Samuel Cary - 20 months

Four Generations at Thanksgiving

Our Samuel Cary is 20 months old!  What a fun month it has been!  (Do I start every post that way?  It also has it challenging moments, but we will focus on the fun...)  If I had to pick three words to sum up this stage, they would be: repetition, imitation, and stubborn (and a close tie would be opinionated or independent). 

Accomplishments:
Tripled Vocabulary - shortly after Thanksgiving Samuel started to say, "Momma" and "Bubba" (my water bottle) so he pretty much tripled his vocabulary.  He also says, "Buh!  Buh!" on a regular basis.  If it is in the morning at breakfast, it means he wants blueberries.  If it is at night after supper, then it means he wants to take a bath.  It can also refer to bubbles or balloon.

Climbing - Lord have mercy! We are in a climbing phase.  It is completely impressive to me the things that Samuel can climb on.  I put the Christmas tree up in a corner and put a chair in front of it to block it.  He worked on it for an afternoon and had figured out how to climb up on the chair.  

Playing with a dump truck at Miss Darla's

Big Boy Booster Seat - Shortly after figuring out how to climb up on chairs, Samuel started boycotting his high chair.  He would not sit down in it and insisted on sitting on "big boy" chairs.  I utilized Amazon Prime Two Day Shipping and got a him a booster seat.  The high chair is now in the attic waiting for Brother to need it.  

Spending the Day without Momma - Someone from church (Darla) volunteered twice during the last month to take Samuel for the day.  He went and hung out at the Cline Farm from 8am-6:30pm.  It was so good for both of us.  Supposedly he was well-behaved and Mom got to cross some stuff off her to-do list.  It was glorious.  I have never left Samuel with anyone for that long, so I was proud of him for doing so well.  

Playing with Dada's glasses at supper

Praying for specific things - Samuel has been a fan of praying for a few months.  I think he associates it with eating and he gets positive attention for it.  He has started to point at objects and then fold his hands to pray.  So we pray about the object he pointed at.  

Sweet story - Samuel had been praying for specific things for a few weeks and then one day he pointed at me and said, "Momma". We prayed for Momma.  It was so sweet of him to think of me.  He now asks to pray for "Dada" or "Momma" on a regular occasion.  He has asked to pray for himself once or twice.

Likes:
The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock - I think I sang this song about 10-20 times a day for the last month.  Samuel knows the hand motions but is stubborn about showing other people that he knows the motions.  He really likes the Psalty version of the Wiseman.  Also - my poor kid thinks that the Wise Men from the Nativity is the Wise Man in the song. 


Still loving:
His coffeepot / playing coffee, trucks, tractors, bubbles, vacuuming, CRACKING EGGS and stirring / cooking, washing his hands (playing in water), John Deere, toys that are rideable (his John Deere tractor and 4-wheeler)

All Samuel's dreams came true when he got to help Uncle Jared plow snow

Not loving (or liking):
being told "No", diaper changes, not having his paci / giving his paci to Mom or Dad, riding in the car for more than five minutes

Funny Story - we have been working on the Christmas story and the characters of the Nativity.  Samuel has a Nativity set and knows Jesus, the Dada, the Momma, the Wise Men, and everyone else is usually Dada as well.  The other day, he picked up Baby Jesus and gave him a few kisses.  Before I could finish saying, "Samuel how sweet of you to kiss the..." Samuel had throw Baby Jesus across the room.  I, unfortunately, laughed as I was shocked (which is the best reinforcement for Samuel) so he did it several more times throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas.  A good summation of life with our sweet crazy boy.