Sam: 15 months

Sam started walking during our trip to Switzerland.  He had learned to take a few steps in early June 2012.  We could get him to walk between us for about 3 feet.  He would cruise the furniture, then maybe take a step or two to reach the table that was just out of reach.  But one afternoon at our hotel in Bern, Switzerland he started walking out of the blue like he’d been doing it for months.  We were all hanging out in Grandpa and Grandma Reese’s hotel room trying to decide where to go get dinner.  Sam broke away from the couch and walked across the room.  I saw him do it, but thought it was just a fluke.  Then he did it again and again.  By this time, everyone had noticed it and we would clap for him each time he did. This got him even more excited and wanted to do more.  He was smiling ear to ear and would clap for himself.  It was really cute.  We took him into the hallway to see if he could walk a longer distance and he did.  The next day, we went to the Bear exhibit in Bern.  There was a long boardwalk, so we took Sam out of his stroller.  We let him walk around by himself.  He was fascinated by the bears and would follow their every movement.  He walked around the boardwalk like a big boy.  We were so proud of him!

Sam isn’t much of a talker yet.  He hasn’t developed many new words.  So far he mostly grunts and points when he wants something.  He can say Dada, Mama, Uh-oh, Mmmm (for when he likes something), and something that sounds like, “Oh, yeah”

Sam has learned how to give kisses and loves to give them.  He makes an “Mmmnnn” sound and he leans in and presses his mouth on your face when you ask him to give you a kiss. 

He loves when Daddy gets home.  Sam gets so excited.  The second he hears Tom put the key in the door Sam starts freaking out.  No matter where we are in the apartment he will start moving towards the front door and screaming in excitement.

Sam adores Ainsley and wants to play with her and do everything just like her.  They play really well together except when Sam picks up a toy that Ainsley just realized she wantsJ  But they are good together.  I’ve had to start putting Sam down to bed earlier because they play in their room when they are supposed to be going to sleep.  He knows that Ainsley loves her puppy.  Whenever she is having a tantrum, he’ll pick it up and bring it to her.  One time, while she was playing in the bath he wanted to give it to her so he threw it in the bath.  Puppy got soaked, when we tried to take it out and put it to the side, Sam just threw it in again.

Sam loves books.  He will pick up a book and bring it to you to read.  He loves the “lift the flap” board books he got from Grandma Reese.  Usually I can’t read the words fast enough before he wants to lift up the flap to see the picture behind it.  Then he wants to turn the page before I can finish reading that page too.  When I read to Ainsley, he wants to sit and listen too.  He usually can’t make it through one of her books yet, but he’s getting much better. 

Sam loves cars and already makes car noises when he plays with them.  I don’t know how boys do it, but they seem to automatically know that when you are playing with a car you need to make a “vroom-vroom” sound.  Ainsley never did that. 

Sam’s favorite toys are ones he can manipulate.  He loves putting the key into Ainsley’s cash register or a key in a tiny lockbox we have.  He is also fascinated by buckles.  His buckle on his high chair keeps him occupied for quite awhile while I cook and wash dishes next to him.  Each time he gets it in, he’ll grunt and whine.  I’ll turn around and undo it and I’ll get another few minutes of piece and quite while he buckles both sides, then we’ll repeat the process over and over for a half-hour or so.  When we went to Switzerland a few weeks ago, I knew we would be going on a lot of train rides so I took one of the buckles off his high chair so I could bring it to help keep him occupied on the trip.  It worked…until we accidently left it on a bus.  Oops.   He also loves cups and spoons.  He will pretend to dip the spoon or stir it in the toy cup.  It is typical to see him walking around with a formula scoop or spoon and a teacup in the other.  He also loves his empty bubble can.  The lid is the wand and he will continue to dip the wand in the empty bottle and then bring it up to his lips and blow.  This keeps him happy forever.  I don’t know why we buy this kid toys, he is perfectly happy playing with household objects!

Sam loves to carry around Ainsley’s toy princes.  Luckily it’s the guys, but he will pick one up and carry it around all day by its head.  Its pretty funny.  He also loves small objects.  He’ll carry around a domino or a penny clenched in his little hand.  When I pry it out of his hand (because I’m worried he’ll stick it in his mouth and choke) he freaks out and has a tantrum. 

Sam has four teeth now, two on bottom, two on top as well astwo more on the top coming in but you’d never know it.  His first two teeth are the only ones you can see!  His upper lip covers his top teeth and they were practically all the way in before we noticed them. 

Sam is beginning to be a picky eater.  He used to love meat.  He would devour it…now he won’t even touch it.  He only seems to want carbs like crackers, breads, pretzels.  I don’t know how I am going to survive in America without soft pretzels.  This kid eats one every time we leave the house!  They are perfect for him to hold, soft enough for him to chew, and not crumbly so they don’t make a mess.  Definitely going to have to learn how to make them!

Sam has learned to climb on and off of on our couch.  It is his favorite thing to do.  He will climb up, stand proudly in the corner for a few seconds then scoot off and repeat the process.  He also likes to jump on the couch, which is a little dangerous because he’s fallen off a few times and onto our hardwood floors.  But he’s a tough kid.

Sam has just began to have night terrors or something.  But this past week or so, he’ll wake up screaming in the night and nothing seems to calm him. He won’t take a bottle, binky, or even let me pick him up and hold him.  He just screams and sobs.  It is very frustrating because he doesn’t calm down for about 30 minutes.  He wakes all of us up and we are all up until he finally calms himself down.  Last night I turned on the BBC and watching the news seemed to finally distract him enough to stop screaming.  It is not a fun phase and I hope it doesn’t last long. 

Other than the few times when he wakes up crying, he is actually a really good sleeper and easy to put down.  He still takes two naps a day and each is at least an hour or two long.  At night, when we read stories and sing songs, he likes to lay with Ainsley and I in her bed.  We have a hard time getting him to lay still though, he always wants to pull the curtains that hang right above her bed or play with us.  But if we don’t pull him up on the bed with us, he’ll stand by the edge and cry and whine until he can join too. 

Sammy is my little shadow, now that he can walk he follows me around the apartment.  He is always one step behind me and I often bump into him when I go to turn around.  He stands at my feet while I cook which can make things a bit difficult.  I’m always nervous he is going to touch the hot oven when I open it.   In the morning or right after naps, he loves to cuddle and put his head on your shoulder.  It is so sweet, I wish it could last forever!

In our family, we always sing the song “Little Brown Jug” to our kids, but we substitute it with their names.  We did it for Ainsley and now we do it for Sam.  It goes something like this, “Uh oh, oh…you and me.  Little Sammy, how I love thee.  Uh oh, oh…you and me.  Little Sammy, how I love thee.” Sam doesn’t talk much, but he can sing the beginning of this song that goes, “Uh oh, oh.”  All day long, I’ll hear him singing it to himself.  What is funny, is Ainsley used to do the same thing.  If I sing it to him, he’ll sing along with me.  It’s pretty cute.

Sammy still loves to dance.  If he hears music on tv, outside, or on the ipod he immediately starts bouncing, bobbing his head, and shaking his shoulders back and forth.  He loves being outside and playing at the playground.  Until he learned to walk, he would scoot around in the sand on his knees and get really dirty.  He was in heaven. 

Sam loves to eat cereal with Daddy in the mornings.  He will walk up to Tom’s leg and beg to be picked up.  Then they take turns taking bites of cereal.  Tom used to do this with Ainsley when we lived in Indiana, and so its really cute to see him do it again with Sammy.

Sammy loves his binky.  We broke Ainsley of her binky at 15 months, but since we still have a long plane ride ahead of us, driving to Michigan, and settling in a new place…we aren’t even going to attempt it for another month.  Once we get settled and back to a routine though…it’s a goner.  Poor boy will not like it.  He is also still really attached to his green fleece blanket from Aunt Cami.  It goes everywhere with us.  When I noticed that he had become attached to it, I bought two more.  We left one home in storage and brought two with us to Germany.  One, the original one is the one that we take when we leave the house because unfortunately it is the most worn out.  It gets dropped, wet,  and dirty everywhere we go, but Sammy loves it.  The second one we leave in his crib so hopefully it will last  a little longer.  He is so cute with his blanket though, he’ll snuggle up to it and give it hugs.  He’ll stuff it in drawers or boxes, play peek-a-boo, etc.