Au revoir jusqu'au camp

Since the last post was Sam's first day of french class, I thought it appropriate to make this next post on the last day of french class. Obviously, Mommy has been quite busy this year. Here is a picture of Sam today after he came home from school. Sam has had a blast in french school this year and can understand almost everything his teachers say to him in french. He mostly responds in English, but he does say a few words (merci, s'il te plait, je suis la, grenouille, plus he can count up to 15). He has become quite the independent young man with his teacher saying to me yesterday, "This one is going on 18!" Sam will attend camp this summer going to french camp and swimming camp. Both should be a lot of fun. Next September, he will attend Poly Prep Country Day Nursery School and Language and Laughter Studio French School also. Stayed tuned this summer for updates on his activities. And we leave you today with a video of Sam's most recent artistic and musical creations.

French Class

Sam started his new mini preschool french class this morning. This is a big deal for Sam and our family. There are 10 kids in his class and the entire class est en francais. Vive la France! We talked about it all morning. We packed his bag with extra clothes, pictures of his family, an art smock for art projects, and a big boy pull ups! Hopefully this experience will help along the potty training.

Lately, Sam has taken on a keen interest, or shall I call it an obsession, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He loves to watch them playing a concert on tv. Sam plays and sings along with his own guitar and makeshift microphone. At the beginning of a song, he will dutifully count down to start, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, just like Tom. When Tom makes a gesture with his arms and hands, Sam is right there with him. Sam even told me that he needs a black guitar like Tom's. You see Tom has multiple guitars that he uses throughout his concert and Sam wants to switch his out too. We agreed that we would pretend his red guitar is black.

I continue to be so impressed, amazed, inspired, and full of love as I watch Sam grow and develop. He talks more and better every day. Nina at daycare feels that Sam is really ready for the preschool he is starting today. I am glad for that because we are in the process of filling out preschool applications for a 3's program for next year. It is so hard to believe that it is just a short year away for real preschool.

This past Tuesday, Sam tried out a tumbling class at a gym on Atlantic Ave. He really liked it. He walked across the balance beam, jumped on a spring board, hung on a bar, did a forward roll and ran around. He also played on the parallel bars by holding one bar with both hands while he balanced his feet on the other bar. He was able to walk his hands and feet all the way down the bars by himself. He is really strong and a quick learner.

Love him, pray for him, and wish him luck as he meets new friends, speaks french and continues to love life!

A busy day

Sam started early today, around 6:45. After having breakfast outside with Mommy and the flowers, he went to the park with Daddy. We were then asked to join William and his parents at Prospect Park to visit the zoo and have a picnic lunch. After a very long walk to and from the park, we headed to Brooklyn Heights for Santiago's birthday party. Sam had a lot of fun playing with Santiago's toys with his friends from school and he was happy to sing his favorite song, "Happy Birthday"!

Catching up

Well, it has been a month since we have had an update to the blog and Sam has sure been busy in that time.

He has moved to a big boy bed having the front crib rail removed. He has only fallen out of the bed three times so far and I think he has figured out how to stay more still in his sleep. This may contribute to his inability to stay still for even 2 seconds when he is awake, or maybe that is just part of being 2 years old! At any rate, whether he is in the pool, at the park, at the bookstore, or strapped into his chair at the dinner table, he is in motion.

Sam now sports a new scooter, which he has nearly perfected after only a couple of weeks. I liked it much better when he just stood on it and wondered why it wasn't moving. Now, he speeds mightly down the sidewalk with no fear whatsoever while I am on pins and needles hoping he doesn't crash, fall, or both. He loves that thing. He is so fast now that we may need to limit the scooter to in park use only. Sam still absolutely loves balloons. We now have a balloon pump in our home which is used several hundred times a day. It is a little hard for Sam to use by himself, but it is just a matter of time. He also loves band aids. He got a new band aid tonight after a small fall on the scooter.

We went to Myrtle Beach for the fourth of July with some friends. Sam had a blast on the beach and in the pool. He played minature golf, visited the aquarium, and rode the rides at Broadway at the Beach. He also got to spend a day with Papa Sam and Grandma Sugar where he had a fantastic time. He often tells us that he wants to go to go ride the airplane and go to Papa's house in Papa's car.

He is continuing to learn french with Vivianne and he is now great when I drop him off at New Playground on days when we all have to work. Sam loves music. He enjoyed playing the banjo at Papa Sam's house. When we came home, we went to a concert at the park and he made a paper banjo. Sam loves walking around playing his banjo and makes a great sound to improvise the music. He is a very happy little boy and a real joy to all around him.

Sam is growing taller. He can open most of the doors in our house by himself, including his bedroom door. When he is in time out, he tries to escapes sometimes before his 2 minutes are up.

He is precious and we love him very much!

Bon jour!

Sam had a busy day today which started out with our new french babysitter. Her name is Viviane and she is great. She was with us from 8:30 to noon and we spoke in french the entire time. Sam said "merci" and he repeated a few words she was trying to teach him which were the names of fruits in french, it was very sweet.

She took Sam to the park while Mommy ran a few errands, then we all went to the supermarket together to buy some groceries. While at home, we played and sang songs.

After Sam's 3 hour power nap (making up for the missed nap yesterday when he sang songs for an hour and a half in his bed at day care), we went with Sofia and Laura to the park. Sam and Sofia are so incredibly cute together. Sofia took Sam for his very first tire swing ride and he loved it. They also shared a tricycle together. Cute, cute, cute.

Happy Father's Day

Sam has been settling back into his routine this past week as he returned from vacation in North Carolina. He returned to day care on Wednesday and Thursday and played with Mommy on Tuesday and Friday. He was really excited for the weekend when he had both Daddy and Mommy to play with. He has spent a lot of time riding the bicycle (which he now pronounces flawlessly), playing in the park (which he loves especially the swings and slides) and he got to play with Sofia a little this weekend.

Mommy found a new babysitter whose mother language is French. She is going to start spending time with us next week and will come every Tuesday morning. We are excited about improving both Sam's and Mommy's language skills!

Today was Father's Day and we had a nice family day. Sam started the day early, around 6:15 and he gave Daddy a card that he made. We all had breakfast together and went to church. After church, we had brunch at Miriam's. We were dining outside on their patio when the rain started falling so we had to move inside to finish up. After Sam's nap we all played more and listened to one of Sam's favorite songs from dance class, the running song. Sam ran his heart out. We all had dinner together and then Mommy and Sam played on the roof with a big, blue ball and Sam's new harmonica. Sam was ready for bed when the time came. It was a very nice Father's Day!

North Carolina

Sam is wrapping up a ten day excursion to North Carolina where he traveled between Greensboro and Chapel Hill to visit his Grandparents, Great Granny, Great Grandma, Aunt Jess, his cousins and other relatives. He had two more birthday parties along the way and racked up lots of baloons from Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods, one of his favorite past times.

Sam had his first gator ride and threw rocks in the creek at Grandpa Delbert's house. He saw lots of cows and fed the goats at Papa Sam's and Grandma Sugar's.

He played at the playground on the swings and the merry go round with Grandma Leah at the park in Kernersville.

He played bridges and tunnels with Raegan and Parker and practiced ballet and dance with Raegan at Granny's house.

Of all the fun he has had, his most favorite activity is playing in Papa's car. He could probably sit in there all day.

We look forward to our next trip to NC.