Wow! 11 months already. These months are really flying by now! Here is what Sam’s been doing this past month…

As many of you know, I recently decided to resign from teaching to stay home with Sam for at least another year. Unfortunately, I didn’t decide this until 10 days before the start of the school year. Since my school district requires 30 days’ notice, I went back to work for the first two weeks of the school year. It really wasn’t bad but it made me appreciate the fact that I am able to stay home with Sam full time!

We’ve finally gotten some cooler weather here! We’ve been taking full advantage by going to the park, having picnics, and taking long walks on these beautiful (or at least not unbearably hot) days. Sam loves crawling around in the grass and picking up whatever he can find to put in his mouth. He loves when the wind blows on his face and flutters his eyelids. He is a little more confident about standing up on his own in the grass.

We are getting good use of the baby gates these days as Sam is constantly on the move. He is a fast crawler and loves to get into the one thing he can find that he is not supposed to touch (mommy’s sunglasses, daddy’s blackberry, etc.). We have to be very careful to put EVERYTHING away (a place for everything and everything in its place!), especially our shoes. Sam loves to pick up our shoes and put them in his mouth. Disgusting!

Sam has just recently started getting a little bit bored with his toys. I guess that’s fair enough since he’s had most of them for about 7 months (a majority of his life!). He is generally very good at entertaining himself with whatever is around but I can tell he is very excited whenever he is introduced to a new toy. My grandparents just sent him his first puzzle and he loves it! He hasn’t quite figured out how to put the pieces back but he loves trying to eat them and banging them together.

Sam loves to imitate the sounds we make. It has turned into a fun little game. Ben will sing a tune and Sam tries to sing it back. The cutest is when Ben makes some sound that is too difficult and Sam just stares back. You can tell he is trying to think about how to do the funny new sound. I think he has started to say “meme” for milk. But it is hard to say if he is really trying to say “milk” or if he is just making a frustrated whine.

Sam has stood up on his own a couple of times and has even taken a few stumbling steps forward. I walk holding onto one of his hands and I can tell that he is barely holding on, but he lacks the confidence to go off on his own. Usually when I let go, he stops, looks at me, and sits down. It’s pretty cute. And occasionally, if he’s really on a roll, he will take a couple (like maybe one and a half) steps and then sit down. He loves to push his little car around the room and really gets up to a good cruising speed with that thing. I am sure he will be walking in the near future. Eeeek!

Sam seems to be ready to give up his morning nap. I can’t believe this is happening already! He usually wakes up at about 7:30 or 8 and then is almost never ready to go down for his morning nap by 10 or even 10:30. And if he naps much later than that, it starts to push our whole day back too late. So I have been putting him down for a nap at about 1 and he usually sleeps for 2-3 hours. I feel a little lost with his current schedule and I am never really sure what I am doing. Not a good place for a planner like me!

The other day I confided in my mom that I was concerned that Sam wasn’t clapping yet (I am a compulsive worrier, in case you didn’t already know that). She told me that it was not a big deal, of course, but that she would teach him when she was visiting. And she did! So now we have a darling little clapper. He loves to clap when he’s getting his diaper changed, which is nice encouragement. He also likes to clap while he’s eating. We are trying to see if he can do the sign for more (very similar to clapping) to indicate that he wants more food. But so far we’ve gotten inconsistent results.

We love you, Sam! Can’t wait until your first birthday!

Sam turned 10 months this past Friday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t update the blog because we were hit by a terrible storm and lost power for 12 hours and then cable/internet for a week!! If you’re interested, here is a video taken down the hill from us.

Anyway, back to our growing boy! I was just looking through some old photos and can’t even believe how much Sam has changed! Here are some highlights from the past month:

*Sam learned how to crawl! Wahoo! He is so cute crawling around and getting into trouble. He has an unconventional technique: one leg is bent and then he kind of drags his other foot along. It’s not beautiful but it works.

*Sam still loves cruising around on furniture, and he has learned to pull himself up. He is such a good cruiser, he can even walk along the wall. It is really cute to see him try to challenge himself to reach as far as he can to walk to another piece of furniture. He is getting braver and braver. And he’s even getting more used to the spills.

*Sam is the loudest baby in the world. He loves to scream at the top of his lungs. Sometimes I think he is having a contest with himself to see how loud he can get. But at least they are happy screams.

*Sam is into everything. We have yet to really baby-proof the house (we’ve basically only installed outlet covers). Right now our philosophy is to teach him what he can and can’t touch and keep anything really dangerous out of reach. So far it is working but I am sure we will need to so some more elaborate baby-proofing as he gets faster.

*Lately Sam has been sticking his tongue out a lot. I think he is going to be one of those little boys that stick their tongue out when concentrating. Very cute.

*He seems to be getting his top teeth in. I can kind of feel something coming through, he has been a little cranky lately, he tries to bite every object he encounters, and he has been drooling non-stop.

*As I am writing this, I have learned that Sam is able to pull up to standing in his crib, even though he is wearing a sleep sack! Unfortunately he does not seem to have the necessary skills to lie back down. Ben and I have been in there twice to put him back down but he just keeps getting back up. I’ve read that you should let them figure it out themselves or else you will have to keep laying them down. So, here we are, waiting. Any tips? (UPDATE: after about 20 minutes of crying Ben went in and laid him down again. I guess third time was a charm–he is fast asleep. Yes, we are wimps but he was an already an hour into his nap and still not asleep!).

*Sam eats like a champ! He has a huge appetite and will eat just about anything. Now that he is older, he can eat a bigger variety of foods, which is really fun. His favorite food is shredded cheese which he often eats with whole wheat pasta (mac ‘n cheese is Mommy’s favorite, too!). He also loves broccoli, smashed peas, beans, squash, and pretty much any fruit. Sam’s favorite breakfast is porridge (rice, oatmeal, millet, or some combination plus some ground up lentils and chickpeas) mixed with pureed carrots–weird but healthy! Another daily staple (usually for lunch) is full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with sunflower seed butter. Again, weird but healthy. Finally, he loves pretty much anything he can pick up and feed himself.

*He loves to entertain. He laughs all the time, especially when someone else is laughing, and definitely seems to be developing a sense of humor!

It is amazing how much fun the three of us are having! I just can’t wait to see what the future will hold! We love you, Sam!