my dear sam

tonight we ate supper on the deck.  the girls had built a huge fort in the living room with all the dining room chairs, and it was too fantastic to destroy.  so we ate outside instead of at the table.

sam was given a sweet little wooden table & chair set, and marcella & laurie carried it outside and sat there while we ate.  after a long and silly suppertime in the cool evening breeze, we all trickled back inside to get ready for bed.

i was doing the dishes when laurie carried one of sam's little chairs in, and then brought in the table. 

behind her came sam, struggling under the weight and unwieldiness of a chair.  he was cleaning up too!

something joyful in me seemed to swell up and burst.  i don't know if it was the dearness of him copying his cousin, or the wonder of seeing how big and strong he is, or the sweetness of his contributing to the cleaning up.  but the sight of our wee man lugging his chair back into place made me cry.

he's growing so fast!  what a wonderful big brother he will be!