A memorable moment…because one of my little preschool clients (she will turn five soon) is learning to read ‘Dick and Jane’, Miss Sam asked me “When did I start reading?”. So Saturday morning I took down one of the vast journals I kept from age one to three and began searching diligently for the entry that announced her ability to read:

3-20-98 (age three)

Alphabet letters you can write: F, E, O, A, T U, H, P

You can draw an American flag and a square.

Words you can read: cat, dog, hot, Samantha, Mommy, Daddy, moon, fox, and pig.

But this was not the memorable moment. The memorable moment was reading other entries with Samantha (now almost fourteen) and hearing her giggle out of control at her toddler antics:

11-9-97 (age 2 1/2)

We were in K-Mart and it was our first time shopping there and we couldn’t find the toy department. You then stopped the next person you saw and said “Excuse me, can you tell me where the toy department is?”.

1-30-98 (almost three)

You were creating a ruckus to get my attention. I picked you up and sat on the balconey with you until you calmed down. When you calmed down I told you:

Mommy: “I’m tired of these shenanigans.”

Samantha: “Mommy, I left shenanigans in bed.”

Later that same day when I said:

Mommy: “Are you being a pain in the butt?”

Samantha: “No, I left pain in the butt in bed.”

Note: I always tell you when you wake up crabby that if you get up you need to let Miss Crabbycakes stay in bed.

4-26-98  (age three)

In a conversation about God making Georgia far away (Daddy is in school there) and being in heaven and everywhere, you asked me:

Samantha: “Mommy, what time is God going to come down from heaven?”

Mommy: “I don’t know baby.”

Samantha: “I wonder how he will get here, maybe with a parachute or something.”

6-1-98 (age three)

You were drawing and you said:

Samantha: “I want to be a drawer.”

Mommy: “Do you mean an artist?”

Samantha: “Yes, I want to be an artist when I grow up.”

5/98 (age three)

You came into Gram’s house and said:

Samantha: “Grandma, my butt’s broke.”

Grandma: “Why?”

Samantha: “Because it has a crack in it!”

Grams and Gramps laughed so hard tears came to their eyes.

8-6-98 (age three)

Samantha was watching a video where Linus was moving and Samantha asked:

Samantha: “Why is Linus moving?”

Mommy: “I don’t know why.”

Samantha: “Maybe it’s because Sally keeps calling him her sweet Baboo.”

September 1998 (almost four)

You came out into the living room and said:

Samantha: “Mommy come see.”

and you brought me into the bathroom where you climbed on the toilet and put your butt all the way into the water and you said:

Samantha: See, it makes a great butt washer.”

1-10-99 (almost four)

We were walking to the tennis courts.

Mommy: “I thought today was my day, what are we doing..going to play tennis?”

Samantha: “I changed it to my day. Tomorrow can be your day.”

Mommy: “Why do I not believe that?”

Samantha: “Maybe because you’re not smart enough?”

4-1-99 (age four)

Samantha yelled for me from the bathroom to wipe her poopy butt. When I was finished she patted me on the back and told me:

Samantha: Mommy, you’re the best butt wiper ever!”

April 1999 (age four)

You, me, and Grandma Batog were in the Target snack bar where you were enjoying your routine hotdog, Cheetos and Icee. I was telling Grandma that maybe when Daddy came home I could cook decent meals for you. You feigned surprise and said:

Samantha: “You??? Cook???”

4-9-99 (age four)

We were lying in bed one night getting ready to go to sleep and you were up to your usual antics. I said:

Mommy: “Samantha, you drive me crazy.”

and you smiled at me mischievously and said:

Samantha: “No Mommy, you drive yourself crazy!!”

I am grateful…that I took time out from being a new, overwhelmed,and frazzled mom to record all the details of my daughter’s early childhood.

I laugh…just remembering Miss Sam giggling at herself and her incredible sense of humor that began at birth.

I love..that we can laugh at her telling me that I am ‘just not smart enough’ and that at the tender young age of four she was intuitive enough to notice that I do indeed ‘drive myself crazy’.

Something new….as I was reading through the volumes of captured memories I became sad that after age four there is little of the written word to document the continuing antics of my precious girl. She does of course have two enormous photo scrapbooks for every age (that would make a total of 28 scrapbooks so far!!!) that include some journaling…but nothing like the journals from her baby years. Therefore, I am going to include a new addition to my daily ‘Around the Square’/Today I am grateful for/Today I am going to simplify my life…..it will be ‘Samantha’s Corner’. Here is where I will carry on the tradition of documenting our ordinary days that are building blocks for our extraordinary lives.

A joyful picture from this week:

I’ll be adding some more pictures this week and on Facebook. Also, by request, I will feature my ‘project’ birthday present in a post later this week

Today’s Around the Square: is Sandra’s food blog Full Bellies, Happy Kids. I have bookmarked several of her recipes. Tonight I will be making her Baked Spaghetti. I will let you know how it turns out. Until then, go see what you can ‘cook up’ for dinner tonight from her fabulous recipes!!!!

Today I am grateful for: that the robins are back!!! They make such a beautiful racket as they land and cover every inch of our front yard. I hope to be quick enough this week to capture a photo of them.

Today I will simplify my life: picking out the top four books from my long list of ‘To Be Read’ books and put them in the basket beside my bed. This will keep me from being overwhelmed by my addiction and keep me on track with my reading.

Samantha’s Corner:

Dear Samantha, It is a rule that you clean up your computer area before going to bed at night…or you will lose what???? That’s correct…you will lose an hour of your nightly allotment of computer time. This is how your computer area looked this morning when I woke up. Looks like you are not going to be on the computer much today.

Love, Mom