Fashion plate

Here, Bruce tries to wrangle Sam into a sensible long-sleeved shirt, to wear over the outfit he picked out for himself. Pants: pajama bottoms, sized 18 months. Shirt: his new Belties short-sleeved t-shirt (sheep! Sam calls the cow on the front), sized 3T. Neither shirt nor pants are appropriate for a 50 degree day, especially considering Sam has stopped wearing a jacket. The funniest part I didn't get on film: as Sam was getting out of the car at daycare, he spotted his fisherman's hat on the floorboard of the car, and insisted on wearing that in to school, as well.

We're hoping the latitude we are giving him now means he won't feel the need to rebel as a teenager and pierce something.

Dining with Sam

Sam has all but stopped eating dinner. We assume he's eating a good lunch at school, but we actually do need to confirm that. He eats a solid breakfast. But dinner? That's another story. Ever since he stopped eating purees, he has been picky, but the older he gets the worse it has gotten. We've gone through a particularly frustrating period the past two weeks. He isn't even eating his favorite foods anymore. No pizza, no french fries.

"All done dinner!" "Me no like it!" "No, thank you." (at least he's polite)

What's most interesting is how Bruce and I are handling his table-side shutdown (hint: not well). We've read all the rules (don't force them to eat, don't bribe them to eat, don't keep bringing out foods you think they'll eat, and the obvious: don't try to shove a bite into their mouth) and flouted all the rules. Read, repeat. We alternate roles of being the calm parent and being the crazy, food-shoving-down-the-gullet parent. When I'm not the crazy gullet-shoving parent, I marvel at the kind of primal reaction we have to our child not eating. MUST FEED CHILD! CHILD WILL STARVE! YELL AT SPOUSE ABOUT HOW THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG!

You are "supposed" to put out a selection of foods you would like them to eat along with one thing you know they will eat and leave it at that. Sometimes he doesn't even eat the one safety food I put out. Tonight for dinner, I think I will just throw in the towel and feed him the last of the remaining foods I know he will always eat. I could really use a break.

On tonight's menu:

• Yogurt
• Berries
• Apple
• Goldfish crackers

Would you like to join us at Chez Warreid?

Oreo Cows

I read about a cool toddler-centric playground in Pittsboro, so we decided to check it out Sunday. It did not disappoint.







Since we were so close, we decided it was time to introduce Sam to the famous Belted Galloways of Fearrington Village. Much to Bruce's chagrin, the boy even scored a Belties t-shirt.


Cool windmill.


Hello, ladies.


Sam shares my enthusiasm for these cows. Not pictured: this particular cow excused itself seconds after this shot was taken. That's what cows do. Nature!


Hey, cowboy.


I like this shot because it makes me appear tall and imposing.

The Wheels on the Bus

We promised Sam a bus ride Saturday morning. But as we lounged around while Bruce checked out the bus schedule, we realized that we had 25 minutes to make it to the bus stop or there would be no bus ride before naptime. Considering the bus stop was about a 10 minute drive away, and we were all still sitting around in our pjs, it was a tall order. We rushedrushedrushed and made it out the door in record time!

And I'll tell you, it was pretty deflating to see that bus pull away from the bus stop as we drove up behind it.

But all was not lost. Thanks to Bruce and his fancy thinking (and my fast driving), we zipped past the bus and were able to beat it to its next stop. Whew!


Here we are, casually acting like we had been waiting at the bus stop for minutes.


The bus ascends the great hill on Franklin St.


Yes, Mr. Busdriver, that was my station wagon that drag-raced you up the hill.


Exciting!


Look, Dad, Julian's is having a sale. Now's the time to buy that bowtie you've been eyeing.


Is this my stop?


After a toddler and hippy-filled breakfast at Weaver St., we waited at the bus stop for our return trip.

And it was free! I'm thinking next time we'll just load him up and let him ride the entire circuit. But it might be a daddy-son excursion. I forgot about my tendency to get bus-sick.

All Aboard!

We braved the elements last Saturday to ride the Amtrak train from Durham to Cary. Round trip. A friend at work gave me this idea. Her other idea? Ride the Chapel Hill bus--totally free. Sometimes having a little boy is so easy. We're probably going to ride the bus this weekend, so stay tuned.


At the Durham train station.


Sam was slightly intimidated by the whole experience at first.


He's looking for cows. I kept telling him not to expect them but he somehow associated this train trip with going to the farm.


The swanky new Cary train station.


Bye-bye, train!


While we were in Cary, we found this charming pharmacy with a lunch counter. Sam thought it was so cool he forgot he's a picky eater and ate a half of a grilled cheese sandwich.


What do you do when the intimidating man behind the counter gives your son a huge serving of ice cream with sprinkles? You say "thank you."


Pretty darn excited.


Heading back to the Bull City.


A view of the state seal etched in the glass behind Sam. I thought these trains were pretty swanky.

Sam's New Years Resolutions 2012

I'm hopeful that next year Sam will be able to articulate his annual goals for himself, but this year, I'm just inferring his New Year's Resolutions from the way he is acting. If his behavior is any indication, it seems clear he has set a few lofty, yet attainable, goals:

1. "Me do'ed it." (That's "I do it," for those of you who don't speak Sam.) Sam is a real DIYer, and it has become clear that he plans to take more charge of his daily routine as we move into 2012. Some new actions he has undertaken: 
1. Serving his own food (thank you, daycare).
2. Climbing in and out of the car/carseat without assistance. Note: he can't really do this properly and yet refuses any help, so we're all just left screaming in the garage.
3. Care, feeding and discipline of Colter. This is another post in and of itself.
4. Opening and closing of all household doors, regardless of whether they actually need to be opened or closed.
5. Flushing all toilets, regardless of whether they actually need to be flushed. 
6. Climbing and descending the stairs solo, which he does while counting in English and Spanish, not necessarily in numerical order.
2. No more"listening ears." I'm not sure what kind of ears Sam is donning these days, but it is not, as his daycare teachers so sweetly refer to them, his "listening ears." So far we are threatening, cajoling, begging (on bad days), and counting to three to get him to mind us, all with limited success.
3. Extortion. Sam gets a sticker to put on his school shoes, an animal cracker if he sits on the potty, a chocolate chip if he successfully uses the potty (it happened once!), a piece of candy (just his Flinstones chewable) if he puts on a bib, TV time if he eats a good dinner (or, hell, any dinner at all). As soon as he learns the value of a dollar, we should really start getting things done around here.

All Aboard: The Wonderland Express exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science

I believe we took Sam to this exhibit three times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A room full of trains, all of which go through terrain dotted with North Carolina tourist attractions! It's very cool.


Trying to steer daddy in the right direction.


Sam's default pose for photos.


Sam fighting with random strangers. Instead of intervening in this little exchange, I chose to document it. Luckily, the little guy's parents were reviewing photos on their camera, so the two were left to hash it out on their own. I am especially amused by the two boys in the background: "Woah, Billy, let's not get involved in this drama."