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Sam's Story: Week 93 November 7, 2005
It's been quite a busy week for Sam this time around. Let's get started...
Early in the week we decided to take that leap and introduce Sam to Professor von Potty, "Potty" for short. Sam was quite excited about her new plaything and took right to it. While we certainly have miles to go before we take her shopping for "big girl underpants," Sam surprised us by actually using the thing a couple of times ...when we stripped her down before her bath and sat her on it. And of course, Ger and I whooped, hollered, and gave each other high-fives like she had just won the Superbowl or something. And that's all I really have to say on the subject right now. I actually have more candid photos, but I resisted putting them up for the world to see. Well, except this one, because the look on her face cracks me up.
Monday, of course, was Halloween. We gave Sam only a cursory costume this year, having decided that it wasn't worth it to fork out cash for an elaborate costume she'd outgrow by the end of the night. So she was a pumpkin with her little orange shirt, orange pants, and stem hat. Here, here's pictures:
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As you can see, there was much candy and Sam had more fun playing with the colorful wrappers than eating it. We tried to give her a Kit-Kat bar, but had to put an end to that when she decided that eating it would be less fun than grinding it into the carpet. She did go trick-or-treating to a few neighbors' houses, though, and seemed to enjoy it. She really enjoyed answering the door and looking at all the other kids in costume and would pretty much just spaz out and start giggling every time the doorbell rang.
The funniest part of the night was when I opened the door to find this one little girl, maybe two years old, and her mother. Before I could even say "Happy Halloween!" the girl marched through the doorway, past me, and into the living room where she began to inspect and play with Sam's numerous toys. Her mother was mortified and just stood there on the porch, not sure what to do as she probably thought that rushing past me to retrieve her errant child would only compound the intrusion. I thought it was a riot, though, and gave the girl some extra candy for initiative.
On Saturday the festivities continued as we all went to Knottsberry Farm. You know, I need to write a big note that says "Jamie, you HATE amusement parks. DO NOT GO TO ONE!" and put it next to the door where I can see it every time I leave the house. Because like the sign says, I hate amusement parks. The reason we went to this one, though, was that it was free, had free parking, and the whole park was open only to me and my co-workers for our employer's employee appreciation day. It's kind of the company's way of saying "Thanks for working so hard all year. Why don't you go spend 20 minutes standing in line for a 30-second ride?"
In fact, it wasn't all that bad. We spent the entire time in "Camp Snoopy," which is the area set aside for children and the very short. I wouldn't say Sam had the time of her so-far-short life, but she did enjoy it enough. There was a merry-go-round, a truck ride, and what appeared to be Sam's favorite, a little race car track that did its best to give kids whiplash around the turns. I also tried, unsuccessfully, to win Sam a giant Elmo doll by throwing softballs at a row of sandbags and then cursing at them.
Here's the rest of the pictures while we're at it:
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The last thing I'll mention is a particularly weird but funny habit Sam has developed. I think that she must have overheard the old proverb of "He still puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us," which is often used to illustrate that an otherwise special someone is, when it comes to mundane things like dressing, just as ordinary as could be. So whenever we say to Sam, "Let's take off the pants" she immediately runs to her toy chest, flops across it, and presents both of her pants legs at the same time by raising them up until they're parallel with the ground:
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As I say, anything but ordinary.
Comments (5) |
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File under:
Parenting ,
Samantha
Tags: Halloween, Pumpkin
Comments
Posted by shawn on November 7, 2005 7:13 PM:
Great photos! Sam is growing noticably each week!
I cannot decide if she is doing her best Samuel L. Jackson or Elton John imitation in the photo of her in the sunglasses and hat!
Posted by Jamie on November 7, 2005 8:09 PM:
Seems more like a Ray Charles imitation to me.
Posted by kerri on November 9, 2005 1:05 PM:
I don't even know how I ran into your site, I typed in something in Google Images, and the little girls picture came up. I just wanted to tell you that she's ADORABLE! Her pictures are so cute, it looks like she has tons of fun in her younger years!
Posted by kerri on November 9, 2005 1:20 PM:
... its just me again, i was wondering how you go about making picture black and white but then having .. say that orange or sammy's blue eyes stay colored. it's amazing... all your photography is so awesome.
Posted by Jamie on November 9, 2005 1:33 PM:
Thanks, Kerri! Glad you're enjoying the site and pictures. The selective coloring effect is done in Photoshop. There's a tool you can use to "paint" away the color in a picture, so you just start with the color picture and paint everything except what you want to remain in color.