Birthday Gifts Keep On Giving

We had a laid-back 2nd birthday celebration for Samson at home back in early October, basically a toddler free-for-all in our big backyard with a bouncy house and lots of borrowed or Craigslist-found ride-on toys. Unlike the first year, we forgot to specify "no gifts, please," and our friends and family couldn't resist showering Samson with a gigantic mound of presents, most related to his favored theme of transportation.

Upon the advice of our more experienced parenting friends, we decided to stash the many gifts in the closet and parcel them out over time so as not to overwhelm Samson with too many new things and better allow him to enjoy each one on its own. This has worked out fabulously; 7 weeks later, we are still making our way to the bottom of the pile.

This morning's surprise is courtesy of the Turners. We just love the toys made by this British company, as they require no batteries, are totally friction-powered, have no annoying electronic sound effects, have a wide age-appropriate range of 1.5-5 years, and have minimal packaging to hack through & dispose of. The picture is from Mama's phone, so it's a little fuzzy. Still, you can see how much Samson is stretching out & morphing into a big boy:


Samson was due sometime between November 21st and 26th, so he's now officially 2 years old. His health and development are all on track, so we're actually no longer adjusting his age as is commonly done with preemies. This is one time that it feels pretty nice to graduate to "average."

Hello, again.

Dear readers, it's been too long since our last post. There's been too much activity and not enough time to write. We have lots of pics to share and stories to tell. More to come this weekend....

A quick update since our last entry: Samson's cut healed just fine. He has a barely noticeable scar that will probably disappear with time, but who can notice, since he's added several more scrapes since then?

Now at 25 1/2 months, our plump toddler has disappeared and in his place: a long, lean boy. We are amazed at how much older he seems in such a short amount of time.

Samson is talking up a storm, jabbering about something all the time; he loves to repeat the last phrase of whatever anyone has said to him. He has finally discovered the tremendous power of the word, "No," which he uses to answer almost any question, regardless of whether he actually agrees or disagrees with the proposition.

After several rounds of colds and assorted infections, everyone in the family is well. Additionally, we've adjusted almost effortlessly to our new routine since Mama returned to full time work outside the home.

We're all looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday when we'll be able to travel to Houston to spend time with Daddy's side of the family, including Cousin Bridget.

Ta-ta for now!

The Joker

Samson's school called on Tuesday afternoon to report that he had tripped and fallen, hitting his chin on a table and biting through his lip. Mama rushed to school to assess the damage and found Samson and three teachers with blood spattered shirts and shorts, yet Samson was as cheerful as ever. Since the deep cut went into the white part of his face (yikes!), stitches were in order. Off we went to our first visit to the ER across town at Dell Children's Medical Center.

Here Samson enjoys the waiting area, watching cars in the parking lot and the fish in the aquarium. Tough guy seemed completely oblivious to the gaping bloody gash on his face.


The staff and protocols at Dell Children's were as kid-friendly as could be, so we were as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. The wait in the general waiting area was no more than 10 minutes or so, then we were whisked into our private exam/procedure room, complete with cable TV on a flat screen. Samson was as cool as a clam while the kind doctor looked him over, peeking in ears, eyes, & nose, and then even touching all around the injury. A child-life specialist came in next to show us what would happen during the stitching, giving Samson the chance to see and touch many of the tools to be used and to see Mama & Daddy pretend to get operations.

Of course, no amount of tender preparation could head off the awful shrieks and tears once our poor little buddy was wrapped onto the papoose board and a giant needle was inserted into his upper gums to block the nerves on that side of the face. As Samson screamed, the child life specialist coached Mama on distracting him with some books, toys, and favorite songs. Three stitches were put in place and thankfully we were out of there within two hours of our arrival.

Here's the result. It's still a little swollen, but we expect the lip to heal up nicely and show very little scarring.

Beach Baby, Beach Baby

Splashing in PawPaw's Pool

Before heading out to our vacation at the coast, we stopped for an overnight visit at Grandma & PawPaw's big new house. Uncle Kevin and cousin Bridget joined us for a dip in the backyard pool.


As usual, Samson was fearless in the water, this time even jumping in from the side of the pool into Daddy's arms and begging to be tossed up into the air again and again. Looks like he's got Daddy's swimmer gene.