Our little communicator

Sam's vocabulary and comprehension are increasing daily and it's amazing to watch. His first words have been:
1) Boom
2) Mum (sometimes Mama now)
3) Daddy (sometimes Gaggy, Daggy, or Gaddy)
4) Book (for a while it was just Buh)
5) Bah (for ball)
6) BAH (for banana)

He now nods his head yes and shakes his head no in answer to our questions. He's good and answering most things and is pretty consistent (i.e. he nods he's hungry and then eats when you give him food), although I think he still has his moments when he says yes when he means no, or vice versa. He's also intently watching as I say words and you can just see his little brain working on how to say them himself. Such a fun time!
-Christine

Happiness of being a Dad

There are a number of little things that just make me so happy to be a dad. Waking up early in the morning with Sam can be tough. However, the joy I get out of having him in my lap as we sit on our comfy chair overlooking the canyon, reading his selection of children's books once we get out of bed makes it all worth while. And then every day, when I come home from work and open the door, he runs to me with squeals of joy. Sigh. I keep telling people that there is nothing I have done in my life that has made me feel so blessed as being a father and every day, even with the challenges, it is so true.

Of course, it couldn't happen at all without a great mom to fill in the in between times, which makes it easy for me. Thanks Christine. :)

Hansel?

So Sam is big into this phase of exploring everything he can, testing his physical abilities and seeing how things work. Generally, this is fine and he does a great job hanging out exploring by himself. He sits on his little car and pushes around, he distributes our shoes around the house, he practices sitting on his little Sam-size chair, he pulls his books off the shelf and flips through them, he pulls pillows off the couch and lies on them, or he pulls out his toys and plays with them. I keep an eye on him and if he's not tired or hungry or in need of lots of attention, I can get some work done at the same time. I'm aware of where he is and what he's doing, but occasionally he throws a little surprise in. Like just now when he followed me into the kitchen and started playing with the warming drawer under the oven as he often does (we always have to check for toys before we turn it on, and keep Sam away). I turned my back for a moment and when I look back over, Sam has climbed into the warming drawer and is happily sitting there playing with his toys. So now we're going through the teaching phase of explaining he can put his toys in there, but not himself (I doubt it's designed to hold much more than his weight!). Gotta love the little explorer though...so creative. :)
-Christine