Two Quirky Little Boys

For Samuel and Joey's friends who appreciate their goofball ways. . . here is a sample of what they were up to Friday:

At 7:45 this morning, Joey walked into our room (we were still asleep, of course) and announced, "This is a saaaaandwiiiiich." He was holding his favorite blankie, folded up to look amazingly like a sandwich.

When Joey and Katherine were building with giant legos (she ended up just watching because every time she put on a piece, he would move it), he completed the walls of his "castle" and then started talking about putting on a roof. The dilemma was that the structure was 5 units wide, but the longest pieces we have are only 4 units wide. She could see the wheels turning in his mind as he experimented, not satisfied with this or that solution. She held her breath when he put a column of singles in the middle of the structure. Did he do that on purpose??? Would he take the next step???? Without missing a beat, he laid a crossbeam over the column. Then, he did it again! Our two-year old "invented" columns and crossbeams! Katherine didn't think her day couldn't possibly get any better after that!

She called me to tell me the good news. I had to say that I answered the phone trepidatiously, not sure what kind of situation our house was in. I always get a lump in my stomach when she calls in the middle of the day like that.

Yesterday in preschool, Samuel learned about the letter "W." First of all, Samuel's teachers taught him how to make a "W" using both hands. We think it might be a gang sign. But the best part of the "W" lesson was construction of Samuel's "Wonderful Wand." I wish you could see how he wields it. They obviously gave the children creative freedom in this project: the big star topping Samuel's wand is his favorite color-- PINK. The pink star says, "My Wonderful Wand" and in silver, "Samuel." The reverse of the star is purple, with a giant "W." The rest of the wand consists of an orange straw and red and yellow streamers, which look dazzling when he waves it around.

Now that you can picture the wand, you have the context for what happened while Katherine was getting out ingredients to make dinner, lentil soup. "Mama, what's that?" "Spinach." "Yuck." "You always say that, but then you like it." "I don't want you talking to me about spinach anymore." She heard him rustling behind her and turned to look. He was waving his wand at her. "I'm waving my wand and turning you into a goon! Now you are a goon!" So now she is a goon. Samuel ate 5 helpings of lentil soup, spinach and all, that night.

Lots of love from the goon family,

Jonathan and Katherine