Phone First

I know I have a ton of catch up to do with this blog-- pictures and stories to add-- but lest I get more behind, I had to add this quick story:

Yesterday Sam received his first telephone call. I answered the phone from a number I didn't recognize and after some deep breathing, I heard prompting in the background and a boy's voice said "Can I talk to Sam?" Figuring it was neither a telemarketer or a stalker, but still curious as to who might be calling, I inquired the identity of the caller. "Reed." Sam's cousin.

Sam picked up the phone and just chatted away for about 10 minutes. I asked afterwards what they talked about, but he had few details.

A new era has begun.

Sledding

Clarence has taken Sam sledding quite a bit this winter, making the most out of the relatively sparing amount of snow we've had. Lawrence had quite a bit more last week, so he took both Sam and his cousin Reed out sledding. A couple more pictures below...

Reed and Sam in front of the KU Campanile

Sam sledding down the hill

Bonk Beds

On the way home from Sesame Street Live, Sam and his cousin Reed were talking in the 'way back' of the car. We said something about Reed spending the night once we get Sam's bunk beds set up.

Sam said, "Yeah, I'm getting bump beds."

Reed said, "No, they're called bonk beds, because you bonk your head on the top of the bed when you get in."

Dr. Sam

I made the mistake Wednesday morning of talking to my mom about a problem my grandmother was having that would later send her to the ER and an extended (and ongoing) hospital stay while Sam was in the back seat of the car on the way to school. Little ears hear everything, and when I got off the phone he asked me about Nanny's problem. Oops. I passed it off as being no big deal and went back to driving. I looked to the backseat and saw Sam deep in thought. Thinking about Nanny he said.

"It's no big deal, Sam. She's just sick and the doctors will know how to take care of her. Don't worry about it, buddy," I said.

"Did she get enough sleep last night?" he asked.

"Yes, I think so."

"Did she eat a good breakfast?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I think so, " I said, smiling.

"Well, maybe she had an operation," he said.

"Not recently, honey. I think she has just gotten some sort of sickness that the doctors will know how to take care of, " I said.

"No Mom. Here's what happened. Did you know that there is this bug-thing called an abbearition that can crawl up your pee thing and eat stuff up there and then when you go to the bathroom, blood comes out?"

"What?!" I said, trying to remain calm. "Where did you hear that?"

"I just, I just learned that myself," he said.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's not what happened," I said and ended the conversation there.

So if you need any diagnostic help about problems you might be having, my son seems to have a lot of medical knowledge he is willing to share. It's not covered by your HMO though...

Potty Princess

My daughter Kate is 15 months old. My mother-in-law Mary is the queen of potty training. This knowledge is essential to the craziness that is this story:

Tuesday Mary and Clarence watched the kids while I worked because my sitter was off on vacation. She had to sit Kate on the potty because she started to go more during a diaper change, which we've done before and is no big deal. But, later in the morning, Kate grabbed Mary by the hand and took her to the bathroom, pointed and said, "Potty". So Mary took her diaper off and sat her on the potty, holding her, because her 15-month old butt is too small to sit on the seat. She went. Ha ha, we all laughed, isn't she funny. What a cute story.

The next day, Mary watched Kate again (she's a superstar) while I took my grandmother to the ER. Kate went in the same fashion, both types, a total of 3 times. Just in case this is some real phenomenon, I drag out the potty seat. We know it's just a game, and she really hasn't done it since, but good grief. Talk about an overachiever.