pamelamyers | October 3, 2011
Sam’s hair is getting so long that I have been dying to play with it and style it for her. She usually barely sits still for a barrette, but one day this weekend she let me give her a ponytail! I had to share her new do with everyone. Very chic!
pamelamyers | October 2, 2011
Sam’s bedtime rituals have gone through so many changes in the last few months. She went from being a perfect sleeper, so easy to put down, to being impossible over the summer, to settling down again, but still not going to sleep as easily as she used to. Lately, she has started a very typical toddler routine — finding endless excuses to not go to bed. One more book, one more bounce, one more cuddle, one more anything, basically. If she could manage to voice it, she’d be pulling the old, “Can I have one more drink of water?” routine. So, she’s not really been trouble, just procrastinating, and how fast she gets into bed depends on how much Mark and I feel like humoring her. Some nights, not much, others, we are a lot more lenient and it takes a while longer before we can leave her room. Her routine is definitely different with the two of us. When I take her upstairs, we read a few books, we giggle a bit, I put her in her crib, and then I sing to her while standing next to her crib before I leave. Mark reads books to her and hugs her a bunch (I think I let her get a lot more wound up than he does, probably to my detriment), then he puts her in the crib, lies on the floor next to her, and they do the cutest thing — they hold hands. Sam stretches her little arm out while lying down and they hold hands for a while before he leaves.
In the last few weeks Sam has really been a mommy’s girl. Everything is mommymommymommy and Mark has had a hard time bonding with her. He has been telling me that she seems like she wants nothing to do with him and I know from the tone of his voice that his feelings are a bit hurt. I keep reassuring him that isn’t true — and it’s not — they do play together and have fun together every night, but I can understand his frustration. He has been having trouble getting her to sit with him to read at night, and she always wants me to put her to bed for naps and at night. Mark does take her sometimes because I can’t put her to sleep every time, but she cries and complains until finally giving in. I know it bothers him. I think it’s just a phase she is going through where she is feeling especially connected to me and she will get over it but when you are on the receiving end of her crying, it is hard to believe so I do feel bad for Mark. I know if the situation were reversed, I would be sad too.
I wish he could have been a fly on the wall tonight. She wanted me to put her to bed, again, that much was obvious. So, I took her upstairs, did her routine, and when I put her in the crib and stood near the door like I do, she knelt down, looked at me and said, very clearly, “Floor” and she stretched her arm through the slats toward where I know Mark lies. She wanted to hold hands. I told her no, mommy stands by the crib and she looked at me and said, “Daddy” before giving in and lying down. At that moment, she wanted her Daddy, and his hand. And no matter how much she loves her Mommy, as she grows up she will always need her Daddy and will always look for his hand, his arms, his support, his love. And I know Mark will always be there to give it to her. She is luckier than she knows to have such a devoted dad who would do anything in the world for her. I can only hope she always remembers it, but if she doesn’t, she can rest assured I will be there to remind her.
pamelamyers | October 2, 2011
Well, almost. We finally got a break from the never ending rain we have had lately and got to take Sam outside for a bit. Everything was sort of damp, but it was still nice be outside in the fresh air. It is so hard having a toddler and being cooped up in the house. Her boundless energy makes it a really long day!
Before Sam starting swinging, she decided her cat needed a good swing. She loves pushing him back and forth.
Here he goes!
Get back there cat!
Now it was Sam’s turn. For a while there, she went through a phase where she wanted no part of swings, which was odd, because she loved them so much. That is over now, and the love affair continues!
After her swinging, Sam took a few minutes to just bask in the sunshine.
My beautiful girl!
pamelamyers | October 2, 2011
Not long after her birthday, Mark and I decided to let Sam try out her tricycle. We had bought her a bike helmet so that from day one she would understand that wearing a helmet is not optional, and surprisingly, she was really ok wearing it. She is a little bit too short to reach the pedals just yet, but we wanted a little bigger tricycle so that she could ride it longer. She is so tall we didn’t want her outgrowing it too fast. Here are some pics of Sam on her trike! By this upcoming spring she will be tooling down our driveway with no help from anyone.
pamelamyers | October 1, 2011
Sam’s language skills have been growing by leaps and bounds lately. She has started saying so many new words, and pretty difficult ones, in my opinion. She is not only saying new words, but she is using them on her own, not just repeating them, so I know she is aware of the meaning. Just the other day, we were looking at one of her books where on one page, two of the animals are wearing each other’s pajamas. One pair is obviously too small and one pair is obviously too big. I sometimes point them out and say how they are mixed up or whatever I say, and the other night I didn’t even mention them and Sam pointed to them and said, “backwards”. I must have said they are backwards before, but for it to just come out of her mouth like that really shocked me.
She is also starting to use more word derivations than before. Running instead of run, eating instead of eat, messy instead of mess, and a lot of plurals. She never used words like that before. Sam is also starting to form sentences, in a way. For instance, yesterday, she was standing on a step stool in our shed and she stumbled off. Right after I helped her up she said, “Fell. Stool. Sam.” It isn’t a perfect sentence, I mean, she didn’t say, “I fell off the stool” but she is getting her point across much better now. I would imagine pretty soon she will be using actual sentences when she talks to us. Her pediatrician did say that getting the concepts across is what is important so she is doing really well.
I love listening to her talk and being surprised by what comes out of her mouth every day. It’s always something new. Someday we will be having whole conversations with each other and I can’t even imagine what that will be like. Sam is such a little person now with a personality, likes and dislikes, opinions. She is so smart, and so funny, I am enjoying getting to know her more and more every single day.