Sam Gets Into Summer
I want out! Take the screen off or I'll go through it!
While you can’t tell by the questionable weather we’ve been having lately, the calendar says summer is only days away. As I type this, looking out the window, sitting on the living room floor, I see nothing but gray, dreary skies and wet pavement. This is, assuredly, a spring-time climate. But come on already! It`s freakin` June 18th and I want some sun dammit!
Ahem… Pardon the outburst, I guess I’m vitamin D deficient.
We do get a nice day now and then. Sometimes we even get two or three nice, dry and sunny days strung together.
"I wanna touch... you!"
But that happens tops… tops once every three weeks. That is not enough! Is this global warming? Well I can’t help but feel a little disappointed if it is! 
When that sun does shine it’s glorious beams of loving warmth, we get outdoors and have some fun! Sam loves being outside. He loves it so much in fact, that every evening when we arrive home after work, we unpack him out of the trunk and bring him into the house to eat supper. As soon as we cross our front door threshold, he loses it! Big tears roll down his reddening cheeks as he throws out a finger pointing back outside and gives one of his best “feel sorry for me” frowns. He doesn’t want to eat now, he wants to explore! Sam loves the trees and plans and flowers that make up our little yard and it’s as if he has to walk around to each one and say “Hi!”.
Oh! And I was kidding about the trunk comment, he prefers the roof a lot more… He gets a nice breeze up there.
Another thing Sam loves is talking walks. Well, he sits in his super-awesome-cause-it-makes-other-parents-jealous safari wagon and we pull him
A face full of cone!
around. Now what better place to walk/pull his highness to on a warm evening than the ice cream stand? Well an ice cream stand with strippers would be better, but he’s a little young for that… and Melissa might have a slight objection too. 
I had never seen this before, but this ice cream place serves up baby cones for uh, well babies. I got to say we were surprised by Sam’s reaction as we thought he’d dig right into it and get his face all messy. Alas, as with the maple toffee back at the sugar shack, after one big bite, Sam gave it the kibosh. I think he may have gotten his first brain -freeze, cause he scrunched his brow up, pursed his lips and gave the ice cream a puzzling look. After that, he wouldn’t eat it from the cone; we had to spoon it to him. Royalty indeed! How dare he mess his face up! Sheesh.
Sam's favorite: a ball! Cause they are so versatile! e.g. He can throw them.
Balls. Yes, balls. They are Sam’s favorite toy. Indoors or outdoors, you give him a ball to play with and you got one happy kid. On his birthday, my family pitched in and got Sam an awesome multi-purpose play set that has a slide, soccer net, basketball net and climbing ladder. We keep it out in the yard and when Sam sees it, he heads straight for it with his fastest, unsteady little gait. I throw him the basketball and it promptly smacks him on the noggin, cause he can’t catch yet… he’s only 16 months people, stop ragging on him cause he can’t catch! Give him a chance will ya?!?! Anyways, he picks up the ball, and without showing him anything, slam dunks it like Kobe’s business! I have yet to get this on video, but he get at least, a minimum of 0.03 seconds of air time. It’s magical folks, it really is. Spell it with me: P-R-O-D-I-G-Y!
Just to be safe, I won’t start counting the millions just yet…
Just the other day, we were at Nanny’s and Grandpa’s working on the property during an absolutely stunning
Auntie Cindy getting the dirt off Sammy's toes!
afternoon, when Granpa becomes Sam’s best friend ever after he pulls out a soccer ball from the garage. Whoosh! Sam’s on it like white on rice. It’s a nice thought to ponder when your child is easily amused. Just goes to show how the simplest things can make them so happy, I wonder why we forget that profoundly important lesson as adults? 
It’s wondrous to see his eyes light up when he discovers something new about the great outdoors, like touching grass for the first time or tasting that first handful of dirt… OK, we’re not really sure if he actually tasted dirt, but we saw him with dirt on his fingers and on the side of his mouth. Draw your own conclusions… Yuck.
There is much more to write about when it comes to Sam’s summer activities and discoveries and I will do that shortly as there is just to much to stuff into this one post.
So here’s to a beautiful summer, where ever you are. Make the most of it and don’t forget the sunscreen!
Dilemma: the flowers or the ball?
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