Geo-Journey: September 2008

I keep saying this and never seem to follow up on my promises, but I need to write more often. Three months is a long time, in my opinion. What can happen in 3 months, you may say? Considering 3 months is a quarter of a year and say, the average person lives to be 80 years old, then 3 months is approximately 0.3% of your life. Ok, it doesn’t seem like very much. But, those of us with children, it’s a long time! What has happened? A camping trip in Oklahoma, a camping trip to New Mexico, Samara’s 2^nd birthday, 4^th of July, etc etc. I tell you, “action packed” is an understatement.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate some friends from Colorado who informed us that they are expecting in December of this year! Wow! And, of course, congrats to Brian and Alli on a new marriage! Let’s see..Brian and Alli getting married…Sean and Sarah expecting their 1^st….Brad and Amy with a 1-year old….Shana and I planning our second…Brian and Kelli with three boys….very interesting spectrum. And, some psychology…every couple I named the male 1^st, except for Shana and myself…hmmm…

Here are some great Samara stories and developments to share:

Shana and I were driving back from her mother’s house and stopped in at the local Starbuck’s in Owasso. My idea, since they give you their coffee grounds for gardening. Shana ordered her “usual”, a caramel frappacino. For anyone who doesn’t know what a “frap” is, the beverage is a concoction of coffee, ice, sugar, and what ever flavor you choose blended into something that would be called a coffee slurpy at 7-eleven. So naturally, a 2-year old would love this beverage. That, and the fact that Samara likes a little coffee now and then, makes for an interesting outcome (on a side note, Samara can smell coffee from a mile away…the kid has a nose for smell). So, Shana received her beverage and gave Samara a drink (this wasn’t her 1^st frap). Samara held on to the beverage while Shana went to the restroom, taking some generous sips. After Shana was finished, she realized that Samara wouldn’t relinquish the tasty beverage. So, on the way out of the store, we talked to Samara about sharing (again) and that it was mommy’s turn to drink. Inside the car, she reluctantly handed over the drink. As we were driving, Shana took a couple of leisurely drinks. After a few moments of silence, Samara belted with air of deception in her voice, “Give me my coffee back!!!” My crystal ball tells me that Samara’s college fund will be spent at Starbuck’s!

Samara turned 2 in June. Wow! The speed at which life plays out in the grand scheme of things is amazing. And what is equally amazing, is how slow time can feel (My extra philosophy of the day…nothing like Emerson or Thoreau, of course). Samara loved opening presents and seemed to be really in the groove, unlike her 1^st birthday, when she counted on help from her young friends. The interesting part of the day (no, this is not about my family being one and a half hours late) was after we had passed out cupcakes to everyone. We planted two candles into Samara’s cupcake and set it ablaze. As we started to sing “Happy Birthday”, Samara became frightened! She jumped off of the park bench and started running away from the party, which must have seemed to her young, impressionable mind, like a devil-worshipping ceremony seen in the movies. She finally stopped at a fence and was crying and in a frightened state. A little child psychology on that great day…

Samara can recite the ABC song; we’re working on recognizing the letters. She has also learned her colors over the last several months. Instead of calling everything yellow, she can now identify colors correctly about 95% of the time. She has trouble with colors that are a mix, say, yellow-green, blue-green, lighter color purples.

We’re also in potty-training mode! During the weekend at home, we let her run around without a diaper or in underwear and she does a great job letting us know when she has to go. Interestingly, she doesn’t do as good at daycare…maybe there’s just so much going on! Speaking of diaper/potty training, Samara has a mild interest in looking at her poopy diapers, which I may have mentioned before. But now, she likes to say, out of the blue, Daddy poopy…mommy poopy…Orion poopy, and of course, laugh!

On with the pictures!