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.

Sam is Two!!!

Sam turned two years old the weekend that we moved into the new house. We moved on Friday, unpacked on Saturday, and had his birthday on Sunday. We kept it small and just did birthday presents and cupcakes at the house.


Sam was excited to help make the cupcakes. He loves to get on his stool and help around the kitchen.


This was the first time that Sam had used the hand mixer. He was very interested and did well. I just added a little support.


Here is Sam stirring in the Funfetti sprinkles. The colors were quite appropriate since "peent" (pink) and "boo" (blue) were the primary colors that he was recognizing at the time.


Sam put all the paper cups in the muffin tins. He protested with, "my do it!", when I tried to help.

Sam loved his birthday song and blowing out the candles.  I think we did it four times before he would let us stop.

After blowing out the candles about four times, we sat down to sample the cupcakes. Sam started by picking off the sprinkles (of course).


He couldn't stand the temptation very long.


But he immediately regretted that decision!


Sam can't stand stuff on his hands and face. This was pretty much the same reaction that we got on his first birthday.


Sam seemed to remember the concept of presents from Christmas. He practically jumped out of my arms when he saw them as we came down the stairs. He ran straight to the "boo bite for Tam" (blue bike for Sam). We spent a long time playing with that before moving on to the others.


Sam got lots of cute clothes for summer. He was interested to see what was on each shirt. And of course he loved the buttons.


Those darn bows just got in the way.

Sam liked ripping off the paper, but he needed a little help getting the toys out of the boxes.


Sam got some Thomas the Train wooden railway sets. We actually had a hard time getting him to open the rest of the presents after he opened the first train toy.


Sam played with his trains for hours that day.


The first thing he asked for the next morning was his "tains".


We didn't get around to putting the train table together for a few days. Sam was a big helper when we finally did.


Well, in addition to celebrating Sam's second birthday, we also had the little matter of packing and moving in to the new house. We closed on both houses in one day. After all the papers were signed on our old house, our realtor came by and put the SOLD sign up.


Chris snapped a few quick shots of our old house in boxes with the point-n-shoot. We had planned on taking a few pictures of the moving trucks, but it somehow slipped our minds. We only had to live with our stuff in boxes for about three days, so it wasn't too bad. We were really impressed with the Mayflower moving company that we used. I can't imagine how much harder it could have been if we had to pack or move our own things.

We've got most of our boxes unpacked now. We have one or two boxes left for each room, but all the pictures/paintings are still packed and we haven't even made it to the garage yet. It's hard for us to relax until everything is all unpacked, but I was just happy when we had a functioning kitchen.

We were glad to get out of the old house when the time came. We realized that the shelving was pulling away from the wall in the master closet when we were moving out, so that had to be repaired. Then, the spring on the garage door broke in half. The house was in great shape, so it's not like it was falling apart by any means. It was just Murphy's law.


Melanie's friend Fletcher stopped by for a quick visit a few days before we moved. We had a nice steak dinner and a nice bottle of wine. It was our last chance to have a nice meal in the old house.


One of the first projects that we tackled in the new house was installing a built-in entertainment center.


The cabinet company installed the unfinished cabinets one morning.


The painters sanded and stained it later the same day. Half the time was spent with them building a "spray booth" by taping plastic and paper to the walls, ceiling, and floor. The smell was awful. I spent most of that day in the garage. The painters must have been extremely high by the time they left. Chris had to wait until the next day to play with his new TV though.


We love the backyard at the new house. It's so nice to be able to sit and relax while Sam has a great time splashing in the water, climbing and sliding, or just chasing Cleo.


This was the first time that we had gotten his splash table out at the new house.


He splashed all the water out one cupful at a time!

 

Sam has also really enjoyed his bubbles.  He doesn't quite get the concept of holding the wand a little bit away from his mouth and blowing softly, but he's  doing a good job of trying.  It was really good practice for blowing out his birthday candles any way.

Sam's favorite tool to terrorize Cleo is his Pooh car.  He'll chase her in circles all day long, inside or outside.  He was having a little bit of a problem in this video because he was laughing so hard and kept getting stuck in the ruts of the sod.

Sam had two birthday parties to go to this weekend. Hagen's was a football theme so Sam wore his new Saints jersey that Melanie got him for his birthday. We found him a matching Nerf football at Target.


Melanie and Sam posing at the fireplace before we went to the party.  Check out that nice new haircut!  It seems like the haircuts are getting worse.  Chris had to put on a cape and sit in the chair with Sam this time, and of course Sam cried through the whole thing.