I've learned from Sam...

...how to live in the moment
...how to spend an hour enjoying a sand dune
...how to say "Oh well" and move on (funny how what you teach them comes back to you)
...how to be silly
...how to have fun while doing chores

March Madness

Sam has become a big fan of basketball games. He's been going with Dave and Uncle Dave and Aunt Angela to the first and second round of NCAA women's tournament and also the NIT tournament that SDSU is in. His favorite newest word is basketball and he wondered why he can't go every day. He's also happily been introduced to kettle corn, hot dogs and peanuts with shells!

Peanut likes peanuts!!

Bubble Friday!

Sam had his first Bubble Friday at playgroup today. He started to enjoy chasing them even more and after some inspiration from Andrew's popping bubbles, he had fun trying to catch them. I couldn't get a good picture, but I will next time.

Sharing is Caring

Sam is a wonderful child, but certainly is two years old! We're working a lot on how to share and how to speak without whining or crying. I've come up with some strategies to give him appropriate outlets for impulses he has ("Don't bite Mommy, bite your blankie" or "Don't push Andrew, push a pillow"). For the most part those outlets work and if I can manage it, making a game of something or being silly almost always works to divert his attention. To address the whining, I'm currently working on only "listening" to him when he uses a normal voice...but he hasn't figured it out too well so far. I guess it just takes time.

More independence

Sam still likes to hang around me as I work or play around the house, but he's slowly developing more independent tendencies. Today was free day at the Science museum and as he became accustomed to it, he ran around and explored on his own without a look back. He had fun with his friend Elias outside as they dropped leaves in a little stream and ran on grass. Sam was content to be even 30 feet away from me - a first for him and for me! I'll have to get used to the intricacies of keeping a careful watch from far away, especially since he's still sometimes unreliable with following directions.