He never fails to please.

See that little cut on Sam's chin?  That's what happens when a four-year-old thinks they need to shave just like Daddy does. It doesn't matter how many times you tell him not to get into Daddy's raiser because of how dangerous it is, or that if he does he might die we might need to rush him to the hospital.

Oh, and he's also convinced he needs to wear deodorant now, too. Old Spice. On his forearms no less.

And you want to see what happens when I leave him alone with Luke for five minutes?

Yes, those are stickers. I should have known he was up to something when I heard his jaunty laughter from the other room. Poor Luke had no idea he was being made a mockery.

Even though I want to ring his neck sometimes (like when I look out the window and see him with his pants around his ankles, peeing in the backyard for the fifth time, even though I told him NOT to pee outside), I really do love the entertainment Sam provides. So here are some more Samisms:

The other day we had a babysitter watching the kids for an hour while I tried to have my hairdresser fix the hopeless mess of crap on my head my hair, and she asked him just how smart he was:

Sam: I'm smarter than my dad.
Katie: What about your mom? Are you smarter than your mom?
Sam (enthusiastically shaking his head): No!

Ah, I've taught him well. (Happy Father's Day, honey.)

A few days later, he and Josh were going all throughout the house, getting in trouble wherever they could, and I noticed that Sam was the one persuading Josh to do all the "bad" things. I don't know if you've seen that show on Discovery called Dual Survival, but this is on quite a bit in our house since it is Dave's favorite. And Sam is always saying how "awesome" those guys are.  So when I got after him, Sam's exasperated reply was, "Mooooom! Me and Josh are playing Discover guys!"

He also likes to play Dave's X-Box 360 game, Black Ops (Don't judge), and we get a kick out of watching him intentionally try to kill himself. Jumping off cliffs and roofs, running into a pack of dogs. Or my favorite, facing a wall and then throwing a bomb at the wall so he is killed in the blast. He laughs almost harder than I have ever seen him laugh.

A bit deranged you say? Well, we find it absolutely endearing.

He loves to exercise on the "Beliptical" (elliptical), too--even though his tiny string bean legs can barely reach the pedals all the way around--and gets mad if we try taking the remote and interfering.

Hmm. Maybe he gets that from someone.

And when he cut himself on the leg the other day and I asked if he was okay, he soberly assured, "It's okay, Mom. I'm not dead."

Phew.

I love my son and all his little quirks, and that he eats Oreos slowly by pulling them apart, licking off the frosting, and then eating the "bread part." And how he does "letters" on my laptop. We spy on him when he does, laughing so hard at the way he tries to type like Mommy and sings Rolling in the Deep as he does.

I can't wait until Josh talks more so that I can start posting "Joshisms" as well. For now it's still just the cute tone of his voice when saying certain things, like "Thank you" and "Yeah."