I haven't been great with keeping up with Samuel and his funny little growing self this year. It's hard to believe he will be 3 in a few short months! He talks SO much more now, has a silly little sense of humor, and , and, of course, run and jump and climb. He's definitely still "all boy!"
Samuel's favorite indoor toys right now are his trains, cars, his toy drum, and his doctor kit. He loves to tell us that "Doctor Samuel will help your boo-boo!"
Outside, he loves pretty much anything! Basketball, dodgeball, football, rocks, whistles (we only allow those outside), etc. He knows he's only allowed to be loud outside (though he doesn't always adhere to that... we're working on it!), so it's his FAVORITE place to be! He also loves going on "hikes" through the woods across the street from our house. We've started going as a family on Sunday evenings when it isn't rainy. He thinks it's the best thing in the world!
Samuel love love loves music and is constantly singing and even making up his own songs. He's also been working on learning Spanish with mommy and memorizing scripture verses, which is really cute to hear. :-)
We got extremely lucky in that Samuel had a great motivator for potty training and was able to get into underwear super quickly! Our gym has a HUGE play area for kids to go to once their potty trained, complete with slides and climbing ladders. He got a glimpse of it a while back and got really excited about it. I told him for several months that he would get to go to the "big room" once he used the potty all the time. I'd always ask him if he wanted to try, and he would think about it and say, "no."
But one Saturday morning (when I was in the middle of morning sickness and NOT in the mood for it at all!), he woke up and told me he was going to use the potty so he could go to the big room. I really didn't take him seriously at first. After 2 days of him consistently insisting, I went and bought him underwear. And after 2 days of accidents on and off, he pretty much was done. We've had maybe 2 or 3 accidents since then (almost 2 months), and he's now wearing underwear at nap time and occasionally at bed time too. I've been so impressed with him. He knew what he wanted, and he absolutely loves going to play and climb every day now!
His nap time is about over (he actually took one today - those have been very off and on the last few months), so I'll close with a few funny things he's said that I've put in my phone to remember:
A few days after learning about our new baby, he looked at my belly and said, "Hi baby!! I want to SEE you!!"
Samuel LOVES construction trucks, especially "bull-da-dozers." One day he saw a RED bulldozer:
"Ooooh, I LOVE this bull-da-dozer. I have never see nothing like YOU before!"
We went out to eat at a very loud restaurant the other night, so Samuel naturally had to join in the fun.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am singing a song! ABCDEFG..."
Halloween was last weekend, so we took him trick or treating. We talked about how all the costumes were fake (he got a little scared of some wolves and skeletons, for obvious reasons). So when we went up to a house decorated like a pirate ship and a "pirate" out front, he went up and said, "Hello pretend pirate! Trick or treat!"
And, the funniest thing he's done recently (and it was certainly most funny if you were there): I went in to get Samuel up one morning. He'd been talking so I knew he was awake. I walked in and didn't see him, so of course he was under the covers. I said, "Samuel, are you in here?" and he jumped out from under the covers - completely naked - and said, "SURPRISE!!!!!!!" and laughed hysterically. OH my!
Anyway, we have a lot of things to work on, but I love love love this crazy kid, and I'm so glad he's ours!
