Lazy

What I've been doing instead of blogging. But stay tuned! More swim lessons and soccer season are coming up, so we will have to get off the couch.

New Year's Resolutions by Sam Warrington

1. Question everything. Ask "why?" even while Mommy is explaining something. When she finishes explaining, ask "why" again. Repeat until she walks away.
2. Question authority. Say, "No I not," when confronted with perceived wrong. Refuse to wear listening ears. Continue to do what I'm not supposed to be doing while being told to stop doing it. Repeat until authority figure walks away or I am forcibly removed from situation. Then sound reasonable when trying to explain to said authority figure that I "just wanted to do it one more time," while crying.
3. Help Mommy and Daddy confront their snacking addiction by smelling on their breath whatever treat they're sneaking and questioning them about it -- loudly and repeatedly -- until given a bite to keep me quiet.
4. Continue my campaign to ignore the numbers 14-16 while counting and the letters t-x while singing the alphabet song or practicing letters. They are unnecessary. Also, Q. Ridiculous. 
5. Stop napping on the weekends. Takes time away from playing with Mom and Dad and also leads to a late-day parental breakdown and thus a little extra iPad time.
6. Try new foods. In 2012 I expanded my palate by discovering M&Ms and sweet tea. What's next?

A Very Grinch-y Christmas?

Thanks to my friend Courtney, and her holiday sampler CD from years past, Sam has discovered a new favorite Christmas song, "I hate Christmas," by Oscar the Grouch. Yes, in one simple song, Sam has learned the concept of hatred and how it applies to Christmas. Thanks, Courtney! Here's a clip of him dancing to his new fave. Oh, and my apologies for the sideways camera work. Lesson learned on that one.


In other festive holiday happenings, Sam had his preschool Christmas party yesterday at 3 p.m. I eagerly anticipated the sight of watching precious 3 year olds sing my holiday favorites. Um, no. Apparently his teacher thought throwing a "Hunger Games"-style competition reflected the true spirit of the holidays. No carols, no live nativity. I give you: musical chairs with Sam.
In case you can't sit through the whole 2+ minutes, I'll go ahead and tell you that Sam doesn't make it past the third round and pretty much spends the rest of the party in shameful tears. Merry Christmas!

This is what happens when you hire a professional.

There are two things Bruce despises above all else: spending money and having his picture made. Imagine his reaction when he learned that we were going to do a lot of both in one day! He handled it very well actually, particularly once I promised that this was the last time we would ever have our photos made by a professional photographer. Ever. As you can see, Sam pretty much loves having his photo made (the jury is out on whether or not he likes to spend money).






Colter clearly thought we were stealing his soul.


Colter pulled it together for this shot, but if you look closely, you can see that Bruce and I are both holding him in a rather tight grip. This one made the Christmas card cut.


See this grin? He was cracking up because he made the photographer laugh out loud when he responded to her request for him to sit on the dragon with this gem, "No, it hurts my penis!" Am I rethinking teaching him the anatomically correct word for *down there*? No. Well, maybe. I'm not sure.


This one makes me laugh. So dramatic. He did a series of such poses on this rock. Any passersby had to wonder what was up.


Group hug! (Actually, we were freezing and just trying to get warm.)



Note to self: No running during a photo shoot! Just not flattering. But I love that Sam has both feet in the air. He loves a good foot race, but he always insists on winning.


This one made the Christmas card too. When you spend a lot of money on a photographer, it then leads to spending a lot of money on Christmas cards. Nobody tell Bruce.


This was Sam in response to the photographer asking him to "look angry."
"Vewy Scawwy," to quote Sam.


Another shot of Sam running. Actually, he did this the majority of the time. I'm sure this was a new experience for the photographer.


And...still running.


Yep. Running. You get the picture.


Not sure what was happening here. He had called our attention to something in the sky. A dragon?


This was a runner-up for the Christmas card.

Bad Christmas Karma?

It's not yet December, but Sam is already in the Christmas spirit. Here are a couple of shots of him sharing the joy around town.


Here he is leaving Santa hanging in mid-high-five. Not cool, Sam.


And here he is riding a reindeer. Hard.

At this point we are only expecting coal in the stocking. We will keep you posted.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

It's always wonderful to see Bruce's extended family at Thanksgiving, but this year they stepped it up a bit. Everyone got together at the beach. And you know that Thanksgiving plus beach equals bestThanksgivingever. On the plus side, everyone stayed in the same house together. On the down side, everyone stayed in the same house together. Actually there was no real downside to it, except that Sam had near constant access to his cousins, for whom he is madly, deeply, crazy in love. I fear he may have harrassed them overly, particularly Daniel, the sixth-grader, whom Sam holds in the highest esteem. Sam would cry himself to sleep at night to the refrain of "I want to play with Daniellllll!!!!!" And then, in the fog of near sleep, "I want to play with Donna!!!!" (But we knew he meant Daniel. Donna is the nice lady who cuts his hair.)

The lesson I learned about Thanksgiving is that I need to take a book or a project or something, because my son left me utterly alone for the entirety of the visit. I was a little lonely.

Here are some highlights.


One of our many unplanned stops along the way to the Outer Banks. Turns out Sam only needs to take a bathroom break AFTER we have passed civilization.


Sam and cousin Alexis.


Sam and Alexis plotting something.


A game of strategy with uncles and cousins on Thanksgiving morning.

And some beach shots. It was blustery!
 






Great shot with Dad and Grandma!


You can actually see him trying to pull away to go find Daniel.


And this is a terrible shot due to the backlighting, but you can see the youngest of the cousins together here with their Grandma, who is holding the newest edition, sweet James Patrick. Here's hoping that in a couple of years Sam and JP will have just as much fun together at the holidays as Sam has with his older cousins now. And speaking of older cousins, that's Daniel on the far left, holding Sam on his lap. Seriously, that kid is great. He earned himself quite the Christmas present. And do you see Sam's expression? That's pretty much the way he was the whole trip. Like almost hysterical.

On the way home, we stopped at the Aquarium to help Sam get his mind off the fact that he was leaving his cousins behind.







 Phew. The End. (And Sam took some serious naps after we got home.)

Pumpkin Patch Express

Due to the potential of inclement weather in N.C. the weekend before Halloween (Hello, Sandy), our excursion to The Museum of Life and Science for their Pumpkin Patch Express was postponed until last weekend. I was disappointed, but it was all the same to Sam.


Waiting for the train.



The train pulls into the station!


Quick photo op with Mom.


And Dad.


The family unit.


Yep, Sam covering his ears.


Got his face painted!!


Trying to participate in something called "Punkin' Chunkin."



Portrait time, interrupted.



Celebrating the new Alpaca exhibit (they were so awesome).

Finally, if you'll indulge me, a then and now moment.

Last year's Lucky No. 7:


And this year's Lucky No. 7: