The times, they are a changin'

Every day, I am amazed by Sam. I just can't believe the amount of progress he's made over the past two months. I was so worried about him when he had his second birthday. He wasn't talking, he wasn't communicating, he was just whining. I didn't know if I should be worried or not, but he definitely seemed to be having troubles. Fast forward 2 1/2 months and he is a totally different child. Once I was able to pull myself out of the rut I'd been in, Sam changed. He babbles constantly. He is happy almost all the time. And he COMMUNICATES!

Sam uses the signs for 'more' and 'help' all the time now. Help also started to mean 'come and do this with me'. More has morphed to also mean 'I would like this thing to happen', directed at something like the TV that's not on when he wakes up in the morning, or to the fridge. He has his own sign for 'all done' which is fluttering his hands, and that's also come to mean 'this isn't right' like when he is trying to put in a puzzle piece and is trying to put it in the wrong spot.

Sam loves his family, he loves spending time with Grandma, Grandpa Paul and his new Aunt, Jemma. The other night, Jemma babysat so we could go see the new Batman movie. When we got home, she told us about something that happened while we were gone. She put Sam to bed, and he was being fussy and not going to sleep. Eventually, she went into his room and when she went over to his crib, he signed 'help' and pointed at his foot. It turns out that his footie pajamas had a hole and his toe was sticking out. She put it back in, but he signed 'more', pointed at her, signed 'help' and pointed at his foot. She took him out of his crib, changed his pajamas, and then he went right back to sleep! I couldn't believe it when she told us, he basically communicated a four part thought to her. He doesn't have many words yet, but he is REALLY growing and learning! I'm so proud.

Speaking of words, he is gaining. He knows pop, no and go. He has said garden, dog, don't, and mama. He has word sounds (partial words) for boom, bubbles (bub), car (ca). He can also make the sounds of a dog, cat, cow, train and if you ask what a bubble sounds like, he says pop. I know there are more, but it's late and I can't think of them. Sometimes he only says a word once, but I know it's in his head and will reappear at some point!

His receptive language is amazing. He knows so much that I don't even know, and only find out when I ask him to point it out and he does. He can point out about 1/2 the animals in his 100 animal pictures book. He can identify star, circle, triangle and square. He knows a few colors, and has no problem matching shapes and colors when doign puzzles.

Sam loves to run, and will grab my hand and pull me along until we find the activity he wants. He loves his train set and is always coming up with new ways to play with it - right now he really likes driving his toy motorcycle around it and laughing. He loves to be tickled and is most ticklish on his thighs.

In the last 2 weeks, Sam completely gave up his pacifier, on his own. He was down to only using it at bedtime or in the car. Then it got eliminated from the car, and then he started shaking his head no when we offered it to him, and one day I realized that we had stopped offering it to him and forgotten all about it, and he hasn't been using one at all. Sometimes, he makes it easy for us...

He's not perfect - he had a couple of really difficult bedtimes this week with lots of screaming, but then tonight he put his head on my shoulder and we rocked in the rocking chair until he fell asleep. I thought about putting him in his crib awake, but the heavy warmth of him resting on me was so peaceful that I didn't want to move. He's been having issues with throwing things, especially AT me, and had a time out this morning. Hopefully it'll be a short phase. He hasn't been eating much or very well this week, but it happens with toddlers. He is probably only taking naps maybe three times a week now, which makes him a little crabby at night some days, but not always. I'm not ready for him to be done with naps, so hopefully he'll continue taking them at least SOME days!

I look at him, and I can't believe that he's mine. I can't believe it's been over two years since we brought him home from the hospital, so small and helpless. I can't believe how much he's grown and how much he can do for himself now, how fast and smart and beautiful he is. He still likes to cuddle, and he knows what a cuddle is, he'll come and lie down in my arms pressed up against me. Sometimes he spontaneously sits down in my lap in the middle of playing and I smell his toddler hair and kiss his neck and let the love just wash over me. I had no reason to be worried.