Recently in Samuel Category

Yesterday, Sam wouldn't take a nap. He does that, sometimes. He's generally grumpy all evening, then falls asleep as soon as we put him to bed.

And that's what happened. Alas, around 10:00pm he woke up with a bad case of the screaming crazies, and nothing could calm him for very long. We ran through the entire checklist: water, movies (the Pixar short films on the iMac; various cat videos on YouTube; and even Dumbo on the television), snacks, snuggles with Mama and Papa (though not at the same time).

Finally, we dosed him with some tylenol, and he sort of fell asleep around midnight. But he didn't stay asleep, and poor Jennifer was up with him until 4:00am. (Jake slept through it all. He's an amazingly sound sleeper. We don't sedate him, honest!)

At 4:00am, it was my turn to wrangle the beast. We snuggled a bit, out in the living room; Sam was still miserable, but too tired to stay awake & yell any more. "I want to get back in bed," he said, so I tucked him in.

That was around 5:00am. I thought about going back to bed myself, but decided that getting one more hour of sleep before the alarm went off wouldn't be worth the trouble. (As I recall, my exact thought was, [censored] it, I'm awake.) So I messed around on the computer for a while, until Sam woke up, miserable again.

We didn't need any alarm clocks this morning: Sam woke up everybody quite effectively. (I imagine he disturbed the neighbors' sleep, too.)

It occurred to us that Sam's nose was all stuffed up, so we dosed him with some decongestant; and - mirabile dictu! - Happy Sam returned almost immediately.

He had a good day today, took a good nap, and - fortified with a bit more medication - has been sleeping soundly for a few hours now. Poor little guy. I feel quite the chump for not thinking of the decongestant last night.

We're hoping the rest of tonight isn't like last night....

Sam is trying very hard to change his schedule from a short afternoon nap and an early bedtime to a long nap and bedtime two hours later.

This is rather unfortunate, because he keeps poor Jacob awake. And Jake needs his sleep, because - unlike Sam - he has to get up early and go to school.

I think tomorrow young Mr. Sam's afternoon nap will be brief - if he gets one at all. I'd rather deal with a misbehaving little boy at 3:00pm than at 10:00pm.

Sam is up early from his nap, and - judging by the sounds I'm hearing on the monitor - is not very happy about it.

Poor little guy.

Update: Poor Mr. Sam, woke up with a bad case of the screaming crazies. Fortunately, Jake & I found something to soothe him:

Handy thing, YouTube....

Jennifer reports that around noon today, Sam announced, "I'm hungry." He ate a good lunch, and a good dinner.

He's been feisty, but also tired.

We're quietly hopeful that our second encounter with this brief - but messy - illness is nearing its end. (The big question now: Who's next? Jennifer? Me?)

Today started early, and with a bang: Sam woke up at 5:00am, throwing up.

Semi-digested peaches all over himself, all over the bed. Euww....

Poor little guy.

Sam likes to wear Mama & Papa's shoes. Just now, he came clumping up to me with Jennifer's sandals on his feet.

"Sneakers!" Sam said.

"Are you wearing shoes?" I said.

"Is not shoes, is sneakers!"

The other day, I was in the kitchen. Sam was in the bedroom, watching television. Suddenly, from the bedroom came a loud T H U M P. It was louder than the usual dropped-something thump, louder even than the fell-out-of-bed thump from Sam's early days in his big-boy bed. Convinced that Sam had managed to pull down the television on himself, I rushed in to investigate.

Sam was standing in front of the television, holding Jennifer's handweights. "I'm very strong!" he announced, then dropped them.

T H U M P.

Silly boy.

We've been having this conversation with Sam quite often lately:

Sam, are you a little boy or a little girl?
Little girl!

Silly boy.

The other day, Sam got a catalog in the mail from Toys to Grow On. (His very first junk mail. All together now: Awww...) He's obsessed with this picture:

Sam fears for the health & safety of the little boy in this picture. "Oh no!" he says. "He's stuck!"

We try to reassure him. "No, Sam, he's just playing with the blocks. He's okay."

It doesn't work. "Oh no! He's stuck!"

Jennifer took Jake & Sam to see Alvin and the Chipmunks this morning at the Savoy 16. (Alas, I didn't get to go.)

We haven't had much success taking Sam to movies. He'll sit for a while - half an hour, tops - then try to get up & run around, then throw a fit when we don't let him. Usually I end up taking him out to the lobby, while Jennifer stays in the theater with Jake.

At this morning's movie, Sam was attentive and well-behaved - until the popcorn ran out. Silly boy.

I'm told Jake was very understanding about having to leave early....