A White-Mama Moment

Can I just remind everyone that black people hair is quite different than white people hair? Poor Sammy. Despite all our efforts to tame it, his hair has been getting more and more frizzy ever since we got home. And, evidently, other people have begun to notice as well...

The other day I was in Walmart when an African American woman stopped me.

She said, "Ma'am, may I ask you a question?"
Me: "Sure"
Her: "Do you ever put any type of oil on his hair?"
Me: "Well, I have this stuff called Shea Butter that I put on it every night. It's supposed to moisturize it."
Her: "No. Uuh-uuh. That's not gonna work. Look how dry his hair is."

She touches his hair and just says over and over again, "Look how dry it is. Do you see how dry it is?"

I nod my head rapidly in agreement, like confessing a sin. I felt the need to apologize or something. She told me of a couple products to try and when I walked away I just whispered to my son, "I'm sorry, Sammy. You've got a white mama and she doesn't know what in the world to do with your hair!"

The hair saga continues...

Last night Andy let me take a break and go to Starbucks for a couple hours after dinner. He said he was going to take the boys over to Super Cuts to get Sammy a haircut (for the first time). When I came home I was shocked to see that Sammy had been all but scalped! No more hair for Sammy, poor guy. Andy said it was quite the traumatic experience as Sammy was petrified of the clippers. He screamed the entire haircut head shaving.

Guess I won't be needing those hair products after all...

Better and better...

We're making progress here at the Wood household. It is painfully slow, but it is progress no less. Here is one example:

Sammy was having some pack-n-play time yesterday while I was getting ready. Pack-n-play time has improved from constant screaming to standing there watching my every move to occasionally engaging with his toys. Yesterday, Caedmon climbed in with him for a few minutes and there was (quite surprisingly) no screaming. I had to take a picture to remind myself that not 100% of their interactions involve tears.

Also, the past three nights Sammy has only woken up one time each night as opposed to the typical 4-5 times. That is VERY exciting for me and I am hopeful that the trend will continue.

Lest you think that life is smooth sailing around here...Sammy has bit Caedmon at least half a dozen times now and continually throws objects (like play screwdrivers) at all of us. Caedmon has a black eye and a gash on each eye from two separate incidents (not involving Sammy)...that should look nice for school pictures on Thursday. Sammy fell off a stool today and I called the nurse thinking he might have a concussion. The kitchen is now "off limits" for the boys because so many injuries happen in there. Caedmon is back on Albuterol and Flovent for wheezing which makes him absolutely insane. Sometimes in a funny way, sometimes in a I-might-put-you-in-a-straight-jacket way.

Me? I've only cried once so far this week, which I guess is progress, too.

Sound Sleeper?

This shirt is a total joke. We keep putting it on him hoping it will be prophetic. It's not working, yet...

"Hi, Sammy. How are you doing at 2 AM?"
"Sammy, good to see ya. (sarcasm) It's 3 AM."
4 AM: "Yep, we're still here. Didn't go anywhere in the last hour."
6 AM: "Sammy, go back to sleep. Still have another hour to sleep."

Oh, for a uninterrupted night of sleep...yawn.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

Caedmon's been talking about wanting to go to a Sharks' hockey game for quite some time. Andy thought it'd be a fun "bonding" experience for them, so he got some tickets to a preseason game. I looked for some Sharks' apparel at Target and Walmart, but everything they had was more than I wanted to spend.

I decided to make matching T-shirts for Caedmon & Andy with an "iron-on" Sharks' logo. I thought it'd be so simple...akin to applying a temporary tattoo. Unfortunately, I may be one of the least "crafty" people in the world, so even an iron-on project proved too difficult for me.

First mistake: I forgot that you have to invert the picture that you want to print so that the letters don't iron on backwards. Fortunately I realized this BEFORE I ironed them on to the tshirts. I had one extra sheet of the iron-on paper and just reprinted the logos...this time inverted.

The next problem came when trying to peel off the paper...it either wouldn't come or it took the image with it. No, my friend, it was NOT like trying to apply a temporary tattoo.

The shirts were unwearable and ended up in our trash can last night. (So much for saving money, huh?)

My back-up plan was to draw (trace) the logo on a plain white tshirt with a Sharpie marker. It looked more than a little ghetto, but that's the beauty of being a kid. If you're unashamed to wear your Spiderman costume to Walmart, you're not going to be embarrassed to wear a tshirt with a Sharpie marker drawing on it. It actually makes you feel cool, especially if your mom spikes your hair.

Caedmon's best tough-guy look

 Sammy wanted his picture taken, too.

He looks so short next to Caedmon.

Such an amazing dad. 

Caedmon has no idea how blessed he is.

This picture of Caedmon is SO classic. 

I promise you that he could be at Disney World and

have this expression on his face. Gratefulness is not 

one of his strongest virtues...

Caedmon's buddies, Nico & Aiden 

(and their dads) also came to the game.

Yeah, they had nose-bleed seats. Still had fun, though!

Happy Birthday, Caedmon!

Caedmon turned 4 years old two weeks ago. We ended up having 4 different celebrations...birthday party with friends, actual birthday complete with a playdate and dinner at Red Robbin (Caedmon's pick) with the family, cupcakes at his preschool, and one more when a package arrived a few days after the big day!

We had a great time celebrating his life! Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Spiderman Cupcakes...Caedmon wanted me to draw

Spiderman on the cupcake. I told him a web was as

close as I could get!

Spiderman masks instead of party hats

Cailyn Santos enjoying her cupcake

 All the kiddos

Present time...everyone wanted to help!

A $5 Spiderman umbrella was Caedmons #1 birthday wish

 Caedmon got a new friend/pen pal via Compassion International.

His friend, Yohannis, is from Ethiopia and is the same age as Caedmon.

 

Birthday celebration at preschool.

The teachers have told us that they often have to separate 

Caedmon & Lily because they do everything together.

Mommy & the birthday boy...love this pic

 Presents from Mimi & Papa.

These have been a huge hit around here!

Love that kid. Happy Birthday to my precious Caedmon!