Christmas stuff

Sam is having a great time singing Jingle Bells.  He had it down after hearing it twice.  He is not doing as well with We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I have been working with him and the only line he gets is "And a Happy New Year" except he says "new bed" every time.  In the beginning I was correcting him but it is too cute and I know it will be gone by next year so everyone have a Happy New Bed.

He loves the Christmas tree too and the fact that it turns on by itself every day.  While decorating granny's tree he saw a large, purple tear drop shaped ornament and said it was an earring for the tree.

He is learning about Santa Claus, and of course he is everywhere.  Every time he sees him he says "look, Santa Closet".  I will be sad next year when that one is gone too.

Let's see, learning letters, fun socks, pjs and taking pics

Sam spends more time with me than anyone else so of course he copies my idiosyncrasies more than anyone else.  I must say "let's see" when I am making a choice between options because every time Sam has to make a choice he says "hmmmm let's see" before choosing anything.

He is currently extremely excited about picking out his own pajamas and socks.  He picks out his most fun socks (meaning not plain ones) each day and then at night picks out his pajamas.  On nights when he doesn't want to go to bed all he has to do is remember that he gets to pick out jammies he gets very excited and gives night kisses quickly so he can get upstairs.

A couple of days ago Sam was playing a game on the iPad where you have to match letters to spell a word. After seeing an "h" twice he recognized it and said "that ones an h" and then he identified the "u" as well.

Sam has a little phone that he loves.  It is part of Megan's kitchen set but he has made it his own.  He loves it when we take his photo with our phones and has started taking photos with his play phone.  He will hold it up and say cheese and take the photo.  Oh my gosh it is adorable.

Two weeks ago when Sam and I were walking up to get in line to pick Megan up from school he looked at me and said "Megan talk to Sam".  I told him she is working hard to be able to talk to him and he said "okay".  Well, this past week Megan has started saying some words and she has been telling Sam "more" when she wants him to turn toys on again for her.  He is responding really well to this and I think he is happy she is starting to talk to him.

Really BIG, big boy bed and "mommy on light"

So the mattress and box spring I got for Sam were twin.  When I finally put his bed frame together it was a full so obviously the mattress was too small.  I exchanged the mattress set for the right size yesterday and put his bed together.  He looks so very tiny in that big bed, but he loves it.  Right now he has a bottom sheet and a small blanket, but he will be getting a full bed set for Christmas.

When you walk into our garage the light on the opener comes on automatically; that is unless of course you are too little.  Sam walked into the garage yesterday before me and he got all the way to the back of the car and the light hadn't come on so he said "mommy on light" very calmly.  I was proud of him for not being scared that he was in the dark.

Growing up so fast: big boy bed, more singing, big boy swing, and more

Tonight is Sam's third night in his big boy bed.  He is doing so great with it.  At the moment the mattress and box springs are sitting on the floor and pushed up against the wall with a bed rail on the other side; only the two ends are open.  I am giving him time to adjust before putting on the head and foot boards.  He is staying in the bed both during nap and at night and he is getting better sleep.

Sam is singing more and more songs with us and on his own.  It is so very cute and sweet.  Megan claps for him when he finishes a song.

Sam is now using the big boy swing on our swingset.  It is a child-sized swing and is low to the ground and he loves it.  He still struggles with taking a hand off (to wipe his nose or fix his hair, etc) and falling out of the swing but he is getting better.

Yesterday on the way home from picking Megan up Sam did something to make Megan laugh and it tickled him.  He said "sissy laugh bubba, sissy laugh bubba, sissy "hahahha" bubba" and on that last one he mimicked her laughing exactly.

He has finally grasped the concept of "what did I say?".  If he asks me a question and I answer him and then he asks me that same question again I will say "what did mommy say" and prior to a couple of days ago he would say "yes" to that and then ask the question again.  Two or three days ago he responded by repeating what I had said.  Woo-hoo!

Thank you, you're welcome and fixing himself up

Sam is now saying "thank you mommy" when he asks for something and I give it to him.  He also started saying "you're welcome" on his own.  Obviously we have modeled using both of these with him, but haven't been expecting them of him.

Earlier today he was playing and he bumped his finger, which of course he called an owie.  Anytime he does any little thing it is an owie.  He will ask me to kiss them and then go about his way.  Today he bumped his finger while climbing the slide he said "owie" and then kissed it and then kept going.  I guess he didn't want to stop playing on the slide to get it fixed.

No-go on potty training and cuteness

So potty training didn't go as planned, Sam is not as ready as I thought he was.  He wasn't getting it and I didn't want to push him so we just stopped.  I will try again in a couple of months.

Sam loves hats.  My mom got the kids several play hats last year and he has one on almost non-stop. He wears them when we leave the house too (I make sure he has a more boyish one on for out and about).

Both of the kids have been sick this week and so we have been home bound.  They were feeling better yesterday afternoon and it was gorgeous out so we went to the store to get some bananas.  I drove with the windows down and the kids loved it.  When we were leaving the store an airplane flew over and Sam said "Look sissy, plane in sky".

Knuckle sandwich

A few days ago Sam and I were playing around boxing and I asked him if he wanted a knuckle sandwich, of course he said yes.  So I made a fist and put it up to his mouth and he proceeded to pretend to eat it.

Big boy underwear

I took Sam to Walmart yesterday so he could pick out his big boy underwear.  He chose Disney Cars underwear and calls them his "fast car underwear".  He seems excited about what is going to happen.  We will be starting potty training on Saturday so I have been exposing him to his potty chair and the seat on the toilet and talking about it non-stop.

I am a little nervous about the process since I haven't done it before but I am sure it will be an adventure.

Catching up from our new home in Texas

First, Sam is loving, absolutely LOVING our new home.  We have been in the house for 10 days and for the first 7 or 8 days he cried every time we had to run an errand because he didn't want to leave the "new house".  He still says "Samuel new house, Megan new house, Mommy new house, Daddy new house" every time we pull into the neighborhood.

Sam has been maturing and changing so much lately.  He is comprehending concepts that just a couple of months ago were over his head.

He is currently all about backpacks (Megan has one for school so he needed one too), cars/trucks/trains, talking (he does it nonstop) and running.

Sam can now sing a ton of songs and will sing to himself when he is in bed.  One of Megan's favorite songs right now is BINGO and Sam will sing it and clap appropriately.

A couple of weeks ago while I was putting Megan's shoes on I asked the kids if they were ready for a snack.  Sam answered me immediately (he said yes of course) and then went over to Megan, got a couple of inches from her face and whispered to her "you ready for snack" and then he said "yeah" and then he sat up, looked at me and said "sissy ready for snack".  It was adorable.

One of the concepts that Sam now gets that just last week he didn't is that when you knock on the door the person on the inside is supposed to say "come in".  He would knock on a door and then say "come in" himself instead of waiting for the person on the other side to say it.  Last week we were playing hide-and-seek with a blanket.  Sam would cover his head with the blanket and then take it off and say boo.  At one point when the blanket was over his head I knocked on his head and he yelled "come in".  It was hilarious.

Sam has been taking his tools and working on various toys.  He will be playing with something and then stop, go get a tool and work on it.

New shoes and posing

This morning when Sam was putting his tennis shoes on he was having a difficult time.  I went to help him and his toes were all the way at the end of his shoe.  He outgrew his shoes overnight.  I took him to the store and he got a new pair of shoes that he is so proud of.

He was walking by the car, after getting his new shoes, and he saw his reflection.  He stopped, put his hands on his hips and started posing.  I almost fell over laughing, it was adorable.

No, blabbered/nooooo/random

Sam is now saying no when he doesn't want you to get him.  He just started doing it a couple of days ago and now he says it all the time.  He is also saying "nooooo" no in a sarcastic/sing-song voice imitating Will saying it that way.

He continues to just say random words he hears during a conversation.  The other day Chris was telling a story and he said he blabbered and Sam repeated just that word.  It was too cute.

Road trip, new bed, showing off

We moved last weekend and made the 2-day drive down using our travel trailer.  It has been a year since we used the trailer and Sam has new skills since the last time.  We put the kids in pack-n-plays that bump up to each other in the trailer.  Last time they would stand up and play together and throw their blankets back and forth.  This time they did that but after about an hour Sam decided to up the fun and he climbed out of his bed and into Megan's bed.  Because they were touching he had to clear both at the same time and he ended up tackling her as he got into her bed.  She thought this was great fun.  He got into trouble and put back in his bed.  For the next hour or so Megan tried everything to entice him to get back into her bed (ever the instigator) but Sam was having nothing of it.

Since we are staying at my mom's while we wait for our house to close Sam is sleeping in the same room as us.  The original plan was for him to sleep in his pack-n-play but the first name quickly killed that idea.  Sam moves around a ton, I mean that kid is everywhere and he kicks a lot in his sleep; which in a pack-n-play was crazy loud.  So for night two we went with our backup plan.  We got Sam an inflatable toddler bed.  It kind of looks like a boat - it has a little mattress that sits in it and then sides that are about 4" tall so that he doesn't roll out.  To keep him safe and out of trouble we then surrounded the bed with the play yard.  He has done amazing with this new setup.  He loves his fun new bed and he is staying in it without any issues.  He stills moves around a ton but it is a lot less disruptive than before.  

Sam has two modes: super shy and show off.  He has decided that with all of his cousins and aunts and uncles he is going with show off mode.  He is constantly doing things to impress them and it is adorable.  He loves having everyone around and is very happy here. 

Bless you Sam

Sam will say bless you to anyone who sneezes.  So if I sneeze he says bless you mommy, or if Megan sneezes bless you Megan.  Yesterday he sneezed and said bless you Sam to himself.  He is just so darn cute I could squish him all day long.

A knack for people who don't want to hold him

We had a bbq for the neighbors yesterday and Sam had a blast with all of the people who were here.  There were a couple of people here who just weren't interested in holding him and they were the people he kept trying to get to pick him up.  He was determined to convert them with his cuteness.

Rough and tumble with a little bit of tears

Sam is always in "run" mode.  The kids never walks and has to be constantly reminded to slow down.  The bad part about his running is that he is always tripping over his own feet or toys, etc because he doesn't look where he is going.  In the past 2 days he has gotten "little boy banged up".  Both of his knees are scratched, one elbow is scratched and one cheek.

He handles it pretty well, he starts out with crying and then quickly asks for "froggy ice" (we have a little kids frog ice pack) and then he is all better.  Today we let him get the ice pack out of the freezer by himself which was really fun to watch.  We have 2 freezer drawers and he knows where the ice is kept.  He had to pull with all of his might and really lean back to get the drawer to open, but he was so proud of himself for doing it without help.

Counting to 10

Sam can now count to 10.  He was playing with me last night and just spontaneously counted to 10.  He has done it several times since then and is so proud of himself.

Play time

Sam is getting so creative while he is playing.  He is putting items into the back of his dump truck and driving them around.  He is pouring imaginary liquid from different containers into whatever his drinking cup is and then drinking it.  He is driving cars/trucks/trains over, under and through obstacles he has set up.

It is so cute to watch him explore.

Just crash it

Sam is entering the crash it phase.  He isn't being really rough with the crashing but rather a more slow shove.  He will put a bunch of toys on the table and then using the bus he rams them off into the floor and sometimes onto his sister's head.

Catching up

I have finally gotten enough sleep to feel up to catching up on the blog.

• Sam has grown into a very, very polite little boy.  Most of the time without prompting he says excuse me when he burps or toots, he covers his mouth when he coughs or sneezes and he says "May I have a drink/food/etc please?".  
• He loves to hop right now and just does it everywhere
• He can step up one or two steps without holding on and down the same amount
• He has developed a LOVE for teddy bears.  He loves them all and will carry one around the house all day
• Sam can now count to 6 though he won't do it on request; he only does it when a song or something starts counting and then pauses.  So the song says 1,2,3 and Sam will say 4,5,6.
• He is also doing great with matching colors - we have a color puzzle and he can match the pieces to the puzzle perfectly.  It is really sweet that when he sees the pink one he says "sissy (Megan) fish".  It is a fish puzzle
• He is learning to say "My name is Sam" or to answer the question "what is your name" with Sam.  He usually just points to himself when asked that question so I have been working with him and he got it down last night.
• Sam loves the water.  He loves to play in the splash pool we have that squirts water up.  He will try to drink it and doesn't mind it all over his face.  We took him to the zoo for the first time on July 4th and even though elephants are his favorite animal right now he was more excited about all of the water in the exhibit
• He has recently started liking trains and will watch 3-5 minutes of Chuggington, especially the episode that also includes an elephant
• Sam is such a sweet little brother, he and Megan love on each other all the time and he is constantly trying to help her.  He sees us working with her to stand up so he tries to help her and tells her 'walk walk sissy'. 
• Will and I have a smoothie for breakfast everyday and Sam likes them.  He has gotten to try a little and I have made the kids their own version a few times, including dinner tonight.  When he is playing with the play kitchen he is always drinking out of something and he used to say water when he was pretending but now he is drinking a smoothie when he pretends.  

Climbing, fearless, Samuel and heading towards potty training

Sam is crazy good at climbing all of the various ladders, etc on the playgrounds.  We are always right there to make sure he is okay but he is doing it by himself.  This weekend he misstepped on a ladder and was able to keep himself from falling by holding on until he got his foot back on the rung.

We also learned that he is fearless - the boy slid down a ladder like a fireman's pole.  So happy that he didn't fall on that one as we weren't right beside him.

He has started calling himself Samuel.  He was only referring to himself as bubba and then finally started saying Sam and now he will say "Samuel's turn".  So cute.

Yesterday, and again this morning, he is pooping in his diaper and then immediately telling me he is shooey stinky.  Before he would say it at regular diaper changing times like when he got up in the morning or up from nap but he wouldn't always be dirty, just wet.

Talking, talking, talking

The other day we were going somewhere with the kids and we told Sam to put his shoes on so we could go.  He got them on faster than usual (I typically have him get started about 5 minutes before time to leave) so I told him to wait at the front door for Megan to be ready to go.  Once he has his shoes on we have to keep him away from her because he is all over the place and inevitably steps on her.  So he was waiting at the front door while I put Megan's shoes on for maybe a minute, which to him must have seemed like forever because he said "Megan come on with me" trying to get her to the door so we could go.

He continues to parrot us when we are talking and just says random sentences that we have said.  He is also doing that more and more with music that is playing.  There are still times when we can't understand what he is saying but those times are getting fewer and fewer.

Rides, haircut and water

Sam is doing better riding trains and rides.  He isn't crying at all but he is still getting very serious while the ride is going.  He gets excited to get on and chatters about it when it is done, with one exception.  He was so excited to get on the airplane ride and when it took off he said "wheee" and then got serious.

Sam is pointing out so many things now.  He was waiting for us to name an item before he would name it and now he is naming so many things when he sees them.  He is also saying more sentences on his own initiative. When we correct Sam for incorrect behavior he says "yes ma'am" or sir as appropriate.  Tonight I said something to Will about doing something for Megan and Sam said "dada yes ma'am" trying to get Will to say it to me.  It was adorable.

This weekend I gave Sam a very short hair cut using the clippers.  I showed them to him and turned them on so he could see and hear them and he did great.  He looks older but still so very cute.

Sam is loving playing in the water table.  He asks to "play water" all the time.  I can't wait to get them in the pool this weekend and she how much he loves it.

Festival weekend and funny phrases

We went to two different festivals last weekend.  The first one was local and okay, but the only things for kids were giant inflatables.  I took Sam into one and thought he would enjoy it - he did not.  He wanted to get out after less than a minute.  He loved the bouncy pillow several weeks ago, but maybe because this was enclosed it didn't seem the same to him.

After the festival bust we went to a local pick-your-own strawberry farm.  Sam was excited to see that he was allowed to eat the strawberry after he picked it.  I helped him eat one and then told him to follow me down the aisle to find more - the area where we were had mostly green berries.  I turned around to catch him plucking a berry off the plant by himself.  He held it up and said "strawberry eat".  I told him he could eat it and then leaned down to pick a berry myself.  When I looked back at him a couple of seconds later I saw the leaves of the berry entering his mouth.  He chomped a couple of times and swallowed.  Oh well.

The second festival was the next day and was a small version of the State Fair.  Sam got to ride a pony for the first time and eat a corn dog and share daddy's turkey leg (which he really liked). He also enjoyed riding the kiddie train which he called the baby choo-choo train.

A couple of days ago I was peeling a banana for Sam.  It was a bigger one that he normally gets and when I got it out of the peel he looked at it and said "WOW" in a very astonished tone.  Later that day we were playing with a blanket on the couch.  At one point I was pretending to be asleep and was using the blanket as a pillow and he tried to take it away from me.  I said "don't steal my blanket" and he giggled.  A few minutes later he grabbed the blanket and said "I steal your blanket".   Sam was in timeout and was moaning/whining (difficult to describe the noise he was making) about being in the chair.  He kept making that noise for a while and finally I said to him "zip it" in an almost sing-songy voice and he immediately replied with "zip it" in an almost snarky voice.  Will and I both busted up laughing and had to walk around the corner.

Life

Last week I took Sam with me to the mall to get a new pillow.  While we were in the store he was waving and saying hi to every mannequin that we passed.  It was so funny, some of them didn't even have heads.  I don't know if he was just seeing their legs or what, but no matter how many times I told him they weren't real people he kept on talking to them.

His current favorite word is elephant.

Whenever the kids sneeze I say "bless you Sam, or Megan".  Yesterday I sneezed and Sam said "bless you mommy" and then later on Megan sneezed and he said "bless you sissy".

For the most part Sam is now dressing and undressing himself including his shoes and socks.  He still puts his socks on upside down (with the heal on top) and he struggles with a couple of difficult shoes; but he is doing great with it.

Somersault

I have been helping Sam do somersaults in his room for several weeks..."put your hands down, tuck your head, roll" (I would push him over).  Last night after dinner he was playing in the living room and he got in position and pushed himself over.  He was so very, very proud of himself as were we.  He proceeded to do several solo somersaults and would beam with pride each time.

Climbing, talking and figuring things out

About a week ago Sam climbed out of his crib and of course, fell on his head.  Thankfully it happened after we were up so we knew immediately what happened and were able to get to him quickly.  As soon as he hit the floor he got up and ran to the door and tried to open it.  I have no idea if he would have been able to get it open because Will got to his door at the same time and flung it open to get to him.  He hasn't done it since, nor even tried it.  We have been sleeping with the stair gate closed, the playroom door closed and ours open just in case he manages to get out without us knowing.

He has been climbing into and out of his carseat for several weeks.  He is always so proud of himself when he climbs into his seat and will tell himself "good job" once he sits down.

His last 2 year molar is fully in so he has a break from teething for a couple of years.

He loves Mickey Mouse, except he calls it "hot dog" from the song at the end of the show.  I taught him it was Mickey Mouse, which is adorable when he says it, but every once in a while he still asks for "hot dog".

The other day we were sitting for a while at a stop light and there was a truck in front of us.  I guess Sam got tired of waiting because eventually he said "come on truck".  Still makes me giggle.

He was playing with his lizards, he got 5 for his birthday, in the floor beside me.  When he was done with them I told him to put them back.  He had a toy in his left hand, which he didn't put down, so he was trying to figure out how to carry all of the lizards in one hand.  He started putting them under his armpit (very good problem solving) but when he would try to put a second there he would open his arm too much and the first one would fall.  After trying this a few times he finally gave up and carried them one at a time.

Almost 3 feet tall

Sam's 2nd year checkup went great.  He is a very healthy little boy.  He is now 35 3/4" tall and weighs 26 pounds 9.9 ounces.  He has grown almost 3 inches and gained 3.5 pounds in the last 6 months.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Sam turned two today.  He had a great day.  He didn't understand that it was his birthday but he had fun.  He especially loved his blueberry muffin with cream cheese frosting.  He ate all of the frosting first and had the biggest mustache.

Megan gave him a tractor that came with playdoh.  The tractor makes little barrels and then you can pick them up with the scooper.  We played with playdoh last week so he knows what it is and he carried that little container around the rest of the night (we did gifts after dinner).  He wanted to take it to bed with him and he was disappointed when I told him it had to stay downstairs.

We gave him a little tent with a tunnel off of one side.  He loves to barricade himself under our tables, or in corners, etc so I knew he would love it.  He immediately started taking toys into it and just had a blast.  Megan is not fond of tunnels but he almost got her to climb in.  She loved watching him play in it.

We also gave him a little car with a handle.  When you pull the trigger it blows bubbles.  He doesn't know about the bubbles part yet, but he will find out tomorrow when we take it outside.  I think it is going to be a big hit since he is very into bubbles right now.

His last gift from us was a big board book with lots and lots of flaps to lift.  He loves the flaps in books but until recently he just tore them off.  This was a big deal for him to get his own flap book.

When we got back from the farm this afternoon Debi had left his gift on our front porch.  She had tied two helium balloons to a sand bucket and filled it with a giant shovel and rake, a ball, some plastic lizards and a watering can.  I do not know how he knew this but as soon as he saw the gift on the porch he said "Debi".

I checked his molar when I put him to bed and it is almost all the way broken through so I am thinking that by morning he will have all of his 2 year molars.  Tomorrow is his 2-year checkup and I will post his "stats" after that visit.

Gonna go daddy work

This morning when Will left for work Sam was unhappy.  I distracted him by taking him into the living room to look at a book.  After only a few seconds he said "bye-bye gonna go daddy work".  He then walked to the front door and looked out the window as Will was getting into his truck.  I told him that daddy had to go to work but little boys got to stay home and play.  For the next ten minutes, while he was playing, he just kept repeating "gonna go work".

Buddy can jump

It all clicked last night and Sam discovered how to jump.  He gets about 1/4" off the floor.  The more he tries to do it the deeper he bends his knees and for him that means the less he gets off the ground.

Debi's and biscuits

One of Megan's preschool teachers lives on our street.  She has become a very good friend of mine and is like a grandma to the kids.  Sam absolutely adores her and talks about her all the time.  When he wants something, like cheerios, he will say "cheerios?" and if we say "not right now Sam", he will say "sissy cheerios? dada cheerios? mommy cheerios? debi cheerios?".  It is funny that she has made the rotation, but seriously he just loves her like crazy.

This morning he was playing and he had Will help him put on a hat.  He said "bye-bye" and blew us kisses  and headed to the door (he does this multiple times a day).  This morning on his way to the door he said "I'm gonna go Debi's".  That is his longest sentence yet and so very cute.

Sam must be having another growth spurt because he ate his normal breakfast and he was still hungry.  We had a biscuit left-over from last night's dinner so we gave it to him.  He took one bite and said "mmmm biscuit".  Still makes me laugh to remember it.

Catching up...again

We have all been sick for the past week and a half.  The kids cold came on so fast and hard that I took them to the doctor, but just a cold.

Sam is doing great at getting dressed and undressed.  He can sometimes get his shirt off by himself, depending on how tight the neck is.  He can get his pants off with just a little help getting started.  He is stepping into pants and then pulling them up and can get his shirts on by himself too.  He can put his sandals on by himself and will even change the feet they are on if I tell him to switch them.

A few weeks ago he started the sweetest thing ever.  When I say "I love you buddy" he says "I love you mommy".  Just melts your heart.  He will say dada when talking to Will now and, on occasion, walks over and tells Megan he loves her too.

Sam has outgrown size 4 shoes.  He had 2 really cute pair of workbooks that I have put in Megan's room for when she can wear them.  The other day the three of us were in Megan's room and I was putting her shoes on her.  He saw his boots and said "bubba shoes" and picked them up.  I told him that they didn't fit him anymore but he wouldn't give it up.  I got him some size 5 boots and told him they were in his room, but little dude is attached to those boots.

Sam now has almost 3 of his 2 year molars.  He has both bottom teeth and the top left one is about 75% in.  He is working on the last one as well.

Yesterday we all went to the store and when Will parked the truck Sam said "good job".  It was to funny because Will is still getting used to parking a bigger vehicle so for Sam to tell him good job was very fitting.

Big squishes, real kisses, 3T pants and more

I have been working Sam for months to get him to hug with his arms and to kiss with his lips closed.  Like everything he has learned he went from not doing it to doing it perfectly the next instant - no in-between.  He now gives the biggest squishes (hugs) and pursed lip kisses, except when kissing Megan.  For some reason he still gives her open mouth kisses on the head when saying night-night to her.  

Sam is now officially, fully in 3T clothing.  He moved into 3T tops a few months ago but his short little legs couldn't handle the pants.  Last week I noticed that, though the 2T pants were still too long they were too short in the crotch area.  He is handling his bigger pants well with the assistance of a belt to hold them up.  

This weekend we got out a funny footprints walking mat.  It has colored footprints on it and when you step on them they each make a different noise.  Sam loves it and will walk back and forth on it.  Yesterday when he was playing with the baby doll he took her over to it, held her upright and made her walk on the footprints.  He was telling her "walk, walk" while doing it.  He is so cute with baby dolls, feeding them, pushing in the stroller, swinging them and just chatting with them.  

I have been fighting my annual sinus infection so during Megan's speech session yesterday morning I sat in the car with Sam in the front seat.  He was playing with his puppy dog.  When it started singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Sam started singing along.  He sang almost every word.  I haven't even heard him attempt the song before.  

Stay at home vacation happenings

Sam has started putting baby dolls and stuffed animals in the jump-jump and then saying "jump" to them.  He then bounces the jump-jump for them.  He also says "swing" and then pushes them.

New words: cheerio, table (though it sounds remarkably close to dammit) and truck (and he says it when he sees them).

He is finally comfortable climbing on equipment at play areas like McDonald's and Chik-fil-a.  He loves to climb all over the toddler area at the mall.  He is suddenly very into swinging too.  He used to just want to run around and climb but now as soon as we get to the park he asks for the swings.

He recognizes places that he has only been to once or twice and sometimes months ago like daddy's office.  As soon as I pulled into the parking lot he said "dada".

He is now singing the song Wheels on the bus by himself, meaning he just breaks into song while playing or riding in the car.  He doesn't sing every word, but he hums the song for the words he can't say.  He does most of the motions that I do with it as well.

Two weeks ago when I was walking with Megan on the horse Will let him play with the farm cat.  I don't like cats so I always shooed it away, but Will let him pet it and play with it and he had a blast.  Yesterday at the farm he kept trying to pet it but it would run away.  One time I told him he had to go slow to not scare it so he got down and crawled to the cat.

He had so much fun at the Children's museum.  He was confident and brave and not shy at all.  He went all over and played with everything.  He really loved the hospital nursery area where he got to take care of the babies and rock them in a kid size chair.  He wore a pair of glasses to be like sissy in the eye doctor area.

I am working to teach him to say boy or girl when he sees another kid because right now he just says baby for all kids no matter how old they are.  The other day I said "Sam is a boy" and he said "boy" and then said "sissy boy?".

He is afraid of our neighbor Joy for some reason.  She was in the yard a couple of days ago and he wouldn't say hi to her and then wouldn't look at her and then he ran to the corner and hid behind the edge.  It sounds worse than it was - it was actually pretty smart of him to know he could go there to hide.  He used to play with her all the time so I am not sure what was up that day.

During our vacation we kept Megan out of school except on therapy days.  The weather was really nice most days so we were constantly going to the park or going on walks.  Yesterday morning when I told Sam to get his shoes because we were leaving he said "swing?" and I said no buddy not right now and then he said "walk?".  He loved having daddy home for a week and a half and he loved getting to be outside so much.  He is going to love it when he can be outside every day.

Animal Sounds

During a 10 minute car ride Sam learned several animal sounds.  He could make the noise but this was the first time he responded correctly when asked what sound a specific animal makes.  He can do cow, duck, horse, dog, pig (he snorts) and rooster.  It was amazing that he got that many at the same time when he had previously only done one correctly.

Sentences and concerned about Megan

This past weekend we took the kids to the playground after nap.  I said "you guys want to go on a walk" and they both got very excited.  Megan was sitting and playing with her kitchen, I was on the other side of the living room with my back to her putting on Sam's shoes.  Sam leaned around me so he could see her and said "you gonna go for a walk?".  He said it 3 times and after the third time Megan came over and joined us.  First of all, that little sentence was crazy adorable.  Will and I both understood him perfectly but I am not sure someone else would have known what he was saying.  Second, he managed to get Megan to stop what she was doing and join us so she could go too.

A couple of days later I was driving the kids somewhere and Megan tooted.  Sam said "sissy stinky" and then he said "sissy diaper stinky".  Anytime he is dirty we talk about him being stinky so he knows what it means, but I was surprised that he understood enough to attach that to her.

Yesterday Megan was in the jump-jump and Sam was on the bouncy horse.  After a few seconds Megan started laughing, seriously laughing hard and every time I tried to peak to see what was going on one of them would see me and they would both just stare at me.  Finally, I managed to sneak around behind and peek.  Sam was pulling his arm into his shirt and then after a few seconds he was shoving it back into his sleeve and bursting his hand out.  Every single time he did this Megan cracked up.  He was entertaining her and he loved it.  He just kept doing it until I got snack ready for them.

This morning Megan slept in so she was late going to school.  Normally Will gets Sam up after I leave with Megan to take her to school.  He asks about her but after a couple of times telling him she is at school he is good to go.  Well, this morning it was so late that I had to take both of them with me.  Sam was great with that until we left Megan in her classroom.  He was so concerned that we were leaving her behind.  He kept saying "sissy?" in a concerned little voice.  He has never gone to drop her off, only to pick her up so he didn't understand what was going on.  I thought it might be hard on him so instead of feeding him breakfast before we left I took him out for a special breakfast.  Sadly, it didn't work.  He asked about her in that same little voice until we picked her up.  He got to eat a special breakfast, go to the store and to the library but he never stopped worrying that we had left her behind.  I kept telling him that she was at school and we would go get her in a little bit but it wasn't until we pulled into the school again that he was okay with it.

Random lines from songs

Sam is singing songs, well at least parts of songs.  He will just sing lines here and there at random.   He was playing with the dog that sings and it was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and he sang "down came the rain".  The music table played the color song and he sang "red, yellow, green".  He sang "l m n o p" with the fridge phonics ABC song; and he sang "roll them up" with me during Pat-a-cake.

He is saying more and more words all the time.  He can say about 70% of what we ask him to say but he doesn't have ways to use most of them in his daily life so it is fun to hear him say new things on his own.

Sweetest little brother

Yesterday after horse therapy I got Sam out of the truck and sent him to the front door while I was getting Megan.  I held Megan's hand and she walked to the stairs.  Sam was waiting at the door and walked back over to the edge of the top stair, held out both arms and said "come on" a few times in the sweetest little voice while Megan was climbing the stairs.  When she reached the top he said "good job" (first time for that phrase) and then went and waited for me to open the door.

He encouraged Megan while she was working hard and then praised her.  Such a sweet little boy.

Come on dada

A few days ago I had the kids sitting at the table ready to eat dinner.  I was just about to start when I saw Will pull into the driveway so I decided to wait for him.  While we were waiting I told Sam to say "come on dad" and he smiled and said "ome on dada".  Ridiculous cuteness with that one.

So when Will got in the house and heard him say it he said "oh man don't make him say that".  Fast forward to a couple of days later when  Will is rough housing with Sam in the floor.  He stopped and Sam said "ome on dada" to get him to tackle him again.  Now that time Will found it endearing.

I have tried to get him to say "come on mama" but he will only say dada or sissy.  I guess he doesn't have to wait on me.

Absolutely loving his big sister

Sam adores Megan.  When we get him up in the morning one of the first things he says is "sissy".  When it is time to pick her up from school and I turn onto the street he starts saying "yay sissy" and he continues to say it until he sees the school and then he yells it as loud as he can.  Yay Sissy!!!!!

He is so happy to see her.

After nap is over I get Sam up and take him into Megan's room.  For the past couple of weeks when I open the door to get him he says "knock knock sissy"; and as soon as his feet hit the floor he runs to her room and knocks on the door.  When I let him in he runs over to her bed and says "hi sissy".

February 9th Measurement

In looking at the kids the past couple of weeks it seemed like they had grown again - or were still growing so we measured them this weekend.

In 42 days since we least measured him Sam has grown 1" making him 34 1/4 inches tall; meaning he has caught up with Megan again.  He was 1/2" behind just after Christmas and got moving to stay with her again.

E-F-G and house shoes

Sam was playing with Megan's block wagon this morning.  When you pull it, it sings the ABCs but it stops and  you have to pull it again to get the next part of the song.  This morning he pulled on it and it sang "ABCD" and then quit and Sam said "E-F-G" plain as day.  I was stunned.  Way to go Sam!

Also, he loves his house shoes and if we are not leaving the house for a while he is wearing them instead of regular shoes so that when he inevitably steps on Megan it won't hurt as bad.  Anyway, a few minutes ago he got one shoe completely on by himself and the other one on, except that he had the cuff inside the shoe.

Need Need Bath

When Sam is asking for something but not saying what he wants I ask him what he needs.  He always responds to that question by saying "need need".  He just repeats my last word to him.

This afternoon when I was changing his diaper he said bath (or his version, it doesn't quite have the th on it).  I said not right now Sam and he said "need need bath".  It was almost cute enough to get him one on the spot.

Working on his first 2-year molar

On Saturday I checked Sam's mouth again to see if he was starting to get any new tooth action and there was a little something happening.  He is working on one of his bottom molars - you wouldn't know it by his actions but it is starting to come in a little bit.

A little fun with the baby monitor

Today for nap I put Sam in the pack-n-play in our bathroom and I setup the monitor so I could keep an eye on him.  When he woke up from his nap he stood up and was admiring himself in our mirror.  He was smiling at himself and looking from various angles.

At one point he walked to the other end of the p-n-p so I panned the camera to follow him.  The camera was sitting on the counter directly across from him and it makes a very soft noise when you adjust it.  He heard it and looked right at it.  I then adjusted the up/down portion so that he was in the middle of my view.  He stared intently at the camera for a good 20 seconds and then he slowly sat down.  The p-n-p has a row of fabric at the top and his head was just behind it so he couldn't see the camera.  He stretched up just enough for his eyes to clear that fabric and then he sat back and put his blanket on his head.

We continued this pattern - me following him, him mesmerized, him sitting and stretching to look and then covering his head - for several minutes.  I could have done that all day - it was so much fun because he was so cute about it.  He wasn't upset at all, just curious about "big brother" watching him.

Putting himself in timeout

Sam, being a typical 21 month old, does stuff all the time he knows he is not supposed to do and when he gets caught he immediately stops and stares at me with his guilty face.

Today he was sitting in daddy's chair with the baby monitor in his hand.  He wanted to get it all morning and it finally got the best of him.  I was getting snack ready and he saw his chance.  When he heard me coming he looked at me, climbed or rather jumped down out of the chair and was making a beeline to put the monitor back where he got it.

Although it is clear from his response to getting caught that he knew he wasn't supposed to have the monitor, this is not when he put himself in timeout.  He only puts himself in timeout when he hurts Megan.

He is constantly stepping on her, knocking her over, crawling over her, etc.  She is a tough little one and for the most part isn't even phased by what he is doing; but every once in a while he will actually make her cry and his response is to run and sit in the timeout chair.

Megan was extremely tired today because she was awake from 10:30 until at least 3:30 (the last time I checked on her).  She wasn't unhappy she just wasn't sleeping.  Anyway, when she is overtired she has less patience with Sam.  He was brushing her hair and she didn't want him messing with her so she would move and then when he didn't get the message she pushed him.  I told him that he needed to quit brushing her hair and to brush the baby doll's hair, or my hair, etc.  This worked for a while but he really, really likes to brush Megan's hair so eventually he went back over to brush her hair and when she moved he fell on her and she hit her head.  She started crying and he put himself in timeout.  I made him give her kisses to tell her he was sorry and I told him he wasn't in timeout but he wouldn't get up for several minutes.

He loves her so much and he felt bad that he made her cry.

New skills from the past few weeks

Sam is learning so much lately it is difficult to keep up with all of it.  Will taught him how to push in his chair after he gets down from eating so he now does this every time he climbs down from his chair.  Speaking of his chair he can climb into and out of it now, only getting stuck on rare occasions.

Sam knows exactly where he sits in the car and how to get into the house.  When it is time to leave I help him down the stairs into the garage and then tell him to go wait by his door.  He will walk around the car and stand by his door.  When we get out of the car I put him on the ground and tell him to go wait by the door for me and he walks around the car and to the back door and waits for me to open it.

The other day on his way by Megan's door he stopped and knocked on it.

He is doing a great job "coloring".  On Thursday I held a blank piece of paper still while he scribbled all over it.  He would take turns using each hand.  He did so well I had to turn the paper over so that he had a new place to draw.

I have been working with him for months to get him to say the word no.  He doesn't want to do it.  He is obviously capable of it, he just won't.  The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner and Will was in the living room with the kids.  Will told Sam he  needed to stay on the carpet until mommy said it was okay to go into the kitchen and Sam said "no".  Will said "yes" and Sam said "no".  This went on four times.  To this day that is the only time he has said it.  Food is a serious motivator for my little guy.

I started working with him to step into and out of his pants/jammies and he has got it down now.  He does a great job balancing and knowing which foot to pick up.

Speech lesson for Megan

Yesterday during Megan's speech therapy he was looking at her through the viewing window and saying "hi sissy" over and over again.  I told him that she was getting help to learn how to talk to him.  He watched her session for several minutes, off and on.

A few minutes after we got home Megan was in the jump-jump and Sam was on the bouncy/rocking horse.  He leaned off the side of the horse so that he was about 10 inches from Megan's face and then he did the most amazing and tender thing ever.

Sam did the sign for more over and over again while saying the word more.  He then moved onto the sign for all done while saying all done.  After doing that several times he started doing the sign for music.  He can't say music yet so he just looked at her while he did it.

I was in shock.  I was behind him when he was doing this and kept thinking, man I wish I could record this.  I realized the video camera was in reach but when I turned it on (it makes a sound) he whipped his head around and looked at me.  I told him to go back to what he was doing but he never did.

How amazing is it that at 20 months old he was conducting a speech lesson for her.  Incredibly smart if you ask me; and also incredibly tenderhearted and sweet of him to help his sister.

Picking up Megan

Every night when I am getting dinner ready for the table Sam gets very excited.  He starts walking around saying amen and he will pull out Megan's chair.  Last night he had already pulled out her chair and was back in the living room with Will and Megan waiting for me to say it was ready.  When I told Will that dinner was ready Sam stood up, got behind Megan and tried to stand her up.  I guess he didn't want to wait for daddy to do it.

Mommy's coat, ipad pic, ut-oh and beep

Last Friday when it was time to pick Megan up from school I put Sam's coat on him and we headed to the door.  We were a few feet from it when he pulled away and ran into the kitchen.  He grabbed my jacket off of the chair for me.  I was wearing a sweatshirt so I didn't need it but my little guy was making sure I was nice and warm.

Our Ipad cover came with a thin cardboard insert that looks like the home screen.  He loves that piece of cardboard and plays with it all the time.  The other day he set it down on the coffee table and noticed the "apps" on it and he started touching them with his pointer finger like we do with the Ipad.  It was so cute, he would touch it and then tilt his head like "why aren't you doing anything".

I have been working with him for several weeks to get him to say "ut-oh" and he just wouldn't do it.  At one point he was kindof humming it.  Well the other day he finally said it and he has used it non-stop since then; sometimes correctly and sometimes just as a fun new word.

Our oven beeps 5 times when it is up to temperature and 5 times when the timer expires.  Two days ago when it beeped to let me know it was up to temperature Sam ran to the edge of the carpet and said "beeeeeep".  He is not allowed off of the carpet when it is time for me to open the oven because he is ridiculously fast and the faster the goes the more likely he is to fall and I don't want him to get burned.

Bath time, kisses, zealous cleaning and getting a concept

Sam had the best time during bath last night.  He was so excited he kept running in circles.  Once in the bath he gathered all of the toys and they kept floating away so he corralled them with his legs and then laid on them with his arms stretched over them.

Today at the grocery store Sam blew kisses to everyone he saw - he did not discriminate, everyone got kisses.

Before lunch Sam was cleaning up the books he and Megan had been playing with (on his own accord) and I told him it was a good thing to clean up but that he needed to leave the book Megan was reading alone.  I walked into the kitchen to refill my water and a moment later he screamed and took off running.  When I glanced I saw Megan getting her book back - I don't know what she did to him but as Will said "it is like messing with a dog who is eating; you don't take her books".

Sam has dry skin on his legs and I put lotion on him after his baths and first thing in the morning.  The lotion is sitting in his windowsill at the foot of his changing table.  Tonight when he went into his room to get changed into his jammies he ran up to the window, pointed at the lotion and very clearly said "have".  He worked hard to make sure I heard the "v" sound to know what he was saying.  He was asking for me to put lotion on his legs.  I said "good job Sam, you want to have mommy put lotion on" and he said yes and was so happy that I understood him.

Singing

This morning I had Megan in my lap facing me and Sam was sitting on the couch beside us.  I was singing and doing motions to several songs with them.  Sam has started trying to do some of the motions like make the spider for Itsy Bitsy Spider or roll his arms for Wheels on the Bus.  This morning he was getting really close to getting the arm movement down for Wheels on the Bus so I said "do it Sam" and I wasn't expecting the response I got.  He started singing "round and round, round and round all through the town".  He wasn't perfectly clear but he was on beat and so very close with his sounds.

I praised him for singing and he was so proud of himself.