Sam Flashback Videos: Two Years Old!

A few weeks ago, I discovered these videos of Sam that were hidden in the depths of my computer. Sam and I have watched them several times together. I still remember making these videos, since two-year-old Sam was particularly chatty on that day.

Back in the day, Sam had a very specific list of stories that he wanted to recap over and over and over. He liked to talk about the beginnings of movies, largely because he would usually have the greatest attention span at the beginnings of shows.

We start to recap the "Dumbo" at the beginning of his clip, and then Sam goes off and starts to discuss his recent birthday. You can see his little imagination at work here, since he is imagining that he blew candles off of his cake (just like Joey Hippo in the "Elmer Elephant" Silly Symphony episode that Sam liked to watch - see 1:24).

This is a short clip where Sammy talks about "The Jungle Book." He's a little confused about the difference between panthers and wolves. I especially love when he tries to describe what happens when Kaa tries make Mowgli fall asleep. 

The beginning of "Toy Story 3" was probably the most discussed topic in our house at the time. Sam went to a movie theater for the first time when he saw this show, so it made a really big impression on him. He talks about going to the theater in the latter part of this clip. You can also see how picky he was about how these stories should be recapped. He wanted to provide specific information in a specific order and would get upset if I deviated from his mental script. You can also see how cyclical these recaps could become - you'll notice we talk about the "dinosaur on the rocks" at the beginning and middle of the clip.

Sammy the Sweeper! I like when he says to Jer, "Nope. Okay." He liked to try and do things on his own.

I have really enjoyed looking at these videos over the past several days. I remember that these days were really long and hard for me back then, since they involved so much repetition and routine. But now I miss having these little conversations and Sammy's cute little voice. He had a very cute and innocent understanding of the world.

More Spring Planting

A few weeks ago, I used up some birthday and gift money on a few more flowers and plants for the yard. The garden looks quite good, although there always is more work that can be done! Here's an update:

Per Zillah's suggestion, I ended up planting wisteria in the front yard for the last part of our trellis. I actually got two wisteria plants for my birthday, since thoughtful people noticed my comments about wisteria on Facebook and on his blog. Here you can see the three clematis vines in bloom, with the wisteria in the front, closest to the gate latch. This is Texas Purple Japanese Wisteria, which will grow to be 20-25 feet long. It seems to very very hardy. This picture was taken about three weeks ago, and already there are lots of leaves on the plant. The flowers smell lovely.

This is the other wisteria plant that I got from ixoj. Who knew that a starter could be sent in the mail? I wasn't sure about the length for this wisteria (I'm not sure what type it is, beyond that it will have purple flowers), so I decided to have this one climb up a shorter fence post instead of the trellis itself. If it ends up growing to be really long, I can train the plant to grow in two different directions (since it is on a corner post). I can see this plant from my dining room window.

 I planted Camelot Rose Foxglove in the front yard. This should grow to be three or four feet in height. I need to remove the spent flowers. A lady at the gardening store stopped me in the parking lot when she saw me holding this newly-purchased plant. She looked at Sam and said, "Do you know that this plant is digitalis? You need to be careful to not plant this around children." I'm not concerned about Sam trying to eat foxglove!

On the side of our yard that never gets direct sun, I planted two Bleeding Heart plants and a White Fringed Bleeding Heart. These will bloom in the spring and should grow to be about two feet in height. I also need to remove these spent flowers.

This little shrub was an impulse buy. This is Dyers-Greenwood. It will grow to be about two feet tall. I planted this next to our shed. It's nice to see some bright electric-yellow flowers outside my kitchen window. We planted this about two weeks ago, and the flowers seem to still be going strong.

Look how the California poppies are doing! There are still some empty patches where seeds did not take, but it is really fun to see orange flowers that span most of the length of the house. We've been enjoying them for almost a month (not long after the tulips were deheaded). Hopefully next year there enough seeds will scatter to that the whole bed is filled.

Debbie Reynolds on "What's My Line?"

J has always liked Rothko, but a few years ago he had a particularly intensive year when he read a lot about Rothko. That year even culminated in our trip to Houston to see the Rothko Chapel. I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing and follow the work of one person, but I'm interested in learning more about the actors and actresses from the "Golden Age" of Hollywood.

I haven't decided on who I want to study in depth, but it might be Debbie Reynolds. I just finished reading her new biography, Unsinkable: A Memoir. I also have been watching a few of her movies lately, like Two Weeks with Love (1950, with June Powell), Hit the Deck (1955, with Jane Powell and Russ Tamblyn), and The Pleasure of His Company (1961, with Fred Astaire).

Tonight I happened to come across a clip from when Reynolds was on the game show "What's My Line?" Her cute personality really comes through as she answers the questions posed by the blindfolded contestants. This episode aired in August 1954, the year before Reynolds got married to Eddie Fisher. They seem like such a happy and cute couple at the end of this clip. How sad that things didn't last. (Eddie Fisher left Reynolds and their two young children for Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds and Fisher divorced in 1959.)



And, speaking of "What's My Line?", you should check out the episode with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and another episode with Salvador Dali.

Thinking about Superheroes

Our little man just applied for a passport. He had a hard time keeping a serious face when his passport photograph was taken last week; he's used to giving big smiles for cameras. In order to help him be serious, I said, " Sam, pretend that you are a superhero. Think about superheroes." I think you can tell in his expression that he's intently focusing on something.

We look forward to some international adventures in the months and years to come!

Personality Tests: Learning Style Types

About a month ago, one of my students asked if she could interview me for her psychology class. She asked me to take a "Paragon Learning Style Inventory" test (which I think is pulled from the Briggs-Myers personality test). Anyhow, I showed J my results, and he laughed out loud (because he felt like the last sentence was so accurate).

My results: ISTJ (Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging)  
"Serious, quiet, earn success by concentration and thoroughness. Practical, orderly, matter-of-fact, logical, realistic, dependable. See to it that everything is well organized. Take responsibility. Make up their minds as to what should be accomplished and work toward is steadily, regardless of protests or distractions."

I feel like this is a fairly accurate description of me. I've taken previous tests where I score as an ambivert, but I have more introverted tendencies over extroverted tendencies. I think my introversion has become more pronounced over the past several years.

 J's results: INFP (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Perceptive) 
"Full of enthusiasm and loyalties, but seldom talk of these until they know you well. Care about learning ideas, language, and independent projects of their own. Tend to undertake too much, then somehow get it done. Friendly, but often too absorbed in what they are doing to be sociable. Little concerned with possessions or physical surroundings."

J thinks that this is a fairly accurate description, but he noted that he does care quite a bit about his physical surroundings and environment (especially from an aesthetic standpoint). I would agree. And I would also add that J does care about a lot of his possessions, like his art books.

We looked through the results, and we think that this might be the personality and learning style which fits best for Sam, at least at this point in his life: ISTP (Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Perceptive)  
"Cool onlookers. Quiet, reserved, observing and analyzing life with detached curiosity and unexpected flashes of original humor. Usually interested in cause and effect-how and why mechanical things work, and in organizing facts use logical principles."

 When Sam's older, we'd like to have him take the test to see if our guess was accurate! If you're interested in taking the test, you can access it online HERE. And HERE is a list of the different personality/learning styles. What personality type are you?

Songs My Mother Sang

This week I have been thinking about some of the songs that my mom used to sing around the house, or songs that she used to sing to me.

When my mom was younger, she used to sing the chorus from "Bali Hai" around our apartment or house. As I got older, she stopped singing this song so much, maybe because some of her own daughters were singing plenty of musical theater around the house already. The chorus starts about 3:44 in this clip (which has the actress Juanita Hall's own voice and a deleted scene):



Speaking of South Pacific, when I was little I also remember my mom singing "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair" when she helped me wash my hair (or helped one of my siblings wash their hair):



My mom would sometimes sing "Blue Velvet" to me and my sisters too, but she would sometimes change the lyrics to say, "She wore bluuuuue panties on her bottom." I have no idea where she first came up with this change in the lyrics, but she usually only sing this silly version if she was helping one of us get dressed after a bath. Here's one version of "Blue Velvet" by The Clovers, without my mom's changes in the lyrics:



I also remember her singing "Jesus Said Love Everyone" to my younger siblings when they were babies, usually if she was putting them down to sleep in a crib. I think it was the song that she used to let the babies know it was time to go down.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. We'll sing some of these songs and think of you today. I love you.

Spring flowers and planting!

It's the lovely time of year when I get to bulk up my garden with flowers. There are few things that make me more cheerful. I had to deadhead the last of the tulip bulbs last weekend, but let's remember them in their glory for a moment first. This photo was taken about a month ago, when the daffodil and tulip blooms overlapped for a bit:

Here are some of the flowers that we have just planted over the past few days:

We planted some Avalanche clematis to go around one of the other posts for our fence. The Rubens clematis (in the foreground) that I planted last year has been growing nicely. Hopefully we can start to train the plants to go across the lintel trellis this year. I'm excited to have different-colored flowers growing up the trellis. It reminds me a bit of the different flowers that grow together in the story of Snow White and Rose Red.

 Here's a detail of the Avalanche clematis, before we took it off of its planter trellis. This clematis only grows about 8' tall, so I hope it can at least get high enough to start to decorate the top of the lintel.

 We planted an Asao clematis on the other side of the fence post. This one has a ways to grow before it even begins to climb up the fence, but I think it will be a fun addition. I hope this one does alright in the sun. This one will grow to be about ten feet tall. We have one remaining post that needs a climbing plant, and I'm debating between doing something like ivy (just to make sure that the top of the trellis gets covered with greenery) or another clematis that is supposed to grow at least 20-30' in length.

We planted Gerber daisies in the corners of our front garden beds, underneath the small trees near the house. I hope they do well; I know that they are not hardy flowers. I'm not supposed to let the soil dry out for these flowers.

You can't see them too well, but I planted three little Dwarf Coreopsis starters between the allium and the daffodil stalks. These are mounding perennials that were on sale for only about a dollar. They will have little yellow flowers that I need to remove after they are spent. On a side note, look how big the Japanese peony has gotten! The Bowles Mauve Wallflower which I planted last year (another plant that was on sale for a dollar or two) has gotten really huge:

The Bowles Mauve Wallflower is definitely the happiest plant in our garden, ever since I planted it last year. I love that we get to enjoy blooms year round.

In fact, since our purple wallflower has done so well, I wondered if this perennial, the "Tasmanian Tiger" (spurge) euphorbia, would do well. I love the striped leaves, and I these cream-colored flowers are really interesting. It looks like two blooms come out of another bloom, so there is this interesting tiered effect. This plant is upposed to grow between two and three feet in height.

 Next to the euphorbia I planted a Harmony Scarlet Anemone. You can't see to well in this photo, but these flowers have beautiful blue and white centers. They would be great flowers for the 4th of July, but they bloom in the spring.

Behind this flower I planted three little Origami Blue & White Columbine plants, which were also marked down to about a dollar apiece. These are perennials, so I hope that they do well and come back. They are supposed to grow to about 16-18" in height.

 On the other side of the house, just on the border of my wildflower garden bed, I planted a Lady Stratheden Grecian Rose (isn't that a marvelous name?). This is a perennial that probably won't get much larger than its current height (about two feet tall).

 Along the rest of the wildflower bed, I scattered some zinnias and stock that I got for fifty cents apiece. Since our tulips are spent and our wildflowers haven't opened yet, I wanted to add in some color.

And finally this is just a detail of the hanging basket that I put on our porch. I've never seen this type of verbena before, but I love it. Sam thinks they look like peppermint candies. There is also lobelia and calibrachoa in this pot, but I think the verbena will be my favorite.

One more update: The gladiolus have sprouted again! They are about three inches tall.