Laundry Song (with a country twang)

Sitting on the dryer, feeling kind a good

Tushy nice and warm like I knew it would

Clothes inside going round, and round, and round, and round

Mommy says it’s time to go upside down!

Bib Song

Bibbala, Bobbala Boo!

I have a bib for you

Sing a song

and put it on,

A Bibbala, Bobbala Boo!

I haven't got Matt's talent for lyrics, but we have fun anyway. Sam told me yesterday she is an adult now because she held the scooper to clean the litter box. Not yet! I say! My friend's father died last week which made me very sad. Sam was comforting me when I cried, so I explained why I was crying. Unfortunately, she turned around to Daddy and told him he was dying. That was creepy. Thankfully she only said it a few times. She had no idea what she was saying, I think she just wanted to see what it meant by trying it out.

Sam now sleeps in her rocking chair on Wednesdays, just like she would if she was at Jim’s. I guess she likes to pretend she is at Jim’s house.

Sam made up a new song to the tune of “Mamma’s going to buy you a mockingbird” Picture Sam singing, “Hush little baby don’t say a word, Momma’s going to buy you a rocket ship and if the rocket ship don’t work, momma going to get Macaroni and cheese!” She left it up to me to make the rhyme work after that. Okay. I get all teary eyed with my little girl singing lullabies to me. She kisses my nose and says, “I am falling in love with you, Mommy.” “Well, I fell in love with you the day you were born and I keep falling more in love with you every day.”

We read “Runaway Bunny” together before she sleeps and we have a lot of fun talking about why the trapeze swings, but the tightrope stays firm and how mommy catches little bunny. I am amused by her in-depth study of how everything moves and works together to make the picture match the words that I read. Nothing goes unnoticed. She is very upset that the swing is on the other side of the page from the tightrope and there is no way the mommy can walk across the air to the little bunny the way it is pictured. It just isn’t right!

We have new bedroom furniture that we love. I guess we’ve mentioned that now and then, because when Sam walks into our room, she announces, “I love your new furniture, Mommy!”
Sam is officially enrolled in Arlington Heights Nursery School for the Fall, September 2005. Yikes! It isn’t real school yet, but my baby is getting older. She is so ready for this, and I am very happy for her. This is a well-regarded school, loved by the children and parents who go there. Great facility, well trained teachers. I know she will be happy there. I just have to face the fact that time passes. I guess somedays I want to be that mommy bunny holding onto her little bunny.

Samantha: "Listen, now listen, just listen, Mommy! <> There was a big barrel in the tank. I wonder what it is there for?" I groan and Sam giggles, then I giggle. We wait a few minutes, then I say, "Listen, Sam, just listen. There is a big barrel in the tank. I wonder what it is there for?" We both giggle at that point, then Matt joins in.

She is referring to a barrel that was in the Great Tank at the Boston Aquarium. None of us could figure out why it was in there. Matt decided it was there to hold Mayor Quimby's bribe money. I thought it was for extra food for the fish. Sam thought it was a place for special fish to sleep. Matt's was the best explanation, partly because he used the Mayor Quimby voice for the next few minutes, which had me in stitches, and Sam more than a bit confused but amused nonetheless.

She loves telling jokes to Mommy and Dada

Sam came running in, come, come, Mommy! I am reading e-mail! I go into the office with her and she pulls out the extra keyboard that Matt put out for her to use on the lower shelf and the mouse. She moves them around, saying, see, there is Cole, we are going to the zoo together, he says he will come. She is typing periodically on the keyboard and telling me what she is saying. What a gal.

"Sam, would you like to come downstairs and help me make Cream of Wheat for breakfast?" She replied with this tone of voice, dismissive, annoyed? "I'm reading right now." And indeed she was, sitting with her animal flap book saying exactly what was on the flaps. She does have a good memory.

I was having a rough time today, feeling sad about Emily and the lack of a baby for us. Sam noticed I was sad and asked me what was wrong. I told her I had hoped for a sister and brother for her and I hadn’t been able to do that. She looks thoughtful, then gives me a ‘cheer up’ smile and says, ‘But Mommy, I have a sister. Cole is my sister!” Well, I had to laugh at that and the tears went away. She got a big hug for cheering me up.

Sam had a wonderful birthday party at Kids Playground in Woburn. The following people were able to come:

Uncle Alan, Kelly, Cote and Dylan Dupuis; Becky and Cole Johnson; Gary, Trajan and Lucia Parkes; Jim, Thea and Colette Frost; Meg, Scott, Benjy, Jasper and Heath Muckenhoupt; Cordelia and Juli Brazile with friend Miranda; Emma and Mom Deb; Jim, Lila, Danny and Clara McNulty; Daphne, Marc and Abbie Harris.

I was really struck by what a nice group of people, children that she has for friends, very good children who were all very sweet. Maybe everyone was on his or her best behavior, but I don’t think so. They did all seem to be having a lot of fun. Colette had a broken collarbone, but still seemed raring to go. Not much slows down Colette. Sam was thrilled to have everyone there and was quite the party girl. What else can I say? So the total of parties is now 4, and Sam is requesting one more so we can celebrate with her friends Ella, Tucker, Kodiak and Hazelnut. She has a special cake planned for them, just flour, so they won’t get sick. I think it is very sweet that she doesn’t want her dogs to be left out. Hazelnut is Drew and Bonnie’s dog, and Kodiak is Becky’s dog. She was quite upset that the Kids Playground would not let in her friends, especially Kodiak. Which is weird because she isn’t especially nice to him when she sees him.

Sam is very bossy lately. She doesn’t want me to sing most of the time, and is very precise about her books. If I get a word wrong, she won’t let me continue until I get the wording to her satisfaction. Sometimes the book changes the word slightly in a repetitive phrase, and Sam won’t accept that the book actually reads that way. She insists that I keep the same phrasing. Very precise. She is still wonderful with presents. She takes forever to open them and puts the wrapping paper in the trash when she takes it off the present. Then she wants to play with each one extensively before going on to the next one. She has to get this from Matt, because I am more of a rip them open as fast as I can kind of gal. I find myself having to grit my teeth to keep myself from rushing her. Open it, open it now! I say to myself. We did not open presents at the party. We did hand out goody bags, and Sam got one like all the others. That seemed to make everyone happy and kept the focus on enjoying the guests, not counting the loot. She loves her gfits that she got. I do have to keep explaining that today is not her birthday and she doesn’t have any more presents.
Something else I have to explain are the seasons. I mean summer. Last summer Sam, Becky, Cole and I went to York Wild Kingdom in Maine. It was a wonderful adventure for all of us. Sam went onto everything there, we thought, but as we returned to York for dinner that night, we saw a Ferris Wheel lighted in the sky. Sam was adamant that we go on it too, but we had to have dinner. I promised we would go after dinner, and she was okay with that. Unfortunately dinner took awhile and the park closed before we could get there. So I told her we would go to another fair and try that Ferris wheel. But there were no more fairs that late in the summer, as it turns out, so we still haven’t been on a Ferris wheel. The past few days, she wants it to be summer so she can go on her ‘fairy’ wheel. She woke me up this morning, far too early once again, asking if today was summer and could we go on the ‘fairy’ wheel today? I tell her that summer is days and days, weeks and weeks, months and months away from today -- she thinks that means tomorrow. I really wish it was. So, we are planning a ‘fairy’ wheel trip as soon as I can find a good fair to go to. In the meantime, I have to answer the frequent question – “Is today summer, can we go on a ‘fairy’ wheel today?”

I went to Jim’s today to pick up Sam at daycare. He is being featured in an article about male run day care centers and the photos will be in Parents Magazine either April or May. Sam is in the photos, but who knows which photos will end up in the magazine. They had fun, anyway. The photographer was very nice. He used to own a boxer, so how can you go wrong?

Sam had a snack with the other children and when she was done, she undid the clasp all by herself. I told her I was very impressed and she grabs me and tells me “Mommy, I am strong and powerful!” I would add beautiful. One of those mom moments when you know you are doing something right.

Sam missed her birthday presents and cake on Monday. She had been up most of Sunday night, had swim lesson on Monday morning, and would not take a nap that afternoon. By evening she was beyond exhausted and had a rip snorter of a tantrum. I put her to bed with her binky and she woke only briefly around 10 am. We had cake and presents for breakfast on Tuesday and everyone was happy. Maybe we started a new tradition? Anyway, her birthday is stretching out nicely. Friday she had cake at daycare. We had a small party with Grammy over the weekend; Monday was her day, then Tuesday she opened presents. Thursday we will have a special lunch with Cole who requested a special cake for Sam, and Saturday is her big party at the Kids’ Playground. I think this kid is having a pretty good week.