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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Lulu and the Zoo



Happy Birthday Lulu!

Lulu came to visit the week after we moved in to the new house. Sam loved having all the attention. He started calling her Momma Lulu after a few days. I think he got confused because I was calling her Momma.  He spent a lot of time at home with us getting to do pretty much whatever he wanted, so he got a little bossy.  He started pointing his finger at me and saying, "No, no, Mommy, no!  No, no, Mommy, no!"  It had a cute little rhythm to it that just made you laugh.



Lulu came bringing birthday presents.



Sam is a real pro at opening presents now. He got lots of great clothes and more trains.



And how do you know when you've watched a few too many Thomas the Train videos? This is Melanie and me singing the theme song along with Sam's new musical caboose.



Sam loves his trains. He was still getting frustrated at this point trying to keep the trains on the track. We built pretty simple tracks at first, but he's a pro now.  He's really proud of himself when he accomplishes something now.  He even says, "I did it!" when he's really proud.


It was a weekend of birthdays. We went to Hagen's birthday party on Saturday and Sofie's birthday party on Sunday. This is a picture of Sam and Hagen eating lollipops at Hagen's party.



Sam posing with Mimi in one of his new outfits.



We went to the neighborhood pool for the first time. We really like it. The pool is nice and big and has plenty of shallow spots for little ones.



You can see the splashground in the background of this picture. Sam was pretty scared of it this first time that we went. He gets a little more used to it each time we go.



Looking cool in Mimi's shades.



We decided to go to the Dallas Zoo before it gets too stinkin hot this summer. There is this huge statue of a giraffe that towers over the trees that greets you as you enter the zoo.



Sam wasn't sure what was going on, but all the adults sure seemed excited so it must be something good. He hurried to see what it was.



We stopped for a group photo just outside the zoo amongst a group of elephant statues.



Sam wanted to ride the elephant statues. It took some convincing to get him off them. Hey, we told him we were going to see elephants, and these were, in fact, elephants. I can see the confusion.



There was a big carousel just inside the entrance of the zoo. Sam wanted to ride, but he really didn't know what he was getting into. I think he really just wanted a closer look. He definitely didn't want the belt on. There was a little boy that was screaming, so they had to stop the ride. Sam took the opportunity to get off too.



We had a lot of tokens so everyone got to ride.



Sam was in a big "my" phase that day. My birds (parrots). My monkeys (lemurs). He really wanted to hold and pet and squeeze them. I'm not sure how much fun "just looking" is for a two year old.



Cute fuzzy lemur.



Chris and Melanie looking at the flamingos.



Cool shot Chris got of flamingos, up close and personal.



It didn't take long to get hot. It also didn't take long to realize that the zoo was big and we needed to rent a stroller, I mean wagon. Sam didn't want a stroller, but it sounded like fun when we called it a wagon. He got excited when I pulled out the vanilla milk too.



We passed by the birds of prey on the way to the elephants and giraffes. There was this really cool harpie. The wind was blowing its feathers and making it look really big.



We had a lot of fun watching the otters get fed and swim under water. I couldn't believe that Sam posed for this picture.



We took a lunch break and then headed back to the children's zoo area. They have a big playground with a man-made river with mini waterfalls. Sam splashed in the water for a long time and got soaking wet. He really didn't want to leave, but it was way past his nap time.



Lulu bought Sam a shirt from the zoo so he could be dry for the ride home. He ate a few cookies left over from lunch, then fell asleep with his hand in the bag.



Back at home ... "pay tains, Wuwu, pay tains."



Watching a movie ... Sam wanted a closer look.



Sam got this cute overall outfit from Yiayia and Papou for his birthday. I wanted to get a picture of him in it, but he wouldn't sit still for long.



Melanie offered to babysit, so Chris and I got a chance to go check out a new Italian restaurant at Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm in Allen. We hadn't been out on a dinner date for a while, so it was a nice break.



Chris got inspired by all the overripe bananas and found a great banana bread recipe. He's made it a few times since we moved into the house. He thought it would be fun to get Sam to help one night after dinner. Sam loves to help cook, so he had a blast.



Who knows what was going on here! I suppose we were just messing around trying to get Sam undressed for bath time. You pretty much have to trick him into it. He'll have a meltdown if you try to make him do anything. It's gotta be his idea.



So this is Chris's latest, "I love me" purchase. It's a Herman Miller Eames Lounge Chair. We've both loved the chair since we first saw it over ten years ago. They've been making it since the 50's. It's even in the Museum of Modern Art. It's probably the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in. Of course, Sam claimed it as his when he walked through the door ... "new chair? my chair!"

So, what's new with Sam besides the pictures?

We had Sam's two year checkup the week after we moved into the new house. He weighs 26.6 lbs (30%) and is 35" tall (64%), so he's tall and skinny. I'm glad he doesn't weigh too much because he wants us to carry him up and down the stairs a lot. They were novel to him at first, but now they're just a hassle! His head was 19" around (37%), so his head isn't too big for his body. We still say he has a tater-head though, especially when he's running around without clothes on and you can actually see how skinny his little booty is.

Sam is learning to count. His favorite numbers are 8, 9, 10. When he counts he skips right to those numbers. Everything is either 8,9,10-8,9,10 or 9,10,8-9,10,8. I don't think he likes starting with 1,2,3 because we always give him a 3 count chance to straighten up before he goes on the naughty step.  He's really learning his colors too.  The only ones he doesn't seem to know are red and orange.  "Yeddow" is his favorite color right now.

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

I love the pictures! We've been thinking about going to the zoo, also, but haven't done it yet.