Sam’s Story: Week 83

Contrary to popular wisdom, Ger and I do sometimes get out of the house and go to parties. It’s just that these days we tend to take Sam with us. Such was the case last weekend when a friend of Geralyn’s had a massive house warming party. There were a lot of kids there, actually, and it was kind of interesting to see what we’re in for by watching some of the older ones.

Case in point: One room in the house was designated the playroom, probably because it was chock full of a variety of toys. It was to this room that many of the kids gravitated and this included Samantha. I was sitting on the floor watching her play while another father sat with his son. The father and son painstakingly assembled this Mega Blocks pirate ship, complete with masts, rigging, sails, and the works. They were having fun, minding their own business when another boy ran over, a plastic dinosaur in his pudgy fist.

This newcomer got right in the first kid’s face and screamed “SEA MONSTER! SEA MONSTER!” He then proceeded to wail on the Mega Blocks pirate ship with the dinosaur, screaming the whole time. The father tried to interject with a “Oh, we’re ah… kind of playing here…” but at every turn the kid would just scream “SEA MONSTER!” and redouble the intensity of his assault on the pirate ship until it was reduced to its component parts and scattered across the carpet like so much flotsam. His work done, the dinosaur-wielding madman screamed once more and ran off.

So much to look forward to.

Sam’s social calendar has actually been pretty full lately, as Ger has gotten into the grove of “playdates” with other moms in our area. This week she had a friend over with her daughter Rachel, who actually had more fun than you’d think looking at this picture. I know that Sam still doesn’t understand that other people are anything other than objects to be bent to her will and amusement, but she is learning to play with those objects to some extent. For example, she’ll pass a ball to a playmate, but beyond that she doesn’t seem to care much. But at least there have been no sea monster attacks.

Pictures!

The last thing to report this week is that we can see how Sam is getting more and more vocal and flexing her linguistic prowess. She’ll now try to imitate words and sounds, though she’s still usually way off. Still, I just know that one morning I’ll go in to get her out of bed and she’ll pop off with “Good morning, Father. I thought I might fancy a dairy libation before ensconcing myself before the television to check in on my comrades on Sesame Street. What do you say?” And I’ll probably just go back to bed.