We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend with Sam's family and got to squeeze in a little bit of time with Linda (who is scheduled for c section on Friday, yay!! Can't wait to meet baby Caitlin!) & fam as well as Cindy, Aunt Sandra, and Uncle Tom. We spent a lot of time in the pool and it was just great to be able to create fun memories with family. Me being the eternal optimist that I am have been able to find very few positives to Sam being laid off but one of the biggies is the extra fam time we have had.
Several times over the weekend others and even myself commented on just how big Sammy seemed and it dawned on me as we tried to teach him to blow bubbles out of his mouth in the pool that he is a "real little boy" now. Sam laughs when I call him that but, he is. In other words, there is just hardly any baby left and you can't help to see him as a little boy rather than a baby. Then even more daunting, I realized he is now being 19 mos old.. closer to 2 years old than 1 year old. WOA! When did this happen??? Seriously, it has just gone by too fast.
I am just fully loving toddlerhood, albeit challenging it is just so much stinkin fun! I have to admit I was very much dreading this stage when we found out we were expecting but I have been very pleasantly suprised with how much I enjoy it. I absolutely love seeing him develop into his own little person with prefernces and ideas. I love that as big as he is he still comes to me for comfort and wants to show me his latest accomplishment (twisting his pointer and thumb finger??) and of course needs me to kiss each boo boo and wipe away his tears. He is by far the best entertainment we could ask for. I thought I had rediscovered my childhood being matched with Hannah and having tea parties and dress up and .. gulp, Barbies (Yes, as much as I hate to admit it the girl loves her some Barbies). Having a little boy though has allowed me to discover my inner tomboy who was waiting to be found. I LOVE racing cars with him and hopping outside while we look for froggies, and believe it or not, looking for and counting each worm. I like rolling around on the ground with him and playing jungle but I also love our sweet time where we rock his teddies to sleep and for a slight moment I see his sweet nurting side before he sails them across the room as he moves on to our next adventure. It is just so fun. I'm loving it. The below is just a little about Sammy at this fun stage that I included in his babybook.
For Sammy
We are so thankful God chose us to be your parents, you are our world and bring us so much joy each and everyday. At 19 mos old you are so sweet and so very very silly. We just simply adore your personality. You are very social and love meeting new people yet you have a very serious side too. You have such a kind heart and love to help other people. We can always count on you to help clean up any mess (you literally come running saying "boom!" carrying your broom) and you are just the best little chef yet! All our meals are much more yummy now that you help with them. You are a very smart boy and amaze us each day with things you can do and say that we just had no idea you knew. You love to read books to us and to sing and dance. I hope you never stop dancing, I just love to watch you. You are so free and uninhibited. I love to pretend cook with you in your kitchen, I don't know what you think you are cooking for me but I do know you work very hard at it and serve it up with such a sense of accomplishment and a giant kiss. Your silliness has cracked even the toughest of men and you have the ability to get them acting silly right along with you. You love to give hugs and kisses to just about anything and everything. Kisses are your way of showing you like something- when you see a new thing you like you lean in and "muah!" give it a kiss, we found it quite funny when you kissed each and every tractor in Home Depot (lol). I am quickly learning all the various types of construction vehicles and parts of trains because you love any and all types of transportation. I am amazed at how you can spot airplanes when they are just spec in sky. You love to feed your food to the characters on your sippy cup or your stuffed animals, so sweet. We think you may just be a soccer player one day because you enjoy and are really great at kicking balls. You kick with such purpose. You love to pray and are just so sweet and focused when we talk to Jesus. You ask to pray several times a day and we stop right where we are regardless of who we are with to pray with you. I hope you will always talk to your Jesus like that as you get older, I know you make Him smile each time. You have a new funny way of coming right up to our faces to tell us things, you get about 3 inches from our eyes and look directly into our eyes when you tell us your very important babble. You have started a "roll call" and run through the names of those close to us asking where they are. You are a little explorer like your Great Grandpa and Aunt Sarah. You are happiest playing outside and looking at & touching & watering different kinds of plants and watching "buuugs" and "woms" crawl around. Your little laugh is contagious, I truly believe a person can not remain unhappy after hearing your belly laugh. You have the most fun "streaking" when we take off your diaper and let you run naked through the house laughing the whole way, too funny. Your little bottom and rolls just jiggle the whole time and you giggle with glee. You love to crawl and pretend you are a kitty, dog, lion, and cow and you do great monkey and gorilla impressions too. You have a pretty hard time sharing right now, but we are working on that one and you have made some good progress. I am confident you will get the hang of it eventually. One of my favorite qualities is your nurturing spirit. You take good care of Kiera each day at Gloria's house. You get her doll for her when she cries, you try to feed her, and you hug & kiss her hello & goodbye. You have a few friends who are special needs and it is like you sense that there is something different about them, you lead them around holding their hand and are just so gentle, you stroke their faces and show them various things, it truly melts my heart. Your favorite saying these days is by far "oh man!" and "oh no!" and you say it at the funniest times. You sign and then say "all done" in dramatic style, it is very drawn out and you fan your arms out somewhat reminicent of a ballerina, which makes me laugh each time. Somehow you have managed to interface your signs & Spanish thankfully, we were worried you would be confused but you have done wonderfully. You, my sweet little prince have our hearts and you know it. We love you more than words can say and enjoy watching you grow into little you. I hope we will always be the best of friends as you grow and graduate kindergarten, start driving, go off to college.. oh my it is right around the corner. My baby is all growing up too fast, sniffle sniffle.
