(no subject)
Hmm, found SAM's first toy with lead in it on healthytoys.org - a plastic cement-mixer truck that my mom got for him earlier this year. Luckily it's just a tiny bit of lead, and not on a place where he would have been putting his mouth. The toy is still going away, but it was noisy anyway, and SAM won't notice since it was among the many toys I already packed away.
I packed up fully half of SAM's toys a few weeks ago, in preparation for Christmas and moving. Then I packed up at least half of the remaining toys a week or so after that. And the only thing SAM got upset about was that I had put his diaper changing mat away to make room for his new chair. He's a funny child. It was a good opportunity to pare down his junk, and I'll probably get rid of some more stuff before I give it back to him when we're in our new house.
I forgot I was supposed to start using tags. I guess I'll do that.
We had a good Christmas - two of them, really. :) At the first one, at the condo, we got to hang out with phoeclipse and aveareya as well as my parents, though sadly R. is a slacker and didn't come up, and my sister has sworn never to come back from Hawaii when it's cold here. But we had a good dinner, and SAM managed to open at least half of his gifts before he got tired of presents. :) He got some lions with meat (which he tried to eat himself) and a really awesome stuffed dragon (which he licks, for some reason) from phoeclipse and aveareya. He got many books, of course, and one of them came with a wind-up tractor that drives around little tracks inside the book. That was a huge hit, but then came the really exciting things: an old-fashioned wooden lawnmower toy with balls inside that clink around, and a scooter. He drove the lawnmower all around the condo, under tables and into closets, for at least fifteen minutes before we could drag him back and make him unwrap the scooter. :) He is small for a scooter, but he loves and steals the ones that belong to the kids across the street, so my parents got him one. We had been to see Santa the day before, and that was what he asked for (with prompting). He was really good with Santa! We were surprised, he didn't cry (except when we had told him it was his turn next and then we had to wait longer for my dad to get there) or get scared or anything, he even gave a tiny smile for the camera. :)
He also got a giant Little People zoo set with animals from A to Z, though we didn't open that one until yesterday when we got back home. Augh, it makes noise! :P At least this one had an easy-to-reach, labeled volume switch that made it less deafening, and even an off switch. But I still sigh. The funny thing is that it came with two koalas and no jaguar (the A to Z theme, you see). So I called them today and they'll send a replacement, but they have to send ALL the animals. I should have just told them never mind, I'd rather have no jaguar than two of everything, but I wasn't quick enough. Oh well. We already have all the Little People in the world: an Ark, a farm, a schoolbus, assorted small accessory packs, and now this zoo. I'm rather of two minds about them. They are plastic, and they make noise... but on the other hand they are nice little animal and people shapes, and SAM likes them. So we won't get rid of them, but I think it's time to tell the parents no more. Oh, and he also got a great big Little People car garage from hoshiadam's parents, that is on the way here since it wouldn't fit in the car.
So we had a nice time with my parents, then the next morning we met everyone for breakfast and drove out to Milwaukee, which I've already talked about. We went right through Chicago on the way, since it was late and traffic wasn't an issue, so I got to see the Sears Tower! That was neat - it was quite tall, but somehow not quite as tall as I expected. I think part of me was looking for a building that dwindled away to a vanishing point somewhere far up in the sky. :) We got lost a bit on our way through Milwaukee, because of road construction and closed exits, so we had to drive around a bit downtown, but we eventually found our way out and made it to hoshiadam's house. I had a very sore arm by that point, since I'd been holding up SAM's giant heavy head for the last 150 miles, so it wouldn't flop around and wake him up.
Present-opening with hoshiadam's family lasted most of the morning, since they wrap all their presents, even the Santa ones. So weird. :) But the slow pace was nice, since we could give SAM time between presents to play with the toy he'd just opened, instead of dragging him off to open the next thing. It gets rather silly sometimes, poor little consumer... He got a bunch of Legos, a really big dump truck he likes to ride in, and the biggest hit of all Christmas, a wooden train set. Hoshiadam's parents heeded our wishes and didn't get a Thomas one, which was nice, but it seems we weren't clear enough about preferring non-noise-making and non-electronic gifts. The trains are NOISY! *sigh* They don't seem to have a volume control, and putting tape over the speakers only helped a little. But he LOVES them. He took no nap Christmas day, he just lay on the floor ALL DAY LONG in the middle of his train tracks, watching them go round and round. He also likes to take the electric train and set it loose to drive all through the house. :) It just keeps going... We set the train back up here yesterday, and that's been all he wants to do. Right now he's driving his giant dump truck over the top of all the trains and tracks and everything. :) And he got a Mr. Potato Head, with a bunch of pirate accessories. He seems to like it, but I think we'll pare down the extras a good bit. In all, we were less deluged with presents for SAM this year than last. It was nice, maybe he won't be utterly spoiled. :)
I gave him a little wooden frog instrument, with a stick you run down its back to make a frog sound. It doesn't compare to trains (neither does food or sleep), but he seems to enjoy it. Hoshiadam got him some tangram blocks, and he can name the shapes! And we also gave him a little silk streamer, which sadly is rather too long for him so far - maybe later in the year he'll have more luck, and a comet ball, which is just a soft cloth ball with a long rainbow silk tail. :) I loved those when I was little. He isn't as excited about it as DAT was about his, but he likes to wave it around.
And that was SAM's addition to the clutter. :) Hoshiadam and I mostly got books and gift cards (and some Wii games for hoshiadam), and we got an exceedingly generous gift from my parents which will relieve a lot of our stress in the coming months. :) We also got one of those little digital picture frames that shows a slideshow of your photos, and some interesting gifts from aveareya and phoeclipse, which I shall post pictures of later on. :)
Christmas dinner didn't go so well from my end. It was really tasty, but SAM had fallen asleep just before, since he didn't have a nap. It was just barely too early to put him down for the night, so we woke him up to eat dinner, and he was VERY cranky. We got a little bit of food down him, but then he went from whiny and crying at every little setback to complete meltdown mode. So I took him up to bed, where, of course, he decided he wasn't actually sleepy at all. *rolls eyes* It took more than an hour to get him to sleep (at least he was happy, just not sleeping). But my food reheated nicely, and I ate while we watched the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which hoshiadam's dad had received. We hadn't seen it before. It was a fun movie, but the ending was a bit of a letdown for me. But I suppose that pirates don't necessarily get the happiest ending. *shrug* Other than that little sleep episode, SAM did really well sleep-wise, especially considering that we were traveling. He had a tiny little air mattress to sleep on. :)
The next day we got SAM's hair cut! I could have sworn it grew a few inches just in the few days before Christmas, and it had already been in his eyes for weeks. :) They didn't have a little horsey for him to sit on at this salon, but he was still really good. I was happy with the haircut. His first two I didn't like, because I'm always sad when his pretty hair gets cut short, but this one was better, for some reason. Maybe he's just old enough to fit the cut more? It did make him look like a big, big boy! He's huge now! :)
Then in the afternoon, we went out to a children's museum. It was lots of fun. They had a big store/kitchen area with some wooden food (the awesome sliceable kind that I want to get him next year, it's in pieces that velcro together), two train tables, a big art area, and a pirate ship! :) He had all kinds of fun. They also had an interesting substance called Moon Sand. It's sand mixed with wax - an odd, moldable texture. We got him some for his birthday.
Thursday we drove home! It went well. SAM even put himself to sleep for a nap in the car! I was sooo sleepy that I had just handed him his little cloth Nativity people (which he LOVES, we'll have to get similar toys for his birthday), and closed my eyes. When I woke up he had conked out. :) And he slept more soundly during the late driving phase than he did on the way up, so I didn't have to hold his head the whole time. :)
And now we're home! We've been spending some of our gift cards, but most of the ones for hoshiadam and I are going to wait until after we move. We're still going to be getting SAM a big wooden block set from my grandmother, but that may or may not wait until the move too. We've been playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii during SAM's naps, instead of cleaning up the giant mess. :) It's silly, but fun.
Yesterday was our 7-year anniversary! Starting year 8 today. We almost forgot about it yesterday, actually... oops. Too much else going on. But oh well, maybe we'll have dinner at some point or something.
I packed up fully half of SAM's toys a few weeks ago, in preparation for Christmas and moving. Then I packed up at least half of the remaining toys a week or so after that. And the only thing SAM got upset about was that I had put his diaper changing mat away to make room for his new chair. He's a funny child. It was a good opportunity to pare down his junk, and I'll probably get rid of some more stuff before I give it back to him when we're in our new house.
I forgot I was supposed to start using tags. I guess I'll do that.
We had a good Christmas - two of them, really. :) At the first one, at the condo, we got to hang out with phoeclipse and aveareya as well as my parents, though sadly R. is a slacker and didn't come up, and my sister has sworn never to come back from Hawaii when it's cold here. But we had a good dinner, and SAM managed to open at least half of his gifts before he got tired of presents. :) He got some lions with meat (which he tried to eat himself) and a really awesome stuffed dragon (which he licks, for some reason) from phoeclipse and aveareya. He got many books, of course, and one of them came with a wind-up tractor that drives around little tracks inside the book. That was a huge hit, but then came the really exciting things: an old-fashioned wooden lawnmower toy with balls inside that clink around, and a scooter. He drove the lawnmower all around the condo, under tables and into closets, for at least fifteen minutes before we could drag him back and make him unwrap the scooter. :) He is small for a scooter, but he loves and steals the ones that belong to the kids across the street, so my parents got him one. We had been to see Santa the day before, and that was what he asked for (with prompting). He was really good with Santa! We were surprised, he didn't cry (except when we had told him it was his turn next and then we had to wait longer for my dad to get there) or get scared or anything, he even gave a tiny smile for the camera. :)
He also got a giant Little People zoo set with animals from A to Z, though we didn't open that one until yesterday when we got back home. Augh, it makes noise! :P At least this one had an easy-to-reach, labeled volume switch that made it less deafening, and even an off switch. But I still sigh. The funny thing is that it came with two koalas and no jaguar (the A to Z theme, you see). So I called them today and they'll send a replacement, but they have to send ALL the animals. I should have just told them never mind, I'd rather have no jaguar than two of everything, but I wasn't quick enough. Oh well. We already have all the Little People in the world: an Ark, a farm, a schoolbus, assorted small accessory packs, and now this zoo. I'm rather of two minds about them. They are plastic, and they make noise... but on the other hand they are nice little animal and people shapes, and SAM likes them. So we won't get rid of them, but I think it's time to tell the parents no more. Oh, and he also got a great big Little People car garage from hoshiadam's parents, that is on the way here since it wouldn't fit in the car.
So we had a nice time with my parents, then the next morning we met everyone for breakfast and drove out to Milwaukee, which I've already talked about. We went right through Chicago on the way, since it was late and traffic wasn't an issue, so I got to see the Sears Tower! That was neat - it was quite tall, but somehow not quite as tall as I expected. I think part of me was looking for a building that dwindled away to a vanishing point somewhere far up in the sky. :) We got lost a bit on our way through Milwaukee, because of road construction and closed exits, so we had to drive around a bit downtown, but we eventually found our way out and made it to hoshiadam's house. I had a very sore arm by that point, since I'd been holding up SAM's giant heavy head for the last 150 miles, so it wouldn't flop around and wake him up.
Present-opening with hoshiadam's family lasted most of the morning, since they wrap all their presents, even the Santa ones. So weird. :) But the slow pace was nice, since we could give SAM time between presents to play with the toy he'd just opened, instead of dragging him off to open the next thing. It gets rather silly sometimes, poor little consumer... He got a bunch of Legos, a really big dump truck he likes to ride in, and the biggest hit of all Christmas, a wooden train set. Hoshiadam's parents heeded our wishes and didn't get a Thomas one, which was nice, but it seems we weren't clear enough about preferring non-noise-making and non-electronic gifts. The trains are NOISY! *sigh* They don't seem to have a volume control, and putting tape over the speakers only helped a little. But he LOVES them. He took no nap Christmas day, he just lay on the floor ALL DAY LONG in the middle of his train tracks, watching them go round and round. He also likes to take the electric train and set it loose to drive all through the house. :) It just keeps going... We set the train back up here yesterday, and that's been all he wants to do. Right now he's driving his giant dump truck over the top of all the trains and tracks and everything. :) And he got a Mr. Potato Head, with a bunch of pirate accessories. He seems to like it, but I think we'll pare down the extras a good bit. In all, we were less deluged with presents for SAM this year than last. It was nice, maybe he won't be utterly spoiled. :)
I gave him a little wooden frog instrument, with a stick you run down its back to make a frog sound. It doesn't compare to trains (neither does food or sleep), but he seems to enjoy it. Hoshiadam got him some tangram blocks, and he can name the shapes! And we also gave him a little silk streamer, which sadly is rather too long for him so far - maybe later in the year he'll have more luck, and a comet ball, which is just a soft cloth ball with a long rainbow silk tail. :) I loved those when I was little. He isn't as excited about it as DAT was about his, but he likes to wave it around.
And that was SAM's addition to the clutter. :) Hoshiadam and I mostly got books and gift cards (and some Wii games for hoshiadam), and we got an exceedingly generous gift from my parents which will relieve a lot of our stress in the coming months. :) We also got one of those little digital picture frames that shows a slideshow of your photos, and some interesting gifts from aveareya and phoeclipse, which I shall post pictures of later on. :)
Christmas dinner didn't go so well from my end. It was really tasty, but SAM had fallen asleep just before, since he didn't have a nap. It was just barely too early to put him down for the night, so we woke him up to eat dinner, and he was VERY cranky. We got a little bit of food down him, but then he went from whiny and crying at every little setback to complete meltdown mode. So I took him up to bed, where, of course, he decided he wasn't actually sleepy at all. *rolls eyes* It took more than an hour to get him to sleep (at least he was happy, just not sleeping). But my food reheated nicely, and I ate while we watched the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which hoshiadam's dad had received. We hadn't seen it before. It was a fun movie, but the ending was a bit of a letdown for me. But I suppose that pirates don't necessarily get the happiest ending. *shrug* Other than that little sleep episode, SAM did really well sleep-wise, especially considering that we were traveling. He had a tiny little air mattress to sleep on. :)
The next day we got SAM's hair cut! I could have sworn it grew a few inches just in the few days before Christmas, and it had already been in his eyes for weeks. :) They didn't have a little horsey for him to sit on at this salon, but he was still really good. I was happy with the haircut. His first two I didn't like, because I'm always sad when his pretty hair gets cut short, but this one was better, for some reason. Maybe he's just old enough to fit the cut more? It did make him look like a big, big boy! He's huge now! :)
Then in the afternoon, we went out to a children's museum. It was lots of fun. They had a big store/kitchen area with some wooden food (the awesome sliceable kind that I want to get him next year, it's in pieces that velcro together), two train tables, a big art area, and a pirate ship! :) He had all kinds of fun. They also had an interesting substance called Moon Sand. It's sand mixed with wax - an odd, moldable texture. We got him some for his birthday.
Thursday we drove home! It went well. SAM even put himself to sleep for a nap in the car! I was sooo sleepy that I had just handed him his little cloth Nativity people (which he LOVES, we'll have to get similar toys for his birthday), and closed my eyes. When I woke up he had conked out. :) And he slept more soundly during the late driving phase than he did on the way up, so I didn't have to hold his head the whole time. :)
And now we're home! We've been spending some of our gift cards, but most of the ones for hoshiadam and I are going to wait until after we move. We're still going to be getting SAM a big wooden block set from my grandmother, but that may or may not wait until the move too. We've been playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii during SAM's naps, instead of cleaning up the giant mess. :) It's silly, but fun.
Yesterday was our 7-year anniversary! Starting year 8 today. We almost forgot about it yesterday, actually... oops. Too much else going on. But oh well, maybe we'll have dinner at some point or something.