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............................................................SAM AND DAD........................................................

When I'm alone with Sam, babysitting, he often hears the noise of a door opening (Paul and Sonja's neighbors seem to enter and leave at least once every few hours). When he hears that familiar sound, he looks up at me with a quizzical, hopeful expression, his palms up and open in a "well?" gesture, and says "da da?, da da?" I always feel like a criminal at these times, like I am keeping him from what he really wants. His dad.

But, in a way, it's all worth it. Simply to see the thrill and joy on Sam's face when it really is Dad at the door. Sam is a very lucky boy.

In the photo above, and this one, Sam and Dad are modeling the jersey's of their hometown football team, the Wolverhampton Wolverines (hope I got that right). If you look real, real closely you can see in the upper left-hand corner of the shirts a tiny graphic of a wolf. More prominently displayed is the team's sponsors: Doritos. I thought that was the name of the team. Very interesting.

Here's to Sam and Paul. A great team. Call them the Biscuits. It used to be the Rusks. But teams grow.

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FRIEND OF THE WEEK



Mom's cousin, Dylan, paid Sam a surprise visit, accompanied by the wonderful Elena (did I spell that right? With luck they will both come for a longer visit and she can tell me herself)



SAM RETURNS SECURE TO THE HOMELAND (hee hee)

Sam came back from England a new man. Landed at JFK on one of the few British Airways flights that made it into the country (lotsa cancellations because of election-year terrorist hype), at 11:30 on New Year's Eve. Nice timing. He celebrated the arrival of Big Ben's New Years Eve, while flying over the Atlantic, rather boisterously, according to Mom. Not happy. I think he simply didn't want to leave the overwhelming love he got during the holidays. He wanted more. I'll tell you, two weeks on the other side of the pond (spoken of course from my side of the pond since if I was on their side of the pond this would not be my side of the pond and thus the 'other' side of the pond would be incorrect and I'm out if it today), has done wonders. His excitement, his general love of life (a constant source of amazement to us grouches of the world), and his intelligence have increased exponentially. I pronounce him officially a happy toddler.

By the way, Sam is still awaiting his Christmas pictures. He checks the site daily.


DESIREE'S BIRTHDAY

Last week Sam joined the American clan at his Aunt Desiree's birthday celebration. The party was at a favorite restaurant (whose name I forget, but you can ask Sonja or Mary if you're particularly desperate for that information; food is food, what do I know?), and a fancy one (you could tell that by the wait). As the wait grew, Sam took to beating on grandpa's head.

When the food came, however, it was extraordinary. Paul had some kind of buffalo cheese that was so good we all thought we had slipped away into food heaven. Desiree has exquisite taste. She's also damn good at candle-blowing. All in all, a nice night. Both Desiree and John (Mom's brother, for those just popping in for a blog-visit), considered it a success.

CAT HUNTING

Now that Grandma and Grandpa have moved into an apartment just below Sam's (aren't we shameless?), he comes down more to visit the cat ("GAT!") than us. Sometimes, though, he has

some difficulty
finding
the gat.

But when he does find the gat he

takes the gat's tail, rubs his nose with it,
and
laughs
and
laughs....


p.s. the 'lovely' soft focus of recent photos such as cat hunting is due to Sam's love of opening and closing the camera's lens cover; thus you are seeing photos taken through his thumb print. Sam's contribution to photographic art...