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| "Uh-oh" |
Our Samuel is 21 months old (on the 21st!). Life with Samuel is challenging and fun - sometimes all in the same moment. We had a really full month!
Accomplishments:
A few more words - Samuel has started saying, "uh-oh" (it doesn't sound exactly like uh-oh, but it is pretty close). He says, "um!" for food he likes (or food he wants). He also makes a "mmmmmm" sound for cows and "art, art!" for a dog barking (it sounds NOTHING like a dog barking but that is what he is communicating). He is still "vrooming!" all day every day.
Imaginative Play - Just in the last week or two Samuel has gotten so much better at playing imaginatively. He will act out stories happening with his toys. The story lines are very short. And then we repeat the same story 10 times in a row, but it is better than it was. His favorite stories right now are about farming. He likes to drive the tractor in the barn, have the tractor take a nap (for three seconds), and then wake up. He also likes to feed his animals and give them drinks of water.
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| He likes to wear his farming hat while playing farm |
Attention span - I also feel like his attention span has leaped into longer time frames. He will sit and play or read for much longer (10 minutes maybe?) than he used to. A year ago at this time, I was going crazy trying to entertain him all day. He would go through and "play" with all of his toys (or pull all the books off the shelf) in 15 minutes. And then we still had 9 hours and 45 minutes left in our day. There are days now when he will only play with one basket of toys. He has been slightly better about looking at one book in the car for a whole 5 minutes instead of tossing it aside after 30 seconds.
Watching TV independently - Glory, glory, hallelujah! Samuel is getting better at watching TV by himself. Typically he likes to sit on my lap to watch TV, but every so often he will sit and watch it for 10 minutes and I can get the dishes done without being interrupted 800 times.
Braver around Dogs - I am not sure if this is something that has happened this month or last month, but Samuel is doing so much better around dogs. I completely understand why dogs are overwhelming and potentially scary to Samuel as they are the same size roughly. On several different occasions, Samuel has done great around dogs. He likes to throw their toys for them and feed them 500 treats. (Now Mom just needs to relax when Samuel is around dogs...)
Likes:
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| Being silly with Dada |
Likes:
The Wheels on the Bus, Father Abraham - Since we can only sing, "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock" so many times a day, we sing other songs to Samuel. Every other week or so, he decides he likes one and then he wants that song on repeat for days. He also likes, "This Little Light of Mine" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". Samuel especially likes it when Bunny does the hand motions for the songs.
Funny Story - we would sit and sing around the table after supper while visiting MamaG and PapaG. Samuel loved it. If someone would sing and not do the hand motions, he would call them out. It cracks us up that he is so opinionated about so many (seemingly small) things.
Funny Story - we would sit and sing around the table after supper while visiting MamaG and PapaG. Samuel loved it. If someone would sing and not do the hand motions, he would call them out. It cracks us up that he is so opinionated about so many (seemingly small) things.
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| Making Waffles with Dada on Christmas Morning |
Christmas lights - Samuel really liked seeing Christmas lights (which he calls, "Jesus") when we would ride in the car at night. He would get annoyed that there were not continuous lights to see.
Christmas gifts - Our boy got so spoiled over Christmas. He got so many trucks or tractors that by the end of Christmas, if he saw a wrapped package, he would say, "Vroom! Varoom!" Christmas was definitely more fun this year with Samuel than last year.
Walking "fast" - Samuel likes to walk fast and do laps. He made up a sign for "fast" and he especially likes to walk fast when other people participate. He is getting pretty close to running (just in time as Momma is big these days). I remember so many people cautioned us, "You don't want him to walk, he will be running three days later." Maybe that the experience for some people, but I love that Samuel can walk. It has been six months since he started walking and it has been great!
His Own Coffee Mug - Last Sunday someone at church (Jill) gave us the cutest little coffee mug. Samuel has been thrilled to drink out his own coffee cup in the morning like Mom and Dad. He has also been pouring the water out or putting his food in the cup, so he rarely keeps it the entire meal. It has been good practice for him to drink out of a regular cup.
Looking at pictures of himself on phones - Lord have mercy! I am not a big technology / screen person when it comes to my kid. I would rather have them never watch TV or be on technology than to teach them moderation. However, I think moderation is a better choice (although not easy). My mom let Samuel look at pictures of himself on her phone while they were here over Christmas and now he is obsessed. It is so hard for me as a parent. Anytime Samuel sees a phone, he wants to see pictures of himself. It has made it so hard to get pictures of him as he is always reaching for my phone now. But moderation it is, so I indulge him once or twice a day and we look at pictures of Samuel. He, of course (of course!), is opinionated about which pictures we look at (pictures of Samuel and Dada are his preference).
Still likes:
Muffins, cereal bars, Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, "driving" aka sitting in the driver's seat and steering, baths, bubbles, cracking eggs, stirring, helping cook, playing in water, all of Mom's and Dad's attention, truck videos on youtube, being outside, testing limits (not in the calculus sense), alternating between kissing Brother and blowing him raspberries, climbing on anything and everything, tape and stickers
Still dislikes:
Being told, "No", sitting in his own seat for meals, not having his paci all day, sitting in the car seat, not being allowed to drink coffee, playing by himself
Proud Moments:
The other night we went out to eat. I grabbed one of Samuel's new favorite books from Christmas and a car for the diaper bag before we left. Samuel did so well! Samuel typically has a hard time being patient (the kid has ants in his pants - which is probably developmentally appropriate) when we go out to eat. It felt like it took forever to get our food, but Samuel did such a good job looking at his book and playing with his car. He did a great job eating food once it came. No meltdowns (even though it was getting close to bedtime).
On our way out of the restaurant, the (old) couple sitting next us mentioned that is had a pleasure to eat near us. I think I replied, "You caught us on a good day!" which is 100% the truth. But at the same time, I was proud. It was one of the first times that all of the hard work of the last 21 months actually felt like it paid off. The hours of gritted teeth, training, correcting, loving, and digging deeper for patience resulted in good behavior for the hour or so that we were in the restaurant. Don't get me wrong - Samuel has plenty of good moments - they are not usually all in a row for 60 minutes though. And when I spend pretty much all day, every day with him, I experience all of his high and low moments. I, of course, expect my kid to be well behaved 24/7 (because expectations seem to be my biggest enemy in life). It gave me hope that we are doing okay as parents and that some day going out to eat will be normal part of life again.
We participated in the Chamber's Chili Cook-off again this year. Samuel tagged along for the first hour or so (until nap time). As people filtered in, he recognized (and greeted) everyone that came from church. A year ago, I left him screaming with Jane Nice while we did the cook-off. This year, he screamed when Dave and Jane left the cook-off. It was so fun to have him know "his people" and not to be overly shy.
Samuel got his haircut this month (his hair grows so fast) and he did great! He sat in the chair all by himself and did not scream once. He has "talked" (in sign language) about getting his hair cut so many times since then. He was really mad that the next time we went to Meijer he could not get his hair cut again. I was really proud of him for not freaking out (like he has done in the past).
Family Time:
Samuel got to spend time with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Jared, PapaG, and MamaG this month! He had a blast with my parents and brother when they came out for Christmas. I don't think he had one tantrum the entire time they were here. He always had someone catering to his needs.
We had fun with Ian's parents too, but Samuel had his first tummy bug (that struck in the middle of the night but was short lived thankfully) and then he caught a brutal cold. So he had fun but it was a bit subdued. One of the advantages of this age is that Samuel is easily amused - being able to "drive" MamaG's car, going down the big slide by himself, throwing sticks off the porch - all fun things that don't take much effort.
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| Reading Cars and Trucks and Things that Go with Grandpa |
Looking at pictures of himself on phones - Lord have mercy! I am not a big technology / screen person when it comes to my kid. I would rather have them never watch TV or be on technology than to teach them moderation. However, I think moderation is a better choice (although not easy). My mom let Samuel look at pictures of himself on her phone while they were here over Christmas and now he is obsessed. It is so hard for me as a parent. Anytime Samuel sees a phone, he wants to see pictures of himself. It has made it so hard to get pictures of him as he is always reaching for my phone now. But moderation it is, so I indulge him once or twice a day and we look at pictures of Samuel. He, of course (of course!), is opinionated about which pictures we look at (pictures of Samuel and Dada are his preference).
Still likes:
Still dislikes:
Being told, "No", sitting in his own seat for meals, not having his paci all day, sitting in the car seat, not being allowed to drink coffee, playing by himself
Proud Moments:
The other night we went out to eat. I grabbed one of Samuel's new favorite books from Christmas and a car for the diaper bag before we left. Samuel did so well! Samuel typically has a hard time being patient (the kid has ants in his pants - which is probably developmentally appropriate) when we go out to eat. It felt like it took forever to get our food, but Samuel did such a good job looking at his book and playing with his car. He did a great job eating food once it came. No meltdowns (even though it was getting close to bedtime).
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| Reading with Dada at the restaurant |
We participated in the Chamber's Chili Cook-off again this year. Samuel tagged along for the first hour or so (until nap time). As people filtered in, he recognized (and greeted) everyone that came from church. A year ago, I left him screaming with Jane Nice while we did the cook-off. This year, he screamed when Dave and Jane left the cook-off. It was so fun to have him know "his people" and not to be overly shy.
Samuel got his haircut this month (his hair grows so fast) and he did great! He sat in the chair all by himself and did not scream once. He has "talked" (in sign language) about getting his hair cut so many times since then. He was really mad that the next time we went to Meijer he could not get his hair cut again. I was really proud of him for not freaking out (like he has done in the past).
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| All of Samuel's driving dreams come true at PapaG and MamaG's house |
Family Time:
Samuel got to spend time with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Jared, PapaG, and MamaG this month! He had a blast with my parents and brother when they came out for Christmas. I don't think he had one tantrum the entire time they were here. He always had someone catering to his needs.
We had fun with Ian's parents too, but Samuel had his first tummy bug (that struck in the middle of the night but was short lived thankfully) and then he caught a brutal cold. So he had fun but it was a bit subdued. One of the advantages of this age is that Samuel is easily amused - being able to "drive" MamaG's car, going down the big slide by himself, throwing sticks off the porch - all fun things that don't take much effort.
I will end this with a Dada quote, "Samuel has had more opinions in his 21 months of life than I have had in 34 years of life." - I eventually told him that he had to stop saying it as it was discouraging me. But it may be true - he is his mother's child.
Happy 21 Months Samuel Cary! We love you, Momma and Dada
Happy 21 Months Samuel Cary! We love you, Momma and Dada
