At the Hogans

Marcy has watched Sam alot lately as our fall schedules have been crazy (rotations, residency interviews, tutoring, helping out at Ethan's preschool).  He loves Marcy and screams when she leaves the room.  He also loves ripping the decorations off their walls, scaling the couch to reach the Shelf of Forbidden Items, opening and closing the printer, and playing with their dust buster.  All in a day's work.

I always get a few darling pics of Sam after a day at the Hogan household.  Usually in costume.

Behold.

  

They talk and it is funny and cute.

Ethan has come up with some real linguistic gems in the last few days.

• "I'm not going to be a doctor when I grow up.  I'm going to be Batman."
• On proper placement of temporary tattoos on the back of the hand: "Don't put it on my 'nickels' (knuckles) or it will get damaged!"
• On ideal procedure for getting a real tattoo: "They should mix sleeping medicine in with the ink so when they poke it in, you fall asleep and don't feel any pain."  Future anesthesiologist?
• On the status of a rash: "It completely vanished today!"
• Absorbed in play, Ethan voices his action figures.  A muscular lifeguard says to his trusty ladder: "Mr. Ladder, I was worried you were gone forever."  Mr. Ladder replies: "Don't worry, I always come home."

Sam took his time learning how to talk but now there's no stopping him. Amidst the large volume of emphatic but incomprehensible jabber, he throws in a couple of new words each day.  It started with a humble vocabulary of food:  chis (cheese), cashew, cak-kew (cracker or cereal).

Now we have:

• sauce (outside) - usually accompanied by insistently pulling on the door handle
• op-ay (open)
• buckew (buckle) - he loves buckling straps almost as much as he loves toilet paper and Marcy's printer
• sock
• shoes - usually while trying to force my shoes on for me
• bat (bath)
• up-ey (up)
• hat (for hat, hair or head)
• eyes
• nanay (banana)

Today we even heard opay buckew.  A sentence! 

He intermittently says things that sound like mommy, do-dee (Jody?), dada.  Maybe after he's mastered food and clothing words he will pick some names for us.

Dream Come True

Mount Cardigan

 

You know how some places are charged with emotion because of the things that have happened there?  Or some places sort of take on the essence of a time in your life because you've just been there so many times?  Cardigan Mountain is starting to feel like that kind of a place.  My sister and I worked at a hiking lodge at the base of the mountain in high school.  A few years later Jeremy and I got married in the same spot.  I've hiked the mountain - short, steep, great views - nearly a dozen times.  Now little Sam has been to the top too.  After you've carried both of your children up a mountain and married your husband at the foot it, that makes it kinds special.

 

Blast from the past:

Ethan on Mt. Cardigan April 2010