Thankful

See? I didn't disappear completely.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'm hosting again. Well, last year I didn't host, and that was nice. I've got a list of things to do today and tomorrow so that I don't get too worn out. I still have to buy the turkeys since I'm getting fresh and don't have a lot of fridge room. I've made pie crust from scratch after discovering that most store bought has lard (we don't eat pork) and Trader Joe's, who doesn't, was all out. I'm going to make the pies this evening and I've got the cranberry sauce simmering. The table will be extended and the buffet area cleared out, I hope, and the house is looking not too disastrous.
But the most important thing is done- and here's where we leave the cooking and go to Sami. The squeamish should leave us now.
Sami is pretty much potty trained, but he isn't always very good at going certain kind of potty. He's been a little fussy for the last day or two, so it was pretty urgent that we take care of that before tomorrow. I didn't want last minute cooking and guests arriving to be waylaid by a potty using 3-year-old.
The problem was, he got peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth, so it was hard to tell what exactly he was fussing about! I managed to get it unstuck, but he wouldn't spit it out of his mouth or swallow it. He did agree to go on the potty and took care of things, but he still has that peanut butter in his mouth, and he won't even be bribed with his favorite cookies to get rid of it. I think it's been about an hour now.
I'm exhausted.

nuts

"Hey, Sami. Are you hungry?"
"No, thank you." (He's my politest child.)
Earlier today we were driving around in the car. "Is that a squirrel?" He asks. (Surely he knows it's a squirrel. He used to call them monkeys, but not for a long time, though he now calls the monkey on the mola in the bathroom a squirrel. Hmmm.)
In any case, we watched the monkey squirrel for a while as it ran around the yard, clearly looking for something. Sami thought it was a tree. I said maybe the squirrel was hungry and looking for food. Sami thought he might like a sandwich. A peanut butter one. A little bit later, after we've driven on, he asks me, "Why the squirrel is hungry?" And then he brought up the sandwich again. I think he felt sorry for the squirrel! I told him the squirrel wanted nuts. Or an apple.

Raccoons

I made the mistake of reminding Sami about the Raccoons on his footie pajamas yesterday. He had been wearing the pjs for a couple of days, having put them on willingly after his Monday night bath. Shortly after, he began pulling at his pajamas. "I don't wear re...." he said. I couldn't understand what he was talking about. I told him his pajamas weren't red. He continued to fuss about it. Then he stopped, but right before dinner, he came back to it. This time I understood what he said, "I don't wear raccoons!" It might have been a ploy just to get naked, because he didn't like it when I put another shirt on him, but I made him wear his clothes because it's just too cold to be running around as God intended. That will have to wait till summer.

In his head

"I'm Coco," Sami declares. "You're Sami," his brother tells him. "I'm not Sami. I'm Coco," he replies, a little belligerently.
Sami is turning out to have such an imagination. He drives his cars around the house, talking as he goes, apparently creating scenes. Last night in the bath he held the rubber duck up, and said in not quite his voice- "Where's the fish? Oh, there it is." I think the rubber ducky was talking.
Another night, when he hadn't had a bath, I was trying to get his clothes off to put cleans ones on. The pants were easy to get off, but then he said, "No Pants!" and refused to put another pair on.I told him he didn't have to wear pants, and he yelled and carried on about "NO PANTS!!!" It took an age to get his shirt off, and then, again, he wouldn't let me put another one on. "You're naked!" I told him, so he preceded to unhitch his diaper and then he was starkers, except for his little socks. That was lots of fun, apparently, and he ran around enjoying it. I told him he couldn't nurse without a diaper, and finally got one on him. I wrestled him into the shirt, and he was so upset at me. This was after about half an hour of fooling around. I didn't put the pants on him, though, until after he'd gone to sleep.
I told someone that he's hilarious- but for about 5 minutes. Then it gets annoying!
Meanwhile, Leila is rehearsing for the school talent show. She auditioned today and is hoping to get in. Her piano teacher is helping her with the piece, a song from a tv show she likes, which she is singing and playing on the piano. The teacher had her practicing her walk to the piano and her bow ("reverence") as well as the musical part.

Snow Evening

We all went off to school and work this morning, then slowly trickled home as the roads got bad. It was snowing small, dry flakes when I dropped the kids off, and then I drove south of Dallas for a conference. By the time I got to the destination campus and signed in, large, wetter flakes were falling.
I thought the roads would be okay, and Habib decided to work from home rather than sit in traffic for 1.5 hours, so I knew he could pick up Sami at 2- but I didn't want to risk getting caught so far from home, so shortly after 1:00 I headed north. Well, not really north. I decided to go the loop rather than drive straight through the city, where things were snarling up. It wasn't too bad, though a couple of bridges/overpasses were icy. Once I couldn't brake, but hit un-iced road before I hit the car in front of me, and the brakes took. A couple of times I felt myself slide a little.
Habib got home with Sami, and I went off to pick up the bigger kids. They were hoping for enough snow for sledding, but it is unevenly piled in our neighborhood. Apparently we got about an inch.
Evening activities are cancelled, hot chocolate has been drunk, and I'm about to make potato and leek soup and then light the fire.
Funny Sami story- the other night I was opening the doors of one of his cars. He wanted the trunk to open, but it wouldn't. Then he decided it needed a key. I asked him where the key was, and he said "in the kitchen," and headed down to get it. I could just see him losing my car key for him, so I told him the key was inside the car. He looked for it and couldn't see it, of course. Then he sat there, put his head down, and pretended to think, "mmmm." He popped up brightly- "a key!"

to the rescue!

Sami has this way of saying very complete sentences but with his mouth not moving. His pronunciation is still pretty good, though.
"I found a car!" he told me, and pushing it along, "Too the rescue!"
He was saying "To the rescue" the other day, running down the sidewalk with his push toy. I don't know what he was rescuing, but he was fast!
The poor guy is sick. I came home from a birthday celebration to find him cuddled up in bed with H, having thrown up on the couch. Luckily for me, but not H, I stayed later than planned to be there for cake, so they and the couch were all cleaned up by the time I got home.
He's feeling better now- though I'm not!

Funny Sami

This morning, coming up the stairs- "Mommy!- Just kidding." "Mommy!- Just kidding." (I need to teach him what kidding means!)
When I came downstairs in a bright green shirt, he told me- "Nice color!"

Talking even more!

Yesterday Sami and I were out for a walk, kind of together. He would try to get me to stay put, and then I would sneak up on him, and then he would fuss and try again. When it was time to turn around, I made the mistake of pointing out M's house, and then he wanted to go visit, and I wouldn't let him. So then he threw a bit of a tantrum. After a while I started pointing out things to look at, like sticks on the ground, and he started picking them up and putting them in his trike's trunk. At one point, he picked up a light seed and said "yellow."
Then we saw Baba, just home from the car races with Ali. They had quite a boy bonding time with a friend of H's from work. H, Sami and I took a walk down to the neighbor's for a visit. When we left, Sami said, "Thank you. You're welcome," as he always does when someone gives him something. I think he even blew a kiss (though he was facing the door at the time, not our hosts.) I'd seen him do that before when I picked him up from "school."
Then last night, I showed Sami the picture on his shirt. "Fire truck," he told me. I knew he knew "truck," but not that he put them together like that.
This morning we were hanging out on the bed. "Peekaboo, I see you," he giggled, hands over his face. Then "Knock, knock. Who's there?" he said. And I think a fake "atchoo" that he made might have been part of the joke, too.
If only he were always that easy. I've decided he is a low level high need child. While that is still a label, it's probably better than the one I came up with: "Pain in the butt."

"I scream for ice scream"

The older kids and I have been listening to Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder when we drive around in the car. Of course, Sami listens too when he's there.
The book is full of marvelous descriptions of prosperous farm life in the 1800's, including detailed, mouthwatering lists of what Almanzo eats for dinner (and it's a lot!). Yesterday we heard about the kids staying alone on the farm while their parents went on vacation for a week. Since Almanzo and his brother Royal and two sisters, Eliza Jane and Alice, are very responsible and help their parents with the work all the time, their parents trust them to keep the farm running while they are gone. Also, it's summer time, so the farm work is light.  Their mother admonishes them just before she leaves not to eat all of the sugar.
The first thing they do is make ice cream for lunch. They eat the whole tub, made with 6 cups of sugar, along with a cake their mother made them! Then they top it off with 6 watermelons for dinner.
One the way home from Tae Kwon Do last night, the story continued with another batch of ice cream. Sami heard this and started saying "ice cream, ice cream." When we got home, he was still saying it, and he headed to the freezer. Unfortunately, all the ice cream had been eaten up the day before. He screamed and cried for about 10 minutes, a combination of anger and exhaustion giving fuel to his grief.
Fortunately for me, he finally calmed down.
 I think after I pick him up from Mother's Day Out and the kids from school, we're going for frozen yogurt.

tender

Sometimes Sami surprises me by walking around with a stuffed animal held in a tender embrace. Yesterday it was his brother's hedgehog. It surprises me, because his default is throwing, or kicking, and he even hit me yesterday!
He picked up, "I'm sorry," this week, and after digging his elbow into my ribs and hearing me say, "OW!" he said "I'm sorry." He also says it just to hear himself say it, for no reason at all. But he apparently really does know how to use it. Other times he isn't sorry at all, and keeps kicking me until I put him on the floor.
He hurt Leila the other day and said "I'm sorry," and gave her a nice kiss.
(Actually, I noticed yesterday it's really more of a "sorry," but said very sincerely.)
 

The talker

Sami is talking more and more. I can usually understand him with context pretty well. Sometimes his words are more intonation than pronunciation. It seems like he used to say "thank you" pretty clearly, but now it's more the lilt and tone- and he's so polite- anytime someone hands something to him, he sings it out.
For a long time he called both Leila and Ali "Ali." Now he is calling them both "Leila." For his dad, he says "Habib." I just noticed the "H" last night- before that, it was usually "Abib," and the cutest pronunciation of that name I've ever heard. Poor H keeps saying "Baba" to him. Last night I asked him to give something to "Baba" and he carried it over, saying "Habib, Habib!"
When we were with  my family in Breckenridge, Colorado recently, he worked on his cousins' names. He would also say "Gamma, come!" as soon as she emerged from her bedroom in the morning. Then he'd get her to play with him for a while. He also called Grandpa "Gamma."
When we stopped to visit some friends in Albuquerque, he enjoyed the dog and the cats. The dog, Charlie, enjoyed him more than the cats did. "Charlie outside," he told me one morning.
He's putting words together more- not just collocations like "thank you," but the sentence about Charlie and asking Grandma to come. This morning he wanted his toothbrush, so he said "give me," and in the mornings when I give him his yogurt, and he wants to feed himself, he says "help you."

Summer Blessings

Yesterday some friends came by to swim. It was rainy and cool, so we sat around the table eating snacks, and G asked us each to answer- "What is your favorite thing so far this summer?"
The kids said things like- "Six Flags," or "Our Trip to San Antonio." Ali chose- "Chiheb"- our friend who was visiting for a month. I thought a lot of those things sounded good.
I've been thinking about this still today. We've had a really blessed summer. I thought June was going to be stay at home and do nothing month, after a busy semester of soccer shuttling, girl scouts, and work. But my brother-in-law had asked us to invite a friend's son to visit, so early June, just before school got out, we greeted a teenager from Algeria at the airport. Right away it was clear he was polite. We soon found out he was also a really great guy. Ali took to him as soon as he found out Chiheb knew about Pokemon. They watched some videos online and hung out. By the end of his 5 week stay, which he had extended by two weeks, he was part of the family. He took the kids out to ride bikes almost every day, and willingly watched them in the pool so I could work. He also joined in with the chore jar, prompting A and L to participate uncomplainingly. He was interested in everything, and learned to make cookies with Leila.
I taught an online class in May and then 2 in June. Usually H is home to help out with Sami, but this year he started working in May when I got out of school. So I got P, a college student from Iran, to come and hang out with Sami in the mornings so I could work. She's been another blessing this summer. Even though I'm home much of the time, she takes Sami for walks and plays with him, and I've been able to get away a couple of times to run errands.
We drove down to San Antonio one weekend to see the Alamo and go to Sea World. Other than traffic that extended the 4.5 hour drive to 7, we had a great trip. The kids went to Six Flags one day with Joy and T, and I hung out with my sister who had flown in for a day. We also went to the mall more times than I've been in the last 10 years- it's one of the things Chiheb really wanted to do. We had friends over for dinner, and went to friends' houses, too, and in between I graded papers like mad.
Sami learned to kiss for real- I got a couple nice ones last night. He's also fallen down or bumped his head frequently enough that his face hasn't been unmarred in weeks.
Ali learned to ride a bike in the Spring with Grandpa's help and using a bike he and Grandma gave him for his birthday. Leila finally learned to at the end of June. It turns out there's a really easy way to do it, which I found on the internet. Go to a grassy hill. Coast down. Repeat. Then start pedaling at some point. Practice, practice, practice. Now the two of them ride up and down our street- which is my biggest blessing this summer.
Before we moved we lived on a busy, busy street with the garages all in front. This in turn means the driveways were in front. Now we live on a very long street with no feed ins, and most of the driveways are in the back. The few in the front are just little curved ones. Although there are busy streets on both ends of our street, people don't really cut through. This means that I feel pretty good about the kids riding around and even walking over to the neighbors across the street to play. As well as being a great biking street, it's been wonderful for Sami to learn to walk. When my parents were here, and now with P, he takes numerous walks down the sidewalk, with no danger from someone backing out of their garage.
Part of the street blessing is our great neighbors. There are lots of little boys Sami's age on the street, and there is a family halfway down the block with 4 kids. One boy matches Ali, the girl matches Leila, and the oldest one enjoys playing with them all. They spend their days together in that magical summer endlessness, riding bikes, hanging out, spying, exploring, and sometimes swimming. The other day the two girls had a lemonade stand- a first for both, and well supervised by the moms because of their dad's protectiveness.
All in all it's been a great summer so far. Now that I've wrapped up my June classes, I'm feeling like my summer has finally started. I'm working on so many things, of course, but I finally feel like I've got some times. Today I spent cooking for tomorrow night's Iftar dinner which we are holding here. Ramadan started last week, and dinner is late- just before 9. Last week we were at a friend's, and this week here. Next week the kids and I will be traveling, so I don't know what goodies they'll enjoy.
I do expect more blessings, though, because the summer is only half way through.

Sami in the bath

Sami took a bath!!! Hurray! This is big news as he has been afraid of the bathtub for some unknown reason since we were at Grandma's house over Christmas. I thought it was their big bathtub, so we tried to get him in with Ali there but it didn't work. Instead, I shoved him into the water, screaming and kicking, just to get him clean. The we avoided the bathtub for the rest of our stay. I was sure that once we were back with his familiar blue plastic tub he'd be fine. Not so. Again, I tried to put him in with Ali, but he didn't want in.
Finally, in a flash of brilliance, I thought of the red plastic measuring cups that were left in the house by the previous owner. Leila obligingly brought one up stairs, and I showed Sami the joys of scooping water with it in the bathtub. He clearly wanted it, but he shook his head about going into the tub. I persisted, and finally he couldn't resist. He fussed a little as I lowered him in, but I kept my arm around him for a minute or two, and he was soon scooping happily. The I couldn't get him out! Luckily he appears to have rediscovered his love of water.
Today he's walking around like a cowboy, legs spread wide- but he's getting more and more adept at it.
Everything becomes a telephone for him, which he holds up to his ear- even the red measuring cup in the bath worked as one. This morning, he was walking around like a little deal maker with the cell phone at his ear, babbling away. I think he made a cool million.

First Words

Sami's favorite thing to say is "daddy" or "dadada," though I'm not convinced he's talking about H here, as we often call him "Baba." When my dad was here, and I was calling up the stairs to him, Sami learned to say "Daaaad" in a most hilarious way.
I really think his absolute first word, though, will have to be "tickle, tickle, tickle" as he's been saying that for a very long time- or at least, some semblance of it.

Riders

Saturday we finally went and redeemed our Plum District Voucher to Broken Bow Ranch. I had given the horse riding lessons to Leila for her birthday, back in April!

She had a great time- well worth the almost hour's drive. And when they found out Sami had never been on a horse, they put him up for a short ride, too! Looks like a real Texan, don't ya think?
I also heard him say "Hi" to the horse- first time I've heard such a definite greeting from him.

Ali stayed at a friend's house to play- and the best part, when we went to pick him up, they invited us in for delicious couscous. Yum!

Next week Leila decided to go on a trail ride instead of a second lesson- so I'm going to go too! I'm already dreading Sunday*!

Sami still refuses to walk, though he did take a quick step when I put him on his feet the other day. Meanwhile, he's found another way to carry his noisemakers as he crawls around. And no, we don't feed him in this pan!

 *The trail ride is Saturday- the sore legs are Sunday.

"This weekend will challenge your assumptions"

Oh goodness. And it's only Tuesday! What suspense! So far, what I've got going on this weekend is snacks for Leila's third soccer game of the season. Maybe the girls will surprise me with what they eat? Oh, and we have Girl Scouts on Friday. Hmmm....
I was going to quit posting these as they keep repeating them, but this one was too good to pass up!
In other news:
Yesterday, Ali told me: "Sami is a rascal to me!" I came into my bedroom to find Sami crawling over Ali, as he is wont to do. He usually ends up on his head. Apparently he had hit Ali a couple of times. If someone says "Ow!" Sami grins.

Current obsessions.

And I mean, OBSESSIONS!!!
Ali- Pokemon. At a friend's birthday party at a jump house, he spent a long time talking Pokemon to the teenager tending the trampolines. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Pokemon has his/her brain picked clean, and he spends hours with his friends playing on the ds, or playing with the figurines, or looking at cards. His were very organized until they fell on the floor. I would know more about them but I kind of tune out Pokemon information, just "uh-huing" at the right moment. A friend from Sweden was visiting with his family, and when Ali found out his son used to love Pokemon, he immediately latched onto him.
Leila- mermaids. She's watched every episode of an Australian show called H20, in which three girls happen upon a magical pool and become mermaids. In every episode they get wet, transform, and have to avoid detection. Today she wanted the scales off the Salmon* I was preparing for dinner in the hopes that by applying them to her legs she would one day just start growing a tail.
She also wants to buy a mermaid tail and/or find a magical pool.
Sami- the telephone. I'm afraid one day he's going to dial 911. He still loves the remote control, too. I got him his own cell phone and remote, but they are bright colored and clearly kids' toys. He wants the real thing. He also likes cords, and like everything else, they go straight to his mouth.
*Salmon deserves to be capitalized. Even on sale it's expensive!

"You will say yes when you should say no."

Oddly enough, this isn't entirely true of me. Well, I do say yes too much, but I also am willing to say no, especially about work things. This is strangely intimidating to some people.
One of my tactics is to let other people who have a tendency to say yes say it first. Sometimes this works.
I actually need to work on saying "yes" more to the kids. That's what some moms do. I also, incidentally, need to take them bowling. (Did you click on that link?)
Yesterday I said "yes" to taking Ali to the store to buy a new Pokemon game. You'd have thought it was Christmas. He woke up excited, and when he'd picked out the game, even thought it wasn't the exact one he'd gone in for, he thanked the store clerk "very much" and very enthusiastically.
Leila got a new Monster High doll. The only one of this doll had chewing gum on the plastic packaging, and had obviously been opened, though nothing was missing. When we checked out, we asked for, and got, a nice discount. (Christmas indeed!)
Sami's yes is the freedom to crawl around as he likes, with the occasional rescue from under a chair.

toothless

 At the Fourth of July get together- "Mommy, can somebody pull my tooth?" And so H did.

Meanwhile, this guy has five new teeth, including the top two to match the ones Ali lost. But this picture is about his eyes.
I am the worst tooth fairy ever! I don't think I've ever remembered to actually put money under the pillow. For his first tooth, Ali looked first thing, and then told Habib about it. Habib gave him a dollar and said the tooth fairy had put it under HIS pillow. I usually pretend that it fell on the floor of the kids room. For his second tooth, Ali's tooth flew out of his mouth and got lost on our friend's patio. However, the tooth fairy still visited Ali. In fact, she remembered in the morning before he did, and slipped a dollar under his pillow. Then Mom reminded him to go and look. He reported back that she hadn't come. Apparently, he'd put the dollar from his last tooth under his pillow, so he thought it was just that one! Arghhhh! I can't win!

altered

Ali lost a tooth today, unexpectedly and somewhat violently, as Leila caught it with her fingers while grabbing Sami. He was very upset, and it did bleed quite a bit, but it must have been loose to begin with, though none of us knew that. It was one of his front teeth, and the other one seems loose as well, so my beautiful little boy is going to be not so much this summer.
Oh, well.

Sami, on the other hand, is growing teeth. His third one has popped up, making a little uneven row across his bottom gum.