Standing Guard

A few weeks ago Samuel declared that there wa a monster under his bed.  I was tired, and I really just wanted to go to sleep.  But, anyone who has tried to convince a 3 year old that things are not as he thinks they are, knows that you could be in for a loooong conversation.  So, I peeked under Samuel's bed and had a chat with the monster.  I told the monster that even though he is a very friendly monster, he is not allowed to sleep under Samuel's bed.  No, he could not stay there, but he may sleep under my bed. 
To make sure that the monster didn't sneak back into Samuel's room and under his bed, we placed Winnie the Pooh under Samuel's bed to stand guard. 
Winnie the Pooh has been a great guard and the friendly monster has not been back under Samuel's bed.  Well, at least he hadn't been back, until tonight.  Samuel declared that the monster was again under his bed.  I checked with Winnie the Pooh and he confirmed that the monster had in fact tried to get back under Samuel's bed.   But, Pooh assured me that he was firm and made the monster leave immediately.  I am so grateful for Pooh.  Such a good little helper. 
Of course Samuel chuckles and thinks it is great when I converse with the monster and with Pooh.  We have fun together, the monster, Pooh, Samuel and I, and I really hope that these times will last for a long time and our memories of these times will last forever!

Bully at the Playground

Today we went to one of our favorite parks to play outside.  The weather has been beautiful so we thought it would be a perfect day, and apparently lots of other people had the same idea.  We had been there for a while we let Samuel go a ways away from us...we could always see him, we just didn't stand by him.  This other child came up to him and we noticed that they both appeared to be wanting to play in the same area.  We just kind of stayed back to let them work it out but I did start to approach and the other child started hitting Samuel in the head.  I started to yell for him to stop as I quickened my pace, but the other child didn't even pause and he started to pull at Samuel really hard around the stomach/waist.  This concerned me because of all of the surgeries Samuel has had his core muscles are a bit weaker and he was trying to climb the ladder.  I pulled the child away from Samuel and told him he couldn't do that, and at that point that child's mother came over and started telling him that was the last of it, he had already been told that he couldn't do things like that and they would now be going home.  At that point Samuel just started to sob.  He was terrified and just wanted his daddy to hold him for a bit. 

I'm torn on if I did the right thing.  Should I have gone over there immediately when I saw that the boys were both wanting to do the same thing?  Typically Samuel can work these things out and he gets along with other children so well. 
After it was all over we talked about what happened.  I explained to Samuel that if someone starts to hit, push, pull him then he needs to scream.  We talked about yelling "Go away" or "Help" and we practiced.  Samuel is typically very quiet so we had David walk a ways away from us and then practiced yelling loud enough for a grown up to hear.  Samuel really liked the practicing.  I did tell Samuel that if yelling doesn't get the person to stop that he can hit them....I don't want to encourage violence, but if he can't get away from a bully, I don't want him to not defend himself.  We did NOT practice hitting :)

So, what are your suggestions?

Quote about how it feels to be blessed with a baby....

"It's like there's a chamber in your heart that you don't know exists that open up when you have a baby"  -Brandon Flowers, Lead Singer for The Killers

Pirate Video

Here is Samuel Pirate in action.  He goes from Pirate to Grumpy Pirate....sorry that it is on its side.  I cant get it to rotate....perhaps you could just tilt your head or maybe put your monitor on its side for this brief video?

Halloween

I really enjoy most holidays and with Samuel holidays seem even more fun.  One of my favorites is Halloween because I think that Samuel is just so cute in his costumes!  And, one of my favorite things that we have done for the past few years is attend Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular.  I think it is so cute.  We went today and it was very, very rainy!  Be we had lots of fun and it is so early in the season that we will likely go next weekend too and hopefully get even more pictures.  I will share a couple pictures from today, but because I am feeling somewhat reminisent, lets first look at Samuel of Halloween's past.

Halloween 2008 - Who couldn't fall in love with this adorable Samuelstein?!

Halloween 2009 - Samuel Tiger with two pumpkin fish at Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular

Halloween 2010 - Samuel Turtle at the Celebration Pumpkin Patch

Halloween 2011 - Pirate Captain Samuel at Sea World's Spooktacular

Disney's 40th Anniversary

We woke up early to go to Magic Kingdom on Saturday so that we could celebrate Magic Kingdom's 40th anniversary. We enjoyed the Parade of Characters and the train ride. Samuel got to drive a car on test track which he loved and he also really liked the Buzz Lightyear ride after which he posed with Zurg! All in all, it was a fabulous day!

Free Museum Day

The museum we chose to go to last weekend was a children's museum in Lakeland. Samuel had a great time playing in the orange grove, fire truck, boat, and Publix grocery store!