Today's Important Lessons from Sam

Sam is at the funny stage of development. By that, I don't mean his ears are bigger than the rest of his head or anything, but that his imagination is running so wild that he says funny things all the time.

Coming out of Kindermusik today, he turned to Joy and announced that Annemarie, the older sister of his good friend Cole, was going to have a baby in her belly. Joy asked when and why and Sam responded, "We are going to get married, and then she will have a baby in her belly." At least he has the order right, but I'm afraid that, like many men, he's overreaching. Annemarie, while fun to play with, is in Kindergarten while Sam won't even start preschool until the fall.

He's also evidently figured out the purpose of all big red buttons, because he declared "If you push a button that is connected with electricity at the firestation it will start the siren."

He also seems to be internalizing our lessons. He must have heard someone at school mention a bad baby, because lately when Noah does something he doesn't like, he proclaims that "Noah is a bad baby!" We've patiently explained that Noah is not bad, but his actions are and so you should tell him to stop what he's doing that is frustrating you. This afternoon he let out a grunt of anger and yelled "Noah is interrupting my story!" which is Sam code for "not playing the right way." He then started "Noah's..." but stopped, thought, and then finished the sentence, "...actions are bad!"

Yes, he's learning a bit of empathy, which we heard in his final important lesson from today when Sam told us that he had created a friend for the unloved dinosaur. Those poor dinosaurs. At least they have an advocate in Sam.