11:11pm: Cape San Blas

We're here!

It was a relatively stress free departure from Braeburn this morning. Bill and I had everything packed before Sam woke up, then it was time to rouse him for breakfast, get him dressed and we were off.

Wasn't such a smooth departure from Atlanta when we realised we were heading down I-75 towards Macon and had missed the I-85 to Columbus exit. After the last miserable journey to the coast when we had gone that way we had vowed never again. Last year we drove via Macon and Tallahassee, while Nanna and Dandad sneakily took the roads through Alabama. Their journey was significantly shorter in duration and they didn't appear to want to kill each other at the end of it. Bill and I shuddered at the thought of seeing Tallahassee again and so turned right back around to head North until we could get back onto our intended route again.

Sam was an absolute angel the entire drive down to Cape San Blas. He only had a short nap and still kept quite cheerful en route. The number of diggers, combine harvesters and tractors along the way really helped and always got him chattering away happily with a smile on his face as he implored us to look at them too. The best was a train carrying a cargo of diggers...diggers and trains...together...ooooh squeal!

We made it to the coast after around seven hours in the car and Sam got extremely excited to see the sea and sand as we drove along the coastal road from Mexico Beach to Port St Joe. This last stretch was brutal for him as he strained to get out of his car seat and begged us to stop so he and digger could play on the beach. He was really very patient though and we had no tantrums today, just lots of excited bouncing in the back.

Our arrival at the rental got delayed by a detour to Piggly Wiggly for supplies but from then on it was a pleasant drive in familiar surroundings as we continued on to the Cape.

We found the rental with no problems and it's very nice. We miss the wonderful sea view we had from last year's house but I don't think we could have expected much better otherwise. This is going to be a good break.

After a bite to eat at the apartment Sam and I left Daddy to recoup on his own for a bit while we took a stroll. It was getting dark by this point but I had promised Sam we were going to the beach today and so go to the beach we should. Besides, he'd been couped up all day and needed a run around before bedtime.

Sam was overjoyed when I led him up the ramp and over the sand dunes. When the ocean and sand came into view he literally started bouncing and jumping down the pathway. As soon as we hit sand beneath his feet he sat down and started playing. I had to coax him to go any further. Sam also immediately started looking for Nanna and Dandad and Molly, and I had to remind him that they weren't going to be here as they are visiting Uncle Simon and Aunty Melly. Sam then surprised me by saying "Nanna, Dandad, aeroplane" and doing an aeroplane impersonation while running down the beach.

He then decided it was time to go paddling and charged straight into the sea. Thank goodness I had brought his harness. We spent a short but fun time playing in the warm waves and drawing in the wet sand before he decided digger and Daddy ought to be on the beach too and demanded we go back to get them. It was time to go back and so I promised we'd be on the beach with Daddy and digger tomorrow. Sam happily held my hand and trotted back to the house with me to see Daddy, but not before saying "night night beach!"

Oh, and a weird Sam moment back at the apartment. There's a telescope in the lounge and I caught Sam babbling away and fiddling with it. I went to tell him off and extract him but was too stunned when I realised what he was saying..."stars! stars!" Now, how on earth did he know that? Bill didn't know either.

12:24am: Daddy's taking us to the beach tomorrow!

It's holiday time!

Bill's on holiday and we are all packed and ready for a week in Cape San Blas. Even a peek at the scheduled weather forecast of thunderstorms and thunderstorms isn't dampening our spirit, yet. Buckets and spades are primed and ready.

In anticipation of being able to take lots of lovely photos of Bill and Sam at the beach I decided that Sam really ought to get over his current bad hair days.

Yeah, I had a go at cutting his hair the other week and did a miserable job. My usual tactic of treats in front of something entertaining on the telly didn't work and I just managed to butcher his hair when he kept trying to grab the scissors. So, unbeknownest to Bill I decided that Sam ought to visit a proper salon today and hopefully avoid looking like he's had a run in with a lawnmower in our holiday snaps.

I took him over to Salon Red Kids in Decatur. When we got there two stylists were already battling two young children in fits of tears. Sam was intrigued, but too taken with a wooden multistorey car park and accompanying cars to take much notice or be distressed by the hullabaloo. I was really nervous. I was just hoping that when it came to be Sam's turn that the hairdresser wouldn't have as bad of a time as I had. I was terribly worried that Sam would be such a pain that I'd end up paying for a cut that would look just as awful as my home hack job. On an even playing field of course the hairdresser would surely do a much better job than me, but I just wasn't convinced that anyone could cope with a wriggling upset Sam and do a good job!

Sam's turn came and instead of the normal hairdresser's seat he climbed up into a little elevated car. In front of him was a TV screen showing cartoons. None of this really mattered though because as soon as the spray came out and the scissors appeared he started bawling and demanding "Mummy Hugs!"



The hairdresser switched the cartoons to an Elmo show and made a big deal that Elmo was on the telly. I didn't mention that actually programs starring Elmo are off limits in our house and so he wouldn't really get the recognition or reaction small children usually seem to give him. I was hoping that maybe the unfamiliarity might actually work in our favour and get his attention. It didn't.




I tried to console him but then the poor boy tried to climb up into my arms instead. I just had to step back and hope for the best while the stylist furiously snipped away and somehow seemed to be able to remain in control. Sam eventually calmed down a little and seemed to make a begrudging peace with the stylist as she cut, he offered her one of the cars he was zealously clutching.




After his hair cut trauma Sam needed a stiff drink.

I can't say we really got what we asked for in terms of style, but I think that's more to do with Sam's amazingly straight hair than anything else. Any inconsistency is very noticeable with Sam. Her intent was to keep the length, but with layers, more of a tousled surfer boy look. I think I'll need to tidy it up a little bit if I can later, but the finished result was definitely well worth paying for and hopefully our holiday photos will now be happy memories not means of torture for a grown up Sam.

Next moment of anxiety came when I took Sam to meet Bill after work. I wasn't sure what Daddy was going to say. Thankfully he approved. Phew! I was almost tempted to hide these photos, forego the journal entry and pretend I'd done it myself. ;)

01:13am: Grandparents

One week until we head to the beach. In preparation I ordered some clothes from the Old Navy sale and they arrived this morning. Actually, I checked the delivery status to see when to expect my parcel and it told me that it had already been delivered. Concerned, I ran out to the front porch and lo and behold, one parcel addressed to me. Quincy, you are quite useless sometimes.

Anyway, Sam got hold of my parcel and started pulling all the clothes out. Amongst the maternity swim cover ups and shorts he found a little lime green rashguard in his size and excitedly grabbed it. Before I could stop him he yanked off the tag and was trying to put it on. Good job it fit him! He then bounced up and down gabbering "Nam's wimmin shirt! wimming!"

I explained to him that we weren't going swimming today as we were going to go play with Linnea that afternoon. I told him that I'd bought him that shirt to wear on the beach in Florida next week. He then looked really excited and cheered "Dandad! Beach!"

Oh dear.

I had to tell him that there would be no Dandad on the beach and that it was just Daddy, Mummy and Sam going. He replied "No Dandad!" and burst into tears!

He must have been remembering his time in England on the beaches of Devon and Cornwall with Dandad. He is really amazing me lately with just how much he does recall and makes sense of. The other day he marched to the front door wearing his pirate wellies and demanded that we go to the beach to see Dandad.


Dandad and Sam on Wembury Beach, Jan 10th 2008

It really breaks my heart that we can't just go to see my folks.

Dandad came on webcam shortly afterwards and that cheered Sam up a bit as he made scary faces at the Dandad on the computer screen. Sadly we didn't have our camera hooked up so Nanna and Dandad didn't get to see Sam's gurning.

Bizarrely while Dandad is associated with the beach in little Sam's head, it seems that Nanna Downes is apples. It took us a while to work out what he was saying on the phone to my Mum the other day (when he picked up the phone and insisted I call them) but eventually we realised he was nattering on about apples. Why? we wondered. Then we remembered that Nanna had been instrumental in introducing Sam to apple slices in the Ashridge kitchen and teaching him how to say the word. I've now also made the connection that when I give Sam an apple and he seems to be earnestly asking for bananas, "'Nannas," while happily nodding and eating his apple, that really it is Nanna Downes he is thinking about.

His other grandparents aren't forgotten either. After visiting them at the weekend he has been wanting to see them again too. Yesterday when I went to wake him up he cheerily sat up in bed, quickly looked around and asked me where Nanna and Granpa were. "Nanna, Granpa play?"

Another time a little later that day he started to get upset and cry out for his digger. I went and found his Big Digger only to have him push it away with a "NO!" I uncovered Little Digger and offered that to Sam. Again, that got a "NO!" Exhausting all possibilities of diggers in our house, including his favourite digger books, Sam then got really sad and teary. "NO! Nanna and Granpa Digger!" he pouted. Ahhh!

He was wanting the little yellow digger he had been playing with all weekend at Nanna and Granpa Allen's house. The talisman that had protected him from the fireworks, and which will be waiting for him in Milledgeville on his next visit.

03:15pm: Sparklies

On our way to Milledgeville to see Granma and Granpa yesterday we dropped Quincy off with Aunt Mary. We didn't want the poor dog to be upset by the fireworks which would be exploding from behind Granma and Granpa's house that evening. After a quick stretch of the legs at Camp Leslie we piled back into the car and Quincy dutifully slunk around to the boot looking jaded. You should have seen his reaction when we told him he was staying. He perked up and started racing around Mary happily. Traitorous dog.

Over in Milledgeville we jinxed the weather when Granpa bought Sam a paddling pool to play in. As soon as we'd huffed and puffed and blown it up, and Sam was merrily wallowing in it demanding more toys be brought out for him to play with, the wind picked up and then the heavens opened. Still, Granpa and Granpa did get very entertained by Sam's antics before we had to retreat back inside the house.

I was a little afraid that the bad weather might also spell the end of our chances of seeing fireworks that evening too but thankfully it cleared up again before evening.

This was Sam's second 4th of July fireworks display, but the first would have been when he was merely weeks old. I don't recall why we didn't see any last year. We dragged seats out into the front yard as the explosions would be coming from just across the road at the mall. Sam, Bill and Mary (who had driven over to join us) climbed up into the back of the truck so our precious toddler couldn't run away from us in the dark.

When the first fireworks ignited poor Sam didn't know what to make of it and clung to his Daddy in terror. He was very brave though and with Aunt Mary doing her best to be enthused and put him at ease, soon opened his eyes and began to take in the wonder of the display. It took a little while but he eventually started yelling out all the colours as they erupted in the sky and when the display was over he said "Bye bye sparklies!"

08:50pm: Tennis

For some time now Sam has been hitting tennis balls around the house with one of Bill's old racquets. Bill had drawn a smiley face on the strings. Alongside diggers, trains and trucks, tennis is Sam's passion. Instead of asking for childrens TV when he wakes up he has started to request to watch the Tennis Channel. Woe betide Bill if he leaves his tennis bag accessible as Sam will immediately notice and dive right in, happily strewing Daddy's tennis gear throughout the house and stealing all his balls.

Sam spends hours handing us tennis balls and asking us to throw them so he can hit them back. He's pretty good at whacking the ball and it was getting to the point where I feared for the windows. After a couple of incidents involving a high velocity tennis ball to the face Bill and I decided it was time to get our toddler a Sam sized racquet. So, for our fourth of July we drove to the store and bought him a little 19" Andre Agassi racquet and some soft foam practice balls. When we got home Sam and Bill then turned the front porch into a mini tennis court.

Bill is thrilled that Sam likes tennis so much.

Sam is thrilled with his new racquet..."Nam's racquet!" he squeals before throwing his head back and cackling happily.

Here's Sam and his tennis coach getting to grips with the new racquet and foam balls:



No fireworks for us tonight. Sam is tired out and already fast asleep in his bed. We will be going to Milledgeville tomorrow to see Granma and Granpa and watch the display there though. After yesterday's late night at the drive-in we decided that Sam needed a good rest this evening. He has had a particularly rough few nights lately too and he has been running a fever on and off. We're wondering if he might be teething again? I think the back molars may be due, though there is no way Sam is letting us peek into his mouth to see.

I was up several times with him in the middle of the night yesterday. He has been waking up in an awful state and screaming for "mummy hugs!" At one point Bill and I were hunting high and low around the house for "Nawnee," a fire engine toy that Uncle Sy and Aunty Mel gave Sam for Christmas. He was totally inconsolable until we were able to bring it to him. I'm so glad we were able to find it.

01:26am: Robots

We took Sam out for what was a very successful drive-in experience to see Wall-E this evening. Jim met us at the gate and got us in for free which was really good of him. He roared with great gingerness at Sam through the window and Sam seemed to like that. We were a bit nervous as we parked up as already Sam was showing signs of agitation and grumpiness. We'd had to queue up for over half an hour to even get to the front gates and Sam was growing crotchety to be stuck in his car seat unentertained. Once the film started I unbuckled him and he sat in my lap or roamed the passenger well and was as good as gold throughout.

He was pretty fascinated by the big screen and seemed to really like the film. "Robots! Robots!" he kept repeating in awe as he gazed through the windscreen.

It was a bit of a weird evening on a couple of counts though. About five minutes before the film ended our car battery died. Sod's law as earlier that day I had cautioned Bill on being prepared for such an occurrence and asked him to charge and bring the jump starter thingy we have, but apparently that back up didn't want to take a charge so we didn't pack it. We watched the final moments listening to the audio coming to us from surrounding cars and then Bill called Jim to get a start. I returned from the bathroom to find the car running happily again and Bill scratching his head. The car had sprung back to life without need of Jim and his cables and we have no idea what that was about.

Then, on the drive home we were followed down Moreland and onto Ormewood by a police car. We were pretty stunned when he then suddenly blared his siren and pulled us over. Neither of us knew what we might have done wrong. Odd. Bill was asked for his licence, registration and insurance documents and we sat there very confused until the policeman explained that he had run our licence plate and it didn't match the make or model of our vehicle...huh? Very strange considering Bill has had that number through several cars, none of which was the vehicle the policeman mentioned. Anyway, he satisfied himself that we were okay, muttered that it must be a paperwork mix up, and let us go. We were left pretty baffled.

11:57am: Sam sleeping in his fleece.

Well, while Sam is in his room in time out again here's another quick post!

I've been a bit slack updating this journal lately mainly because I've tried to step away from the computer and do something for me instead. It was driving me crazy that I was spending all my time being Sam's mum or Bill's wife and not taking time to do anything I wanted to do myself. Hashing is out, so, I got myself some paints and new brushes, primed up a piece of junk wooden board left over from some old DIY project and attempted my first painting using acrylics:


23"x24"

Not totally satisfied with it yet, but am stepping away for a bit before I overdo it in all the wrong places. Hopefully I'll either come to like it as it is, or be able to finish properly a little later when I'm a little more distanced from it again.

Okay, off to have words with Sam and see if he's sorry for the latest puddle. I can hear him giggling and yelling "Tubby Custard!" through the door so I doubt it.

10:34am:
Having serious get up and go isssues this morning and with no firm plans as to what to do to entertain Sam today I can see us just drifting through the day. I rather fancy going to the zoo again as it's been a while since we've been now, but I'm reticent as it's so hot outside and I cringe at the idea of waddling here, there and everywhere after Sam in the heat.

Chasing after Sam is getting more and more difficult, not to mention painful for me. Lately when I've had a bout of running him down, having to lift him and carry him, I've been getting really really sore. I'm realising that I'm having to be much more careful else every step I takes turns into torture. I think Bea is just fine, but mummy hurts.


14th June 2008 - 27 weeks pregnant


This morning Sam was an angel and stayed in his room playing happily until ten o'clock so I got to have a nice extra lie down and am feeling much better again at the moment. Thankfully the aches and pains are fairly fleeting as long as I get a good rest and overall I'm really enjoying this pregnancy. Bea is very active, more so than I remember Sam being. It feels like my tummy is constantly doing flips.

***

The potty training has been getting a little hit or miss with Sam. After I spent the day clearing up puddle after puddle of pee from the carpet I almost decided to not take him to the pool yesterday afternoon as I had promised. Particularly frustrating as only last week we borrowed a steam cleaner and thoroughly cleaned the carpet. Luckily for Sam I was hot and bothered yesterday and so wanted to go swimming and meet our friends myself.

I can completely understand that peeing on the floor must be so much more fun than peeing in a potty, especially when nature equips you with a nice hose, but it makes mummy mad. I had to keep putting him in his room for time out to try to get across my displeasure. The last straw came when I went in to make friends again and found him, and his toys, playing in even more self created lakes. Happy as could be. Aaargh! I had to wash all his toys and I mop the floor in there...twice. Mummy is not amused.

Yet, yesterday he also expertly removed his big boy pants and used the potty to poop with no mess at all. He also found himself a clean pair of "just like Daddy's" cloth pants and happily paraded around the house with them on. Kept them clean and dry too.

So, half the time I am so proud of my little guy, and the rest of the time he is a right pest.

***

We were supposed to be in Florida lazing on the beach this week, but this got canceled at the last minute. Bill and I were both really annoyed as we were in need of a break by the sea and really looking forward to getting away. Apparently we could have gone in August instead, but I didn't really fancy popping my sprog on the beach like one of the turtles. Grrrr.

I spent ages cruising the net in search of any July vacancies. It was tough as pretty much everything was already booked, or now insanely expensive. I'm excited to say that on Friday I did manage to find us a deal we could afford and hopefully (cheque and contract is in the post) we have a reservation for a rental very close to where we were originally going to go! We'll be heading to Cape San Blas for 19th - 26th July. Hoorah! Bill's happy as this place also has tennis courts, though I'm not sure exactly who he is intending to play with!

***

Oh great. Sam's just noticed that if he throws a frisbee at the ceiling fan it goes crash tinkle and spins off frantically off to hit a wall.

***

Bill and I peeked in on Sam the other night and were confronted with this little scene:


Monkey and Sam snoozing in sync

01:49am: Since Monday

I decided I may have been overdoing things a little with Sam lately so we took a couple of days off from haring around Atlanta becoming prey to his hectic social schedule and had a couple of days of self imposed hermitage in the house.

I've also not been sleeping terribly well lately, as evidenced by this late night entry brought on by baby Bea jumping up and down on my bladder and generally making me feel quite uncomfortable when I try to sleep at night. I got to take a few obviously well needed daytime naps over the last couple of days. I seem to be able to sleep much more soundly in the grasped afternoon moments when Sam is napping too. Dreams have been terribly vivid and crazy recently and I find myself immersed in dreams which continue the hours as if I am absolutely awake and carrying on with the day. On Tuesday I was woken from one such deep slumber by the phone ringing and once I had got over my disorientation I was pleased to find it was my folks calling. I had a nice lengthy chat with Mum and Dad and they helped put me back on hopefully an even keel again. As did Sam when he woke up mid conversation, wandered into the room, and interrupted all adult talk by deciding to blow raspberries on my tummy for baby Bea.

After wishing my folks goodnight the lack of air conditioning proved stifling and wished I could act on my Dad's suggestion to go sit in a paddling pool. As if by magic I remembered that PWD had given us a pool at the end of last summer, and miraculously when I peered hopefully into the attic it was the first thing I spotted. I hauled it down, plopped it onto the front porch and tossed a couple of cold buckets of water, and the entire freezer tray of ice cubes into it. Sam thought it was marvelous. He splashed around in naked toddler delight, I put on my cossie and wallowed, and we both sucked on delicious ice lollies until Daddy came home and found us.

Wednesday evening was both fun and sorrowful as we held a girl's night out to wish Jen good luck and farewell with her sudden unexpected departure to Chicago where her husband just landed himself a great job in theatre. I'm very excited for her but will miss her very much. It's going to be sad not seeing Isabella at the park anymore.

We went to Decatur for a tasty noodle meal and then ended up crawling around the town in search of chocolate dessert. My fault entirely as I had seeded the need for afters in our minds but every menu we looked at only carried cake laden with nuts. No good at all. Eventually, after being seated at The Brickstore the waitress sent us packing with promise of cake, delicious cake, at coffee house Java Monkey. She was not wrong. We ended the evening tucking into huge portions of gateaux while Brandie had us in hysterics by totally lowering the tone of the conversation, and mortifying us (well, me) by including the staff in her potty themed ramblings.

Today I decided to brave the outside world with my barbarian toddler and take Sam to the pool once more. We went to meet Alyssa and Lucas at McKoy and after having promised an excited Sam that he would be going swimming were horrified to find it closed for a hygiene cleaning. Sam bawled and screamed as we drove back out of the car park. He didn't understand at all. Luckily for him I knew about another public pool to visit and his tears dried up as soon as we turned onto Church Street and he spotted Glenlake Pool.

Although at first glance the pool isn't as nice as the McKoy Pool I think I actually found it much easier to deal with Sam at Glenlake. The pool is a basic rectangular one with a toddler area roped off in the shallow end. It has no "beach access," meaning you have to step right into a depth of around one and a half feet, but this meant that Sam was discouraged from running in and out, and all around the pool. Instead he clung to me uncertainly and gave me lots of lovely hugs and kisses before overcoming his anxiety and beginning to splash and play with Lucas.

A cute little girl was playing with her ball in the water and it took some coaxing to dissuade Sam from stealing her toy and hoarding it. Sharing encouraged by her Mum, trust grew between the girl and our boys and they were soon playing like friends and throwing the ball to each other happily. Sam had a great time and I was able to relax a little in the refreshing water myself. Much better. Weather permitting, we're going to go back tomorrow afternoon.

Despite having such fun I also spent the day concerned and a little preoccupied as Quince was at the vets having an operation. You may remember I mentioned that he had had to go in for a teeth cleaning a couple of weeks ago after he developed terrible bad breath and was obviously experiencing pain in his mouth? Well, when the vet examined his teeth she ended up having to extract ten teeth. While doing this she also discovered a lump on his tongue and decided she ought to send it for biopsy. Bill and I were appalled when the result came back positive for cancer.

Today the vet worked to remove a larger portion around the lump to clear away any cancer cells there. She also took a couple of x-rays to determine whether the cancer had spread internally to any of his organs. Well, I'm happy to say that Quince is back with us this evening. He's not in a very good state following his ordeal, but the x-rays were clear and showed no sign of the cancer having spread. We feel really lucky that hopefully we caught the lump early enough and our beloved Quincy is going to be just fine. Three cheers for Quincy!

10:40am: Shiner

I'm feeling like a pretty rotten mum at the moment. I'm just not sure how to deal with my little independent child at the moment.

I took Sam to the McKoy swimming pool in the afternoon to cool down and meet his friends. I've been struggling to keep him from racing around on the concrete skirting the pool and yesterday was no exception. I feel like I am constantly yelling his name futilely trying to get his attention. Trying to explain that he needs to slow down and walk around the poolside is seemingly a lost cause. Unlike the other toddlers he doesn't like to splash in the shallows and stay close to mum. He prefers to charge around and I have to constantly chase after him trying to keep him safe and out of trouble. I had to buy him a little pair of swim shoes so that he doesn't scrape up his toes or burn his soles on the hot concrete.

Yesterday was no exception. I was already exhausted from taking him to the park and the shops in the morning.

At Avondale Park he had Quincy and I charging across the hot playing field desperately trying to get to him before he disappeared out of the park boundary and onto the road.

While I was browsing the swimsuit tops at Target looking for something more secure that Sam hopefully couldn't hang from and pull off, he unbuckled himself from the trolley and escaped. He moved so fast my belly and I couldn't keep up and he was soon lost among the aisles. I was desperately waddling from department to department trying to spot my little red blur of running sunsuit and tracking the sound of his laughter. Other customers pointed out the last direction my wayward screeching child was seen running and I eventually caught up with him when several other mothers got together and managed to head him off for me.

Oh and I almost forgot the screaming scenario we had in Ross because I'd made him leave his Thomas ball in the car so we wouldn't lose it. In fits of tears he refused to sit in the trolley and kept standing up, lurching to grab hold of me. I also had shoppers here start to reprimand me for "letting" my son stand in the trolley, so I ended up allowing Sam to climb up into my arms (where he gave me the most wonderful firm hug), and leaving the store.

So at the pool I was hoping for a more relaxing afternoon. This was not to be. Fed up of chasing him to avail and burning my feet on the near molten concrete I sat down in the water with Alyssa for a split second and watched as my son took off running again. I think everyone in the pool must know Sam's name the number of times I have to yell it to try to get his attention. On this occasion he also had a lifeguard chasing him trying to get him to slow down. It was too late though and my little guy took a tumble, went head over heels and landed right on his face.



I feel awful. It looks so bad. Sam only screamed and screamed for a minute or two though, and then he was back to his normal self and wanting to charge around again. I spent my afternoon getting more and more frazzled trying to tame him. I also worried myself silly that he might have done more than grazed himself badly and was constantly evaluating him for any other damage. He did worry me when he started stuttering over words. I couldn't tell if he was just happy and enjoying the sounds he was making, or was struggling to say well practiced nouns. Thankfully I decided it was the former.

When he fell asleep on the way home I took him into the house and curled up on the sofa with him on my chest so I could keep a close eye on him. I was very grateful when Bill arrived home and could take a look at him too. He reassured me that Sam was just a normal little boy and that's what boys do. Still, I'd told Bill about the accident over the phone and he was still pretty shocked when he saw the extent of Sam's busted eye. You can't really see on these photos but he was bleeding from scrapes up above his eye on his forehead too. I guess what these photos really show is that Sam is in dire need of a haircut!



I am seriously questioning whether I can continue to take him out swimming. Normally it wouldn't be so much of a problem but as Beatrice Belly is getting bigger I am getting slower, and more achy and tired. I just can't keep up with him at the moment. I am getting really fed up that he doesn't listen to me. The other mums get to sit in the cool water and chat while their toddlers play safely and happily nearby. It's not like he's really being naughty or bad or anything. He's having an awful lot of fun and really enjoys going "schwimmint". I just can't get him to understand that he has to stay with me, and not run around, for his own safety. I wish he would just splash and play in the water with everyone else. I feel like such a useless mum right now.

I was walking along behind Sam through the water later in the afternoon and heard one wallowing woman cattily whispering to her friend and questioning "Who is with that little boy in the green?" I turned around and responded "Well, that would be me." That put a fun look on her face, but then they both got up and went to the other end of the pool to no doubt continue to bitch.

12:40am: Muriel

Mistakenly a rogue crayon was left in Sam's room when he went to bed. I was alerted by the sounds of a very happy boy chattering away merrily to himself. By that time it was already too late. An entire wall and substantial part of another were covered in scribbled markings. It was hard to be angry at such grand scale artistic endeavour. Especially when the artist fervently gestured to the strokes, seemingly trying to express his creative vision to us. I have yet to even attempt to clean the drawing from the walls as it is so interesting when Sam takes a moment to explain the intricacies of the picture he has created.

12:55am: Nee Naw



Just a little fire engine cake I baked up as a belated birthday present for Lucas. His second birthday party got canceled after his granma sadly passed away so I wanted to make him a little something special to mark the occasion.

02:02am: More potty training

Sam woke up needing a change of underwear so I helped him into some clean big boy pants. As I was doing so asked if he was going to keep these ones clean and dry, and go pee pee or poo poo in the potty if he needed to?
He replied..."Doubt it!"

02:07am: Love You

I was cuddling a teary eyed and upset Sam in his bed this evening and trying to get him to settle down. Bill popped his head around the door to say goodnight to his son and to see how we were doing. After reinforcing that it was bedtime, he left the room telling Sam how much he loved him. Sam looked up from my shoulder, right at Daddy, and echoed "love you!" back. That's the first time we've heard him say that. Daddy was happily pleased.

11:48pm: 26.6 lbs

Sam refused to get on the scales for his two year doctor's appointment. It was another matter at the vet's this morning, couldn't drag him off theirs!

We had to take Quince to get a diagnosis and treatment for what seems to be some infected back teeth. Poor guy has to go in for a tooth cleaning on Thursday, and possibly some extractions.

11:35am: Mice!

We must have an infestation!

I just went to the dining room cupboard where we store the dry foods and noticed that a pound packet of Belgian chocolate earmarked for attempting a batch of frozen chocolate bananas had been torn open and there's a substantial amount missing. The remaining bar is sticky and covered in tiny little teeth marks.

It must surely be a co-incidence that my little angel boy just had to be wiped down because he was covered in a mysterious sweet smelling brown substance. Head to foot it was, but especially around his mouth.

07:19pm: Oink! Oink!

Sam and I took another trip to see the animals at the zoo this morning. Our first stop was the petting zoo. Sam likes the kune kune pigs, he always races to their pen to say hello. Today they were outside in the enclosure with the sheep and goats so Sam got to stroke their bristly backs.



Sam's face lit up dramatically when he spotted his friend, Connor, peering through the fence at the goats and the petting animals were forgotten as he charged over to see him. It's lovely seeing the toddlers get so excited to see each other now. Tricia and I then took the boys for a meander through the rest of the zoo. The new exhibit of naked mole rats was a big hit with the little guys, they especially liked having to crawl through a tunnel in order to see the mole rats, and were fascinated seeing the strange alien creatures scuttle through their burrows.


***

TMI potty update

I am proud to report that Sam has unprompted sat on his potty for every poop since Friday. With two exceptions he has also run to his potty to go pee too. The first exception was at the zoo when he told me he needed to go potty, but I didn't get him to a bathroom in time. The second was when he had just woken up from his nap and wandered into my bedroom to find me. He had taken his pants off but was a bit disorientated and still sleepy. He had a wet accident on our bed and was then terribly distraught about what he had done. I wasn't even curt or tense with him as it really was an accident and I don't want to make him feel bad, but the poor little guy got terribly upset that he hadn't gone on his potty, he just burst into tears and had to be consoled.

edit - Whoo! Another poop in the potty! I just went in to check on Sam as I knew he'd taken his jammies off and was hovering over his potty the last time I peeked in on him. He likes his privacy so I'd left him to it and resolved to keep checking in frequently until the deed was done. Well, it didn't take long at all, he did his business and the next time I walked into his room I found him contentedly snuggled back into his bed. He'd left his big boy pants clean and dry at the foot of the bed but had tried to put his pyjamas back on, not terribly successfully. He was scrunched up with both legs wedged into one leg of his shorts, but was very happy with himself indeed, and so am I. I am so very pleased with him right now! He's awesome.

09:55pm: Mud Glorious Mud

The Allen Family was up bright and early again today and once Sam had had his obligatory marmite on toast it was off to the courts to watch Daddy play in the tennis play offs.

When getting Sam dressed to go he was insistent that he wanted to wear his pirate wellies, and I wish I had listened to him because when we got to the tennis centre he happily found a really disgusting looking puddle of mud and was not to be dissuaded from jumping right in. I guess it didn't really matter though as soon the puddle wasn't restricted to his feet and he was having a good wallow. I gave up trying to keep him out of it at that point and let him have a great time splashing around.



Bill's team played well against some tough competition and they've squeaked through to the next round. Bill had a good match and lots of people were complimentary about his game, but sadly he and Richard lost their match. Though, it was very tight and quite the three set epic.

The sun was brutal today and we sweltered without shade. All the matches were so competitive we didn't leave the courts 'til three. I managed to keep Sam nicely slathered in sun screen and he still looks nicely English porcelain. I, on the other hand, obviously missed some spots and have some beautiful lobster going on. Drat.

Semi finals are tomorrow. Go Bill!

07:59am: Almost two weeks ago

Sam was celebrating his birthday.



Now it's Auntie Melly's turn!

Happy Birthday Melinda – Sam hopes you get some good Henry the green train birthday cake too!

11:59pm: Potty training

Yesterday I found Sam on his potty. He had taken his shorts and big boy pants off and was doing a tinkle. He then made me carry it to the bathroom where we poured it into the toilet bowl. He said "good bye!" and then flushed the loo!

Potty training is being a bit hit and miss at the moment. He will do something that just astounds me and makes me think we are making progress, but most of the time Sam now just tells me he needs a clean, dry pair of pants once the pair he's wearing is already dirty and wet. Still, that's pretty big progress from where we were ten days ago anyway.

12:10am: Car Thief | Brush Strokes | First Strokes | Different Strokes | BA

On Thursday Bill made the switch to using MARTA to get to and from work in an effort to conserve money in the face of increasing petrol prices (UK folk stop snickering!), be more environmentally conscious and avoid the hell that is Midtown Atlanta in the midst of huge road construction causing traffic congestion.

On Thursday I decided to take Sam to the High Museum for some toddler art and thought I'd switch the cars out en route as Bill had taken Perdie to the station and as she doesn't guzzle as much petrol as Bessie I thought it would be better for Sam and I to be tootling around in her.

Problem is, I forgot to tell Bill this.

He arrived back at the MARTA station in the evening and almost freaked out. He was thinking he must be the unluckiest person ever to have his car stolen from the lot the first time he uses the train!

Ooops!

It was a good job I had thoughtfully parked Bessie in exactly the same spot that he had left Perdie so at least his distress wasn't too long lived when he retraced his steps.

***

The afternoon at the High was good. Sam actually fell asleep on the walk up the road to the get there. I didn't think he'd want to miss it, and seeing as we'd made the effort to get there, I gave him a shake. He was delighted to wake up with an easel and pastels in front of him. The theme that day was Georgia O'Keefe's en plein air flower paintings and toddlers were prompted to use water-soluble pastels and a water mister to produce flower drawings of their own. Sam had a great time smearing the pastel around, prompting me to keep his paper constantly soggy and prodding it with a paint brush.

***

I find when I sit down on the sofa at the moment I often have a small child clamber on top of me and then slide down my legs, chuckling and giggling.

***

Sam battles with his emotions. Sometimes it seems that his feelings swamp him and get to be too much. He'll stop what he is doing and close his eyes really tightly and scrunch up his face. You can almost see him trying to consult with his internal self. I just want to hug him and hold him close.

***

My new circus tent of a swimming costume arrived last week and so Sam and I finally went to the pool again now I have something to fit into once more. We went on Friday afternoon and had a fantastic time. I am very proud to report that Sam really truly took his first unassisted strokes through the water. He released his hold on me to try to swim for a float that was out of his reach. I let him go and excitedly watched as he splashed and kicked his way over until he had it in his grasp. It wasn't a terribly far distance, but I was impressed. He kept his bottom up, his head out of the water, and he powered through the water happily. That little effort did tire him out though and he didn't repeat it for the rest of the session, preferring instead to sit on the side of the pool, count to three and then jump back in. Over and over.

***

Rain stopped play on Saturday up in Woodstock so Bill's make up match was played this morning. I am pleased to report that his team won and have progressed to the next round of the playoffs. Bill's a tad grumpy though as he and his partner lost their match and are through by dint of the rest of the team winning theirs. The first set was pretty ropey and they lost that one pretty badly but then came back with a second set that bruised the opponents badly. The third set was looking good for Bill and Richard and they were seeming the obvious winners, but then I had to take a restless Sam away to the nearby playground to expel some energy and when I returned the match was lost. Not quite sure what happened. Still, the team is through and lives to play again next weekend. Go Bill!

***

Baby bump has a name and maybe I'll tell you in the morning. We're pretty decided on it at the moment, though of course reserve the right to change our minds at any point until it's on the official birth certificate.

So, okay, Auntie Melly, here's some clues:

- She might be a honey, or she could be a killer.

- Sproglet II is going to be a ballen just like her daddy.

10:07am: Twenty week ultrasound

Let's just cut right to the chase here...



It's a girl!

Though, we sort of knew that anyway didn't we?!

*grins*

Congratulations Dandad, you do get a Dandorter in September! Mummy and Daddy are pretty pleased too mind.

Here she is, little *Insert Name I'm Not Telling You,* looking straight at you:



The trip to see my OB GYN and ultrasound technician went very well yesterday. All appears to be well with *ININTY* and she's looking good. We got to see all her little fingers waving at us on two perfect little hands attached to two perfect little arms. She's measuring a little bigger than the twenty weeks she's supposed to be and according to the technician she looks great.

One worry cleared up for me was that the placenta has indeed moved up from where it was overlapping my cervix and thus away from being a risk and potential c-section on doctor's orders. Phew.

Sam came to the appointment with us and was a very good boy throughout the ultrasound process. I'm not sure he quite realised he was looking at his future little sister and nemesis though.

In the doctor's office he then got lively and decided it was boring in the stroller. Much more fun to push his book into the bottom of the reclining bed where it fell underneath, and then get upset. Doctor and Daddy had to crawl around on the floor and try to retrieve it using random flat medical instruments. Made for a much more comedic appointment than usual. Good job son.

I've put on almost another five pounds in a month. I blame birthday cake.

See a few more scans here.

02:22pm: TWO

Happy Birthday Samuel!

Now you are two!

I didn't make it to the Hash like I was going to on Saturday afternoon because Bill didn't get back from his tennis match til late, however this did mean I was able to bake Sam a birthday cake in a leisurely fashion and didn't end up staying up til the early hours with it.

Seeing as Sam so loves his trains I decided to make his second birthday cake locomotive themed. Originally I was planning to make a proper train shaped cake but had scaled this down when we agreed that we would just be visiting his grandparents on the day. Plan B saw me buying a little blue Thomas engine to use as decoration on top of a cake landscape. Before we even made it into the house though, Sam had pilfered it from my bag and refused to release his "Thomas!" from his clutches. After it had been in the sand pit and dragged all over the house I realised plan C was necessary. So on Saturday morning as I was gathering up cake ingredients I ended up buying yet another little engine for the top of the cake.

The cake itself was partly inspired by Martha who we had enjoyed lunch with on Friday. She had been talking about baking with buttermilk and had produced some marvelously succulent cupcakes which she shared with us. Yum! Back at the house I did some Googling and decided to try a new recipe for Sam's special chocolate cake.

While I was clattering away in the kitchen Sam came charging in for a few secs, closely followed by Daddy who scooped him up and carried him back into the other room. Immediately Sam burst into howls and cries and was demanding something neither of us could work out. It sort of sounded like "honey" or "hungry" but every offer of food was refused amidst more screams and foot stomps. We were really confused until we realised that Sam's keen eyes had spotted the little green train hiding on the countertop amongst the icing sugar, and that the little green train was in fact called Henry.

The finished cake:



The next morning we packed up and took Sam to visit Granma and Granpa in Milledgeville.




After we had had cake we let him open his presents. Along with the High Museum annual pass he got a couple of DVDs from Nanna and Dandad: Fireman Sam and Postman Pat. We have yet to try those out as Sam's still keen on the In The Night Garden recordings and wouldn't let me change the disk.

From Aunty Melly and Uncle Sy he got a Wiggles cd, a Australian book about a hippopotamus who likes to eat cake and hangs out on the roof, and a packet of glow in the dark stars. Thank you!

Granma and Granpa ensured that Sam will have a fun summer hanging out with his frog friends in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens by contributing towards an annual pass. They were installing a new exhibition there last week when we went and I think Sam will love to return and see the kinetic sculptures in action. We'll also be able to do all the scheduled children's storytimes and hopefully play in the fountains in the Children's Garden, assuming that the water restrictions don't get tightened this summer. Thank you!

Finally we got around to the big present from Bill and I. We had bought our little boy a rather cool trike. Thankfully the wet weather held off long enough yesterday for Sam to get to try it out and have plenty of fun in Granma and Granpa's back yard. He was pretty thrilled, and so were Mummy and Daddy watching him.



Happy Birthday Samuel! The last two years have been brilliant, we love you so very much.

09:41pm: In the Orchid House

I had hunted high and low and couldn't find my car keys anywhere this morning. Just as I was resignedly on the phone to Brandie, relaying that Sam and I weren't going to be able to come out to play after all, and still crawling around the house on my knees at Sam level, I spotted them.

Where were they?

In Sam's rocking car, of course! I can only presume he had needed them to go for a drive.

The High Museum for toddler art was our intended destination this morning, but when we met Brandie and Linnea we decided the day was too nice to be indoors and she invited us to go accompany her to the Botanical Gardens on her pass instead.



Linnea still really wanted to go do some art and made her disgruntlement clear, but she soon forgot about this when we visited the pond and were witness to the croaks of some really large frogs, heads poking out of the water amongst the weeds.

The Orchid House was a big hit for the kids too. Sam decided that there must be reptiles amongst the tropical growth and charged around looking for them, yelling "Snake! Snake!" while Linnea happily ran around trying to entice Sam to chase her.

For the first time I spotted some poison dart frogs roaming on the foliage in the Orchid House. No wonder I hadn't been able to notice them before, they were tiny and well camouflaged. Not exactly the brilliant colours of the ones in the aquarium at the entrance.



We then spent a bit of time playing in the Children's Garden before beginning to flake. It was hot, hot, hot out there.

12:19am: Bedtime

"Boots! Boots!" – This evening when dressing Sam in his pyjamas he wanted to put his pirate wellies on and wear them to bed.

He then stayed up for hours playing with his trains. Behind the nursery door we could hear him crashing and banging away, and chattering to himself. When all was finally quiet I checked in on him before I headed to bed myself. I had to do a double take when the usual scene of destruction was missing. The room was spotless. I was stunned. Before climbing into bed with his three monkeys he had carefully put all his track, trains and wooden blocks away in their box and cleaned up after himself!

Incredible.