First Leafs Game

Jan 20, 2007, Sam made it to his first Leaf game. Albeit, it was at the new Prudential Center in downtown Newark, for a 5pm game against the Devils. As with my first game (a 4-2 loss to the Bruins on a what I believe was Dec 6, 1975, as determined by memory and http://www.databasehockey.com/boxscores/dailyscores.htm?dy=19751206), the Leafs lost, this time 3-2. Sam had fun, and learned the fine of art of moving down to unoccupied better seats. We started off in the second last row of the rafters, and moved to first row balcony behind Brodeur. We got a Devils puck for Sam, and he learned the "Go Leafs Go" chant. Unfortunately, its "Lets Go Devils" that he can't get out of his head. Here's a review of the game:NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -John Madden showed the New Jersey Devils exactly what they were missing during his absence.
Madden returned to the lineup after sitting out two games, a pair of losses in which the Devils had just one goal in each, and scored twice to lead New Jersey past the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Sunday.

"My thoughts were that we would see how things were going," said Madden, who was sidelined with a right ankle laceration. "I was a little winded, since I hadn't skated until Saturday. I felt a little something here and there, but nothing big. I got better as the game went on."

Madden, widely recognized as one of the NHL's premiere defensive players, has emerged as an important part of the Devils offense this season.

"He's great on faceoffs and in so many parts of the game," said Martin Brodeur, who made 34 saves. "We're happy to have him back."


Travis Zajac also scored for the Devils, who ended the two-game home-ice losing streak.

Darcy Tucker and Pavel Kubina scored for Toronto, which had won three straight amid a swirl of rumors that general manager John Ferguson is about to be fired.

"We played good hockey these last four games," said Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin. "We played against one of the best teams in the conference. We had a lot of chances and, in the third period, we totally dominated them."

As to possible front-office upheaval, Sundin said that "if we sit and wait and follow what's happening off the ice, we're in big trouble.

"I know it's a cliche, but as players, we can't really worry about that stuff. We have to worry about what we have to do on the ice."

The teams were locked in a scoreless tie with 2:32 remaining in the second period when Zajac slammed home the rebound of Karel Rachunek's point shot. The tally extended Zajac's goal-scoring streak to three games.

Madden and Gionta attacked the Toronto zone on a 2-on-1 break a couple minutes later, with Madden carrying the puck down the left wing. He tried to feed it to Gionta, but it deflected off the skate of Toronto defenseman Ian White and into the net with 13 seconds left in the period.

Madden extended the Devils' lead to 3-0 at 3:54 of the third when Paul Martin's shot deflected off his skate while tied up in front of the net by Nik Antropov.

Toronto countered with goals from Tucker and Kubina to trim the New Jersey lead to 3-2.

Tucker broke up Brodeur's shutout bid at 4:54 on a goal very similar to Madden's second tally. Tucker was tied up by a Devils defender when the puck glanced off his skate.

Kubina cut the Toronto deficit to one at 8:29 with a strong individual effort. The defenseman wheeled around the Devils net for a wraparound attempt that Brodeur blocked, but Kubina put in his rebound for an unassisted goal.

Brodeur preserved the win by stopping a pair of close-in chances from Alex Steen in the closing seconds, including a one-timer that appeared ticketed for the net.

"It hit the post and my pad at the same time," Brodeur said.

Steen knew he was facing one of the game's clutch performers.

"It's just small margins," Steen said. "He reads the play very well. The puck came to me and Marty got over just as quick."

The Maple Leafs started Andrew Raycroft and the Devils wasted little time peppering the backup goalie with shots.

New Jersey took 14 of the first 17 attempts, but Raycroft stood his ground in the scoreless first period. Toronto also had some good chances, the best coming when a shot by Alexei Ponikarovsky hit the post in the opening minute. ^NOTES:@ Martin skipped Saturday's practice with a sore ankle and knee but was in the lineup. ... The Prudential Center showed the competing NFC championship game between the Giants and Packers on televisions throughout the arena. Fans were invited to remain after the hockey game to watch the remainder of the football game on the center-ice scoreboard screens. ... Madden and Zack Parise led the Devils with 5 shots each. A trio of Maple Leafs also had 5 shots: Steen, Sundin and Jason Blake. ... The Devils were 0-for-3 on the power play, extending their man-advantage futility to 0-for-15 over the last four games.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam bear. Today you turned four. What a big boy you are. You are changing so quickly, it hardly seems possible you entered our life four short/long years ago. You are the best son a daddy could hope for. I love your laugh and your smile. You are developing a good sense of humor, and you care for others. You are so good with your sister, and I look forward to watching you two grow up together. You are adventurous and willing and excited to try new things, even if you are nervous at first. Thats OK, Daddy's like that too. You like to watch others when you enter a room, before you decide who you will play with. Your friends like you, and its cute that they call you 'the Mayor' at camp. You are athletic...you can run and ride your bike so fast. You jump so high. Camp has taught you to be good at soccer and also basketball and swimming too, of course. I love playing with you in the pool, and can't wait until next summer. Maybe we will race, and I'm sure you will win if we do! You give the best hugs and kisses and I miss you during the day when you're doing your thing. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks before school starts. We will have some good quality time together, and do lots of fun things. I love how your face lights up when you get to do something you want, even if its something as silly as being allowed to have an orange tic tac. You are cute with your TV shows. Even though I'm up with you an hour earlier than I would choose, its worth it to see your enjoyment from Charlie and Lola, JoJo's circus (that song was going through my head all day today!), Wiggles, Higglytown, Little Einstein's, Curious George, Dragon Tales, and even Sesame Street and Clifford sometimes. Thanks for letting me lie on the couch until its 7. You are becoming a good eater...willing to try most things, and willing to put up with Daddy insisting that you eat something healthy with each meal, even if its not exactly what you want. You are learning to 'roll with the punches', like when Amelia changed how your room is set up, and when you started camp and had a different routine, didn't know anyone, and then had Mommy and Daddy and Tali go away your first week. We were so proud of you for dealing with it and having a great time at camp anyway. I'm looking forward to watching you grow and learn over the next year. How big is my baby boy...SO BIG!!!.

I love you so much Sam. Happy Birthday weekend. I'm looking forward to your parties this weekend with the family and your friends.

Hockey Sam

Sams gone to the Learn to Play Hockey clinic a couple of times this fall. He is so cute in his equipment. Unfortunately, he doesn't really like the equipment (its a little too big for him), and he won't go on the ice without me. He does like skating though, and we've already done that two or three times at Iceland.

Halloween was really someTHING this year!

Elmo has been retired. Home made Thing costume this year! Sam and I trick or treated at a couple of houses near the office, then went to North Brunswick High School for their Halloween fest and Mr. Ray concert. We got to meet Mr. Ray (www.mrray.com), and even talked to him for a few minutes before the show. Sam's friend from school, Shea was there too. They were very cute together!

Thing 2 is still gestating, but she will make her appearance in the world by Nov. 27th at the latest. She probably won't get her Thing2 costume until next Purim though.

Disney!

I've been remiss in not posting for a while. We had our Disney trip the week after Labor Day. Its great travelling off season--practically no lines at any of the attractions. Some memories:

• Sam loved, loved, loved Seussland at Universal Islands of Adventure. His favorite was the Cat in the Hat ride--he fell in love with Thing1 and Thing2. We must have ridden it 10 times.
• We missed seeing the shuttle takeoff on the big screen just before the Shamu show at Sea World (say that 10 times fast!), because Sam was having a meltdown over not being allowed to play with a watermelon ride.
• The Parade and Fireworks at Disney were all they were cracked up to be.
• Timeshares rule. Sam is being spoiled early on by 'nice rooms'
• Sam developed a 102+ fever on the plane ride down, which came and went. It did result in a trip to an after-hours pediatric clinic, which Sam detested, especially after they did a throat culture. Poor guy. He kept insisting that he is not sick :(
• As usual, Sam was a GREAT flyer. I think these were flights 15 and 16 for him.
• Sam wound up having a private party with Barney at Universal Studios. The Barney show had about 20 kids at it. Afterwards, Barney was there for pictures and hugs. All the other kids left, and it was just Sam and Barney. Barney hung around and literally played with Sam for about 15 minutes, just the two of them!!

Some of the better photos: The Madagascar Crew

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Obligatory Photo of the Dumbo Ride. Somewhere there is a picture of Bethany and her Dad on the ride (not recent--30 years ago)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Sam!!

We had so much fun with you yesterday. Mommy made pancakes in the morning. We drove to Land of Make Believe, where you had a blast in the water park, especially waiting for that big bucket to dump water on us! You liked the train ride too. When we got home, you opened up your latest gifts from cousin Scott and from Jennifer. You even came to see me play hockey for a few minutes. I love you so much.

Boner

Sam discovered erections today. He woke up from his afternoon nap, and announced that he wanted to go pee-pee on the potty. He still sits on the potty, even when he is only peeing. Upon struggling to stick his pee-pee into the potty, he announced 'its standing up'! He seemed quite incredulous about the whole thing.

Needless to say, the bathroom floor was soon covered in pee.

In other news, Sam now has 3 Nanooks. The original beanie bay, and now a stuffed monkey which he has given the same name, and the third is a stuffed dog that he never paid attention to, but now MUST be in bed with him.

He is very interested in the 'goings on' in his Mommy's belly. Apparently he accosted some lady in our neighborhood the other day, and interrogated her about how much her baby kicked her when it was in her belly. He is quite excited to teach the baby how to play hockey, with both the orange and the blue hockey sticks. Oh, and if the baby is a girl, he wants it to be movie.....we are still not quite sure what he means by that.

We are off to FLA this Saturday to visit 'the compound'. It will be Sam's first visit there to see his G-Ma Doris, Aunt Sherry and cousing Aspen. He will be sad that Mickey is not on the agenda....maybe later this fall.

Nanook!

After 2 and half years without a 'lovey', Sam chooses a freebie from a garage sale as one. This is Nanook the beanie baby Husky. Sam carries him everywhere with him, sleeps with him, cuddles him, and feeds him Scooby Doo Graham Cookie 'Bones'. I'll have to go online and order some more Nanook's for when Sam loses this one...

First Dentist

Sam had his first Dentist appointment with Dr. Marshall on Thursday. As with haircuts, visits to the dentist also bring back bad memories for me. Sam did good though, even if the appointment was scheduled poorly (they wanted him to watch me get my teeth cleaned first). Dr. Marshall was only able to get Sam to open his mouth after Sam started crying--big shock after he saw all the instruments and noises coming out of my mouth!

Racing Car Bed

Sam moved into his Big Boy Bed last Sunday night. Its a racing car bed that Bethany got off Craigslist a few months ago. We redid his room (which he never slept in--it was used mostly for as a storage room for his toys and other crap). Its now his bedroom/Little People center. Sam did much better than we expected. He's been sleeping through the night without any complaints or problems or changes in his bedtime routine. He's pretty flexible, and I guess he was ready for his own room.

Bethany and I were sleeping upstairs with him until last night, while waiting for our newly painted bedroom to dry. Last night was our first night downstairs without him. We got a baby monitor (which we'd never needed since he'd always slept in our room).

"I'm going to in a second"

"I'm going to in a second". Thats what Sam said tonight, after I went in to get him his blanket that he was crying for. I said, "lie down Sam and go to sleep", which elicited the above reply.

I'm playing single Dad this weekend, while Bethany is down in Florida for Grampa Ted's funeral. Sam was a really good boy today--super cooperative with everything we did, including napping (thats been a struggle the last while). We did lots of garage sales this am, and a couple of trips to Stop and Shop (one to get cash for garage sales, one to actually shop).

Sam made out like a bandit at the garage sale (2nd big weekend for it this season). Couple new cars and dinosaurs, a huge Spiderman, couple of new books. He is lately into dinosaurs--not sure what brought that on, but he has quadrupuled his collection in the last couple of weeks.


Sam was really good at bedtime tonight, for the first time in about a week. I think when Bethany and I both put him to bed, he tries to 'play us'.

I felt bad at the end of the day--I guess I was doing a lot of combining productive activity with things that are fun for Sam. (He played independantly for about 30 minutes before dinner while I cleaned the house and kitchen, and even vacuumed). Anyhow, after dinner I said we could go out to play, but lets go for a little walk first (to take the recyclables and garbage out). Sam got somewhat indignant and said "No, I just want to play outside, I do not want to go for a walk anywhere". It was just as well. We wound up playing outside with John, John-John, Logan and Samantha--they were kicking the ball around in the dog-poop patch. Just as well that I didn't try to put Sam to bed, as they were using the side of our house as the 'goal' at one point.

We were in Toronto 2 weeks ago for Passover. Sam had a good time playing with his cousins. He seemed to bond a little more with Evan this time, whereas last visit in July, he and Noah were fast friends. I think Noah was playing a little more independantly this year, and didn't have patience for Sam tagging along. Evan, however, will probably be a teacher or something like that when he grows up. He was really good with Sam, and was very concerned that Noah and Sam take turns when playing.

Nonetheless, Sam and Noah still made for the cutest pictures!

Sam is turning into quite the flyer. He took all the airport stress in stride and without a peep on both legs of the trip. He was so good on the airplane too. I liked having him as my seatmate.

Sam's been really difficult for me at daycare dropoff the past couple of weeks. Every time, with the clinging to my neck and then crying when I leave. I know he stops a minute or two after I'm gone, but it still bothers me.

He continues allowing me to listen to Pete and Bruce in the car. We've mostly been doing the Bruce thing lately. I've had disk 1 of 'Tracks' in the car for a couple of weeks now. It has acoustic versions of a few songs (Is this Growing Up, daddy?); as well as a couple of other songs that he likes. He finds it hilarious when I whistle along to the start of 'Seaside Bar'.

The other day in the bath, he quietly started singing "Scatterbrain, scatterbrain, watch out where you fall (the 2nd line in a whisper). It took me a minute to recognize it, as an obscure line from 'Bishop Danced'. No idea why he picked that line to like and remember. Nothing like seeing and hearing the world through your child's 'eyes' (or ears in this case).

Bethany got me the new Bruce Seeger Sessions CD this week, to make up for me having to miss his concert due to her back ache. Sam so far likes Jesse James the best, mostly becuase there is a boy in his class named Jesse (he actually squealed in delight "Bruce said Jesse"). Sam is lessed impressed with Erie Canal and Froggy Went a Courtin', which was kind of surprising, since he knows those songs from Laurie Berkner.