Into the Woods...

In high school I was active in the drama department and my favorite part of the year was the musical.  My junior year we did "Into the Woods" and now every time we go to the Houston Arboretum the title song keeps rolling through my head.

"Woods" as Sam likes to call the place is a great favorite with us. There are VERY few places in Houston where you can go outside and feel like you don't live in a concrete jungle. This is one of them. It even smells like a forest there. Often we pack a lunch and hit a trail, any trail, and just roam for a few hours. Sam loves it. Last week we went with our playgroup and he had great fun being the tour guide. He paid special attention to Kennedy (who was at the end of our little string of Moms and kids) to make sure she was okay and keeping up. He definitely is starting to have a thing for pretty girls. This includes our sitter/nanny Amy (who he asks for all day. "Mama go sleep, wake up, AMY!") and fortunately, at least for the moment, Mommy. He's still very much the snuggle-bug he was as a baby. I always wonder if that's because I wore him, breastfed him, stayed home with him, etc., or if that was just his nature to start with. Hmm...

Dad has been very busy with work and I have been very busy with school. Sam has been busy with...jumping, trains, running, balls, cars, letters, numbers, words, sidewalk chalk, tickling, and pillow fights. He loves to be around other kids, make people laugh, and even more touching, he tries to comfort others who are sick or hurting. He loves church now and is getting more and more curious about the mysterious place called "school". His vocab has exploded and he is talking SO much more. This includes reasoning and of course the funny phrases that make you want to explode with laughter when you need to keep a straight face.

For example, we were taking Caspian for a walk and he broke away from my hand and took off. I took Sam home, then started trying to find him and round him up. I came back and as we were going up the stairs Sam said "D you make me CRAZY!" Gee, I wonder where he heard that.

We went to the Arboretum again Wednesday and Sam learned to cross the rope bridge. I had to help stabilize it, but other than that he did it all by himself! Here's some video of it....

Learning to cross:


Actually making it: