It’s the little things

| May 5, 2011

I was thinking the other night that I haven’t been posting as much as I used to.  I feel like I have only been posting the primarily “major” moments for Sam, and not the day-to-day like I did before.  I suppose that it is because Sam’s days have been fairly regular, for lack of a better word.  She is still growing and changing, but not by the leaps and bounds she used to.  It’s just her age, I guess.  When she was small, she changed in what seemed like a blink of an eye, and learned new things moment by moment.  Now, it is more of a small evolution, from baby to toddler to little girl.  We do see changes in her, but not such abrupt ones like before.  It is the little things, though, that are sometimes the things you wish you could remember later when your kids are grown.  So, in that vein, I am going to try to talk about some of the little things that make our Sam who she is.  The things that I do notice, but only for a split second, before moving on to taking care of whatever task is at hand.

Sam has learned how to take off her own clothes, with only a small amount of assistance.

Sam is always, secretly, when no one is watching, trying to put on her own shoes…and sometimes her socks.

She likes to brush her own hair and pick out her barrettes.

Sam will occasionally eat an entire meal with her fork, instead of using her hands. She is even figuring out how to master a spoon.

When she is thinking really hard and can’t figure something out, or when she wants something she can’t reach and is frustrated by it, she opens and closes her fist over and over again, I think without even realizing it.

She also sticks out the tip of her tongue sometimes when she is concentrating, just like her dad.

When Sam knows she is being funny, but is not sure if she is going to get into trouble for it, she gives you a huge closed mouth grin and sort of looks at you sideways with her head tipped down.

She calls Mom and Dad in the most insistent way.  And the way she says Mom and Dad is so clear.  She has never said Mommy, rarely says Mama, and only occasionally says Daddy.  Generally it is a very distinct “Mom” and “Dad” which I find funny because they sound like such grown up words.

We have had to spell for about a month now.  Certain words like “bath” are huge mistakes unless you want to drop everything you are doing and immediately race for the tub.  Sam loves her bath and all you have to do is mention the word and she just has to have one.  Sometimes she gets a bath before bed then wakes up and wants another one.  This from the child who screamed when put into water until she was about 7 months old!

There are a million other things, I am sure, but it is hard to think of them now, instead of when they are happening. But I am going to make an effort to document everything.  Not just the big things. Because every single day, every single hour, with our little Sam is precious, and time is so fleeting, and I don’t want to ever forget anything.  Not one minute with my little girl.