Circus Animals

We went to the circus with some friends on Sunday. The Carson and Barnes Circus comes to Allen, TX every year. They'll even be in Mississippi in the next few weeks.

Things started out a little rough -- Sam had no interest in sitting down and waiting for the show to start, so we walked around until it started. Once they started playing the music and flashing the lights, he was absolutely mesmerized! He jumped and clapped and ooooo'ed and ahhhh'ed.



They had lots of high wire acts, clowns, and animal acts.



Sam's favorite was the elephants. They had a petting zoo outside the circus with donkeys, llamas, yaks, zebras, and goats. They also had elephant, camel, and pony rides. We were watching the elephants when the inevitable happened -- elephant poo. Now when we ask Sam if he saw the elephants at the circus, he nods his head yes and says doo-doo.



We've been really cleaning up the house to try to get it ready to sell, so we've moved all of Sam's toys into shelves/organizers in his closet. We leave the doors open so he can pull them out and play with them when he wants. So, the other day he saw his Halloween pumpkin at the top of the closet and insisted on playing with it. It still had all his Halloween stickers in it.



Sam was scared of stickers at Halloween, but he's started liking them over the last month. I found a bunch of stickers when I was cleaning out the desk last week. There were a couple of days in a row where the only way that I could convince Sam to go to day care was to put a couple of stickers on his shirt and tell him that he needed to go show them to everyone.



We've been trying to involve Sam in anything that we can. He loves to get on his stool in the kitchen and "help" make dinner. Tonight he learned how to butter bread.



He did a pretty good job and even sampled several pieces.



Sam is so independent now. He wants to do everything himself and he rarely wants help. He's more likely to do something he doesn't really want to do if we let him do it himself (like getting undressed to take a bath). Here's a video of Sam having trouble getting his jacket off.

Easter Eggs

Easter Egg hunting was a big hit with Sam. He got really excited.



It was kinda cold and windy Easter morning so the Easter Bunny hid the eggs inside.



Sam liked to shake the eggs like maracas.



The Easter Bunny filled the eggs with Jelly Beans, M&M's, Reese's Pieces, and Peeps. Sam tasted everything, but also spit everything out. He was more interested in feeding candy to us.



Sam was more excited about the non-candy options that he found in the Easter basket from Lulu.



Here's a video of Sam Easter Egg hunting.



Sam slept until 9am Easter morning, so we all felt well-rested and enjoyed the morning.



Melanie had been practicing egg hunting with Sam the week before Easter.



Pops came to visit for Spring Break. Pops and Sam posed for the traditional picture the morning that Pops went home.

One night after dinner Chris played a game with Sam where Chris put a tube of Chapstick on the table to see who could grab it faster. Sam got a huge kick out of this and laughed and laughed. When Sam won, he also had to work on his pincher grasp to stand the tube up for the next round. When Chris started the game again the next night, I said "oh no." Sam repeated "oh no" very loudly and got a good laugh from everyone so that became his new phrase. About a week later, he was playing with his puzzles with Chris. Chris dumped all the pieces from all his different puzzles in one big pile. Sam started saying "oh no, oh no" over and over.

We also just so happen to have started using "timeout" when Pops was here. It's been pretty effective. We give him 3 count to stop or he goes in timeout for a minute. At first he thought it was fun and even ran over and put himself in timeout when we started to count. Now he understands what it's all about, so he doesn't like it any more.



Sam got his third haircut. Here's the before and after. He did a little better this time. He did much better when they gave him a sucker. We got it cut a little shorter this time, so maybe we can wait a little longer between haircuts next time.



Here's another before and after of our master bath. We've been doing a lot of cleaning and prepping our house to sell it. We had to paint this bathroom! I removed the wallpaper and painted it this awful blue years ago. It was such an ordeal that I never felt like fixing it. We hired painters to texture the walls and paint them.



Melly and Sam were "besties" this weekend. Melanie babysat for us Friday night so we could go out for a nice dinner. We had gone to look at some houses with a realtor that morning so we had a lot to talk about.



Chris must have read every book in Sam's cabinet this weekend. Here is Chris letting Sam chose the next book. Sam started nodding yes this weekend so it's been wonderful getting a positive response. It's been "no, no, no" or just a look for a while now, so we love his funny little nod.



Chris has been giving Sam his bath since the day he was born, so they have a pretty good routine. Chris wraps Sam's hair in a towel and gives him a cup of milk while he's getting ready for bed. Sam fusses if he doesn't have his milk right away.



Here's a video of Sam talking. We've been trying to make this video for months now, but he always got really shy when we got the camera out.

Sam gets more and more independent every day. It's a happy and sad at the same time type of thing. He gets so frustrated sometimes that it makes him cry, but he still doesn't want us to help. For example, he wants to take of his own jacket. He'll pull at the sleeve and spin in circles trying to take it off. Then he'll start crying - so we try to help - but he pushes us away, says "no", and goes back to spinning in circles and crying. He gets the jacket off eventually!

We're all pretty tired today. Sam hasn't slept well two nights in a row - waking up several times a night. I took him to the doctor today and she said that his tubes might be plugged. I put drops in his ears tonight and they seemed to drain ok. Sam was so tired that he fell asleep in my lap at the dinner table. We had him in bed by 8, so we're all hoping for sleep.

Auntie Andrea

Aunt Andrea came to visit last week. We hadn't seen her since last summer, just after Sam turned one, so we couldn't wait for her to visit!




It didn't take us long to catch up. We always have so much fun just sitting on the couch together. I don't think I ever laugh more than when we're all together.



We actually got a babysitter one night so we could go out to eat. We took the DART Rail downtown. It was part of our big adventure. I forgot to take my point-and-shoot camera, so I took this picture with Melanie's. It pretty much ran out of batteries after this picture though.



We went to Trader Vic's for dinner. It's a Tiki bar/restaurant which recently reopened after being closed for almost 20 years. Andrea wanted to get one of these big bowl drinks that we could all share. The drinks were really yummy (and strong). I took this picture with my iPhone, which also ran out of batteries after a few more pics. You'd think we would have been better prepared on the camera front!



We got the Beef Cho Cho appetizer which came with its own mini hibachi. All of the food was wonderful. Chris even had a Kobe Sirloin which just melted in your mouth.



We went to the Nasher Sculpture Garden on Saturday. It was kids' day so there were lots of kids running around. It's hard to explain to a toddler that these big things are art and you aren't supposed to touch them. He really liked all the water features because they made "bubbles."



Target sponsors kids' day. Andrea helped Sam finish the scavenger hunt so he could get a little Target dog stuffed animal. They even had a little craft project that we took home and finished later. We usually leave Doggy-Bear at home, but Sam dragged him around all day.



Here's Sam snuggling with Auntie Andrea later that evening.



Sam is starting to get braver at the park. He even slides down the spiral slide without hesitation. He loves it when we play Follow the Leader.



Sam has been practicing jumping for months now. He's almost got it. He's actually getting a little air now. He does better just jumping straight up. He's pretty much still just stepping off of ledges though.



What a cutie-pie!



Sam got a bunch of treats for Valentine's. Here he is playing with his heart-shaped sunglasses. He's always trying to trade them for our glasses.



This is what Sam's hair usually looks like when he wakes up from a nap. He gets a little sweaty and his hair gets all these cute, messy curls.



Sam curled up with Chris on the couch one weekend morning. We weren't feeling very well so we just hung around watch "choo-choo" videos.



We got a new step stool for Sam at Ikea. It's taller so he can actually see over the kitchen counters and can wash his hands at the kitchen sink. He helped Chris put it together. Sam actually tried to take over the whole project. We were amazed at how well he could handle the tools.



Can you believe we got two days of snow last week!!! Not two consecutive days of snow, mind you ... a day in the 70s followed by snow followed by a day in the 70s followed by another day of snow. I'm completely done with winter now. Bring on spring!

Sam is becoming so independent and headstrong. Here's a few of the things he's been up to ...

• I usually go to Kroger to go Grocery shopping. I used to try to go before I picked Sam up at day care, but that hasn't been an option lately with our schedule. In trying to keep him engaged and not running around the store, I got him to push one of those little kid's shopping carts around. He's really proud to push it and even helps me put stuff in the cart. It limits the amount of stuff we can get, but it keeps me from having to chase him around the store. (Putting him in the seat of the cart really isn't an option now unless I want to block out the screaming fit.)
• We had our first argument over clothes choice last week. I asked him to pick a pair of shoes to wear (he only has four pairs), but he came back with his Thomas the Train swimming shoes. I actually considered letting him wear them, but they are from last summer and they were too small. I couldn't explain that logic to him though.
• Sam has been putting his cup in the sink when he's done with it for a while now, but last week he actually put his dish in the dishwasher after he was done with his breakfast.
• Sam has learned a new word ... "Bother!" It's what the trains on Thomas the Train say when they are upset. We think it's hilarious so we get him to say it all the time.
  

Nasher Sculpture Center

On Saturday, we went to the Nasher Sculpture Center in downtown Dallas, right next to the Dallas Museum of Art. The center was built by Raymond Nasher to serve as a public home for his collection of 20th century sculpture he'd collected. The idea was to create an oasis in the middle of the city with the feeling of an archaeological site. Best of all, Saturday is kid's day and entry was free.

I took a lot of pictures. I've had the new camera since Christmas but haven't taken many pictures because it's dark and cold this time of year and I get tired of taking pictures indoors. The weather was nice on Saturday, so I took a lot of pictures.

The pictures below were taken from the entrance of the center. As you can see, it's right in the middle of downtown Dallas.





This is the first sculpture you seen when you step outside to the garden. I forget the name of it -- something along the lines of "Walking to the Sky" or something like that. I am so glad I took a wide angle lens.







This large sculpture dominates the entry and seems to draw a lot of people close to it.



Here's a better view of the sculpture and a yoga class at its base.




Sculpture done in bronze. There must have been 30 of the headless figures.



These sculptures were interesting to me, just because of how the light reflected off of their surface. You can see other photographers in the background. There were lots of people with DSLR cameras.



This sculpture looked like it was made out of two inch thick steel. I can only imagine the weight.







These sculpture reminded me of a bunch of mushrooms growing on a lawn.



A closer look shows that they're made of heavy steel. I have an anvil that probably weighs less than this.



This is a famous sculpture called "Rush Hour". It portrays six people on their morning commute.



This is the mural outside the entrance to the Dallas Museum of Art. It's nice to see something this colorful on this scale.



I enjoyed the trip and like the fact that we have something like this in Dallas. The engineer in me wants to know how many of the sculptures were made.