Squirrels

Sam and I went to the park this morning, and the ground there is currently littered with acorns. Squirrels scampered around snapping them up, which fascinated Sam. We spent a lot of time talking about them, and breaking a few nuts open to see what's inside. Toward the end of the trip, he had an acorn in his hand when he saw a squirrel run across the barkdust.

"Squirrel, Squirrel! I've got an acorn for you!" he yelled, chasing after the terrified squirrel with the acorn in his extended hand. Boy, some squirrels just can't accept help, can they?

Watching the debate with Daddy

Funny story: Pops, Sam and I were walking through a Borders last weekend and Sam was in the middle holding both of our hands as we walked by a display of political books. There were books on Obama, McCain, and one on Palin, and several adults browsing them. As we walked by, my two year old pointed offhandedly at one of the books and said, "Look, Sarah Palin." Every adult's head at that table snapped up to look with shock at my son. Bob and I just laughed. What can I say...Mark and I are raising a political animal.

A walk in the rain

Touche, Playland.

Ok, Fred Meyer, you win.

When I was pregnant with Sam and when he was a tiny baby, I was jealous (yes, JEALOUS) of all of those lucky moms that got to shop with a preschooler. How fun! Looking at colors together! Pointing out numbers! Admiring the produce! How could anyone leave their precious child in the lonely corner that is the Playland? They must be the lazy parents, the parents that didn't care about their child's social development. I wasn't going to be like that. I would actually enjoy shopping with my child, darn it!

Fast forward two-plus years, and you would not find me doing many of the above things. Instead, you would find me plying Sam with a variety of snacks, distractions, and finally angry pronouncements to keep him from jumping out of the cart and killing himself (because he simply won't sit in the small basket with the buckle anymore), all while I was trying to stretch our grocery budget, weigh produce and not forget the milk. I began to dread shopping so much that I actually sent Mark in the evening with a list once. After he came home with the most disgusting (and not surprisingly cheapest) deli meat I've ever tasted, I thought there'd have to be a better way.

Enter Playland. Sam ran in and I filled out the forms and kissed him goodbye, and spent an entire hour by myself smelling produce, comparison shopping and generally doing all of the things that are impossible to do with him there. Granted, I gnashed my teeth the entire time enough to give myself a headache and obsessively checked on him, and when my name was called over the speaker I ran the fastest sprint with groceries ever recorded (he just had to go potty and I had to take him), but all in all, it really beat the alternative.

I guess I have to accept that there are times in his life that it will be ok for me to take some help from Playland and be happy relaxed mommy rather than rush through an hour of shopping with him and turn into crabby, burned out, much poorer mommy. And once I got over the stress of wondering if the other kids would be friendly, if there was enough supervision for a two-year-old, and if he'd come down with the Hanta virus, it was really kind of nice.

Evergreen State Fair

Pictures

I finally downloaded the 400+ pictures I've had languishing on my camera, so the next few posts will be updates...

Playing doctor

Today I was washing the sheets on the bed and had the comforter and naked pillows in a pile on the floor. Sam, in his underwear, worked his way down under the comforter and rested his head on a pillow,smiling at me.

"Mommy's the doctor!" he said.
"Oh, are you in the hospital?"
"Yeah!"
"Are you sick?"
"Yeah!"
"Where are you sick?"
"My tummy hurts."
"Ok, let me examine you."
I pull out my pretend thermometer.
"Now, first I'm going to take your temperature. Open your mouth."
He opens wide.
"Now close it on the thermometer, aaaand...beep! It's done. Let's see....you don't have a temperature...Let me look in your ears."
Sam turns his head.
"And say aaaahhh..."
"Aaaaahh!"
"Yup, I think your tummy is hurting you. Here's some medicine to help it feel better."
He eats the pretend medicine.
"Now let's tuck you in and have you rest."
"My bed has wheels!"
This takes me a minute.
"Wheels?"
"Yeah! Wheels like Grammy's bed!"
Oooohh...Grammy's hospital bed! That made quite an impression during his visits.
"Are you in the hospital like Grammy?"
"Yeah!"
We continue to play this throughout the morning.