Go Red Sox!

Anyone who knows Ernie, knows that he loves the Red Sox. He was really excited that they made it to the World Series this year (and are up 3 games to 0 at this point!). Ernie has a Red Sox baseball hat that Samuel has been slightly obsessed with since birth. Now that Samuel can talk more, he calls it "my B hat" (because of the B in the logo on the front.) Ernie, Samuel and I all own Red Sox hats and Samuel likes for all of us to either wear them at the same time, or not wear them at the same time. He'll say "Mommy's B hat, Daddy's B hat, Sam's B hat" and point to each of us in turn. Here are some pictures of him showing his support for the Red Sox.


This first one is from when he was about 8 months old:



Here he looks like he doesn't like the score of the game very much:



Hanging out with his hat on backwards, like a true boy:





Samuel seems quite into hats lately, which is a good thing since winter will be here before we know it. I'm not sure how warm this basket hat will be:




He is saying such funny things lately. A typical conversation will go like this:

Samuel: "Mommy - dining room - play - you?"
Me: "You want me to come into the dining room and play with you?"
Samuel: "Me too." (he'll say this instead of yes)

He hasn't quite mastered the art of conversation (or pronouns) yet, but he is certainly trying. He also likes to tell us when he thinks something is delicious. He'll say "ummmm, my whoa-whoa licious!", which translates into my yogurt is delicious.

And his memory is so sharp. An episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse showed Mickey looking through a telescope. The other day I gave Samuel a paper towel tube to play with and he told me it was his telescope to see things far away with (and maybe to SMELL things far away as this picture shows)

Ribbit, Ribbit

Barbara and Bob sent Samuel this frog towel for his birthday. Here he is after his bath the other night:



In this picture he sort of looks like a Star Wars character:

Visit with Meg and Lilly

This past weekend Meg and Lilly came to visit. Samuel was very excited to see Lilly (or "baby nee-nee" as he calls her.) We had fun going to the playground, playing with toys at home, and having Samuel's birthday party.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

At the playground:







Lilly LOVED Monty (who doesn't?):




Birthday party ("it's my pahty" Samuel said):










Thank you to everyone who sent such wonderful presents. We tried to get pictures of Samuel with everything, but he was too excited to sit still. If you don't see your gift here, rest assured we do have it and love it.

Wiggles and Giggles

Monday nights I take Samuel to a gymnastics class called "Wiggles and Giggles" at the YMCA. When I first signed him up for this class, I imagined there would be instructors teaching him how to do sommersaults and walk on a balance beam. Instead it's more like open gym time. The kids get to run all around the room, climb on foam shapes, play with balls, jump on the trampoline, and screech a lot. Samuel loves it. Last night I took some pictures of him at class.

Playing with pom-poms on the trampoline:



Rolling around on the floor:



Climbing down a foam wedge:



Running through the rainbow:



And here is his absolute favorite part of class - the instructor giving each kid a happy face stamp on their hand:



They get the stamp at the end of class for doing a good job. The ride back to our house is less than 10 minutes long, and he usually mentions his happy face stamp about 25 times on the ride. He likes the stamp so much that the instructor gave him one on each hand last night. He was one happy kid!

At the Zoo

This weekend I took Samuel to the Fort Wayne Zoo. Everyone we meet here asks us if we have been to the zoo yet. Now we can tell them yes. It was a nice zoo, and Samuel enjoyed (in this order) eating snacks on a park bench, riding the little train, banging a toy drum, and looking at the animals. Here are some pictures:

Banging a drum in the African animals exhibit:



Giraffes:



Which came first? The chicken or the kid?



Playing with a model of the train:



Riding on the train, or as Samuel said over and over "I ride choo-choo!"



And here's a picture of him hanging out with Ernie at home. Samuel likes to take that blanket and say "it's MY blanket" in a teasing kind of voice, so that you will then say "No, it's MY blanket." This is his new favorite game. He can only go back and forth so many times, though, before he starts looking concerned that maybe the blanket isn't his after all. Then we have to stop and tell him it's his blanket. He also thinks it's hysterical if you ask him to share the blanket, he says no, and you pretend to cry.