Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | January 26, 2015

Yesterday, we went to the Adventure Aquarium with Krista, Adam, Maddox and Ryder. We have all been looking for something to do to get the kids together, and this seemed like as good an idea as any. We only took Sam one other time, years ago, and frankly, Mark and I were not impressed. Sam had a good time though and that was all that mattered. To be fair, the last time we went, a lot seemed to be under construction so it was a pretty quick spin through the place.

This time, there seemed to be a lot more to do and it was a pretty good time. Sam liked looking for the sharks.

One of the first things we did was go to the 4D movie. It was about dinosaurs of the sea and Sam really liked it! The movie went back and forth between showing you impressions of what these sea dinos looked like, and real footage of fossil hunters finding evidence of their existence. It was a very impressive 3D movie in that the creatures truly did seem like you could reach out and touch them, and the 4D element, water spraying on you occasionally, surprised Sam, but she thought it was funny.

In one of the displays, Sam saw a huge crocodile and I think was a little bit surprised at how big they are. This little guy, although I don’t know if it was a croc or an alligator, was more her speed. She actually touched him! She had a hard time reaching down into the touchable pools to reach the sea stars and the rays so she didn’t get to feel any of those, but truthfully, I don’t think she minded much.

There were a lot of tanks of gorgeous fish and Sam pointed out all her favorites.

There is a huge kid’s section at the aquarium that was not there when we went last time. We spent a good bit of time there. This really cool tank lets the kids climb underneath and get up close and personal with the fish! Sam and Maddox liked those, for sure!

I’m not reallly sure why there were music making gizmos at an aquarium, but hey, whatever. I’m all for Sam making music!

Sam loved the jellyfish! I mean, they are kind of cool in an icky kind of way, but she loved them. She actually asked me to buy her a stuffed jellyfish in the gift shop! Yeah, she came home with it. Pink. Don’t see too many pink jellyfish on the beach…

We stopped for a photo with a hippo (who was much more fun than the lazy real ones who appeared to be asleep).

One of Sam’s all time favorite things were the sea horses. I have to admit, they are one of my favorites too. Who can resist them? They are so darn cute. In fact, when we were done our tour, we stopped to eat and before we left, Sam insisted we go back and see the sea horses one last time.

I am glad we went. Sam and Maddox seemed to have fun together and it was a much better experience than we had there last time. As soon as it warms up a bit, I want our next stop to be the zoo!

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pamelamyers | January 25, 2015

Over the last few days, Sam got something she has been wishing for – snow! Not a lot, but enough to make her heart sing. Mark took her out after dinner the first night, even though we had so little time before she had to go to bed. Sam wanted to play so badly he had a hard time telling her no. Mark is a sport, I will tell you. I like to indulge her, but (a) playing in the snow is not super fun for me and (b) that late at night, I’d have to tell her, sorry, but no.

I grabbed the camera hoping to just take a picture or two and Sam saw me. In a pose that I seem to get a picture of every year, Sam is ever ready to pelt me with a snowball.

She was the happiest girl in town! Outside! In the dark! In the snow!

Mark seemed a bit frozen, but he played with her all the same and let her hang out as long as was possible.

There may not have been much snow on the ground (I can see the grass for goodness sake!) but Sam managed to put together a snowman. He looks a bit duck-like, if you ask me.

Our next snow a few days later was a bit more promising. The snow was wetter and great for making snowmen. Sam wanted to make a whole family.

Here we are! Daddy, Sam and Mommy. Mark was originally the larger one, but Sam changed her mind because the biggest one has a heart in its hair and boys don’t wear heart barrettes! Silly!

I know Sam is waiting for the big blizzard that we never got last year, and as much as I hate snow, I kind of hope she gets it. I just hope if it comes, the temperatures warm up quickly after so that it melts right away!

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pamelamyers | January 22, 2015

We are trying again to get Sam to sleep in her own bed. I have mentioned a bunch of times before that she winds up in our bed every single night at some point. She has gotten just too big for all three of us (four if you count Zephyr) to fit in one queen sized bed. So, we are trying again. This time, the prize to be had is the Elsa Bear from Build-a-Bear Workshop. Sam wants this bear in the worst way. She does respond well to charts so that is the method I am using. She potty trained using a chart, and managed to stay in her own bed for a very long stretch the first time, this past summer, using a chart, so I am hopeful. I don’t honestly know what happened to screw it all up. I think the combination of sleeping with us on vacation and an illness that made her cuddle-hungry is the culprit. At any rate, here we go again. Wish us luck.  I made her a chart with a block for every day for the next 3 weeks or so, and each night she stays in her own bed, she gets a smiley face. Each night she ends up in our bed too early, a sad face. The goal is not 100% smiles, but the majority. I am not kidding myself that she will do perfectly. On this chart, I added a picture of the Elsa bear that I printed from the Build-a-Bear website as an added incentive. I keep telling her, “Eyes on the Prize!” She cracks me up, when I say that, she goes over to the chart on the refrigerator and stares at it intensely. I did explain that it is just an expression meaning to not forget your ultimate goal, but she still stares at it and says, “I’ve got my eye on the prize, mom!”

I will admit,  the whole process is a bit of a difficult thing for me. I desperately want her in her own bed so I can be comfortable and get some sleep, but at the same time, I love cuddling with her as much as she loves cuddling with me. I love staying with her as she nods off to sleep in her own bed, listening to all the things she shares with me about school, her friends, her thoughts, that she never shares at any other time. I love the smile on her face when I finally let her in our bed and she feels so safe and snug and cuddles up next to me, warm, and sweet smelling. I will miss all those things when she is too old to want to snuggle anymore and I will regret the time I tried to kick her out. But for the sake of my own health and happiness, I need space to sleep. I do let her come in bed with us at 5:00 a.m. figuring by then I have gotten a lot of rest and I can enjoy the snuggle for a few hours. Hopefully, it will be enough. Enough for Sam and enough for me.

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pamelamyers | January 16, 2015

Sam’s friend from school Ava came over today after school for a playdate. While her mom and I were chatting, Sam and Ava suddenly decided to show us a game they were playing at school. It was hard to figure out what they were talking about, but we got the gist that they were learning some words. Later that night, Sam said to me, “I can’t believe I know two sight words!” They learned “and” and “the” at school. Sight words are not something I recall when I was in school, but I know it’s a big thing now in teaching. In kindergarten they get huge lists of them. Well, at any rate, I am glad Sam is showing an interest in learning words – I can’t wait for her to learn to read! Reading is such a joy for me, I just need it to be a joy for her too. Hopefully, it will come easy for her and she will soon be reading some basic books to me at night. She does like to “read” to me – she chooses books we read a lot and that she knows well and basically repeats the story to me. Sometimes, she can do a page almost word for word. She is very proud that she can “read” to me. Every once in a while I try to get her sound out words to me and I tell her if she doesn’t try, she won’t learn to read and she insists to me she can read. How to explain to her that, actually, no, she can’t, without bursting her proud bubble is a mystery to me.

She is trying though, and learning more and more each day. Our parent-teacher conference is coming up soon so I guess we’ll find out from her teacher, Mrs. Dunbar, how well she seems to understand the process. We should have the opportunity to discuss kindergarten readiness too – yikes!

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pamelamyers | January 15, 2015

The days following Christmas every year are always fun. Mark and I aren’t working, all the stress of getting the holidays together is past and we can just have a good time together. Sam usually has every toy she got open in two days and this year was really no exception. Here she is playing with some of her toys.

Sam has couldn’t wait to get some water in her Barbie pool. Unfortunately, Zephyr was pretty happy to use the pool as a bowl! Sam wasn’t too happy about it, but we finally convinced her that Zephyr having a small drink was not going to deplete the pool and the Barbies would have plenty of water to swim in!

A few days after Christmas I let Sam color her pony. She did a great job! You are supposed to color it and then wash the color out and color it again but I think Sam will wind up leaving it alone after the first coloring. That’s ok with me.

One of the presents Mark and I bought Sam last minute was this magnetic dartboard. We saw it at the mall and Sam played with the display model for a really long time. We thought it would be fun for the whole family. Mark and Sam tried it out upstairs before we found a place to hang it on the wall.

Sam loves her new doll and the hairstyling set she got for Christmas. She couldn’t wait to fix up her doll, who she named Samantha, with a new ‘do. The hairdryer actually blows air! So cute. She is wearing her new Elsa costume. That has been a favorite, for sure.

Rich bought Sam this throwback Atari game. We thought we’d probably have more fun than Sam with reveling in our nostalgia for games of the past. Sam wasn’t quite sure about the joystick at first, but she quickly got the hang of using the stick and the button to fire. She got really good at Space Invaders! She also played volleyball with Mark and totally kicked his butt! No, he didn’t let her win. I think one of their first games was something like 14 to 2. Go Sam!

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