Visiting 'Sam I Am'!

I love these kind of photos - he is concentrating so hard!

"Walking" with Daddy's help! (my pants are a bit long....)

Gatfly and Grandpa were so happy to visit Sam!

We decided to take full advantage of not having to be there for milking on Saturday evening and spent the day with Sam and family! Or rather, most of it traveling to and from Baldwin (3 hours one way) and the balance of the time enjoying our older grandson. At nearly 10 months old, Sam is learning something new, just about every minute! I couldn't get him too interested in patty-cake, though or the "Home Alone" hands-to-his-face gesture, either. I wouldn't have thought, before this visit, that Sam would be capable of condescending looks - but that it what I seemed to get out of him when I tried to get him to do the above-mentioned things. Oh well. He has plenty of 'tricks' up his sleeves, as it is.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of Gatfly crawling around behind him. He would take a few creeps (? - they weren't steps...) and turn around and look at me like, "what on earth are you doing? why are you following me??" I think he thought I wasn't much good if I wasn't going to open doors that were shut or reach things for him that he couldn't/shouldn't. Unfortunately, the bruise you see on his forehead isn't just a smudge on the photos. Sally wasn't sure just when he got it, but watching him ram around the room it isn't hard to know why he got it. If there is something in his way, he just goes up and over it, with his eyes on the 'prize', so to speak. His Daddy had rigged up the gate for the opening between the living room and dining/kitchen area to give Hunter an assylum, and also a place wherethe dog food and water could be left down for him and not Sam. Why are barriers such a magnet for little ones? At one point, Sam had it pulled catty-wampus and was on the verge of 'escaping' into the dining room. It is no barrier for Hunter, as he leaps back and forth between the two rooms. [We had found out this was no problem for Hunter at our house. I had put him in the hallway, that has a gate into the dining room, but a full door into the kitchen area. I walked around to the door into the dining room from the kitchen and was met by Hunter. It was as if he was saying, "that was a fun game! let's do it again!" Even though I know that Lucy and Linus can jump that gate too, they seem to respect it and stay in the hall. Not Hunter. I had to stack another gate above the other one to keep him in there.]

We went out for lunch and had a really good meal. Thanks Scott and Sally! Sam was a very good boy at the restaurant, munching on Cheerios (at least the ones that made it to his mouth!), and chowing down on peas and applesauce. I was willing to share my french fries with him, but Mama said no. They had forgotten to bring a sippy cup, and Sally was trying to give him a drink from her water glass. That was too funny! He would stick his tongue WAY out (see earlier post on their blog) and kind of 'chew' on the edge of the glass. Not very efficient. It went a little better when Mama spooned him a bit of water. He charmed everyone who saw him there. We had the dining room to ourselves, but there was a group of senior citizens in an adjoining room, and when they had to go through for something, they would stop and ooh and aah over him. Of course he ate that up! The waittress thought that he was pretty darn cute, too!

Just before we headed to go out to eat, the power went out at their house and soon we heard sirens. When we went past the firehouse, the faithful were gathering and we met a couple of emergency vehicles. When we went back to their house we decided to see if we could see where they had gone, but they had all the streets leading to the north side of town blocked off with vehicles and firemen were directing traffic. We assumed it was an accident that took out a power pole, but never heard anything about it while we were there. The power came back on shortly after Scott relented and went downstairs to build a wood fire. I think it had been out for a couple of hours. Hope no one was hurt.

We left there a little after 5:00 and got home before 9:00, having stopped for a bite to eat on the way. The dogs were happy to see us, as they got left inside for the day. They hadn't wanted to stay out, and we figured they would be okay this time. They were fine - no messes. I hadn't asked Linda to stop in, but that doesn't mean that she didn't, and I couldn't make out what Jack was telling me....

Post Script: We went to my folks' for dinner today. Cari had mixed up a Taco hotdish from all the leftovers of when my Mom made tacos when she was there. It was pretty good, although quite cheesy. Cari had put quite a bit of cheese in it and Mom decided to add some more to the top before baking. Dan liked it quite a bit.

Dan was able to help Dad do a couple of things and Mom and I had a game of Scrabble (go figure). [This was the first win that I referred to on Monday's post.] I had brought my quilt-top along to show Mom and raided her buttons for it. It's always good to see the folks. They are doing quite well and have been busy with spring work around their house. Hopefully they are pacing themselves, but I know they feel really good about all the things that they can do.