More May Events

Samantha is great at sitting now. She loves being upright so much! She had a heavy cold and fever for about a week, but she shook that off and never even was really unhappy while she was sick.

We've had a nice last few weeks. One sunny evening we went out for a walk/bike ride to the Ko-fro-yo place a few blocks away, and then on to the Christian Science plaza for more bike-riding and model-boat-gawking. Robert and Marcus went back another sunny Sunday afternoon, and apparently had a lot of fun with the men who were there with their boats.

One sunny Saturday, after running some errands, Samantha got to try a baby swing for the first time in a playground. She was not completely a fan. Of course, she's still little, and there will be much more swinging ahead of her. (Even the second time she tried, she enjoyed it much more.) After our stop at the playground, we came home and planted our tomato seedings and herb and flower seeds on the roof.

Marcus finished another round of swimming lessons--he is in the level "Waves," and if he uses a foam barbell, he can propel himself all over the pool kicking and staying afloat on his own. He's cautious about jumping in and going underwater, though, and the instructor said he thinks he has more skills than he demonstrates as a result.

At school, he has lots of fun doing everything. He loves reading the "Bear" books ("Bear Feels Scared," "Bear Wants More," etc.), going to the big gym, and playing in the sand area. At home he narrates everything, likes "playing" the piano with me, and sings perpetually ("Everybody Loves My Baby," "You Are My Sunshine," "Doe a Dear," "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," and "Oh When the Saints" are some favorites).

Both at home and at school he does a ton of pretend play. One day he came home from school and told me that he and Jesse and Ryan and Matteo were playing "Baby": "Yeah, and Jesse was the baby and Ryan was the cousin and I was the daddy and Matteo was the mommy!" He's endlessly into comparisons and superlatives--who's big, bigger, biggest; who's older; who's taller; which cars are faster; and on and on and on. He's been building huge, elaborate train track layouts and very tall Lego towers at home.

On Saturdays we always visit Great-Grandma Helena, and one Tuesday evening Grandpa Richard even came over for dinner.

One busy weekend, Marcus went to Jayden's third birthday party at the Indoor Playground in Watertown. Exhausted, he curled up on the couch with me afterward.

Samantha has been enjoying the mom-baby playgroup/class I've been doing with her--I wanted to do at least one thing which was specifically focused on her, instead of just dragging her around to Marcus's events all the time. At home she loves books and Marcus's trains most of all.

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we went to the opening day of the "Zoorassic Park" exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs at the zoo. Marcus had more fun climbing trees and statues, going down the silo slide, and riding the carousel than actually looking at the dinosaurs, and it was very, very hot and muggy, but we still had a nice morning.

On Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, we went to the Frog Pond playground and carousel with Ben, Ruthie, Lily, and Caleb after church, and then all went on to dim sum together and then out for boba drinks. Lily ran after Marcus on his bike yelling "Wait! Wait!" in a very cute way as the rest of us walked.

On Memorial Day proper, we had a bbq and enjoyed the gorgeous weather--sunny, high 70s, not too humid: it was the perfect day. Marcus, Amalia, Alex, Garrison, and Nahum played together--each kid brought along a mommy, daddy, and baby sister, and we also got to see our friend Karen (or, as Robert lovingly put it, "our 21st wheel"). The kids got very wet and very sandy, but by and large played quite nicely together. After everyone else had left, Amalia and her family walked over to a playground with us and we had some additional happy visiting time.

Some movies from this month:

Playing with Samantha

Riding his balance bike

Watching the RC boats

Singing the "Three Little Monkeys" song

N.b.: Even though he admits that carriers can come in handy, Robert rolls his eyes at the babywearing gallery at the bottom of these pages. So fine, I can see that. But since Samantha is worn so many hours of the day, I think it's really nice to have pictures of these "normal" parts of our day together, and I think it's nice to see her grow and change in these pictures from week to week and month to month.