Sammy oh Sammy

I had a great blog planned:

It starts with how cute Sam was on Sunday. He wanted to wear some Khaki shorts and a vest with his blue shirt to church. We convinced him he would be too cold and for once he actually listened without a tantrum. Then at night he came to me with some clothes in hand asking if he could wear them as PJs. I assented without much investigation or thought. This is the result:

He looked so cute and silly. I hadn't realized he had a sweater vest in hand.

Then tonight M. was at piano and Sam had been good during dinner and helped me get the little boy into bed, so I took him down stairs to make JELLO pudding. IT was a fun activity together.

Then we ate it in the family room as a "picnic." A great evening with my boy!

BUT the post in my mind was a little ruined and turned out like this:

Sam wouldn't go to bed tonight and lost his "cuddle privilege" and fell a sleep SCREAMING/SHRIEKING while I held the door shut for 20 minutes! So I don't feel like blogging tonight.

Prayer

Yesterday, Sam got a scratch on his big toe from the sharp metal corner at the bottom of the screen door. It laid him up for a good 2 or 3 hours. Again this morning it produced some good screaming as he changed the band-aid.

After church today we were eating lunch and he said, "Jesus can fix my toe." (This was said with a I know it all inflexion in his voice.)

Em told him, "That's right. Do you want to say a prayer and ask him?"

"Yeah," he replied and added as he hurried away to his play area under the stairs, "I'll go somewhere where there is peace and quiet."

A minute later I heard him shouting Jesus' name a few times. Then he came back and muttered, "I called him but he didn't come."

Of course we then discussed how it all works and that He can answer our prayers in different ways then we expect, but it was quite adorable to witness the sweet faith of this child. Its nice to see that he is learning something at church. Thank you Brother and Sister Haltli!

The Unnamed Ramen House

We went to an wicked good place to eat for lunch last week. I finished work early and we went with the two younger kids. The name was only in Kanji so we don't know what it was called, but at least it had an English menu. It was filled with customers both American and Japanese, so it must be good right? Right! It was very very good.

It had a traditional sit on the ground eating area and a bar area to eat at. the kitchen was open and part of the room. They had fast and kind service too.The ramen noodles were awesome and plentiful... and the gyoza, Japanese dumplings, were divine (these were for you Brandon). Gabe dove right in and even punk Sam loved the noodles. (It again took 10 minutes of persuading to get him into the restaurant with promises of not having to eat anything and that we could go to the Bx for pizza after.) It is now my favorite Japanese Restaurant! (Max's is still 100 Yen Sushi, which he asks for all the time.)
I like this comparison of these two kiddos.
*excerpt from their menu! =)

Bammers

As we were baking the perfect vanilla bean crème brûlée, Em asked Sam, "Why are you so happy today?" Sam replied, "'Cause nobody's bothering me." His dad then asked, "Who bothers you?" He then points at Max then his dad and then his mom and upstairs at his sleeping brother!(Oct 2008)
WHAT A PUNK!

He has bee exceptionally difficult this last week, screaming and crying at every little thing, even giving Em the worst bite mark I've ever seen! Then yesterday, he was back to the old smiley Sammers we all know and adore.(May 2007)

I hope it lasts! I guess we need to just stop bothering him! =)

I was going to provide you with a little clip of his most recent tantrum where Em gets the gnarly bruise, but as I went to edit it is was much too sad to see him so upset. =(

A Few Musings (if I may borrow the term)

I don't usually remember my dreams when I wake up. So the fact that I can still remember the dream I had two nights ago means it must be pretty darn important (or maybe just weird).

First a little background: We have a groundhog living on our premises. Specifically, in the backyard behind the trampoline. (You know...the one I got for Em for our 6 year anniversary.) So the dream goes as follows: I was walking around a yard (I think in my old home in CA) with (I believe) my mom and a sister or maybe two. We walked down a path and I moved back some bushes to reveal a cave. In it I saw a large groundhog and a Mrs. Groundhog.
With lightening celerity, the Mr. Groundhog rushed at me.

Now the only way to describe his movement is to liken it to the bunny on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. However, instead of attacking my jugular he was tearing at my midsection and I was trying to defend myself by pummeling his head. That's all I remember.
So today I was removing the foliage from around the groundhog borough. We're trying to discourage this (seemingly) cute animal from sticking around as he has decapitated our tulips and we fear for our newly planted garden.

Fortunately, there was no attack during this procedure.

On another note:

Sammy has become very whinny since the birth of Baby Gabriel. The other day he was in timeout and I was very frustrated with him. I said to him: "Sammy you need to start behaving!" Sam: "OK." He then proceeded to wave at me with a big smile on his face.

At first I thought he was mocking me, until my mind processed what he must have understood. "Sammy you need to start waving!" It immediately made me smile and give him a big hug...all past transgressions forgiven. He's done the same thing a few times since.