Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | June 19, 2016

Happy Father’s Day to the best dad a girl could ask for! Sam was so super excited about Father’s Day. For a while, she was panicked because she didn’t think she had a present for him that was sufficient (I guess the stuff I bought wasn’t enough) but then, thankfully, they made presents at school and she went crafting at Grandma’s house. Here is some of the art she made her Daddy. As you can see, Sam is still in her nightgown…we started early…

Smoochies for her best guy! She still talks about marrying daddy whenever we pass her “wedding spot” (a park with a gazebo near our house).

Here is part of the gift she made him at school. It is a “Master Dad” card for him to keep in his wallet to look at whenever he needs to see her little face. His card said, “You are the best dad ever!” and she spelled everything right!

Sam knows her dad loves his bubble gum, so we got him a whole entire box of bubble tape!

It was a beautiful, hot day and so we decided to go to the pool (for the first time this summer). Besides, it gave us an excuse to use one of Mark’s other gifts – a Go Pro camera! We couldn’t wait to take some underwater videos. Sam was just happy to get back to the pool this summer, no matter what we are doing. Here are her cool new shades.

Yay! Swim! Sam still is not swimming without her swim ring, but her swim lessons start again soon so here’s hoping she is by the middle of the summer.

Here are our Go Pro shots!

Sam likes when Mark goes under water and holds up fingers and she puts her face in (only with goggles!) and tells him how many fingers he is holding up. She is getting there.

Family selfie!

When we got home, we got ourselves all cleaned up for dinner. My mom was joining us and we needed to look presentable! Sam’s Pop Pop is still on his big trip to Alaska, and we all missed him.

Picture time! Mark needed some pictures with his kiddos. Sam had to get the sillys out first.

Once the goofiness was over, it was time for some nice pictures. I love her cute little toothless smile.

Again with the smooching! I’d better look out. I’m gonna lose my man to a gorgeous redhead!

The kittens were not too sure about the picture taking, but they cooperated just long enough.

More Daddy-Daughter smiles. 🙂

Last but not least, cake! Sam’s favorite part. Happy Father’s Day, Mark. You work hard to support our family, and do it without complaint. You always have a smile for your little girl, and you make her feel loved, and special, and smart, and capable, and worthy of wonderful things. I couldn’t ask for a better dad for my amazing girl. I hope your day was as special as we all think you are. We love you!

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pamelamyers | June 18, 2016

One of the things I have been noticing most about Sam and how grown up she is getting is the way she talks now. She says things that are so adult sounding. Not inappropriate, just…adult. Mark and I never really talked to her using “baby talk” so maybe that is why. I have always used words and phrases that were normal for me, and probably above her understanding, but I figured she would eventually learn the meaning. She asks when she doesn’t know a word or a turn of phrase, and I think that’s great. It gives her a good vocabulary.

Here’s one example. Mark, Sam and I went to Ardmore to do some pre-Father’s Day shopping and were looking for somewhere to eat. Well, that is a trial since Sam is so picky. Mark went into a restaurant to look at the menu to see if there was anything Sam would eat on it. Sam and I waited outside and I told Sam to sit for a minute at one of the outside tables. The tables and chairs were nothing special but they were colorfully painted and I commented on them and asked Sam if they were ok to sit on. She thought about it for a minute and then said, “Well, it’s not the comfiest thing I ever sat in….” Such an odd statement for a little girl! At least in my view. I would think she would just say it was hard, or it’s not very soft or something. Her slightly sarcastic tone was totally me, that’s for sure. Is that a good thing? Hmmm…that’s up for debate.

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pamelamyers | June 17, 2016

It only took, hmmm…at least 3 years I think, but we finally took Sam to the zoo! I have been wanting to take her for ages but it never seemed to work out. My poor kid. She is probably the only almost 7 year old who had never been to the zoo. I was determined to take her before it got too hot this summer and we picked the day after she finished school thinking that a Friday would be less crowded, especially as so many kids are still in school. Sam has really been asking when we were going. She wanted to see real, live animals. I was excited for her to see them since I don’t think she really grasped how big they are. We didn’t even tell her we were going until she woke up that morning. What a treat for her!

A few weeks ago when I was on the zoo website, I was looking at the map and a list of all the attractions. Sam wanted me to tell her what some of them were and she told me she wanted to do absolutely everything. Boy, did she mean it. We saw a few exhibits and soon came to the camel rides. Sam was ready as could be to ride. I was surprised, truthfully. They are pretty big animals and I thought she’d be scared, but nope, on she went. Her camel’s name was Giorgio!

We stumbled onto the flamingos and Sam was thrilled. She loves those silly birds, even though she has never seen one in person before. Here she is doing her flamingo pose.

What seems like 5 minutes later, we came upon a face painter. Sam insisted she get painted, and she really wanted a snake. Ok, whatever floats your boat. It’s not like we are going to be visiting the zoo every other day, so we let her do pretty much whatever she wanted.

Ok, from all the pictures it seems like we didn’t see many animals, but we did! But pictures of Sam having fun are more interesting to me than random animals.  Rest assured, we saw the lions, tigers, bears, apes, more mammals and reptiles than I can count, penguins, you name it! She saw them all, believe me. We didn’t miss a thing.

The one thing Sam wanted to do that I wouldn’t let her do is ride this tiny little train that was really meant for tiny little kids. It seemed so pointless. She was unhappy about that, but thankfully, we found the swan boats pretty quickly. Mark said he’d go with her and they had a great time. I am glad he went — you have to pedal with your feet to make it go and also steer and with my coordination, we’d wind up doing nothing but going in circles! Sam loved the boats! She was so proud that Daddy let her steer. Poor Mark. I think he did all the pedaling himself. Her little legs wouldn’t reach that far!

We went into the Lorikeet Encounter where you can feed the lorikeets! Sam liked that. You get a tiny cup of nectar and they come right up and drink it from the cup. It takes all of 2 seconds and it’s gone, so it’s not much of a thrill, but Sam loved it.

After feeding them, you can stay inside for a short while to just view the birds and this one bird really seemed to like Sam. It came right up to see her while she was talking to it.

Our last stop before leaving was a ride on the zoo balloon. That wasn’t there the last time I visited the zoo, so we all went up together. Sam liked the view from 400 feet above the ground.

It’s funny. I haven’t been to the zoo since I was young, and it seems so much smaller than I remember. I guess my legs can just handle the walk a bit better now. Thankfully, Sam didn’t complain too much. She was just so happy to finally be seeing the animals. I am glad I got to take her. It is something I loved doing as a child and I wanted to share it with her. Mark isn’t a big zoo lover (he doesn’t like seeing the animals so constrained) so I doubt we will visit much, but every child deserves the chance to see the animals up close at least once. It was worth every second we spent there, every dollar I spent (and it was not an inexpensive day!) For Sam’s smiles, it was totally worth it.

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pamelamyers | June 16, 2016

Well, the day has finally come. My baby is no longer a kindergartener. It is hard to believe. Next year, she will be in full time school as a big first grader. I left work early so that I could pick her up. How could I miss the last pick up? Never! I was talking to Ella’s mom, Lori, while waiting for them to come out. We were both teary thinking about the moment. I was thinking, next year Sam will take the bus! This is the last pick up I have to do! How can that be? We were anxious to see our kiddos and finally they came out. Miss Cipolloni gave each of them a hug before they left. I bet it’s hard for the teachers to say goodbye (at least to most of the kids!)

The Springfield Cougar sign was outside wishing them well. I simply cannot believe how much Sam has changed this year. I didn’t realize it until I went looking for the first day of school photo by the same sign. My baby! Not only is she taller, but she just looks, well…older. Not so much like a baby anymore. Waaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Sam and a few of her friends, Ella and Giovanna, posed together for one last time.

After I stopped crying like a lunatic (Sam was totally fine, although she told me she’d miss her friends and her teachers) we went home. Mark had told her she could pick dinner. She wanted rigatoni from Bertucci’s, french fries from Sciarrino’s (our local pizza joint) and ice cream at Vera’s. We did dinner as take out, obviously, and even though it was a lot of running around, Mark did say she was in charge of dinner! The ice cream was a welcome treat after an eventful day.

I am so proud of Sam and how far she has come. She is so confident now, so much more mature. In a lot of ways, she is much more independent, but thankfully, sometimes she still is my baby. It is hard, this age…wanting her to grow up so that our lives are easier, but still wanting her to stay small and need us. I guess we can’t pick and choose though. She has to grow up and we want her to, of course. Mark and I are so lucky. We waited so long for our little miracle and she is just amazing. Samantha, I know someday when you are old enough you will read this whole blog. I hope that you know that those tears your crazy Mommy shed on this day were yes, tears of sadness, but for me, not you. I am sad you are growing up so fast. I want you to stay small and need me forever. But I am also so very proud of the little girl you have grown into. I love you so very, very much.

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pamelamyers | June 15, 2016

Finally, yesterday was the Spring Sing! It had been postponed from May 20 due to a serious electrical problem at the middle school next door where all the kindergarten and first grade assemblies are held. Sam was so sad the original day of the concert. She had been talking about it for weeks, about the special song they prepared for the outgoing principal, Ms. Yohn, and we had been hearing her practicing singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while she plays by herself. Mark actually came home early from a work trip to make sure he was there. Oh well. Best laid plans…

The concert day finally arrived and Sam couldn’t have been more excited. We were too. I love seeing her sing. Once again, she was right in the front row, so we got lucky. Great photo ops!

Her friend, Ella was right next to her and so they were chatting. Not too much though, thankfully!

Once again, they used their bells to perform a song. It is really amazing to me that the kids learn how to do this so well. They all ring exactly where they need to. It is truly lovely.

Sam was much more into doing the hand motions this time than at the Holiday Showcase. I guess in those six months she has really matured. She seemed so much less nervous this time.

The song they did for the principal was adorable. They altered the words to “My Girl” and turned them into Miss Yohn. I took a very long video of the whole thing that I wish I could share. Oh my. The moves they all did, the turning in unison from side to side, the shuffles, the arm and leg moves, it was just too much. One of the cutest things I have ever seen.

Sam and Ella 🙂

It was really a wonderful concert. She did sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I truly teared up. It was so beautiful seeing her up there singing her little heart out. And such a lovely song. Those kids are at such a perfect age. We were so proud of her. Mark bought her a bouquet of roses for her hard work.

The kids went back to class after the concert and I assumed they’d watch a movie or something, but Sam told me they had a dance party. One of the girls even started a conga line, which Sam thought was hysterical. They did the limbo and basically danced around like maniacs until it was dismissal time. Ah, kindergarten, it’s tough. 🙂

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