Bubbles

There are a few "mistakes" in this picture. See if you can find any of them.

=========================

Answers:

1. Pete is wearing his biking helmet and not his bubbles helmet.
2. According to mom, the outfit shown (which dad allowed Pete to wear outside) does not match because the shirt is a different pattern than the pants.
3. This one would be impossible to determine from the picture, but Pete actually somehow snapped the bubble wand in the process of creating the bubbles for this photo.
4. Sam is not doing exactly the same thing as Pete and getting in Pete's way. (note, in fact he is doing exactly the same thing just outside the frame of the picture)

Superman Jammies

Pete in his new Superman jammies.

A Problem

A little problem has developed. What happened was that Pete was pulling too hard on the neck and then there was a snap and now the situation is not so good.

What we are looking for is someone who would like to explain to Sam what happened. If anyone would like to help out with this, please let us know.

That Hairball Can Spell

I was trying to take a picture of Sam after he spelled his name. However, he spent about 5 minutes trying to get all of the corners to line up perfectly. Actually, I kind of like the picture this way, anyhow.

Mother's Day

Two conversations from Pete on Mother's Day:

1. Kid's Day

Pete: Do only Mother's get presents on Mother's Day?
Me: Yes
Pete: And do only father's get presents on June 18th?
Me: Yes
Pete: When is Kid's Day?

2. Special Privileges

Pete: Let's play Coolboarders. They have a 4-player mode. I'll go first, dad second, mom third, and Sam fourth
Dad: You want mom to go third on Mother's Day? She should get moved up to the highest spot.
Pete: Ok, you're right. She can go second.

Camera Hog

We haven't had a lot of interesting pictures lately. Part of the reason for this is that Sam has figured out that when someone takes out the camera there will be pictures. So he runs over next to the wall and poses until we take his picture and then show it to him. By then, the original opportunity is long gone.

For example, yesterday Pete was counting from 1 to 100 for his homework assignment. Well, Sam kept calling out random numbers. It seemed like this was not malicious in intent, but it is hard to say for sure. Anyhow, it was messing up Pete's counting and it would have made a very funny video, but Sam ran over to get his picture taken when we took the camera out.

Batman Jammies

Sam likes his new Batman jammies that mom got at the consignment sale. Pete got Superman ones.

Sam Breakfast

See if you can guess what Sam had today for breakfast.

If you guessed a squishy basketball, a case for Activision 30 Games, and a Power Rangers sticker, you win.

Sam likes the case for 30 games. He can point to about half of them if you call the name out. His favorites are Hero, Tennis, Boxing, Pitfall, Ice Hockey, Frostbite, Freeway, and Enduro.

By the way, if you were thinking about moving the basketball to the other side of the case, I wouldn't recommend it.

Sam Sick

Sam was sick a week ago for the first time in quite a while. He just had a bit of a fever and was logy for a few days. This was one of those deals where he just wants to lie around all day, but of course he needs someone to keep him company. So this just means that Christy has to clean the house, play with Pete, and cook dinner from this position:

This is where dad would generally find them when leaving for work in the morning, and when returning in the evening.

Sam is all better now.

The Last Egg

Our street has an annual Easter Egg Hunt. The good news for Sam is that each kid gets to find 10 eggs. So after all of the other kids had found 10, Pete helped Sam look around for any that were left for him. Here is Pete helping Sam find one in a bush.

Sam had a tendency to lose the eggs in his basket. I have a feeling that if you wanted to get all of his eggs, you could ask him for the time and he would turn his arm to check his watch and all of his eggs would spill out.

Crazy Hair Day

Pete had a blue mohawk last Friday for "crazy hair day" at school. Then on Monday they went bowling. I don't remember all this fun stuff when I went to school. Maybe one time on a Friday they gave us Pepperoni on our pizza. But that's about it.

Another Belt Ceremony

On Saturday evening, we went to our third belt ceremony for Karate class. Pete moved quickly through his gold belt, and passed the test for his green belt. This time, Sam also got promoted to "advanced white belt", which is white with an orange stripe.

Here is a picture of Pete getting his green belt.

This was a fun ceremony, because Pete and Sam got to sit together.

Here is Sam with his new belt. Unfortunately, his flower did not last too long. Interesting note about this picture is that it was taken by Pete.

International Children's Festival

We took Pete and Sam to the International Children's Festival in Hampton, VA on April 15. It was on our way back from Virginia Beach to home in Northern Virginia.

Some interesting things we saw:

- Pete went to the Japan exhibit, which was fun since he had recently finished his unit on Japan in school. They had a little game where you knock the bottom piece of a stack out with a hammer. The kids were better than the adults at this because you had to hit it hard, even though this seemed counter-intuitive

- We stopped by the South Africa exhibit to see if they recognized dad from his visit last year (no).

- We got some cookies at the Nigeria booth.

- We saw a guy with a monkey who would take quarters from little kids. I think this was in the "Tribute to Ebola" area.

- We saw a mariachi band. They were not affiliated with any particular country, I think they were just included by the festival planners under budget for "random stereotype".

- We also saw some hula dancers at the exhibit stage.

- Pete and Sam won a t-shirt and squeeze bottle at the "we're not a country, but we paid an exhibit fee" booth for Liberty Insurance.

Vacation Transformation

We recently took a few days vacation without Pete and Sam. You don't realize how relaxing this can be until you try it. For example, see the pictures below:

Sam Object Quiz

See if you can figure out what these items have in common:

Basketball
Pair of shoes
Crash doll
Pillow
Nintendo "Cabal" game
Two "weapons" (made from Knex)
Stuffed blue bear

===============================
Answer: Stacey is right, these are the items Sam took to bed with him last night.

Rock Paper Scissors

When we were in Vriginia Beach a few weeks ago, Pete and I sat down to play the board game "Sorry" with cousins Sarah and Joey. Pete and Joey both wanted to be blue, so we were at an impasse before we even started the game. Then Joey suggested best 2 out of 3 rock paper scissors, to which Pete agreed. The game proceeded as follows:

Round 1
Joey: Rock
Pete: Paper

Round 2
Joey: Paper
Pete: Scissors

So Pete took the color he wanted and they proceeded to play the game. (There was a further competition between Joey and Sarah when he turned his coveting to her red pieces, but that can be a topic for future discussion.)

A few days later, I asked Pete about the rock paper scissor game.

Me: Pete, how did you manage to win two consecutive games of rock paper scissors?
Pete: Well, I figured usually people like to start out with rock. So I decided to go with paper.
Me: I see.
Pete: When he jumped right into the next turn, I figured he would try to beat me with my own strategy of paper. So I went with scissors.

So for those of us who thought there was no strategy to rock paper scissors, I guess we need to think again.

After The Last Supper

This picture of Joey, Sarah, Sam, and Pete somehow reminds me of The Last Supper. It's the lesser-known part of the story, after dinner when Jesus and most of the disciples went back to Jerusalem while a few others stayed back at the house and watched a Rugrats movie.

Beware the Evil 2-Headed Leprechaun

Easter Eggs

Here is Sam coloring eggs at Nana's house with Sarah, Ashleigh, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Stacey, Joey, Pete, and mom.

See if you can guess what Sam is going to try to do with the egg:
a) Color it
b) Take a picture of it
c) Eat it
d) Throw it at Aunt Stacey
e) Squeeze it

I will post the answer here later.

(Answer: c)

Thrill of Victory

One thing I will say about Pete - he has a lot of persistence once he gets started on a wall. The biggest difference between Pete and Dad is that after Pete "gives up" on a wall and comes down, as soon as his feet hit the mat he is ready to go up again.

Harness Optional?

Here is Pete doing an unharnessed free climb at the rock climbing place. In his defense, this was prior to the safety lecture where they told us important rules such as "no free climbing", etc. The instructors were a little bit concerned about Pete's clothing. Not because it was loose, more because of his shirt that said "I do all my own stunts". During the safety briefing, we met our fellow climbers. The group consisted of Pete, 6 other kids, and dad.

Rock Climbing

This week is rock climbing week, which will include recollections from dad and Pete's first rock climbing adventure on April 7, 2006.

Downstairs Racquetball

We finally got the ping pong table from Freecycle set up downstairs. Sam calls it "racquetball".

When we are playing Crash, Sam will walk around and gather everyone's paddles and give them out. This means he is ready to play racquetball. We keep records of the longest rally for each person. Pete's record is 10. Sam's record is 2, but I think we are getting close to 3. Dad and Pete stand at the two ends of the table, and Sam stands on the side.

This would probably be a good place for a picture; too bad we don't have one yet.

Sam Bowling

Here is Sam's first time bowling. The picture is a bit misleading - he did go up there the first 2 or 3 frames, but after that he only wanted to roll the ball from all the way back where you step up onto the lane. The optimistic view is that he has mastered the game and was thus looking for a bigger challenge. The more likely explanation is that he saw a ladybug near the foul line and got frightened of going back up there.

Thanks to Aunt Stacey for taking the picture.

Carpet Squares

Mom: Sam, do you want to help us look at carpet squares for the family room?
Sam: No. Rectangle.

Gold Belt

Pete got his Gold Belt on Saturday. He has been excited to go to class this week and start learning gold belt combinations.

Sam and I went to class with Pete on Saturday. A boy and his mom arrived early for class and were sitting next to us. Sam was talking loud so they could hear him.

Sam: That boy holding his yellow card
Me: Yes, he has a yellow card
Sam: That boy has crazy hair
<*sigh*>

April Floos

Sam was really getting into the April 1 concept on Saturday.

Sam: Me lost my shirt
Dad: How did you lose your shirt?
Sam: April Floos!

Pete was hard to fool after we got him the first time. If you ever want a real challenge, try playing Simon Says with Pete. It is very difficult to trick him. After a while you have to get him on a technicality, like "Simon Says masticate with just your left mandible". Then yell "game over" run away before he figures it out.

Younger Pete at Dinner

Going through some older pictures, I found one of my favorites. This is several years ago, at a restaurant with Pete and Shayna. This was before Sam or Skyler were born. I like pictures that seem to tell a little story.

Sam in the West

I wonder how long Sam would survive if he were born in the Wild West.

1. No Blues Clues jammies
2. No Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
3. No Batman meatballs with Spaghettio's
4. No boo-boo bear
5. No Scooby Doo gummies

Playing With Cousins

If Sam looks a little tired in this picture, it is from playing with our visitors last weekend - cousins Ashleigh and Sarah, their gymnast friend Taylor, Aunt Stacey, and Nana. Sam is holding his new friend Crash, who arrived earlier in the day courtesy of ebay.

Taylor taught Pete some new games, such as pool table hockey and rolling down a hill like a stuntman. Dad got to spend a lot of quality time with the younger ones, while the other adults were off doing their activities. This included walking through a construction site to go to the magic playground.

Two Man Band

Spelling Bee - Year 1

Pete and I had fun at the Loudoun County spelling bee on Thursday night. This was one of the regional bees that determines who gets to represent Loudoun county in the National spelling bee in May. There were 193 contestants.

It was scheduled to start at 7:00. We got there at 7:00. The speakers started at 7:10, and droned on for about 20 minutes. The spelling started around 7:30. Pete was very patient. We were sitting in the last row. We stayed for the whole first round, which was 193 words. We spelled 191 of them correctly. I would write the word and hand it to Pete, and then he would watch to see if they got it correct. The kids did a good job - about 140 made it to the next round. We had to leave though, because it was a school night and already past bedtime.

Some of the words that Pete knew how to spell were penalty, buffalo, and annual. We still have 5 years to practice before his first year of eligibility.

We did a mini spelling bee at the house on Saturday. The contestants were Pete, cousins Ashleigh and Sarah, and their friend Taylor. Also, Sam was a contestant but he just had to say the word to go to the next round.

Jaws of Life

Welcome to everyone joining us today from Parent Hacks.

Today's bonus tip: If you have an extra $8,000 lying around, before dumping it in some fancy college savings plan, you should consider investing in the Jaws of Life. I don't know what we would do without them.

Pogo Bookworm

Pete's favorite game on the computer lately has been Pogo Bookworm. (Play - Rules)

It is a great tool for improving his spelling and vocabulary. Most of the time, if you suggest a word he can find it and spell it right.

On a related note, Pete and I are going tomorrow night to the County Spelling Bee at Stone Bridge High School. We will bring some pencil and paper, so we can write our guesses and then see how the kids spell them. Note, we are not able to enter this event, we are just going to observe.

Popcorn

Here are Pete and Sam getting ready to watch Shark Tale, which we found at the library. The winners of the popcorn eating were as follows:

1st Place: Pete
2nd Place: cushions of chair
3rd Place: Sam

Also, we only made it about 12 minutes into the movie. This movie is really intended for adults who prefer animation to real actors. The older kids might pick up on 10% of the obscure references. Also of relevance was that the DVD was broken.

On a related note, our Friday night strategy was for Dad to put Sam to bed while Mom and Pete did their tradition of making popcorn and watching the new episode of Avatar. But the plan changed when, instead of saying "Night night", Sam said "Me smell popcorn" and proceeded to head downstairs.

Important Note If You Are Taking A Bath With Pete

If you are taking a bath with Pete - regardless of what he may tell you, do not let him decide how much bubble solution to pour in.

Mystery of the Locked Door

Sam may have a future career as a locksmith or ghost. A few times it has been unclear how he gained access to the hallway despite a door locked from the outside. It's like one of those murder mysteries where no one had access to the room where they find the body.

The situation arose once again when we had a babysitter Saturday night. This was an excerpt from the conversation when we returned:

Me: "Did you lock the door to Sam's room, per the instructions?"
Babysitter: "I tried, but somehow he got out"

I like the "somehow" part. It evokes visions of Sam in there, opening a secret diaper to unveil a secret stash of little lockpicking tools. Possibly a baby wipe for his brow so he doesn't get any sweat on the tools.

Pete Back Flip

I brought a camera to Pete's demo team practice the other day. Demo team is where they practice the advanced maneuvers that are reserved for special demonstrations. Click the picture below to see Pete executing a new back flip they were trying for the first time.

Don't Say These Words

Top 10 Words You Can't Say When Sam is Around

10. Outside
9. Doodlebops
8. Mega Man
7. Downstairs
6. Candy
5. Leopard seat
4. Binky
3. Crash
2. Gazebo
1. Nunchucks

The reason you cannot say any of these words is that he will want to immediately stop whatever he is doing (such as eating dinner) and do the thing that you said.

Sam Sentences

Sam talks with a lot of sentences now. He gets excited if you say his sentence back to him. But if you get it wrong, he says it again until you say it right. Click on the image to see Sam enjoying his breakfast.

Indian Summer

This weekend was one of those Indian Summer times where it is 80 degrees in Winter. So we had a good chance for some family outdoor activities:

- picnic at the playground
- roller blading around the neighborhood and roller hockey (dad/Pete)
- washing cars
- biking on the WOD Trail

For the biking, Sam rode with mom and Pete rode with dad on a tandem attachment. I am starting to think maybe we play too many video games, because when we were biking Pete kept asking when we would get to the next "Checkpoint". We stopped by Ashburn Road for some snacks and drinks, so that is now our official Checkpoint. Also, we found a nice playground off the trail about half way between the entrance and the checkpoint. The only problem is that there are two drainage tunnels that Pete and Sam can not resist walking through.

Beware of AIM Messages

Moral of the story (see below): Be wary when you get AIM message at work saying you need to come right home. Maybe it's time to invest in the webcam so I can see who I am talking to.

one two three four five six

Read the following sentence: one two three four five six.

The time it takes to read that is approximately equal to the amount of time that elapses between my saying "Pete, play with your brother for a minute while I set the table for dinner" and "hey, what is all the commotion in there?"

Sam Dance

Click on the picture to see Sam's version of the Squidley dance from Spongebob Lost in Time.

First Bubble

Click the picture to see Pete blow a bubble.

Sam's Phobias

Here are some things that Sam is afraid of:

- Roomba
- Koopa's Castle
- Remote controlled car -->
- Fire on Crash 2
- Central vacuum cleaner
- Trucks in the street
- Electric razor
- Lawn mower
- Crickets

New Toy

Like most kids, Pete and Sam have finished lunch and are playing with calculators.

Pete likes to play the game where you start with 1 and keep doing x 2 = and try to guess each number until you get up to 262144.

Bedtime Story

Here is the latest bedtime story configuration. Pete on the inside. Sam in the middle. Dad on the edge, 90% off the Edge and getting randomly punched and kicked by Sam. The current book is "Where the Sidewalk Ends". We heard a few poems from this book at a special reading event at Pete's school.

Sam usually brings an object with him to bedtime story. On some unfortunate evenings, this will be a balloon or beach ball. This makes it a difficult reading experience for everyone. Also, Sam likes to put his feet over important words in the story. So the story will end up like "The tortoise was very slow, and the hare was very foot." Or "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take Sam's feet out."

Swing Ride

Here is Pete's latest contraption, which is called Swing Ride. It actually swings around very smooth and fast. And it is pretty durable, which I know since I saw Sam running around with it and somehow it was still intact when I saw it later.

The Two Faces of Sam

I think maybe Sam is one of those people with multiple personalities. For example, the other night I came home with pizza.

Sam: Pizza! Daddy bring pizza. Me eat pizza. Look, Pete. Pizza. Let me see. Sam carry pizza. Big pizza. No touch, hot. Mommy cut it. Sit table.

Me: Sam, do you want some pizza?

Sam: No.

Nunchucks

Everybody duck! Pete has nunchucks. They let him bring home a set to practice for the demo team.

Go to a safe place and then click the photo above to see some video.

Adverse Selection

Health insurers suffer from a well-known phenomenon called adverse selection, where people who are the most likely to suffer claims are the most likely to purchase the insurance.

I think there is a similar phenomenon in parenting. This is where Pete is most likely to ask for help with something at the most difficult or desperate times. So let's suppose (hypothetically) he is building a clawing lobster. He will ask you to help with the piece that requires the most supreme amount of strength and finesse, but of course without applying too much force (which would destroy the entire infrastructure of the model). Also, it is also assumed that you are instantly familiar with the full schematics of this item that you have never seen before.

Digital Camera Game

One of Pete's favorite games is the digital camera game. You go all around the house taking close-up pictures of various objects or places. You need to include just enough detail so that the item is uniquely identifiable. Then Pete goes through each picture and tries to locate the item. It can be good exercise, if you make sure each picture is on a different floor of the house. I think Sam is almost ready to try the game. We will have to try it with him. Maybe we can do things in his room to start.

Tasty

Maybe it's just me, but the snow in Virginia seems to taste a lot better than in New Jersey. It has a certain something, maybe it is the smooth tobacco flavor in the air. Of course, Pete is lucky because he has always lived in Virginia.

Goro, Prince of Pain

Here is Pete reading his first comic book, which is Goro - Prince of Pain.

He is wearing his karate uniform. Things have been interesting at karate, as Pete was selected to participate on the demo team. He had one practice so far. Apparently they have him doing flips and various other maneuvers that are outside of the standard orange belt repertoire.

Second Snowman

We got enough snow last weekend for our second snowman of the season.


We also had a pretty good snowball fight. The only rule for snowball fight is that if you hit Sam, then you need to stand frozen for one throw by your opponent. Sam started out on dad's team, but then somehow ended up on Pete's team. I think it happened when he ran up on the sidewalk because he was afraid of the snow plow. That was when he found the opportunity to convert over to Pete's team.

Scrabble

Answer: February 5, 2006
Question: When did Pete first defeat his dad in Scrabble?

However, it should be noted:
1. Mom helped him find a place to use his Q, which just happened to be on a double letter space.
2. The use of the word "er", as part of a combination word, was questionable.

Mystery Color

Pete said we should put this picture of Sam on the blog and ask people to guess what color popsicle he was eating.

No More Cribs

Yesterday we changed Sam's crib into a bed and turned his doorknob around so we can lock it from the outside. It went pretty well, he didn't come out at all when going to sleep last night.

This morning when the alarm went off at 6:00 I said "I think I heard some shuffling a few minutes ago in the hallway. We should check on Sam." We found him in the basement playing with the Playstation.

Racquetball Handicapping

I played racquetball with Pete again on Saturday. He is getting better. One of his strengths is in the area of trash-talking.

Pete: Can you play racquetball with more than two people?
Me: Yes, there is something called doubles where four people play at the same time on two teams.
Pete: I think you and I would beat Tom and Brian.

-- about 5 minutes later, Pete stops the ball during a point --
Pete: I'm pretty sure Tom and I would beat you and Brian

-- 10 minutes after that --
Pete: Brian and I would beat you and Tom