Sushi Time

We took Sam out for Sushi at Masa, our local hole-in-the wall sushi place in Mission Hills. He loved the food, but was confounded by the super-sticky rice which he couldn't manage to get off of his digits.

BOOM!

Sam has recently said his first word that has a clear meaning. "Boom!" He says it when anything falls down, but especially when applied to knocking down stacks of blocks, which are his favorite toys. But it actually comes out closer to "Baum!" He loves knocking down stacks of blocks and for a while could not stand to have any block on top of another, so his one word has gotten lots of use.

He is now also getting closer to saying "Mom" and may have said it on one occasion, but it is not as clearly correct as "boom". I'm betting the next couple weeks will present us with a real chatterbox.

-Dave

Card Sharks

Scarface

Sam took on a plastic spool of ribbon this weekend...unfortunately I think the spool won. He tripped while walking and caught himself with his arms but was carrying a plastic spool of ribbon in one hand (think Christmas present-wrapping ribbon) and managed to scrape his head along its edge from the middle of his eyelid to the middle of his forehead. It scraped very superficially, but enough to create a scab and looks rather gnarly (being about 1.5 inches long). The holding still to wash the wound with soap seemed to bother him more than the wound itself, but his huge facial scab turns out to be quite the conversation stopper. This is just the beginning of the toddler bumps and bruises...
-Christine

Discovering the trash can

So a couple of days ago I was trying to read a magazine and Sam was trying desperately to take my magazine. I decided to find a compromise and tore off pages as I read them and gave them to him. Sam would take each page and walk into the kitchen and come back for another a little while later. This went on a dozen or so times, and finally, I said "Sam, you must have a huge pile of paper in the other room to play with. Isn't that enough?" I went to investigate and found no paper on the kitchen floor. How perplexing. Then I noticed the cupboard with the trash can was open the 2 inches allowed by the child lock and when I peered inside I could see a nice, crumpled pile of magazine pages stuffed into the trash can. Aha, that's what he'd been doing. I thought it was really cute. Alas, since then, he's been not quite so discerning and rather than throwing in only used paper, he's tried his hand at throwing away socks, foam toys, playing cards...pretty much anything. So, we've moved the trash can to the back and now there's an empty gap so he can throw things away, but they come right back out the bottom. Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind. :)
-Christine

Recent photos

Grandpa Carta and Aunt Amanda with Sam




Grandma and Grandpa Brochard with Sam




Mohawk Sam




Sam and his cousin Clemente and their favorite condiment

Technical Difficulties

So posts for Sam's blog were down for two months. I ended up changing all of my passwords due to a break into my eBay account, and the blog flew under the radar. We bring you back to your previously scheduled peanut.

I've got the whole world in my hands

For a while Sam was in a phase of serial processing. He could only hold one thing in both hands at one time. And even if one hand was free, that didn't mean it could hold something. If he was holding a toy car but wanted to take the straw Dave was offering him and throw it on the floor, first he had to give Dave his car, then take the straw, then throw it on the floor, then take his car back. He couldn't keep the car in one hand and with the other take the straw and throw it on the floor. No...that would be two things at once.

Now Sam seems to be in a phase of fitting everything he can into one hand. As I put away laundry he pulls out all the socks and tries to carry as many as possible in one hand (and gets immense satisfaction out of it when he carries many). Or he walks around carrying various wooden puzzle pieces in one hand, or takes all his apple pieces and holds them in one hand while he eats one by one with the other hand. It's rather comical...

My name is "Aagh"

Sam is starting to sound like he's getting the hang of how to make words. He displays his understanding of them quite well (he follows directions like "Please give this toy to Mommy" or "Are you done eating?" or "Are you hungry?" or "Go over there and wait for the wind up car to come to you") and we think on Sunday he tried to say Da-da and Bye-bye. However, I'm still convinced that his name for me is "Aaagh." That seems to be what he yells when he wants me or to get my attention. Ah, well.
-Christine

Vegetable fiend!

Sam seems to continue to be a big fan of vegetables! For a while it was green peas, then green beans. Now he loves carrots and is just scarfing down broccoli florets as fast as I can cut them right now...how great is that! Go Sam! Keep it up for the next 17 years :)
-Christine

Sheila's note

At the end of January 2008, our friend Sheila helped watch Sam while Christine had training with the Registrar of Voters. Sheila wrote this note about how Sam was while they hung out and I wanted to reproduce it here since it did a great job of describing what Sam is like these days:

"Hi Christine!
Sam woke up about 3 o'clock and had (no tofu or cottage cheese), but quite a few peas, a couple of cheese chunks and avocado and several grape pieces. Made a few "noises" but no aroma and seemed to want to get up and play. :) Fun with the tupperware drawer - love to see him walk! What great balance. Lots of BAA's a few GAA's and one long sentence :) and nothing but laughs, smiles and serious confidences. I love his shoes! Hope you had a great meeting. So nice meeting Clemente and looking forward to seeing Dave's Uncle, too.
Lots of Love, Sheila
PS A few Cheerios. OXOX"

Entering toddlerhood

A week and a half ago Sam decided to use walking as his primary means
of transportation. So walk he does, sometimes nearing a run! He finds
great joy in it, particularly in running at our L-shaped couch and
flopping against its corner. Sometimes he doesn't make it all the way
to the corner...he falls face first in his excitement. But he's a
tough kid, he usually just gets up and completes his run to the couch
corner.

He's also using newfound mobility to get into every little nook and
cranny that he can - all cupboards, baskets, drawers and boxes. At
least now he's finding as much joy in putting things away and closing
them as he does in opening them and taking them out.
-Christine

External mastication

Sam has been going through a phase of squishing his food before he eats it (blueberries, beans, etc). It finally occurred to me today why he does it! He's just compensating for his lack of teeth (two on bottom, one on top, two more little ones starting on top) by performing some mastication external to his mouth. Of course. Why didn't I think of that before....
-Christine

I guess all the walking has gone to his head

We just took Sam in for his 1 year appointment.
His current stats are:
Weight: 23 lb 7 oz = 60%
Height: 30.25 in = 70%
Head Circumference: 48 cm = 90%

New post, old news

Since we are storing all of Sam's records in this virtual baby book, I thought we would put his baptism service online >>here<<.

Sam on his baptism day - October 20, 2007
with his Parents and Godparents Justin and Alex

A Good Belly Laugh

Sam and I shared a good laugh last night as he practiced using a spoon. At the end of his meal he was enjoying a few bites of cottage cheese and became particularly interested in how I was dipping the spoon into the bowl to get more. He was assisting me in maneuvering the spoon into his mouth, or doing it on his own. Then he wanted to help get more cottage cheese on the spoon. He enjoyed it so much, he kept doing it even when he wasn't hungry and just spit the cottage cheese out once he got it in. On one try to make it from the bowl to his mouth himself he accidentally flicked the spoon a little and a big glob of cottage cheese landed on his nose. We looked at each other and had a good laugh about that. Messy dinners can be fun!
-Christine

PS Hi to Sara who is reading this in N.M. Give us a call sometime.

Happy Birthday Mr. Peanut!!

Today is a birthday, we wonder for whom
We know it's for someone who's right in this room
So look around you for somebody who
Is smiling and happy, my goodness it's you!
Happy Birthday, Samuel, from all of us to you
Happy Birthday, Samuel, from mommy and daddy too
We congratulate you, and pray good luck follows you
Happy Birthday, Samuel, may all of your good dreams come true
Boop boop!

It's hard to believe that Sam has been in our life for one year. He is such a blessing to us and we feel so lucky to have his smile in our lives. We greatly look forward to the new adventures that lie ahead!

For his birthday, Sam got his own little carrot cake to do with what he would.



As it turns out, he took one swipe at the frosting and got upset at frosting sticking to his hand and didn't want to have anything to do with it. Later on, though, he did give in and eat a few bites from mom and dad's cake.

What's mine is yours

Sam is big into giving things to people these days. He picks up a toy, thrusts out his hand and arm at you, and hands it over. If you aren't looking, he patiently waits, arm extended. until you take it. If you aren't taking it, sometimes he just puts it down near you so you can have it for later. So cute!
-Christine

Messy eaters!

Sam says hello to his fans

"Baw bao baw bah ... gah guh guh guh ... baw ooh oh oh ooooo ... guh kuh kuh kah kah guh guh."
-Sam

Food prep zone

Sam felt the need to put his food on his water cup before every bite this evening. He is such a great eater these days...every thing from sloppy joe's to curried chick peas! Yum!

First Steps!

Sam just took his first three steps in a row this morning. How exciting! Pretty soon he'll be walking all over - it's obvious he wants to.
-Christine

Bathtime!

Piano lessons

Family!

So precious

There are moments when Sam is playing around me (maybe he's picking up a toy and standing up with it or using the pincer grasp to get his Cheerios or flashing me a grin) when I am inundated with just how precious he is. His little nose, his mouth, his miniature fingers, his wiggly toes, his eyes, his little ears...everything about him is just so precious. It's a feeling of cute, adorable, cuddly, darling, pure and lovable all rolled up into one.
-Christine

All I Want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth. Sam is getting his two front teeth in but they haven't quite made it all the way through the gums. While he is still in cheery moods, it seems it does pain him at night so we're really hoping that for Christmas he gets his two front teeth!

Grandpa and Sam

Grandpa came for a short visit and entertained Sam immensely. He thought Sam has hand like an octopus as he was so good at grabbing EVERYTHING. -Dave

Standing up for himself

Sam has been practicing free-standing for the last week or so. He started letting go of what he was holding and standing for a few seconds before sitting down. Gradually he stood for longer and longer, yesterday doing 15 seconds in a row. He's been learning to sit on his knees and control his way up and down a lot more (no more falling quickly to his butt). Just today he stood up from a sitting position for the first time without holding on to anything! So cool to see. He's also taking steps while we hold his hands. Perhaps bipedal locomotion isn't too far away....

Likes and Dislikes

Sam has started to figure out that he likes certain things...and dislikes others. It goes something like this: I like playing with that magazine, I dislike it when you take it away. I like bouncing on the couch, I dislike it when you take me off of it. I like being next to mommy, I dislike it when mommy walks away. I like standing and sitting, I dislike it when I  am on my back for a diaper change. I'm sure he'll continue to let us know what he likes and dislikes...