Bday Party #2 and Another SAMpling

This has been a fun week. It was my "spring break," so I had more free time. I made some good meals this week--a stew, pizza, chicken verde, pasta with Italian sausage, and an egg casserole. I am becoming a competent cook. (Having recognized my liabilities in cleaning, this seems like a good compromise role for me.)

Today we had a very nice day with Sam. I woke up with him, we took a nap together late morning, and the three of us walked to McD's for lunch. He loves the littleplay ground, where he can mosey across the rubber floors and watch the children on the slides. Tonight we did cake. He liked it, but was close enough to sleep that he only had a bite or two.

This week he also did his first trip to the local playground. He liked the swing, but enjoyed eating the dirt even more. I foresee many more such trips.

Sam is in general a delight. He walks pretty well now. In the last few weeks he's shifted from being a slow walker who would drop down and crawl if he had to cross a room, to a pretty fast walker. He likes being "chased." He giggles if I walk backwards in front of him when he's in his stroller. He also thought it was hilarious when I strolled him backwards one day. He's becoming a more consistent waver--it's very cute. The other funny thing he has been doing is "growling" with the toy t-rex my brother bought him. It's very cute. He had a growl before, but now it is a little fiercer.

Our Taiwan plans seem to be all coming together. At some point I'll start a personal website and Emily will start a new blog. I almost can't believe that it is all working out. I've announced I'm not returning to my job next year. I feel a fair amount of guilt about it, and I think we probably could have been happy here for many years, but I think Taiwan is where we belong. More news to follow...

Bday party #1

Today we brought cookies to Sam's party at the local public library. It was very fun and we had a great time. The only snag was that "the itsy bitsy spider" scared Sam a little. He really does love the library. He's still probably the least mobile/littlest participant, but just loves watching every one and listening to the stories.

My job was to check with the librarians and make and decorate the cookies. Sam's real bday is 3/21, but since it's a Saturday and friends and family are mostly elsewhere, this was a pretty fun way to celebrate.

This is my spring break, so I am trying to offer more baby care and Emily is ramping up her dissertation work. It's a little bit of a struggle, but things seem to be coming together.

A SAMpling

I have been fairly visual in this blog, but haven't tried to convey recently what the baby is like, and so I introduce this new feature, a sampling of Sam stories. (I also like that this this sounds like "sapling," which reminds me of him.

In random order:

• Sam has the makings of a great wrestler based on our efforts to change his diaper lately. He shifts, he turns, he moves, he feints, he ducks, he rolls...
• He has six teeth, which have been in for a while.
• He's on his first cold. Other than this he has only had Roseola (which sounds like an old aunt).
• He can walk the length of a room now. His favorite thing is to walk around carrying his big red, square toy box. He looks like a gardener, or maybe a fisherman or handyman.
• He has discovered the cat's water and food bowls. Thankfully, the litter box remains unknown territory.
• He loves to feed himself. This is okay with potato, carrots, peas, pieces of bread, etc., but not so good with spoonfuls of soup.
• Is "napping" in his crib, and will play in it for a while when we wake in the morning, but is not so keen on really sleeping in the crib.
• Sam's an extrovert. He demands at least one trip outside every day. He loves anywhere that has people: church, mall, food, etc.
• Is becoming a Wiggles fan. So far he's only seen Netflix wiggles, but we just bought him his first DVD.
• Sam does not like yogurt very much. He does like cheese.
• Sam is very ticklish, he loves to have Emily wave her hair over him. If he's not really hungry or sleepy, he can usually be enticed to play.
• Loved his red balloon. It still has air.
• Sam's coming up on a year--it's very exciting. He smiles and giggles a lot and we are very much enjoying him.