Five Things Friday...The Sam Edition

This morning when I realized that it was Friday, I also realized that not only had I not posted anything since last Friday, but I wasn't even ready for this Friday.

What happened to the week?

I can barely remember it.  Lemme think: laundry, cooking dinners, dishes, sweeping up play-doh crumbs, poopy diapers, trying to interpret Sam-inese...

Speaking of Sam...at 2 1/2 years old, he is quite the opinionated little man.  And quite independent, in a Mama's-boy kind of way.  ;)  (So he isn't quite all grown up yet! But don't tell him that.)

Five Things that the Sammer-Whammer must have his way:

1.  Buckling himself in the car seat.  He is barely seated before he's saying, "Only I do it!".  And he's still in the big, 3-point harness seat with buckles that sometimes even Mama struggles with.  I've learned to leave time for buckling in now, unless I want to hear Sam screaming the whole way to wherever we're going.

2.  Strapping his shoes on.  He tries to pull the Velcro straps across his shoes before I even have them on his feet.  If I accidently strap them on (out of habit), they must be un-strapped so that he can strap them again, all by himself.

I don't know what we'll do when he outgrows the Spider-Man shoes!

3.  Taking off his socks.  He struggles so much with this because he pulls from the toes, not from the ankle-tops, but he is completely resistant to any and all assistance.  In fact, if you take the socks off for him, he becomes so angry and upset over it, that the only way to calm him down is to actually put them back on - so that he can commence his struggle to remove them again by yanking on the toes.

4.  Lightning McQueen sippy cup.  With a blue lid.  No exceptions, ever.  Heaven help the unknowing soul who tries to put a red lid on the Lightning McQueen sippy cup, much less inadvertently give him, say, a Toy Story cup.  

My cute little man with his beloved McQueen sippy cup.

5.  Blue car.  A day never goes by where we don't hear Sam wandering around the house, saying, "where my moo car?"  And the thing is, there are like three of them.  Oh, we have more than three blue cars in the house -- but there are about three of them that Sam especially likes, and one that is always a must-have.

Yesterday's favorite cars...the "must-have" one is the teal one in front (the one that is NOT a character).  And yes, I know Thomas the Train is not a car...but he is blue, so to Sam, that is what counts.

Today's groupies...two teal-blue cars, including the "must-have" one...and two yellow cars.  One of the yellow cars is actually a Lightning McQueen (color-changer).  The other one is an old Hot Wheels that Daddy played with as a little boy!  His initials are still on the bottom.

So you see...I choose my battles with Sam.  Some days it is just easier to be sure to give him milk in the Lightning-McQueen-sippy-cup-with-a-blue-lid.  Other days, I let him experience disappointment.  And I have to force myself to stand there and watch him struggle with his socks, shoes, and seat belt.  (As far as these last three things go, I tend to think that this is how he is learning, and that is a good thing.)

I pray that God can take his strong-willed tendencies and somehow use them for His glory!  And I find myself often praying for wisdom in how to raise this opinionated little man.