Stories and Photos of My Kids
This page is an index of stories about my two daughters, Samantha and Amanda, including the long-running "Sam's Story" series and stories about my wife's pregnancy. I post a new story and collection of photos to the front page of the blog every Monday.
Week 253: Religion, Illness, and WishesDecember 3, 2008: Mandy seems to like books as much as her big sister ever did, but while Sam's interests always ran to dinosours, princesses, and the 50 US states (no, I'm not kidding), Mandy's three favorite books seem to be, in order, the following: Geralyn's old first communion book A Gideon's Bible...
Week 252: Friends, Diversity, and Tools
November 26, 2008: One of the things I liked about living in San Diego was that it was very multicultural. Our immediate community included folks who were Vietnamese, Australian, Filipino, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, and whatever our neighbor Raju was. It was nice having Sam growing up in that kind of environment, but alas...
Week 251: Monkeys, Bears, and Song
November 19, 2008: Sam seems to be backsliding in her television. Used to be, we could count on her watching Sesame Street, then she moved up to Curious George. I liked both of these shows, since they were educational and had bits of humor scattered throughout them that adults could relate to. Best...
Week 250: Milestone, pajamas, and loss aversion
November 12, 2008: Woah, Week 250. Hard to believe I've written that many of these updates.I wonder how many pictures of the kids I've posted. I would guess somewhere around three klatillion. Here are a few more: As you can see, Sam is now in possession of "feety pajamas" which are basically suits...
Week 249: Halloween, Candy, and Jokes
November 5, 2008: I do believe Halloween was this last weekend. I also believe that Sam and Mandy enjoyed it immensely. Ger's dad and godmother came to stay at our house and answer our door for us so that we all four could go out trick-or-treating. Sam insisted on trying to hit every...
Week 248: Party, Singing, and Pumpkin Patch
October 28, 2008: Like last year, Sam's preschool class had their annual "Bring Your Dad for This Halloween Thing We Do Each Year" day. Sam dressed up in the cheerleader costume I described last week and we took a pumpkin to carve. Sam's arrival at the party (fashionably late since we had to...
Week 247: Leaves, Hay, and Cheerleaders
October 22, 2008: It's Fall in the midwest, and that means one thing: leaves on the ground. Maybe they have trees in other parts of the country. I don't know. I try not to think about it. This has meant that we went through the annual tradition of my repeatedly raking up a...
Week 246: Crime, Punishment, and Contrition
October 15, 2008: As I've mentioned once or twice recently, Mandy seems to have been hitting the "terrible two" milestone ahead of schedule. She's gotten to the point where if she's denied anything, she'll actually lie down on her stomach and flop aroudn, screaming and flailing her limbs. Sam never really did this,...
Week 245: Just pictures
October 8, 2008: Busy week, so I'm taking it easy this time around and just posting a bunch of pictures. Enjoy the shots from our company picnic, in which Sam climbed utility poles, went up in a bucket truck, and perhaps most frightening of all, braved a porta potty. Mandy had a good...
Week 244: Antagonization, Combat, and Bedtime
October 1, 2008: I think we have finally passed over some line that separates people who have "one kid and a baby" to people who have "two kids." This is sometimes good, as when Sam and Mandy play together, and sometimes it's bad, as when Sam and Mandy play together. Mandy has developed...
Week 243: Time Out, Laptop, and George
September 24, 2008: Another week, another dozen new things that Mandy has done, approximately half of them cute and half of them "oh, geez, not this already." For example, she has gotten quite into mimicry, particularly things that her sister does, but also things done to Sam. The other day Mandy picked up...
Week 242: Grandma
September 17, 2008: As you may have noticed from the post last week, Geralyn's mother passed away. While Mandy was oblivious due to her tender age, we weren't quite sure how to approach this with regards to Samantha. Joan had been in the hospital since May and Sam knew something was up not...
Week 241: TV, Sand, and Carnivals
September 9, 2008: Though still generally sweet and, appropriately enough, childlike, Mandy has started to explore some areas of behavior that are shall we say undesirable. The other day I was lying on the couch when Mandy walked up to me, gave me a beautiful smile, and then slapped me as hard as...
Week 240: This, that, and um, that
September 3, 2008: Okay, really short update this week. Closes I've come to missing one, probably. Here's some pictures! Ger's mom has been in the hospital pretty much for the last few months, and things don't look good. Part of the reason I've been so short on time is that Ger has been...
Week 239: Language, Lies, and Sand
August 27, 2008: Well, we've hit another important milestone. Mandy's verbal skills have developed to the point where she and her sister can have "She-said-she-said" type moments. The other night I was cleaning up in the kitchen while Sam and Mandy played in the living room. There was a pause in the sounds...
Week 238: Parties, Police, and Remotes
August 19, 2008: Had a pretty fun weekend this week. Sam has resumed her swim lessons, but the thing she was really looking forward to was a block party that our neighborhood put on. it started with a bike parade, which Sam participated in by slowly accelerating on her bike, then slamming on...
Week 237: Bears, Colors, and Robots
August 13, 2008: We still read to Sam (and Mandy) as a betime ritual, but occasionally Sam will want to forgo the books and ask me to tell her a story that I make up off the top of my head. The experience is much akin to going in for a big job...
Week 236: Raisins, Discipline, and Consequences
August 6, 2008: I've heard that second children tend to get away with a lot more, simply by virtue of having older siblings that are still alive and so the parents think that maybe they were a bit too overprotective and so let's let baby play with a butane lighter. Case in point:...
Week 235: Right There, Wasps, and Sea Witches
July 30, 2008: The latest thing that Mandy does to crack me up is identifying the location of whatever she's talking about. Or trying to talk about. It may not sounds like much, but when she says something like "Ka-loon!" and you respond with a dim-witted "Huh?" she'll straighten up, stab a finger...
Week 234: Insults, Economics, and Reconsideration
July 24, 2008: So, want to know Sam's newest thing? She's discovered the wonderful world of insults. Sometimes these are coherent verbal barbs, like "You're a stupid head," sometimes they straddle the line between sense and nonsense, like "You're a baby head," and sometimes they're just gibberish, like "You're a goo-gaa-gab-gab." But there's...
Week 233: Speech, Rewards, and Reading
July 16, 2008: Once again, I feel it is my duty to report how quickly Mandy is coming along. She's really quick to pick up new words, and she seems to understand everything I say unless I purposely obfuscate my message. By, say for example, using the world "obfuscate." Surprisingly, Mandy has even...
Week 232: Fireworks, Flames, and Sleep
July 9, 2008: First off, I would like to share with you a brilliant innovation in the field of parenting that Geralyn and I have come up with. Feeding time in our house has always consisted of troublesome chewing and clumsy sitting in chairs. Earlier this week we hit upon a solutoin to...
Week 231: Speech, Carneval, and Sneaking
July 3, 2008: A lot of the literature I've read says that the speech of second children is slower to develop, mainly because their older siblings speak up for them, thus robbing them of the necessity to actually tell you to bring them their freaking cup, NOW. Oddly, this doesn't seem to be...
Week 230: Pool, Words, and Yes
June 25, 2008: As you can probably see from the pictures, we had a pool-filled weekend thanks to Ger's godparents. Samantha continues her psychotic disregard for the danger of water when gathered in massive quantities, and has as her new thing jumping into the pool. But actually with the life vest on she's...
Week 229: Father's Day, Potty, and Paper
June 19, 2008: Quick update this week. Mostly pictures. What with gas being $4 a gallon and all. Father's Day was last weekend, and I had a GREAT time of it. Besides a couple of nice shirts, Geralyn's main gift to me was on Saturday to gather up the various children living in...
Week 228: VBS, Climbing, and Cats
June 12, 2008: Since Sam is out of preschool for the summer, we have endeavored to pad out her social calendar a bit. Last week Geralyn signed her up for a kind of Bible camp held at one of the local churches. Since I grew up a Southern Baptist in America's heartland, I...
Week 227: Pigs, Rides, and Combos
June 3, 2008: Summer is officially here, as evidenced by how I get sunburned if I stand too close to an exterior wall and the arrival of local community carnivals. Our church had the first of the latter this weekend, and we had to make an appearance. Sam had a blast. She started...
Wee226: Fishing, Farm, and Hospitality
May 29, 2008: Last weekend we spent Memorial Day out at Ger's family's place in the country, "The Farm." This gave the kids a chance to run free, play in the lake, and accumulate an impressive collection of ticks. Samantha also tried her hand at fishing. This rapidly bored her, so she decided...
Week 225: Reunions, Drives, and Sharing
May 22, 2008: Brief update this week, oddly enough since last week was so eventful and I'm still catching up. Lots of pictures, though. Last Wednesday we loaded up the car and drove down to Sulphur, Oklahoma (yee-haw!) for a family reunion. This involved more hours of driving with two young children than...
Week 224: Cast, Brace, and Math
May 13, 2008: Mandy finally got her cast off earlier this week, and I'll let you in on a little secret: small children are terrified by strange men attacking their leg with huge (relatively speaking) buzzsaws. Fortunately the ordeal passed quickly, and we now have the cast sans Mandy for a souvenir. Mandy...
Week 223: Cancel, Lil' Ahab, and Vocab
May 6, 2008: One thing I've noticed about Sam lately is that she has gotten very talkative. I mean more so. The other day when I called Geralyn at home to ask her something, Sam demanded that she hand over the phone and then proceeded to spend the next several minutes telling me...
Week 222: Clinging, Reasoning, and Camping
April 29, 2008: Light update this week. Mandy is doing fine with her little pink cast, and we're enjoying the freedom to park in the handicap parking spaces at the mall. One odd thing that she's been doing lately, though, is to be really clinging with Geralyn. If even I try to pry...
Week 221: Snap, Crackle, Pop
April 21, 2008: More and more often, I feel like I don't have anything to write about on this blog. Many of the stories about Mandy feel like reruns of Sam's stories, and sometimes I just feel like I don't have anything new to report for that week. Occasionally, though, something happens and...
Week 220: Gone, Back, Here to Stay
April 14, 2008: I actually don’t have much to say about the kids this week, mostly because I didn’t really pay much attention to them. Not that I could have if I wanted, seeing as Geralyn and I were in San Francisco while the kids were not. I was in the city for...
Week 219: TV, Gunk, and Eyeballs
April 7, 2008: It has become apparent that one of the big differences between Sam and Mandy is their predilection for television. When Sam was Mandy's age, we had already started her down that tube-lined road, and now she would watch a LOT more than we does if we'd let her. Watching two...
Week 218: Oh, not much. You?
April 1, 2008: I'm taking it lightly this week. Too burned out and too much to do. And if I don't at least put up this note and these few pics tonight I probably won't get to it. Not much really happened this week, anyway. Sam was sick all weekend and I don't...
Week 217: More Easter, Eggs, and Sugar
March 26, 2008: The big event this week was, of course, Easter. We actually did some stuff last weekend, but we had a lot planned here, too. These plans, for a reason I will never understand nor care to understand, always seem to include new clothes. Mainly in the form of matching dresses....
Week 216: Lies, Easter, and Snakes
March 18, 2008: It's noteworthy this week that Sam has reached an important developmental milestone on the road towards maturity: learning to lie. She has, however, not quite reached the milestone marked "learning to lie convincingly." The other night when Geralyn was out, Sam decided to throw a series of interconnected fits when...
Week 215: Reading, Smash Bros, and Shopping
March 12, 2008: Not much to report this week, except that I wonder if these pictures are future portents of how my two daughters' reading preferences differ (click through to see the full images): And, you know, I'm not really sure which reading selection I'm more proud of. I guess this is why...
Week 214: Play, Quiet, and Nodding
March 6, 2008: Much like myself, this week's post is short and late. Sam and Mandy are playing a lot together lately, but you really gotta watch them. Well, not you, but me and Geralyn. Sam seems to be at a stage where she wants to play rough, with tackling, pulling, and, um,...
Week 213: Snow, Punching, and Tooth
February 27, 2008: I tell ya, the weather is really getting to us here. We've had a few weeks of pretty much unbearably cold weather, replete with snow if Mother Nature is feeling fancy, else just HUGE SHEETS OF FROZEN WATER FALLING OUT OF THE SKY. The result has been an awful lot...
Week 212: Buh, Eats, and Ass Trow Nots
February 20, 2008: Mandy has continued to rapidly develop, as though she's in crunch time against some deadline that only she knows about. She's not only walking, but saying a few words. She's pretty consistent about declaring that she sees a baby, a ball, a book, a boy, a doll, or that she...
Week 211: Demands, Scabs, and Shadows
February 12, 2008: I've mentioned before that Mandy has had a really mild personality for a baby. She started sleeping through the night as soon as we brought her home from the hospital, she's never been more attention seeking than seems necessary for a baby bent on survival and the occasional game of...
Week 210: Just Pictures
February 6, 2008: Too burned out, too busy, too tired. But I didn't want to totally skip this week, so here's some pictures. Sam played in the snow, made some snow angels, did some sledding, and has become a shutterbug with her new camera. Mandy tried too, but mostly she's just delighted in...
Week 209: Birthday, Bike, and Bum!
January 30, 2008: Big event this week was Sam's 4th birthday and ensuing extravaganza. Much like Christmas, she has gotten old enough to go completely ape over everything, yet young enough to insist that her birthday spanned the entire weekend from Friday morning to Sunday night. When told she could choose where we...
Week 208: Standing, Robots, and Roles
January 23, 2008: Here's another milestone marker: Mandy stood up by herself this week. As with most great accomplishments in the history of mankind, she did it by accident. She was using one hand to lean against something while holding a toy in her other hand. She then let go with her supporting...
Week 207: Swim, Deer, and Circumference
January 14, 2008: Sam and I have recently modified our weekly Saturday ritual to include the swim class that Geralyn signed us up for. Well, she really just signed up Samantha. I just sit there with the other parents and hope nobody drowns. Or, if someone absolutely HAS to drown, that it's that...
Week 206: Aping, Bananas, and Bones
January 8, 2008: Some days I can't believe how quickly Mandy is changing. I swear that she literally looks a little different when we go to get her out of bed in the morning than she did when we put her in there the night before. I can hear stretching and popping sounds...
Week 205: Christmas, Presents, and Treats
December 31, 2007: The big even this last week was the whirlwind of Christmas. Being almost 4, Sam was at a great age to really get into things this year. She kept talking about everything we were going to be doing, practically building out a itinerary for everyone with the clockwork precision of...
Week 204: Sickness, Pagents, and Language
December 24, 2007: Sam had a couple of bad days this week. The other night we heard her crying about midnight, and Ger went in to find that Sam hadn't quite made it to the bathroom before throwing up. She spent the rest of the might barfing (no pictures, sorry), drinking some water...
Week 203: Birthday, Walking, and Snow
December 18, 2007: The big even this week was Mandy's birthday --one year old. That's just ...inconceivable. I don't know when this happened. The event was largely low key, with just Geralyn's parents and godparents coming over. And we invited Samantha, who actually did a fairly good job of not inserting herself into...
Week 202: Witches, Computers, and Offerings
December 10, 2007: Talking about death with kids has always been awkward. In one aspect, it's unavoidable, so it has to come up sometime. Sam still sometimes asks about my dad who passed away last year, and we're straight forward with her about him. And it's everywhere else. Sure, Elmo may not meet...
Week 200: Computers, Games, and Jawas
December 5, 2007: Okay it's going to be a super short update this week, because I don't have time to do anything more but if I don't do something I'm going to miss the whole week. Wah. So here's some pictures: Let's see, stories? I've started encouraging Sam to play on the computer,...
Week 200: Counting, Bouncing, and Decorating
November 27, 2007: In which my mom teaches me how to mentally manipulate Sam, we go to a room full of inflatable bouncie things, and Mandy helps put up the Christmas decorations.
Week 199: Visits, Jabber, and Hot Water
November 19, 2007: Short update this week, since things are busy. My mom is in town visiting for Thanksgiving, and given that I still have to work most days this means that she's really less visiting me and more visiting her grandchildren. Which I guess is just fine since they seem to enjoy...
Week 198: Leaves, Standing, and Memory
November 13, 2007: In which Sam gets out in the yard and helps earn her share, Mandy stands up, and Sam starts to forget things the way we all do.
Week 197: Hallowee, Jokes, and Legs
November 6, 2007: In which Sam and Mandy get decked out for Halloween, Sam learns a new joke, and Mandy starts to stand up.
Week 196: Singing, Gufawing, and Waving
October 29, 2007: In which I learn the irrational joy of a child's performance and Mandy signals that yeah, she pretty much gets what we're saying.
Week 195: Flu, Rockets, and Tombs
October 22, 2007: In which Sam sends animals into space and then gets sick. Also, I have baby proofing mishaps.
Week 194: Hay, Mazes, and Patty Cake
October 15, 2007: Sorry, folks, things have been very busy lately. And also, there has been Team Fortress 2 (look for me as "jmadigan" on Steam!). So it's mostly pictures this week. Sam and Mandy went to two pumpkin patches this week. Actually, it was the same one once. They went during the...
Week 193: Cooking, Heights, and Sitting Up
October 8, 2007: In which Sam learns to cook, goes up 80 feet in the air for no good reason, and cheers when her sister Mandy starts to sit up.
Week 192: Skwarulls, Bellowing, and Sisters
October 1, 2007: In which Sammy sees a skwarull and Mandy discovers her voice.
Week 191: Zombies, Cookies, and Clapping
September 24, 2007: In which I ponder different towel routines, Sam embarks on a career of theft, and Mandy cheers us all on.
Week 190: Birthdays, gravel, and legbones
September 18, 2007: In which we visit Tulsa for my sister's surprise birthday party.
Week 189: Splooshie, Words, and Food
September 10, 2007: In which Mandy discovers the scientific principle, and Sam negotiates for desert.
Week 188: Farm, Toenails, and Immovable Objects
September 3, 2007: In which we return to the farm, Sam makes a quantum leap, and Mandy decides not to let herself get pushed around.
Week 187: The Claw, Rebellion, and Choking Hazards
August 27, 2007: In which Samantha deals with dissident dinosaurs and helps Mandy cope with the threat of choking.
Week 186: Definitions, Donuts, and Determination
August 20, 2007: In which Sam asks us to define many things, goes to the donut shop, learns about science, and plays with baby sister.
Week 185: Dressing, Prune Goop, and "Buh!"
August 13, 2007: In which Sam takes a stab at dressing herself, shoots for "Duh!" but misses by two letters, and plays in the sprinklers better than I ever did.
Week 184: Questions, Answers, and Throwing
August 6, 2007: In which Sam asks many questions and Mandy sits up because it's a better vantage point for throwing things.
Week 183: Swimming, Clothing, and Funny Faces
July 30, 2007: In which Sammy takes swimming lessons, commits fashion tragedies, and starts to get along with her sister.
Week 182: The Future, Bossy Bears, and Swimming Holes
July 23, 2007: In which Sam gets some new literature on how not to be bossy, Mandy heads for the pool, and I try to make my kid understand the concept of the future.
Week 181: Squash, Swimming, and Pumpkins
July 16, 2007: In which Mandy works on her conversation skills, Sam has a poolside freakout, and I get a pumpkin upside the head.
Week 180: Sitters, Photos, and Hobbies
July 9, 2007: In which Mandy gets her first baby sitter, Sam dominates her, and I see which of them appears the most patriotic.
Week 179: Trips, Mosquitoes, and Fish
July 2, 2007: In which we take a trip to visit family in Tulsa, Oklahoma and learn to make the best of it.
Week 178: Counting, Spelling, and Tumbling
June 25, 2007: Long time readers of this series of posts will know that I don't sweat it too much when it comes to tracking milestones. Should Mandy be talking or driving a stick shift by now? I dunno. She seems happy, though, and things seem to be going fine so who cares?...
Week 177: Solids, Liquids, and Whys
June 18, 2007: In which Mandy has a major dietary paradigm shift, Sam hits the pool again, and I have to institute the "one why" rule.
Week 176: Crafts, Chores, and Grinds
June 11, 2007: In which Sam makes things out of cardboard tubes and Mandy helps me paint the deck by just sitting there.
Week 175: shrieking, arguing, and running
June 4, 2007: In which Mandy takes shrieking to a new height, Sam gets bossy, and the little girl next door shows us all up.
Week 174: Vermin, Ice Cream, and Raspberries
May 28, 2007: In which we go out to "The Farm," and learn to fear the wildlife again. Also, Sam is deprived of frozen treats and Mandy shares her charms with the world.
Week 173: Goats, Kung-Fu, and Aliens
May 21, 2007: In which we all get soaked in the rain, Mandy practices her kung-fu screams, and Sam displays a little bit of political awareness.
Week 172: Donuts, Elizabeths, and Greeting Cards
May 14, 2007: In which Sam devours some donuts, goes nuts, calls everybody Elizabeth, and comes down hard. Also, I share some advice for card shopping on Mother's Day.
Week 171: World Tour, Soccer Mom, and Rapid Growth
May 7, 2007: In which I take Samantha on a world tour, encounter a stereotype, and reminisce about Mandy's rapid rise to size.
Week 170: TV, Medicine, and Giggles
April 30, 2007: In which Sam uses mass media as a springboard for her own homegrown play and Amanda gives laughter a chance to grow on her.
Week 169: Talks, Illness, and Changes
April 23, 2007: In which I notice how fast both Sam and Mandy are changing, Sam gets sick again, and Mandy tries to eat her hands.
Week 168: Milestones, Shopping, and Impresonations
April 16, 2007: In which I note some of the minor milestones of Sam's recent weeks, we take her shopping to celebrate the training of the potty, and both kids do some neat impressions.
Week 167: Easter village, egg hunts, and candy
April 9, 2007: In which I describe three days of attempts at Easter fun, including a rather disappointing trip to an Easter "village," frozen egg hunting, egg dying, and candy overloads.
Week 166: Studios, Death, and Resurrection
April 2, 2007: In which we pay someone else to get our kids to do what they won't do for me and then take pictures of it. Also, Samantha attempts to correct some of our beliefs about death and divinity.
Week 165: Neighbor Kids, Games, and Amusements
March 26, 2007: In which I discover the sudden dilemma of having too many children to watch, Mandy gets more interactive, and Sam learns some new games.
Week 164: Gibberish, Inqueries, and Super Moves
March 19, 2007: In which Sam delights in spouting gibberish when she's not asking what every character in every book is saying or thinking. Also, Mandy powers up to Super Saiyan 2.
Week 163: Pine Cones, St. Patty's, and Bouncie Things
March 12, 2007: In which Sam separates pine needles, celebrates St. Patrick's Day, and gets lost in an inflatable vinyl maze.
Week 162: Attention, Dead Bunnies, and Photo Ops
March 5, 2007: In which Sam declines to give us a moment to ourselves and inadvertently gets subjected to a movie where bunnies die gruesome, horrible deaths. Also, Mandy poses for a photo op with other people's things.
Week 161: Christening, Reminising, and Consolation
February 26, 2007: Mandy sleeps through most of her own christening and Sam offers some uncharacteristically sage advice on accepting the way things are and appreciating them.
Week 160: Speeches, cooperating, and playmates
February 19, 2007: In which Mandy does her best to warn us of immanent danger and we take Sam out to the mall just to get out of the house.
Week 159: quiet, imagination, and monsters
February 12, 2007: In which Sam's imagination starts to get out of control and we're faced with an infestation of monsters.
Week 158: Intermission, reunion, and torment
February 5, 2007: In which I go away for a week and find myself stupefied at the reminder of what it's like to have more free time than I know what to do with.
Week 157: Science, Birthday, and Smiles
January 29, 2007: In which I expound on the scientific virtues of Curious George, discuss Sam's 3rd birthday party, and note how Many has begun to beam.
Happy 3rd Birthday, Samantha Alyse Madigan
January 25, 2007: In which I share my annual e-mail to Samantha, wishing her a happy 3rd birthday and describing the big picture of her last year of life.
Week 156: Alarms, snow, and forbidden photos
January 22, 2007: In which Sam tris to get out of punishment by redefining the terms, expresses an interest in forbidden photography, and plays in the snow again.
Parenting Week 155: Trying times
January 15, 2007: In which a number of factors make Samantha a bit of a pain to deal with and I present a historical timeline of her favorite TV shows in a graphic format.
Parenting Week 154: Names, Naps, and Neatness
January 8, 2007: In which I discuss what Amanda was almost named, the eminent end of Samantha's naptime, and a new and revolutionary method for making sure the only one who clutters up the house is me.
Parenting Week 153: sleep, Christmas, and biology
January 1, 2007: In which I remember how powerful instincts can be when triggered by an infant's cries, Sam scores lots of Christmas loot, and Mandy helps facilitate some very basic biology lessons related to nursing.
Week 152: Now with more family than ever
December 24, 2006: We all return home from the hospital and total one more than we did before. Mandy starts out as the perfect baby and we hold our breath to see how long it will last while Sam tells her Nana to shut her word hole.
Sam's Story: Week 151
December 18, 2006: The last Sam's Story entry in which Samantha gets a little fever, then cautiously introduces herself to her new little sister and tries to get a grip on how this will all work out.
Sam's Story: Week 150
December 11, 2006: Samantha learns to fear "that red man" who we keep trying to tell her is Santa Claus, plus lots of pictures of her wearing Christmas hats and a story about her scaring the bajeezus out of a dozing Geralyn.
Sam's Story: Week 149
December 4, 2006: Sam enjoys her first real winter snowstorm, attends a largely worthless "Super Siblings" class to prepare her for sisterhood, and learns to get her own self out of bed.
Sam's Story: Week 148
November 27, 2006: Sam enjoys Thanksgiving at The Farm out in the wild lands, plus she develops new cognitive skills that are both hit and miss.
Sam's Story: Week 147
November 20, 2006: Sam goes out for her very first movie since infancy, plus she decides to put us all in our place. I also share a movie of her singing her ABCs.
Sam's Story: Week 146
November 13, 2006: Sam returns from the land of the grandparents with a new bad habit, then returns from the park with a new appreciation for freezing temperatures. Also, the manipulator becomes the manipulated.
Sam's Story: Week 145
November 6, 2006: We all take an ill-fated trip on the tiny train tracks, but Sam doesn't seem to mind. Also, Samantha takes to Halloween trick or treating like a duck taking to dark waters where an unknown horror lurks beneath.
Sam's Story: Week 144
October 30, 2006: Samantha makes her first big Halloween appearance, part of which involves flinging her fairy-winged self at other kids with much wrecklessness. Also, she and I have a showdown involving a toothpaste and a pair of pink jammy bottoms.
Sam's Story: Week 143
October 23, 2006: We have an unfortunate failure to communicate over a request for (Winnie the) Pooh, plus Sam goes furniture shopping and I discuss how hypnosis fails to inject pain killing medicine into one's spinal cord.
Sam's Story: Week 142
October 16, 2006: Samantha dines on kitchen sponge and earns a runny nose. Plus, we visit the pumpkin patch for some tense moments and Sam learns to play (with) chopsticks.
Sam's Story: Week 141
October 9, 2006: In which we venture into the depths of a used baby product swap meet in order to replace that which was befouled beyond redemption. Also, Samantha picks up Geralyn's tastes in light reading, but with a slightly different interpretation.
Sam's Story: Week 140
October 1, 2006: In which Sam visits the zoo, then greets some of her favorite PBS characters from afar. I also discuss how Geralyn and I make different assumptions about an unhappy Sammy and how best to remedy things.
Sam's Story: Week 139
September 25, 2006: We hire a new baby sitter, who works out much better than the old one. Sam displays questionable fashion sense, but knows how to get what she wants out of me.
Sam's Story: Week 138
September 18, 2006: Samantha stays hip with the help of Aunt Shawn and visits the super dooper train store where she learns the value of shoving people who get in her way.
Sam's Story: Week 137
September 11, 2006: Samantha goes off to pre-pre-school for the first time and seems to take it better than I and my overactive imagination do.
Sam's Story: Week 136
September 4, 2006: Sam learns the power of No, then the greater power of the time out. She also devises a method for impromptu chrch hymms. It's also another swimsuit edition as we go to both the pool and the lake for Labor Day weekend.
Sam's Story: Week 135
August 28, 2006: Sam wants to know what you're doing, and she'll stop at nothing to find out and then ask again. Also, bubbles!
Sam's Story: Week 134
August 21, 2006: Sam has three increasingly odd conversations with me, plus she signs on to become my one-person Guitar Hero fan club, complete with cheering and sing alongs.
Sam's Story: Week 133
August 14, 2006: Samantha learns the perils of being a penguin, but on the plus side she can tell you about the point in time where she learned about the frailty of life. Also, I realize that it looks like this kid eats a ton of junk food.
Sam's Story: Week 132
August 6, 2006: Sam has more power plays that don't quite work out the way she wants, plus she remains steadfastly optimistic regarding the chances that every cardboard box in the world contains toys.
Sam's Story: Week 131
July 31, 2006: Sam learns to play nice by herself, using just her imagination and common household objects. Plus we go back to the pool and reveal the big twist: is Sam going to have a baby brother or sister? You decide!
Sam's Story: Week 130
July 24, 2006: Samantha greatly accellerates the complexity of this entire parenting curve. Plus she makes polite dinner conversation of a sort before turning her attention elsewhere.
Sam's Story: Week 129
July 17, 2006: Samantha explores her world by seeing how far she can push the boundaries before we snap. Also, I present my accumulated evidence regarding the Phantom Coloring Ghost in hopes that Scooby Doo-esque hijinks would ensue. They do not.
Sam's Story: Week 128
July 9, 2006: In which a big announcement is made regarding Sam's upcoming status as a big sister. Also, Sam demonstrates her Jedi mind tricks.
Sam's Story: Week 127
July 4, 2006: Sam learns to appreciate her new house, despite the size and initial confusion over there being more stories than she's used to. She also makes a trip to "The Farm" where she learns to throw rocks and sling wet sand at everyone in sight.
Sam's Story: Week 126
June 26, 2006: I link Thomas the Tank Engine and the potty in Samantha's mind in an effort to further her training. Sam also visits the botanical gardens to play in the water and I discuss another big change coming up in her life and ours.
Sam's Story: Week 125
June 19, 2006: Sam discovers the joys of vibrating massage chairs and we're hard pressed to bring her back to reality. She also helps wash my car in celebration of Father's Day, which was really sweet of her even though she couldn't reach much higher than the tires.
Sam's Story: Week 124
June 12, 2006: Sam hits the pool twice in one week and I discover how to employ her developing social skills for fun and profit (except there was no profit). Sam also learns how to pronounce the name of the ancient priest-king who blessed Abraham after the seige of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Sam's Story: Week 123
June 4, 2006: Sam enjoys her first baseball game, despite the heat and not being all that interested in baseball. Also, I notice more spastic tendencies and count down my 10 new favorite things about Sam.
Sam's Story: Week 122
May 28, 2006: Sam reveals her formula for the perfect gathering and displays a healthy respect for swiming pools despite wearing enough flotation equipment to save the Titanic. I also discuss the unholy terror of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, which is Sam's latest toy-based fascination.
Sam's Story: Week 121
May 21, 2006: I present the Samantha Alert System, a handy chart for telling when you should be on the alert for a potential hissy fit event. Just follow the cues and you should be fine. Also, Samantha reminds us that words are like boomerangs with a toddler around --what comes out often gets thrown back at you.
Sam's Story: Week 120
May 14, 2006: Sam learns the intricacies of object classification when she notes that I am not an animal. Also, she plays a game of "let's not snort the bubble bath," which she loses.
Sam's Story: Week 119
May 7, 2006: Sam entertains with a stream of childish consciousness, making up stories about her toys and surroundings. They often end with her foot crashing down on all the little people involved. Also, she comes near to ruining a Mother's Day surprise.
Sam's Story: Week 118
April 30, 2006: Wow, what a week. The majority of it, though, was spent sans Samantha as Geralyn and I trekked halfway across the continent with our last carload of possessions while Sam stayed safely stuffed away at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Spending six days without Sam was kind of weird after all...
Sam's Story: Week 117
April 24, 2006: So, anyway ...have I mentioned that we're moving? Leaving sunny Southern California? Trekking over halfway across the country to take a great new job, be closer to family, and stay one step ahead of all the stalkers* out there on the Internet? No? Well, I've been meaning to mention it...
Sam's Story: Week 116
April 16, 2006: Happy Easter! This morning we learned an important lesson about this most blessed of all holidays: Don't let your toddler eat her weight in chocolate as soon as she wakes up. Actually, we didn't mean to, but she was just so fast. We set Sam down in front of her...
Sam's Story: Week 115
April 10, 2006: I've mentioned before about Sam's possessiveness, and it's a trait that seems intent on persisting. The other night Geralyn was baking a cake for her "Mom's Night Out" club, a delicious cake that Sam and I had been forbidden from even thinking about touching. This didn't prevent Sam from sitting...
Sam's Story: Week 114
April 3, 2006: Here it is at week 114 and Sam's individuality and desire for freedom is definitely starting to shine through. We went to Legoland this last weekend and made the mistake of giving her too much sugar. After consuming her own weight in brownies, ice cream, cookies, and spicy shrimp linguini,...
Sam's Story: Week 113
March 27, 2006: Kind of a slow week, actually. Sam continues to chat us up, and things are getting to the point where you can actually have rudimentary little conversations with her. Sometimes she'll actually get the ball rolling by making spontaneous observations like "I like cheese" even though cheese was nowhere on...
Sam's Story: Week 112
March 20, 2006: It's been a few weeks since I've raved about Sam's developing language skills, so I think I'm due. They have, as you may have guessed, continued to rocket upwards, with complete sentences now being the norm. She's also making deft use of pronouns, which I thought was kind of unusual...
Sam's Story: Week 111
March 14, 2006: As I've mentioned, Sam has become quite possessive of her things lately, and we're working on getting her to share with others. And I'm sorry to say that this week she took the lessons to heart --or rather, to stomach-- and decided to share some kind of horrible flu bug...
Sam's Story: Week 110
March 7, 2006: I've written before about how I thought Sam was getting into the "Terrible Twos" a little ahead of schedule, but it now appears that my pronouncement may have been a little premature. I apparently had no idea what "terrible" really meant. Sam is still sweet as aspertane and I love...
Sam's Story: Week 109
February 28, 2006: Not much to say this week given that Sam's "Papa," my father, is gravely ill and in the hospital. Sam has handled things much better than the rest of us --I'm constantly surprised by her easy going nature and adaptability. Here's some pictures: One of the things I love about...
Sam's Story: Week 108
February 20, 2006: Valentine's day was earlier in the week and Sam seemed to enjoy it. There was a heart-shaped cake, gifts from both sets of Grandparents and one Aunt, a Valentine's Day card exchange at the Mommy & Me class (Elmo, Dora, and strangely enough that stoner Spongebob Squarepants seem to be...
Sam's Story: Week 107
February 13, 2006: I know I've gone on and on about this in recent weeks, but every week I'm amazed all over again at how quickly Sam's language skills are growing. And I doubt it's just her --from what I've read, most kids go through a linguistic blitzkrieg at this age. Sam continues...
Sam's Story: Week 106
February 6, 2006: One of my favorite things about parenthood is watching my kid evolve and turn into a bona fide little person capable of reason, emotion, curiosity, empathy, humor, and desire. And now I get to add one more word to that laundry list of traits: guile. Sam has become quite the...
Sam's Story: Week 105
January 30, 2006: This hasn't been a very good week for Sammy. When I left for work this morning she standing in the middle of the living room, wailing like a baby banshee and wiping at the hot tears that were streaking down her cheeks. She was inconsolable, no matter what we tried,...
Happy 2nd Birthday, Samantha Alyse Madigan
January 25, 2006: Dear Samantha, Today you're two years old. Nice job! Like I did last year, I thought I'd write you a letter and tell you how things went this second year. Again, I don't think you can read this yet unless you're some kind of super genius and are just...
Sam's Story: Week 104
January 24, 2006: The big event this week was Sam's 2nd birthday part, which you can see pictures of right here and read a little about over here. It was quite fun (Ger worked hard to make sure it would be) and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. And Sam scored some phat loot....
Sam's second birthday party
January 23, 2006: I put some pictures from Sam's second birthday party yesterday on the Photos Page. And because I like you, I'll save your tired mouse clicking finger some work and post them here, too: We had a great turnout, with just about everyone we invited being able to make it and...
Sam's Story: Week 103
January 17, 2006: Sam is almost two years old, so Ger and I have been busy preparing for her second birthday party. We're keeping things relatively simple --no scary clowns or inflatable buildings to jump around in. Given her peculiar culinary predilections, we're not letting Sam pick out the menu for the event....
Sam's Story: Week 102
January 9, 2006: Christmas has come and gone, but I'm still playing with my new toy --a new camera. One of the things I love is the "burst mode,", which lets you take like 4 pictures a second. We were at the park and Ger put Sam on this thing that spins around...
Sam's Story: Week 101
January 2, 2006: Sam has become tiring. And I'm not talking about losing sleep --if you spot me the first 8 weeks, I can count on one hand the times she's failed to sleep through the night. Sleeping is one of her core competencies. Instead, her brand of exhaustion inducement has lately stemmed...
Sam's Story: Week 100
December 25, 2005: Welcome to the Centennial Samantha Celebration. ...Or what would be if "centennial" meant "100 weeks" and not "100 years." It's hard to believe that I've been doing these weekly updates for 100 weeks --more if you include the pregnancy updates. To celebrate, I've put together a little retrospective on the...
Sam's Story: Week 99
December 19, 2005: Before Sam, I used to never get sick. Often, I'd climb atop things and announce this by saying "I never get sick!" Lately, though, I often can't make it past "I never ge--" before breaking off into a wet, hacking cough that leaves me doubled over, helpless, and exposed to...
Sam's Story: Week 98
December 12, 2005: Christmas is almost here, with lights up tree erected, and wonderfully wrapped boxes just asking to be ripped open. Or at least according to Sam. Ger and I were out at the mall the other day when we wandered into one of those stores that looks like Holly Hobby exploded...
Sam's Story: Week 97
December 5, 2005: I love my wife dearly, but one of her personality traits is that she can be particular and often has to have things just right. One might even go so far as to call her "persnickety" though don't tell her I said so. For example, she cannot stand it if...
Sam's Story: Week 96
November 28, 2005: The big event this week was, of course, Sam's second Thanksgiving. Ger's parents were here to help celebrate and make a huge meal with all the standard accessories. This year Sam ate the same things as we, though she was the only one who had a plate sporting a picture...
Sam's Story: Week 95
November 21, 2005: Short update this week. Sam's grandparents (Ger's parents) are in town for Thanksgiving this year and she is enjoying the visit immensely, since it gives her some new people to read to her and to blow bubbles for her. The bubbles, in fact, are Sam's new Favorite Thing In The...
Sam's Story: Week 94
November 14, 2005: Slower week this week without any incredible outings to theme parks or new toilets. So let's start off with the pictures: As you may notice, Sam has begun mastery of the fork, which is cause for some stress. Because, you see, once she learns to stab things, you've got to...
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...
Happy Halloween
October 31, 2005: The more things change, the more they stay the same....
Sam's Story: Week 92
October 30, 2005: I don't think that I need to tell you that when you become a parent it changes who you are and what you talk about with other adults, but perhaps an illustration would drive the point home even further. The other night Ger and I were sitting at the dinner...
Sam's Story: Week 91
October 25, 2005: For a while there, I was wondering if Sam would be behind the curve a bit in terms of language. She actually understands a lot when you say something to her, and has been successfully following one- and two-step instructions like "get the ball and put it on the table"...
Sam's Story: Week 90
October 17, 2005: I like to think that I rank somewhere above average on an imaginary parenting curve, and that Samantha will be better off for it. But apparently I needn't bother, at least according to the authors of Freakonomics, the book I mentioned finishing earlier this week. The economist authors spend one...
Sam's Story: Week 89
October 10, 2005: Slow week this week, so let's start off with the pictures right off the bat: As you can see, Ger and Sam went pumpkin hunting with their play group this week, and they returned triumphant with a big orange gourd. Sam has become quite attached to the thing, actually, and...
Sam's Story: Week 88
October 3, 2005: Sam hit a couple of unfortunate milestones this week, sometimes literally. The first is "Baby's First Hacked Up Wad of Phlegm," which she produced on account of having a little chest cold this week. It was almost comical on account of the way she had no idea what to do...
Sam's Story: Week 87
September 26, 2005: I mentioned in last week's update how I prefer Sesame Street over Blue's Clues because of the kind of subtle jokes they slip in for the sake of adults. I was reminded of this fact during one episode of Elmo's World show this week. Every week the little red guy...
Sam's Story: Week 86
September 19, 2005: It's been a long couple of weeks lately, and I'm way off on my schedule. Sam, Ger, and I went back to Tulsa to visit my family while my mother recovered from knee replacement surgery. This was great, as my folks hadn't seen Sam since last Thanksgiving and as religiously...
Sam's Story: Week 85
September 12, 2005: Sorry, I don't really have anything to write about this week. Sam has been up in St. Louis visiting Ger's parents since last week, so all I've got are these pictures of her playing with "walk chalk" in the back yard. She totally loved the stuff, even though she can't...
Sam's Story: Week 84
September 5, 2005: Not a whole lot to report this week, other than Sam has reached one of those monumental milestones usually associated with toddlers: she has learned the "go limp" tactic of nonviolent resistance when we want her to walk one way and she wants to go the other. I was pulling...
Sam's Story: Week 83
August 29, 2005: 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...
Sam's Story: Week 82
August 22, 2005: Sam has learned the joys of bellowing. Not screaming, shrieking, or shouting, but bellowing. Early one morning Ger and I were dozing in bed when we were suddenly awakened by a very distinct and surprisingly booming "MAMMA!" from Sam's crib. And it wasn't a one-shot kind of thing, as she...
Sam's Story: Week 81
August 15, 2005: While coming back from the zoo on Saturday, we passed a little girl sporting a tee shirt that read, "I'M THE BOSS!" Parenthood has given me many wonderful gifts, one of which is the urge to throttle any parent who buys their children shirts like that. You don't need to...
week 25
August 11, 2005: What a difference a 54 weeks makes. Man, I wonder what she'll look like this time next year?...
Sam's Story: Week 80
August 8, 2005: Gah. We're sick again. I used to sometimes go years between getting sick, but Sam seems intent on breaking any wellness streaks I may get going by giving me whatever malady she's having. I'm pretty sure that she picks stuff up from the child care area at the YMCA where...
Sam's Story: Week 79
July 31, 2005: Back a few years ago, before Sam was born, a friend of Geralyn's came to visit us. She brought along her husband and one of their children, a boy somewhere around 1 year old. I remember very clearly when we went out to dinner how amazed Ger and I both...
Sam's Story: Week 78
July 25, 2005: I'm sitting here about to lose my mind, mainly because I can't get the freaking Elmo's World theme song out of my head. Sam has been watching a lot of Sesame Street lately, which means I have been watching a lot of Sesame Street lately. The show's cross-generational longevity is...
Sam's Story: Week 77
July 18, 2005: Apparently, discipline is a laugh-out-loud riot, at least according to Sam. We've been doing the whole "time out" thing for the last couple of weeks, fully aware of the fact that Sam is too young to completely understand, but wanting to get into the habit and curb certain behaviors through...
Sam's Story: Week 76
July 11, 2005: Sam isn't even 1 and a half years old yet and I thought I was supposed to get a little more time than that before she settled on "No" as her favorite word. Foul! She hasn't adopted any of the hallmark tantrums of the "terrible twos," but that single, two-letter...
Sam's Story: Week 75
July 6, 2005: You can still ask for your money back if you want, but what this week's update lacks in timeliness it will make up for in long-windedness and aww-inducing pictures. We're late, of course, because we just got back from a week-long trip to St. Louis to visit friends and family....
Sam's Story: Week 74
June 26, 2005: Guys, this is how it starts: GERALYN: Sammy's getting so big... ME: Yeah. Well, she can't stay a baby forever. GERALYN: We need another baby. ME: What? Woah, woah, woah! Let's not get ahead of ourselves. GERALYN: Well, don't you think so? ME: Look, if you just wait another 14...
Sam's Story: week 73
June 20, 2005: I've been some research, and I've come up with some disturbing suspicions about Sam. I think she's a zombie. The other day I was sitting on the floor playing with her when she suddenly turned to me, spread her arms, and stumbled towards me and into my arms. I was...
Sam's Story: Week 72
June 12, 2005: As I've been saying for a few weeks, Sam's verbal skills are steadily improving. But while she's constantly surprising me how well she understands (e.g., yesterday she understood and followed the two-step command of "Go get the ball and take it to mommy in the kitchen"), her actual spoken vocabulary...
Sam's Story: Week 71
June 5, 2005: The really, really cool thing about watching a kid grow up is seeing her do things or figuring things out for the first time. There's the huge, hulking milestones like first steps or first homemade shiv, but for my money (and I did pay for her, so she's mine) the...
Sam's Story: Week 70
May 30, 2005: Sam is feeling much better this week, having put whatever illness she had behind her. She's down to only an occasional wet, hacking cough instead of a constant stream. Her appetite has returned along with her health, so much so that we had to strip her down after one overenthusiastic...
Sam's Story: Week 69
May 23, 2005: Bad news, Sam Fans. Sammy is sick again. It's not that bad this time, but she's got some kind of chest and throat thing that has her hacking up gobs of stuff like a two-pack-a-day smoker. And I know she doesn't smoke anywhere near that much. She seems okay most...
Sam's Story: Week 68
May 16, 2005: Sorry, short update this week. I have a couple of projects going on that have leeched away most of my free time. Just as well, since this has been a largely uneventful week. The only thing out of the ordinary is that Sam is being a bit of a pill....
Sam's Story: Week 67
May 9, 2005: Bath time is one of Sam's favorite times. Or at least it was before I brought the Silver Snake of Horror into the house. Let me explain. We had been using a bucket to rinse the soap from Sam's hair, but she hated getting all that water dumped on her...
Sam's Story: Week 66
May 2, 2005: When Ger and I decided to become parents, there were 4 things I vowed never to do letst I slip into a cliche like a head trauma victi