different opinions of the show. Daniel and Sammy thought we were crazy, and both vowed to never go on that ride. My mom had averted her eyes, she said it was as bad as watching me wrestle in high school. Suzy thought it was hilarious. She must have some good pent up frustrations with me, to so thoroughly enjoy seeing me getting tossed around like a leaf in a hurricane.
For me it was fun. A good experience. Something I can use to remind myself to have more excitement in my life. I think i'll go have that second coke...

An Apple a Day...

We took the boys to their yearly check-up today and the doctor has declared them to be in perfect health. I am always a little nervous when taking one of the boys to a doctor or dentist appointment because at this point in the boy's life I am mainly responsible for keeping Daniel and Sammy in good health. In many ways the boy's health is a reflection of me as a parent, or at least that is how I feel. So having the doctor say the boys are growing and healthy made me feel great.

The doctors visit was perfect. Amazingly we didn't have to wait long to get in, see the doctor or get the shots. Daniel and Sammy were perfect patients, answering questions, giggling while being poked and prodded, taking deep breathes and being happy and well behaved children. There is nothing better than having your child behave perfectly while out in public.

Only Sammy had to have a shot and he took it without crying or complaining. While the nurse thrust the needle into his little arm Sammy merely commented, "Ow, that hurt." The doctor did a double take as Sammy practically skipped out of the office with a big smile on his face just moments after getting his Hepatitis inoculation. Little did she know that we had promised the boys Krispy Kreme doughnuts if they behaved well at the appointment. A little bribery, or shall we say reward for good behavior, never hurt.

So Daniel came in at 41 and a quarter inches and weighing 42 pounds. Sammy weighed in at 34 pounds and stood 36 and a half inches tall. Two happy and healthy boys!

I have a 5 year old!

I still can't believe that Daniel turned 5 today! Five years old seems so old to me... probably because it is. This morning we were looking at pictures from Daniel's first year of life. He was so small and so chubby. These five years have gone by just too fast. Five years! Wow.

Although it doesn't seem possible that five years have passed since Daniel came into this world, Daniel definitely seems five years old. He is such a big boy in so many ways. He can do almost everything or at least thinks he can. He is very excited about going to kindergarten next year and is becoming very independent. My little boy is growing up and I am proud of the person he is becoming. Although there are moments and times that he drives me crazy and I get frustrated with him, he is a very sweet, loving and kind boy at heart. And he still lets me kiss, hug and snuggle with him.

This year we had a Lego/Star Wars theme party. I made little Lego cakes and we had the 'Girls' (our old neighbors and the boy's good friend) over for pizza. Daniel got lots of good presents and had a good time.

So now I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Next year I'll have a... I don't want to even think about it. I'll just enjoy this moment. Happy 5th Birthday, my big boy!

A Christmas Catastophe…

almost. My heart is still pounding a bit faster than normal. I didn’t realize that this mattered to me so much. I estimate that I avoided a Christmas catastrophe by less than ten seconds. I have been replaying the final scene in my mind over and over again. It was so close to going so wrong.

The last two years I have been given the task of taking Santa toys to the office and wrapping them there. Today was the day for this transportation to occur. I packed them up this morning before the boys woke up. I drove to work (a rare occurance but I would look a bit strange pedaling down the street with a big bag of toys on my back). The only problem was I forgot to take all of the stuff out of the van when I got to work. Oops. That problem was compounded by the fact that I was supposed to go home a little early for lunch to take Daniel to the store to get a present for Sammy. You can all see where this is going. I pull up to the house, the boys are out front playing with Suzy. Daniel sees me, and starts heading for the van. I shut the car off and look behind me to see which side Daniel’s car seat is on. OH NO! PRESENTS EVERYWHERE! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! I quickly jump out of the car to head Daniel off and say I changed my mind. Suzy, naturally being very confused, starts asking why. I mumble and mumble and finally get her aside to say the problem. Yikes. That was a close one. The boys, sensed something was wrong, but were distracted with playing. I asked Daniel if I could take him to the store before dinner tonight. I bet you all can guess the first thing I did after getting to the office.

On the tenth day of Christmas...

...Daniel gave to me one blaaaack eye.

Yep, Daniel gave me my first shiner and let me tell you it hurt real bad, still does.

No, Daniel didn't punch me or hit me, well actually he did hit me, just it was with his big head.

Daniel and I have a nighttime routine. After Dan has finished reading bedtime stories I go into Daniel's room to read him some poems and tuck him in bed. Daniel likes to hide under the covers before I come into his room so he can surprise me. Do you see where this is heading? So, Sunday night I head into Daniel's room as scheduled and do my 'Where could Daniel be?' routine. Only this time when I bend over to peel back the covers Daniel decides to jump up from the bed. Big head smashes into right cheekbone. I knew it was bad when I finally opened my eyes and realized the bump was interfering with my line of vision.

I was hoping against hope that I wouldn't get a black eye, it being the holidays and having parties and lots of pictures taken, but sure enough Monday morning I was sporting a holiday shiner. This year I wanted to do a family shot for our Christmas card. So if I look a little strange in the picture, and you finding yourself wondering if maybe my makeup smeared or something, just remember it is just the black eye Daniel gave me on the tenth day of Christmas.

Instant Action Dad

Knock, knock, knock. You spring out of bed. Actually, I lie there for a few seconds to see if Suzy moves around. No such luck. I roll out of bed and manage to make my way to Daniel's room.
'Hey, buddy, what do you need?'
'I had a bad dream.'
'Okay, let me tuck you in.'
I tuck him in, and calm him down and he is asleep before I leave the room. You never know what kind of situation you are in for as a parent. You could be sleeping blissfully and the next moment you are called upon to perform some heroic deed. A few nights ago Daniel was having a coughing attack that he couldn't calm down from. I sat there, rubbed his back, told him it would be okay and he fell back asleep.
A few months ago, early in the morning I heard Sammy having a problem. At the time I was worried about him not being quick enough getting to the bathroom, so I hustled out there to see what was wrong. Mind you it was probably 6 AM, and I was fully asleep. You go from REM to Instant Action mode. With Sammy the circumstances are usually... interesting. This particular morning Sammy was saying something about a lego, and his nose. A combination that led to an immediate soberness on my part. I plopped him up on the bathroom counter, told him to sit there and not move (good luck with that one). I went to find the tweezers (a tool that as a parent I use fairly regularly). I came back to find that Sammy had listened well and was sitting just where I told him too. I peered up the nose and sure enough I saw the culprit. A tiny little lego, red if I recall correctly. I am pretty sure it is one the smallest lego pieces they make. Well, all you can do is try. Up the nostril the tweezers went and after a few misses I snagged that sucker and saved the day. Another crisis averted for Instant Action Dad.
What will my super powers be called on for tonight? Stay tuned kids, and don't forget to drink your Ovaltine!

Shaggy?

Daniel has always been a 'phase' oriented type of kid. When he gets into something he really gets into it. We had a Thomas phase that was unbelievable, and that lasted a pretty good amount of time. Spiderman, Thomas, Batman, Legos. Those are some of the things that he has immersed himself in during his brief, but entertaining life so far. Recently Suzy has been recording some Scooby Doo videos for the boys to watch. Nothing too strange there, yet. The boys like them, not too surprising, Suzy and I liked watching them when we were growing up. This is where it gets a little askew, Daniel's favorite character in Scooby Doo is... Shaggy. Shaggy? Yup, that's right, it is Shaggy. To the point that he has asked Suzy to make a Scooby Snack box that he totes around with him. Last night he changed into a Shaggy outfit, green shirt, khaki pants. After bath he wanted his hair combed like Shaggy. His hero right now is Shaggy. Hopefully this phase won't last too long, because, no, I would not like another Scooby Snack, thanks for asking.

Pound Pound Pound

Two days ago my wife gave me wonderful news. She took the door lock off of Sammy's door. I completely understand why you are wondering why that is wonderful news. Who cares? The progression is this: Sammy wears a diaper all of the time -> Sammy wears a diaper only while sleeping -> Sammy doesn't wear a diaper at all, but has a door lock on his door so he has to knock if he needs to go to the bathroom -> No door lock, he can go when he wants to. We implemented stage three with Daniel (putting on the door lock) because after he stopped wearing the diaper we were afraid he would come out of his room for no reason at all and wander the house at all hours. The door lock is a pain, though, because whenever they need to use the facilities (no matter the hour) you hear POUND, POUND, POUND! Since your child has just recently started the art of not peeing on himself, you want to rush to the scene since he probably hasn't quite mastered the art yet. So that leads to 5:30 AM pounding sounds waking you up. When Suzy told me she removed the door lock that meant that no more pounding. It makes you a little nervous for awhile, this is Sammy we are talking about, but overall I am very happy that my little guy is on his own now for taking care of his business.
Now if I could only get him to wipe his own rear...

Big Boy Bed: Part Two

About a month ago we decided to move Sammy into a big boy bed since he was climbing out of his crib. The whole transition went very smoothly and having Sammy out of a crib has not been as terrifying as I thought it would be. But it definitely has been interesting and quite loud.

Sammy is very good about staying in his room during naptime and at night, but the problem is he tends to get in trouble while in his room. He has probably done every possible thing you can do in his room. He jumps around on his bed, chair and any item/toy possible and his room is right above the pot rack in the kitchen so when he jumps around he rattles the pots and pans. He used to like to lie in front of his door and pound the door with his feet, but I quickly put a stop to that. He yells, sings and talks. I often hear him by the door yelling 'Is anyone there?'. He especially likes to sit in his closet doing something I probably do not want to know and slams the closet door repeatedly . He likes to pull the stuffing out of his pillow and put little balls of fuzz in different places. One day I left a foam sword in his room (bad, bad idea) and when I went to wake him bite sized pieces of foam were scattered all over his room and all that was left of his sword was a handle.

The funniest thing that has happened was the time I went in his room and found him asleep under his bed, and the most maddening moment was when I discovered he had ripped a couple of his books. There was even an event that involved a Lego up the nose, but I will leave that up to Dan to write about.

So Sammy's room is slowly becoming quite empty as things are being removed for safety's sake. We now have a rocking horse, two toy storage bins, a trash can and some toys in our hallway. At this rate all Sammy will have left in his room is a mattress by his birthday.

Hopefully Sammy will adjust to his new found freedom and I won't have to wonder what surprise awaits me each time I open Sammy's door. Although this is Sammy we are talking about. Trouble I tell you, just plain trouble.

The End of Innocence

You would think that going to the zoo with family would be one of the pure things left in life. Fun, laughter, just a happy day. Well, that is what I thought, but no more. It all has ended, it will never be the same.

I was standing watching my niece Leina. She is a joy to watch, enthralled by the animals, just enjoying the moment. Little did I know that at that very moment she was being stalked. Down she bent to get a closer look at one of God's amazing creatures, when she was grabbed. Grabbed from behind by this, this, ANIMAL. There was a pause from her. Her panic was not instant, but when it started it did not stop. There was no pause in me. I leaped to her defense instantaneously. I knew that seconds counted.

My counter attack was two pronged, first protect Leina at all costs. I grabbed her and was in an immediate battle for possession. I had a hold of her with my arms, and then decided that the best defense was a good offense. Kick? Punch? What would be most damaging to this assailant, this BEAST. I decided that I could pry little innocent Leina from the clutches of this attacker, secure her safety and then deal with the animal once she was safe. I pulled, I strained, I tugged. Finally she was free. Relief, joy, and exhaustion was balanced by Leina's panic, still manifesting itself in blood curdling screams. I knew the screams would pass, because she was safe now.

The attacker, the ANIMAL, what became of him? Well, that goat continued to just sit there in the dust. The keeper came by and said to keep your eye on him, he likes to grab clothes and chew. Lesson learned for little Leina, innocence lost, she will never trust a goat again. And to you vile attacker. I will have my eye on you when we go back to the petting zoo. Never again will I allow you to so wantonly attack the children. I will defend the kids till my last breath.

Big Boy Bed

For the first time tonight we tucked Sammy into a bed instead of his crib. Yes, it is very sad, but it had to be done. I am a big supporter of keeping your kid in a crib for as long as you can, and Daniel did not graduate to a bed until a couple of months after three, but it was definitely time for Sammy.

For awhile Sammy has been able to climb out of his crib, but he would only do it when someone was in the room with him (at least I think so). But this morning when I gathered his animals and blankets from the crib I uncovered a small fleet of Lego planes. 'Uh, Sammy... where did you get these toys?' I asked since I knew he did not take them into the crib with him. Sammy then went on to explain how he had climbed out of his crib, got the from the desk and then climbed back into the crib. My heart sank as I realized it was finally 'time'.

After nap we pulled out Daniel's old Spongbob toddler bed and set it up. After book reading Sammy told Dan the he didn't need rock-a-bye, a nighttime ritual when we rock him while singing Rock-a-bye Baby and then put him in his crib. He walked into his room, climbed into bed, we tucked him in, said good night and closed the door.

I guess my little baby is a big boy now. I can't believe that we are done with that crib. Was it really five years ago that we first bought that crib for our first child? How did my babies grow up so fast?

I just peeked in a Sammy and thankfully he was asleep on the bed, not on the floor or in the crib with no mattress. We put a baby lock on the door handle so he can't get out, but it will be interesting tomorrow morning when he wakes up to freedom. I am a little scared. Naptime will be a whole different story.

So Sammy is out of his crib and boy am I in a lot of trouble.

The Missing Cousin

After rereading my last blog, I realized that I had left out a small but very important and very cute part of my trip to Oregon, KULIA! Yes, we visited TWO cousins on our trip up North, but sadly Kulia did not make it into my first post. It's not that we didn't enjoy our time with Kulia, it's just that Sammy was not so hot on his younger cousin.

Kulia, having just turned one year old, was a typical toddler and Sammy was not too thrilled with her. She wanted to be a part of everything Leina and Sammy were doing, but of course in the eyes of Sammy she was just a nuisance. Poor Kulia just had to sit too close to Sammy during book reading to elicit complaints and when Auntie Chrissie asked, 'Isn't Kulia sooo sweet?', Sammy got a sour look on his face and stated, 'Not so sweet!' At one point he even called her a 'Poo-Poo Girl'.

The funny thing is, is Kulia is so much like Sammy. Sammy was just like Kulia at one year old, driving Daniel nuts, and still does sometimes, well a lot of the time actually. And Kulia wasn't even trying to be a bother, while Sammy intentionally antagonizes Daniel.

Although Kulia was not a big hit with Sammy, the adults could not get enough of her. Her sweet innocence, big slobbery kisses and chubba-chubba legs were enough to win any adult over. Although Kulia did let me hold and kiss her, her favorite by far was Papa. She would just sit on his lap contentedly, whine for him to pick him up and give him big hugs and kisses.

I know Sammy will enjoy playing with Kulia as she gets older, and I think that he does like her deep down inside. And I think she is so sweet, even if my youngest doesn't think so.

Oregon Adventure

Sammy and I just got back from our annual trip to Oregon for Leina's birthday. Once again Sammy proved himself a great traveler. He was perfect waiting in lines, going through security, waiting for the plane and sitting on the airplane. This time I didn't even bring a stroller, so Sammy had to walk/stand the whole time. Besides a 45 minute delay on the way out, the flight couldn't have gone better.

The real fun began when we arrived at my sister's house. Leina was so excited to see Sammy and play with him and boy did they have fun together. Besides a few minor squabbles they were best buddies. Although we were only there for three full days we crammed in a lot of fun, going to the park and playing in the water, Leina's birthday party, OMSI (Oregon museum of Science and Industry), slip-n-slide and dinners outside on the deck. We made so many great memories in such a short amount of time. One of my favorite memories would have to be listening to Leina and Sammy talking to each other at night. They would talk and sing to each other for an hour or an hour and a half before dozing off to sleep. One morning I was listening in on their conversation and it went something like this:

Leina: Sammy, those are my books!

Sammy: (silence, since he is in reaching distance to some books I am assuming he has grabbed some books)

Leina: Those are my books, Sammy!!

Sammy: (still silent and probably trying to ignore her)

Leina: Sammmmmy, those are MYYYYYY BOOKS!!!!

Sammy: (still not a peep)

Leina: Sammy? Can I have a book?

And another night after Chrissie went in to tell them to stop talking and sleep:

Leina: Sammy, no more talking! It's time to sleep!

Sammy: (quiet)

Leina: Sammy? Are you asleep?

We finally decided to sleep them in separate rooms for naps our of fear that they would just talk the entire time.

The best memory by far, which basically wrapped all the fun we had together into one statement, was when Leina, after blowing out her birthday candles and being asked what she wished for, replied, without prompting or hesitating, 'I wish Sammy could stay here forever!'