pamelamyers | June 16, 2012
Yes, I am a little bit biased. But look at that face. I am so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing girl who is beautiful both outside AND inside. She makes me laugh, she makes me smile, she makes me just want to hug her all the time. She is clever and smart and empathetic and caring and funny. I love you, Samantha. Never forget that you are the very best thing that has ever happened to me.
pamelamyers | June 15, 2012
Sam loves to watch TV. Maybe that is not a good thing, but I try to limit how much she watches as much as I can. I didn’t let her watch TV for a long time, she was over a year old I think, but let’s face it, a little TV never hurt anyone. Sometimes, you just need a kid to settle down, or you need a few minutes to make a phone call or get something done and TV is a good babysitter, don’t let anyone say it is not because they are lying. I am very careful about what she watches and always have been. For a long time, she never saw anything that was not on PBS. She likes Sesame Street (for a long time only Elmo, but she likes the whole show now), Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, and occasionally, Barney. That I will not watch at our house because that dinosaur annoys the heck out of me, but my mom puts it on for her sometimes. Why kids like that purple dinosaur, I do not know. When we were at the veterinarian recently, we were talking to our vet, who has a little boy about a half year younger than Sam, about our kids. TV came up and what they watch and she said her little boy is addicted to a show called Peppa Pig. Mark and I had never heard of it and Dr. Will tried her best to explain this funny little British cartoon about a family of pigs. It sounded so bizarre that of course when we got home I had to find it. It airs on Nick Jr., a station I never look at, so I wouldn’t have noticed it before. I taped two episodes and thought we’d see what it is all about.
Well. Peppa Pig. Sam is in love. I don’t know what else to say. The love of Peppa has surpassed her love of all other TV. Even, alas, Elmo. Since we first showed Sam Peppa about a month ago, she has asked me to watch Elmo perhaps twice. How many times per day does she tell me she wants to watch Peppa? Approximately 1,000. Thankfully, Mark and I actually think it’s pretty darn funny and don’t mind watching it. My DVR is now full of about 25 episodes with more set to tape. Unfortunately, right now, Peppa merchandise is hard to come by. It is a British show, and there isn’t anything really available to buy here, other than a scant few things on the Internet. I just read an article that Fisher Price has made a deal to start manufacturing Peppa things later this year and I hope they do. Sam would love a Peppa birthday party!
For the uneducated into the world of kid’s TV or more specifically, Peppa, here is a picture of the cute little pig and her family — Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig and her little brother George. We highly recommend it!
pamelamyers | June 12, 2012
As you know, Mark bought me a bike for Mother’s Day since he bought a bike for himself. We have been having so much fun riding but need to take Sam with us! Sam is too little to ride with us yet on her own so Mark did some research and found the perfect trailer for her to ride in. I thought she would love it since she sits in the display models at REI all the time!
Look at that happy face! She is so cute, we always make her wear her helmet inside, as she is supposed to do, and give her a cup of water. But it is at her insistence that she always has a stuffed animal in there with her!
Off they go! Riding with the trailer attached turns out to be easier than I thought. You don’t even notice it when you are riding. Sam talks and talks to you the whole time. It is so fun.
As far as Sam’s tricycle goes, she is getting so much better. We still have blocks on the pedals to help her reach, but she pedals along very well now. She needs to learn to steer a little better, but you can’t have everything. I don’t know how many times I have to get her off the grass when she starts yelling, “I’m stuck!” The basket on the front is a new addition. Mark thought she would love one since she likes putting stuff into stuff, and he was right. She is sticking her bear in there in this picture.
Next, she decided that bear (who is a polar bear but she always calls him her panda) was going to ride the bike himself. She worked for a long time at getting him to sit on the seat.
Ok, so he kept falling off. Next idea she had was that SHE wanted to pull the trailer. Of course, Mark figured out a way to help her do it. How adorable is this? Sam was tickled pink that she was pulling the trailer along. She kept looking backwards at it and giggling.
She was so proud of herself for being able to do this.
There she goes! as Sam likes to say. You can see her little bear in the trailer, all seatbelted in.
My little girl is getting so big, I can’t stand it!
pamelamyers | June 5, 2012
The pool opened of course, as usual, on Memorial Day weekend. This year thankfully the weather was nice enough that we didn’t freeze to death. Here’s a quick pic of Sam this year at the pool. We didn’t take too many pictures as we were just trying to have fun, but we will take more later as the summer unwinds. Sam went in the baby pool but then couldn’t wait to brave the big pool. That girl is going to need swimming lessons, stat!
pamelamyers | June 4, 2012
Some time last year, when it was still cold, I found the cutest little chair on the curb that someone was throwing away. It looked to be in perfect shape and was just Sammy-size. It needed a good paint job, but that was about it. The chair has been in our shed for a long time and we had told Sam that we could paint it and she could help. Of course, when asked what color it should be, she picked orange! So, right before Memorial Day weekend, Sam and I trekked off to The Home Depot and bought some paint. She couldn’t wait to paint it.
First, we showed her how to sand the chair to get the old glossy paint dulled down.
She worked very hard. I think she liked making all the dust!
She so badly wanted to mix the paint, but wisely, Mark said he would do it. She was waiting very patiently though in her smock.
The first brush strokes were all Sam’s!
Sam and Mark painted together for a while but then Sam’s “help” became more of a hindrance. She tends to go backwards with the brush.
Mark wound up finishing the first coat by himself after I took Sam inside, but she had lots of fun. The chair isn’t done yet, it needs more than one coat, but it will be done soon and maybe we can get some cute photos of Sam sitting in it. Stay tuned!
