The boy with a name...

So mother's day has come and gone, Gran and Opa have arrived, and the summer is here. We have a name: Samwise Erwin Kelly Wallner . . . We have begun his self defence training - first day of school is only 4 years away. Every day he is a little more alert, and a little bigger. It seems as though almost every day we are putting more clothes in the "too small" pile. I don't want to be the bragging father, but my daughter can sing the alphabet!! That seems very significant to me. Although, I should also mention that she likes to eat rocks.

Sam had his first date. Miori came over with her daughter Mona. They held hands for a while and laughed...or at least we thought thats what they were doing. Emma has quite enjoyed getting to know her grandparents again, hard to say who is on the steeper learning curve.

Sam

Quite unbelievably, the boy's name has yet to be resolved. We are close, sort of. Can it be this difficult? On one hand you really want to pay tribute to the great family members that got you to this point in your life. On the other hand, you don't need your kid being beat up at school. I would have loved to named our son after my father, he is a great man, but that's my name, and that doesn't work. Tara has some strong ideas. We are not on the same page. We had found it so easy with Jack Gordon and Emma Rose. The crazy thing is that we were really ill prepared in every way for the early arrival those kids. We anticipated Sam to be early!! We had the bag packed!! This last week Sam has changed so much. He has suddenly started to look around trying to figure out what is going on...he has BIG eyes, I would love to know what colour that they are going to be. He certainly knows what/who he doesn't like! Tara and Sam have been working on "tummy time" and laying in the sun. Tara says that it is practice for our vacations?! Opa and Gran are on their way home from 6 months in Texas. Imagine, they haven't seen their latest grandson. They are returning to a different world. Emma runs and yells, enough said.

Emma

Emma is getting heavy to carry around. She is getting to be a girl, no longer a baby. She has grown so much and has become so much faster, walking and talking. Tara stays beautiful, and rolls with what comes her way. Me? I am getting grey through my facial hair. Emma often wonders off and can be heard singing and laughing happily her own. For the uninitiated, we have a cat that isn't friendly, at all. Ask most people and they will tell you about a confrontation that they have had at some point with Oreo. However, cat and daughter seem to have struck some strange balance in our home. At times she is found banging out instructions at the cat or chasing him yelling"rat cat". Imagine the disbelief when Tara discovered her the other day playing dress up with him. Emma's enthusiasm seems to have extended to being outside lately. It used to be that she wanted to be in someones car, that was her version of being outside. Now, she is often at the front door asking if it is time to go for a walk. At these times it gets so hard to not drop everything and head out the door. We live in the middle of Newmarket. We are surrounded by walking paths that take you to parks and along the river, and through the woods. The other day Tara and I decided to take Sam and Emma on a family walk, to the Ford dealer. This is what my perfect family would do on a Saturday afternoon. Emma had the time of her life running in the beds of the pick ups and trying to get into all of the cars. Sam spent the time in his baby byorn his face mashed into my chest. Tara said that he was hiding his face in shame. His road to life-long embarrassment by his family members has only just started.