Today

• Decided on the spur of the moment to go to the local water park with Sam


• While waiting for it to open, went to the park where we observed a traditional water balloon toss


• Swam for 2 hours


• Ate lunch on the grass


• Fed the Canadian Geese


• Went on the carousel, twice


• Took a little ride in a boat on the lake


• Swam for another hour


• Cooked and ate a delicious dinner


• Watched So You Think You Can Dance finale


• About to go read the latest Lee Child thriller

All Little Things, but they add up to one heck of a great day.

The Sam Update - Thirty Five Months Old

It's been another month of booming independence for Samantha!

[caption id="attachment_1736" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Does the recorder sound different when you blow it into a jar?"][/caption]

Sam is going through another growth/development spurt right now.  She is constantly hungry, she is sleeping a lot, she is bursting with energy, and she is doing new things every day.  Just in the past few days I noticed that her communication skills shot through the roof.  For example, yesterday when Adam got home, she asked him plainly, HOW WAS WORK, DADDY? and she expected an answer.  She is also saying things like ONE BLANKET FOR EACH BABY instead of BOTH BABY HAVE BLANKETS.  There are other things that have struck me, but they happen so fast and furious that I never seem to get them down on paper.

Her imagination is booming too.  She seems to have a good grasp of pretend versus real, at least for her age.  She tells me when things are pretend now, like when we play monsters or ghost.  Sometimes I'll say, "Oh, are you putting your doll to sleep?" and she'll respond, NO, JUST PRETENDING.  She has interesting thoughts like, when I noted that the dog was sniffing the air, she said, MAYBE TOBY GOING HUNTING FOR FOOD.  Where does she come up with this stuff?

[caption id="attachment_1738" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Pretending to be angry"][/caption]

After months of counting ONE FOUR SIX TEN FIVE THREE EIGHT!  Sam is finally starting to count to ten properly.  As a matter of fact, she can count to twenty, as long as you go along with her conviction that fifteen is The Number Which Must Not Be Named.

As I've already written, Samantha got through her first weekend without mommy and daddy this month.  This is a bigger milestone for us than it is for her, but I'm proud to report that she handled it very well. 

Somehow, Sam decided that she didn't need bibs anymore this month.  She used to demand a bib - it was just part of eating - but overnight, it seems, she dropped it and we let it go.  And you know what?  She doesn't spill as much as she used to.  I wonder which was the cause and which the effect there?

[caption id="attachment_1734" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="Lasagna"][/caption]

I'm not sure if she's grown any taller, but Sam's feet grew almost 2 sizes in the past few months.  I had to buy a second set of summer shoes for her, and that is a first.  Shoes (and clothes) had always lasted at least a season, and as a matter of fact, she is still wearing a lot of her clothes from last summer.  I sometimes worry about how small she is, but hey, somebody has to be in the 10^th percentile.  At least her small stature is not interfering with her independence as much as it used to.  She can now reach most sinks with a stool, she can use the short drinking fountain at day care, and she can reach doorknobs.  I know she'll still have challenges growing up small, but both Adam and I have experience in that area so hopefully we can help her through it.

We're working on the potty training in earnest now.  As of now, all it means is that she wears underwear for a few hours each morning and she sits on the potty sometimes.  It seems like she now knows how to hold her urine as I haven't seen a puddle in a few days, but she still hasn't peed on the potty.  I might just break down after all and buy a book to tell me what to do.  Maybe.  If I'm really desperate.

In retrospect, I know that we did indeed experience the terrible twos.  The reason I'm only sure of this now is that Sam is going through another willful phase, complete with all the usual tantrums, but now with the added bonus of whining mixed in.  Once she started on this spree, I realized that the past several months had been very peaceful, and I saw the contrast with January and February, when things were tough.  I know that this won't last forever but it's sure not fun.  I'm back to having a wet right shoulder most of the time from all the crying that goes on there.

A fun development is that Sam now likes to shower with us.  It's not always convenient in our tiny tub/shower combo (I'll shave my legs again someday, I suppose) but it's great to see her wanting to get clean just like mommy and daddy.  Today, I finished my shower and Sam wanted to stay in for a while so I got dressed and puttered around the bathroom for at least 10 minutes while she showered all by herself.  Really, the only help she needs is a hand to step in and out of the tub and someone to turn the water on and off.  She soaps and rinses pretty well all on her own.  She even dries herself with a hand towel all by herself, propping her feet up on the toilet to dry her legs, just like I do on the vanity.  The first time I saw her do that I just about wept with the realization of how much of the things Adam and I do will become a part of her forever.

[caption id="attachment_1735" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Swimming"][/caption]

New Objectivist Parenting Mailing List

I'm excited to report that Rational Jenn and Diana Hsiehhave teamed up to create a new Objectivist mailing list:  OGrownups.  Here is a description of the group, taken from Jenn's announcement:

OGrownups is an informal mailing list for Objectivists interested in raising and educating children well. Its basic purpose is to facilitate discussion amongst Objectivists about child development, discipline techniques, education methods, parenting resources, and more.

Any Objectivist interested in polite and practical discussion about raising and educating children rationally may join OGrownups -- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, caregivers, and friends. Anyone considering parenthood is also welcome.

The group is inclusive in regard to parenting - even if you are just interested in the subject, you are welcome to join.  But it is exclusive in regard to Objectivism.  Please read the criteria for membership carefully before joining.

I've already joined and I'm looking forward to seeing how the group develops.  Both Diana and Jenn have already done much to help build the Objectivist intellectual network, and if you read my blog, you already know that I'm a big fan of Jenn's writing on parenting.   This should be good!

A Written Schedule

A couple of weeks ago I bought a whiteboard and wrote up Samantha's Daily Schedule on it.  It goes something like this:

• 8-8:30  Wake up, try potty, wear underwear


• 8:30-9:15  Breakfast


• 9:15-10:30  Free play, mommy shower, get dressed, brush hair


• 10:30-11  Structured play


• 11-noon  Free play, errands, chores


• noon-1pm  Lunch, clean up


• 1-2:30  Nap


• 2:30-3  Free play


• 3-3:30  Snack


• 3:30-5  Free play, errands, chores, bath


• 5-5:30  Structured play, try potty


• 5:30-6:30  Mommy time, make dinner


• 6:30-7:30 Dinner


• 7:30-8:30  Play, brush teeth, PJs, clean up


• 8:30  Bedtime

We don't stick to the schedule too closely.  It's not about the schedule, really - it's about the schedule telling Samantha what to do instead of mommy telling Samantha what to do.  When I first wrote it up, and whenever I change it, I get Sam to agree to it.  Then, when something needs to be done and she's resisting me, I can always say, "Let's go check the schedule and, see if we have time/see what we need to do/make sure we're on track."

I added the "try potty" entries after she decided she liked to wear underwear, but didn't mind peeing on the floor enough to bother trying the potty.  The day after I wrote it down, she started trying again without a struggle.  Now I just need to slowly add more "tries" to the schedule.  The same thing happened with brushing her hair.  I can't believe such a simple trick works, but it does.  Hurray for the schedule!

Blood and Chocolate

Sam had her first real bloody injury on Saturday.  Neither Adam nor I actually saw it happen, but we surmise that she tripped and fell into the door frame, forehead first.  I knew it was bad from the horrifying thunk that I heard all the way at the other end of the house.  Adam was at the scene a few seconds before me and looked at her head but didn't see anything, so he was hugging her when I got there.  But by the time I looked there was blood running down her face, pooling in her eyes, getting sniffed up her nose, and running into her mouth.  There was so much  blood.  Even though I knew that cuts on the scalp can bleed a lot, it was so frightening.  It took a few minutes before we could even figure out where the wound was because the blood was just everywhere.  I'm not even going to try to get the stains out of the towel we used to stop the bleeding.  That thing is going in the trash.

She's fine.  It was a cut that bled like crazy, but really, nothing much worse than she's had before.  Her skull did its job and protected her brain.  Adam and I both did a pretty good job at not panicking, and doing all the right things.  Not perfect, but not too shabby.  I had an initial moment of fear and panic but I was glad that I quite easily stomped that out and started using my mind.

We had been just about to leave for a party when it happened, and it took a full hour to calm Sam down, assess the damage and clean her up.  We did end up going to the party even though we were very late.  By that time, Sam was fine and we all had a great time.  I had made brownies to bring along, and to help Sam get out of her funk right after the injury, we let her lick the bowl.  A spoonful of chocolate is better than medicine!  Why is this image of her covered in blood, happily eating brownie batter so precious?  I'm not sure, but I love it.

Mysteries

How come women pay $60, $70, $80 for a hair cut?  I'm not talking color or highlights or any other treatment.  A salon hair cut in the DC area costs at least $60 and I've been told that it can run over $100.  Why does it cost so much?  It makes no sense to me.  Is this one of those services where raising the price actually increases sales because customers then perceive that they are getting better quality?  It's a hair cut, for god's sake!  For $100, Iexpect you to cut my hair into the shape of the Venus de Milo.

I've been paying the high prices for the past year because I couldn't find a better option, but it was making me so sick to spend that much money that I finally went to Hair Cuttery and got an excellent cut for $21.  It's definitely better than my last $65 cut, which I had to fix with my own scissors the next day.  Also, it took less time and I didn't need an appointment.  Granted, I probably got lucky and got someone with skills, but I was prepared to try every person in that shop until I found someone who could do a good job.  I'm sure there are a couple of good people at all of these low end chains.  And even if a salon cut was better, could it really be THAT much better?  I really think we women are suckers for anything beautifying.  It's the female equivalent of the mysterious success of the "male-enhancement" products.

So I'm free of the need to spend outrageous amounts on a hair cut.  Highlights, however, are another matter.

A Little Thing

Samantha made her first rhyme.  A fly had gotten in the house and we were saying, "A fly went by" and quoting lines from that excellent book.  Sam said A FLY WENT BY. A FLY WENT IN MY EYE.