Samuel decided he was old enough for a bed yesterday. He managed to climb out of his crib, open the door, walk downstairs and greet Joe when he was supposed to be napping. Samuel was extremely proud of himself and even more excited to get a bed that he can climb into. He sure is growing up quick!

Samuel's New Bed

5 years have passed since we started on an incredible lifelong journey together.

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Samuel is now 20 Months old. Somehow this sounds so much older to me than 18 Months which is normally the big milestone. It feels like he is growing up so fast. I can’t believe the last update was 5 months ago and I’ll try to write down all of the changes that have happened since then. This is a really long post, so skip to the end with the photo album links if you are short on time.

Samuel has many more teeth. Once the bottom two came in at the same time, the top two came in a week later, and the ones on each side of the top two came in the next week. No new teeth since then, but he has the cutest toothy grin now.

He still loves to “read” books, except now he knows when they are upside down. He also loves to bring books over and sit in people’s laps so they will read to him. He will flip the pages and point to things waiting to be told what they are.

Samuel still loves to point to things and say “auh-auh?” but he does it all the time now. He loves seeing himself in pictures and especially on video chat. When he sees Joe or himself in the picture (and occasionally other men such as his grandpa and nonno) he will say “da-da”. When Joe comes home from work and I let Samuel know that Daddy has come home he runs over to the door and says “da-da” over and over. We’re still working on “ma-ma” but he will say it occasionally when he wants to go downstairs.

He has picked up on some other words as well. He can point out a ball and he will say “ball”. He loves to play with my bear from childhood called Barf Bear and calls it “baf bah”. If we ask him “Where is Barf Bear?” he will go find it in the room and bring it to us. He frequently will try to get in his car with Barf Bear.

Samuel loves to eat and is really great about communicating with us. When he is hungry he will put his hand to his mouth and say “foo”. When he is done he will say “aaaaaaahh duh” for all done, but sometimes he says this because he wants our food instead. Samuel graduated to a regular chair for eating. He’s actually sitting in the Father chair of our dining set since it has arms. We also boosted the height of the chair so that he can be at a good height with the table. He is eating off of plates now and we are working on bowls and utensils.

Samuel still loves other kids his age. Here are the photos from our Mommies’ Group Christmas time last year and this year.
This Year (2010):

Last Year (2009):

Samuel especially enjoys his friend Emily. Here they are playing together at the zoo:

Samuel also has some special people that he loves to see, and one of them is Laurie. He will frequently let go of my hand and run over to her to be picked up. Here is a picture where Laurie was already holding Emily and Samuel still wanted to be held:

Samuel continues to love sleep. He sleeps for at least 12 hours at night and 4 hours during the day spread across two naps normally. We think he has probably gotten rid of his third nap. Here is a picture of him asleep during our Gingerbread House Making Party where there were 40 people at our house. I miss being able to sleep like Samuel does.

Samuel also had his first haircut a few weeks ago at the same time as Joe. Samuel loved to watch Joe getting his haircut and stayed still the entire 15 minutes while they cut his hair because he was so fascinated with everything. Another benefit of having an inquisitive son. The before and after shots are below, but most of the hair was cut from the sides and back. There was maybe about 2 inches cut from the back.
Before:

After:

Samuel continues to run around and get into everything. We had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago when he got into some Asprin when Joe was going to the bathroom. Samuel turned out just fine, he was just a bit hyper that night. Samuel must have the genetics from my side that are resistant to pain medication. This is probably just the beginning with him and possible trips to the ER. He loves climbing onto things and especially into things.

He will frequently climb into something and then get stuck and cry. We keep telling him not to do it in the first place, but he loves it too much.

Joe is teaching Samuel all kinds of fun things. First he taught Samuel how to roll a car on the ground and then taught him how to place Legos on his Lego board. Samuel is really good at placing Legos on the board and can put them on there pretty quickly.

Samuel also loves playing hide and seek. He will often run down the hall and wait for you to find him. When he pokes his head out and you look at him he will squeal with delight and run back down the hall. He thinks that when he can’t see you that he is hidden. He will lay down on the floor or couch with his head down, hide in a blanket, or the tent.

Samuel will help out around the house. There are times when he will put away his toys and we are working on this happening all the time. His favorite thing is to put clean laundry into the hamper and “help” carry it to the bedroom. Next we will teach him to hang and fold clothing, but that will probably be for a while.

Samuel is a really tall kid and breaking the charts. He is now at the greater than 97th percentile for height which placed him at 35 inches when he was 18 Months and 20 days. His weight and head size is back to normal for him which is the 47th and 33rd percentiles respectively. It just means that he will be able to go on the rides at Disneyland sooner and outgrow clothing quicker.

We really love Samuel and enjoy all of the laughter that he brings to our life. Here are all of the photo albums that have been posted lately:

• Samuel 16 Months
• Samuel 17 Months
• Samuel 18 Months
• Samuel 19 Months
• Samuel 20 Months
• Mommy Group Christmas 2010
• Mommy Group Zoo Trip 2011

We got to go to Hollywood and stay at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel right in the heart of Hollywood for LEVEL Studios’ New Years Kick Off Party. We had a really wonderful time filled with laughter thanks to some great co-workers but mostly our fantastic table-mates and good friends the Thompsons.

Before we headed out we made sure to stop by the Hollywood Walk of Fame to take a picture of Tom Selleck’s star for my mom.

More pictures in the LEVEL Hollywood Party 2011 Album

P.S. Samuel turned 1 1/2 years old yesterday, so there will be a post and pictures to come soon!

Meet our little Steve Jobs!

Samuel dressed up as one of our favorite CEOs, Steve Jobs, for Halloween; complete with black turtleneck, blue jeans, glasses, black socks, and white sneakers. He was quite the hit at both of our workplaces with people stopping to take pictures.

Our little Steve also had his very own iPhone that he was demoing.

This softie version is handmade from silk printable fabric, felt, glue, thread, foam, marker, and paint. The real iPhone 4 is on the right.

There are more pictures in the Halloween 2010 album. We had a fun time and we hope you all have a Happy Halloween!