The long-term memories won’t solidify for another couple years, but Sam has started to remember things for longer periods of time. Yesterday we were playing with play-doh and he asked me to make Gumby. He only knows who Gumby is because Grandma had a figurine he played with several weeks ago. For over a week after we left Wisconsin, he was asking to go downstairs to play with Reed (who lives in Wisconsin and NOT in an apartment downstairs from us). When he sees pictures of himself playing with his cousins in Maggie’s and Rosie’s room, he says “Get down, Reed!” (Reed was climbing on Rosie’s bed withouth permission). He even occasionally still talks about firecrackers (“Boom, up in the sky”), which he experienced in Oklahoma in late November. It’s strange and amusing to us to see these memories resurface–his little brain is working hard to retain all this information!
We’ve decided to take our apartment off the market for a while. We had minimal interest to our ads and open houses and the dropping real estate prices were discouraging. The real estate agents have told us summer would be a better time (and an easier time for us to have open houses) so we’ll reevaluate in a couple months. Although we wish we had that bigger, 2BR apartment, we can make do for now. It certainly takes a lot of pressure off–keeping the apartment clean and getting Sam out of the apartment for the open houses has been taxing.
My uncle Bill, my dad’s brother, passed away on January 9th. It was an unexpected illness, but there was enough warning that his family had a chance to say goodbye. Unfortunately, due to the miles between us, we didn’t make it in time. Sam and I traveled out for the funeral, though, and it ended up being a really nice service where, thanks to some anecdotes collected from different family members, we got to hear some great stories about Bill and what he meant to his family and his community. We will miss you, Uncle Bill.
One of the small silver linings to any funeral is that it ends up gathering together a lot of people who haven’t seen each other in a while.Sam and I were able to spend some nice time with many of our extended family. Kate made it to Wisconsin at the end of the week so she was able to share in the reunion a bit, too. The nice thing about Sam’s current age is that he’s finally old enough to know his family, at least from pictures, and to look forward to seeing them. He had a great time playing with his grandparents, uncles, nieces and nephews. We’ve been looking at pictures from the trip almost daily. You can take a look at some of them by clicking the image below. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone camera so the photos aren’t the highest quality…
We brought the potty chair home last night and Sam LOVED it.
Then tonight he pooed in the potty—no kidding! Success, but it was just a fluke (he’s got some obvious signs that it’s coming). Sorry, no pic for that one….too gruesome.
Last night was my first night ever without Sam. Todd and Sam left for Wisconsin yesterday to lend support to his family and attend a family funeral. It was a tough good-bye and there were several moments yesterday when I really missed both of them. It was also a little freeing to be completely on my own terms again (I wasn’t working yesterday either!). I’m not excactly living it up, though. I’ve got a lot of work to get done so I’ll be working longer hours. I will be having fun toinght–it’s my first volleyball game of the season (also my first since Sam since I injured my wrist several months ago).
There was a very touching moment yesterday before they left. Todd and I were hugging with Sam playing on the floor. Sam looked up at us then came over and hugged my leg. He’s generally not a cuddly kid and only comes in for a hug when we ask him to, but he must have sensed my sadness since he let Todd and I crouch down and have a little family hug!
Sam is doing really well with the change of scenery. Todd told me the flight was a breeze (although no nap….so much for his schedule!). The stranger anxiety seems to be gone and he’s having fun with all the new things to play with and places to explore.
Sam saw his first Wile E Coyote cartoon today, though, instead of laughing at the coyote’s bad luck Sam seemed to empathize with him instead. The entire 3 minute cartoon was punctuated with him exclaiming “oh no.” “Oh No.” “OH NO!” Guess we’ll wait until he’s a bit older. I can only imagine his reaction to Bugs Bunny…
We had a short storm this morning resulting in the perfect snow for building snowmen (just a little sticky). Since Sam had a short day at day care today, we decided to head over to the park for some serious playing in the snow. We built a snow man (complete with hair), threw snow balls in the air and watched them crash to the ground (Sam’s new favorite game) and even ate some snow (Sam only). Here are a few photos:
Today is Todd’s birthday. Todd has been sick but he’s off work recuperating and resting after a couple of very long nights working. We are planning on having some old friends with a new(ish) baby over tonight.
I’m very proud of my birthday gift to Todd this year. I tracked down one of his favorite graphic artists (Michael Kupperman–http://mkupperman2.wordpress.com/) and bought some original pen and ink drawings. His humor style is a little off-beat and his style includes a lot of detailed line-work and shading. He must be a patient man with a steady hand. The fun part was that I got to meet him in person for the purchase since he lives in New York. We had a drink together and had a nice conversation–I was a little star-struck at first but he also has a baby son so we had that ice-breaker. We talked for quite a while, then it ended up we were headed in the same direction so we walked together for a while as well. I was glad to have the drawings, but the experience of hanging out with the illustrator and author whose books we have on our shelves was a little surreal. He seemed like a really sincere, nice guy in addition to being a great artist. I wish I could have had Todd meet me for that drink, but he was working hard to meet a deadline. At least he gets the take-home prize of two illustrations.
This is our first family Christmas in New York. Last night we had a video chat with Mema and Grandpa, then with the entire Brunner family which helped us feel a little connected to family……but it isn’t the same as being there. We’re getting together with friends in the building later today–
Now that Sam is talking, it seems like one of the hardest parts of being a parent is just figuring out what he’s trying to say. We’re getting better, but there are still moments (like in the video below) where we really have no idea what he’s talking about. If anyone has a clue, please post in the comments…
And just because I thought it was funny, here’s a short clip of Sam falling asleep while eating earlier today. He was asleep by the time I got his bib off…
Some of you may notice the distinctly midwestern way he says “Yeah” in the first video. I guess he’s not going to develop that Brooklyn accent after all…
