Same Pajamas, Different Day.  [I probably should have had Erik photoshop some real clothes on Sam.  Despite what almost every single picture I post shows, I promise Sam isn't always in his pajamas.]

Being a skinny scrawny twirp can pay off.  Sam’s teeny tiny bum had no problems fitting on the window sill; a perfect seat for watching the man aerate and fertilize our lawn.  And I definitely did not give Sam even one ounce of help getting up there.  That was all him, the little monkey!

Heavens to Betsy!!  I didn’t see this happen {the first time} I just found Sam like this.  I never leave him unrestrained and out of sight for more than 37 seconds . . . for reasons like this.  Definitely a heart-stopper!

Even in a 1 foot by 2 feet area, Sam still found things to keep him busy.

“Hey, Mom, watch!  When I do this . . . “

“. . . look what happens!”

When Sam got “bored” with it, he reached out his arms for me and jumped.  Then he climbed back up and did it all again. {4 more times}

Recently, Samuel has discovered windows.  He loves looking out them.  He often wants me to lift him up so he can look out, and it’s the first thing we do every morning: open up the curtain and the shades in Sam’s room, and see what’s going on outside.  Sam has also found that the windows in our bedroom and in the family room are low enough for him to look out on his own.  We had the area behind the sofa where the window is blocked off so Sam wouldn’t get into trouble back there.  (Since we have no downstairs closets, it’s become a storage place for random things.)  But one afternoon Sam was determined to get back there, so he completely just climbed right over what we had blocking it.  This little area behind the sofa has now become one of his absolute favorite spots to play.  Samuel takes toys back there, and went wild the first time he watched the cars on his racetrack continue to drive on the window sill.

The light coming through this morning was pretty cool.  If I had any skills at all, I might have gotten some better pictures.  (Fixing Sam’s bedhead and staticky hair, changing him out of his pajamas, or taking off my necklace that Sam found a couple days ago and now wears all the time would not have made these pictures any better.  Those are part of the charm, skills or not!)  Anyway, these are some more pictures of Samuel enjoying his morning playtime between the sofa and the window.

I bought this tub a couple weeks ago for some of Sam’s out-grown clothes.  It’s been downstairs this whole time because I don’t want to take away Sam’s favorite toy.  He pushes the tub around, and climbs in and out of it all day long.  Erik showed him how to use the bear to soften the landing.  The bear is another one of Sam’s favorites that he discovered in the basement.  (It was downstairs with the rest of my old “keepsakes.”)  He loves burying his face in the bear.  The funny faces are because Sam was explaining to me what he was doing the whole time.

So, I was really bored today but I was so not up for leaving the house.  Enter my architecture skills.  I thought Sam was probably too young to appreciate the appeal of a fort, but I was so wrong!  He loved sitting in there, especially with the flash light, and talking with himself.  When I squeezed in there with him, he thought it was so funny.  He was pointing to all the pillows, the blanket ceiling, and the flashlight, and telling me all about them.  (Seriously, watch out, Uncle Jared!  You’ve got some stiff competition in the chatterbox contest!)  When Sam finally left the fort for his toy box a while later, I figured the novelty had worn off.  Wrong again!  Sam was just picking up a couple toys to bring back into the fort with him.  It turned out to not be such a boring day afterall!

 Now, how much have Erik and I spent on TOYS for Sam’s birthday?  Looks like a rubbermaid and some sofa cushions are cutting it just fine!

 How pathetic am I?!  I feel like it’s been FoReVeR since I last did a real post.  It’s been 5 days.  I think the reason I’ve had such a blogging urge recently is that SO much is going on with Samuel right now.  He is at this amazing stage where he is learning, growing, and changing all the time.  Sam has been taking longer naps, and I know it’s just so he can change some more.  When I go in to get Sam after he wakes up after a 2 hour nap, I seriously can see how he has changed in that time he’s been asleep.  I sound crazy, but I’m genuinely convinced.  Just in the last month, he has blown past the ittby bitty baby stage, and fully arrived in the little boy stage.  Every day is full of new discoveries, new things learned, new words, new silly faces, new understandings.  It is a ton of fun.

So here are a few things that have gone on in the past few days . . .

 I was in the kitchen cleaning up while Sam was exploring.  I heard him talking a bunch, and then he started laughing so hard!  I went in to find out what was so amusing.  Looks like it was himself!

 It’s not like he’s never looked in a mirror before.  But for some reason, this time was particularly entertaining for him.

 A few mornings ago, I was carrying Sam as I went to the basement to let the cat out.  I remembered there were clean clothes in the dryer, so I figured I’d better get those, but it ended up being a lot more than I thought.  The basket was pretty heavy and I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get it upstairs while I was holding Sam.  Problem solved.

It was a little bewildering to Sam, but not as bad as the picture makes it look!

 Every meal is usually a mess, but dinner two nights ago was particularly dirty.  After pulling his bid off a few times, I gave up.  The onesie he had on was already filthy and had a tear in the sleeve, anyway.  Samuel grabbing the spoon, then he would rub the food around in his hands, and up and down his arms, and then his eye would itch, or he wanted to pat his head.  The picture hardly does the mess justice.

 I always love to find pictures I didn’t know Erik took, when I upload from the camera onto the computer.  These are from Saturday morning while I was at baptisms.  They’re really funny, because you can see that even being sad doesn’t stop Sam from jumping.  In fact, it usually makes him jump that much higher!

Ok, so that’s it for now!  But don’t you worry, we’ll be back again soon.

Samuel is full force ahead, in 100% Discovery Mode! He is going everywhere, getting into everything, and learning all the time. Sam gets bored fast; everything needs to be a new experience to entertain him. So much for all his toys! He would rather bang a spoon on the wood floor, play with the piano pedals, or chase the cat. As exciting and fun as this stage is, it sure gets exhausting, and sometimes even a little scary. I was getting something in the kitchen when Samuel discovered he could fit behind the sofa, and, boy, was it a fun spot to hide! I am pretty sure I would have called the police and reported a kidnapping if Erik hadn’t been home to see Sam disappear.

Discoveries also can be a little frustrating while they are during dinner. It’s like every time I put Sam in the booster, it’s a completely new experience to him, and it requires lots of investigating. Sam also has an affinity for straps, and he sure had a hay day when he discovered his booster seat had one. "No more peaches, please, I like my strap just fine."

I would also like to point out (though I am so sure you already noticed) that Samuel looks like the biggest ragamuffin in that picture, and I promise I can explain. He had the horrible cowlick on the left side of his head that, for the life of me, I could not get to lie down. Sam –I’m sure in hopes of trying to help me out– made an even worse one on the other side of his head to balance things out while he took a nap. (Cute little thing! He knows how much his mommy loves symmetry!) And he kept pulling off his bid, so I gave up and just took his clothes off.

Anywho, for a baby who LOVES the bath, I cannot believe how unhappy the pool makes Samuel. I went with a friend and her little boy last week, and Sam was literally clinging to me the whole time. I thought maybe it was a bit overwhelming, so I would get him used to the little pool we have. Sam warmed up to it a bit; he splashed a little, and even allowed me to let go of him for a couple seconds, but really he just was not loving it. We’ll just have to keep trying!

. . . And decided I might be worth further investigation.

But Sam soon discovered the vents, and spent a good 15 minutes making noise on them.