Email Memorybank - Sam at 16 months

Cleaning out the 1448 messages in my Yahoo Sent Mail recently, I came across a bunch of notes I wrote to an out-of-town friend during Sam's baby- and toddlerhood. It was a lot of fun reading through them, and I quickly realized that the stories need to be transferred to I Have a Word for You. So I'll do that over the next few weeks. Here's an excerpt from a Summer of 2004 letter.

Sam's been tons of fun and is transforming before our very eyes—the language leaps and bounds being the most obvious brain-boggler. He's still relying on a whole lot of babble to make convo (with the most unfortunate phrase coming out as "my bitch, BITCH!"... can't figure out for the life of us what he's trying to say) and sometimes he just walks around saying "judge, judge, judge"... But he can ask for "apple juice" and "COOKIES!" (by which he means all food. Potatoes are cookies) and tell me when he has "poopy bum" or wants to "go outside" or have "more books" (that one sounds like 'MO boot'). It's really quite amazing to be talking to our boy. And with that, it seems, comes a whole new level of imaginative play. For part of the day, he turns every object in the house from hairbrushes to spatulas into "carrrrs" and "trutches", and then suddenly all his stuffed animals are "shhhh! BAY-beeeess" and he's kissing them and tucking them into makeshift beds. It's a nice mix. Playgroup helps with that, I'm sure, since—at this age at least—all of the toy stations hold a certain appeal. I've been force-fed many plates of plastic food this summer.

So the days have been pretty much what I expected. A nice routine divided between the groups, the parks and errands. Weekends divide between special outings with Daddy, or just lazing about :) The pools were a bust—he's TOTALLY freaked out by the water. And, really, it was a victory getting him back in the bath after the Hand, Foot and Mouth troubles and then a bathroom ceiling collapse and repair that left a horrifying gaping hole over the tub that I kept trying to tape receiving blankets over. Plenty of sponge baths in the bedroom for a while there. Enjoyed several weekend trips to the cottages, which is always lots of fun. Shame it's for sale: Mom and Dad are prepping for a BC retirement in 18 months.

Have had Carter 2ce a week for most of the summer. Some days are crazy fun, though they tend to run in opposite directions in the park, giggling with glee. However, Carter (God love him) is a real Bam-Bam and went through hair-pulling and biting stages that not only pained Sam physically but wounded him to the very core of his sensitive heart. He sometimes burst into tears when Carter made EYE contact, sensing mischevious intent! And when Sam decided to stand up to his bruiser of a cousin, it was in necessarily underhanded ways—the running knockdown from behind, the finger poke in the eye. There was much smash-and-grab and shriek-and-cry on our bad days, and we wondered if this is indeed what it means to love one another "like brothers!" On the good days, they're all smiles and kisses and sharing and fun. No matter what, Sam's face lights up every morning when he spies "Cargo" pulling up out front for drop-off, and he races to meet him in the hallway.

Trace and I usually meet Saturday mornings and grab a Second Cup to go, sitting between the boys in some sandhill or another while we catch up. Should be getting that call shortly. In the meantime, Sam's talking to his shadow (he calls himself "Mam"). I think he could use some human interaction ....