Samel the Camel is a Rucky

And he's 4. That's right... 4. What is the deal with kids growing up? Don't they know better than to do that?
Look at this cute little pumpkin! Samuel looks a lot like Brad (poor kid... just kidding!). Although my understanding is that he had colic as a baby... I've always seen him very happy and smiling like in this picture. I remember when Samuel was born. Brad called to tell me that, in the delivery room, the doctor laughed and called Samuel "Daddy Warbucks" because they said he looked like Daddy Warbucks since he had no hair.

Now that's a happy kid! Samuel was about 8 months old here. I guess he really liked Mexican food, since that's where we were all eating. And he seems to be very happy.
Samuel is a very mild and quiet kid. Although when he gets upset, he lets you know. When I was visiting them in Washington after they moved up there (March 2007), Samuel got in trouble by Aunt Hila (me) because he yelled at her. Twice. Here's how that went. The first time was in nursery. I helped out in nursery because Samuel cried when we put him in nursery at church, and because the nursery workers hadn't shown up. And because Desiree was in there too, and I figured it wouldn't hurt for Aunt Hila to be in there with two of her munchkins. And because my mom is the Primary President in her ward. Well, we spent some time coloring during nursery. But then it was time to put up the crayons and do something different. I think eat a snack. So, I was collecting the crayons and got to Samuel and asked him to put his crayons in the box. He told me no. Then I said, "Yes Sam. It's time for a snack." Again, he told me no. So, I started helping him put the crayons away. And he was less than happy. I'm not sure what he was saying, but he got very loud and started to yell. So, I picked him up and we stood in the corner while Aunt Hila explained that when it is time to clean up, we clean up. He was okay then. Then, several days later, we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Me and Tarylyn and Samuel and Saria were downstairs. Well, I was trying to play a song for Tarylyn and Samuel and Saria kept running in and out of the bedroom in the basement (where we were) and slamming the bedroom door on each other (like one was out of the bedroom and one was in) and yelling between the door to each other. So, I told them to both go out of the bedroom and not to close the door again. Well, they were yelling running around in the basement, so I closed the door so Tarylyn could hear the song. They started really yelling out in the basement, so I opened the door and told them to keep it down a little bit. Samuel said, "Saria closed the door." And I said, "No she didn't. I did." And he said, "No, Saria." And I said, "Samuel, I closed the door so mommy could hear a song." And then I closed the door. And then I heard Samuel on the other side of the door yelling (most of it I didn't understand) and at one point he said, "No! Saria!" I opened the door again (because I knew he was yelling at me) and he saw me and he took off running. He cornered himself in Grandpa's workshop area. I was coming after him and he said, "I don't want a spanking!" And he sat on the floor. I couldn't help but laugh. I picked him up and the whole time he's saying, "I don't want a spanking." I couldn't stop laughing. But I held him and we walked around and I said, "Samuel, we don't yell at grown-ups." The other hilarious thing about this trip was that, if Samuel didn't want to do something or eat something, he would say, "I don't." Usually Brad's response was, "Yeah, well, I do. So you eat it." It cracked me up. He may usually be a mild child. But he has an opinion!And finally... Samuel used to be so shy. When he was younger and talking less, he would say stuff around Brad and Tarylyn, but he wouldn't repeat it when they wanted him to. So, one day, Brad was trying to get Samuel to sing the Bob the Builder song. Samuel wouldn't do it. Because he knew Brad wanted him to do it for me. So Brad started singing the song. Still, Samuel knew what Brad was doing, because I was watching. Finally, on the last day I was there, we were playing with play-dough. I focused on my stuff, Brad started singing Bob the Builder. Sam joined. Brad got quiet. And here's how Sam would sing it: "Bob the booder, can he fisk it?" Awww... Such a sweet boy!

Happy Birthday Samueli!!! I love you!