"Those are Max's fingerprints in the crepes" --Sam Swapp when told that no one would get any crepes until whoever pushed their finger through all the crepes confessed.
And so continues the adventure with Sam that started more than three years ago. Quick-witted and warm-spirited, he gives me a "morning hug" followed by a "morning kiss" every morning, and a running bear hug every night. He asks for a kiss for every boo-boo, and he acquiesces when I ask him to wash his hands and then I'll give him a kiss. He yells when he doesn't like something. He loves to play on Starfall, loves to watch Diego and Little Einsteins, and likes to be with his siblings over playing with toys.
Madeline made a beautiful mural for him, Ella bought a movie for him, and Max, who discovered last minute that he was the only one without a present for Sam, gave him his favorite present, a sucker his primary teachers had just given him.
To celebrate, we went to Whitewater State Park. The kids played on the sandy shore of a lake for a long time, the kids transporting tiny fish they caught to a makeshift pool. Another boy started catching fish with them, but his mom, rather blatantly redirected him to return his fish to the place they originally came from, "so that we don't kill them. They are too cute to kill them". I wanted to let her know that the fish weren't cute, that the kids weren't killing them, and that kids learn to care for the earth and the things on it by engaging with them, but I kept my mouth closed. After Madeline and Ella killed all the minuscule fish, we went over to grill our hamburgers and s'mores where undoubtably, the kids found other creatures of God to terrorize.
Finally, we lit the sparklers, those ones that I had bought for 4th of July and forgot about. Madeline and Ella tried to teach Max to write his name twirling the sparkler.
By this time, it was dark, which was our intent, we had a fire ready to go, we lit it, and sat around as long as a three year old will amiably allow. Ryan told a ghost story, which the kids begged out of him. Then Madeline told a story, finally Max told a mostly unintelligible story.
Everyone is nervous about what is going to happen in the story.
Ryan reveals the crux of the ghost story. Everyone is relieved to still be alive after the anticipation. After the stories, we put out our fire, and headed home in the dark, a satiated and satisfied crew quietly listening to the music in the back.
On Sam's birthday, we had crepes for dinner, which someone- we think Max, punched holes through the entire stack. Still, we enjoyed them. We ate them with Apricot Jelly- Croatian style, and with Nutella, and homemade strawberry jam.
We had apple crisp for dessert. The day was prolifically filled with carbohydrates, which is the only food Sam eats with any amount of enthusiasm.
Sam's favorite present was a lollipop Max gave him.
He was very excited about his baseball mit. Our one left-handed child has had a struggle, when we put mits on to throw balls, he insists on putting on a right-handed one, even though he's putting it on his right hand. Now he and I will have the two left-handed mits. We've enjoyed a couple of games of baseball since Sam's birthday and the hit is a winner.
Three year olds sure love their birthdays. They talk about it beforehand and afterwards, and want to know every day how long it is until their birthday again, and who gets to have the next birthday. It's always a pleasure to be part of the enthusiasm.
Three year olds sure love their birthdays. They talk about it beforehand and afterwards, and want to know every day how long it is until their birthday again, and who gets to have the next birthday. It's always a pleasure to be part of the enthusiasm.
