Growing Up

I am madly in love with this child.  He is such a huge blessing in my life especially with my high-strung personality.   He is the perfect compliment to me.  I just love him so much.  Since Buddy has been back to school, I've noticed how much Sambo has matured over the summer.  It's hard to tell when Buddy is around all the time because he's the one that does all the talking and pretty much runs the show.  I hate to phrase it like this, but Sambo lives very much in Buddy's shadow.  Not that Sambo minds.  Buddy has a HUGE personality and requires a lot more parenting than Sambo.  Sambo has the perfect personality to fit in wherever he is needed in this family.  He goes with the flow and as long as we treat him like a big boy, he is easy.  He is Buddy's right-hand man.  He is G's best friend.  And he is my comfort.  If only I could find joy in the simple things like he does. 

Sambo headed off for his first day of preschool today.  It's nothing fancy, just a fun co-op with a few friends.  Each mom takes turns teaching and the kids get to be together, play games and do all sorts of crafts.  To say he was ecstatic to be going to school "same as Yoah" (aka his brother), would be the understatement of the year.  He has literally never eaten breakfast so fast.  He was ready and milling around the house with his backpack on before I was ready.  Well, actually it was his brother's backpack from Kindergarten/1st grade because like I mentioned earlier, he wanted to be "same as Yoah."  So while I was upstairs getting ready, he packed his backpack all by himself with his water bottle and his graham cracker snack I had sitting out on the counter.  (I've been trying to teach Buddy to do that for two years!)  After I picked him up from preschool he informed me he loved having his Cheez-its for a snack "same as Yoah."  I said, "Cheez-its?  You took graham crackers."  And then he explained that he did indeed take the graham crackers that I packed, but he also packed himself a separate bag of Cheez-its.  For the record, his brother has NEVER thought to get himself a snack.  And even more interesting, he left no mess.  There were no crumbs, and the box was put back in the cupboard where it belongs.

Not only has Sambo matured emotionally, but he is talking a lot more.  And his reasoning skills have improved the most of all.  He still talks like a baby, so to hear him argue or reason things out like an almost 4-year old is surprising and if I'm being honest, totally adorable.  I'm sure this change has been gradual, but I really am noticing it now that I'm alone with him more.  I'm sure he learned a lot as Buddy's apprentice all summer too, since Buddy can pretty much talk anyone in or out of anything. 

Here are a few anecdotes to illustrate my point just from this morning:

We went to Safeway and Sambo spent the last half of our shopping trip trying to convince me that he needed to bring his pillow next time so he can get more comfortable in the cart.  The metal cart hurts his head and back when he tries to lay down.

He spent the two hours after preschool recounting the whole experience.  I could not believe the details he shared.  He shared nothing about what they learned, but what everyone ate for snack, and who got in trouble for what reasons.  (Just like his brother always does when he comes home...)

I heard a ruckus going on in his room and it sounded like he was getting into his dresser.  A few minutes later he came downstairs with new shorts on, and upon examination, new underwear too.  I asked him what was going on and he told me he peed his pants.  This is a very rare occurrence, but it does happen when he wants attention.  So I gave him a very stern "no" and put him timeout where he'd be getting NO attention.  Then I went upstairs to find his wet underwear.  Low and behold, his underwear and shorts were totally dry.  So I pulled him out of timeout to find out what was going on.  And he confessed that he just wanted to wear his Buzz Lightyear underwear, so he pretended to pee his pants.

He told me that when I'm a kid and he's the parent, he's going to go to his friend Connor's house anytime he wants.

Apparently at preschool a kid wrote on the couch with crayon (the teacher's son, luckily).  Well, Sambo got mad at me shortly after coming home and wrote on our couch.  I put him in timeout and when he came out I could tell he was really sorry.  Time passed, and after lunch I saw him taking a towel and trying to rub the crayon off.  I explained that crayon doesn't come off and he ruined the couch and I was really mad that he does stuff like that.  He batted his big brown eyes at me and said, "You said when making me yunch you not mad at me anymore."  Adorable. 

He pronounces toy "foy," so we were working on that today.  All of a sudden he covered his eyes and said, "No talk so loud at me!"  I must have been yelling in his face.  Poor thing!  But he was able to finally get the correct pronunciation!

And the best of all:  While we were at Safeway, a dad with a baby in a front carrier walked by and Sambo made reference to them.  I always try to convince him he's my baby, so I asked him, "Where's my baby?"  He said, "You not have one.  Heavenly Father say babies too expensive."  I literally laughed out loud there in the checkout line.  I asked him who taught him that, but he said nobody.  At first.  I asked him if daddy taught him that, and he meekly said, "Yes."

Daddy is busted.