Last month, as Campbell reached the two month mark, Sam turned two and a half (they were both born on the 6th!). I guess Sam has overheard us telling people he is 2 1/2 because even though we didn’t tell him directly, I have now heard him tell two people that he is two and a HALF. I guess he listens to us more than I thought!

Sam is turning into such a little boy. Sometimes I can’t even believe how old he seems now. Hard to imagine that he was just a newborn 2.5 years ago! We love him so much and are really enjoying getting acquainted with his fun personality.

• Weight: We don’t go in for another well visit until 3, but I weighed him while we were at the doctor’s office the other day and he was 31 lbs. I think he has weighed about that much for about a year!!
• Height: Not sure, but he must be getting taller. Everyone keeps remarking on how tall and skinny he is getting so I think he is just growing up and not out right now.

• Food habits: Sam has been getting a little pickier lately and will often say he doesn’t like something before he has even tried it, which is new. However, we have a rule that he has to at least take one bite of something before he decides if he likes it or not, and he almost always says he likes it after he takes a bite. Some days he will eat a ton, and sometimes he just picks at his food. I think that is pretty normally toddler behavior. Sam ‘s favorite food is a smoothie (or as he says it smyuuuzee).
• Manners: Sam always gets complimented on what nice manners he has, which makes this mama so proud. Even though he is shy, he is pretty good about saying thank you to strangers when they give him something (like waiters bringing him his food). Sam is also really good at using “please” and “thank you” at home. Of course, sometimes he will demand something in a rude voice from us, but we always just say, “Is that how you ask?” and he tries again in his little sweet falsetto voice reserved for making polite requests. I have caught him saying excuse me to inanimate objects, like a park bench, and he often mutters, “oh thank you” to himself when he picks something up.

• Social: Sam has gotten sooo shy lately. This isn’t that surprising considering that Ben and I were both super shy children, and somewhat shy adults. So I understand how he feels, but I am also trying to teach him to not be so shy that you come across as rude. We have a rule that if someone says hi, you have to at least wave back to them and he is pretty good with that little compromise. He really doesn’t like going in to big groups of people, like a play date or party, and often starts walking backward or says “mommy hold me!” which can be tricky for me when I am trying to get both he and Campbell into a room! However after the initial shyness wears off, Sam gets pretty outgoing and has fun running around and playing with his friends. Sometimes he even gets too comfortable and starts yelling at or swatting his friends when he wants a toy they have, for example.

• Language: I can’t even imagine that not that long ago, we couldn’t have conversations with Sam. He talks so much and it is really nice to know what is going on inside that head. I love that he can tell us what is bothering him or what happened when we weren’t there (like at school). He makes funny grammar mistakes. For example, his latest phrase is “watch my do!” which means “watch what I am doing.” Of course, we understand what he means but it is funny to figure out how he came up with some of these constructions. He also always says “pick” instead of “pick up,” as in “I want to pick Campbell!” He still has a hard time with /G/ and /K/ sounds (which are basically the same sound) and pronounces them as /T/ or /D/ (so Campbell is pronounced Tampbell).

• Discipline: Sam is generally happy and sweet but when he gets mad lately, he gets sooo mad. His recent new trick is going boneless so that when you pick him up he just noodles out of your grip. We have had to do a lot of timeouts lately, but they do seem to work pretty well. I also have been counting a lot. Like, “Come over here…1…2…3!” which is pretty effective with him (It worked for me as a kid too!).

• Imagination: Sam has really gotten into pretend play lately. It was funny because one day, he decided that the landing of our stairs was the back of the garbage truck, and since then he is imagining things like crazy. He loves to pretend he is riding a tractor when he is out on the back patio, and uses a big rock as a steering wheel. The other day he grabbed a metal strainer and said he was catching butterflies as he put pretend butterflies (small toys) in it. This was especially funny because I wouldn’t have said he even knew about the concept of catching butterflies. In the shower lately, he has been pretending that he is riding in a helicopter and makes the helicopter noise (“copter, copter, copter”). He also pretends he is a bug that crawls all over us or a dinosaur that rooooaaarrrs!

• Music: Sam has gotten really into music lately. He likes to drum on anything, sings made up songs into a “microphone” (usually a spoon or the baby gate, which I think is supposed to be a mic on a stand), and loves to play the ukelele. He also loves listening to music watching music videos. He often makes requests, like “Tighten Up” by the Black Keys or “the one with the funny eyes!” (He’s clearly well on his way to being a hipster.)
• Sleep: Sam normally naps from 1-4 but some days it takes him FOREVER to fall asleep (like 2 hours). Yesterday he took a 1 hour nap which has never done before. I really hope it was a fluke and not a sign of the end of naps! Today he was being very noisy during his nap so I went in and he had pulled out a bunch of toys from a box near the side of his bed. I took the toys away and moved the box and he fell asleep shortly after. I love that it wouldn’t occur to him to get out of bed and go get the toys again. He gets in and out of bed on his own (once I come to get him) and is no longer using a sleep sack (!!!) but he is very obedient and doesn’t get out of bed without permission. Every night, he goes to bed by about 8 and wakes up at about 8:30.

•  Potty Training: Sam is still doing really well with potty training. He never has accidents when he is with us and only has an occasional accident at school. For awhile he stopped going to the potty at all while he was at school (from 9-1). I don’t think he likes the public restroom. But lately he has been using the potty there with great success! However, since Campbell was born, Sam has woken up with wet underwear in the morning about once every 2 weeks. We aren’t sure if this is regression due to Campbell’s arrival, or the fact that since Campbell was born, we have been sleeping with a noise machine and our door closed, so we basically can’t hear him at all. We have started turning the monitor on so we can hear him, and since then he hasn’t had an accident, but he hasn’t called out to us in the middle of the night either. Time will tell, but I am ready for this issue to stop, for sure!