Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | August 20, 2011

Today Sam did something I was wondering if she would ever do — she said Grandmom! My poor mom has been waiting forever. Sam has said Poppy (what she calls Joe) for a really long time, and she has been saying Mom Mom and Pop Pop (what she calls Mark’s parents) for a little while now. But she would just not say Grandmom. It is a hard word, true, but we thought she would at least say a mangled version of it before now. Even when I look at photos, I say, who is this? and she will say everyone’s name except my mom’s. Well, tonight, we were watching her “movies” (home videos on the computer) and there was one of her in her walker and my mom is in the background. She pointed at the screen and said what sort of came out like “Ga-Mom”! I tried to get her to say it again, and with a little coaxing, she said in a few more times. I couldn’t wait to call my mom to tell her. Now let’s hope our stubborn little girl will actually say it to my mom so she can hear it!

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pamelamyers | August 19, 2011

Mark took some adorable pictures of our little imp last week.  I had to share!

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pamelamyers | August 18, 2011

And no, I am not talking about the unbelievable amount of rain we have been getting lately! I am talking about the terrible time we have been having in getting Sam to sleep. I think I mentioned before that Sam suddenly entered a phase where she just absolutely refused to go to sleep, for naps or bedtime, without someone staying in the room with her until she fell asleep. It was so bizarre because she was such a great sleeper. I mean, she didn’t nap very well for at least the first year of her life, but for a good 6 or more months at least, she has been taking a regular nap, actually asking for “night night” and she has always been a champ at bedtime. Putting Sam in her crib has always been a pleasure. I would do her regular routine of milk, sleepsack, books, songs, kisses and hugs, then right into her crib and she’d go in quietly, grab her stuffed animals and curl up in her usual corner and go to sleep. But something switched and we have no idea why. Overnight she went from that pleasurable routine to crying and screaming until someone came in to be with her. A few times we decided to let her cry and one night she cried for almost 2 hours. We quickly gave up on that and either me or Mark would invariably go in to comfort her and stay with her until she fell asleep. It was bad enough getting her to fall asleep, that I could almost deal with. But the bigger problem was that she would wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes more than once, and cry until someone came in to be with her. Mark and I spent way too many night lying on Sam’s floor at some ungodly hour of the night waiting for her to nod off again. It was getting old fast. We tried so many things and nothing seemed to work.

My mom was having the same problem with her. She was refusing to even go into her crib and my mom’s house and spent quite a few naps in the full size bed that is in the room with her crib. My mom would have to lay down on the bed with Sam, wait for her to fall asleep, then sneak out of the room. Oh, yeah, that was the other fun part. After Sam would fall asleep, we would have to sneak out lest she wake up and see us leaving. I don’t know how many times I literally crawled out of her room on my hands and knees hoping she didn’t see or hear me. Down the shore, she even refused to be in the crib we rented and she spent every night, and almost every nap, sleeping in my mom’s bed. I asked everyone I knew with kids for advice and believe me, took every single suggestion to heart. We tried blankets, night lights, you name it. Mark tried putting her to bed at night since it’s usually my job, just to jar her routine and that helped some, but she still cried. Nothing seemed to help very much or for very long.

We got home from the shore and after a few more horrible nights of same old, same old thing, Mark and I decided Sam was pushing her limits, seeing how much she could get away with, and it had to stop. Mark noticed she has been pushing us a lot in every aspect, not just sleep, so it was probably just a phase she was going through, and a normal 2 year old one at that. But still, that didn’t mean she had to get her way. So, we decided one night that enough was enough and Sam was going to have to cry it out. If she cried, we would go check on her to make sure she was truly ok, then we would leave and let her cry. The first night she cried for a while, maybe 30 minutes, but she did stop. She woke up twice that night, and I checked on her, kissed her, then left. The first time she cried for about 15 minutes, the second only about 5. The next night was better. And the next better than that. She has been going down for her naps really well now, not making us stay until she actually is asleep, and knock on wood, she has slept through the night without waking up and crying for the last 3 nights. And when I go in to get her when she is awake, she is just hanging out in her crib, playing with her toys and she smiles at me. Just like she used to. For the last 3 days I have gotten up for work, gotten my shower, gotten dressed, and gone in to get Sam and she has been happy and smiling.

Let’s hope that all of this was just a toddler trial and not an experience that we are going to see again. I know if she is sick, or teething, or something is truly going on, she will not sleep well. That, we can handle. That has a reason, an endpoint. I have found that this recent experience is one of the most frustrating for me as a mother. Not knowing how to “fix” what is going on. It makes me feel like I am doing something wrong, or not good enough. I know in my heart that isn’t true, but it is hard when you are in the moment. All you can do is try, try, try again and hope that you do the right thing. All part of being a mom.

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pamelamyers | August 16, 2011

Well, now that the vacation flurry is over, what else has Sam been up to?  Well, a lot, actually! 

First, wow, has she been talking a lot.  She was definitely saying words before we left for vacation, but I think being with Maddox for a week really got her going.  Maddox really speaks well, using short sentences as well as repeating pretty much anything you say to him.  We all, of course, respond when he talks, and I think Sam noticed that.  She repeats ANYTHING you say to her now.  It is so cute watching her try to form new words.  Some she pronounces really well, others are sort of in “toddler speak”.  One of the most exciting things is that she finally will say her own name!  Of course, it comes out more like “Nam” than Sam but it is cute.  She has also started identifying things with ownership, as in, “Mommy’s” or “Daddy’s”.   I have noticed that Sam will generally repeat the last word of my sentences so if I am trying to get her to say a new word I make sure it’s the last thing I say.   A few days ago in the car she heard me say something to Mark and what did I hear, clear as a bell from the back seat?  “Dude”.  Hearing that come out of her tiny little mouth was hysterical.

We have been working on getting her to say please for a while and she does that pretty well (although sometimes you have to remind her).  One of the funniest things that she does now that cracks Mark up is that if she really wants you to do something or she really wants something, you get a litany of “Yes? Please?  Yes? Please?” over and over again.  How can you say no to that?  I am now working on thank you, but it’s not going quite as well.

Our neighbor Debbie brought over Sam a box of mini Nilla wafers the other day and Sam just ate them like crazy.  Now, when she wants some she says, “Cookies. Debbie.”  I think it’s adorable that she knows where they came from.  She has been really good at identifying her colors lately too.  Blue, yellow and purple she will say pretty readily.  Orange definitely seems to be her favorite color (she always gravitates to the orange anything — crayon, clothes, toys, etc.) but she hasn’t said orange yet.  She has also been able to identify most body parts for a long time, but now she is really getting good and pointing to them and also saying the words.  She knows at least: eyes, ears, nose, chin, neck, knees, feet, toes, hands, and hair.

She surprised me on Saturday too — I was putting her many bracelets on her arm and I was counting them.  After the first one I said, “one” and as I was putting the others on she said, “two, three, nine…”  Well, ok, so 9 doesn’t come after 3, but it’s progress!  She seems to like the number 9 for some reason, I noticed that too.

Mark and I have been waiting for so long for her to talk that it is so much fun hearing her little voice.  I know everyone says that soon we will be saying, oh my God, she never shuts up! but we are honestly enjoying all of it.  I can’t wait to have whole conversations with her.  Right now, she understands EVERYTHING we say and it is getting more and more fun hearing her respond in her own fashion.

Here are some random pictures we took since we got home from the beach.  This first is from Mark’s company picnic which, just like last year, was on the day we got home from the beach.  It was a little rainy, but we had fun anyway.  Sam is holding her balloon dog that was made for her and wearing her jewelry. I will tell you, that kid gets or finds jewelry everywhere she goes!

 

While we were away, Krista introduced Sam to stickers which are now one of her favorite things.  Here is Sam with the million stickers she put on her shirt.  Oh well, it’s better than on my furniture!

Sam loves her kitty cat, but Zephyr is always running away.  We were shocked at how nicely they hung out together this day.

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pamelamyers | August 15, 2011

Friday of vacation is always so hard.  You know it’s back to reality soon and you don’t want to admit it. Sam, however, was ready to come home.  The whole day she was a little out of sorts.  We were on the beach and she kept saying, House House House! and I don’t think she meant the beach house.  She was ready to come home by Friday.  We did manage to have some last minute fun.

The kite Mark bought didn’t go over well with Sam…just like with the skee ball, Sam cried when the kite went up and wouldn’t stop until it came down. I don’t think she understood it wasn’t flying away.  Well, anyway, Mark flew the kite with Maddox, who thought it was a blast!

I am so sorry our vacation is over, but it is good to be home. Back to our house, our things, our Zephyr!  There’s always next year!  I can’t imagine what vacation will be like next time.  Sam was such a different person than she was on our first vacation with her, but in that one year she went from being a baby to being a toddler.  It will be interesting to see what she is like and what adventures she takes us on.  I will bet next year she will be running into the ocean, calling the shots about what we do on the boardwalk, and maybe, just maybe, beating her Mommy at skee ball!

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