Last weekend we all ventured to Colorado to celebrate one year of Miss Madeline!  Maddy was celebrated in huge style with a big party, including 14 people who flew in from several states.  That’s one loved little girl!  But how could we not celebrate her?  Besides being the cutest little one-year-old on the planet she’s just a joyous little ray of sunshine.

Despite the craziness of the party, JP and Debs hosted us (including our two-under-two entourage) at their house.  They very thoughtfully set up a backpacking tent for Clare and put her bed in it, which she LOVED.  It contained her at night and made her feel a little more secure.  She is still talking about the “cozy tent” she slept in.  She hasn’t asked me to set one up yet in her room, but I’m waiting for it.

There was a lot of people competing for the birthday girl’s attention, so the little girl cousins didn’t get quite so much playtime together but they got along really well.  Clare was sooooooo excited to go to Colorado and see everyone and told me before we left “I will be nice to Baby Maddy.  I won’t hit her.”  I told her that was a good plan.

This blog is essentially a baby book for my kids, but sweet little Maddy did a couple of cute things I want to remember.

She has a little alligator walking toy that she loves and is really good at walking behind.  She got it stuck against a table, turned to her mom, bent her knee and patted it like you do when calling a dog.  We were just talking about what baby signs Maddy knows, but it turns out she had picked up another one.  It worked too since Debbie got up and walked over to her.

Mom and I took Sam and Maddy on a walk in their strollers on Monday afternoon.  Maddy insisted on taking one of her dog’s toys with her.  The whole walk she waved it up and down in the air like a little drum majors baton.  I kept thinking she would drop it, but though she’s 90% sweet sugar Maddy is 10% solid steel will and she didn’t put that toy down once.

This is little Samster thinking “how am I going to get a word in edgewise between Clare and Maddy?”  Honestly, he probably won’t.  He will, though, be able to overpower them with strength since he’s already bigger than Maddy.

“Mama, be happy.”

“No. I’m to busy playing.”

Last week Adam went into Clare’s room during nap time to find her playing instead of sleeping (this happens pretty much every day). When he reminded her that she had to get into bed she said “I can’t Adam. The elephants are napping and I can’t wake them up.” Sure enough, Clare had carefully put her stuffed elephants into bed and tenderly tucked them in.

One morning I was getting ready for work and Sam was on the bed. He started to fuss but I was in a hurry and couldn’t pick him up right away. I asked Clare to sing him a song so she climbed up next to him and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Sam – I love you very much – You are such a sweet baby – I love you soooo much – Don’t cry little boy…” and on like this to the tune of Twinkle Little Star. Sam stopped crying and smiled at her. It was all I could do to keep getting dressed, since I, of course, had started crying.

I pretty much ignored Easter last year, but this year I resolved to play it up a little more. So Clare and I did a few Easter crafts (including the obligatory construction paper bunny ears – no pictures but they were cute) and dyed eggs. Egg dying was fun though I’m not sure that Clare really got it. Her favorite part was putting the stickers on the eggs. For me, the smell of hard-boiled eggs and vinegar dye says Easter, along with the feeling of cellophane grass and stiff new sandals. I tried to duplicate all of that for Clare, but it will be fun to add new experiences and traditions to our family.

One new thing that we did this year that may become a tradition was going on the Portland Spirit riverboat for brunch. It made for a busy morning doing the egg hunt and baskets before getting the family downtown for an early brunch, but it was worth it.

Clare has been talking about boats a lot lately – being “on a boat!” has been a dominant pretend game. She was very VERY excited when we told her she was going to have breakfast on a boat. And she loved it. She visited the captain of the boat, ran around on the decks, ate a good breakfast, and generally thought it was pretty fun. the weather was beautiful so it was really nice to spend a few hours out enjoying a pretty morning. Oh, and the company was great too!

Sam’s put his rolling practice on the back burner a bit as he’s working very hard on his balance while sitting up. He stays up for a good 5 or 10 seconds now before toppling over. He hasn’t had any good spills yet but he has face planted a few times while laying on his tummy. He’s a tough little dude though and barely, barely cries out of discomfort. He’s also discovered his legs and feet and spent most of today trying to pull his socks off.

It’s a good thing he’s a tough little dude, because Clare can be kind of rough with him while trying to “play.” Twice now I’ve walked into the room to see Clare dragging Sam across the floor by his feet. She’s also been known to flip him over, lay on top of him, or stack toys up on him. He’s very relaxed about the whole thing and sometimes even seems to enjoy it – giggling while she drags him for example.

A really fun development is how social Sam is. He will engage people with cooing and making eye contact, and he’s so cute that of course we talk back to him. He’s also started reaching out to touch our faces, putting his hands in our mouth while we talk, that kind of thing. His favorite person is still J. When he comes home Sam shrieks with joy and reaches out to touch his beard. It’s the sweetest moment of the day.

We’ve added applesauce and baby oatmeal to his meal plan, and he continues to LOVE it. When he sees me start to mix up food he waves his little arms and legs in excitement. I also gave him a sip of my water the other day because he kept grabbing at my glass. He even loved that. I think he’s going to be a person who thrives on new and different experiences.

Oh this child! Don’t let that sweet smile fool you – she’s ALL kinds of feisty and sassy. She tests our patience on a hourly, sometimes minutely basis, but she’s also a lot of fun. I’m starting to realize that so much of parenting is basically repetition. Here are a few of the things that we say over, and over, and OVER again hoping that they will eventually stick.

• “Say please” (or thank you, or you’re welcome, or whatever other polite term we’re working on).
• “What do you say?” (Along the lines of the point above – the answer is usually “Please” or “Thank you.”)
• “Guess what? I love you.”
• “How about we read a book?”
• “Inside voice please.”
• “Leave the dog alone! She needs her space.”
• “Do you need to sit on the potty?”
• “Hooray! You went pee in the potty!”
• “Clean up Clean up Everybody Clean Up” (the “Clean up” song)
• “How do you think you might get that” (what I’ve started saying to her when she says “I wa-ant that” – the answer is usually when she asks for it politely then she can have it).
• “Oh really?” (my response when she’s telling me some story or thought of hers, which could be anything from “we should go to Alaska and see a moose” to “how about we eat chocolate chips and watch Elmo” – both of which she has said today.)

Not much to report this week – we’re all sick with a nasty cold, so rather than go into excess detail about the McSnoterson household I’ll write about how we decided on naming this little guy Samuel John.

That afternoon after he was born I was holding him and I said “He’s Sam!” And he is! I know that there will be other Sam’s in his class at school, and he will know other Sam’s, but it’s a good, solid name and it suits him. John is named after my father, which also fits since the two of them have a special bond already. Sam also has a tendency to spit up or have diaper leaks on Grandpa so I joke that it’s a good thing he’s his namesake.

In other Sam news, we had his four-month check-up yesterday. We were taking bets that he’s over 20 lbs. now and we were all wrong. He weighed in at 19 lbs. 15.5 oz. This made J and I really relieved, since at 22 lbs. we need to get a new car seat. I’m glad to put that expense off for a few weeks or months. He’s still in the 100% for weight! He’s also 28.125 inches long! Holy moly! By contrast, at 4 months Clare was 12 lbs. 15 oz. (yes, 7 pounds lighter) and 24 inches long.

Where does the time go around here? Long moments lead to short days, shorter weeks and then I look up and go “what? It’s March? Huh?” Somehow between the middle of the night feedings, stuffing as many vegetables as I can into quesadillas and pesto pasta, putting away outgrown children’s clothes, responding to work emails at 11 pm from my phone, and interrupted dinner conversations I look up at a baby who’s no longer a newborn and a child who’s no longer a baby. That was a long sentence, but not unlike what my life feels like these days.

Then there’s this – where I turn around from making dinner and find Clare reading a book to Sam. Makes my heart skip a beat…

The first almost-warm day of the year where we all go out onto the neglected back deck to soak up a little bit of sun.

And Grandma T’s visit!! We can’t forget that! As you can see, Sam was especially thrilled to see her. Her timing was perfect since Samster has suddenly become a little social butterfly. I mentioned in my last post that he’s not the smiliest baby but, in classic fashion, he seems to be reading my blog and has turned into a very smiley kiddo. I couldn’t be happier to be proven wrong.