2007 Plano Ballon Festival - Part 1

We took Sam to the Plano Balloon Festival last Sunday evening. Chris and I also went Saturday morning, but I'll let him post about that separately. We stopped by the mall first to get Sam his first pair of Stride Rite shoes. His teacher at day care said he was slipping a lot with his other shoes and recommended rubber soles. He wasn't sure what to think about them at first and was walking very slowly. When we got to the festival, he was so excited about climbing the hills that he forgot about his new shoes. We let him run around and climb the hills while we were waiting for the balloons.



It started getting a little windy and cloudy and we were worried for a while that they wouldn't launch. Sam played with the flags and watched the other kids run around. He also wanted to stop and pet every dog we saw. He loves dogs!



We had a few snacks while we were waiting. Sam and I even shared a BBQ beef sandwich. Here's Daddy and Sam sharing some graham crackers.



Finally the balloons started launching. We were amazed at how quickly they inflated and took off once they decided that they were good to go.



Here's a view of the field after a few balloons had already launched. This field is right next to our neighborhood.



We kept pointing at the sky and saying "balloon" to Sam. We also clapped along with the crowd every time one of the balloons launched. After a while he caught on and started pointing to the sky and saying "doon".



Sam had a great time! We were so glad that we got to take him and that the weather cooperated.



We actually got a preview of the balloons bright and early Friday morning. We must have had 20 or more balloons go over our house. As you can see, Sam was more interested in that morning cup of milk.



We went to a party at Ian and Roya's Saturday evening. It was fun getting dressed up and going to a "grownup" party. We also got to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen much since we became parents. We even got to see balloon festival fireworks from their front yard.



Sam changes so much every week. I started letting him walk into day care on his own this week. In other words, I'm not carrying him in any more. This seems to have helped because he walks in his room and all the other kids come running up to him. Then he doesn't cry when I leave.

He's also started trying to repeat words after us (if we say them enough times). He's said cheese, cat, socks, and shadow, but "cat" seems to be the only other word that he's repeating unprompted.

Chris is teaching Sam to brush his own teeth. He gives Sam the toothbrush after he get's him out of the bathtub and puts him in front of the mirror. Sam is doing a pretty good job, which is good, because he won't let us brush them for him any more.



Sam loves Chef Boyardee. One night he even picked up the container and drank the tomato sauce.



Melanie has really been helping us out with Sam. He loves playing with her. It's amazing that it can take three adults to keep a toddler entertained sometimes. Sam's favorite is when Melly chases him around the house and jumps out and surprises him.



Sam wants to color every morning now. He goes straight to the office after breakfast and pulls the paper of the desk if we don't get it for him. He's starting to switch back and forth between his left and right hands now. He's also starting to make some lines on the paper instead of just dots. He's still mostly interested in dumping out the colors and putting them back in the box.



Sam loves The Hungry Caterpillar book. He mostly likes to turn the pages, but he has started "counting" the food in the book. For those not famliar with that book, the caterpillar eats 1 apple, then 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries, and 5 oranges. There is a hole punched out of the page in each piece of fruit. When we read the book, we run Sam's finger over the holes and count them. One day we turned the page and Sam started "counting" on his own. One and two sound sorta like the real words sometimes, but mostly he's just matching the sing-song sound of my voice when I count. He's also started counting things besides this book.



Sam is very ticklish on his thighs. I love pinching his little legs and making him laugh.