Rather then write a post about Easter, a post about our beach trip, and an iPhone photo drop I’m just going to throw them all together into one disjointed photo drop post.  I sort of feel that way when I look back on March.  It was a great month full of travel – a trip to Tennessee, a day at the beach and a weekend in the snow.  Sheesh, no wonder I’m tired.  Well, here is a picture goulash to capture it.

Holidays aside – it’s regular life around here.  Lots of time spent outside enjoying spring flowers and sunshine.  Lots of playing and silliness.  Lots of the good stuff both at home and out in the world.

Now that Clare is deep into her preschool years we’re beginning to see the next phase of family life.  She’s growing up, has a longer attention span, has some capacity to skip a nap or a snack, and just has a little more flexibility.  Now rather than just playing with her on her level, we can do activities with her that are her playing with us.  Case in point: we took an overnight trip a few weeks ago to Mt. Hood to go sledding.  As you can see from the picture above, we all LOVED it. 

Clare especially LOVED it.  She adored sledding, grinning from ear to ear as she went down by herself and with us.  She loved playing in the snow (Daddy’s girl).  She really appreciated being with Mom and Dad by herself – eating at restaurants, staying in a hotel, and having our undivided attention.  It was such a treat to just be one on one with our girl.  She is so big and independent now.  She toted her own sled, went down the hill by herself, kept track of her hat and mittens, and just generally participated more as our equal than as our child.  Of course she is three, so bedtime was at 7:30, we asked “do you have to go to the potty?”, and I may have threatened a time out.  But it was a inkling of more fun family times to come.

Of course the best part was lots of snuggling and cuddling with Papa!  Clare immediately ran up to him, arms outstretched for a hug, and they got along like a house afire.  Sammy was a little pricklier, but then we noticed 4! new molars in my mouth which explains his fussy attitude.  As you can see from the picture below, once those teeth came in all became right with the world – including Papa.

After our relaxing trip to Kentucky Lakes, we went back to Nashville for more family visiting.  We met up with Aunt Donna the Great, Mike, Brenda and Hannah at the Opryland Hotel.  The hotel was gorgeous, but the best part was catching up with the family.  Sammy fell in love with Donna immediately, and Hannah and Clare picked up where they left off last year. 

Unfortunately my photography skills were seriously lacking on this trip, but I captured a teensy slice of the sheer cuteness of cousins Hannah, Clare and Sam.  Hannah is so sweet and kind with the little kids and they absolutely adore her.  They, especially Clare, follow her around like little ducklings and want to be just like her.  At once point Clare put on Hannah’s boots, hat and purse and paraded around saying “I’m like Hannah!”

This silly boy is 16 months now (or 16.5 months now…).  Watching him makes me realize how much I really love the wobbler age.  Every day is a new discovery, every thing is a new adventure, and it’s all met with such joy and interest.  Mommy and Daddy are still wonderful and all-knowing, able to answer any questions and provide all comfort.  Pleasures are simple but dramatic.  He spent several minutes today laughing at a crow hopping along a field, just enjoying watching a bird jump around and caw.  This a sweet, sweet age and we’re all enjoying it.

Sammy is beginning to tell us what he wants, get where he wants to go, and sometimes even do what he wants when he gets there.  Every day we’re learning more about his personality and what’s going on inside his thoughtful head.  He LOVES to be outside.  He’s been known to throw himself against the door while wailing “Outsiiiiiii” when he wants to go out.  When he’s outside in a new place he wants to venture and explore.  Adam and I joke that Sammy needs to “explore the perimeter” of the yard or the park.  Sure he likes to swing, climb and slide with the best of them but after a few minutes of that he sets off to explore and see how far he can go before being caught. 

Our boy loves balls.  Ball was one of his first words.  He loves to roll, throw and kick any ball he comes across.  When he first saw the basketball hoop in the back yard he immediately tossed a ball into it.  Duh!  What else would he do? 

His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  Not only is he adding words but his words are becoming much clearer.  He says “psh” as ‘please’, a little sing-song “thank you” and “car.”  His new favorite word is “no,” said with authority.  “Sammy, let’s change your diaper.”  “No.”  “Sam, can bring me your shoes?”  “No.”  “Sam, stop pulling your sister’s hair!”  “No.”  All done with a strong shaking of his downy little head.  Yep, he’s all sweet mischief until you hit that unbreakable steel backbone of “No.” 

 The original heroine of our story is our girl Clare.  She’s officially 3.5 now, and is every inch the opinions, drama, imagination, and fun that comes with this age.  It’s such an intense age, where every emotion is felt deeply, every joy is met with squeals, and every frustration and disappointment is met with screams.  There is so much in life to cause joy and frustration.  Driving on a bridge over boats on a river is a joy.  Watching squirrels is a joy.  Hersheys kisses for dessert is a joy.  Hearing the garage door that means Daddy is home is a joy.  Oh the squeals we hear, the songs, the dances, the delight that Clare has with life.  Joie de vivre. 

And frustration?  I won’t go into detail except to say that while tantrums aren’t routine they aren’t unknown either.  She’s reached new levels of volume, stamina and energy to express her disappointment.  I’m hopeful that this phase passes quickly.

But back to joy.  Clare swings on the big kid swings now, pumping and everything.  She doesn’t walk if she can skip.  She sings all the time.  She’s growing long and lanky, so she’s a whirling dervish of arms and legs. 

I want to preface this, and all other posts about arts and craft,s with the statement that I’m not especially crafty.  There are plenty of very artistic, creative and crafty people out there who can paint, sculpt, sew and create.  I’m not one of them.  Construction paper, finger paint, Elmer’s glue, and contact paper are my speed, which is perfect for my toddler crowd. 

So our fun arts and crafts projects for the past few weeks have been Valentine related.  Stained glass hearts, paintings that were cut into hearts, coloring on hearts, gluing the painted and crayon-colored hearts to construction paper cards, writing messages of love, and finally mailing the valentines to the grandparents. 

Blogging has been slow around these parts because, well… everything has been slow.  Winter illnesses have hit us with a vengeance.  In the past few weeks each family member has been struck down to bed for at least 24 hours with various combinations of stomach ailments, fevers, colds, and other issues.  This is beyond the usual winter runny noses and coughs that we always have, so we’re pretty much a house of illness these days with no end in sight. 

This picture has nothing to do with the post… but it’s cute.

I guess the upside is that none of us were hit with the worst of the worst at the same time.  I was struck in bed on a Monday, J on a Wednesday, Sammy on a Saturday and then Clare on the following Monday.  It was quick succession, we fell like dominos, one of us getting up again to take care of the next fallen one.  I know better then to think that we’re done with sickness.  Hopefully this will be our only incidents of stomach ailments (please cross your fingers and toes) but I’m keeping us stocked in tissue, children’s ibuprofen and vicks vaporub just in case.

Poor Clarie had it the worst of any of us… she literally spent most of one day draped across Jeremy’s chest with her head on his shoulder.  This picture was taken on Day 2 of her illness, about two minutes after I took this picture she put her head on the table and said “Mama?  Can I just go to sleep?”  Fortunately she’s back to normal now.

There will be many posts about wistfulness to write, for now I’m going to post about my son’s development and 15-month-old self.  I’ll miss this age soon enough too.

Sammy’s New Words that we understand:
“Ball!”
“Bay-bee”
“Ni-Night”
“Myyyy” (Mine)
“Gam-Pa” Grandpa
“Hiiiiii”
“Buh” (Book)

Sammy continues to climb on *everything* in sight.  He gets himself into some serious trouble – falling off the couch, climbing onto the stove and touching a hot pot, rolling down half a flight of stairs – and while he stops my heart on a regular basis he has a way of brushing himself off and getting back up again that is admirable.  He’s also born with J’s natural coordination.  I’m in awe that Sammy can fall backwards off the couch and rather than land flat on his back he somehow twists in the air, tucks his head in, and lands so that he rolls onto his tummy.  It’s really amazing, especially since I’m such a klutz that I couldn’t do something like that if I was trained by an Olympic gymnastics coach.  Athleticism is truly something that a person is born with, and our Sammy seems to have been born with it.  It’s going to be interesting to see what he wants to do with it.

We’re into hard-core labeling around here.  Sammy walks through the house pointing at things and saying “da?”  It’s a cat, a spoon, a car, an elbow, a picture frame, a sister, socks, the letter W, a hot cup of tea, wasabi, etc. etc. etc…  Sam’s entering the world of language, starting with nouns.